Chico Mendes was the Brazilian environmentalist and rubber tapper assassinated in 1988 after defending the Amazon forest.
Born Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, he worked as a rubber tapper in Acre, western Brazil. He became a union organiser and advocated “empates,” peaceful community actions intended to stop ranchers and loggers from clearing forests used by rubber tappers and other forest communities.
Mendes argued that the forest could support people through sustainable extraction of rubber, Brazil nuts, and other products. His activism linked labour rights with rainforest conservation and brought international attention to conflicts in the western Amazon.
He was shot and killed outside his home in Xapuri, Acre, on 22 December 1988. His death prompted worldwide condemnation and helped strengthen support for extractive reserves, a protected-area model designed to allow traditional communities to live from forest resources while limiting large-scale clearing.