ELL: The Akha and Biodiversity of habitat and language

Mon Nov 29 01:13:00 UTC 1999

Luisa:

This is all very well noted.

It takes but a match.

I think that in the future, the major nation races will find out that it
takes more than say 2 or 300 races to maintain the genetic flexibility
and resiliency of their own races, that without larger numbers of
variations they will fall prey to disease and ultimately death of their
own race as well.

It appears quite apparently that in many fashions the Akha Hill Tribe is
meeting its death.  Not to be overly pessimistic, but the whole formula
is here for the end of the race, forced migration, taking away food
growing land, moving whole villages, numerous divisive programs that
fail to address what the other hand is very busy doing.

Currently the Thai government, backed by the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand, is taking up every square inch of land it can from the Akha
(since they are migrants over the last 100 years remember, aliens,
foreigners, non Thais, non beings, Ekaw!) and leaving them with no land
to grow rice.  I am verifying this in village after village, the process
radically intensifying this year, whole villages being reduced to
economic ashes.  With it comes immediate poverty and immediate village
failure, youngsters must go and be low land labor and prostitutes in
order for their younger siblings to stay alive.

And now the role of wealthy missions, long waiting, the damaged apple,
finally shaken from the tree to fall in their bag.  In village after
village DAPA, the American Baptist Development and Agricultural Project
for Akha, set up and started by the famous Paul W. Lewis, the longtime
cultural friend of the Akha people, they post signs telling the Akha, in
Akha language to not take from the forest, to not take their year old
dead bamboo wood from the forest, to just sort of leave the forest
alone, that every one needs the forest except them, that all the rest
has been cut down and now the Akha need to learn to sacrifice a little
and the mission is more than willing to help them move and make this
sacrifice.

This is what I would like to know, we can talk all day about what is
going on, but I would like to know what action can be taken against the
Thai government and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand to stop these
massive alien specie tree planting schemes in the North of Thailand
that  are taking all the Akha rice land.  This is an economic emergency,
that will certainly wipe out language if it wipes out villages.
Remember that little part about our broad spectrum literacy program and
our embarrassingly bad Akha script?  Yeah, related.

So if anyone has any ideas on the genocide, the eco-cide of the Akha
people in Northern Thailand, please speak up now, there isn't a lot of
time left.

Matthew McDaniel

Luisa Maffi wrote:

> Dear Listers:
>
> I'm enclosing below a news item I received from Nick Ostler (President
> of
> the Foundation for Endangered Languages, FEL) titled "Environmental
> destruction a threat to languages: UN Environment Programme", in which
> UNEP
> officials are reported to be making the case for integrated protection
> of
> biocultural (and specifically linguistic) diversity. (This piece
> appeared
> in the FEL newsletter Ogmios # 12, 1999.) I was doubly pleased to read
> the
> piece "Environmental destruction a threat to languages: UN Environment
>
> Programme"--doubly because:
>
> 1) It's obviously great to find out that the foremost international
> environmental organization is taking the view that protection of the
> environment should go hand in hand with protection of cultural and
> linguistic diversity--a view which, as you may know, I have been
> working hard
> to promote for the past several years, in my own writings and through
> the
> the activities of my NGO, Terralingua: Partnerships for Linguistic and
>
> Biological Diversity;
>
> 2) I have pretty good reasons to believe I'm the ultimate source of
> the
> UNEP statement (reported in the mentioned news piece) that "There is
> remarkable overlap between the mappings of the world's areas of
> biological
> megadiversity and areas of high cultural and linguistic diversity".
> Here's
> how. UNEP has just published the book _Cultural and Spiritual Values
> of
> Biodiversity_ ed. by Darrell Posey (see below). In that book, I am
> coordinator and coauthor of the chapter "Linguistic Diversity" (the
> other
> authors being Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Jonah Andrianarivo), which
> extensively propounds that very argument. Furthermore, in one of my
> sections in that chapter, referring to Dave Harmon's cross-mappings of
>
> biological and linguistic diversity, I say: "Harmon (1996a)* has shown
>
> remarkable overlaps between the world's biological and linguistic
> diversity..."
>
> *Harmon, David 1996. Losing species, losing languages: Connections
> between
> biological and linguistic diversity. _Southwest Journal of
> Linguistics_ 15:
> 89-108.
>
> I noted with total amazement that Klaus Toepfer, executive director of
>
> UNEP, makes special mention of this chapter in his foreword to the
> book,
> stressing the importance of cultural diversity and the consequences of
>
> language loss. So the likelihood that the UNEP statements below were
> prompted by this book and by the linguistic diversity chapter in
> particular
> seems rather high... The book's foreword is extremely supportive
> overall--which, along with the news piece below, does suggest that the
> case
> for biocultural diversity may indeed begin to be heard in high
> places...
> The true test, of course, is mobilization of money and other
> resources,
> pressure on member states to conform, etc. etc.... A long way still,
> but
> this is an incredible step forward. It is both rewarding and humbling
> to
> see this happen, after several years that my Terralingua colleagues
> and
> myself have been making this argument extensively, both in writing and
> in
> all possible public fora we could get ourselves to--and above all, I
> hope
> this may spell greater action aimed at the joint conservation of
> biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity.
>
> Following the news item, you'll find the info on Darrell's book.
>
> All the best,
>
> Luisa Maffi
>
> ********************
> >From Ogmios # 12, 1999:
>
> Environmental  destruction a threat to languages: UN Environment
> Programme
> 7 Sep 1999
> ((c) 1999 The Nation.) Distributed via Africa News Online by  Africa
> News
> Service.
>
> Nairobi - The diversity of languages is being eroded by the unabating
> destruction of the environment, the United Nations Environment
> Programme
> has  said. UNEP says the loss of linguistic diversity represents a
> huge
> loss in  intellectual resources, necessary for solving the world's
> abounding problems  such as poverty.
>
> "Each culture and language is a unique tool for analysing and
> synthesising
> the world," Dr. Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of Unep says.
>
> "To lose such a tool is to forget a way of constructing reality, to
> blot
> out  the perspective evolved over many generations," he said.
>
> According to UNEP's biodiversity programme manager, Mr. Bai-Mass Taal,
>
> there  are close to 7,000 documented languages worldwide.
>
> Of these, up to 5,000 belong to indigenous people who represent the
> most
> culturally and linguistically diverse peoples of the world.
>
> And of all the languages presently spoken, 2,500 are in danger of
> extinction,  a threat now recognised as a worldwide crisis, Mr. Taal
> said
> in commemoration of  the fifth International Day of the World's
> Indigenous
> Peoples on August 9.
>
> The International Day for the World's Indigenous Day was launched in
> 1994
> by  the United Nations to raise awareness on the plight of this
> marginalised group  of people, and their untapped traditional wisdom.
> The
> UN also inaugurated the  international decade for indigenous peoples
> which
> runs to 2004.
>
> According to Mr. Taal, these two initiatives were intended to give
> indigenous  peoples, such as the Ogiek, a voice in national
> socio-economic
> and political  affairs, and therefore give them choices and greater
> opportunities in life.
>
> Mr. Taal told journalists there were 300 million indigenous peoples
> scattered  in more than 70 countries worldwide who live in the
> environmental hotspots of  the world.
>
> These areas, their homes, are threatened by over-exploitation of their
>
> great  biological diversity, and habitat destruction.
>
> "There is remarkable overlap between the mappings of the world's areas
> of
> biological megadiversity and areas of high cultural and linguistic
> diversity,"  Unep says.
>
> "Unfortunately, these are the areas where biodiversity loss has been
> the
> most  dramatic," he said.
>
> He says the destruction of forests and other natural ecosystems has
> ejected
> indigenous peoples from their homes, forcing them to migrate to urban
> areas
> and  other places where they could eke a living. Their dispersal this
> way
> breaks down  community structures and cultures which promote the use
> of
> indigenous languages.
>
> The decimation of indigenous languages breaks down a vital channel for
>
> passing on indigenous knowledge and wisdom, an under-developed
> repository
> for  traditional, herbal remedies, for example.
>
> As global socio-economic factors disrupt traditional ways of life,
> indigenous  peoples are abandoning traditional behaviours, indigenous
> knowledge and their  languages which are the repositories and means of
>
> transmission of knowledge on  preserving biodiversity and promoting
> sustainability," Unep says.
>
> The loss of language and culture destroys self-worth limiting the
> potential
> of the affected peoples and complicating efforts aimed at addressing
> vices
> such  as the breakdown of family structures, substance abuse and
> school
> failures and  dropouts.
>
> ********************
>
> Darrell Posey's edited book, Cultural and Spiritual Values of
> Biodiversity,
> is finally out. The book is published for the United Nations
> Environment
> Programme, as a complement to UNEP's 1995 Global Biodiversity
> Assessment.
> It is almost as massive, and certainly no less impressive! Over 730
> large-size pp., some 300 [yes!] contributors if I counted
> right--beside
> everything else that it represents, the book is most certainly a
> monument
> to Darrell's commitment and perseverance!
>
> The full reference is:
>
> Posey, Darrell (ed.) 1999. Cultural and Spiritual Values of
> Biodiversity.
> London/Nairobi: Intermediate Technology Publications/UNEP.
>
> The table of contents is as follows (note that for each chapter only
> the
> chapter coordinator is mentioned, but each chapter has a number of
> contributors):
>
> Ch.  1 - Introduction: Culture and nature-The inextricable link
> (Darrell Posey)
> Ch.  2 - Linguistic diversity (Luisa Maffi)
> Ch.  3 - Indigenous peoples, their environments and territories
> (Andrew Gray)
> Ch.  4 - Voices of the Earth (Ranil Senenayake)
> Ch.  5 - Ethnoscience, TEK, and its applications to conservation (L.
> Jan
>          Slikkerveer)
> Ch.  6 - Valuing biodiversity for human health and well-being:
> Traditional
>          health systems (Gerard Bodeker)
> Ch.  7 - Traditional agriculture and soil management (Kristina
> Plenderleith)
> Ch.  8 - Mountains: The heights of biodiversity (Edwin Bernbaum)
> Ch.  9 - Forests, culture, and conservation (Sarah Laird)
> Ch. 10 - Aquatic and marine biodiversity (Paul Chambers)
> Ch. 11 - Ethical, moral, and religious concerns (Jeff Golliher)
> Ch. 12 - Rights, resources, and responses (Graham Dutfield)
> Conclusion - Maintaining the mosaic (Darrell Posey)
>
> This is preceded by various perfatory matters and followed by several
> appendices, including indigenous declarations and faith statements on
> religion and ecology.
>
> To order the book, contact ITP at 103/105 Southampton Row, London WC1B
> 4HH, UK.
>
> ********************************************************************
> Luisa Maffi (Dr.) - Northwestern University - Program in Cognitive
> Studies of the Environment - Dept. of Psychology - 102 Swift Hall -
> 2029 Sheridan Road - Evanston, IL 60208-2710 - USA
> Phone: +1.847.4676513 - Fax: +1.847.4917859 - Email: maffi at nwu.edu
> ********************************************************************
>
> ********************************************************************
> Luisa Maffi (Dr.) - Northwestern University - Program in Cognitive
> Studies of the Environment - Dept. of Psychology - 102 Swift Hall -
> 2029 Sheridan Road - Evanston, IL 60208-2710 - USA
> Phone: +1.847.4676513 - Fax: +1.847.4917859 - Email: maffi at nwu.edu
> ********************************************************************
>
> ********************************************************************
> Luisa Maffi (Dr.) - Northwestern University - Program in Cognitive
> Studies of the Environment - Dept. of Psychology - 102 Swift Hall -
> 2029 Sheridan Road - Evanston, IL 60208-2710 - USA
> Phone: +1.847.4676513 - Fax: +1.847.4917859 - Email: maffi at nwu.edu
> ********************************************************************
>
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--

Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage Foundation
386/3 Sailom Joi Rd
Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130
Thailand
Mobile Phone Number:  Sometimes hard to reach while in Mountains.
66-01-881-9288

US Address:

Donations by check or money order may be sent to:

The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem OR 97304
USA

By Visa Card Secure Site:

https://www.givetocharity.com/cgi-bin/give.pl?CODE=10956

Donations by direct banking can be transferred to:
(Preferred)

Wells Fargo Bank
Akha Heritage Foundation
Acc. # 0081-889693
Keizer Branch # 1842  04
4990 N. River Road.
Keizer, Oregon,  97303 USA
ABA # 121000248

Or In Thailand:

Matthew  Duncan McDaniel
Acc. # 3980240778
Bangkok Bank Ltd.
Maesai Branch
Thailand

Web Site:

http://www.akha.com
mailto:akha at loxinfo.co.th

Discussion Groups:
akha at onelist.com
indigenousworld at onelist.com

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