Salim Flight 22 Nov 2006

There are several indigenous communities located in the bottom right-hand corner of the image (below). These include Salim, La Esperanza, Carboncito and Misión Chaqueña. These communities were once surrounded by forest, but as the image shows, much of this has now been cleared, particularly towards the west.

The river running down the centre of the image is the Rio Seco (Dry River). This river only flows during periods of heavy rain, historically emptying into the wetlands, which show up as the light green area in the centre of the image. Historically, floodwaters would move across the landscape, draining into the Bermejo River (visible in the bottom left-hand corner). When this happened, the water had to flow through the forest, which effectively spread the water across a broad area and slowed its progress.

Farmers who have cleared the forests have now channeled the water towards where the Indians live. The Rio Seco’s flood waters now flow a lot easier along these channels, and this now causes flooding in and around some of the Indian’s lands and villages.

The situation is not readily visible or understood when one views it at ground level. The flight was helpful in allowing Indian leaders to see the situation from above. The previous photo is of Facundo Vasquez, a leader from Salim. This was his first ever flight, and like the others in the group, he was quite staggered by the sheer scale of deforestation he saw.

The following pictures show drainage channels cutting across a farmers fields, heading towards the area where the Indian communities are located.

Picture on left by Ana Alvarez


























After the flight, Andrew interviewed the Indians and recorded their reactions to what they had experienced. The idea now is to edit a brief video of the flights so that the information can be shared with other members of the communities, and that they may also use the material to lobby the local government to to take appropriate action to limit the impact of deforestation.