Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘water’

Venezuela is the nation with the 10th-largest amount of biodiversity in the world. Efforts to protect that biodiversity are highlighted in a new study by RAISG, or La Red Amazónica de Información Socioambiental Georreferenciada.

According to the study, Venezuela has the second-highest proportion of its Amazon region protected. The Amazonian basin covers an astounding 3 million square miles in South America, overlapping several different countries and encompassing a population of perhaps 33 million. Venezuela has already protected 71.5% of its share — second only to Ecuador’s 79.7%, and far ahead of Colombia, Brazil, and Peru.

RAISG measured Indigenous territory and other protected lands, which are generally the best conserved. Venezuela has 43 national parks. A respect for nature is enshrined in the constitution of Venezuela under a chapter that guarantees all citizens the right to a safe and healthy environment.

Since the Amazon Rainforest is often called the “lungs” of South America, we can breathe a little easier thanks to Venezuela.

Read Full Post »

David Hernández-Palmar, a young Venezuelan man from the Wayuu Indigenous community, will be in New York City this Saturday to help present a documentary at the 30th Annual Native American Film and Video Festival.

“Owners of the Water: Conflict and Collaboration over Rivers” was created by Hernández-Palmar together with Caimi Waiassé (a Brazilian Xavante man) and U.S. Anthropologist Laura R. Graham. It chronicles an international campaign to protect Rio das Mortes River Basin in Brazil, a vital resource for the Xavante community that was threatened by soya production and related deforestation. The Xavante blocked a national highway to demand the protection of the basin.

To help tell the story of the Xavante’s struggle, Venezuela’s David Hernández-Palmar lent his talents as an up-and-coming documentarian. For more information about this and other films at the Native American Film and Video Festival, click here.

Read Full Post »