Laisa Santos Sampaio

Laísa Santos Sampaio lives in the Praia Alta Piranheira settlement, a rural community of around 350
smallholders, in the municipality of Nova Ipixuna, 500 km south of Belém, Pará state. She has worked
there as a school teacher for the last 11 years. She is also a member of a women’s artisanal project
(Grupo de Trabalhadoras Artesanais Extrativistas) which produces cosmetics, medicines and ointments
from forest fruits and nuts. The group was set up in one of the last remaining areas of native forest in
the municipal to promote sustainable development. Their opposition to logging has placed them at
considerable risk in a region in which illegal exploitation of the forest is commonplace.