#indigenousrights — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #indigenousrights, aggregated by home.social.
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#News: #Deforestation isn't the disease—it's a symptom. The real crisis is lax #governance, corruption and militarised enabling of #indigenous #landgrabbing. To protect forests we MUST restore #IndigenousRights, enforce #laws #BoycottGold4Yanomami #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetectives https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/deforestation-is-just-a-symptom-the-disease-is-de-governance-commentary/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=Palm+Oil+Detectives&utm_campaign=publer
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#News: #Deforestation isn't the disease—it's a symptom. The real crisis is lax #governance, corruption and militarised enabling of #indigenous #landgrabbing. To protect forests we MUST restore #IndigenousRights, enforce #laws #BoycottGold4Yanomami #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetectives https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/deforestation-is-just-a-symptom-the-disease-is-de-governance-commentary/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=Palm+Oil+Detectives&utm_campaign=publer
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#News: #Deforestation isn't the disease—it's a symptom. The real crisis is lax #governance, corruption and militarised enabling of #indigenous #landgrabbing. To protect forests we MUST restore #IndigenousRights, enforce #laws #BoycottGold4Yanomami #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetectives https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/deforestation-is-just-a-symptom-the-disease-is-de-governance-commentary/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=Palm+Oil+Detectives&utm_campaign=publer
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#News: #Deforestation isn't the disease—it's a symptom. The real crisis is lax #governance, corruption and militarised enabling of #indigenous #landgrabbing. To protect forests we MUST restore #IndigenousRights, enforce #laws #BoycottGold4Yanomami #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetectives https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/deforestation-is-just-a-symptom-the-disease-is-de-governance-commentary/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=Palm+Oil+Detectives&utm_campaign=publer
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Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/07/reindeer-and-rare-earth-minerals-swedish-politicians-take-aim-at-indigenous-sami-in-mining-dispute #Sweden #Indigenous #Sami #UNDRIP #mining #reindeer #IndigenousRights
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Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/07/reindeer-and-rare-earth-minerals-swedish-politicians-take-aim-at-indigenous-sami-in-mining-dispute #Sweden #Indigenous #Sami #UNDRIP #mining #reindeer #IndigenousRights
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Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/07/reindeer-and-rare-earth-minerals-swedish-politicians-take-aim-at-indigenous-sami-in-mining-dispute #Sweden #Indigenous #Sami #UNDRIP #mining #reindeer #IndigenousRights
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Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/07/reindeer-and-rare-earth-minerals-swedish-politicians-take-aim-at-indigenous-sami-in-mining-dispute #Sweden #Indigenous #Sami #UNDRIP #mining #reindeer #IndigenousRights
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Reindeer and rare-earth minerals: Swedish politicians take aim at Indigenous Sami in mining dispute https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/sep/07/reindeer-and-rare-earth-minerals-swedish-politicians-take-aim-at-indigenous-sami-in-mining-dispute #Sweden #Indigenous #Sami #UNDRIP #mining #reindeer #IndigenousRights
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I wonder. Thousands of years ago, Borneo was cared for by its natives. Then colonisers came with weapons, taking the land by force. They brought outsiders to serve their needs. Now, the natives feel this is no longer their land — it belongs to landlords with no roots here, no ties to the people, and no conscience.
#Borneo #Sabah #Sarawak #IndigenousRights #LandJustice #Colonialism #CustomaryLand #NativeCustomaryRights #NCR #Decolonisation #History #SocialJustice #LivedExperience #Extractive
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Indigenous Peoples Fight Climate Change
In the wake of the worst wildfires in living memory in Mexico and Central America in 2024, news outlets were looking for someone to blame. Howler monkeys and many species of parrots perished in the blazes. Slash and burn farming practices by Belize‘s indigenous communities were singled out as a primary cause. Yet this knee-jerk reaction is not evidence based and doesn’t take into account forces like corporate landgrabbing for mining and agribusinesses like meat, soy and palm oil.
Belize’s indigenous Maya communities are rebuilding stronger based on the collective notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity, togetherness and community.
In the wake of horrific #wildfires in #Belize and #Mexico caused by #climatechange, #indigenous #Maya are rebuilding using the notion of se’ komonil: reciprocity #community and solidarity. #indigenousrights #landrights #BoycottPalmOil @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-924
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWritten by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Driven by extreme heat and drought, some of the worst wildfires in living memory raged across Mexico and Central America through April and May 2024.
News agencies reported howler monkeys dropping dead from trees, and parrots and other birds falling from the skies.
In Belize, a state of emergency was declared as wildfires burned tens of thousands of hectares of highly bio-diverse forest. Farmers suffered huge losses as fires destroyed crops and homes, and communities across the country suffered from hazardous air quality and hot, sleepless nights. Many risked their lives to fight off the approaching fires.
As the wildfire crisis subsided with rains in June, public attention shifted toward identifying the causes and allocating blame. Many singled out the “slash and burn” farming practices in Belize’s Indigenous communities as the primary cause. This simple knee-jerk reaction ignores the underlying causes of the climate crisis, are scientifically unfounded and stoke resentment of Indigenous Peoples.
Young Mayan women. Image source: WikipediaFanning the flames
On June 5, one of Belize’s major news networks ran a story with the headline “Are Primitive Farming Techniques Responsible for Wildfires?” The story placed blame for Belize’s wildfires on “slash-and-burn farming”, arguing that “there has to be a shift away from this destructive means of agriculture.”
The story was followed by an op-ed published online asserting that “because of the increased amounts of escaped agricultural fires, aided by climate change, global warming and drought, slash and burn has become more of a problem than the solution it once was.” This sentiment was further reinforced by Belize’s prime minister, who declared that “slash аnd burn has to be something of the past.”
While some of the recent fires in Belize were connected to agricultural burning — and poorly managed fire-clearing practices can have negative air-quality impacts — blaming “slash and burn” for the wildfire crisis ignores the larger context and conditions that made it possible, namely global warming.
May 2024 was the hottest and driest month in Belize’s history. This extreme heat is part of a broader global trend, with June 2024 marking the 13th consecutive “hottest month on record” globally.
More fundamentally, these statements confuse other forms of slash-and-burn agriculture with the distinct “milpa” systems employed by Indigenous people in Belize.
Indigenous knowledge undermined
Throughout Belize, Indigenous Maya farmers commonly practise a form of agriculture referred to as milpa in which fire is used to clear fields and fertilize the soil. Within this system, small areas of forest are chopped down, burned, and planted with maize, beans, squash and other crops. After being cultivated for a year or two, the field is then left fallow and allowed to regenerate back to forest cover while the farmers move on to a new area within a cyclical pattern where areas are reused after a regenerative period.
Commonly derided as slash-and-burn farming, milpa has long been perceived as environmentally destructive. This perspective has been perpetuated by long-standing myths and misconceptions that portray the farming practices of non-Europeans, and specifically the use of fire, as wasteful and irrational.
In Belize, this negative view of slash and burn has driven many colonial and post-colonial interventions to modernize Maya farming practices.
Recent research, however, has shown that the lands of Indigenous Peoples around the world have reduced deforestation and degradation rates relative to non-protected areas. The southern Toledo district of Belize, where the majority of Maya communities are located, boasts a forest cover rate of 71 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 63 per cent.
Further research has found that the species composition of contemporary Mesoamerican forests has been shaped by the agricultural practices of ancient Maya farmers.
In Belize, fire has been found to play a role in promoting ecosystem health and resilience and intermediate levels of forest disturbance caused by milpa can increase species diversity. Well-managed milpa farming can support soil fertility, result in long-term carbon sequestration and enriched woodland vegetation.
Research has also shown that previous studies of deforestation in southern Belize significantly overestimated the rate of deforestation due to milpa agriculture by not accounting for its rotational process.
Many researchers now believe that milpa is a more benign alternative, in terms of environmental effects, than most other permanent farming systems in the humid tropics. Indeed, findings such as these have led to a growing appreciation for the role of Indigenous Peoples in advancing nature-based and life-enhancing climate solutions.
Unfortunately, research in the region has also found that climate change is undermining the ecological sustainability of milpa farming by forcing farmers to abandon traditional practices and adopt counterproductive measures in their struggle to adapt. In some cases, this has resulted in a decrease in the biodiversity and ecological resilience of the milpa system. This issue is compounded by the decreasing participation of young people, resulting in a further generational loss of traditional ecological knowledge.
Together, these issues are serving to alter and undermine a livelihood strategy that has proven sustainable for thousands of years. However, rather than call for Maya farmers to abandon slash and burn, we encourage support for the self-determined efforts of Maya communities to adapt to this changing climate. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ok787HRp_gA?wmode=transparent&start=0 A video documenting the Maya response to the 2024 wildfire crisis.
Planting seeds of collaboration
Since winning a groundbreaking land rights claim in 2015, Maya communities in southern Belize have been working to promote an Indigenous future based on principles of reciprocity, solidarity, traditional knowledge, gender equity and, most significantly, se’ komonil, the Maya notion of togetherness and community.
Led by a collaboration of Maya leaders and non-governmental organizations, work toward this has included efforts to revitalize traditional institutions and governance systems, as well as the development of an Indigenous Forest Caring Strategy and fire-permitting system. In an effort to encourage and support the participation of youth in this process, Maya leaders have collaborated with the Young Lives Research Lab at York University to develop the Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing.
Building on previous research with Maya youth, the project has produced innovative youth-led research and education on the impacts of climate change, the importance of food sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge and the struggle to secure Indigenous land rights in Maya communities. This work has been shared with global policymakers at the United Nations and local audiences in Belize.
Rather than fanning the flames of climate blame, we must work together to revitalize Indigenous knowledge systems and plant seeds of climate collaboration and care.
Written by James Stinson, Senior Research Associate and Evaluation Specialist, Young Lives Research Lab, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada and Lee Mcloughlin, PhD student, Global Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Read more about human rights abuses and child slavery in the palm oil and gold mining industries
Investigation by Bloomberg exposes that despite being RSPO members, #SOCFIN plantations in #WestAfrica are the epicentre of #humanrights abuses, sexual coercion, environmental destruction, and #landgrabbing. Operating in #Liberia, #Ghana, #Nigeria, and beyond, SOCFIN’s…
Palm Oil Threatens Ancient Noken Weaving in West Papua
Colonial palm oil and sugarcane causing the loss of West Papuans’ cultural identity. Land grabs force communities from forests, threatening Noken weaving
Family Ties Expose Deforestation and Rights Violations in Indonesian Palm Oil
An explosive report by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) details how Indonesia’s Fangiono family, through a wide corporate web, is linked to ongoing #deforestation, #corruption, and #indigenousrights abuses for #palmoil. Calls mount for…
West Papuan Indigenous Women Fight Land Seizures
Indigenous Melanesian women in West Papua fight land seizures for palm oil and sugar plantations, protecting their ancestral rights. Join #BoycottPalmOil
Greasing the Wheels of Colonialism: Palm Oil Industry in West Papua
A landmark study published in Global Studies Quarterly in April 2025 has revealed that the rapid expansion of the #palmoil industry in #WestPapua is not only fuelling #deforestation, #ecocide and environmental destruction but…
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Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
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3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
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Pledge your support#belize #boycottPalmOil #boycottpalmoil #childLabour #childSlavery #climatechange #community #goldMining #humanRights #hunger #indigenous #indigenousActivism #indigenousKnowledge #indigenousRights #indigenousrights #landRights #landgrabbing #landrights #maya #mexico #palmOil #poverty #slavery #wildfires
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“I Have Not Surrendered”: Leonard Peltier Remains Committed to Indigenous Rights
Peltier discusses his time in (and release from) prison, his ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights, and more. -
Read @kosuradio article, "Tribal nations left with few options to resist Oklahoma's Westwin Elements due to complex history" by Sarah Liese
#lawton #lawtonOK #lawtonfortsill #oklahoma #OklahomaState #WestwinResistance #TheLawtonResistance #kosu #npr #greencolonialism #peopleoverprofits #IndigenousPeople #indigenouspeoples #indigenous #IndigenousSovereignty #indigenousrights #indigenousland #Indigenousresistance #indigenoussoverignty
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Indigenous Empowerment to Reverse Amazonia’s Mineral Demand
Illegal #mining for minerals like #gold and cassiterite, the latter used for renewable energy, is driving #deforestation in Indigenous #Amazonia. Countries like #Brazil, #Suriname and #Guyana face the challenge of conserving forests, protecting #indigenous peoples, biodiversity whilst also meeting international resource demands. Empowering indigenous peoples to care for biodiversity rich areas of Amazonia is key to saving them for future generations. Act now to protect Indigenous lands and wildlife. #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife.
The drive for #mineral #mining in #Amazonia is driving #indigenous peoples and endangered #animals towards #extinction. Help and fight for them when you #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect @barbaranavarro https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8TF
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterKey to tempering #Amazonia’s mineral #mining demand for #gold and other metals is prioritising #Indigenous #empowerment #landrights and indigenous sovereignty #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @barbaranavarro @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8TF
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWritten by Yolanda Ariadne Collins, Lecturer, International Relations, University of St Andrews. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Mining for gold in Suriname. Yolanda Ariadne Collins, CC BY-NC-NDIllegal mining for critical minerals needed for the global renewable energy transition is increasingly driving deforestation in Indigenous lands in the Amazon.
In recent years, these illegal miners, who are often self-employed, mobile and working covertly, have expanded their gold mining operations to include cassiterite or “black gold”, a critical mineral essential for the renewable energy transition. Cassiterite is used to make coatings for solar panels, wind turbines and other electronic devices. Brazil, one of the world’s largest exporters of this mineral, is now scrambling to manage this new threat to its Amazon forests.
The need for developing countries such as Brazil to conserve their forests for the collective global good conflicts with the increasing demand for their resources from international markets. To complicate matters further, both the renewable energy transition and the conservation of the Amazon are urgent priorities in the global effort to arrest climate change.
But escalating deforestation puts these forests at risk of moving from a carbon sink – with trees absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release – to a carbon source, whereby trees release more carbon dioxide than they absorb as they degrade or are burnt.
Indigenous and other forest-dwelling communities are central to forest conservation. In 2014, I spent a year living in Guyana and Suriname, two of the nine countries that share the Amazon basin. I studied the effectiveness of international policies that aim to pay these countries to avoid deforestation.
I met with members of communities who were bearing the brunt of the negative effects of small-scale gold mining, such as mercury poisoning and loss of hunting grounds. For decades, mining for gold, which threatens communities’ food supply and traditional ways of life, has been the main driver of deforestation in both countries.
Small-scale mining operations can damage both communities and the natural world. Gold mining, which generates gold for export used for jewellery and electronics, usually begins with the removal of trees and vegetation from the topsoil, facilitated by mechanical equipment such as excavators. Next, the miners dig up sediment, which gets washed with water to extract any loose flecks of gold.
Miners usually then add mercury, a substance that’s known to be toxic and incredibly damaging to human health, to washing pans to bind the gold together and separate it from the sediment. They then burn the mercury away, using lighters and welding gear. During this process, mercury is inhaled by miners and washed into nearby waterways, where it can enter the food chain and poison fish and other species, including humans.
My new book, Forests of Refuge: Decolonizing Environmental Governance in the Amazonian Guiana Shield, highlights the colonial histories through which these countries were created. These histories continue to inform the land-use practices of people and forest users there. Having seen the dynamics firsthand, I argue that these unaddressed histories limit the effectiveness of international policies aimed at reducing deforestation.
Some of the policies’ limitations are rooted in their inattentiveness to the roughly five centuries of colonialism through which these countries were formed. These histories had seen forests act as places of refuge and resistance for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. I believe that power structures created by these histories need to be tackled through processes of decolonisation, which includes removing markets from their central place in processes of valuing nature, and taking seriously the worldviews of Indigenous and other forest-dependent communities.
But since 2014, small-scale mining-led deforestation in the Amazon has persisted, and even increased. The increase in mining worldwide, driven partly by the renewable energy transition, indicates that these power structures might be harder to shift than ever before.
Added pressure
When crackdowns on illegal gold mining took place in Brazil in the 1970s and ’80s, miners moved en masse to nearby Guyana and Suriname, taking their environmentally destructive technologies with them. Illegal miners of cassiterite are now following a similar pattern, showing that the global effort to reduce deforestation cannot simply focus on a single commodity as a driver of deforestation on the ground.
My work shows that the challenge of mining-led deforestation in the Amazon is rooted in historically informed, global power structures that position the Amazon and its resources as available for extraction by industries and governments in wealthier countries. These groups of people are now seeking to reduce their disproportionately high emissions through technological solutions and not through behavioural change.
These tensions also have roots in the readiness of governments and forest users in postcolonial countries, like Brazil and Guyana, to respond positively and unquestioningly to international demand for these resources.
In the Amazon, outcomes are affected by whether different groups of people have access to livelihoods that do not drive deforestation, such as those based on non-timber forest products. The situation is further shaped by the extent to which governments can work together to ensure that crackdowns in one part of the Amazon, such as Brazil, do not just drive deforestation elsewhere to Suriname, for example.
Until the power structure that disadvantages Indigenous and other historically marginalised groups changes, the negative effects of developing technologies to “save” the planet will continue to disproportionately burden these groups, even as their current way of life remains critical to supporting sustainable development outcomes.
Written by Yolanda Ariadne Collins, Lecturer, International Relations, University of St Andrews. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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https://youtu.be/RLsqyADpgn0?si=BniKvXzjQFeZXUoV
Read more about gold mining, indigenous rights and its cost to animals
Western Parotia Parotia sefilata
Western Parotias AKA Arfak Parotias are stunning bird-of-paradise of West Papua known for their mesmerising dances. Palm oil and mining ecocide are threats
Read moreIndigenous Peoples Fight Climate Change
After wildfires, Belize’s indigenous people rebuild stronger based on “se’ komonil”: reciprocity, solidarity, gender equity, togetherness and community.
Read moreTucuxi, small freshwater dolphins of Peru Ecuador Colombia and Brazil are Endangered due to fishing nets, deforestation, mercury poisoning from gold mining.
Read moreAn Action Plan for Amazon Droughts: The Time is Now!
The fertile lungs of our planet, the Amazon jungle faces severe drought due to El Niño, climate change, and deforestation for agriculture like palm oil, soy and meat. This along with gold mining,…
Read moreBrazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus
The Brazilian three-banded #armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus, known as “tatu-bola” in Portuguese, is a rare and unique species native to #Brazil. With the ability to roll into a near-impenetrable ball, this endearing behaviour has…
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Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
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Join 3,178 other subscribers2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Read moreMel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Read moreAnthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Read moreHealth Physician Dr Evan Allen
Read moreThe World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
Read moreHow do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
Read more3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support #AmazonRainforest #Amazonia #animals #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Brazil #corruption #deforestation #empowerment #extinction #gold #goldMining #Guyana #indigenous #IndigenousActivism #indigenousKnowledge #indigenousRights #landRights #landrights #mineral #mining #Suriname #Yanomami -
New Research: Indigenous Communities Reduce Amazon Deforestation by 83%”
Although #deforestation rates in the Brazilian #Amazon have halved, this globally critical biome is still losing more than 5,000km² every year. That’s an area three times larger than Greater London. By combining satellite imagery for the entire Amazon region with data from the Brazilian national census, our new study found that deforestation in areas protected by #Indigenous communities was up to 83% lower compared to unprotected areas.
Results demonstrate that returning lands to Indigenous communities can be extremely effective at reducing deforestation and boosting #biodiversity to help address #climatechange. Yet, forest conservation should not come at an economic cost to people living in Indigenous-managed lands.
The world’s largest #rainforest the #Amazon 🫁🌳🌿 is vanishing. Yet a bright spark of hope finds #deforestation in #Indigenous protected areas is 83% lower. They are the KEY to saving the #forests and animals! #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife https://wp.me/pcFhgU-8SM
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterWritten by Johan Oldekop, Reader in Environment and Development, University of Manchester; Bowy den Braber, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, and Marina Schmoeller, PhD Candidate, Ecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)vThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Tarcisio Schnaider/ShutterstockDespite this win for indigenous-led conservation, our results also show that Indigenous communities had the lowest levels of socioeconomic development. Incomes in Indigenous territories were up to 36% lower compared to other land uses.
Indigenous people are among the most disadvantaged groups of people in the world. Although Indigenous communities in Brazil have strengthened their political representation in recent years, 33% of people living below the poverty line are Indigenous.
Improving the economic wellbeing of Indigenous people is not only the socially just thing to do but can also be environmentally effective. Research in Nepal showed that communities with higher levels of socioeconomic development are less likely to trade off development with deforestation. Providing communities with the ability to protect and conserve their local forests and develop economically can be a win-win for both people and the environment.
In 2022, governments across the world agreed to protect 30% of the planet’s surface by 2030. To meet the commitments of this 30×30 agenda, many countries need to drastically increase their conservation efforts to reverse deforestation in the Amazon and beyond.
Governments and philanthropic organisations pledged unprecedented political and financial support for forests and Indigenous peoples and local communities at the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. These pledges have helped raise the voices of Indigenous peoples and ushered in a new era of commitments to return ancestral lands.
Yet, forests and their resources across the world remain coveted by many different interest groups, including mining and large agribusiness. The Supreme Court in Brazil is currently debating the constitutional validity of the controversial “Marco Temporal” or time limit framework which could substantially limit the ability of Indigenous peoples across the country to make claims for lands. This legal theory states that Indigenous peoples are only entitled to make claims for lands if they can prove that they were in possession of them on or before October 5 1988 when the Brazilian constitution came into effect.
Perhaps surprisingly, our results show that agricultural business development of the Brazilian Amazon is unlikely to provide greater socioeconomic benefits for local, non-indigenous communities than protection-focused alternatives that preserve forest cover but allow sustainable resource use by rural communities. But the agribusiness lobby in Brazil, who are often in direct conflict with Indigenous people, often argues that agricultural expansion will provide economic development for the region.
Our results demonstrate that returning lands to Indigenous communities can be extremely effective at reducing deforestation and boosting biodiversity to help address climate change. Yet, forest conservation should not come at an economic cost to people living in Indigenous-managed lands.
Access to land and opportunity
Indigenous communities need to regain access to their ancestral lands while also gaining access to development opportunities. Indigenous people in Brazil are eligible to receive support from social welfare programmes, such as the family allowance scheme (or bolsa familia in Portuguese), which is credited with lifting millions of Brazilians out of poverty and reducing inequality.
Protesters hold placards expressing their opinion during the demonstration. The Marco Temporal thesis, indigenous, and supporters of the indigenous movement met in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in May 2023. ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoHowever, many rural and isolated communities face substantial difficulties accessing support. For example, fuel costs to take long boat trips from remote communities to urban centres to collect payments are high and many communities lack access to technology to even apply for such schemes.
President Lula Da Silva’s government is considering developing an Indigenous family allowance programme to address access problems faced by Indigenous communities in Brazil. As efforts to return rights to land ramp up in the wake of the 30×30 agenda, more governments and nongovernmental organisations should support the many other rights that Indigenous peoples have and reduce the structural barriers that prevent rural communities from claiming them.
Written by Johan Oldekop, Reader in Environment and Development, University of Manchester; Bowy den Braber, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, and Marina Schmoeller, PhD Candidate, Ecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)vThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Read more about human rights and indigenous rights
Concerns Mount Over Palm Oil Expansion in Nagaland
Concerns Mount Over Palm Oil Expansion in Nagaland | The Nagaland Climate Change Adaptation Forum (NCCAF) has raised grave concerns about the environmental and social impacts of expanding palm oil plantations in the…
Palm Oil Is Ruining Kalangala Uganda — Locals Paying the Price
A catastrophic storm in #Uganda’s Kalangala district left nearly 1,000 households homeless. The real culprit? Rampant #deforestation for #palmoil. Once rich in native forests that buffered storms, Kalangala is now a fragile landscape…
Violence for Palm Oil Against Peasant Communities in Honduras Meets Resistance
In the Aguán Valley of northern Honduras, peasant communities reclaiming ancestral lands face increasing violence and intimidation from armed groups linked to organised crime. The Dinant Corporation, a prominent palm oil producer, is…
The Great Malaysian Timber and Palm Oil Swindle
A joint investigation by Malaysiakini and Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) reveals alarming deforestation in Pahang, #Malaysia, caused by one of the country’s largest #palmoil plantations. The plantation threatens endangered species like…
The origins of animal words in SE Asia and what this reveals to us about our connection to them
South East Asia is home to many fascinating creatures and rich biodiversity. The secrets of animal origins and ancient legends are revealed in their names: #Orangutan, #Gibbon, #Binturong and #Siamang in South East…
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Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
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The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
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Pledge your support#Amazon #AmazonRainforest #biodiversity #BoycottGold #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Brazil #climatechange #deforestation #forests #humanRights #indigenous #IndigenousActivism #indigenousKnowledge #indigenousMedicine #indigenousRights #landRights #PalmOil #rainforest #Yanomami
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction Send a message to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Respect Tribal sovereignty and be transparent about your plans for Native ancestral lands and waters. | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction Send your members of Congress a quick message now, urging them to protect Tribal Nations’ sovereign right to produce hemp. | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #Petition: A School Allegedly Forced a Native American Boy To Cut His Culturally Significant Hair
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/749/389/980/?z00m=33387702&redirectID=3435972515 -
#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction Urge Congress to Protect Sovereign Rights and Continue to Allow Access to Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve for the Miccosukee Tribe Now | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/big-cypress/?link_id=1&can_id=ddbeab5dc1f0ec1370275b4de6d8c151&source=email-re-urge-congress-to-ensure-tribal-access-for-big-cypress-national-preserve-in-the-florida&email_referrer=email_2382533&email_subject=re-urge-congress-to-ensure-tribal-access-for-big-cypress-national-preserve-in-the-florida -
TY to @PhoenixSerenity for making me aware of this news.
B.C. hereditary chief gets house arrest for #pipeline blockade
Chief invoked #Wetsuweten law for protecting land and water against #CoastalGasLink
by Betsy Trumpener · CBC News
Posted: Jul 03, 2024 9:23"Chief Dtsa'hyl testified that as a leader, he had a duty to protect Wet'suwet'en land, water, burial sites, and historic trails from the degradation of pipeline construction. He said his actions against Coastal GasLink upheld the traditional Wet'suwet'en law of trespass.
"During the sentencing hearing this week, defence lawyer Rebecca McConchie said the chief's actions needed to be understood in the context of 'the oppression of Wet'suwet'en people in colonial history and the ongoing issues with #UncededLand.'
"The defence said the criminal contempt case punished the chief 'for upholding #IndigenousLaw because doing so breached a #colonial court order.'
"The judge acknowledged that questions around the rights and title of unceded #Indigenous territory, as well as how industrial projects consult with #FirstNations, remain unresolved."
#ChiefDtsahyl #CorporateColonialism #NoDAPL #NoPipelines #IndigenousRights #IndigenousSovereignty
#BCgovernment
#Injustice #UncededNativeLand
#StopEcocide #NativeLandDefenders
#IndigenousLeader #Consent -
* #Canada is still a fucking #racist #colonial corporation. 🤬
#Wetsuweten #HereditaryChief will serve a 60-day jail sentence under house arrest for disrupting #pipeline construction through Wet'suwet'en traditional territory in northern #BritishColumbia in October 2021.
#ChiefDtsahyl, also known as Adam Gagnon, was convicted of criminal contempt for publicly and willfully defying a court order to stay away from Coastal GasLink's pipeline construction.
According to the judgment, Chief Dtsa'hyl appeared in social media videos and called the court injunction obtained by #CoastalGasLink "bogus as hell" because the Wet'suwet'en owned and had #jurisdiction over the territory through which the pipeline was being built.
Chief Dtsa'hyl testified that as a leader, he had a duty to protect Wet'suwet'en land, water, burial sites, and historic trails from the degradation of pipeline construction. He said his actions against Coastal GasLink upheld the traditional Wet'suwet'en law of trespass.
The court heard that Chief Dtsa'hyl is 68 years old and has recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma.
Character references submitted to the court describe him as a loving, supportive, compassionate and courageous man.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7251161
#UNDRIP #BCpoli #CDNpoli #Landback #CorporateGreed #GreedKills #BCNDP #BCNewDeathParty #BCNDPEcocide #BCNDPisKillingUs #ColonialExploition #WhiteSupremacy #IndigenousRights #IndigenousSovereignty #BCgovernment #Injustice #UncededNativeLand #StopEcocide #NativeLandDefenders #IndigenousLeader #GovernmentCorruption #KKKanada
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction: Names of landmarks must promote respect and dignity of Native peoples | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/name-landmarks-with-respect-and-dignity-of-native-peoples/?source=group-takeitbackorg&redirect=https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tib_names_places&link_id=3&can_id=ddbeab5dc1f0ec1370275b4de6d8c151&email_referrer=email_2346956&email_subject=reclaim-the-soul-of-america&refcodeEmailReferrer=email_2346956 -
#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction: Names of landmarks must promote respect and dignity of Native peoples | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #TakeAction Tell Congress: Stop any attempt to weaken the Antiquities Act now | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights Sign the Petition to Demand Congress Protect Native Sacred Places Now! | Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund
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A Last #Wildness
Riding alongside the reindeer herders of Europe’s northernmost county.
Global warming and its discontents have brought energy firms, foreign investors, and the Norwegian state into conflict with an #indigenous #pastoral economy.
DECEMBER 5, 2023
by Ben Mauk & Carleen Coulter"At seven o’clock one September morning, four reindeer herders on dirt bikes and ATVs drive up toward the peninsula whose tip is the northernmost point of mainland Europe. The peninsula is called Čorgašnjárga in Northern #Sámi, the working language of the herders, and Nordkinn in Norwegian. Channels of wind come down the fjords on either side and whip the land clean. Near the coast of Lakesfjorden, the herders find #reindeer gathered on the northern side of a wooden fence several miles long. They open a gate and begin to funnel the animals south toward a brown depression in the landscape, where, inside a labyrinth of pens, corrals, and fence-lined paths, several hundred more reindeer, and a dozen herders, are waiting.
“In summer 2020, the waning days of the midnight sun, the photographer Carleen Coulter and I traveled across Troms og Finnmark, Europe’s northernmost county, following reindeer herders during calf-marking season. The county is curved like the blade of a knife, tracing the edge of a belt of land that crosses #Norway, #Sweden, and #Finland into #Russia’s #KolaPeninsula. The region — known as Sápmi to the Sámi people who are its most longstanding inhabitants — is sometimes called Europe’s #LastWilderness. It is a rare sanctuary in the northern world, one where a #lynx, #stoat, or #salmon might emerge into being, live out its hungry life, and die without encountering any evidence of humankind.
“This wildness is now threatened, not only by #ClimateChange but by some of the very forces developed to combat that existential peril. The most visible sign of change is the wind turbine, hundreds of which are proposed for construction in Sápmi as part of Norway’s commitment to a climate-neutral future. Although its total output remains small compared to producers like #Germany and #Spain, Norway is home to one of the fastest-growing #WindIndustries in the world, and tripled its onshore capacity between 2018 and 2020. Much of the growth is taking place in Troms og Finnmark, where #WindFarms have proven to be uncommonly productive. The 15-turbine Raggovidda wind park in East Finnmark, one developer told the Independent Barents Observer, 'is the most efficient in Norway, in all of Europe — perhaps in the whole world.' It is so productive that its output has far outstripped the needs of its host municipality. Its owners sought and received a concession for the installation of extra power cables to export the electricity for profit. Plans for more ambitious wind parks, some with hundreds rather than dozens of turbines, are pending approval.
“If you have hiked or driven past one, you will know the repetitive strangeness of a field of wind turbines. The effect is only enhanced near the Arctic Circle, where they are perched on treeless plateaus and holy mountains, surrounded by empty sky, each airfoil the size and shape of 747’s wing. Reindeer will not go near them, although the mountains, cool and #lichen-covered, are important summer grazing pastures. As a result, the animals starve, overheat, or become disoriented and are hit by cars.
“The corral where herders were marking reindeer that September is part of Norway’s second-largest herding district; Lágesduottar encompasses large tracts of public land in eastern Troms og Finnmark. There are nineteen reindeer concessions employing around one hundred people, as one linguist and herder present at the marking, Máret Laila Anti, explained, 'from babies to great-grandmothers.' With few exceptions, only #IndigenousSámi people are permitted to hold concessions in Norway. A concession cannot be bought or sold, only inherited or abandoned.
“Four wind power projects have been proposed within Lágesduottar district. Given the typical grazing paths of reindeer, the parks would also affect three other herding communities, totaling more than sixty concessions and about three-hundred people. If constructed, they would almost certainly spell the end of herding in the region. The extra work created by the wind parks—the loss of grazing grounds, the additional fences and labor required—would cause some herders to abandon their concessions. This would have a domino effect, Anti believed. Although reindeer themselves are family property, the land they graze is collectively managed, a division shared by #nomadic #pastoral societies around the world. Families gather together to make lighter work of marking and fence repair. 'If two families leave,' Anti said, 'the work on the others increases, and causes more to abandon herding, and the whole community will collapse.'
“Like reindeer herding, wind energy requires huge reserves of land—between ten and a hundred times the land required by coal-fired electricity, according to one estimate. Because turbines are frequently the target of urban activists who complain that they obstruct views and kill birds, developers find space where they always have: on rural land used and occupied by disenfranchised minority and indigenous groups. In Norway, the rise of mega-farms has punctured reindeer #MigrationPaths and imperiled longstanding strategies of land management. Although herders make up only a small minority of Sámi communities in Norway, their loss is a potent symbol of these changes, resistance to which is often framed around the reindeer’s life cycle.
“Following herders across landscapes filled with wind farms and proposed construction sites, we visited coastal fishing towns, camped along the last #WildSalmon refuge in Europe, and attended a plenary session of the Sámi Parliament, in Karasjok, where we met representatives who felt they had been silenced by #LargeEnergyFirms. One member of parliament, Maja Kristin Jama, came from a herding family who had grazed their reindeer in the Fosen herding district, now home to Europe’s largest onshore wind park. In 2020, Norway’s Supreme Court determined that the park had violated protected #cultural rights, and in 2021 ruled its licenses invalid, but turbines are still operational and there are no plans to dismantle the site. 'We can talk, we can discuss, we can protest, we can ‘have dialogues,' Jama said. 'But in the end, we can’t really affect these plans.'
#CulturalGenocide #IndigenousRights #EnvironmentalRacism #SamiPeople #TraditionalLifestyle #EndangeredSpecies #BigEnergy #RightsViolations
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Here’s what’s at stake for #Indigenous peoples at #COP28
Negotiations happen behind closed doors, but for Indigenous peoples, “a lot of work happens in the hallways.”
by Anita Hofschneider, Nov 29, 2023
“Ozawa Bineshi Albert wants the world to stop relying on #FossilFuels. So last year, the co-executive director of #ClimateJusticeAlliance flew from the U.S. to Egypt to make her voice heard at COP27, the international conference on climate change where world leaders gather to negotiate new commitments to battle the #ClimateCrisis.
”But at COP27, Albert, who is Anishinaabe and Yuchi, noticed that Indigenous peoples like herself were outnumbered by fossil fuel #lobbyists. She was also struck by how many people touted #nuclear energy as an alternative to burning #oil and #gas.
'#Nuclear is one of the most dirty, damaging energy sources, particularly for #IndigenousPeople,' she thought. 'It touches Indigenous communities all along its lifecycle from where it gets #mined, to where it gets #processed, to where #NuclearPower plants are placed, to where #NuclearWaste gets stored.'
“That observation was just one indication of how the perspectives, and experiences, of Indigenous peoples aren’t always reflected in the broader #EnvironmentalMovement. As COP28 kicks off in the United Arab Emirates this week, hundreds of Indigenous advocates are making their way to Dubai with the hope of ensuring that their communities aren’t overlooked by global leaders.
“Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, the work has already started. Jennifer Tauli Corpuz is Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and is managing director of policy at Nia Tero. She spent eight hours Tuesday in an auditorium with about 350 fellow members of the #IndigenousPeoplesCaucus, a delegation representing Native peoples, working on the details of a two-minute opening statement that the Caucus will be allowed to give during COP28’s opening ceremony. Corpuz says it’s not easy to distill everyone’s perspectives and issues into such a short statement and the work required interpreters in five languages.
“Apart from ending fossil fuel reliance, Indigenous advocates at COP28 want to ensure that funding to offset the impacts of #ClimateChange reaches their communities; ensure Indigenous knowledge is seen as a solution to climate change; and prevent governments and private actors from violating their rights, especially as those actors pursue #GreenEnergy projects.
“Corpuz said the caucus plans to approve advocacy papers outlining their positions Wednesday. Then comes the work of convincing negotiators to listen. But it’s not easy.
“The estimated 350 Indigenous peoples at COP28 is an attendance record for Native advocates, but it’s still far fewer than the 600 fossil fuel lobbyists who attended COP27 last year. As well, the most important work at the conference, negotiating the exact language of international climate change treaties, gets done behind closed doors among designated representatives from United Nations member countries.
“Corpuz estimates that perhaps 20 of the 350 #IndigenousPeople at COP28 this week have government badges that allow them access to negotiations. But even then, because they aren’t credentialed delegates representing a negotiating party, they are only able to watch and listen, not speak, she said.
“Still, it’s an improvement over past years when Indigenous peoples’ representatives were locked out from even more rooms, said Corpuz. At least now Indigenous representatives will be able to hear the details of the negotiations, the perspectives of international representatives, and carry the information back for advocates to lobby government delegates. 'A lot of the work of the Indigenous Caucus happens in the hallways,' Corpuz said.
“A key question that’s expected to be decided this year is how much money wealthy nations like the U.S. should pay in order to cover the costs of climate disasters in the Global South, an initiative known as the loss and damage fund. One study estimates that nations in the Global North are responsible for 92% of excess carbon emissions each year, compared with 8% in the Global South.
“‘What’s at stake is how these finance mechanisms are going to impact and be accessible to Indigenous communities and other impacted communities, how they will be funded, and to what levels will they be funded,' Albert said. 'And will those resources actually get to communities and not be taken up by agencies that will administer them?'
“Eriel Deranger of the #Athabasca #Chipewyan #FirstNation in #Canada and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, thinks that it makes sense that wealthy countries would be paying for climate impacts, but Deranger also wants the money to be available to Indigenous people no matter what country they live in due to already extreme climate impacts, many of which are exacerbated by #colonization and #LandTheft .
“‘If Canada, for example, or the U.S. is contributing to the loss and damage fund and we don’t have access to it as Indigenous people in North America or in the Global North, where are we going to see those kind of climate reparations and restitution for the damages that we are facing from the climate crisis?' Deranger asked.
“But money is only part of the equation, said Kandi White, a citizen of the #Mandan, #Hidatsa, and #Arikara Nations in the U.S. and program director at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which sent a 25-member delegation to Dubai. 'For Indigenous peoples, it’s not just about the money, but it’s also about the return of our #sovereignty over our lands,' said White.
“That sovereignty has been threatened by #landgrabs, including recent #landdeals between a #UnitedArabEmirates company and five #African nations for the #CarbonCredit trade, White said. The land deals were touted as a way to help conserve land and offset #pollution, but White is concerned about whether the Indigenous people living there truly #consented to the plan as well as how they’ll be affected. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservation deals that are creating conflict in Indigenous territories around the world.
“Both Deranger and White, who are in Dubai this week, also hope to establish a grievance procedure through which Indigenous peoples whose rights are infringed upon could hold governments accountable. 'We need there to not just be lip service of, ‘We recognize Indigenous rights,’ but we need to see language that has teeth,' Deranger said.
“But securing that level of accountability may be an uphill battle. Even when world leaders make promises, they don’t always fulfill them: wealthy countries blew a 2020 deadline to spend $100 billion a year to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts and make progress toward #decarbonization. One study suggested that goal may have been met last year, two years late, even as the world hurtles toward 3 degrees of warming.
“The combined challenges—a lack of access to negotiating tables and tepid commitments by global leaders—have fueled disillusionment. Moñeka De Oro, who is Chamorro from the Mariana Islands and co-executive director of the #Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, says that last year at COP some Indigenous Caucus members discussed boycotting the convention, 'no longer being a part of these processes that continuously degrade our input,' she said.
“De Oro recently helped draft a declaration for peace, unity and climate justice in the Pacific to be read at COP that called for a future free of #colonialism and #militarization. But as much as she believes in that message, she joined a boycott of this year’s convention with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance protesting the Israeli government’s war on Gaza, and questions whether to attend future meetings.
"'If you’re going to continue to continuously be ignored and continuously be just erased from the entire process, I don’t know how much longer we want to be complicit in attending these sorts of things,' she said.
“The power imbalances can be discouraging but Ozawa Bineshi Albert still feels determined.
“‘#COP is not a place that we go to thinking we’re going to get everything we want,' she said. To her, the overarching question is: 'How can we make sure that we at least hold the line and make sure the least amount of damage and the least amount of harm is caused to frontline and Indigenous communities?’”
#IndigenousRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #BigOilAndGas
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#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeople #NativeAmerican #NativeAmericans #NativeAmericanRights #ACLU Protect Native Families | American Civil Liberties Union
https://action.aclu.org/send-message/protect-native-families?initms_aff=nat&initms_chan=sms&initms=230615_scotusbrackeen_messageaction_fulllist_mc&ms_aff=nat&ms_chan=sms&ms=230615_scotusbrackeen_messageaction_fulllist_mc -
In California, one woman is protecting indigenous burial sites and fighting efforts to erase her people from existence.
'On my ancestors' remains': The fight for sacred lands
#UnitedStates #NativeAmericans #Indigenousrights #Landgrabs #Colonialism #US&Canada
