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Eco-Alert
Listen to audio file Gilberto Gil / Jeff Gardner: http://www.afrojazz.com/audiohtml/JeffGardnerSaveTheEarth.html
Rain Forest Petition 2000
Contributed by Ihana, 06/09/00:
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Brazilian congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the Amazon forest to 50% of its size. The area to be deforested is 4 times the size of Portugal and would be mainly used for agriculture and pastures for live stock.
All the wood is to be sold to international markets in the form of wood chips, by multinational companies...
The truth is that the soil in the Amazon forest is useless without the forest itself. Its quality is very acidic and the region is prone to constant floods. At this time more than 160.000 square kilometers deforested with the same purpose, are abandoned and in the process of becoming deserts.
We cannot let this happen. Copy the text into a new email, put your complete name in the list below, and send to everyone you know. (Don't just forward it cos then it will end up with rows of >>>'s )
If you are the 100th person to sign please send a copy to fsaviolo@openlink.com.br |
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Guide's note: The information in this message was essentially correct, but is now outdated. According to the BBC, the Brazilian Congress has already dropped the proposal to reduce the percentage of protected forests (as of May 17, 2000).
The email address to which completed petitions are to be sent is NO longer active. fsaviolo@openlink.com.br
http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/blrainforest.htm
 http://www.planetark.org
Iguacu Falls, the majestic waterfalls on the border with Argentina and Paraguay.
In the July 2000 accident, a broken pipeline oozed 1 million gallons (4 million liters) of crude down the Iguacu River in southern Brazil, the longest waterfalls worldwide, contaminating ecological reserves on its banks. CURITIBA - Workers raced to contain Brazil's biggest oil spill in 25 years as it flowed down the southern Iguacu River, endangering drinking water, farm land and animal life along a 140-mile (230 km) stretch.
The Ogoni in Nigeria accuse Shell to continue to put profits before human rights at Niger Delta. http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/enindex.html
Global Warming : Although many people think global warming is a fantasy, more and more scientists are becoming convinced of its dangers…global warming is a reality..... an intergovernmental panel on climate change said about ocean rising, "a meter rise by 2010 would render some islands inhabitable, displace tens of millions of people, threaten low lying urban areas, flood productive land, contaminate fresh water supplies, and change coastlines.
Read more: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4402/GWresearch-paper.html
U'wa Campaign : TAKE ACTION FOR THE U'WA! http://www.amazonwatch.org/
"We will in no way sell our Mother Earth, to do so would be to give up our work of collaborating with the spirits to protect the heart of the world, which sustains and gives life to the rest of the universe, it would be to go against our own origins, and those of all existence." - Statement of the U'wa People, August 1998
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/beyond_oil/oxy/index.html
2000 November 3, Los Angeles-based oil company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) began test drilling on the ancestral territory of the U'wa people in Colombia. The U'wa have spent the last eight years working to halt Occidental's project, which they believe will have devastating social and environmental repercussions for their people and their land.
"The government says this oil production will bring development for the country," said U'wa President Roberto Perez. "But it will also destroy the region environmentally, ecologically, and culturally."
Rain Forest Network, San Francisco : http://www.ran.org/
BBC, UK, 17 May '00
Rumble in the Jungle
The conservation of the remaining Amazonian rainforest - home to about 50 percent of the world's plant and animal species - received two further blows today with news of renewed oil exploration in Colombia and logging in Brazil.
In Colombia, the Superior Court in Bogota finally gave the go-ahead to American firm Occidental Petroleum to drill for oil on rainforest land claimed by the U'wa indigenous tribe. Occidental claim that there is as much as $35 billion of untapped oil on the site which would bring revenues of $900 million a year to the cash-strapped Colombian government.
However the 8,000 strong U'wa tribe is vehemently against the operation, threatening mass suicide to halt the project when it was first announced in 1995. They believe that oil exploration involves sucking dry the blood of mother-earth.
Occidental is a major backer of the American Democratic party. Indeed presidential candidate Al Gore is one of its main shareholders. Despite his so-called green credentials, Gore has repeatedly refused to intervene in the case. Instead, the US government has played a pivotal role in persuading the Colombians to overturn the initial decision to block the oil development. Occidental have a terrible environmental record in Colombia; oil spills from its Caño Limon pipeline, just north of U'wa land, have polluted rivers and lakes. A report by The Colombian Oil Workers' Union in 1997 described Caño Limon as "the best example that petroleum exploitation should not be permitted [on the U'wa land] at any price."
In Brazil, the Congress is due to decide next week on a bill that would drastically cut the amount of the Amazon that is legally protected from logging. At present 80 per cent of the remaining forest is in reserves. The new bill proposes reducing this figure to 50 per cent.
Environmentalists said the plan to cut the Amazon reserve area would turn back the clock five years. Logging and other destruction of rain forest has been gradually reduced from about 30,000 square km - about the size of Belgium - in 1995, to roughly 17,000 square km in 1999.
Fortunately for the forest, the Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is very much opposed to the legislation, promising to veto the bill even if it is passed by congress. "I am sure lawmakers will think and act like all Brazilians who love the Amazon," he said. "We will fight to maintain 80 percent of the environmental reserve area of the Amazon forest."
Martin Dallimer
Update: Brazilian Amazon safe, for now
The Brazilian Congress yesterday dropped the proposed bill that threatened to drastically reduce the amount of the Amazon rainforest legally protected from logging (see yesterday's news story ). However Congress still has plans to alter the way the Amazon is protected. "This is not the final victory, now we have to co-ordinate more closely with Congress," said a spokeswoman for the WWF . "We will not let the issue die, we will continue our campaign."
May 18, 2000 from the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
…the 8,000 strong U'wa tribe threatened mass suicide to halt the project when it was first announced in 1995. They believe that oil exploration involves sucking dry the blood of mother-earth.
¡¡¡Esto es importante para todos nosotros!!!
El congreso brasileño está votando ahora en un proyecto que reducirá el el bosque de la amazonia a 50% de su tamaño.
El área a ser despoblada de árboles (desarbolizada) es 4 veces el tamaño de Portugal y sería principalmente usada para la agricultura y pasturas del ganado...Toda la madera será vendida a los mercados internacionales en la forma de madera corta, para las compañías multinacionales...
La verdad es que la tierra del bosque de la amazonia es inútil sin el propio bosque. Su calidad es muy agria y la región es prona a los diluvios constantes. En este momento más de 160.000 kilómetros cuadrados fueron despoblados de árboles con el mismo propósito, y estan abandonados en proceso de desertificación.
Isto é importante para todos nós!!!
O Congresso brasileiro está votando agora em um projeto que reduzirá a árvores da Amazonia a 50% de seu tamanho. A área a ser desflorestada é 4 vezes o tamanho de Portugal e seria usada principalmente para a agricultura e pastos para o gado...
Toda a madeira será vendida para mercados internacionais na forma de madeira lascada, através de companhias multinacionais...
A verdade é que a terra na floresta amazonica é inútil sem a própria floresta. Sua qualidade é muito ácida e a região é propensa para inundações constantes. Neste momento mais de 160.000 quilômetros quadrados foram desflorestados com o mesmo propósito, estãoabandonados e no processo de desertificação.
Para que la vida continue ... Conservemos el agua, el suelo, y los bosques.
…el pueblo U'wa seguimos en posicion firme a la no explotación de recursos en nuestro territorio Ancestral y Sagrado.
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/beyond_oil/oxy/index.html
Ceci est important pour chacun de nous ! ! !
Le congres brésilien est en train de voter un projet de loi qui aura pour conséquence une réduction de 50% de la surface de la forêt amazonienne. Cette déforestation serait équivalente à 4 fois la superficie du Portugal et servirait à l'agriculture ( monoculture ) et l'élevage.
Tout le bois sera vendu sur le marché international sous la forme de copeaux par des multinationales…
Chacun sait que le sol de la forêt primaire est inexploitable sans la forêt elle-même, trop acide et sujet à des inondations régulières. A l'heure actuelle plus de 160000 km² ont déjà été détruit dans le même objectif et se transforment maintenant en désert abandonnés.
Novembre 2000 : La justice colombienne ne défends plus la propriété ancestrale de la tribu U'wa, convoitée par la compagnie pétrolière Oxy …de la famille d ‘ Al Gore !!!
Dans une forêt humide dont la tribu U'wa revendique la propriété ancestrale. En May 2000, selon la justice colombienne, les U'wa n'avaient pas été correctement informés et consultés à propos du développement du projet.
L'entreprise américaine Oxy et son partenaire local, l'entreprise nationale colombienne Ecopetrol, envisagent de faire appel de cette décision. Les U'wa occupaient le site test du forage depuis novembre 1999, soutenus par des groupes écologistes internationaux. Des activistes écologistes et défenseurs des droits de l'Homme / l'Humain avaient également occupé le domicile et le bureau de Ray Irani, président de la compagnie pétrolière américaine. Celui-ci a immédiatement porté plainte pour la perturbation de sa vie familiale et a demandé des dommages et intérêts pour "stress émotionnel substantiel". Atossa Soltani, directeur d'Amazon Watch, une organisation américaine de veille citoyenne, a souligné l'ironie de cette situation où Ray Irani tente de stopper les protestations autour de son domicile alors qu'il est en passe d'envahir le territoire ancestral des U'wa...
http://www.planetark.org/searchresults.cfm?criteria=U%27wa&sortorder=rel
http://www.planetark.org
http://www.amazonwatch.org/
Das ist für uns alle wichtig ! ! !
Der brasilianische Kongress wird über ein Projekt entscheiden, welches die Reduzierung des Regenwaldes am Amazonas durch Abholzung um 50 % des zur Zeit bestehenden Territoriums beinhaltet. Die Zone, die für die Abholzung geplant ist, entspricht einer Fläche, die insgesamt 4 mal so gross wie die Gesamtfläche Portugals ist. Der Vorwand zur Rechtfertigung dieses Projekts ist die Nutzung dieser Fläche für die Landwirtschaft und Viehzucht. Das gesamte Holz, das durch die Abholzung gewonnen wird, wird als Sägemehl auf externen Märkten verkauft; über ausländische Holzgrosshändler. Offensichtlich werden die brasilianischen Einwohner dadurch auch ( oft mit Hilfe von illegalen Methoden , selbst durch Töten ) von ihrem Land vertrieben, nur die multinationalen Eliten werden bereichert - und dies auf Kosten eines unschätzbaren Welt- Kultur- und Naturerbes unseres Planeten Erde…Jedoch ist der Grund und Boden des Amazonasgebiets ohne Regenwald wirtschaftlich unbrauchbar. Die fruchtbare Schicht des Bodens ist sehr dünn und es ist saurer Boden. Die Region wird oft von Überschwemmungen heimgesucht, die einen landwirtschaftlichen Anbau praktisch unmöglich machen. Dieser Regen schwemmt den wenig fruchtbaren Boden weg und es kommt zu zerstörerischen Erosionen. Durch das Verschwinden des Regenwaldes am Amazonas kommt es auch nicht mehr zu Regenfällen in diesem Gebiet und die Region wird nach und nach zur Wüste.
Bis heute wurden bereits 160.000 km2 aus oben genannten Zwecken abgeholzt und nun liegen diese Flächen brach, da sie im Begriff sind, zur Wüste zu werden. Unersetzliche Schätze des Regenwald am Amazonas gehen für immer verloren, eine Vielzahl von teilweise noch unbekannten Heilpflanzen und Tieren werden vom Aussterben bedroht. Die Gleichgewichtsstörungen im Klima des Planeten Erde, die bereits Naturkatastrophen hervorgerufen haben,Überschwemmungen, zerstörerische Dürre, Stürme von ungeahnten Stärken sind teilweise auf die gleiche Ursache zurückzuführen: die Zerstörung des Regenwaldes am Amazonas in Brasilien.
…die 8000 U'wa Indianer/innen haben mit kollektivem Selbstmord gedroht um dieses Projekt aufzuhalten. Auch glauben die U'wa, dass durch die Ölgewinnung das Blut der Mutter Erde ausgesaugt wird. |
MIDEM, Cannes, France : 20 - 25 january 2001
: Paris
Musique Info Hebdo, Nr 85
Roberto Fonseca
