Geographic Technology as a Tool for Indigenous Empowerment (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Peru Project Blog
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Geographic Technology as a Tool for Indigenous Empowerment
http://www.villageearth.org/pages/Projects/Peru/perublog/2007/05/geographic-technology-as-tool-for.html

There is only one month left before the monumental Indigenous Tribunal in
the Ucayali region of the Amazon!

As part of the Tribunal, Village Earth was asked to facilitate community
mapping workshops for Shipibo Communities but we need your support to get
the necessary resources to indigenous leaders.

We've bundled these resources into a low-cost and easy to use "Mapping Kit"
that we would like to give to community representatives participating in
our free mapping workshop.

You can help by purchasing one of these kits for a Shipibo community today!

Support Village Earth and the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon with your
sponsorship of a Mapping Kit!

(Contributions of any amount are welcome, greatly appreciated, and 100%
tax-deductible.)

Each Mapping Kit will include a hand-held GPS unit and Map Book of their
territory to be given to community leaders. Village Earth will then provide
the instruction in how to use this technology to their advantage.

Mapping Kits will enable communities to:

* Identify their boundaries to determine if outside interests are illegally
taking their resources or colonizing their lands.

* Identify illegal logging using the satellite imagery available in the map
books.

* Map existing resources to establish a baseline for future comparisons of
resource depletion/restoration

* Better manage and plan for the use of their limited resources.

Village Earth has been using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology
to create maps of indigenous territory combined with satellite images of the
region. Some Shipibo leaders have already used these maps to dispute
government and colonist land claims and build their case in support of
indigenous land rights in the region.

Your contribution not only provides the mapping resources, but will help
further the greater collective vision for the alternative development of
the region based on indigenous knowledge and values. By supporting the
Shipibo's efforts at mobilizing the region and these community-based
mapping endeavors, together we can:

* Organize indigenous communities in the Ucayali region to increase their
economic and political clout to determine their own futures

* Teach GPS technology to indigenous leaders so they no longer have to rely
on expensive and biased government GPS technicians

* Support Shipibo efforts to reclaim and restore indigenous land stewardship
practices.



Labels: community organizing, empowerment, indigenous amazon, indigenous
movement, shipibo

posted by Village Earth2 at 2:05 PM