Friday 27 June 2014

Is modernization killing the uncontacted tribes of Amazon



Is modernization killing the uncontacted tribes of Amazon?

Do you reach for your iPhone first thing in the morning? Do you spend more time looking at your shiny new 3GS in bed than reading a real book? Do you get more excited about new apps than you do about new albums?

In a time and a place where survival without cell phone, iPod, television, car radio, magazines, newspapers, computers, IMs and Facebook seems like a far-fetched, foreign concept, the very idea of a world unplugged from media-globalization might be unfothamable. That is why the existence of an 'uncontacted' tribe, unsullied by the modernizations of society, would only sound like a lore in today's era.


 
Nevertheless, they exist! That's right. The BBC recently released a footage of one such “uncontacted” tribe and how their world is facing a threat from encroaching loggers. And a group of conservationists plans to use the footage to protect outsiders from trespassing the tribe's home.

Two years ago, first pictures of the tribes emerged along with accounts of outsiders shooting arrows at them from an airplane flying overhead — much like the scenes from James Cameron's “Avatar”. On that that was fiction, and this is a true account. While some trashed the reports as hoax, other viewed it as an attempt by the environmentalists to prevent logging.


 
However, BBC busted the notions by probing deeper. It, along with Survival International advocated, flew over the tribes' home and capture high-definition images of the tribe, nestled between the border of Peru and Brazil, blame it on the illegal logging operations that forced them to abandon their homes and flee. Today, they dwell in Amazon in Eastern Brazil, and where their homes are still fraught with risks.

Post the photo expedition, Survival International started pressurizing South American nations' governments to pay heed to the fact that one of the world's last remaining uncontacted tribes was in great danger.

However, the Peruvian government denied their existence for years and pushed on with its oil exploration and mining operations in the region, causing the tribes to seek refuge elsewhere.

Now, that we have a concrete proof in hand, the question is: Will the Peruvian governmnet roll back its logging, mining, and deforestation ventures, knowing that it could leave the tribe endangered and in the throes of extinction?

AW: Suchorita Chowdari

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