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Peru train to connect Iquitos with coast also to be used for tourism

The train project to connect the rainforest cities of Iquitos and Yurinagiuas, and to link Loreto with the Peruvian coast, will also be used for tourism purposes, Loreto’s regional president, Yván Vásquez Valera, said today.

He said to Andina news agency that this train would not be used only for trade transport but also considers the inclusion of wagons for tourists, because the route would go along the Pacaya Samiria reserve, taking special care in its protection.

“The Iquitos-Yurimaguas train would go around the reserve, without affecting its damping and intangible zones, in a route of landscapes through impressive woods that would attract any tourist”, he said.

Vásquez indicated the project is close to proceeding with the tender to work the technical file, for which a pre-agreement has been signed with the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) aimed to contribute 26 million dollars.

“The work will demand about 850 million dollars that will not be assumed by the regional government, instead investors interested in accessing this sector will be called”, he added.

Vásquez also said that, if everything works fine, the project would begin to take form in a year or year and a half.

News source: ANDINA

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# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
7 September, 2008 [ 09:12 ]

This project has a main purpose, to access a large reserve of precious wood that the big corporations want to exploit for pennies and to profit by billions leaving those despectively and irrespecfully so called "cholos" (tenth class citizens for the wannabe white men), properly proudy Peruvian middle and low class citizens with a lot of Native blood, in a deeper misery since what should be their richness is "legally" stolen.  

Avoid to make things easier for the robber barons; tourists prefer pristine wilderness that five star spensive hotels only good for prostitucion.

The motto: "The largest beneficiary of the resources exploitation should be the American Native," should be the America's credo.  

# danidanado says :
8 September, 2008 [ 20:30 ]

Oh Oh! Another Nationalist confused and befuddled. 

# danidanado says :
8 September, 2008 [ 20:30 ]

Oh Oh! Another Nationalist confused and befuddled. 

# Chaufa says :
8 September, 2008 [ 21:00 ]

I agree with danidanado. Roger is a tree-hugging nationalist. I say we burn down the rainforest. First step is to open it up to exploitation. Make some fast bucks then burn the place to the ground.

# danidanado says :
8 September, 2008 [ 21:33 ]

Whooa!  Don't agree with me and say that!  I grew up in the rain forests of Brasil, Colombia, and Peru.  I'm a so called tree hugger.  It's the rest of the trype I have difficulty with.

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
9 September, 2008 [ 15:08 ]

No, I don't, but I hate doing things unprofessionally, cutting trees is unavoidable for many reasons but it has to be done in the right way in order to preserve the richness of the land don't just trash the Earth's environment for a few dollars more.

What are doing the corps is stupid and worse, they are doing so at all levels all over and all objectives: Oil, Gas, chemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, forest, crops, mines, factories, water, roads, buildings, the Media, you say it.

# rice and sugar says :
9 September, 2008 [ 15:17 ]

Roger,
As much as I would hate to see our forests cut down for the benefit of big corporations, we must be realistic: it will happen anyway.

Our only hope is that forest management is done sustainably. But I agree with you: there will be more native blood shed in the forests.

It is our stupid government, who does nothing to protect our resources, and who only benefit their personal pockets. It is our government's fault!

# rice and sugar says :
9 September, 2008 [ 15:19 ]

Once again, I recommend viewing this clip...At least, as consumers we have some little power

www.storyofstuff.com

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
9 September, 2008 [ 21:52 ]

Hl! Rice & Sugar, the core structure of Western Society has been built layer after layer of political and religious concerns whose frame is arranged piramidally with a powerful tyrannical God - the Jewish God; forget Jesuchrist, he is just the poster boy to zombificate the masses - at the top and layers of social-economical classes all the way down. The Political and religious leaders work together like the two halves of one thing and driven by he interests of the global elite.
 
The powerful global elite that drives and controls its way of life is rock solid and its skin impermeable to external influence so you can't get changes at all hitting from outside. Marx-Lenin ideology and master plan had some good points but lacked the fundamentals and was polluted with the vices of Occidental Society, wasn't a match.

The only way is to imitate the way Christianism destroyed the Roman Empire, from inside. But Christianism is a Jewish religion born and raised by Jewish money to destroy Rome and after got this objective tried to be free form them but its freedom didn't lasted the Jewish money keep flowing and the manipulation as well, the today's global elite is strongly controlled by them, the Grand Media is a Jewish invention as is Hollywood and is well secured by them, so the entire society is maniplated by this Grand Media, that is why you can't cure the Western Society's grave illness: GREED.

How Christianism did it? Was very simple, changed the Gods Rome worshiped. According Toynbee the old politeism lacked
subtance what Christianism had a lot but not anymore, it is BS today, the gum that keeps it alive is inertia the atrocities and the lies to keep it in the closets are being aired thanks to internet the clock is running back for Chistians even though no body bet on it but it is all over.

# Eleanor says :
29 September, 2008 [ 16:10 ]

It is not true that deforestation and exploitation "will happen anyway". There are green movements in the US that promote green building materials: recycled materials, cork and quickly grown trees. It is now popular to make a deck out of plastics rather than cedar or fir. With the economy and real estate the way it is here, there is a good opportunity to discourage the use of irreplaceable hardwoods. Maybe they should only be restricted to national use, because every middle class Peruvian properly has the fragrance of an aromatic wood closet or drawer on his or her clothes. Here in the US the public just killed a bill to bail out the finance industry that dug a hole for itself. The same can happen with movements in any country. I like the idea of the train as a tourist, but I agree with Roger Garcia-Moreno. I lived many years in Peru and agree that the forest is a national treasure and also a treasure to the world.

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
29 September, 2008 [ 16:35 ]

The problem isn't the cutting itself but what they do after it, they don't replace the trees cut which should be manadatorily and not one but at least tree newly born trees for each one cut in order to preserve the forest and so the availability for the next generations. In addition it would develop a self sustained industry as is in USA and Canada where the replacement of trees is a large business with a high rate of employment since is labor intensive. For Peru and other L.A. countries it would be a MUST. 

# Eleanor Wynn says :
29 September, 2008 [ 16:56 ]

I agree they should certainly be replanted! But hardwoods take a long time to grow. The biggest trees should be left there. Also, there should be no clearcutting. It is slightly more costly to do the selective cutting, but it leaves some natural beauty and facilitates natural reforestation.

At least the train will provide the blessing of fewer or no logging trucks on those narrow mountain roads!

# Roger Garca-Marenco says :
29 September, 2008 [ 17:25 ]

Dear, the road to the hell is paved with good intentions says the said, Peru and L.America as a whole need, desperately, wholy or at least integrated solutions to their infinity number of problems and any opportunity to develop a source of jobs that is self sustained with at hand resources, land, tress and labor MUST be started as soon as possible, market for precious and and ordinary wood is starving. Russia has as much pine wood as the rest of the world but is hard to reach and even harder to take out. One day their destiny will be similar to Oil today and Russia will make trillions. By then L. America will be a holly desert full of statues of the Poster Boy.

# danidanado says :
5 October, 2008 [ 16:16 ]

What a bunch of doom and gloomers here!  Obviously, wood is the economic force in the amazon, but tourism is the future.  This train will bring tourists from all over the world.  Tourists with social conciences.  Christians.  Good samaritans.  Lets try for a little optimism for the future and humanity.  The Amazon produces between half and 70% of the worlds oxigen.  Do you really think the world will allow the Amazon to be destroyed?  I don't think so.  Also, this train will bring employment for the locals and thus give them an opportunity to make some legal money instead of working for the coca barons.

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
5 October, 2008 [ 18:53 ]

Well, you are right and wrong, right to those who get the soft side of the stick and wrong to those that get the hard side. Very simple. In addition, once the forest is gone what the tourists will come for? And the experience for milennia says that humans couldn't care less for Nature they only care for power and Gold and to get any of them all means are OK. In paper, religion, politics and good intentions look wonderful but in the real world all them are meaningless, other interests come first otherwise land, richness and power would be more better and sensefully distributed. Your analysis is too optimistic and perhaps naive, the other side of doom and gloom or may be you get the soft side. 

# Eleanor Wynn says :
5 October, 2008 [ 21:16 ]

Roger, if you would state your points less inflammatory they would be easier for people to relate to. As the recent Wall Street meltdown has shown once again, without regulations, people do not control themselves and almost always go for the short term gain. So it is very possible that people would cut down too many trees before tourist dollars would even begin to balance out the equation.

I just finished reading von Humbodt's book about traveling up the Orinoco, where even in the 18th century there was an effect of Spanish colonization on turtle populations and other things. Needless to say that has all escalated all over the continent since then. Preserves are one way to minimize this damage in a restricted area; and regulation is a way to limit the damage over a broad area. It is naive to imagine that the two opposing trends of tourism and logging will naturally offset each other in the right time scale.

Polarizing the arguments does not help either side to understand that the balance is in the middle.

# Eleanor says :
5 October, 2008 [ 23:45 ]

I ran into this depressing article in the October 6 New Yorker magazine, which fully supports the claims of Roger. You have to buy the magazine to read it. There is an audio file at http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/10/06/081006on_audio_khatchadourian and a video here http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/10/06/081006_logging. Despite laws in all countries that have hardwood, there is illegal activity that threatens deforestation.

I am not blaming the train from Iquitos, but it will make this activity easier. In fact the focus of the New Yorker story is a large trainyard in Northern China where hundreds of trainloads of illegal hardwoods come from Russia.

# Sargcito says :
6 October, 2008 [ 11:27 ]

Sorry, folks.  I have no answers, only a few observations that are a little alarming.  I am a permanent resident, after retirement.  I have noticed that the fishing fleet has sat in Callao Bay(we live in La Punta) for at least six months.  After vacationing here for twenty years with my wife, I cannot remember the fleet being this idle.  I hear a lot of different reasons but the main topic is over-fishing and lack of conservation.  Well managed logging would be good for Peru, the key word here is "well managed" and conservation.  As one person says, the train would be full of empty in a short time if not well managed.  There is a big difference between conservitive use of resourses and exploitation.  Look to the failures of the U.S. and take heed.

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
6 October, 2008 [ 14:35 ]

Depletion of resources is the trend, at any cost and paid by the host or victims and for the benefit of the predators.

The human is the only animal that pratice self extinction and do it for a few dollars more. What A SHAME. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Is the only animal that lies and that makes from lies a way of life. Is also the one of the few apecies that kill the member of their own species and do it masively and for profits. The least but not the last the only animal that tortures their pray for fun, revenge and so on emotions. 

I'm not surprised since is the only animal that devotedly woships unseen imagined entities which induce him to kill in their names and in addition believes that those entities take care of them. What nonsense.

Doubtlessly some how evolution werecked his brain in addition to develop a powerful intelect, there is something truly wrong in it, may be inventing God and its religions show it more clearly. See "Religolous" film from Bill Maher.
 
In a article about Earth's hundred millions years from now the author speculate that homonidis have been gone long ago denying the evolution beyond Homo Sapiens Sapiens or us something with too much religious overtones, there is no reason to believe that evolution will stop after humans become extinct. 

# CapitanDan says :
6 October, 2008 [ 21:23 ]

Maybe we should name the train "SOL TRAIN", because with it goes plenty of sols in resources out of Peru. Chau Friends.

# danidanado says :
7 October, 2008 [ 15:47 ]

Chrickey!  What does a train thru the Amazon have to do with evolution, God, religion, or Bill Mayer?  Seems like some people have a different agenda for this mediam.  The Amazon is essential to our survival so it will be preserved. 
that's it, that's all.

# Eleanor says :
7 October, 2008 [ 15:55 ]

Who is Bill Mayer? Do they mean Bill Maher?  Anyway, the tourist industry may not replace the logging dollars, but the tourist industry is longer term. They will want something to see. Not only conservation, but reserves are needed. The advantage of reserves is that they take the pressure off the rest of the jungle. Like Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tourists will go to one spectacular area, where logging and building are not allowed. Meanwhile they will not wander off disturbing locals and the ecosystem. But I have a question, what is Peru's actual plan for forest conservation? Does anyone know?

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
7 October, 2008 [ 17:08 ]

Danidanado, I understand your comment because 99.99% of people look at the problems as if they were to exist just in an isolated environment but unfortunately, at deeper level, it is not the case and everything  is interconnected, a decision in Washington affects and hardly an event in Peruvian Jungle.
 
We live in a society labeled Western civilization with a definied culture that is the Western Christian Culture whose values are the North of it; Western Culture also professes the Capitalist ideology as its economic model based in the tenet: "Survives the fittest," which is by the way the same of evolution.

Now, Christian religion is the Faith of Western Cuture so there is a sort of mess, a religious Faith that promotes social justice or equitative distribution of the product of the exploitation of resources and an economic ideology that promotes the opposite, so far the results has been richness and power for the rich and misery for the poor and weak .

Bill Maher is a amazing critic of religious beliefs and not for the benefit of the capitalism but because so far religions have done little or nothing for the poor as is in theory their fundamental reason for its existence. So they are an oxymoron that never delivers the content of their message.

To make full circle, the illegal logging is just a sin more and that train is going to make it for sure easier for the criminals to exploit the jungle. Capito?

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
9 October, 2008 [ 17:06 ]

The link www.etcgroup.org gives you access to an article denouncing the on going meeting of sinthetic biologists in Hong kong, this scientists are those whose work is to genetically engineer new plant species able to produce many times fold the current average per square surface of soil something welcome except that their goal is just the produccion of carbohidrates or complex sugars to produce biofuels to totally replace the Oil; the amount of land neded in the future will be huge and water and fertilizers as well but not labour since all operations will be absolutely mecanized, the demand for land will displace the small and medium farm and the production of food -grains, live stock and others  - will be reduced since the soil they need is the best. With the Oil's prices skyrocketing the price of the land will do so, so only marginal soil will be left for food production which means that billions - all animal species human included - will starved to death along coming years.

The forest is going to be cleared and pervasively and intensively farmed. No more jungle by 2030. The concetration of power and wealth is running at speed of light as the recent financial colapse shows. The miserable is going to be vanished not because they will escape their misery but because will be massively killed by these policies. Human society makes full circle, only two class will be allowed, the elite and the slaves, Plato's dream and thanks to the Christian Faith that adopted Plato Metaphysics in the IV century, a God at the top and down a two steps pyramid.

A repris of American continent conquest in the XVI Century.

# Roger Garcia-Marenco says :
10 October, 2008 [ 08:29 ]

In the newletter@sciencedaily.com today's edition you can read about Green Coffee-growing practice regarding the advantages for the environment's conservation that forest shadow do for coffee plants and the success of the business; growing top quality Coffee is one of the small business that could last longer than mechanized crops for three reasons, the quality of premiun Coffee is hard to fake, it is a crop that can't be mechanized to make it cheaper so it is a niche for Latin American high land forest small owners and the demand for top quality Coffee grows together with the growing of middle-middle class' size and income. Remember, the middle-middle class is the professional and alike people class.