Source: Look To The Stars
Three Amazon indigenous leaders have travelled to London to rally public, press and government support of their communities’ fight against socially and environmentally destructive mega-dams planned for the Amazon basin – gaining the support of Sting and Bianca Jagger.
Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, leader of the Suruí tribe of the Madeira River Basin, Brazil; Ruth Buendia Mestoquiari, President of Central Asháninka of the Ene River, Peru; and Sheyla Yakarepi Juruna, representative of the Juruna tribe of the Xingu River Basin, Brazil, have travelled to Olso, Geneva, Paris and now finally London to highlight the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights their peoples are facing with the planned construction of these Amazon mega-dams that will destroy enormous areas of rainforest and displace thousands of forest-dwelling peoples. The indigenous leaders are here with the support of the Rainforest Foundation UK, in conjunction with other NGOs Amazon Watch and International Rivers, with financial support from Rainforest Concern.
Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, leader of the Suruí tribe of the Madeira River Basin, Brazil; Ruth Buendia Mestoquiari, President of Central Asháninka of the Ene River, Peru; and Sheyla Yakarepi Juruna, representative of the Juruna tribe of the Xingu River Basin, Brazil, (pictured L-R from today’s press conference with Bianca Jagger)“In its voracious appetite for energy, and facing concerted opposition at home for its plans to dam rivers in the Amazon Basin, Brazil is now looking to colonise parts of neighbouring countries for energy production,” says Sting. “This does not solve the environmental problems caused by large dams in rainforests nor reduce the impacts on indigenous people – it merely exports them. Peru’s Asháninka people have been granted the legal rights to their land in the Peruvian Amazon, and this should not be arbitrarily overturned by a Brazilian company, in defiance of international law on the rights of indigenous peoples.”
The Brazilian Government’s mega-dam plans in the Xingu, Madeira, and Tapajós river basins including the controversial Belo Monte Dam and the Madeira Dam Complex – both in the Brazilian Amazon – and six dam projects including the Pakitzapango Dam in the Peruvian Amazon, threaten many different indigenous and non-indigenous communities, many of which have been living in these forests for thousands of years. The delegation is hoping to ensure respect for the rights of local populations whose livelihoods depend on these riverine ecosystems, while highlighting alternatives to these projects for meeting Brazil’s and Peru’s energy needs.
The delegation hopes to encourage European governments to utilise their abilities to influence Brazilian energy policy, but also to place pressure on the European stakeholders and the main financier of these projects – the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) – to refrain or withdraw their support.
Ruth Buendia Mestoquiari, President of Central Asháninka Del Rio Ene, Peru said: “The Brazilian Government is exporting a false development model to my people by pressuring the Peruvian Government to build dams on our lands and using its development bank and its companies to implement these projects that will only bring more poverty, not development. The Brazilian Development Bank is financing projects that are deeply affecting the peace of my community in the central Peruvian jungle. They are not worried that these projects will force my people from their land and end our way of life.”
