Maria do Espírito Santo

Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva (8 December 1960 – 24 May 2011) was a Brazilian farmer, environmentalist and trade unionist. She was known for her land defence, alongside her husband, José Cláudio da Silva, of the Praialta Piranheira nature reserve within the Amazon rainforest, as well as her campaigning for agrarian reform in southeastern Pará.

Biography Do Espírito Santo was born and raised in São João do Araguaia in Pará, the daughter of migrants from Maranhão. She grew up in a nut grove crossed by the Ubá river; her parents made a living collecting nuts. She married and had five children; her husband was abusive and they later separated. She met da Silva in 1986 while she was a poll worker at a polling station he was voting at; they subsequently married and moved to Nova Ipixuna.

While living in Nova Ipixuna, do Espírito Santo and da Silva resided in the Praialta Piranheira Agro-Extractive Settlement Project. They collected nuts and were members of the agroforestry group Projeto Agro-Extractivista. They campaigned against illegal logging and timber trafficking, as well as charcoal production and cattle ranching, in the area for 24 years.

On 24 May 2011, do Espírito Santo was shot and killed alongside her husband in an ambush in Maçaranduba 2, within the Praialta Piranheira nature reserve, close to their home in Nova Ipixuna, Pará.

Recognition In 2011, do Espírito Santo and da Silva were posthumously honoured with the Forest Hero Award from the United Nations' Forum on Forests Secretariat.