PPG-7 Assesses Support to Projects
10/30/97
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Headline: PPG-7 Assesses Support to Projects
Source: CIMI - Indianist Missionary Council
Date: 10/30/97
Newsletter n. 284
PPG-7 ASSESSES SUPPORT TO PROJECTS IN AMAZONIA. IDB CRITICIZES BRAZIL
The fourth annual meeting of participants in the Pilot Program for
the Conservation of Rain Forests in Brazil (PPG-7), funded by the
so-called Group of the seven (Germany, United States, France, Italy,
England, Canada, and Japan), was marked by criticism, complaints, and
demands. The Brazilian government, represented by the Ministry of
Environment and Funai, complained that it is taking too long for funds
to be released and that the contribution from the United States and
Japan is minimal. It said that only Germany is truly supporting the
Program. Upset, the manager of the World Bank for the PPG-7, Roberto
Schneider, said that such criticism is ungrounded and mentioned
shortcomings in the implementation of the Program. The general
coordinator of the Coordinating Board for Indigenous Organizations of
Brazilian Amazonia (Coiab), Darcy Marubo, highlighted the importance
of the PPG-7 to the indigenous issue but emphasized that indigenous
populations should take part in the management and inspection of
resources.
The meeting was originally intended to assess the first phase of
the Program, but Brazil took advantage of it to request the early
release of US$ 90 million of funds to be invested in the second
phase, to complete 150 projects which are under way in extractive
reservations and indigenous lands. Of the US$ 250 million allocated to
the PPG-7, US$ 30 million were earmarked to the Integrated Project for
the Protection of Indigenous Areas and Populations in Amazonia
(PPTAL), US$ 14 million were supposed to be applied in the demarcation
of indigenous lands and the rest in the development, subsistence, and
inspection of indigenous areas. The lack of organization and the
conflicting figures reported in the meeting made it difficult to know
the sum that was actually applied. However, Germany assured that it
would be contributing an additional sum of US$ 35 million and
continues to be the largest individual donor of the PPG-7.
With only two minutes to present the opinion of indigenous
peoples, Darcy Marubo requested that priority be given to the
demarcation of 56 areas, among which the Bananal Island (state of
Tocantins), the Juma (state of Amazonas), the Javari Valley (state of
Amazonas), and Raposa/Serra do Sol (state of Roraima). He also
requested that the areas be inspected, that indigenous populations be
provided with the technology to demarcate their own areas, and that
this demarcation mode be officially recognized. Indigenous populations
would like to be covered by self-subsistence projects and by a plan
of governmental goals based on the commitment to improve environmental
laws, and to participate in forums aimed at assessing the PPTAL with
intervention mechanisms to put an end to any misapplication of
resources or inadequate implementation of the Project.
The claims of indigenous peoples are in tune with the concerns
expressed by the director of the IDB, Roberto Schneider, to the press.
According to Schneider, the Brazilian government has not advanced in
the formulation of a policy dealing with the environment and
development jointly. He also declared that Brazil has been receiving
funds from other sources and that the PPG-7 is not be seen as the
savior of Brazilian environmental projects.
WOMEN GET TOGETHER IN LATIN AMERICAN ASSEMBLY
133 women from 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and
Canada will be in Brasilia on November 2 and 3 to take part in the
first Latin American Assembly of Rural Women. The Assembly offers an
opportunity for rural women, who have been fighting against
exploitation and social marginalization for years, to articulate their
actions. The Assembly will discuss and adopt a critical and radical
posture in relation to the effects of neoliberalism on the movement of
rural women, in addition to defining mechanisms for the women to
participate in the Via Campesino and in the Latin American
Coordinating Board for Rural Organizations (CLOC), which will be
holding a Congress on November 3-7 in Brasilia.
Brasilia, 30 October 1997
CIMI - Indianist Missionary Council