The poison island

The Quilombo's community (black Afro-Brazilian Community) of Ilha de Maré, an island in the Todos os Santos Bay (Brazil), suffer of Environmental racism and pollution poisoning because the petrochemical factory of the area.

The Environmental Racism has been theorised between the 1970 and the 1980, its definition has used to describe environmental injustices in a racial contest. The environmental racism take place when politics decisions related to the environment are taken and, as consequence, generate a racial discrimination or have a negative impact on a specific ethnic/racial specific group of people. In the 1950 decade, in front of the Ilha de Maré, located in the All Saint Bay, a series of factories were built, among them the Industrial Complex of Aratu, the Petrochemical Complex of Camaçari and the Aratu-Candeias Port that is responsible for the 60% of the cargo ship travelling from and to the Bahia State. With an increase of the industrialisation, increased also the level of environmental pollution and environmental related incidents, like in 2008when a Norwegian ship lost in the waters lubricant oil polluting all the nearby areas. The Bahia’s researcher Neuza Miranda carried on a study that demonstrated the high contamination of Cadmium and Lead coming from the local industries in the children of Ilha de Maré. The researcher Beatriz Moreira Bispo underline in her study the lack of communication and compromise between the institutions, the company and the local Communities, This lack of communication, mediation and reduction of the environmental impact generate local conflicts. Despite the community of the Ilha de Maré tried to established a dialogue with the Institutions and the Companies to improve the environmental situation, very little has been done to decrease the pollution level or the factors that affect the Community of Ilha de Mare making them suffer of environmental racism.