Venezuelan Wildlife Being Destroyed
12/12/99
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Title: Venezuelan Wildlife Being Destroyed
Source: Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 12, 1999
Byline: Bart Jones
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The Orinoco turtle was nearly extinct, so
environmental officials dispatched agents to guard the tiny sand
islands in the mighty Orinoco River where females lay their eggs.
But instead of protecting the mothers and their eggs, the agents sold
them to restaurant owners who used them for turtle soup.
Environmentalists say the theft two years ago nearly destroyed efforts
to save the most endangered species in Venezuela and the largest
freshwater turtle in South America.
Venezuela's Amazon rain forests, sprawling plains, snowcapped Andean
mountains and Caribbean coral reefs feature some of the world's most
exotic wildlife. But this modern-day Eden is in peril. The
Environmental Ministry is understaffed, underpaid, rife with
corruption and mired in confusion, according to environmentalists.
``There's no law enforcement for anything,'' said Clemencia Rodner of
the Venezuelan Audubon Society. ``It's total, absolute chaos.''
On the country's highways, poachers openly sell endangered tropical
parrots. Lake Maracaibo, the largest lake in South America, has become
a ``garbage pail'' of oil and waste from tankers, says
environmentalist Anna Ponte.
Thousands of illegal gold miners uproot trees in Venezuela's rain
forests with hydraulic water pumps and poison rivers with mercury.
National Guardsmen in charge of evicting them instead extort money
them, says Ponte.
Prized coral reefs in Morrocoy National Park turned gray and died four
years ago. Scientists don't rule out a natural phenomenon, but
environmentalists blame toxic wastes dumped by ships.
Government officials acknowledge that environmental protection has
slipped badly. But they say President Hugo Chavez's new administration
is determined to end the deterioration.
``It's a disaster, but we're trying to recover our authority so we can
enforce the law,'' Environmental Minister Jesus Arnaldo Perez told The
Associated Press.
Venezuela was once a leader in environmental protection. It created
Latin America's first environmental ministry in 1977 and has
designated one-third of the nation, which is about the size of Texas
and Oklahoma combined, as parks or reserves.
The country is home to neon-colored butterflies, fresh water dolphins,
jaguars, tapirs, red howler monkeys, black and yellow frogs, giant
anteaters, the world's largest eagle, the endangered harpy, and the
world's largest rodent, the capybara.
But enforcement of environmental laws, which was never strong, has
deteriorated in recent years.
Controversy erupted again in October when Pemon Indians knocked down
several towers that are part of a high-voltage electricity line the
government is building in rain forests in southeast Venezuela that are
supposed to be protected by environmental laws.
The line passes through Canaima National Park, the crown jewel of
Venezuela's parks system and one of 100 United Nations-designated
World Heritage Sites. It features the world's longest waterfall, Angel
Falls, and mysterious flat-topped mountains that inspired Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle's classic novel, ``The Lost World.''
The Indians say the power line will mar Canaima's breathtaking
landscape and spur widespread development by providing electricity to
mining companies that want to exploit huge gold deposits in the
region.
Officials say the projects will inflict little environmental damage
and that development of the region is needed to create jobs in the
oil-rich but impoverished nation. They say the $110 million
electricity project can't be stopped because Venezuela has signed
contracts to provide electricity to towns in neighboring Brazil.
President Chavez envisions moving millions of people out of teeming,
dangerous cities in northern Venezuela and creating population and
industrial centers in the sparsely populated east and south, where
much of the country's most spectacular wildlife lives.
Critics say the plan is a recipe for environmental catastrophe since
the region is already barely protected. Canaima, the sixth-largest
national park in the world, has 14 park rangers covering the 7.4
million-acre, Belgium-sized expanse. Most get around on rusty
bicycles.