Indigenous leader warns Amazon ruin could spark global 'apocalypse'

[Judi Lynn]

Issued on: 12/10/2021 - 03:30



Gregorio Mirabal says indigenous people living in the Amazon basin are fighting to save the massive tropical rainforest and prevent a global "apocalypse" Rodrigo BUENDIA AFP

3 min

Birds chirp near a river in the Ecuadorian jungle, five hours from the capital Quito, as Gregorio Mirabal expresses fear for the 500 tribes that often act as guardians of the Amazon rainforest and who face attacks, and even death, as a result.

Mirabel, the head of the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin (COICA), calls on developed nations who will gather at the COP26 -- the climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland -- to collaborate with indigenous people to protect the 8.4 million square kilometers (3.2 million square miles) of the Amazon.

Mirabal is one representative of the 3.5 million indigenous people of the Amazon, who live across nine countries and territories -- Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

A member of the Wakuenai Kurripaco people, Mirabal, 54, says that 17 percent of the forest has already been wiped out by oil and mineral exploitation, as well as pollution and deforestation for agriculture and livestock.

More:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211012-indigenous-leader-warns-amazon-ruin-could-spark-global-apocalypse