* <a href="/actnow/writealetter/enawenenawe" onclick="new Effect.BlindDown('embedded_letter_enawenenawe'); new Effect.ScrollTo('embedded_letter_enawenenawe_container', {offset: -24}); return false;">Please write to the Brazilian government</a> to express your concern and ask them to demarcate the Rio Preto area and halt the hydroelectric dam project.
* "Donate":/donate to the Enawene Nawe campaign (and other Survival campaigns)
* "Write a letter to your MP or MEP":http://www.writetothem.com/ (UK)
* "Write to the President, your senators, congressmen or other elected officials":http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ (US)
* Write to your local Brazilian embassy (find the address via "Embassies Abroad":http://www.embassiesabroad.com)
F2C36C
New wave of dam building threatens Amazon Indians
true
The Enawene Nawe live in an area of tropical forest in western Brazil. The state government has announced it will build a vast complex of hydroelectric dams upriver of the Enawene Nawe’s land.
The Indians oppose the dams because they will pollute the water and destroy the fish which are an essential part of their diet.
The Enawene Nawe live in an area of savannah and tropical rainforest in Mato Grosso state, western Brazil. Much of the forest is rapidly being converted into cattle pasture and soya plantations, which are now encroaching onto the Indians' land.
<strong>How
do they live?</strong>  The Enawene Nawe are a
relatively isolated people who were first
contacted in 1974. Today
they number over 450, living in large communal houses or
<i>malocas</i>. The Enawene Nawe are famed for their fishing techniques. During the
fishing season, the men build large dams across rivers and spend
several months camped in the forest, catching and smoking the fish
which is then transported by canoe to their village. The Enawene Nawe
grow manioc and corn
in gardens and gather forest products. Honey gathering is celebrated in
<i>keteoko</i>, or the honey feast, when men collect large
amounts of
wild honey in the forest and hide it on their return to the village,
only revealing it when the women start to dance. Unusually for an
Amazonian tribe, they do not hunt eat red meat.<br />
<br />
<strong>What problems do they face?</strong> For decades
the Enawene Nawe have faced invasion of their lands by
rubber tappers, diamond prospectors, cattle ranchers and more recently
soya planters - Maggi, the largest soya company in Brazil, illegally
built a road on their land in 1997. (This was subsequently closed by a
federal prosecutor.) Although their territory was officially recognised
and ratified by the government in 1996, a key area known as the Rio
Preto was left out.<br />
<br />
This area is tremendously important to the Enawene Nawe both
economically and spiritually - this is where they build their fishing
camps and dams, and where many important spirits live. The Enawene Nawe
are urgently pressing for this area to be protected as it is
being increasingly invaded by loggers and soya planters, who are fast
destroying the forest and polluting the land and rivers.<br />
<br />
<strong>How can I help?</strong><br />
Click
<a target="_self" href="/how_to_help.php?howto_help_id=1">
here</a> to
donate to the Enawene Nawe campaign (and other Survival
campaigns).<br />
Click <a target="_self" href="/how_to_help.php?howto_help_id=201&n=null&tribe_id=194">here</a> for a sample letter to send to the Brazilian government.<br />
Click <a target="_blank" href="http://www.writetothem.com/">
here</a>
to write a letter to your MP or MEP (UK).<br />
Click <a href="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/" target="_blank">here</a> to write to the President, your senators, congressmen or other elected officials (US).<br />
Write to your local Brazilian embassy, click
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.embassiesabroad.com/">
here</a> to find out the address.<br />
<br />
<strong>How does Survival help?</strong> Survival is
lobbying the Brazilian government to recognise the Rio
Preto region as Enawene Nawe land as a matter of urgency. Survival
supports a land protection project run by the Enawene Nawe and the
Brazilian non-governmental organisation OPAN.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
127
0
The Enawene Nawe live in an area of savannah and tropical rainforest in Mato Grosso state, western Brazil. Much of the forest is rapidly being converted into cattle pasture and soya plantations, which are now encroaching onto the Indians' land.
194
/images/tribes/194_map.jpg
true
3
15
the Enawene Nawe
http://bit.ly/sv6tR
enawenenawe
3
194
Enawene Nawe
2009-05-29T18:02:38+01:00