“The forest is our home, our laboratory, our hospital, our university. It is the source of knowledge we need to survive. Our fight against the Decree is a fight in defense of life.”

—Jose Luis Gonzalez, Coordinator - Federation of Indigenous People, Bolivar State, Bolivia

Protect Imataca Forest Reserve / Venezuela - Archived

Nearly 30 percent of Venezuela’s national territory is protected under conservation laws - a tribute to the richness of the country’s natural resources and to the political savvy of its environmentalists. Venezuela’s vast forests provide habitat for hundreds of endangered species, including harpy eagles, giant anteaters and fresh water dolphins. The Imataca Forest Reserve in northeastern Venezuela is one of the world’s ten most biologically diverse regions, extending over an area the size of Holland.

The Imataca forest and the five tribal groups that live within it have been under protected status for 30 years. But the government, faced with huge foreign debt payments, has decided to sacrifice the forest for what lies below: rich deposits of gold and diamonds. Presidential Decree 1850, issued in May 1997, opens the Imataca Reserve to multinational mining and logging companies. Venezuelan environmental organizations ask Global Response to help them overturn Presidential Decree 1850 and save the Imataca Reserve.

Decree 1850 grants mining concessions in 40% of the Imataca Reserve, leaving less than 4% of the forest completely protected. Legal and illegal logging and mining since the 1980s have already encroached on the traditional subsistence activities of the Reserve’s indigenous peoples and the forest habitat of many endangered species. As a "frontier forest," the Imataca Reserve is of global concern (see below). It contains many species found nowhere else in the world.

More than 20 Venezuelan environmental organizations, the Catholic Church, indigenous peoples’ federations and the Senate Commission on the Environment are urging the president to annul Decree 1850. They fear the decree sets a disastrous precedent for all of Venezuela’s forests.

In November last year, the Supreme Court announced an investigation into the legality of the decree in response to three separate suits brought against the government. The suits argue that the decree violates Venezuelan laws that require

1. public consultation and discussion on important environmental matters, and

2. congressional authorization for changes in land use within a forest reserve; as well as international conventions for protection of biodiversity and the rights of indigenous peoples.

More information about this issue.

Make a donation for this campaign.

Write a letter for this campaign.

Campaign partner(s) and credits.