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Resolution 24: Cancellation of Permits to Cut Down Trees in the Tarahumara Lands within the Panalachi Ejido (communal farmland), Bocoyna, Chihuahua, Mexico / Cacelacion de permisos de tala de bisque en las tierras tarahumaras del ejido panalachi, minucip de bocoyna, Chiuahua, Mexico

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WHEREAS

▪ We, the Tarahumara peoples, would like to care for the water in the springs so it never dries up or becomes polluted

▪ The companies that are permitted to cut down the forests in the Panalachi ejido are destroying the forest and there is almost nothing left so the ejido can continue to function

▪ Before, the forest used to call the rain. Now it no longer snows and it almost never rains on Tarahumara land, so that during planting season, the crops do not grow

▪ The land is eroding because there is no longer any ground cover nor pine roots to keep it there

▪ The loss of the forest is causing the disappearance of traditional medicinal plants.

▪ The wild fauna that lived in the forest is also disappearing

▪ Now the forest is being exploited only by outsiders, only mestizos

▪ The felling by the mestizos is excessive

▪ The 10-year permits granted the mestizos come to an end in 2010 and it is important that these permits not be renewed

▪ The lumber companies share very little of their earnings with the Tarahumara ejidatarios [communal landholders]

▪ We Tarahumaras would like sources of income from reforesting, soil restoration, managing the forest sustainably

▪ The Tarahumara people are in the midst of a crisis because of the impoverishment of the area’s natural resources and because they are under concession to individuals who are not the region’s original settlers

▪ In 2008, most of the indigenous ejidatarios agreed that the forest should not continue to be cut because the natural resources are being destroyed and only the mestizos are benefitting from the wood

THEREFORE

▪ The WILD9 delegates recognize the importance of wilderness for the wellbeing of human populations

▪ We also recognize that in actual fact native peoples are not always taken into account

▪ We recognize that native peoples should be taken into account within their wilderness areas AS PRIMARY PLAYERS because native people all over the world have been doing conservation work for hundreds of years.

RESOLUTION

The Wild9 Congress calls on the delegation of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources [SEMARNAT] in Chihuahua to:

▪ Evaluate the social, economic and environmental consequences of the concessions granted and their activities related to the exploitation permits for the forests on Tarahumara land in the Panalachi ejido, Municipality of Bocoyna, Chihuahua, Mexico

▪ Consult with all stakeholders, most especially the native peoples

▪ Based on the consequences alleged, if appropriate, cancel the concessions immediately or consider not renewing the lumbering concessions in 2010

▪ Send a technician to the Panalachi ejido to properly advise the community as to the restoration of their forest

PROPOSER

▪ Herculano Nava Batista, President of the Supreme Tarahumara Council

SECONDER

▪ Luis Narváez Córdoba, President of the Cofán Nation of Ecuador

▪ Beatriz Padilla, Painting Expeditions for Nature Conservation

▪ Jürgen Hoth von der Meden

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