Forests, faith and Olympic condoms

Forests, faith and Olympic condoms

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Brazil's government will hand out 9 million condoms for free around Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics in August, a push meant to encourage safe sex and also defend the Amazon rainforest.

The raw material for the condoms is tapped at the Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve in Brazil's nothern Acre state where many are devotees of the rubber tapping "saint" Sao Joao do Guarani and make offerings to him in an annual ceremony.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Rio's local Olympic organising committee said about 450,000 of the sustainably-produced condoms will be destined for athletes and staff housed in the Olympic Village.

The rest will be made widely available to the many visitors who will be arriving in the city in just a few weeks, the Health Ministry said.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

All the condoms to be distributed are produced by Natex, a factory in the western Amazonian state of Acre, deep in the rainforest near Brazil's border with Bolivia.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

The factory, run by the Acre state government, uses latex gathered from Amazon rubber trees by tappers who are employed by a government-run program designed to protect their traditional livelihood, foster sustainable use of the rainforest and deter illegal loggers.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

The tappers see themselves as guardians of the rainforest.

On a recent outing, Raimundo Mendes de Barros, a 71-year-old lifelong rubber tapper with a stark white beard, gathered the milky-white latex dripping into metal buckets hooked at the base of countless trees. Above, the tropical sun was filtered by the Amazon canopy.

Barros spoke with pride about the fierce fight he and other sustainable rubber tappers wage to maintain their craft.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

"Our condom factory, aside from guaranteeing a fair price for the rubber, employs hundreds," he said. "It gives the world a product - the condom - that will be very present there in Rio, to fight disease and help with birth control."

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes
Domingos da Conceicao, 54, has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood.

For decades, tappers like Barros have been on the front line of pushing Brazilian leaders to do more to halt deforestation, which is mostly caused by the illegal clearing of forest for ranching, soy farms and timber extraction.

The fight has sometimes come at a heavy cost as farmers and loggers have sometimes retaliated with hired guns. Scores of people have been killed over the years trying to protect the forest, most notably the internationally known environmentalist and rubber tapper Chico Mendes.

. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

His 1988 murder in Xapuri, where the condom factory now stands, helped galvanise the government to take serious measures to battle deforestation and the violence against Amazon defenders.

For several years Brazil's Health Ministry has distributed millions of condoms from the factory for free at big events around Brazil - most notably the annual bacchanal of Carnival.

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Slideshow

A devotee prays in front of a statue of Sao Joao do Guarani.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

A devotee prays in front of a statue of Sao Joao do Guarani.

Antonia Marcelino, 51, carries a handmade wooden leg, a symbol of grace. The leg is an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Antonia Marcelino, 51, carries a handmade wooden leg, a symbol of grace. The leg is an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani.

A devotee walks on his knees around a chapel to make an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

A devotee walks on his knees around a chapel to make an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani.

A Seringueira rubber tree, which is native to the Amazon rainforest, stands in Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

A Seringueira rubber tree, which is native to the Amazon rainforest, stands in Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve.

Joao Batista Araujo, 34, has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Joao Batista Araujo, 34, has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood.

Joao Batista, 43, has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Joao Batista, 43, has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood.

Raimundo Mendes de Barros cuts a Seringueira rubber tree.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Raimundo Mendes de Barros cuts a Seringueira rubber tree.

A youth cuts a friend's hair outside his house.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

A youth cuts a friend's hair outside his house.

Boys play soccer.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Boys play soccer.

A house stands in the Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

A house stands in the Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve.

Condoms are tested.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms are tested.

Workers test condoms.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Workers test condoms.

Condoms are produced.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms are produced.

Condoms are produced.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms are produced.

Condoms.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms.

Condoms are packaged.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms are packaged.

Condoms.
. Xapuri, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes

Condoms.