The remote town of Tailândia in the state of Pará in northern Brazil has quickly come to symbolise the conflict between those who see the Amazon rainforest as an expendable resource and those seeking to slow its rapid rate of disappearance.

Townspeople last week rioted in defence of local ­loggers, forcing state police and inspectors from Ibama, the federal environmental agency, to flee Tailândia after trying to make arrests and seize illegally felled logs.