Letter to Mr. von dem Bussche

Letter to Mr. von dem Bussche

Göttingen, 19th June 2009

Dear Mr. von dem Bussche,

We kindly request a copy of your speech delivered yesterday, at the Altes Rathaus in Göttingen, for publication at the Acangau Foundation's websites:
www.alertaparacatu.blogspot.com and www.acangau.net.

Acangau Foundation is a non-profit NGO established 1991 in Brazil to contribute a technological and cultural platform for sustainable development. The foundation headqurters are located at the Acangau Valley and Acangau Natural Reserve, in Paracatu, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 200 km S. of Brasilia-DF. The foundation's assets include 83 hectares divided into four areas which are closely located to each other in the Acangau Valley; a share in the 3,000 hectare Acangau Reserve, and facilities such as the NAP building (for the support of researchers in field work), the Pohl Lab (a molecular biology lab), a plant nursery and the Enterprise Incubation Area.

While Acangau Foundation is strongly committed to the sustainable use of natural resources, it is a fierce opponent to the expansion of the Kinross Gold Corporation mining project in Paracatu as it is being done. The Acangau Foundation is fostering new business models as counterparts for their predatory mining model.

One of the programs set out by Acangau Foundation is the Acangau Valley Science Park and its Innovative Enterprise Incubator. There are presently two start-up companies being incubated in the Acangau Valley: Excegen Genetica SA and Glia Ambiental ltda.

Excegen is Brazil's pioneer in the field of Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) of bovine cattle. It has 2 patents on the use of DNA polymorphisms to select more productive, tropical cattle. The company was recipient of three tranches of non-refundable seed-money from private investors in the period from 2003 to 2006. In 2007, Excegen went into a quiescent phase, due to the unwillingness of its capitalist investors to scale-up the company's business plan. This led the enterpreneur associates to acquire the capitalist's shares of Excegen. Meanwhile some powerful players such as Merial and Pfizer made their entrance in the catttle MAS business in Brazil, making it worth investing in Excegen's patents and know how. Excegen is thus seeking for an investor.

Glia Ambiental ltda. is a small company founded and incubated at the Acangau Valley to explore tropical soil management technologies, soil conditioning, and development of more adapted indigenous crops, such as indigenous maize varieties. Glia is also interested in developing the sustainable management of other natural resources and the technology thereof. It has been shaped as a "model company" to fit the aims of a showcase in Paracatu region. Indeed, Paracatu has become a seed-production centre in Brazil, with 4 seed companies installed there, including COODETEC, Monsanto and Dow AgroScience.

Another important project relates to water production. Acangau Foundation's efforts towards the conservation of soils, water bodies and forests at the Acangau Reserve account for the largest man-made contribution for public water supply for the 90,000 inhabitants of the town of Paracatu. To disseminate these efforts, Acangau Foundation has created APACAN - Acangau's water producers association, early in 2004. In the same year, this project was awarded the "Blue Gold Trophy" by the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Brazil, Eletrobras, Furnas and Diários Associados joint commission.

It has become increasingly important to deliver good quality information about these projects and their meaning to the public. We believe in education for human and environmental rights and values as the major force for human and environmental sustainability and further cultural evolution. To strengthen public awareness of what is going on, Acangau Foundation has incorporated the Serrano Neves Institute for socio-environmental education, which is held and maintained by Public Prosecutor Paulo Mauricio Serrano Neves. In Germany, Acangau Foundation has just started a collaboration with the Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (Göttingen), which is considering ways by which it could help us in our fight for the rights of the Quilombola people who live in the very site where Kinross plans to build a new tailings dam in Paracatu.

As you can see from this brief description of Acangau Foundation's projects and aims, we share common interests and values. Your speech at the Rathaus yesterday sets the example of how an international company can expand its business worldwide based on sustainability criteria and the cultivation of human values.

We share with you the concept that tendering real human values are the only way out of the present world crisis. Unless there is a profound change in human behavior and human values worldwide, human civilizations as we know are bound to be irreversibly downgraded.

We thus welcome the publication of your speech and any other form of collaboration you may label relevant.

Looking forward to hearing from you at your best convenience,

Dr.med., D.Sc. Sergio U. Dani
President of the Acangau Foundation