The money is in their pockets... we're still in need of the basics

River people of Amazon claim promises of help have not materialised

- ADAM GERRARD

IZAURINO Alves had never heard of carbon credits when the strangers arrived at his remote Amazonian home a few years ago.

The grandad, 59, was also unaware they were part of an alleged multimillion-pound scheme using land where he lives that links to Kenneth Noye.

Izaurino is a member of the ribeirinho, the "river people" who make their living by fishing, farming and harvesting forest products.

His wooden home is a long way from Noye's flat in Kent which shares the same address as the headquarters of the Amazon Forest People carbon credit scheme.

A 2020 AFP brochure says it is protecting the area where Izaurino lives from LAND LINE deforestation and fighting for "social, economic and environmental justice".

Alongside pictures of smiling children, it says they "own and protect" 368,000 acres of forest, an area almost as large as Greater London, and have been working with the 6,200 ribeirinho since 2008 in an area that is being logged "rapidly and illegally".

But Izaurino is one of many residents we spoke to living within the footprint of the AFP project who say they have not been helped by it.

Standing on his smallholding in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Para, a two-hour boat ride from any road, Izaurino said scheme representatives offered him a loan that never materialised.

"They came here with beautiful words, saying their interest was in preserving the forest, in keeping the trees up because it's important for oxygen," he said.