A German airport owner has been hit with a multimillion-euro lawsuit alleging illegal deforestation in Brazil. The lawsuit against Fraport AG was filed on 18 March by Gabriel Biologia, a city councillor in Fortaleza, the capital and gateway city of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, known for its beaches, red cliffs, dunes, and lagoons.
There, Fraport AG own Fortaleza International Airport, a facility around which the complainants allege rainforest is being cleared amid legal “irregularities” and negative effects on local communities and wildlife.
The forest clearances are reportedly taking place as part of the groundwork for the construction of a logistics warehouse at the Fraport subsidiary. However, both the deforestation and the warehouse development “violate” the original permissions, campaigners say, highlighting “serious flaws in the environmental licensing process.” The building permits were approved during the airport concession process conducted by ANAC, Brazil’s civil aviation authority.
The felling is going on in the Atlantic Forest, where the World Wildlife Organisation says, more than 30 mammal species, nine bird species, and about 100 frog species have been discovered in the last four decades. The forest also contributes to clean air and climate regulation, soil protection, pollination, food, medicine, and up to 60% of Brazil’s drinking water. Around 60 hectares of it have reportedly so far been cut down to make room for the warehouse.
Biologia has called the violations the “biggest environmental crime” the city has experienced in a decade. “Our action aims to ensure the forest’s recovery and hold those who allowed this damage to occur to account,” she says.
If successful, the case against both Fraport AG and a range of regulatory public agencies could result in compensation liabilities of 100 million Brazilian Reais (around €16.5 million).
Hannah Lawrence, a spokesperson for climate campaign group Stay Grounded, used the case as an example of the way “Global corporations, hell-bent on profit, destroy local communities and the environment and put all [of] our futures at risk. A few wealthy shareholders profit at the expense of communities like those in Fortaleza that bear the heavy burden.”
The Brazilian case is not the first time Fraport AG have faced environmental criticism. In 2015 the airport operator clashed with Frankfurt residents and environmentalists, who opposed a third terminal at the city’s airport due to noise pollution concerns. At the time, Fraport was accused of overstating passenger growth forecasts to support the case for the expansion.
