ACTION ALERT

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Development Threatens Venezuela Rainforest

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

9/6/98

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

Following is Rainforest Action Network's September action alert, which

highlights Venezuelan disregard for indigenous rights and the rule of

environmental law. The Imataca Forest reserve and neighboring Canaima

National Park, in Eastern Venezuela's Oronoco River basin, are among

the richest tropical forest areas on earth; and are being threatened

by industrial development. Please take the time to respond to this

important action alert. You can send an email directly to Venezuela's

President from RAN's site at:

http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/aa/aa139.html

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Development Threatens Venezuela Rainforest

Source: Rainforest Action Network, Action Alert 139

Status: Distribute freely accredited to source

Date: September 1998

Fed up with the destruction of their traditional homeland, the

indigenous people of southern Venezuela are trying everything from

legal action to staging blockades to stem the tide of environmental

ruin. Imataca Forest reserve and neighboring Canaima National

Park, in Eastern Venezuela's Oronoco River basin, are among the

richest tropical forest areas on earth. The verdant region is home to

numerous indigenous populations, as well as to a wealth of rare and

endangered plant and animal species. But lax government policies and

unchecked industrial development are tearing open this once pristine

rainforest with massive mining, logging and construction projects -

and the area's traditional inhabitants are threatened with the loss of

home, health, and the very rainforest ecosystem they depend upon for

their survival.

Ignoring federal laws that require consulting with indigenous peoples

on land use decisions, Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera opened

nearly half of previously protected Imataca to large-scale logging and

mining in 1997. In addition, the required studies to assess the impact

of forest development on local communities and ecology were never

performed.

With support from Venezuela's Attorney General and congressional

Environmental Committee, the Indigenous Federation is petitioning the

Supreme Court to overturn Caldera's unilateral decision. Until then,

Imataca's inhabitants are powerless through standard means to protect

their land - an area the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode

Island combined.

Meanwhile, an irreplaceable rainforest is being destroyed. Mining

operations are poisoning waterways with mercury and cyanide used to

separate gold from rock, and loggers are cutting down vast tracts of

old growth trees. Imatac's indigenous population is further threatened

by a raging malaria epidemic, because recently logged areas and paths

for roads hewed into their forest create ideal breeding conditions for

mosquitoes.

Also part of the regional development plan is the construction of a

powerline to feed Imataca's new industries. The powerline will cut

directly through adjacent Canaima national park, a designated United

Nations World heritage Site. As in Imataca, the people of Canaima have

been completely excluded from land-use discussions, and no

environmental impact studies for the powerline have been completed.

Local inhabitants were kept in the dark until the bulldozers arrived.

Enraged by government inaction, and unwilling to wait for State courts

to process an injunction against the powerline, the indigenous

community of Canaima took matters into their own hands. In early

August, one-thousand people joined arms and formed a human blockade

across Canaima's main road, putting their own frail lives between the

bulldozers and their forest home. Sources in Canaima say the blockades

will continue until the case against the powerline is resolved.

"The forest is our home, our laboratory, our hospital, our

university," said a spokesman for the indigenous community. "It is the

sources of the knowledge we need to survive. Our fight is a fight in

defense of life"

What You Can Do!

Let Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera know that you want his

government to recognize indigenous rights and protect the rich

tropical rainforests of Imataca and Canaima.

You can email a letter to Venezuela President from RAN's site at:

http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/aa/aa139.html

or use the following addresses & fax codes:

Your Excellency President Rafael Caldera

Palacio de Miraflores

Carmelitas

Caracas, Venezuela

Fax: International Code + (58) 2 801 3644

Be sure to send a copy of your letter/fax to:

Senador Lucia Antillano,

Comision de Ambiente del Senado

Congreso Nacional

Caracas, Venezuela

Fax: International code + (58) 2 484-8134

Sample Letter:

Your Excellency President Rafael Caldera

Palacio de Mirafoloes

Carmelitas

Caracas, Venezuela

Dear President,

Venezuelan law recognizes the land rights of indigenous peoples, yet

recent plans to build a powerline through Canaima National Park, and

for commercial development in the Imataca Forest Reserve have ignored

their rights.

Please halt all further commercial development in these vital,

irreplaceable rainforests - and recognize the ancestral land rights of

the indigenous people, as well as their basic human right of self-

determination.

Venezuela's rainforests are among the richest and rarest on Earth. You

have the responsibility to preserve these forests for all mankind.

Sincerely,

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