This study is a tentative approach to the relationship between environmental and occupational health and development in a specific situation: charcoal production in the Jequitinhonha Valley, the poorest region in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study focuses on the labor process, involving heavy exploitation, hazardous working conditions, and extremely precarious living conditions. Working conditions and activities are described and related to the workers' health situation. Social policies and decisive participation by the various social stakeholders are necessary to change this reality.