Day 241 - 26 Apr 96 - Page 47


     
     1        "1.  Cattle ranching has been the main form of land
     2        encroachment and dispossession in Amazonia for Indigenous
     3        People.  This process is widely documented and are most
     4        thoroughly documented in the 18 volume compilation by
     5        CEDI".  There is a footnote; it says:  "CEDI is the Centro
     6        Ecumenico de documetacao a Informacao; CEDI carried out a
     7        detailed review in 18 volumes of the status of Brazilian
     8        Indians entitled Povos Indigenas do Brasil.  This is the
     9        most complete national analysis of its kind anywhere in the
    10        world".
    11
    12        Carrying back on, I will read that previous sentence again.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It refers to the volume produced throughout
    15        the 1980s.  May I suggest you read on from there?
    16
    17   MS. STEEL:   Yes, OK.  "Hundreds of contemporary ethnographers
    18        have explored the effect of modern contact on indigenous
    19        groups, and provided detailed descriptions of cultural
    20        catastrophe, loss and marginalization.  Almost 100 million
    21        hectares have been set aside for native populations in 523
    22        AIs (Indigenous Areas) of which slightly more than 78
    23        million hectares are Amazonian on 311 AI.  Many of these
    24        AIs shelter more than one indigenous group.  It is worth
    25        noting that 233 of the total areas or 43 per cent are in
    26        very preliminary phases (predemarcation) and thus
    27        vulnerable to invasion.  Of the 90 territories currently
    28        without any protection at all, 57 are Amazonian (CEDI
    29        1990).
    30
    31        "The frontline in this process of expropriation in the post
    32        war period has been ranching in the southern flank of the
    33        Amazon basin.
    34
    35        "The encroachment of ranches proceeded along two main
    36        axes.  The first follows the line of the Belem Brasilia,
    37        and the second the line of the BR346.  These roads pass
    38        through landscape from full savannah to high forest.  The
    39        southern flanks outside of the Amazon are formed of a
    40        complex mosaic of tropical woodland formations including
    41        savannah, open forest, semi-deciduous forest, liana forests
    42        and gallery forests.
    43
    44        "Since the most productive grasslands in the short term
    45        were produced from areas of slightly better soil found
    46        under forests, these forest areas which stretch in an arc
    47        from Barra de Garcas to Cuiaba were often cleared.  The
    48        drier tropical forest, and semi-deciduous formations are
    49        indeed the most threatened of all Latin American forest
    50        types.  It is also worth mentioning that the average 
    51        holding size of the ranches in these areas is the largest 
    52        anywhere in Amazonia. 
    53
    54        "The post war cattle wave affected numerous tribes base its
    55        areas of greatest expansion were areas that had been well
    56        beyond the interest and technical capacities of transport
    57        since the rubber boom.  These ranching forays affected the
    58        Kayapo, Xavante" -----
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do not try to read them, there are a number

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