In June 1995, upon an appeal for urgent action from the IRN, International
Rivers Network, San Francisco, Cal., USA a group of Swedish professionals
endorsed a draft letter, written by the undersigned to the Brazilian
President, Dr FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO, requesting caution in the
implementation of plans for damming the Pantanal River, Northern Amazonas.
The letter and the appeal were subsequentley endorsed by other collegues
and, more recently by the Swedish Chapter of Peace Quest, a well-established
organization with activities in a number of countries. A meeting was held on
October 10 at the Brazilian Embassy in Stockholm between the undersigned,
our assistant Mr Jose Campos and the Press and Information Officer of the
Embassy Mr Juco MARCELO.
A detailed account of the meeting is available.
In summary, it was agreed that the Embassy would seek further information on
the queries contained in the letter and appeal, assure that an answer be
forthcoming from appropriate agencies and that the contact with Peace Quest
should be established. The discussion centered on Brazil's role in
ecological protection, caution in regard to indigenius groups whose rights
are safeguarded new Constitution and on Brazil's role in peace keeping
operations.
EcoLingua would further investigate the issue, including the role of Norsk
Hydro in the joint venture which is pushing for the damming of the Rio
Pantanal.
Claes Croner
phone and fax: +46 8 658 43 00