III - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESENT-DAY INDIAN POPULATIONS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT
In order to give an accurate description of the relationship
between Greater Amazonia's environment and its inhabitants, it is necessary to
take into account the considerate amount of transformations that have occurred
during the last centuries.
The interdependence between native American Indians on the one hand,
and societies belonging to a national majority and which surround indigenous
populations on the other, has been constantly increasing. This must be related
to present ecosystems that can be seen as responses to the requirements of
subsistence, but also quite simply of survival. For many of today's native
American societies, the aim is not to protect and maintain a unique way of
living, such as it is described in scientific research ; their main objective
is to guarantee a minimum area for future generations and the survival of the
cultural values which they see as essential (IWGIA Yearbook; 1989 ; Charter of
the Indigenous Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, 1992).