Day 280 - 17 Jul 96 - Page 37
1 This part of Amazonia received the lion's share of the
2 fiscal incentives, and so was a site of very aggressive
3 transformer of forest-to-livestock activities.
4
5 3. The whole of the western Goias State along the River
6 Araguaia and its tributaries, in particular the area
7 bordered by the River Araguaia (and beyond-almost as far as
8 Cuiaba if the forest around the intervening rivers is taken
9 into consideration) to the west, Barra do
10 Garcas-Jussara-Goias to the south (and beyond), the State
11 border near San Miguel do Araguaia-Porangatu to the north
12 (and beyond), and the BR 153 (and beyond) to the east is an
13 area that was in the process of transformation in 1978
14 through to the present day.
15
16 4. The indigenous issues (involving the violent
17 displacement and relocation of whole communities) have been
18 authoritatively documented, for example by Doctor Charles
19 Wagley for the Barra de Garcas area. Survival
20 International published a fact finding review of indigenous
21 issues in Amazonia in 1971 which outlined in detail the
22 similar abuses that transpired along the Belem Brazilia
23 corridor and its feed roads (along the BR 153 route) and
24 this dreadful situation has continued up to the present.
25 The corridor follows this Bellem-Brazilia and has been
26 almost entirely deforested on either side for 70-150
27 kilometers since it was opened in 1960. The further
28 towards Goias one progress it is wider the swathe and
29 clearing becomes, clearly visible from the aerial satellite
30 images. Some of the areas described in Mr. Morganti's
31 Goias list fall into this arena.
32
33 Other ranches that are closer to the wide Cuiaba-Barra do
34 Garcas corridor connect to the clearing areas of the
35 Belem--Brasilia and are clearly part of the deforestation
36 front. This has also been documented by many scholars in
37 Europe, Brazil and the US including Gerd Kohlhepp, Brent
38 Millikin, Alfredo Wagner, George Martine and myself, among
39 many others. This process of transformation is very well
40 documented for both Belem-Brasilia corridor and the Cuiaba
41 region. I am somewhat surprised for these statements are
42 being contested at all.
43
44 5. The municipios of Barra do Garcas and San Miguel de
45 Araguia had increases in their livestock populations that
46 were truly extraordinary in the 1906's, 1970's and 1980's
47 essentially augmenting their numbers from around 200,000 to
48 over a million-and-a-half animals. This was done largely
49 at the expense of forest.
50
51 6. Let me add that in support of the testimony of the Sue
52 Branford, headwater areas of the Araguaia (including its
53 tributaries in the western part of Goias state) were
54 largely covered by tropical Amazonian forest, which
55 included many of the areas named by Senor Morganti as Miss
56 Branford had indicated. The "legal Amazonian" is merely
57 part of a bureaucratic and administrative formality. It in
58 no way captures a biotic and geographic truth, but really
59 only sets formal limits on where certain agencies can act
60 (such as SUDAM, the superintendency for Amazonia), where
