Adrian Sinafasi, who was displaced from his ancestral home in the eastern DR Congo by loggers (skovhuggere), is leading a delegation of pygmies to meet the new head of the World Bank Robert Zoellick in Washington this week.
He hopes the talks could lead to deal to safeguard the worlds second-largest rainforest. There is mounting optimism that when the representatives of some of Africas most remote tribes arrive in the US capital Monday, they can capitalise on international outrage over the Banks plan to turn 60.000 sq km (kvadratkilometer – et areal større end Danmark) of pristine (urørt) forest over to European logging companies.
40 million people in the DR Congo (former Zaire) depend on the rainforests for survival. Among them are up to 600.000 pygmies who are engaged in a David and Goliath battle over plans to allow millions of hardwood trees to be felled, many to make garden furniture and flooring for European homes.
As well as retaining nearly eight per cent of the worlds carbon dioxide, the rainforest is home to a vast biodiversity, including the bonobo apes unique to the Congo river basin.
The indigenous tribes scored a victory last month when their complaints about logging were upheld by the Banks independent experts. Observers believe the Banks board of directors is poised to accept the principle that forest peoples should have a final say in any future development.
The panel, which visited DR Congo to investigate the pygmies claims, accepted evidence that the economic value of the trees had been wildly overstated and officials had failed to consider other sustainable uses for the wood. It also concluded that locals were not consulted and the necessary environmental checks were not carried out before the chainsaws started buzzing.
It is claimed that, far from bringing development and riches, logging is causing widespread malnutrition, especially among children. Felling of trees is also blamed for re-igniting violence in the region, which is still recovering from years of civil war in which more than four million people died.
Mr Sinafasi, who leads a coalition of 12 pygmy groups, said he would call on the new bank president, Robert Zoellick, to deliver on the promises made by his predecessor Paul Wolfowitz.
Plans to allow industrial logging in the DR Congo were drawn up after the World Bank moved back into the country in 2002, aiming to turn it into Africas main timber producer.
While the bloody civil war cost millions of lives, peace has brought with it a new threat as western companies return to exploit the nations new-found stability.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
