Amazon Indigenous chief Raoni warns of disaster if deforestation not stopped

By Leonardo Benassatto and Ueslei Marcelino BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) - Raoni Metuktire, an Indigenous chief from Brazil's Amazon, will urge the region's head of state meeting here this coming week to step up their efforts to preserve the rainforest that is vital to his people's survival and the global climate. "I will ask the presidents to commit to guaranteeing the preservation of the forest," he told Reuters. Raoni said threats to the rainforest have decreased since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in January, but the danger for Indigenous people is now the Brazilian Congress, ...