Deforestation in Paraguay is forcing the people of the Ayoreo tribe to leave land they have occupied for generations. Video courtesy of Survival International <a href="http://www.survivalinternational.org/">Survival International</a>

What is it with Mennonites? Two weeks ago I wrote a piece from Paraguay on how the vast dry forest known as the Gran Chaco was being felled at an alarming rate mainly by people from this Christian fundamentalist sect.

Having fled from persecution in eastern Europe 80 years ago, they went to one of the most inhospitable places on earth and by the sweat of their brow – and a lot of help from the indigenous peoples on whom they depended – they have survived in the wilderness. But now, it seems they have moved from Biblical exhortations for stewardship of the Earth to outright exploitation and dominion. They have bought up nearly 2m hectares, worth, these days, in the region of $600m (£382m), made themselves fabulously wealthy from a $100m-a-year meat and dairy business, and are now in danger of totally destroying an unique ecosystem, indigenous peoples and all.

The piece I wrote went down like a lead balloon in parts of Paraguay where the Mennonites are powerful industrialists. Here's a declaration by the Mennonite community, from a full-page advertisement placed in one newspaper:

We don't understand why foreigners make such a big deal about some situations in Paraguay, that to the Paraguayans are really not that important. Livestock production and rearing have been attacked in a totally incomprehensible way. For the past 80 years, us Mennonites have worked and organised a production system in the Paraguayan Chaco that today has an important role. And it is now, just as this productive system is getting to be successful that our initiatives are attacked/criticised using invented environmental arguments with supposed violation of ancestral rights of the indigenous people.

We know the Chaco better than John Vidal and when he states that 'life and the indigenous tribes in the area are at risk because the Mennonites are converting the land to pastures and farmland', he is wrong. It is interesting to note that such a statement puts wildlife and tribes on the same level.

Erosion and desertification are inventions of ignorant people or people with bad intentions who are looking to obtain international funding for their own benefit. It remains that environmental projects for decades are wasted and leave no impact and little improvement for the groups involved. The Chaco is characterised by peaceful coexistence of the different ethnic groups living in the region. This has been possible, because, thanks to God, only the people directly involved have made the decisions, with no foreign interference.

Since the coming of NGOs and other pseudo-scientific groups, especially foreign, things have begun to deteriorate in a way only comparable to the conquistadors of the 15th-18th centuries in America. Attacking/criticising production and its efficiency are only the result of envy and fear of being overtaken in the world market. We don't believe that these environmental affirmations, have any scientific basis. They are just stories with the aim of simple destruction, with no consideration of the consequences. It will be deplorable to see everything we have built destroyed, especially for Paraguay, for its people and that will see their painful history repeated. But above all it will be felt by the government who will have to face the consequences. We are no longer in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. No, today there are other priorities.

Now, not all Mennonites are the same, indeed I know of some in Canada who appear to be fully aware of the environment and "creation care". But the Paraguayan group behind this appear be insular, over-defensive and obsessed with physical expansion and capitalism. Moreover, they seem ignorant of their impact on the environment and unable to accept criticism.

Since the article was published, many other people have commented on the Mennonites' attitude to nature and their treatment of indigenous and other marginalised people.

Here's a comment from a conservationist in Belize:

Before Mennonites came to Belize, the country imported almost all its food from Guatemala and Mexico. Now Mennonites supply the entire country with chicken, eggs, milk, and corn. Fast-growing communities of Belizean Mennonites are stripping thousands of acres of forest at a rate heretofore unknown in this laid-back nation, planting chemical-intensive crops on every arable acre they can buy. The Mennonites have by far the highest birth rate in Belize, and their culture drives them to constantly open up new settlements. Though their American counterparts may observe a quaint and simplistic lifestyle, in Belize, Mennonites are a major destructive force.

And another, from a Mennonite:

This situation is hard to bear as a Mennonite myself. Unfortunately, many American Mennonites also make excuses for the Paraguayan Mennonites because of their experience being persecuted during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. But that is no excuse. Second, the Paraguayan Mennonites were not mere victims of persecution in Russia. Before they were persecuted they had treated the peasants around them very badly. The Paraguayan Mennonites are simply perpetuating a long habit of treating the people they live around poorly. By appealing to their own suffering they have not dealt with the reason they suffered and have painted themselves as helpless victims when that is far from the case, historically and currently.

Last word goes to a religious outsider: