They fight every day to prevent a “apocalypse” global. Millions of indigenous people in the Amazon basin are fighting a battle against time to save the immense rainforest. “There are two scenarios”, warns in an exclusive interview with AFP, Tuesday, October 12, the Venezuelan Gregorio Mirabal, head of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica) and member of the Wakuenai Kurripaco people. One of these scenarios is the “apocalypse, without return “, he says.
“People will run out of oxygen, the planet will heat up in fifty years by two or even three degrees. Life on this planet will not be possible if the Amazon disappears”, he warns, calling on developed countries present at COP26, the next climate conference in Glasgow (Scotland), to work with indigenous peoples to save the 8.4 million km2 of the Amazon, via a “funding [qui] must be global, equitably distributed “ between the nine countries or territories of the Amazon (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana). “But there is no clear funding today in this direction.”
As representative of the 3.5 million indigenous people of the Amazon, Gregorio Mirabal, 54, advocates “the other scenario” : “That our children can bathe in this river, get to know what exists here, see the trees, the biodiversity, see this macaw fly. This is the scenario we are proposing to the world if it helps us protect 80% from the Amazon. “
The representative of indigenous peoples recalls that 17% of the forest has already been destroyed by the exploitation of oil and minerals, pollution and deforestation for agriculture and livestock. In this interview with AFP, he is alarmed by the threats weighing on the populations of some 500 large tribes, guardians of the forest who, as a result, are attacked and killed.
“Brazil and Colombia are among the most dangerous places in the world if you are a conservationist or an indigenous ruler. You have an 80% chance of being killed or imprisoned there.”, he explains. “Then comes Peru. And this, because the militants oppose the oil, mining or forestry companies. In 2020, we will reach 202 murders in the Amazon”, against 135 in 2019.
Nevertheless, “the worst danger”, according to Gregorio Mirabal, “is the lack of political will of our governments, which goes hand in hand with corruption, the non-application of our rights. Developed countries must consider the Amazon as a territory that gives them a living too”, he launches, assuring wanting “protect the Amazon to protect humanity”. And the person in charge of pointing “the big banks of the planet [qui] finance the destruction of the Amazon by providing the resources for oil exploitation and other forms of predatory activity “, as well as the overconsumption of plastic and energy and deforestation encouraged by the policies of Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.