Thanks to the over 30,000 international web supporters who voted in our web poll, Blairo Maggi, the world's biggest soya farmer and governor of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, was awarded the 'Golden Chainsaw Award' by Greenpeace last week.
A clear winner with over 37 per cent of the vote, Maggi came ahead of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, recently criticized for failing to stem the level of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
"A 40% increase in deforestation doesn't mean anything at all, and I don't feel the slightest guilt."Blairo Maggi, Governor of Mato Grosso state, BrazilLast month the Brazilian government announced that the level of rainforest destruction in 2004 was the highest in over two decades, averaging an area equivalent to more than 8,600 football pitches daily.
The largest increase recorded was in Maggi's state of Mato Grosso, with soya planting attributed as a major cause.
The award was given to Maggi by the presenters of a popular Brazilian TV show, while Maggi visited a local school.
