27 October 2011 | Interviews | Climate Justice and Energy
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Manuel Perez, a leader of the National Coordination of Peasant Organizations (CNOC) does not seem to agree with the use of the term “natural disasters” to refer to the tropical storms, the heavy rains and floods that have hit Guatemala in the recent weeks.
CNOC’s leader, member of La Via Campesina, blames the megaprojects built by transnational corporations and the government’s complicity for the visible effects of climate change, which in this case, and as it happens every year, caused big losses to Guatemalan agriculture.
“This happens every year. Many people are talking about natural disasters but it is always human-caused, caused by those who have historically ruled the country and by the state who has done nothing to prevent it” said Perez in a CNOC report for La Voz de los Movimientos.
Big corporations and the state are responsible for climate disasters that have already resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in Central America. The diversion of rivers to build hydroelectric dams, the destruction of community lands and the expansion of palm oil are all factors that have significantly reduced the basic grain and food production area, according to CNOC.
The Guatemalan peasant organization demands the urgent implementation of a law to promote “integral rural development”.
Photo: todanoticia.com
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