Santarém, Pará

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Santarém is a city in the state of Pará in Brazil. The Tapajós joins the Amazon River there, and it is a popular location for tourism. It was once home to the Tapajós Indians, a tribe of Native Americans after which the river was named, and the leaders of a large, agricultural chiefdom that flourished before the arrival of Europeans. Santarém is also the name of the original city in Portugal, that gave the name Santarém to this Brazilian city.

Santarém is an important regional market center in Lower Amazonia located midway between the larger cities of Belém and Manaus. The economy is based on agriculture, cattle and mining. The city has seen many 'cycles' of development dominated by one or a few economic activities, including (in the last century) rubber tapping, coffee production and gold mining. Most recently, there has been a huge growth is the area of soy plantations.

Many 'Mocorongos' seek to create a new Brazilian state by dividing the enormous state of Pará into western and eastern regions. The new state (the western part) would be called Tapajós, with Santarém serving as the capital.

Santarém is bordered by the Amazon and the Tapajós rivers. Both run along many kilometers in the front of the city, side by side, without mixing. The Amazon's milky colored water carries sediment from the Andes in the East, while the Tapajós's water is somewhat warmer and has a deep-blue tone. This phenomenon is called "The meeting of the waters" by the locals.

Another popular place for tourism is the village of Alter do Chão, which is located by the Tapajós river, about 30 km from Santarém. It can be reached by car (about half an hour) or by boat (one or more hours, depending on the boat).

[edit] Controversy around Cargill soya port

In 2003, the US-based corporation Cargill completed a port for processing soya in Santarém. The port has dramatically increased soya production in the area due to the proximity of ease of transport. Although they complied with state legislation, they failed to comply with a federal law requiring an Environmental Impact Statement, instead they contested in court that they did not need to comply. In late 2003 Greenpeace launched a campaign claiming the new port has sped up deforestation of local rain forest as farmers have cleared land to make way for crops.[1]

In February 2006, the federal courts in Brazil gave Cargill six months to complete the environmental assessment. This ruling came as part of a broader popular backlash against the port; while it was initially supported by locals who hoped for jobs, opinion has turned against it as the jobs have not appeared. In July 2006, federal prosecutor Felicia Pontes Jr. suggested they were close to shutting down the port.[2]

Cargill responds to criticisms of the port by focusing on the need for economic development for the local province, one of the poorest in Brazil. They claim that "extreme measures" such as closing the port are not necessary because "Soy occupies less than 0.6 percent of the land in the Amazon biome today." They also point to their partnership with The Nature Conservancy to encourage farmers around Santarém to comply with Brazilian law that requires 80% of forest to be left intact in forest areas.[3]