NGO's Question Campaign to Protect 10% of Amazon from Human Presence
7/2/98
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Title: NGO's Question Campaign to Protect 10% of Amazon from Human Presence
Source: The Environmental Defense Fund
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 7/2/98
Byline: Kenneth Walsh
The Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, D.C., is distributing the following
document on behalf of several Brazilian NGOs:
Brazilian NGO and Social Moviments Forum for Development and Environment (Forum
Brasileiro de ONGs)
Rubberstappers Nacional Council (CNS)
Amazon Working Group (GTA)
Brazil Network on Multilateral Financial Institutions (Rede Brasil)
rbrasil@brnet.com.br
BRAZILIAN ORGANIZATIONS WANT THE EFFECTIVE PROTECTION OF THE AMAZON, WITH THE
PARTICIPATION OF ITS TRADITIONAL POPULATIONS, AND THEREFORE QUESTION THE
CAMPAIGN OF
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND (WWF), AND THE WORLD BANK, TO
PROTECT
TEN PERCENT OF THE AMAZON EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH THE CREATION OF CONSERVATION AREAS
WHICH ARE TO BE COMPLETELY DEVOID OF A HUMAN PRESENCE.
We, the undersigned Non-Governmental Organizations, wish to express our concern
with
both the content and the potential consequences of the campaign lead by the WWF
International, and supported by both the World Bank and the Brazilian
Government, to
protect some ten percent of the Amazon region through the establishment of
environmental conservation areas of indirect use.
We do not oppose the creation of new conservation areas of indirect use. On the
contrary, we consider the system of protected areas currently in existence as
insufficient to protect the Brazilian ecosystem, both in terms of overall size,
and
in the variety of environmental sytems being protected, with respect to the
Amazon as
well as to other regions.
We do support the creation of new reserves in the entire country, specifically
in
those areas that have been indicated as priorities for the conservation of
biodiversity. But these new reserves should encompass a broad mosaic of
protected
areas, including extractive reserves which take into account the rights of
traditional populations.
In addition, we consider that the quantitative goal of this campaign--ten
percent
before the year 2000--as randomly chosen, inadequate, and ignorant to the
reality of
Brazil. For the effective protection of the Amazon--85 percent of which
survives
today--ten percent is an unacceptable goal. On the other hand, ten percent is
most
probably excessive for the exclusive creation of areas of indirect use, when
there
are as yet no studies or dependable data to answer the question of the
availability
of such a large amount of land without the presence of indigenous populations or
extractivists.
We also do not understand the selection of the year 2000 as a deadline,
considering
that currently less than four percent of the Amazon is reserved for conservation
areas of indirect use, and a major part of that has only been formed on paper.
In
fact, the presence of traditional populations can be found in most of these
areas,
including 10 parks and reserves, covering more than three million hectares,
which
have been superimposed on 12 pre-existing indigenous territories.
The plan to create, in two years, twice as many reserves as have been created in
all
the years to date, means a great risk of creating more paper parks, existing in
name
only. And without studies to indicate priority areas, or areas which would most
benefit from this type of protection, there are the added risks of incorporating
lands occupied by traditional populations, and thus intensifying the conflicts
that
already exist among these populations and Ibama [Brazilian Environmental
Institute].
Moreover, we understand that the protection of the Amazon depends upon defined
and
articulated government policies, in actuality nonexistent, which would allow for
more
than just the creation of areas of indirect use, and encourage the fundamental
role
that the traditional populations in reality exercise in this protection. The
Brazilian government has not managed to finance the protected areas which
already
exist, and it is of common knowledge that, were it not for the resistence of
these
populations to the preditorial behavior of large estate owners, lumber
companies,
prospectors, and political forces (with some honorable exceptions), the Amazon
today
would be in an even worse condition.
Meanwhile, these populations today live in miserable conditions, without access
to
consistent government support to develop their traditional economic activities,
or
even to guarantee minimum prices for their products, the making of which
essentially
depends on the continued existence of the forest.
We would also like to express our surprise with the fact that this campaign does
not
taken into consideration other regions, some of which are even more fragile, and
have
been more devastated, than the Amazon forest. For example, the Mata Atlantica,
which
is of enormous importance in terms of biodiversity, has been reduced to less
than
seven percent of its original size, while the regions of Caatinga and Cerrado
are
being converted with increasing rapidity into soybean plantations and cattle
ranges.
Moreover, we are surprised at the failure of this campaign to consider efforts
already underway, such as the organization of the Amazon Workshop, as a part of
Probio [The Protection Fund for Biodiversity], lead by a consortium of Brazilian
NGOs. The Workshop has been contracted for one year by the Brazilian government
with
the purpose, by means of a participatory process, of gathering information and
creating alternative suggestions for public conservation policy, including the
selection of potential areas for the establishment of new conservation areas of
both
direct and indirect use.
And finally, we, the undersigned organizations, propose that the Brazilian
Government, the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund, and all concerned
organizations,
combine forces for the successful realization of the Amazon Workshop. It may be
hoped that in this way the Workshop will result in the establishment of
collective
goals, well-defined, comprehensive regional policies, and mobilization
campaigns,
which effectively balance the conservation of biodiversity in the Amazon with
the
respect for the rights of the populations that inhabit it, and with the goal of
sustainable development in the country as a whole.
Brasilia, 1 de julho de 1998
Brazilian NGO and Social Moviments Forum for Development and Environment (Forum
Brasileiro de ONGs)
Rubberstappers Nacional Council (CNS)
Amazon Working Group (GTA)
Brazil Network on Multilateral Financial Institutions (Rede Brasil)