Natural History Museum expedition 'poses genocide threat' to Paraguay tribes

Field trip to find new plant and insect species in the Chaco will endanger remote Indian tribes, anthropologists and indigenous leaders warn
John Vidal guardian.co.uk 8 Nov 10;

Anthropologists and indigenous leaders have warned that a Natural History Museum expedition to Paraguay could lead to "genocide" and are calling for it to be abandoned. They fear that the scientists and their teams of assistants are likely to make accidental contact with isolated indigenous groups in the remote region they are planning to visit and could pass on infectious diseases.

The 100-strong expedition is due to set off in the next few days for two of the remotest regions of the vast dry forest known as the Gran Chaco, which stretches over northern Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. The expedition organisers hope to find several hundred new species of plants and insects.

But the two sites where the British and Paraguayan teams of botanists, biologists and other scientists plan to stay in for up to a month are known to be home to groups of Ayoreo Indians. They live in voluntary isolation and reject and avoid all contact with Westerners, said Benno Glauser, director of leading indigenous peoples' protection group Iniciativa Amotocodie.

Glauser, with the backing of Ayoreo leaders who have left the forest in the last 20 years, has sent the museum more than 40 pieces of data showing the presence of isolated peoples in the Chovoreca and Cabrera Timane regions.

"According to our data, the expedition you plan constitutes beyond any doubt an extremely high risk for the integrity, safety and legal rights of life and self-determination of the isolated Ayoreo, as well as for the integrity and stability of their territories. There exists a considerable menace and risk also for the safety of the scientists taking part of the expedition, as well as the rest of expedition participants," says Glauser in a letter to the museum.

Until about 1950 it is estimated that around 5,000 Ayoreo lived in the Chaco forest as isolated hunter-gatherers without contact with the ranchers and religious groups who were given land by the Paraguayan government. Since then almost all have left the forest after being targeted by American missionaries. It is estimated that there are now only six or seven isolated groups numbering around 150 people in total. It is now the only place in South America outside the Amazon where uncontacted Indians still live.

Ayoreo leaders who have settled near the town of Filadelfia in northern Paraguay this week appealed to the president of Paraguay and the Natural History Museum to abandon the expedition, saying that their relatives were in grave danger.

"Both of these regions belong to the Ayoreo indigenous territory ... We know that our people still live in the forest and they don't want to leave it to join white civilisation."

He said there are at least three uncontacted groups in the area. "If this expedition goes ahead we will not be able to understand why you prefer to lose human lives just because the English scientists want to study plants and animals. There is too much risk: the people in the forest die frequently from catching white people's diseases – the get infected by being close. Because the white people leave their rubbish, their clothes, or other contaminated things. It's very serious. It's like a genocide," they said in a statement.

According to Survival International, an NGO that campaigns for the rights of tribal peoples, contact with any isolated Indians would be disastrous for either party. "Contact with isolated groups is invariably violent, sometimes fatal and always disastrous," said Jonathan Mazower, a spokesman. "It is highly likely that there are small groups of isolated Indians scattered throughout the Chaco. The only sensible thing to do is err on the side of caution because any accidental contact can be disastrous. This has happened before [in the Chaco]. On two previous occasions, in 1979 and 1986 expeditions were sent in by US missionaries to bring out Indians and people were killed on both occasions."

The expedition, one of the largest undertaken by the museum in more than 50 years, has taken several years to plan and is believed to be costing more than £300,000. It hopes to map and record species of thousands of plants and insects, which will then go to local Paraguayan museums. Until last month, the museum's website had claimed that the area the scientists will visit "has not been explored by human beings".

This created consternation in the Ayoreo communities. "Some people say they are going to places in which no human being has ever been. That means we Ayoreo are not human beings," said one of the leaders in a statement to the Guardian. "Our uncontacted brothers have the right to decide how they want to live – if they want to leave or not."

The Chaco, known as "green hell" is one of the least hospitable but most biologically diverse places on Earth. The barely populated expanse of almost impenetrable forest is twice the size of the UK, but home to at least 3,400 plant species, 500 bird species, 150 species of mammals, 120 species of reptiles, and 100 species of amphibians. Jaguars, pumas, giant anteaters and giant otters are common.

In a statement, the Natural History Museum said it had planned the expedition in conjunction with the Paraguayan government and would be working with Ayoreo Indians: "We recognise the importance of the concerns which have been taken into account during the planning of the expedition. They form part of the ongoing consultations that are still taking place with the Paraguayan authorities. The information and specimens collected on this trip will help scientists to understand for the first time the richness and diversity of the animals and plants in this remote region and the governments and conservation groups are able to use such information to better understand how to manage fragile habitats and protect them for future generations."

It continued: "We are delighted to be working with representatives of the indigenous people. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to combine traditionally acquired knowledge with scientifically acquired knowledge to our mutual benefit. As with all expeditions, the team is continually reviewing the situation. Our primary concern is for the welfare of the members of the expedition team and the people of the Dry Chaco region."
Uncontacted tribes around the world

There are around 100 remaining groups of isolated, or "uncontacted" people, including 40-67 in Brazil, 15-18 in Peru, 15-30 in Papua and others in Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, and the Andaman islands of India. As oil companies, loggers and farmers go deeper into the remotest forests, evidence of more groups is being discovered.

A few groups may have no idea of country or other languages and no one has come close to them. Some are the descendants of tribes contacted more than 100 years ago by colonists who fled deeper into the forest in fear of enslavement or decimation by disease. Others shun all contact with western civilisation but have a good idea of life outside the forest and may have machetes or other tools which they could have acquired from contact with other groups.

According to Survival International, these tribes all remain in isolation because they choose to, and because encounters with the outside world have brought them only violence, disease and murder.

Isolated tribes are the most vulnerable people on Earth, having no immunity to the diseases brought in by outsiders. Colds and flu can become killers, and 50-90% of tribe members commonly die from first contact with outsiders.

Epidemics of measles, smallpox, yellow fever, whooping cough, influenza and later malaria have all had devastating effects.

More than 20% of the Yanomami Indians of northern Brazil died in the 1980s and 90s when they came into contact with goldminers who brought in illnesses. Ninety per cent of Indians in the Javari valley in Amazonas state in Brazil, including six uncontacted tribes, suffered from malaria or hepatitis brought into the area in 2006.

The result, says Survival, is that entire cultures that have taken centuries to evolve can be being wiped out in days as disease invades a population.

Anthropologists now take precautions including wearing masks to avoid accidentally passing on diseases.

Natural History Museum expedition could be "disaster" for indigenous people
The Natural History Museum has been warned that a forthcoming trip to find hundreds of new species in the remote forests of Paraguay could risk the lives of indigenous people and the scientists.
Louise Gray The Telegraph 8 Nov 10;

The 100-strong expedition, one of the largest undertaken by the museum in the last 50 years, is due to set off in the next few days to explore one of the most unknown regions of the world for one month.

However the museum has been warned by campaigners that the trip could cause “genocide” for isolated tribes.

The group Iniciativa Amotocodie, that protects local indigenous people, said groups of Ayoreo Indians in the area have never come into contact with westerners before. If they come across the expedition without preparation they could catch common western viruses that could wipe out the small groups in a matter of weeks.

A statement from the group, that has been circulated online, read: “If this expedition goes ahead we will not be able to understand why you prefer to lose human lives just because the English scientists want to study plants and animals. There is too much risk: the people die in the forest frequently from catching white people’s diseases – they get infected by being close. Because the white people leave their rubbish, their clothes, or other contaminated things. It’s very serious. It’s like genocide.”

Jonathan Mazower, Director of Advocacy at Survival International, said there was also a risk to the scientists as tribes have been known to throw spears at groups they fear have come to cause them harm. Westerners going into the area have been killed before.

He said it was impossible to know where the tribal groups are therefore it is better to “err on the side of caution given that the consequences for either side could be pretty disastrous.”

“The danger is to the scientists and to the indigenous people. The scientists because the indigenous people may view them as hostile and attack them and the indigenous people because the scientists carry common western viruses that they have no immunity to,” he said.

The vast area of dry forest across parts of Bolivia, Argentina as well as Paraguay, known as the Gran Chaco, is the only place in South America outside the Amazon where there are uncontacted tribes. Until about 1950 it was thought there were around 5,000 people in the area but now there are thought to be less than 150 as people leave or die out.

Richard Lane, Director of Science at the NHM, confirmed that he had received a letter from a group representing indigenous groups.

But he insisted the expedition has taken every precaution to ensure they do not come into contact with isolated tribes. He said a member of the Ayoreo community will go ahead of the rest of the rest of the group to make sure that there is no opportunity of contact with isolated tribes, as well as helping the scientists through local knowledge.

“Clearly the needs of indigenous people to remain uncontacted needs to be respected and we as an institution have always respected that,” he said.

Natural History Museum's grand expedition to arid Chaco halted
• Concern for wellbeing of uncontacted tribes stalls science trip
• Paraguay government sanctions consultations with Ayoreos
John Vidal, guardian.co.uk 15 Nov 10;

Paraguay has tonight formally suspended a Natural History Museum expedition, arranged to investigate part of the nation's virgin dry forest, to allow more time for consultation with the indigenous people.

The museum had been criticised in South America and Europe for its plans to send up to 60 botanists, zoologists and other scientists to an area of the dry Chaco forest, the only place in Latin America outside the Amazon where tribes uncontacted by outsiders are known to live.

Fears were raised by some settled Ayoreo Indians that the scientists and their large back-up teams could stumble upon groups of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, and pass on dangerous and even fatal diseases.

Last week other Ayoreo leaders signed a letter saying they were happy for the expedition to continue. The trip is one of the largest mounted by the museum in many years. Last night neither the museum, based in London, nor the Paraguayan government could say how long the talks might last. A spokeswoman in London said: "The ministry for the environment of Paraguay has decided to undertake further consultation with the Ayoreo people and there will be a suspension of activities while this takes place. The concerns of the uncontacted people are extremely important to us. We will continue to take advice on these matters from the Paraguayan authorities."

The Paraguayan government has been deeply embarrassed that some Ayoreo leaders have claimed they knew nothing about the scientists' trip until learning about it in the press.

The expedition has led to some indigenous rights groups threatening to take the Paraguayan state to court for violating its own laws on the rights of self-determination of its indigenous peoples.

"All projects have to carry out a 'free, previous and informed' consultation. If an institution doesn't proceed in this way, they have violated the rights of indigenous people," said Carlos Picanerai, secretary general of the Co-ordination for the Self-Determination of Indigenous People, which represents 13 Paraguayan groups.

The museum defended its trip, "expected to discover several hundred new species of plants and insects", saying that to "scientifically record the richness and diversity of the animals and plants in this remote region is extremely important for the future management of this fragile habitat".