Deforestation versus Indigenous peoples – III « They began greedily tearing minerals out of the earth. They built factories to melt them and make great quantities of merchandise … They soon forgot the beauty of the forest. »

Barbara Crane Navarro

For Indigenous peoples, just like for us, water is life!

«They made money proliferate everywhere.

By wanting to possess all this merchandise, they were seized by a limitless desire.

The white people started cutting all the trees, mistreating the land and soiling the water…»

• Yanomami shaman and spokesman Davi Kopenawa

Deforestation on Indigenous lands and contamination with mercury for gold mining

Indigenous peoples use the water in the rivers and streams in their ancestral territories for drinking, cooking, bathing and fishing.

Indigenous children also play in the rivers and streams near their homes.

Their health and future depend on respecting Nature.

Namowë, a Yanomami boy, Alto Orinoco, Amazonas, Venezuela– photo: Barbara Crane Navarro (a still from the film)

Here’s a 38 second film of a Yanomami child I know, Namowë, in his canoe:

Gold mining contaminates the water with mercury, poisoning people, wildlife and the soil.

Please help Namowë…

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