Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Indians Want Pay for Forest Care

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 5 2007 (IPS) - Indigenous groups — fisherfolk and rubber tappers in the Brazilian Amazon — have relaunched the Aliança dos Povos da Floresta (Alliance of Forest Peoples – APF), founded in the 1980s, to demand recognition of their role in the preservation of the jungle and of the world's climate. At a recent seminar in the Amazonian city of Manaus, its leaders approved a manifesto in favor of international remuneration for halting deforestation and announced the creation of their own approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We want more than payment for maintaining the forests,” but rather public policies that “consider the human beings who live in the Amazon,” improving the quality of life, Jecinaldo Cabral, leader of the federation of indigenous organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, told Tierramérica.

The APF will hold its second national meeting in September, he said.