Brazil: Keep Deutsche Bahn out of Amazonia!

To: Chairman of the Deutsche Bahn Management Board and CEO, Dr. Richard Lutz; Deutsche Bahn and its subsidiaries

“Deutsche Bahn must not participate in the GPM rail and port project in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.”

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On May 31, 2024, Rainforest Rescue, together with our Brazilian partner organization Justiça nos Trilhos, the Chile-Latin America Research and Documentation Center (FDCL), Kooperation Brasilien (Kobra) and Misereor, held a demonstration in front of the DB headquarters at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin and filed a complaint against the involvement of the DB subsidiary DB E.C.O. Group in the GPM project.

According to the participating organizations, GPM’s actions violate the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention No. 169 on Indigenous Peoples, which has been ratified by the German government, as well as the German Supply Chain Act, which imposes special due diligence obligations on German companies. The GPM project also threatens the Amazon rainforest, the protection and conservation of which is an important goal of German development, environmental and climate policies. We therefore call on DB to withdraw from the project immediately.

DB’s response

DB’s complaints office has initiated the review process, but the outcome is uncertain. DB’s Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, Dr. Richard Lutz, wrote to us that respect for internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms is an important principle for DB, that the company takes our concerns very seriously, and that “several additional requirements must be met before DB will consider participating in the project.”

Meanwhile, managers from DB’s subsidiaries, together with GPM’s project operators, are attending meetings with Brazilian ministers, government officials and members of parliament to move the project forward. GPM is also using the DB name prominently to give the GPM project an air of seriousness and competence.

In a GPM corporate video, the Amazon rainforest has been shifted to the west to give the impression that the planned Alcântara port terminal and the route for the EF-317 freight railway are outside the Amazon region. The video also make the astonishing claim that Brazilian agricultural production can increase by 180% in the next ten years “without cutting any trees”.

But the video and the information provided by the project’s promoters are misleading: The Amazon region is officially defined in Brazil as the “Legal Amazon” (Amazônia legal). Both the port and the entire rail line are clearly within the legal Amazon, as our map with data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows. According to a recent study, agriculture, especially soy, is the main driver of deforestation in Brazil: Government figures state that 9,064 square kilometers – an area 3.5 times the size of Greater London or more than 11 times the size of New York City – were cleared in 2023 alone.

To: Chairman of the Deutsche Bahn Management Board and CEO, Dr. Richard Lutz; Deutsche Bahn and its subsidiaries

Dear Dr. Lutz, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Environmental, human rights, Indigenous and Quilombola organizations from the Brazilian state of Maranhão are warning of the negative impacts of the planned construction of a 520-kilometer freight railway in the Amazon region, as well as the planned construction of an industrial zone and export port on the Atlantic coast.

The organizations oppose the Grão-Pará Maranhão (GPM) project because its planning does not respect fundamental principles such as the right of Indigenous peoples, Quilombolas and traditional communities to consultation and free, prior and informed consent. This is exactly what the UN Convention ILO 169, signed by Brazil and Germany, requires. Furthermore, the impact of the project on the population and the environment has not been studied.

Deutsche Bahn’s subsidiary, DB E.C.O. Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding with GPM for the joint project development and subsequent operation of the railway. Organizations in Brazil and Germany are calling on Deutsche Bahn and its subsidiary to drop the project.

If realized, the rail and port project will transport many millions of tons of agricultural and mining commodities, such as soy and iron ore, from the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savannah every year. The impact on traditional communities and the rainforest would be devastating.

Yours faithfully,

The issue – our appetite for meat

Most people in rich countries consider meat to be essential to a good meal. That holds especially true for Americans, who each consumed 90 kilograms of meat in 2014 – in the same year, the global average was 34 kilograms. There are 19 billion chickens, 1.4 billion cows, 1 billion pigs and 1 billion sheep on the planet at any given time – that’s three head of livestock for every person.

Maintaining such a huge livestock population has a very high price: 26 percent of the world’s ice-free land is used for livestock grazing and 33 percent of the world’s cropland is dedicated to growing livestock feed. Instead of feeding humans, a significant share of the world’s wheat, corn, barley and soybeans is thus used to raise livestock. Soybean meal is the largest source of protein animal feed in the world, and the areas needed for its production are expanding into fragile ecosystems such as the Brazilian Cerrado and the Amazon.

The impact – deforestation, monocultures, climate change

Landscapes once covered by rainforest and savannah are now marked by endless industrial agriculture spaces. More than 75 million hectares are devoted to growing soy – an area three times the size of the United Kingdom. Indigenous people are frequently displaced when their forests are bulldozed or torched, and those that remain are often in grave danger due to pesticide exposure: Roundup-Ready Monsanto GMO soybean plants are grown on 31 to 38 percent of the total planted area in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, an herbicide that is suspected of causing cancer and damaging human DNA.

Producing meat has a profound impact on the climate: with methane from bovine stomachs, carbon released by deforestation and fossil-fueled machinery, and nitrous oxide released by synthetic fertilizer, animal agriculture accounts for 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The solution – plant power and planned indulgences

Our food choices have a direct impact on the future of the rainforests: the animal products we eat account for 72 percent of all food-related greenhouse gas emissions. Their production also requires many times more farmland than plant products for human consumption.

Here is how you can help protect your health, the environment and the climate:

1. Eat alternatives to meat and dairy products: Seitan steaks, lupin spreads, soy milk and other tasty and nutritious alternatives to animal products can be found in virtually any supermarket.
2. If you must eat meat, make it an occasional treat: If you are not ready to give up meat entirely, reduce your consumption as much as possible and make meat a planned indulgence. Choosing organic meat can help further reduce the environmental impact of your diet.
3. Say yes to soy products: Only about two percent of the world's soy crop is processed into tofu, soy yogurt and similar products. Soy for human consumption is mostly grown in Europe and does not drive deforestation.
4. Stop food waste: Consumers in North America and Europe each waste between 95 and 110 kg of food a year – much of it meat. Planning your grocery shopping with care can literally save lives.
5. Speak out: Tens of thousands have taken part in street protests such as the March Against Monsanto to pressure policymakers and advocate forms of agriculture that take human health, animal welfare and climate protection into account. Taking part in online petitions and writing to your elected representatives can also make a real difference.

August 6, 2024

GPM is reportedly seeking investors and loans for the rail and port project. In response to a written request from Rainforest Rescue, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Brazil, German diplomat Marian Schuegraf, confirmed that her delegation met with the promoters of the Grão-Pará Maranhão (GPM) project.

According to Ambassador Schuehgraf, she “made it a priority to meet with the Quilombola community in Cajual affected by the project in order to receive first-hand information directly from them”.

In April 2024, the EU Ambassador led a delegation of 19 ambassadors from EU countries to the state of Maranhao¹. The program included a visit to the existing export port of Itaqui, located near the city of São Luís, directly opposite the island of Cajual, on the other side of São Marcos Bay. The EU delegation also visited the district of Alcântara, which includes the island where the port is planned.

Press articles in Brazil² suggest that the GPM could be financed by the European Commission’s Global Gateway initiative, a fund that aims to finance strategic projects for the EU around the globe with 300 billion euros by 2027. The Global Gateway country page on Brazil³ and the Global Gateway country sheet of April 2024⁴ identify four “flagship initiatives”, including “Multimodal transport and mobility: construction of port and rail infrastructure to reduce existing infrastructure gaps and connect Brazil and Europe”.

1 Post on the X account of the EU Embassy in Brazil, April 4, 2024. Primeiro dia da visita oficial ao Maranhão dos embaixadores dos estados-membros da UE: https://x.com/UEnoBrasilEmb/status/1775856433113784322

2 O Informante, March 24, 2024. José Reinaldo destaca importância histórica da possibilidade do primeiro financiamento apoiado pela União Europeia: https://portaloinformante.com.br/noticias/2024/03/jose-reinaldo-destaca-importancia-historica-da-possibilidade-do-primeiro-financiamento-apoiado-pela-uniao-europeia/

3 EU Commission, 2023. https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/countries/brazil_en

4 EU Commission, 2024. https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/document/download/c0651334-6feb-4353-8ef7-07e1e1b61e27_en?filename=EU-Brazil-partnership.pdf