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Secretary-General's MDG Advocay Group

Secretary General's MDG Advocacy Group

Marina Silva

Photo of Marina Silva

Marina Silva,
Environmentalist and politician (Brazil)

Marina Silva, born in 1958, was Minister of Environment of Brazil from 2003 to 2008. She has been a member Brazil’s National Assembly since 1994.

Silva grew up as one of twelve siblings in a poor rubber tapper family in the province of Acre, in Western Brazil. When she was 16 years old, she contracted Hepatitis and was sent to Rio Branco for treatment. She was illiterate, but with a dream of studying and becoming a nun.

She worked as a maid, learned to read, was enrolled at a public school, stood for exams and started history studies. Along the way she was inspired by liberation theology and the ideas of the environmental activist Chico Mendes. She became politically active, and an ardent proponent of negotiation, non-violence, and innovative solutions. She saw many of her fellow activists murdered.

In 1994, Silva was the first rubber tapper ever elected to Brazil's Federal Senate. As a native Amazonian and a Senator, she built support for environmental protection of the reserves as well as for social justice and sustainable development in the Amazon region.

As Minister of Environment, she took drastic measures to protect the Amazon forest, clamping down on illegal activity, and managed to reduce deforestation by almost 60 per cent from 2004 to 2007.

Another result of Silva’s work is the Amazon Fund, established to prevent greenhouse gas emissions through rainforest conservation. The Fund is financed by national and international contributions.

In 2008, Silva resigned as Minister of the Environment, citing “the increasing resistance in central parts of government and the society.” Silva continues her struggle from her place in the National Assembly and still has great influence on environmental policy in Brazil.

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