Student 25

 

 

                                             The Rainforest Summit Research Paper

 

                                                        Character: Indigenous People

 

 

As a character in the Rainforests, the indigenous people believe that the Rainforests should be preserved and that they should not be evacuated from their homelands.  These lands are much more than just their culture; it is their way of life.  If they are stripped from that, their civilizations will in essence die out.  The indigenous people are located deep in the Amazon Rainforest.  They feel that no one has the right to come into the rainforest and destroy it for their own personal use.  The depleting of the rainforest is out of control.  If nothing is done to try and save it then not only the indigenous people will suffer but the entire human race and the rest of the world will eventually die out.

 

The indigenous people play an important role in the Rainforest.  They hold the true understanding of living off of the land and not over using it.  They understand that life is so much more than trying to get everything that they want.  Indigenous families take care of each other, and their communities are tightly woven together.  Another role that the indigenous people play in the Rainforest is that they hold fast to a lot of culture and even modern day cures for some diseases.  Unlike the animals of the rainforest, you can move the indigenous people.  In the article of the International Covenant on the Rights of Indigenous Nations, it says in the Principles of the conduct of Nations and relations with States, in Part II, Paragraph 9: AIndigenous Nations shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.  No relocations shall take place without free informed consent of the peoples concerned and not until after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.1@  As you can see this clearly states that the Indigenous nations cannot and should not be removed from their lands.  Also in Part IV it discuses the right to the land, territories and place.  In Paragraph 25 it talks about how if indigenous lands are taken, occupied, used or damaged then the people have the right for fair compensation.  If you were to take a minute and observe the indigenous people, you would understand that they are very knowledgeable people.  They have learned not just how to survive, but also how to treat illnesses that they have come in contact with.  Indigenous people also feel that there are so many diseases that maybe able to be cured if you were to do research with the different plants and animals instead of tearing it all down and wasting it.  One thing that you must remember about the rainforest is that once it is gone, it will be gone forever.  The indigenous people have always taken what they needed and then replenished the earth.  We need to be thinking of not only ourselves but also future generations.

 

The indigenous people are willing and not willing to compromise on some specific aspects of the depletion of the rainforest.  The indigenous people of the Amazon are unwilling to compromise on the timber companies and mining companies that are destroying parts of their homeland.  The timber companies must be more conservative with what they are doing and take responsibility for every tree that they cut down and every animals=s home that they destroy.  They should only be allowed to cut down what they have replenished.  Timber companies also need to slow down the number of trees that they are cutting down and the areas that they are cutting down.  We have accounts of timber companies extracting mahogany trees from indigenous lands.  In this article it also says that even though the Brazilian Constitution prohibits timber companies from taking these trees from these areas, they have been given a Afree hand@ to take them thanks to the state governors, politicians and groups opposed to the rights of the indigenous people.  Mining companies have also been invading our territories.  We also have accounts of mining companies extracting resources from our lands.  There are some thirty thousand-research projects that have occurred in indigenous lands that were not and are not legal.  Every time that one of these operations is approved, they not only increase the loss of our land but also it would interfere with our way of life.  We feel that we are being violated and taken advantage of by companies that are greedy and self-centered.

 

One item that the indigenous people are willing to compromise on is the extraction of oil in the area know as ABlock 16".  We understand that there is an oil reserve in the area know as Block 16.  In return for extracting the oil, we expect to receive an amount of money for the use of our lands and when the extraction is complete, Conoco, Inc. is also expected to replant the area.  We also expect Conoco to be environmental aware of what is happening at and around the excavation site.  If we determine that anything is harming the surrounding environment, we then will send a letter of the infraction and expect it to be corrected in the time allotted.  If the problem is not corrected, then we have the ability to terminate the company and the excavation of oil in the region Block 16.  We also are willing to compromise with scientist that want to come to indigenous lands and talk with them about ways to cure diseases.  They are extremely knowledgeable of the different plants and wildlife that are used to cure illnesses.  This compromise will help cure people and hopefully find cures to diseases that are still unknown.

 

The results of the deforestation of the rainforest could be tragic and harmful of the well being of the indigenous people in the lands.  The rainforest is the home of so many different groups of indigenous people and they depend on the rainforest for everything from food and shelter to medicine and weapons.  Another negative outcome would be that they could lose their identities and their culture.  Indigenous nations would also have to learn how to live outside the rainforest, which could be tragic.  The negative outcomes of deforestation are so numerous and the list goes on and on, but there are a few positive outcomes.  The fact that the indigenous tribes would become more globalized can be considered a positive outcome because that would connect them to the world.  We think that the best way to look at this situation is to put yourself in their shoes.  Would you want to be taken from you home with your family and friends and then put into a strange land or even be confined to just barely enough land to live on?  Not only are we trying to save the indigenous people, but we are also trying to save the world.  If they have to leave their homes and it is then destroyed, then the Alungs of the world@ are also extinct.  That could cause major problems for the world as a whole and not just indigenous land.

 

The indigenous people of the Rainforests have good and bad relationships with people that are coming into the territories.  The scientists that are coming into the Amazon are extracting the knowledge of the plants, animals, and other items for cures of diseases and illnesses.  The indigenous people have no problem sharing their knowledge with the scientist and the two groups have a good relationship.  The only draw back is the indigenous people need to be paid for their knowledge and their help.  Other than that the two groups are working well together to not only better the world but humankind as well.  The indigenous people are not only sharing their knowledge of the rainforests, but they are also sharing their culture with the scientist.  There are several groups that the indigenous groups have problems with, though.  They have a problem with timber companies coming in and destroying the canopy and the rainforests as a whole.  They also have a problem with oil companies coming in and extracting oil from indigenous lands when they don=t have permission.  Another group that they are in conflict with is the government not protecting the rights of the indigenous land and the people that live on them.  Some governmental agencies are allowing companies to come in and destroy the lands.  Finally we would like to express our concern because we feel that you can find other places to have farms rather than clearing the rainforests.  The rainforests is being deleted at a rate that is life threatening to the indigenous civilizations and the world as a whole.  It is estimated that the beautiful tropical forests are being destroyed at a rate of around 80 acres every minute.  In only one years time this destruction is about the same size of the sate of Florida.

 

As you can see the indigenous people in the rainforest are so important to the regions that they live in.  They have a bond between them and the land that they live on.  If the indigenous people are moved from their lands, then their culture will have forever been erased.  The indigenous people only know the ways of the rainforests and if they are expelled from the rainforests, they will also be like the rainforests and become extinct.  If the rainforests is taken advantage of, then the world will be faced with some catastrophic problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                     Work Sited

 

 

Internet:

 

www.latinsynergy.org/rainforest.1.htm

 

http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/66.htm

 

http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/gopher/brazil/brcomapp.txt.

 

Http://www.cwis.org/icrin-94.html

 

 

Magazines:

 

Rocha, Jan. ABrazil Fights to Save Biodiversity.@  British Medical Journal (International)

January 8, 1994: 78-79.

 

Tree, Isabella.  AIn Search of a Cure.@  Geographical June 1989: 4-5.

 

ARainforest Alliance.@  Rainforest Alliance Brochure 1995: 1