The Amazon's most ardent protector

Father Edilberto Sena has added preservation of the Amazon to his already heavy pastoral load.

The Brazilian Roman Catholic priest founded the Amazon Defence Front to protect the forest against government plans which he believes put commercial development ahead of environmental concerns.

Father Sena created the Front because he feels the Brazilian government has betrayed the Amazon and the commitments it made to the people of Brazil to protect it.

In 2002, he voted for President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, after dreaming for more than 20 years that there would be a change to the way Brazil was governed.

Father Sena had hoped social issues would take priority over the economy.

But he told the BBC World Service that "'social issues have only been a drop in the ocean" during President Lula's five years in office.

A long-standing campaigner against the destruction of the Amazon, Father Sena has fought together with Greenpeace against large multinationals, including the American company Cargill.

In 2006 the firm was building a new port in Santarem, halfway between the Atlantic coast and the city of Manaus.

In 2007, the Brazilian government forced Cargill to close the port down.

Sense of duty

For nine years, Father Sena has run a Catholic rural radio station in his home town of Santarem which reaches at least 500,000 people in the Amazon. He uses his station to highlight many of his campaigns.

"I am a human being and see what is happening there, and I am a native Amazonian, so I can't cross my arms and close my eyes," he says.

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