2011 Human World Geography Conference
Lawrence, KS. Leaders of the Miskitu and Tawahka Indigenous peoples will be at Haskel Indian Nations University this week to promote their campaigns to stop dam construction and to exercise Indigenous autonomy in Honduras’ vast Moskitia wilderness.
Miskitu leaders Norvin Goff and Donaldo Allen, and Tawahka leader Edgardo Benitez will address the Human World Geography Conference, “Communities and Ethics,” as their communities in Honduras prepare for a major mobilization later this month to stop construction of dams on the Patuca River.
“Dams on the Patuca River mean ecocide and homicide,” warns Goff, president of the Miskitu federation, MASTA. The Patuca River flows through the largest expanse of intact tropical forest in Central America, connecting Patuca National Park, the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere Reserve, and the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve. These protected areas are among the last refuges of endangered species like the harpy eagle and the giant anteater. Miskitu and Tawahka communities depend on the Patuca for transportation, commerce, and subsistence.
During their stay in the US, Goff, Allen, and Benitez hope to persuade officials at the Inter-American Development Bank to reject Honduras’ application for funds to build infrastructure to support construction of dams on the Patuca. Honduras contracted Sinohydro, the company that built China’s controversial Three Gorges dam, to build the first of three proposed dams on the Patuca, but the Indigenous leaders say their communities have not been consulted as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Goff, Allen, and Benitez are available for interviews on September 15 and 16.
Contact them through:
Kendra McSweeney, PhD, kendra.mcsweeney@gmail.com, cell 614-915-9551
Dan Wildcat, PhD, dwildcat@sunflower.com, 785-832-6677
Photo by Danielle DeLuca
For more information:
- About the conference: http://web.ku.edu/~kugso/whgc/
- About the campaign to stop dam construction: Paula Palmer, Cultural Survival, 303 444 0306, /take-action/honduras-dont-dam-patuca-river/honduras-dont-dam-patuca-river
- For photos, visit http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvZZ6P2
