Red Alert Declared as Fires Threaten Xingu National Park
8/31/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Red Alert Declared as Fires Threaten Xingu National Park
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 8/31/98
Byline: William Schomberg
BRASILIA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian environmental authorities declared
a ``red alert'' on Monday as fires raged toward one of the country's
biggest and best preserved Indian reservations.
Flames were devouring farmland in central Mato Grosso state and heading
for the Xingu National Park, where 17 different indigenous groups live
in a densely forested area bigger than Belgium and prized by scientists
for its rich biodiversity.
A spokesman for the government's National Indian Foundation said the
flames were just 2.5 miles (4 kms) from the park's perimeter.
But the head of the national Environment Institute (IBAMA) estimated from
satellite images that the main focal point of the fire was still 25 miles
(40 kms) away, in the farming region around the town of Sao Jose do Xingu.
``We have the ability to deal with this fire before it reaches the Indian
area,'' IBAMA president Eduardo Martins told Reuters. ``This kind of
forest is dry and would burn easily, which is why it must be stopped.''
He said the Capoto/Jarina Indian Reservation, located directly north of
the Xingu park, was also in danger.
IBAMA put a newly created rapid response plan into action for the first
time on Monday, sending 30 firemen from the Mato Grosso capital Cuiaba on
an air force plane to the burning area.
The firefighters, armed with rubber mats and portable water tanks, would
only reach the burning land Tuesday. A further 80 men were due to travel
to the area by Wednesday. ``If more men are needed, then there will be
more men,'' Martins said.
The rapid response plan was drawn up earlier this year in response to huge
fires in savanna and rain forest in Roraima state, on Brazil's northern
border with Venezuela.
The Xingu National Park, covering 2.64 million hectares, is considered the
showpiece of Brazil's efforts to protect the country's Indian peoples from
the advance of modern man.
Few of the roughly 3,500 Indians who live in the park speak Portuguese,
but manufactured clothes and radios have become prized possessions.
Ancient ceremonies, like the colourful Kuarup festival to commemorate the
dead, are strictly observed.
Much of the park is dense, low forest that used to stretch virtually
uninterrupted across the southern fringe of the Amazon Basin but has been
largely cut down to make way for cattle and grain farms.
It contains species from central Brazil's arid savannah region and from
the tropical Amazon forest further north, making it one of Brazil's
richest areas in terms of biodiversity.
Fires in Brazil have soared in recent weeks as the annual dry season is
exacerbated by extremely arid conditions linked to the El Nino weather
phenomenon.
Smaller fires were reported in several other national parks in central
Brazil and 2,000 suspected outbreaks of fire have been spotted by
satellites in the state of Mato Grosso alone.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.