Venezuela -- In February 1997, members of the Pemon (indigenous peoples whose homelands coincide with Canaima National Park) noticed plastic markers being laid out at various points within their territory. They realised something was afoot and began to make enquiries.
It turned out that the electricity company, CVG-EDELCA, had been granted national funding to build a 220kV powerline through the national park. The Pemon immediately wrote to both the parks institute (INPARQUES) and CVG-EDELCA asking for more information. Neither institution responded, but a leaked document was obtained. The document disclosed plans to construct a powerline and several sub-stations in order to provide energy for new gold and diamond mining operations in the region and also to supply energy to Brazil.
The Pemon were angry at this, particularly because the government had been trying to persuade them to cooperate with the conservation objectives of the area and had denied them land tenure claims on the grounds that the park would protect their interests. Now they became worried that others, particularly mining companies, would move onto their land and cause the kind of acute environmental and social problems typical of gold mining operations on Pemon lands bordering the park. Nevertheless, the government responded with the argument that mining would never be allowed within the park as it was not permitted under any of the territorial planning or protected areas legislation: almost all of that part of Bolivar State is under one protected area or another.
However, in May 1998, a bill was introduced into Congress which - if passed - *would* permit mining within protected areas, a tremendous step backwards for a country which was once at the forefront of environmental policy making in Latin America. Now Canaima National Park faces the combined threat of potential legalisation of mining and a powerline under contruction to supply the energy to permit these operations. At the same time, the Government of Venezuela is renegotiating the boundaries of the Canaima NP World Heritage Site with UNESCO. Although the park achieved WH status in 1995, the boundaries (originally proposed to include the full 30,000 sq. km.) were never ratified by the government.
Is there adequate environmental enforcement to regulate mining activities? In 1996, the Environmental Impact Assessment Law was changed so that public access to documentation is no longer mandatory. The leaked EIA document for the powerline was very weak indeed and did not constitute an objective assessment of environmental impacts. However, since there was no open consultation, permits were granted. As for regulating mining activities, Canaima NP has some fifteen park personnel with no radios and limited transport and the operational budget is sorely defficient.
Construction of the powerline has proceeded apace. This week the powerline has reached some of the most important communties north of the park. Local people from four ethnic groups (Kari'ña, Arawako, Akawaio and Pemon) have blockaded the road to draw attention to their plight and the future of this region. According to the Venezuelan Audubon Society, the government has threatened local people with direct military action and four year jail sentences if they continue to resist construction.
In this context, much of the good work which has been carried out over the last few years to resolve conflicts between the government and local people has been undermined. The threat to Canaima National Park twofold. One one hand there is the direct impact of mining: siltation, mercury and gasoline contamination, erosion, diversion of watercourses and localised deforestation. These impacts are clearly seen in the areas which border the park. On the other hand, potentially more serious is the fact that the government has now effectively lost its chance to work together with the only main group capable of conserving the area: 10,000 local people. Environmental managers predict that Canaima will now regress to the conflict situation of the early 1990s when park personal were shot at with arrows, vehicles damaged, government installations burnt and park guards expelled from their communities. Overturning this situation is even more challenging than clearing up the damage caused by mining.
When protected area managers and environmentalists the world over are recognising the need for participatory management of wildlands and protected areas, Canaima National Park provides an interesting case study of what happens when non-participatory management is employed.
Contact the authors via email at rodsha@telcel.net.ve or write to them at Av. Carabobo, Edif. Izarra, Apto. 4, El Rosal, Apartado 62826, Caracas 1060, Venezuela; Tel./fax: + 58-2-7309701
Eco Travels in Venezuela Canaima National Park
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