The Surui tribe” from the Brazilian Amazon” has concluded an agreement with Google to include their village on Google Earth. The goal is to increase the visibility of the rapidly-disappearing tribe” and to better monitor its evolution in light of the threats created by loggers and miners in the region. The 1″200-member tribe is suffering from the consequences of deforestation” and as many as 10 Surui chiefs have been killed by loggers and miners. The deal was organized with the help of the American NGO ACT.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle” “improved satellite images would not only keep tabs on loggers and miners but would also help strengthen Surui culture by cataloging medicinal plants” hunting grounds” ancestral cemeteries and sacred sites. “We want people to know that these territories are not just empty swaths of green as seen by satellite” but the homes” supermarkets” museums” libraries of a people who depend on these areas for their survival”” said Vasco van Roosmalen” Brazil director” of ACT.

Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle and on Amazonia.org.