Ecobreves – Jungle in Danger

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Jan 14 2001 (IPS) - Mexico's federal government must intervene in the dispute between peasant farmers and indigenous peoples over the Chimalapas jungle, a conflict that threatens to destroy an area that is unique in the world, warns the non-governmental group 'Maderas del Pueblo' (Woods of the People). Indigenous people have held titles of community ownership since 1687, but farmers arriving after 1970 are now laying claim to the Chimalapas, a largely undisturbed 1,705 square km jungle, points out Miguel García, the local 'Maderas' coordinator.

The peasant farmers refuse to recognize the community property rights of the natives, and cut down the trees and burn vegetation in order to farm the land, using methods that are environmentally unsustainable, García said.

Indigenous groups maintain that the land is part of the state of Oaxaca, but the farmers argue that it is part of Chiapas.

Chimalapas receives 35 percent of the rain that falls in Mexico, according to several studies, and it is home to the source of the country's four most important rivers