Saturday, December 19, 2009

Better late than never, a re-post of a fan favorite blog!

In Leticia – on the way back to Amacayacu after a month in US, with bits in Bogotá coming and going. Buying monster food to take back to the monsters and URGENT – a new baby bottle for Pauli, the reddish sea monkey; going to the bank, running around, and greeting/ debriefing/updating intensely before catching the public fast boat early this afternoon. This’ll be quick.

Leoncio called yesterday and said Surba, the adult woolly who has the most seniority in the troop (she was confiscated in the Leticia airport as a baby) has disappeared. I wasn’t worried; she’s reached the age of dispersal and has clearly been restless. Too bad she couldn’t have waited until we could give her a boost into the interior of the park where the wild woollies won’t be quite so remote, pero bueno. Last night, I find out that he called another friend with a heads-up about somebody who’d been in Macedonia (one of the communities near Amacayacu), looking for monkeys to sell…or something….the jungle telegraph leaves a lot to the imagination. Ack. She’s not a cute little baby, but a nice fat adult – as in, “tastes a lot like chicken!”

I go to the port to check out the balsas where people from the communities tie up and bump into a friend from Macedonia, whom I ask for information. Turns out there’s a baby woolly in Macedonia (where supposedly they don`t hunt woollies any more). This news doesn’t exactly make me happy, but it’s a less dire reading of Leoncio’s message than what I was fearing. Later he calls – forgot to include laundry soap on the list – and I ask what’s going on. He says there’s a guy from the kilómetros (the communities along the road that goes out from Leticia) who’d been looking for monkeys to buy to have on hand for tourists, and that they’d gone back to Leticia through the forest and not on the river.

So… I’ve got to go the bank before it closes or the world will come to an end. Surba is no dummy. I hope she’s avoided them and any stray harpy eagle, and that the baby in Macedonia will survive.

Paradise it ain’t. And I am really glad to be back! As a billboard in the Boston subway put it: “Why be cold and wet, when you can be warm and wet?” Why ever?

Happy Christmas.

-Sara Bennett

Friday, December 18, 2009

Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities & Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen

The Amazon Conservation Team has teamed with Google Earth Outreach and The Jane Goodall Instituteto create a very cool virtual tour of communities in Tanzania and Brazil who are impacted by, and working innovatively on, deforestation. They have presented Speaking for the Forests - Indigenous Communities Google Earth Outreach – Partnering in Redd in Copenhagen. Narrated by Jane Goodall, the 6-minute virtual journey provides good insights into the issue of deforestation on both continents. You have to have Google Earth on your computer to watch this, but it’s worth downloading. The file is here.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Striking a deal in Copenhagen


As the conference winds down, the countries of the world are scrambling to strike a deal.

The developing nations claim – correctly – that the industrialized nations have generated most of the pollution believed to be causing climate change. These developing countries believe the industrialized world should provide massive funding to mitigate or halt climate change.

The industrialized world claims – correctly – that enormous transfer of wealth guarantee nothing without better safeguards that monies will be spent efficiently and effectively.

Further complicating this dilemma is the fact that some large developing countries are extremely wealthy and are generating enormous amounts of pollutants themselves.

These are major sticking points, but there are many other challenges and nuances. For example, what is the role of indigenous peoples? If an enormous fund is established to protect the rainforests, does a piece of the action go to the Indians, or does all the money go to national government (or state governments? Or NGOS? etc. etc.) Can indigenous people negotiate conservation accords on their own (so-called “subnational rights”) or does everything have to go through national governments?


And what is the role of monitoring? Several governments, still smarting from a legacy of colonialism, loathe the concept of industrialized nations checking to see whether these developing nations are keeping their promises in terms of protecting forests or emitting pollutants. Industrialized nations argue that accepting major funding to modify carbon output or carbon capture means that you must agree to be monitored. The discussion continues…

Some of the best news of the conference comes from the technological world: we can remotely monitor down to the level of a single tree in many forests of the world. Yet agreements need to be reached on the role of monitoring if this technology is to prove as useful as it can be. And enhanced forest monitoring without enhanced forest protection would ultimately prove futile.


-Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

ACT at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen


The nations of the world have assembled in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the Amazon Conservation Team is honored to be in attendance. The sights, sounds, colors, hues, national dress and emotions combine into a crazy kaleidoscope reminiscent of the cantina scene in “Star Wars”.

Copenhagen is a warm and welcoming city, but is struggling to accommodate so many visitors. The lack of hotel rooms is so severe that some people have had to book accommodations in neighboring Sweden! And lines to register for the conference are so long that some attendees have waited over five hours to check in.

Nevertheless, there is much optimism that so many people have come from all corners of the planet to grapple with one of the greatest issues of our time. That same optimism is balanced by cynicism, nationalism, resentment, hostility and fear – the glass of progress here is both half full and half empty. That this conference is taking place is indeed a tremendous achievement; whether it will result in a sea change towards the issue of climate change is yet to be decided.

Last night, my colleagues and I attended a gathering organized by our friends from the Skoll Foundation. For me, the highlight was listening to a conversation on the future of the forest between former Vice-President Al Gore and Chief Almir of the Suruí tribe in Brazil. The former VP cautioned Chief Almir to be careful, pointing out that forest protection could be a dangerous job. Chief Almir invited the Vice-President to visit the Suruí territory in western Brazil and observe the work firsthand. And the Vice-President congratulated the Chief and his partners at the Amazon Conservation Team for mapping and protecting the forest with the help of Google Earth.

Presently, ACT Brazil Director Vasco van Roosmalen is hard at work with our colleagues at the Jane Goodall Institute to complete a “Rainforest Tour” which will be featured on Google Earth. The tour – which should be posted later this week – will be narrated by Jane Goodall herself. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments

The following is adapted from November 29th article by Rhett A. Butler of Mongabay.com.



A new handbook lays out the methodology for cultural mapping, providing indigenous groups with a powerful tool for defending their land and culture, while enabling them to benefit from some 21st century advancements. Cultural mapping may also facilitate indigenous efforts to win recognition and compensation under a proposed scheme to mitigate climate change through forest conservation. The scheme—known as REDD for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation—will be a central topic of discussion at next month's climate talks in Copenhagen, but concerns remain that it could fail to deliver benefits to forest dwellers.

Much of the Amazon rainforest remains occupied by tribal groups. While few of these live as conjured in the imagination, the state of the forests in their territories is a testament to their approach to managing lands. But like the Amazon itself, these groups face new pressures from the outside world. For the indigenous, the lure of urban culture is strong—cities seem to offer the promise of affluence and the conveniences of an easy life. But in leaving their forest homes indigenous peoples are usually met with a stark reality: the skills that serve them so well in the forest don’t translate well to an urban setting. The odds are stacked against them; they arrive near the bottom of the social ladder, often not proficient in the language and customs of city dwellers. The lucky ones may find work in factories or as day laborers and security guards, but many eventually return to the countryside. Some re-integrate into their villages, others return in a completely different capacity than when they departed. They may join the ranks of miners and loggers who trespass on indigenous lands, ferreting out deals that pit members of the same tribe against each other in order to exploit the resources they steward. As tribes are fragmented, and forests fall, indigenous culture—and the profound knowledge contained within—is lost. The world is left a poorer place, culturally and biologically.

But there is new hope, embodied by efforts to enable tribes to become more self reliant through the use of state-of-the-art technology that builds on and leverages their traditional knowledge. These tools can help them better defend their lands and offer the potential for the next generation of Surui, Trio, or Ikpeng to have a future of their determination rather than one dictated to them by a society that values the resources locked in their territories over their forest knowledge and rich cultural history. Through such technology, tribes may be able to avoid a fate in which they become destroyers, rather than protectors, of the basis of their culture—their forest home.

At the forefront of this effort is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a Virginia-based group with field offices in Brazil, Suriname, and Colombia. the Amazon Conservation Team has pioneered geographic information system (GIS) training of indigenous groups in the Amazon to enable them to map their land, not only as a means to demarcate it and win title, but to catalog their cultural links to the land. In building these “cultural maps,” tribes construct maps of their territory that go beyond the topography of the terrain, capturing the underlying richness of generations of human experience, including their interaction with the land and other tribes, and the distribution of plants and animals of nutritional, medicinal, and spiritual significance. In other words, in as much as indigenous culture is a product of the land, the maps capture the essence of these tribes.

But creating a cultural map is no easy task. It can take years of work by the tribe, laying out what the map will contain, determining what communities will participate, and coordinating who in the community will do the actual footwork. Other considerations also come into play, including harvesting cycles and seasons—mapping can’t interfere with the ongoing the activities that sustain the tribe—and the treatment of intellectual property contained in the maps, since these can be used for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands, including exploitation of timber, game, and medicinal plants.

The training itself can also be complex. Indigenous mappers must learn the ins and outs of handheld GPS units, GIS systems, computers, and Internet tools like Google Earth before they can construct maps and monitor their territories for threats and encroachment. But the payoff can be well worth the effort: 20 groups in the Brazilian Amazon have created culture and land use maps of their territories. The maps include 7,500 indigenous names, 120 villages, and thousands of area of cultural and historical significance. In Suriname, the maps are being used to help indigenous groups get government recognition of—and eventually title to—their lands. Some of the indigenous mappers have gone on to become certified as park guards, enabling them to earn an income while working to safeguard their lands.

The new handbook, "Methodology of Collaborative Cultural Mapping," walks readers through the process of establishing community meetings between stakeholders, composing the mapping team, setting up training workshops, conducting fieldwork, developing the map, and finally delivering the map. The guide, which is available in both English and Brazilian Portuguese, comes at an opportune time: interest in tropical forest conservation has never been higher. The reason? Tropical forests are seen as critical in combating climate change, both in terms of their value in sequestering carbon and as a political compromise that could serve as the developing world’s contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As long-time stewards of tropical forests, indigenous people are effectively forest carbon guardians. But questions remain as to whether they will be recognized as such. Mapping their lands may help indigenous groups demonstrate their critical role in forest conservation efforts, earning them recognition, compensation, and a stronger voice in determining how their resources are managed.

An example can be found in the Surui tribe's carbon project in Rondônia, Brazil, which aims to protect 250,000 hectares of forest. Prior to establishing the carbon project , the Surui worked closely with the Amazon Conservation Team to develop a cultural map of their lands.

"The Surui ethno-graphic (cultural) map has become the key instrument in integrating their traditional knowledge of the forest with the latest technologies in carbon measuring and monitoring," Vasco van Roosmalen, director of the Amazon Conservation Team-Brazil, told mongabay.com. "It is one of the key instruments in translating the necessities of a carbon project to the community and in ensuring that their perspectives are truly integrated into the project design."

Mark Plotkin, president of the Amazon Conservation Team, adds that having completed their map, the Surui are much better positioned to move ahead on their carbon credit project.

"After the mapping process has been completed, some of the indigenous are trained as internationally accredited park guards—meaning the forest protectors are in place, which is a real hurdle for other carbon projects where nobody lives in and protects these forests," he told mongabay.com.

"Ethnographic mapping represents the perfect marriage of ancient shamanic wisdom and 21st century technology," Plotkin continued. "When done right, it results in better protection of the rainforest and enhanced capacity of the Indians to meet the opportunities and challenges posed by the outside world."