WRITTEN QUESTION No. 767/98 by Mark WATTS to the Commission. Demarcation of Javari Valley, Brazil
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 peoplesí 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 ·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 Governmentís 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 álash-shipí, 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?