Dutch-born primatologist Marc van Roosmalen will not have to return to prison after Brazil's Court of Appeal commuted a 14-year term he received for bio-piracy in 2007.
His book, Barefoot through the Amazon: On the track of Evolution, details his work with primates in the Amazon rainforest. He has identified new species of monkey in the region, prompting Time Magazine to select him as one of the Heroes of the Planet in 2000.
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Although the appeals court has not quashed the 2007 sentence fully, Dr van Roosmalen will not have to return to prison because of the length of time he spent in custody before his trial began. The 60-year-old is considering a further appeal to clear his name totally.
Orchid leaves
Dr van Roosmalen was originally found guilty of trafficking in rare animals and theft of government property. Brazil has tough nature conservation laws, but these are by no means always applied. Keeping monkeys and even taking orchid leaves is strictly speaking illegal. However, it would be difficult to bring a case against Dr van Roosmalen's monkey sanctuary near Manaus. Government departments, such as that of the environment, the IBAMA, have often been instrumental in bringing monkeys to the sanctuary.
A large part of Dr van Roosmalen's original sentence was handed down for theft of government property. This involved scaffolding used to film animals from the rainforest canopy. The equipment was the gift of a British television company to the renowned INPA research institute, which is based in Manaus and for which Dr van Roosmalen worked. The scaffolding was temporarily kept at the Manaus monkey sanctuary. The charge of theft was fully quashed by the appeals court.
His supporters point out he is not a diplomatic man and has made enemies within Brazilian society. They say his prosecution was the result of political intrigue. Once, when returning from the forest with a number of monkeys he wanted for research, he was met by police, a camera crew and politicians. In what was an election stunt, they told him that bio-piracy had to stop and that foreigners should stop exploiting the Amazon.
A Dutch Darwin
Dr van Roosmalen's pioneering research is said to build on that of Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin. His work in the Amazon mirrors Darwin's research on the Galapagos Islands. He sees the Amazon region as a series of huge islands separated by rivers. Species of monkeys have evolved separately from each other on each of these immense islands. The biologist Alfred Wallace described the Amazon in this way, and Dr van Roosmalen's research has shown the description to be correct.
* RNW translation (mw)
Tags: Amazon rainforest, Dutch primatologist, Marc van Roosmalen