Indigenous Leaders Meet to Protest Rainforest Destruction
8/26/97
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Headline: Indigenous Leaders Meet to Protest Rainforest
Destruction
Source: Associated Press
Date: 8/26/97
Copyright 1997: The Associated Press
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- Nearly 100 indigenous leaders
from Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana will convene in Brazil's
northeastern Roraima state on Wednesday to protest
development projects they claim are threatening the rain
forest -- and their own livelihoods.
Topping the discussion agenda for the four-day meeting are
large-scale logging projects, gold mining and super-highways
that cut through pristine tropical rain forest.
"The summit is an opportunity for indigenous organizations
in the region to advance joint proposals for defense of
their territories and for economic alternatives for their
communities," said Atossa Soltani, a spokeswoman for Amazon
Watch, the non-governmental organization coordinating the
meeting.
Among projects listed for review are: the BR-174
superhighway that cuts through the northern Amazon region in
Brazil; the 350-kilometer (220-mile) Georgetown-Brazil
jungle road link; and Venezuela's mammoth Guri hydroelectric
plant, with the potential to supply power to neighboring
countries such as Guyana.
Indians in the affected countries claim the projects pose a
threat to the tropical jungle, where most of them live.[7]
map
During a larger summit in May, indigenous leaders from nine
Amazon Basin countries warned such projects had already
caused severe environmental damage to the region, including
polluting prime fishing areas and devastating hunting
grounds.
Guyana, a former British colony on South America's northeast
shoulder, is embroiled in land disputes with its 35,000
Amazon Indians over efforts to open up more forest for
commercial purposes. The country, which has one of the
world's largest expanses of virgin rain forest, is
increasingly being eyed by foreign firms as a potential
source of timber.
Guyana is also home to one of the South America's largest
gold mines, which provides a fourth of the country's gross
domestic product. The mine triggered fears among
environmental groups after its holding dam broke in July
1995, flooding a major river with cyanide-tainted water.
Soltani said Indian groups need the summit to spur awareness
of the effects of such projects on the world's dwindling
rain forests.
Among those expected to address the summit are Ageu
Flotencio da Cunha, Brazil's attorney general, officials
from the Washington-based World Resources Institute, and the
president of Venezuela's power company.