Venezuela's Yanomani Biosphere Reserve
7/12/91
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Topic 119 VENEZUELA: YANOMAMI BIOSPHERE RESER
gn:dte rainfor.general 12:11 pm Jul 12, 1991
Subject: VENEZUELA: YANOMAMI BIOSPHERE RESERVE
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WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
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* Note: this information sheet is based on preliminary data. As
soon as more information emerges, updates will be issued.
Please treat this information as provisional.
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INFORMATION SHEET 12 JULY 1991
VENEZUELA
NEW BIOSPHERE RESERVE FOR THE UPPER ORINOCO
A very large new 'Biosphere Reserve' has been established in the
Upper Orinoco, in Venezuelan Amazonia. The new 'Reserva de
Biosfera Orinoco-Casiquiare' encloses a total area of some
83,000 km2. Final publication of the Presidential Decree, which
has already been signed and which establishes this 'Area Bajo
Regimen de Administracion Especial' is expected shortly.
Proposals to provide a regime of special protection for the area
have been under discussion in Venezuela since 1980, when the
notion of a Biosphere Reserve for the Upper Orinoco was first
raised. Impetus for the idea gained ground last year with repeated
intrusions into the area by Brazilian miners who have been panning
for gold in the upper reaches of the Orinoco and Matakuni rivers.
These invasions have created serious problems for the 21,000
Yanomami Indians, whose lands straddle the Venezuelan-Brazilian -
border. In Brazil, the invasion by miners has led to some 1,500
Yanomami Indian deaths from introduced diseases. A survey
carried out in May 1991 showed that 50% of the Indians in the
headwaters are suffering from malaria. The cross-border mining
invasions have brought similar problems to the Venezuelan
Yanomami.
The new Venezuelan Biosphere Reserve, which embraces a large part
of the territories of the Yanomami and Yekuana Indians, includes
the greater part of the Upper Orinoco area. The
reserve extends as as far west as the watershed between the
Cunucunuma river and the Ventuari river, and to the west bank
of the Casiquiare, as far south as the Pasimoni River up to its
source on the Brazilian border, which makes up the south and
eastern limits of the Reserve.
The Reserve is a composite made up of several other protected
areas. Two National Parks, that were established in the 1970s and
1980s, now fall within the embrace of the Biosphere Reserve. The
two National Parks - Duida-Marahuaca and Sierra de Neblina - are
high mountain regions, essentially uninhabited though occacionally
entered by Indians for the collection of plants for special use
such as canes for blowguns.
The Biosphere Reserve also encloses three 'Monumentos
Nacionales' established, along with a large number of others
outside the new Reserve, by Decree 1,233 on 18 January 1991. The
small areas are there to protect three other 'tepuis' -
high sandstone mesas - 'Vinilla-Aratitiyope', 'Sierra Unturan' and
'Serrania Tapirapeco-Cerro Tamacuari'.
The entire eastern half of the Biosphere Reserve, is in
addition designated as the 'Parque Nacional Parima-Tapirapeco'. It
encloses the basins of the Matakuni river, the Mavaca, the Upper
Siapa as far west as the Sierra Neblina National Park. This area
encloses a large part of the Yanomami Indians of the Upper
Orinoco.
Apparently, the Decree establishing the National Park, which was
thought necessary as it permanently prohibits mining in the area,
makes special provisions to allow the Yanomami to
continue their traditional economic activities.
The Biosphere Reserve is to be managed by a large
UNESCO-supervised commission, which is to include Indian
representatives, under the authority of the Autonomous Service for
the Development of the Federal Amazon Terrirory
(SADA-AMAZONAS). SADA-AMAZONAS was set up by the Ministry of the
Environment and Natural Resources by Decree N0. 272 of 9 June
1989. It is associated with a new research centre being built at
La Esmeralda - the Amazon Center of Environmental
Research 'Alejandro Humbold'.