US Appetite for Exotic Drugs, Wood Driving Global Drug War And Rainforest Deforestation [pictureVideo]

The American appetite for drugs, exotic woods and other things is driving the global ddrdug trade and also has a hand in deforestation in South America.  Tribes are trying to rotect their rainforessts, but they are out manned and outgunned by wod poachers.

Acccording to the GUARDIAN,  the tribes are battling oil drillers, and others resource grabbers. One tribe is prepared to fight to the death to keep the exploiters out:

In what looks set to be one of the most one-sided struggles in the history of Amazon forest conservation, an indigenous community of about 400 villagers is preparing to resist the Ecuadorean army and one of the biggest oil companies in South America.

The Kichwa tribe on Sani Isla, who were using blowpipes two generations ago, said they are ready to fight to the death to protect their territory, which covers 70,000 hectares of pristine rainforest.

 

Petroamazonas – the state-backed oil company – have told them it will begin prospecting on 15 January, backed by public security forces.

INdigenous people manage the land by living glightly on it.  One researcher noted the importance of maintaining indidenous land management, in the fight against global warming: 

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“We have always known that indigenous peoples manage forest resources sustainably, and therefore are major actors in the protection of the Amazon landscape, but now we have scientific evidence that their territories act as barriers to deforestation,” said Ana Saenz, a researcher with Peru’s Instituto Bien Comun (Common Good Institute). Saenz is co-author of another new study   SOURCE

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