WRITTEN QUESTION No. 767/98 by Mark WATTS to the Commission. Demarcation of Javari Valley, Brazil
Date: 1998-03-18
Institutions: European Parliament, WATTS
Subjects: Brazil, EU Member State, Germany, drug traffic, forestry policy, indigenous population, protection of minorities, tropical forest

C 354/24

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

19. 11. 98

(98/C 354/52)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0767/98

by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission

(18 March 1998)

Subject: Demarcation of Javari Valley, Brazil

The Javari valley is one of the largest indigenous areas in Brazil, lying on the border with Peru. It comprises over
eight million hectares and is home to six indigenous tribal peoples, and includes the largest group of uncontacted
people in the Amazon. These peoples(cid:146) land is under intense pressure from timber companies and drug traffickers,
and the uncontacted people especially are vulnerable to disease and violence from outsiders.

If the isolated people of the Javari valley are to survive, the area must be demarcated. European funding has been
assigned to demarcate the Javari valley as a priority area, but the Brazilian government shows no sign of carrying
out this urgently needed demarcation.

Will the Commission explain the current position and state when the demarcation will be carried out?

Answer given by Mr Mar(cid:14)·n on behalf of the Commission

(14 April 1998)

The legal situation of the Javari indigenous lands is that access is banned by Decree 1849/E of 8 April 1985.
The decree  definitively  proclaiming  the  boundaries  of  these  lands  is  expected  this  year,  which  will  enable
demarcation  to  begin.  This  demarcation  has  been  planned  and  figures  among  the  Brazilian  Government(cid:146)s
priorities in the PPG7, a process that Germany has helped finance.

The project currently being considered by the Commission is an ethno-environmental protection project for the
Javari lands. It involves a comprehensive strategy to protect both their peoples and forest resources: monitoring
the land-use patterns of uncontacted groups; surveillance measures; health monitoring; building the capacities of
indigenous communities contacted to manage the lands raising awareness among the non-indigenous people of
the need to protect the lands.

This project is not aimed at carrying out the demarcation, but at facilitating it by providing all the information
necessary, particularly on areas where there may be uncontacted groups.

(98/C 354/53)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0785/98

by Rijk van Dam (I-EDN) and Frits Castricum (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Financing the infrastructure of the port of Zeebrugge

(18 March 1998)

According to the newspaper De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd of 31 January 1998, the Flemish Government is
considering investing BF 1.8 billion in the port of Zeebrugge in order to enable the Swedish paper producer Stora
to establish itself there. As well as the financing of the port infrastructure, this investment covers the acquisition
of a (cid:145)lash-ship(cid:146), a motorized dock needed for the maritime transport of inland waterway vessels.

Can  the  Commission  say  what  facilities  the  port  of  Zeebrugge  has  made,  or  will  make,  available  for  the
development of a distribution centre for the benefit of the Swedish firm Stora and to what extent the Flemish
Government and/or other governments will be involved in this project?

Does  the  Commission  consider  the  support  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph  to  be  in  keeping  with  the
principles of fair competition?