Word: blowgun
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Penan, an aboriginal tribe of hunters and gatherers on the island of Borneo, are a people under siege. They have watched in horror as logging companies inexorably cut down the forests that supply the tribe with food, medicines and even the poison for blowgun darts used to kill monkeys and hornbill. Outraged at seeing their way of life destroyed, the Penan have periodically blockaded roads leading into the forest in a losing effort to keep the loggers out. Says Penan headman Asik Nyelit, who has twice been arrested by Malaysian authorities for his role in the blockades: "If we just...
Throughout the developing nations there are encouraging stirrings of local environmental activity. In Malaysia blowgun-armed Penan tribesmen have joined forces with environmentalists in an effort to stop rampant logging. And in Brazil, which has some 500 conservation organizations, environmentalist Jose Pedro de Oliveira Costa organized a coalition of legislators, conservationists, industrialists and media barons to stir public support to preserve Brazil's remaining Atlantic forests. "The threats to the forests remain," said Costa, "but now at least there is a network in place to scream when a threat arises...