Google to harness satellite power for an Amazon tribe

Iria · Jun 10, 2007, 10:30 PM

Source: SFGate
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The journey from the September 7th Reserve deep in Brazil's Amazon forest includes a two-hour, four-wheel-drive jeep trip on a bumpy dirt road, a 10-hour bus ride and 14 hours on three airplane flights. But Amazon Chief Almir Surui knew it was the first step in his struggle to forge an alliance he hopes will save his 1,200-member tribe.

Almir says loggers and miners have already killed 11 Surui chiefs -- Surui is both the common surname and name of the tribe -- who tried to prevent them from entering their lands over the past five years, and he says Brazilian government officials have failed to stop the violence. So the 32-year-old indigenous leader, a stocky man who often dons a headdress made from feathers of Amazonian birds, opted for another route -- an appeal to Google.

During his visit to the Bay Area late last month, Almir, the first Surui to graduate from college, asked the folks at Google Earth for high-quality satellite imagery that would allow the tribe to monitor loggers and miners, who have no legal right to operate on the tribe's 600,000-acre reserve about 1,600 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

Jun 10, 2007, 10:30 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 87	Google to harness satellite power for an Amazon tribe Source: SFGate _______ The journey from the September 7th Reserve deep in Brazil's Amazon forest includes a two-hour, four-wheel-drive jeep trip on a bumpy dirt road, a 10-hour bus ride and 14 hours on three airplane flights. But Amazon Chief Almir Surui knew it was the first step in his struggle to forge an alliance he hopes will save his 1,200-member tribe. Almir says loggers and miners have already killed 11 Surui chiefs -- Surui is both the common surname and name of the tribe -- who tried to prevent them from entering their lands over the past five years, and he says Brazilian government officials have failed to stop the violence. So the 32-year-old indigenous leader, a stocky man who often dons a headdress made from feathers of Amazonian birds, opted for another route -- an appeal to Google. During his visit to the Bay Area late last month, Almir, the first Surui to graduate from college, asked the folks at Google Earth for high-quality satellite imagery that would allow the tribe to monitor loggers and miners, who have no legal right to operate on the tribe's 600,000-acre reserve about 1,600 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.