From the creation of the very first national parks and game reserves, 'conservation' has always been about repressing and expropriating indigenous tribes, Survival International director Stephen Corry told Alice Bayer. And despite all the evidence that indigenous peoples are the best wildlife managers, old attitudes die hard ...
Stephen Corry: conservation must work with, not against, indigenous peoples Alice Bayer | 29th November 2014 Comment Indigenous Peoples Hunting Conservation Land Grabs Law Natural World sc c.wolfgang …
A 'harmonic convergence' in the Mayan calendar set off something big for Craig Sams and his Belizean partners. First, Green & Blacks chocolate - and now an even more ambitious project to restore the world's soils using biochar and organic farming systems.
… restore the world's soils using biochar and organic farming systems. In 1987 The Mayan … And luckily for them I was desperate for organic cacao for Green & Black's, which I had started two years earlier using organic cacao from Togo. We did a deal and …
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's definition of 'forest' includes commercial plantations of fast growing trees - often replacing biodiverse native forests relied on by local communities. FAO must stop using this mis-definition to claim that forests are expanding, when the reverse is the case.
FAO - a plantation is not a forest! Via Campesina many more | 26th December 2014 Comment Forests Indigenous Peoples Farming Land Grabs Un eucalyptus-sa-cut.jpg The UN Food and Agriculture …
If the state does not defend citizens against the violence and destruction of mining, people and communities must defend themselves, writes Raul Zibechi. And in Peru and Colombia that's exactly what they are doing, re-asserting indigenous control of the land and its resources.
Community self-defense against mining mega-projects Raul Zibechi | 8th August 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Mining Community Colombia Peru maqui-maqui-cut.jpg If the state does not defend citizens …
UK-based oil and gas company Perenco is expanding its operations in the Peruvian Amazon - in a remote area known to be inhabited by highly vulnerable indigenous people living in 'voluntary isolation'. But as David Hill reports, Perenco denies their existence ...
Peru - UK oil company to expand in territories of 'isolated' Amazon tribes David Hill | 15th April 2014 News Peru Oil Fossil Fuels Indigenous Peoples rio-napo-sunset.png UK-based oil and gas company …
Botswana's President Khama has banned all hunting - even for Bushmen who hunt to feed their families, who now face acute hunger. But an exception is being made for trophy hunters paying up to $8,000 to hunt giraffes and zebras.
Botswana hunting ban leaves Bushmen to starve The Ecologist | 2nd April 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Botswana Africa Hunting bushman-hunting.png Botswana's President Khama has banned all hunting - …
Women of an 'untouchable' caste in village India are rebelling against a life of cleaning human ordure, poverty and relentless discrimination, writes Amy Braunschweiger. Among them is Lalibai, who inherited her 'job' at the age of 12 - but has just helped to organise a protest march of 10,000 women across 18 states.
India: Women free themselves from a life of cleaning human excrement Amy Braunschweiger HRW | 3rd September 2014 Activism India Indigenous Peoples Waste Society lalibai-cut.jpg Lalibai. Photo: …
Peru has approved the highly controversial expansion of the Camisea gas project onto the land of isolated Amazon tribes - who will be put at risk of a massive death toll or extinction from introduced diseases.
Peru: Amazon tribes sacrificed to gas project Oliver Tickell | 27th January 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Gas Fossil Fuels Peru camisea-nanti.png Peru has approved the highly controversial expansion …
Global mining giant Rio Tinto markets itself as a 'sustainable company', writes Kemal Özkan. But serious failures in its reporting, and its attempt to hold an Australian indigenous group to ransom, reveal a very different truth: the company is driven by a reckless pursuit of profit at any cost.
Rio Tinto's 'sustainable mining' claims exposed Kemal Özkan | 30th July 2014 News Mining Corporations Sustainability Australia Indigenous Peoples rt_rally-cut.jpg Global mining giant Rio Tinto …
This week 20 Amazon Indians walked to the Belo Monte dam site to demand the company keep its promises to compensate indigenous communities. Police shot them with 'rubber bullets' and stun grenades, wounding four. Tensions are rising ...
Brazil: Amazon Indians shot at Belo Monte dam site Xingu Vivo The Ecologist | 30th May 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Brazil Amazon Water Energy Corporations belo-monte-blockade-cut.jpg This week 20 …
A social solidarity movement is transforming the lives of millions of poor women in Kerala, south India, writes P. Sainath - and among the greatest beneficiaries are indigenous adivasi women who dwell deep in the the forests, and their historically marginalized communities.
… soft-spoken, yet clearly a strong leader. Organic communal farming But the Kudumbashree … are focused on food crops and, in those, on organic farming. They also practice shifting …
Left-wing, progressive politicians hold sway across Latin America, writes Benjamin Dangl. But defying their own 'green' rhetoric, they are committed to mining and other environmentally damaging development. Now they face growing resistance from small farmers and indigenous peoples.
Despite 'progressive' politics, Latin America's indigenous veins are bleeding Benjamin Dangl | 1st May 2014 News Peru Argentina Uruguay Brazil Ecuador Bolivia Mining Indigenous Peoples Politics …
The World Bank's 'Tropical Forest Action Plan' was an abject failure, writes Chris Lang. Now the same mistakes are being repeated under a new acronym. TFAP is out, REDD is in - but it's still all about corporate control of forests, and blaming deforestation on its victims.
REDD - destroy the forests, seize the profits, blame the victims Chris Lang | 7th August 2014 Comment Forests Development Finance Corporations Climate Change Indigenous Peoples eucalyptus-sa-cut.jpg …
The Oglala Lakota people are victims of poverty, government violence, land theft and alcohol, writes Camila Ibanez. Yet 114 years after the massacre at Wounded Knee, they are still there, and still fighting. Now the battle is over the Keystone XL pipeline ...
Dead or in prison before we allow the KXL pipeline Camila Ibanez | 17th March 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Oil Fossil Fuels ai-liberationday.png The Oglala Lakota people are victims of poverty, …
An ecological project has taken root on an abandoned olive grove outside Ramallah. As well as restoring the land itself, its deeper aim is to nurture the ancient links between the Palestinian people and nature, and rebuild a culture of steadfastness in the soil of their native country.
… botany. And so we keep our methods local, organic, green, sustainable. We collect ash … to use as a natural pesticide, we buy organic goat manure from a local farm and we …
Ecuador is facing an unprecedented confrontation between a 'progressive' left-leaning government and a national coalition of indigenous peoples determined to stop vast oil and mining projects taking place on their community land and villages.
Ecuador's tribes declare 'national mobilization' against oil and mining David Dene | 24th May 2014 News Mining Ecuador Oil Indigenous Peoples Economics Politics yasuni-cut.jpg Worth saving? Yasuni …
Both the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Climate Summit have taken place at the UN this week, writes Lisa VeneKlasen - each producing their lofty declarations. But what really matters is whose voices are being heard, and will be acted on, in a profound clash of worldviews.
Indigenous women versus men of power: the real dispute at the UN Lisa VeneKlasen | 24th September 2014 Comment Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Un ndebele-woman-cut.jpg Both the World Conference on …
Peru, notorious for its brutal exploitation of forests, oil and minerals, theft of indigenous lands and murder of eco-defenders, is an unlikely host for the COP20 climate talks, writes Alexander Reid Ross. Except that Peru's actions reflect the corporate land-grabbing agenda manifest in the false solutions on offer in Lima this week. It's a time for resistance, not compromise!
COP20 and corporate power - destroying the edifice of false climate solutions Alexander Reid Ross | 10th December 2014 News Peru Unfccc Land Grabs Corporations Farming Indigenous Peoples Trade USA …
A small fishing community in Tanzania is the victim of a land grab carried out by powerful national park officials using inaccurate maps, writes Alejandra Orozco-Quintero - even though they are part of a long-standing, successful conservation partnership. Is it all to make way for a high-end tourism development?
Uvinje, Tanzania - an indigenous community erased in the name of conservation Alejandra Orozco-Quintero | 3rd October 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Tanzania Land Grabs uvinjevillagers-cut.jpg Uvinje …
A new 'carbon grab' is under way as governments and corporations seize valuable rights to the carbon stored in standing forests, with UN and World Bank support. But there's no benefit for forest communities - who even risk expulsion to make way for 'carbon plantations',
Forest Peoples at risk from 'carbon grab' Oliver Tickell | 20th March 2014 News Forests Indigenous Peoples Climate Change baka-forest.png A new 'carbon grab' is under way as governments and …
Ten years after promises of 'no mining' in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a $5 billion diamond mine opens a few miles from a Bushman village. Elsewhere in the Reserve, fracking is under way. And President Ian Khama, a director of Conservation International, denounces the Bushmen as 'poachers' and evicts them from their land.
Botswana government lies exposed as $5bn diamond mine opens on Bushman land Oliver Tickell | 4th September 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Botswana Hunting Mining Fracking kalahari-diamond-mine-cut.jpg …
Blacks, Indigenous peoples and Palestinians are all engaged in a single struggle against a racist empire that systematically robs, colonises, impoverishes, terrorises, enslaves, imprisons, tortures and murders its subject populations. Their struggle for liberation is one, and will ultimately vanquish as the empire collapses from within.
Liberation is our birthright! Palestine stands with Ferguson Khaled Barakat | 1st September 2014 Activism Indigenous Peoples Politics USA Middle East ferguson-hands-in-the-air-cut.jpg Blacks, …
Peru - host of the COP20 UN climate conference now under way in Lima - is facing rebellion by a 3,500 strong indigenous people deep in the Amazon committed to fighting oil exploration in their forest territory, writes David Hill, following the government's failure to consult Matsés communities or respect their rights.
'It's war!' Peru-Brazil indigenous people pledge to fight Amazon oil exploration David Hill | 8th December 2014 News Indigenous Peoples Brazil Peru Oil Fossil Fuels War Corpoirations …
As gold miners face eviction from Yanomami territory in the Brazilian Amazon, a rising tempo of death threats have been directed against the shaman Davi Kopenawa following his successful campaign.
Brazil: death threats stalk Amazon shaman Davi Kopenawa The Ecologist | 30th July 2014 News Brazil Indigenous Peoples Forests Mining davi-parliament-cut.jpg As gold miners face eviction from Yanomami …