Environmentalists Join Indians
Rainforest Alliance (canopy@igc.apc.org)
Mon, 19 Oct 1992 14:22:00 PDT
Editors: This article may be used as is or modified, with or
without credit to the Tropical Conservation Newsbureau -- After
Columbus Day Hoopla -- ENVIRONMENTALISTS JOIN CENTRAL AMERICAN
INDIANS IN FIGHT FOR BRIGHTER, GREENER FUTURE SAN JOSE, Costa
Rica, October 23, 1992 -- Now that the Columbus Day celebrations
and protests are over, many Indian leaders in Central America hope
that we can stop glorifying the past and begin looking toward the
future. "It's good to think about it (the Conquest), but it's time
to stop hitting that dead horse," says Armstrong Wiggins, a
spokesman for the Miskito, who live along the Caribbean shores of
Honduras and Nicaragua. "It's time for Indian leaders to think
seriously about the challenges ahead -- the next 500 years." Some
indigenous communities were energized by the Columbus
Quincentenary, using the occasion to remind the world that, for
most Indians, the landing of the Ni$a, Pinta and Santa Mar!a marked
the beginning of five centuries of repression. Most native peoples
in the Americas simply ignored the Columbus hoopla, because they
were too busy with daily survival chores. The Quincentenary did
much to raise awareness among the public. But even with this new
sensitivity, leaders of indigenous peoples know that it will be
difficult to lift themselves out of poverty, so they are reaching
out. Powerful new coalitions of Indians and non-Indians are
forming to fight for native lands and rights. In addition to human
rights advocates, these coalitions now include conservationists.
Cultural Survival, a U.S.-based advocacy group, argues that saving
the environment, protecting cultures and defending human rights are
all parts of the same cause. Recently, this case was neatly
presented by mapmakers from Cultural Survival and the National
Geographic Society. By placing a map of indigenous homelands in
Central America over a map of the remaining forests, the
researchers discovered that, to a striking degree, the maps are the
same. The resulting map, "The Coexistence of Indigenous Peoples
and the Natural Environment," was published by the National
Geographic Society. The principal author of the map is Mac Chapin
of Cultural Survival. He says, "We were able to show that all
those green areas on the map are full of native peoples and always
have been -- yet they are still green." Outside of indigenous
homelands, most of Central America is deforested and eroded, shown
as spreading brown stains on the map. Keeping the brown from
swallowing up the remaining green spaces is the central challenge
for indigenous peoples. Central America was once entirely
forested. Two-thirds of the forests are now gone, and the
deforestation increases every year. "The last remaining stands of
tropical rainforests, with the Indians still living inside them,
are falling before waves of loggers, cattle ranchers and peasant
farmers," Chapin says. While non-natives may lament the loss of
rainforests, it is a matter of life and death for many native
groups. Chapin says, "The Indians know that if the forests
disappear, so do their way of life, their cultural identity, and
their economic base." As non-natives are forced to leave
overcrowded cities and degraded farmlands, they see the rainforest
-- those green areas on the map -- as lands of opportunity.
"Non-Indian farmers, agencies, governments and even
environmentalists look at Indian land as 'virgin' territory," says
Wiggins. Chapin and Wiggins agree that Indians are not perfect
land stewards, but they are far better than the onrushing hordes of
unskilled peasant farmers and the governments and companies with
grand plans for such enterprises as logging or oil production.
Chapin, who has long studied the indigenous peoples of Central
America, says that the systems of agriculture they have developed
over the centuries are much more environmentally benign than those
still practiced by Spanish descendants with their penchant for
cattle. Equally important, Chapin says, "When Indians use natural
resources, they are thinking about the common good, not individual
gain. They feel a responsibility to the community." Saving
tropical environments, Chapin insists, "must be a joint effort
between conservationists and Indians." Central America, renowned
for its biological diversity, is also a stronghold of cultural
variety. Chapin counts about 43 distinct groups, making up a
population of about 5 million people, or 20 percent of the total
population of the region. Except for the large number of Maya that
live in Guatemala's western highlands and a few Pacific-Coast
groups, most of Central America's indigenous peoples live along the
Caribbean shore, which, not coincidentally, still has large areas
of lush rainforest. Contacts: Mac Chapin at Cultural Survival:
703/243-0230. Armstrong Wiggins at the Indian Law Resource Center:
202/547-2800. The map of Central American indigenous homelands and
natural areas can be ordered from Cultural Survival, 215 First
Street, Cambridge, MA 02142 for $11.45; includes shipping.