Javier talks about saving the rainforest

On Friday the 4th of December Javier Dril Bustamente will visit the students and teachers at Saltash.net Community School in Cornwall. It is part of his visit to Europe where he will answers questions from MP’s in London and then talk at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

You can hear him talk live via twitcam from Saltash on Friday 4th December at around 12:25pm GMT please follow @chickensaltash on twitter to look out for the link that will be sent out before the start. We would like any teachers and their students to watch the talk live on twitcam and there will be the chance to ask him questions. If you want to take part then please DM chickensaltash and I will ensure you are sent the link in advance.

Javier Dril Bustamente, 27, was born in the village of Tinkereni in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. I was fortunate to meet and spend time with him in my recent trip there.

 Javier

Javier lives there with his wife Yolanda, an Ashaninka woman and their three children.  His parents Anna Maria and Cesar, and grandmother Noemi – who is one of the few remaining shamanic healers – live nearby within the same community.

Javier’s has spent his whole life in the rainforest and it has been his family’s home for generations.  But, at the tender age of seven, Javier, along with his family, had to flee their settlement as a result of the Shining Path terrorists violently pushing their community off their traditional land.  His family set up home in the Otishi hills, above the Rio Ene, hiding away from the terrorists.

Javier’s community regained their land four years later, and, at the age of 11, Javier spent the next six years studying in a secondary school at the nearby village of Cutivireni, where, instead of their usual settlement pattern of small dispersed villages scattered throughout the rainforest, the Ashaninka tribe stayed close together, with 2,000 people living in one main village for security. 

During this time, the tribe began to repopulate the rainforest and today only a few hundred individuals remain in the gateway village of Cutivireni (where there is a river port and a small grassy airstrip).

Javier left Cutivireni to study agro-forestry at a local technical college in the frontier town of Satipo.  After graduating in 2006, he was elected as ‘Regidor’ (assistant) to an indigenous Mayor of his district of Rio Tambo, one of the largest regions in the whole of Peru.  

Javier is also President of the first Ashaninka Bioclimatic Association of Cutivireni (called Tsimi, which means ‘forest sanctuary’ in the local language).  Established two years ago, the Association provides an on-the-ground mechanism for continued protection and conservation of around 60,000 hectare of rainforest.  The forest – and its community – is under severe and constant threat from loggers (legal and illegal), oil companies and massive hydro dam projects who all want to cut down their trees.

The Association is highly democratic, involving representatives from all of the eight main villages in the region. Externally, it is supported by Cool Earth and Ecotribal, both UK based.

Javier and the Ashaninka Bioclimatic Association of Cutivireni is working with Cool Earth to protect their land, their communities and the trees from the loggers.  So far, the charity has provided support to build a local school, provided money for them to grow cocoa plants for chocolate makers and generate income so that they remain guardians of the rainforest, the lungs of the world.

All Javier wants to do is to live like his ancestors have done for the last 5,000 years, in peace in their forest.  His community is passionate about protecting it – if they are allowed to as they have done for thousands of years.

Since its launch in 2007, Cool Earth has protected over 50,000 acres of Peruvian rainforest.

This will be Javier’s first time leaving his home in the rainforest and his country to travel on a plane to the UK.   His visit has been supported by the charity Cool Earth, APE (Artists Protecting the Environment) and Ecotribal (an organisation that sells the tribe’s handicrafts and plants trees to offset against carbon emissions). 

Javier and the Ashaninka Bioclimatic Association of Cutivireni is working with Cool Earth to protect their land, their communities and the trees from the loggers.  So far, the charity has provided support to build a local school, provided money for them to grow cocoa plants for chocolate makers and generate income so that they remain guardians of the rainforest, the lungs of the world.

All Javier wants to do is to live like his ancestors have done for the last 5,000 years, in peace in their forest.  His community is passionate about protecting it – if they are allowed to as they have done for thousands of years.

Since its launch in 2007, Cool Earth has protected over 50,000 acres of Peruvian rainforest.

This will be Javier’s first time leaving his home in the rainforest and his country to travel on a plane to the UK.   His visit has been supported by the charity Cool Earth, APE (Artists Protecting the Environment) and Ecotribal (an organisation that sells the tribe’s handicrafts and plants trees to offset against carbon emissions).

For more information check out www.coolearth.org

5 Comments

on “Javier talks about saving the rainforest
5 Comments on “Javier talks about saving the rainforest
  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Javier talks about saving the rainforest | Why did the Chickenman cross the road? -- Topsy.com

  2. super idea. you go man.

    i may have my math kids join you – if i can’t convince any history teachers…

    i’ll be voting for shelly – once you send in your awesome recommendation.

    i couldn’t decide on one title for her.
    i was thinking – ubiquitos helper of people..
    she just does everything… yes?

  3. Yes it would be great to have your math kids join us brilliant! And please convince as many teachers as you can – we really want lots of kids and teachers all over the world to get involved. This is a fantastic opportunity and we wanted to make it available to as many people as we can.

    I love Shelly she is cool! and Yes she does nearly everything ha ha

  4. Pingback: What Did They Tweet? | Teacher Reboot Camp

  5. It’s 1 o’clock here in Istanbul already. Kemer Schools grade 5 with 1o students will be watching Javier!!! Thank you in advance for this great opportunity!

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