Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, was a rubber tapper, union leader and environmental activist.

Born to a family of rubber tappers (also known as seringueiros), they made a living extracting sap from rubber trees in the Amazon rainforest. Mendes started work at the age of nine.

When Mendes saw that large swathes of forest were being cleared to make way for cattle pasture and strip mining he encouraged the rubber tappers to work together to defend the forest and their livelihoods.

Throughout the 1970s, Mendes became increasingly involved in the non-violent resistance movement and left-wing political groups. In 1985 he founded the National Council of Rubber Tappers, an organisation dedicated to defending the lives of forest communities.

As Mendes garnered an international reputation, the threat he posed to his opponents grew. He was frequently jailed, fined and threatened. In 1988 he led a winning effort to stop cattle rancher Darly Alves da Silva from deforesting a contested area. Stopping at nothing, the cattle ranchers had him assassinated. In 1990 da Silva and his son were sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Mendes' death caused an international outcry and brought widespread attention to the plight of the seringueiros.