Brazilian chief wields high-tech tools in battle to save tribe, forests
Brazilian chief wields high-tech tools in battle to save tribe, forests
The Washington Post
Mar 30, 2013
SEVENTH OF SEPTEMBER RESERVE, BRAZIL – As a small boy in the early 1980s, Almir Surui hunted monkeys with a bow and arrow, wore a loincloth and struggled with Brazil’s official language, Portuguese.
At 38, he is the techno-savvy, university-educated chief of the Paiter Surui, or “the real people,” of the western corner of Brazil.
He can still handle a bow. But Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui says his weapon of choice these days is technology: Android phones to monitor illegal logging, hand-held Global Positioning System devices to map territory, and Google Earth Outreach to show the world what a well-managed forest looks like.
Wielding the tools of the 21st century, the 1,300-member tribe has delved into a complex plan in which governments or companies pay for forest preservation, contributing to a system that, if fully realized, would help end large-scale deforestation. By determining how much carbon is not released if the trees on Surui lands are left standing, the tribe hopes to sell carbon credits internationally to offset greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries.
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