From perezoso@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Fri Jan 6 10:43:34 PST 1995 >From perezoso@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Fri Jan 6 10:43:33 1995 Return-Path: Received: from mx5.u.washington.edu by lists.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW94.10/UW-NDC Revision: 2.32 ) id AA27325; Fri, 6 Jan 95 10:43:33 -0800 Received: from sylvester.cc.utexas.edu by mx5.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW94.10/UW-NDC Revision: 2.31 ) id AA26046; Fri, 6 Jan 95 10:43:32 -0800 Received: (from perezoso@localhost) by sylvester.cc.utexas.edu (8.6.8.1/8.6.6/cc-wf-sunos.mc-1.1) id MAA05679; Fri, 6 Jan 1995 12:43:24 -0600 Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 12:43:22 -0600 (CST) From: Edward H Hammond III Subject: Re: San Francisco Bay Area - Contacts Requested To: indknow@u.washington.edu Cc: Multiple recipients of list In-Reply-To: <9501061654.AA19232@zeus.srv.PacBell.COM> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I'm sorry that I don't live in the Bay area; but I can point you two a few very interesting cases both positive and negative about the use of GIS and indigenous people in the Amazon basin. Here's a short rundown of a few that might interest you: 1) (GOOD!) OPIP, an indigenous peoples' federation in Ecuador managed to beat Arc/Info out of ESRI and get a digitizer and a couple of 486s'. They are in the process of using it and a GPS database (no remote sensing to my knowledge) to map resources and settlements in a huge area of the Ecudorean rainforest over which they nominally have control. This will be very useful to them in defining and defending land rights. 2) (BAD!) US Government and timber industry-sponsored research in the Bolivian Amazon is developing techniques for using a GPS/MSS/GIS system to identify INDIVIDUAL SPECIES remotely in the rainforest canopy. Of course the research is geared toward "economic" (i.e. cedars, mahogany) species. It is taking place in a hotly contested area called the Beni Forest where a fight pits indigenous people against the timber industry. I am extremely dubious of any assertation that this technique will be put to good use. Consider the RADAM project in the Brazilian land rushes of the 1970s/80s. IMHO, this technology will be utilized by the timber companies to more "efficiently" (i.e. more THOROUGHLY) grab all trees they can and the indians will only get "more efficiently" trampled by an unsustainable, extremely destructive industry. 3) (BAD!) Brazil's contract with Raytheon for a remote sensing system to "defend" it's remote Amazon borders. This information WILL be used to exploit natural resources on indian land and further the military's pretty oppresive attitude about "brazilianizing" the savages and exercising their particularly perverse sense of sovereignty and development in the Amazon. 4) (WHO KNOWS?) I have seen a few proposals by US researchers to use all sorts of GIS with a variety of conservation issues in the Amazon. Some good, some bad; but anyway, the South American governments are very cautious when it comes to allowing it's use. Who gets access to the information? Most of the governments don't even have it themselves and might not even know how to use it if they did. So, they try to but the brakes on it while they figure out what to do. 5) (WHO KNOWS!) Conservation International is developing a very detailed database on medicinal plants in the Surinamese rainforest. The information is mainly kept in Washington, DC, where a variety of people potentially have access to it. The data is in large part derived from indigenous knowledge. The indians don't have the database or any effective means of control over it. The information has been essentially volunteered to CI on the assumption that they will act in good faith with regards to it's contents; but is that assurance enough? Sounds like a great topic. Why don't you post any documents that come out of it? Edward Hammond perezoso@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~perezoso/edhome.html .