Brazil to give Amazonian tribes Internet access to fight deforestation
Brazil to give Amazonian tribes Internet access to fight deforestation
mongabay.com
March 30, 2007
Brazil will offer free satellite Internet connections to indigenous tribes in the Amazon according to a report from Reuters. It says that the plan will help reduce illegal logging by enabling natives to monitor and report on illicit activities.
“It’s a way to open communications between indigenous communities, former slave villages, coconut crackers, river fishermen and the rest of society,” said Environment Minister Marina Silva in a statement. “These communities are the true protectors of their areas.”
The initiative will bring Internet access to 150 small communities in the Amazon and other remote parts of Brazil. The federal government will not provide computers — this will be up to state and local governments.
Separately the Brazilian government has ordered more than one million low-cost laptops from the One Laptop Per Child initiative. It is unclear whether any of these laptops will end up in the hands of children in these communities.
 GPS data gathering on a mapping expedition in the Amazon. Image courtesy of the Amazon Conservation Team. |
The plan comes as indigenous groups in Brazil are increasingly using the Internet and other technologies to protect their homeland. One project, launched by a coalition of local tribes, FUNAI (Fundação Nacional do Indio or the National Indian Protection Foundation), local government officials and the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a nonprofit organization, is using GPS to map indigenous lands to prevent illegal encroachment.
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Amazon natives use Google Earth, GPS to protect rainforest home. Deep in the most remote jungles of South America, Amazon Indians (Amerindians) are using Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping, and other technologies to protect their fast-dwindling home. Tribes in Suriname, Brazil, and Colombia are combining their traditional knowledge of the rainforest with Western technology to conserve forests and maintain ties to their history and cultural traditions, which include profound knowledge of the forest ecosystem and medicinal plants. Helping them is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a nonprofit organization working with indigenous people to conserve biodiversity, health, and culture in South American rainforests.
This article uses quotes and information from a Reuters report and previous mongabay.com articles.