Day 238 - 22 Apr 96 - Page 10


     
     1        Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana.  I have worked for Survival
     2        for nearly six years and in that time have made three field
     3        trips to Brazil each lasting 2-3 months where I have
     4        travelled extensively in the Amazon and elsewhere.  The
     5        main focus of these trips was to visit indigenous
     6        communities to assess and discuss with indigenous people
     7        their concerns and problems".
     8        A.  Could I add there that another important element of a
     9        field trip is to have contact and dialogue with Government
    10        officials and lawyers who are working on specific cases of
    11        Human Rights violation and I have done that.
    12
    13   Q.   I am sorry, I interrupted you.
    14        A.   I said that another important element of a field trip
    15        is to have contact also with Government officials and with
    16        lawyers and with any other people concerned with indigenous
    17        peoples' rights.
    18
    19   Q.   When you visit indigenous communities, or you act on their
    20        behalf, or lobby for them, whatever, do you meet with other
    21        representatives of those?
    22        A.   Yes.  Most definitely many communities have their own
    23        organisation so you will meet with the delegates, whether
    24        it is leaders, anyone who has been chosen to represent the
    25        community, as well also meeting people who are not working
    26        within the indigenous organisation.  It is very important
    27        to meet as many people as possible on the ground to
    28        understand a situation and to collect testimonies.
    29
    30   Q.   Continuing to read:
    31
    32        "Prior to my work with Survival, I worked on an ecological
    33        project in the Amazon organised by the Royal Geographical
    34        Society, London, and the Institute of Amazon Research
    35        (INPA) Manaus.  During this project I lived in the Amazon
    36        state of Roraimi for 14 months.  After the field phase I
    37        returned to Britain and was responsible for researching for
    38        an education pack on the Amazon based on the project's
    39        research and aimed at GCSE.  This won the gold medal at the
    40        Geographical Associations Annual Awards in 1993.
    41
    42        Cattle ranching in the Amazon has had an extremely negative
    43        impact on a number of indigenous peoples in the region
    44        known as Amazonian Legal.  It is, in fact, one of the most
    45        important causes of rainforest destruction and the invasion
    46        of indigenous peoples' lands in the Amazonian rainforest as
    47        a whole."
    48
    49        Can I just clarify something.  Would you claim to be an
    50        expert on environmental matters such as forests? 
    51        A.  I would not claim to be an expert, but I know quite a 
    52        lot about it having worked with many scientists who are 
    53        experts on the environmental impact.
    54
    55   Q.   We have other people who can speak to that?
    56        A.   Right.
    57
    58   Q.  "It is, in fact, one of the most important causes of both
    59        rainforest destruction and the invasion of indigenous
    60        peoples' lands in the Amazonian rainforest as a whole.  The

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