Rainforest projects hit the road
By John Seed
LISMORE — Ruth Rosenhek and myself, from Lismore's Rainforest Information Centre (RIC), will be doing workshops and presentations in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle in the next month to raise funds for the Panacocha rainforest protection project in the Amazonian headwaters in Ecuador, and for the reforestation of the sacred mountain Arunachala in the south of India.
Panacocha Reserve consists of 56,000 hectares of primary rainforest containing jaguars, ocelots, nine species of monkeys and 500 species of birds. It harbours a network of waterways, including Panacocha Lagoon, home to the endangered Amazon River dolphin.
Panacocha is also the corridor connecting the 982,000-hectare Yasuni Reserve to the south and the 600,000-hectare Cuyabeno Park to the north. More protection for Panacocha therefore means progress towards establishing a huge continuous park on the headwaters of the Amazon.
The RIC and its Ecuadoran partner, Centro de Investigación de los Bosques Tropicales, have been working to protect Panacocha since 1990. In 1994, they succeeded in having 56,000 hectares reserved, and they are now raising funds to complete the management plan that will keep oil companies out of the reserve. More information about the area is available at <http://www.forests.org/ric/projects/panaprop.htm>.
The reforestation of Arunachala has been under way since the RIC responded to an appeal from local conservationists in 1987. The RIC and the local Annamalai Reforestation Society have created the largest tree nursery in the south of India, which provides plants to reforest the mountain as well as seedlings for local farmers and the Indian government. More information about this project is available at <http://www.forests.org/ric/projects/slides/ars.htm>.
The fundraising road show begins in Melbourne on November 12, when RIC's new video about its projects in PNG and India is screening on Access News, Channel 31, at 8pm. For details of the other road show events in Melbourne (until end of November) and Canberra, Newcastle and Sydney (in the first week of December), contact <johnseed@ozemail.com.au>, write to PO Box 368, Lismore 2480, or check out "meetings ... parties ... anything" in future issues of Green Left Weekly. Donations to RIC are tax-deductible, and volunteers (in Lismore or in cyberspace) are always welcome.