| Social Welfare, Social Justice and Environmental Degradation Website: University of Tennessee College of Social Work (http://web.utk.edu/~merogge) and Boise State University Social Work Department (http://www.idbsu.edu:80/socwork/) |
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Communities are poor and have
no power against large, polluting companies that move into their region.
Stable jobs are only available in drug related fields. 1 out of every 3 jobs is drug related. |
In Cajamarca,
a foreign owned gold mine dumps Cyanide into the streams. Locals can’t
even let their horses and cows drink from streams below the mine because
they "get stomach aches and sometimes die". Villagers say the rivers are
lifeless that used to be full of trout..
5 people died from using empty, discarded cyanide storage containers for drinking. Other foreign based industries are also not regulated causing poisons to be dumped.
Andean foothills retain large crops of coca plants for eventual production of cocaine. Coca crops and its leaves are part of the Peruvian culture and diet. During the debt crisis, however, crops grew tenfold, destroying forests. Coca crops rob land of nutrients and cause soil erosion. Toxic pesticides/ herbicides for coca plants run off into streams. |
Thyroid
abnormality is now widespread among children in mountain areas with an
average of 38% prevalence, and 90% in some regions.
Infant mortality rates are rising:
41/1000 for under age 1, 55/1000 for under age 5.
Children help trample coca leaves which have toxic pesticides and herbicides sprayed on them. This old past time has now become child labor with health risks. |
Development
of NGO’s are bringing international and national attention, while educating
local communities. Longstanding NGO’s are aiding the government with policies.
Teach insecticide and herbicide safety.
Utilize crops that do not require irrigation or fertilizer such as potatoes and quinea. Encourage and educate about markets for Llama and Alpaca farming.
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Project 2000, improving health.
Community Water and Health, builds water systems, trains
people in health and environment sanitation in rural communities in Cajamarca
and La libertad.
Peru Solidarity Forum
CHAVIN Agicultural Project, educates and aids farmers
on productive, legal crops.
North Andean Agricultural Development, ANDES assists farmers and educates on pesticide use.
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| National | President Fujimori’s attempts to pay back foreign debt
causes him to:
1. turn a blind eye towards coca plant production (for
cocaine),
2. .maintain no regulations in order to attract foreign
industry,
3. encourage privatization causing
one of the most radical and rapid privatizations in Latin America, and
4. reduce funding from public health programs such as
hospitals, water and sewage systems, etc.
Low life expectancy.
Peru has 23 million inhabitants,
56% live in poverty, 22% live in extreme poverty.
Average number of children per woman
is 5.5 in poverty and 6.5 in extreme poverty.
Adolescents account for 21% of pregnancies. |
Cocaine production is rising, resulting
in:15 million gallons of Kerosene (non-soluble in
water), used for cocaine production are dumped in waters and on land in
Peru.
Percentage of Population with access to safe drinking water: Total: 72% Urban: 75% Rural: 18%
Rivers, streams, land and air are affected by industry-related
pollution.
Safe, clean water is scarce. |
Children are learning to farm coca crops that rapidly
rob the soil of nutrients, instead of learning soil preserving, sustainable,
legal farming.
Due to the collapse of Public Health
System, only 1 out of 966 people have access
to medical treatment.
These few medical facilities are overloaded with a growing
number of cases of childhood cancer. Youth are developing
a new type of leprosy due to bathing in the same water over and over.
Cholera is reaching epidemic proportions due to unsafe drinking water and lack of sewage systems. |
Encourage the government to invest in legal agricultural
crops by supporting organizations which promote and educate communities
on sustainable and safe farming practices.
Encourage government to invest in public health and water.
Work with organizations promoting this.
Work with organizations that promote the regulation of
industry pollution.
Utilize technologies which clean water using small, portable solar devices. |
Sustainable Ecosystems for Land Use through Viable
Agroforestry, SELVA promotes appropriate land use along Napo River in the
Amazon rainforest.
ENLACE Child Survival Project
GREENPEACE
Worldwatch Institute
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| International | Has international debt of 2.1 billion.
Illegal drug exports is Peru’s number one source of income.
Peru receives most of aid from U.S.
This aid is contingent on Peru’s cooperation to combat drugs.
Yet, Peru is the number one provider
of cocaine paste for the world, with production
rising.
Foreign companies are attracted to the low regulations and low wages Peru can offer. |
Deforestation of the Amazon (so
far 1,750,000 acres have been destroyed) by coca crops (take up 200,000
hectares/450,000 acres, landing strips (over 100), camps, and laboratories
for cocaine production.
U.S.A.’s and Peru’s policy to destroy
coca crops results in powerful air-sprayed herbicides to destroy coca
crops, adding to river pollution in the Andes.
Families have moved deeper into
the forest to escape detection of coca crops, destroying more forest.
Waterways in Amazon are now sterile
due to pollutants and toxins.
In Ilo, the pollution and smog coming from the gold and copper mines have contaminated the Valleys of Tambo, Ensenada, and Mejia valleys causing the fast dissappearance of alfalfa, maize, rice, sugar and olive crops due to heavy air and water pollution. |
Babies in the U.S. addicted to
crack cocaine, cost taxpayers $2.5 bil/yr. Industrial countries are experiencing
the affects of the drug movement. Younger children in industrialized countries
are being targeted for drug consumption.
The largest gold mine (located in Peru) of South America profits 94 million a year. Yet they claim to have only given 4 million since it began operation in 1993 to the surrounding community. None of the children in the local villages have clean or running water. The company employees few members of the children’s families and if so, only paying them $5.60 a day. Other industries follow suit. |
Encourage the World Bank and IMF to forgive loans due
to Peru’s inability to pay back loans (legally), which has led to the destruction
of the rainforest, pollution of rivers, land and air, increased illegal
drug production/exports.
Utilize "Debt for Nature Swaps"
which will increase forestation efforts while decreasing debt dillemmas.
Encourage foreign industries to regulate themselves and to contribute to the communities that house their factories, mines, oil wells, privatized companies, chemical plants, etc. Some of these companies are: NEWMONT, SHELL, Telefonica,Cyprus Amaz, Shougang Corp., The Hague, Mobil, Asarco, Anaconda Mining. |
Jubilee 2000
http://www.oneworld.org/jubilee2000/ Amazonian Communities and the Sustainability of their
Production, CASP, increases the economic security of riverside families
in the Amazon.
Environmental Development Action in the Third World,
ENDA
GREENPEACE International
Save the Children Federation, Inc.
UNICEF
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Komisaruk, C. and Ortega, J.G. (1996).Statistical Abstract of Latin America. UCLA Latin American Center Publications:California, L.A. Vol. 32,170 (Table 713), 187 (Table 723).
Mann, Clare. (October, 1996).Air Pollution in Megacities of the World: Mexico. University of Kentucky,Department of the Environment. http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/mexico.html
Davis, Kathleen. (July, 1996). AggiesStrive to Eliminate Malnutrition in Mexican Children. Texas A&MUniversity. http://agnews.tamu.edu/stories/NUTR/mexnutr.htm
Sweatshop Watch and Corporate Watch.(1996). Maquiladora Workers Demand a Living Wage. http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/sweatshops/maria..html
Multinational Monitor. (Apr.1995).Border Health Hazards, Maquiladora health and safety, Disorder on theborder.
Williams, Edward. (September,1995).The
Maquiladora Industry and Environmental Degredation in the UnitedStates-Mexican
Borderlands. University of Arizona, School of Political Science.
Lead Researcher for Children, Poverty and Environmental Degradation Matrices: Julia Harris Vanover, University of Tennessee College of Social Work MSW student, Management and Community Practice Concentration