'Our People Are Dying, And So Is The Planet'

Amazon Indian Leader Travelling To UK: 'Our People Are Dying, And So Is The Planet'

A revered Amazon Indian leader from Brazil is coming to Europe in October with a heartfelt plea to stop disease wiping out his people. Davi Yanomami, one of the world's best known indigenous leaders, is in a race against time to stop introduced diseases decimating his tribe. The Yanomami are one of the largest and most isolated tribes in the Amazon.

Press conference: 11am, Tuesday 16 October, St Ethelburga's, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG. Photo opportunity: 3pm, Tuesday 16 October, Westminster Green (opposite Houses of Parliament) Visit to 10 Downing Street to deliver a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown: 12 noon, Wednesday 17 October

Davi will be launching a new report from Survival, 'Progress can kill', in the UK and Germany.

The report details for the first time how forcing Western ideas of 'development' on tribal people leads to their annihilation through the total breakdown of their physical and mental health.

Davi Yanomami is not only a leader of his people, but also a renowned shaman, and past winner of the UN Global 500 award. He plans to tell the outside world not only of the problems faced by the Yanomami and other tribes, but also how easily they can be solved. Davi will be accompanied on his trip by his son Dário.

The visit comes as the issue of rainforest destruction and its link to global warming is firmly back in the headlines.

In a prophetic warning four years ago, Davi said, 'We shamans are telling you the whites [to change your ways] so that the world doesn't get too hot. If you don't do this our world will become dry, there will be no water, and we will have dry mouths because the Earth will heat up.'

ENDS

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