Reflection on the Reading Forest development the Indian way by Richard Reed
When human beings feel the urge to expand their resources to satisfy their needs and demands, they go an extra mile and destroy natural habitats. Humans have to find new horizons in search of these resources and this has turned out to be costly because there is so much that is lost in the process. It is in this context that one can place a story told by Richard Reed. In Forest Development the Indian Way. Guarani stood as a tribe that knew and understood their ecosystems so well that they engaged in activities that sustained it, until the rest of the world invaded their lands. Sustaining the environment is way different from using is as if there is no tomorrow. Such are the activities that disregard the importance of the environment. Yes the environment supplies humans with everything they need just like the Guarani believed but then, this is not the case today. Theirs was a life of total dependence and respect for the environment as opposed to what is experienced today. They believed in the replenishing of the environment because it is the nutrients present in the soil that were their source of livelihood.
Such countries, communities and societies such as Guarani stand to lose from the rest of the world because they do not have a place in the developed economies. The invasion by other interested parties is costing them their lives and they have nowhere to go, their place is in their farmlands. In fact, this is reflected in other remote areas of the world, where partitioning and taking of natural resources is costing the indigenous people their livelihoods. Many in the south American region have taken advantage of their resources leaving them barely surviving on the few that is left. Even if they have occupied their places for decades, they cannot claim it because other people are invading and taking it away from them.
The Guarani and such communities in far areas in the world are suffering in the hands of big corporations that are buying their lands and taking over from them. They have been forced to go deep into the forest and this will cost the world forestation and ecosystem because they go on to occupy less beneficial and destroyed lands. If this trend continues in the next fifty or so years, there will be not much left at the turn of the century. The lives of thousands of people are held hostage because of human activities that are keen on destroying the little that is left for human and animal occupation. Sadly, the little that is left to such marginalized tribes is not enough to sustain them for a long time because such communities are forced to relocate almost all the time because their lands interest other parties that use their power to grab then and take them away from the original owners.
The lives of the Guarani are affected in every aspect, from the rivers that cannot produce enough fish to the farms that have been affected by soil erosion. The rivers are filled with pesticides and the farms cannot provide enough for their home consumption. They live in constant fear of where to go from their present habitat. Ranchers are keen on moving them further into the forests. Now one thing is for sure, they will venture into the towns and other villages around them, not to live life comfortably but to be subjected to hardships trying to fit. They do not have an education that will enable them find good jobs. They are not sure of their future and can only wait for the unfolding events to determine their destiny.
Work Cited
Spradley, James. McCurdy. Comfort: Readings in Cultural Anthropology.14th Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2012.
