#rainforestconservation — Public Fediverse posts

Although injured he climbed the tree painlessly. He then rested on the branch for a while before getting down as effortlessly as he climbed. His tree was occupied by his troopmates. He never interacted with them in as I observed almost a week. He was limping all alone. Injured probably either while defending his territory or while occupying one. I hope to see him again soon. #liontailedmacaque #primates #nature #rainforest #rainforestconservation #wildlifeconservation #wildlife

🌍 In Borneo, a chainsaw buyback program by Health in Harmony is making waves. Farmers are trading in their chainsaws, used for illegal logging, for cash and sustainable livelihood opportunities. This initiative has already protected over 107,000 trees, including 15,000 old-growth trees, while improving access to healthcare for local communities.

#ClimateAction #Borneo #RainforestConservation #Sustainability #GoodNews

@goodnews

https://edition.cnn.com/climate/borneo-rainforest-chainsaw-heath-harmony-spc/index.html

Without Tropical Forests, The World Would Be 1°c Warmer

#Research reveals the most comprehensive and detailed evidence to date that #forests are more important to the #climate (globally and locally) than we think due to the way in which they physically transform the atmosphere. The first-ever research to pinpoint the local, regional and global non-carbon dioxide benefits of specific forest zones worldwide finds that the entire world gains the most benefits from the band of tropical rainforests spanning Latin America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. Help #rainforests, rainforest animals and indigenous peoples every time you shop, make sure you #BoycottPalmOil #BoycottGold #Boycott4Wildlife

#Forests cool the planet, like natural #aircon. What happens when you cut them down? #Deforestation heats areas up to 4.5℃! Keep forests standing for #people and animals! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🧐🙊⛔️ #BoycottGold 🥇🪙🧐🙊🚫 #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/08/14/without-tropical-forests-global-temperatures-would-be-1c-warmer/

It finds that, together, forests keep the planet at least half of a degree Celsius cooler when we account for the understudied biophysical effects—from chemical compounds to turbulence and the reflection of light. These effects in the tropics alone deliver planetary cooling of one-third of a degree Celsius; when combined with the carbon dioxide, the cooling effect is over 1 degree Celsius. 

“All forests are precious. Increasingly, we are discovering they also keep the air near and far cool and moist,” said Deborah Lawrence, a professor at the University of Virginia and the lead author of the study, The Unseen Effects of Deforestation: Biophysical Effects on Climate. “The heart of the tropics is at the heart of the planet and these forests are critical for our survival.”  

According to the study, “Locally at all latitudes, forest biophysical impacts far outweigh carbon effects, promoting local climate stability by reducing extreme temperatures in all seasons and times of day.”

“The importance of forests for both global climate change mitigation and local adaptation by human and non-human species is not adequately captured by current carbon-centric metrics, particularly in the context of future climate warming.”    

Scientists already have a well-established understanding of how tropical deforestation contributes to global climate change through emitting carbon and reducing the ability of the world’s forests to take more carbon pollution out of the atmosphere. This is the latest and most comprehensive study in a body of emerging evidence showing how tropical deforestation has climate impacts beyond carbon: Deforestation immediately increases heat and extreme heat locally and decreases regional and local rainfall. Forest loss also disrupts the climate in faraway places. Because of this, forests are even more valuable to climate efforts than previously accounted for in international climate plans and projections.  

The study reviewed the available literature on this emerging science to determine that forests up to 50 degrees north latitude deliver benefits at a global scale that cumulatively keep the entire planet cooler by 1 degree Celsius. This means that any forest protection or restoration efforts taking place between 40 degrees south latitude and—50 degrees north latitude help at the local level as well as the global level. For example, destroying rainforests in the 10 degree band just south of the equator could warm the planet by half of a degree. And restoring forests in the 10 degree band just north of the equator would deliver 25% more global cooling than expected based on CO2 sequestration alone. But the study shows that even those forests outside of this band deliver a host of benefits warranting their protection.  

“A recent major UN climate report showed we must urgently act now to avoid the worst case scenarios for our planet,” Lawrence said.

“If we lose these forests, we will get there 10 years faster. If we protect these forests, they will shield us from extreme climate disasters, droughts and impacts on our food and agriculture. We are benefiting now from the tropics keeping us cooler; they are keeping us from feeling these extremes already.”   

The study notes that deforestation, for example, is responsible for one-third of the increase in intensity of hotter days; forest loss is also behind the increase in hot, dry summers. Our loss in tree cover has also led to local increases in extreme temperatures comparable in magnitude to changes caused by 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.  

“Put another way, deforestation pushes people today into an experience we are trying to avoid by hitting 2 degrees rather than 1.5 degrees of warming,” Lawrence said. “People living with deforestation are already suffering the effects of that warmer, more extreme world. Forest restoration would bring them back to a more livable climate.”    

Forest cooling is due to a range of biophysical effects. The study reveals that all forests emit chemicals called Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs). On the one hand, BVOCs create aerosols that reflect incoming energy and form clouds; both are cooling effects. On the other hand, they lead to a build-up of ozone and methane, both greenhouse gases. This is a warming effect. On balance, the cooling outweighs the warming. These complex chemical compounds emitted by forests represent a new frontier in our understanding of how forests keep the planet cool near and far. 

Other aspects of forests that enable them to minimize drought associated with extreme heat include their deep roots, high water use efficiency and high surface “roughness.” These qualities allow trees to dissipate heat and move moisture higher into the atmosphere, which directly cools the local area and influences cloud formation and rainfall—which has ramifications far away.  

“Research is making it increasingly clear that forests are even more complex than previously understood. When we cut them down, we see devastating impacts on our climate, food supplies and everyday life. The benefits of keeping forests intact are clear; it’s imperative that we prioritize their protection,” said Wayne Walker, carbon program director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and one of the study co-authors.  

The recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned about the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability humans face with rising temperatures. This new study suggests that forest protection, important to both mitigation and adaptation, protects us from some of the worst climate disasters. And it shows that forests provide local cooling during the hottest times of the year everywhere on the planet, improving the resilience of cities, croplands and conservation areas. In the tropics, where forest carbon stocks and sequestration rates are highest, the biophysical effects of forests amplify the carbon benefits.  

“Protecting primary forests throughout the world should be one of our greatest priorities. These forests are critical for adapting to a warmer world,” said Michael Coe, tropics program director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and a study co-author. “Without the forest cover we have now, the planet would be hotter and the weather more extreme. Forests provide us defense against the worst-case global warming scenarios.”  

This study adds a more sweeping global perspective to research on the local non-carbon climate impacts of deforestation: 

Researchers recently found that the destruction of forests and other ecosystems in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions endangers local soy agriculture, calculating that extreme heat costs $3.55 billion annually on top of $1 billion annually for drier conditions.  

Another study showed that rising temperatures and humidity tied to tree loss has already reduced the number of hours in the day people can safely work outside—and will only get worse if more forests are destroyed.  

A third study showed that in the case of Brazil, by 2100, roughly 12 million people could be exposed to extreme risk of heat stress, with vulnerable populations, including Indigenous Peoples, set to be the most severely impacted.  

“Despite the mounting evidence that forests deliver myriad climate benefits, trees are still viewed just as sticks of carbon by many policymakers in the climate change arena,” said Louis Verchot, a principal scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and one of the study co-authors. “It’s time for policymakers at the local and global levels to realize that forests have even greater value to people and economies, now and in the future, due to their non-carbon benefits. Forests are key to mitigation, but also adaptation.” 

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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2. 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.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

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Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

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Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

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Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

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The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

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How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

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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

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#aircon #amazonRainforest #boycott4wildlife #boycottgold #boycottpalmoil #climate #climateChange #deforestation #ecocide #forests #palmOilDeforestation #people #rainforest #rainforestConservation #rainforests #research

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Dr Sophie Chao: In Her Own Words

Anthropologist, Scholar, Writer, Indigenous & Multispecies Rights Advocate

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Bio: Dr Sophie Chao

Dr Sophie Chao is an environmental anthropologist and environmental humanities scholar interested in the intersections of capitalism, ecology, Indigeneity, health, and justice in the Pacific.

Her theoretical thinking is inspired by interdisciplinary currents including Science and Technology Studies, political ecology, and Indigenous, Postcolonial, and Critical Race Studies.

Dr Chao is currently a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow and Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney. Prior to her academic career, she worked for the international Indigenous rights organisation Forest Peoples Programme in the United Kingdom and Indonesia.

She has also undertaken consultancies for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations. She is currently Secretary on the Executive Committee of the Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) and Co-Convenor of the Australian Food, Society, and Culture Network (AFSCN).

In 2022, Dr Chao released her much anticipated book In the Shadow of the Palms: More-Than-Human Becomings in West Papua, which examines the multispecies entanglements of oil palm plantations in West Papua, showing how Indigenous Marind communities understand and navigate the social, political, and environmental demands of palm oil. Her book won the inaugural Duke University Press Scholars of Colour First Book Award.

Dr Chao is keen to forge meaningful collaborations and conversations with Indigenous and decolonial academics, artists, and activists in Australia and beyond, and to move towards a better understanding of morethanhuman worlds. 

Palm Oil Detectives is honoured to interview to Dr Sophie Chao about her research into the impacts of palm oil on the daily lives of Marind people and other sentient beings in West Papua.

https://youtu.be/zy2CV-0bbP4

“I want the world to understand how #deforestation and industrial #palmoil expansion undermine #Indigenous ways of being in #WestPapua” ~ Dr Sophie Chao #PapuanLivesMatter #Together4Forests #Boycott4Wildlife 

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“#Indigenous #Marind of #WestPapua consider plants and animals NOT as passive objects of exploitation, but as other-than-human relatives. Subjects of #interspecies #justice in their own right” ~ Dr Sophie Chao #Boycott4Wildlife 

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“I want to see the #palmoil industry/governments try to understand the desires of #Papuan people THEMSELVES instead of pre-conceived notions of what counts as progress” ~ Dr Sophie Chao #PapuanLivesMatter #Together4Forests 

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“#Governments/ #corporates must accept that some #Indigenous communities may decide to withhold consent to #palmoil projects. Their right to say NO MUST be respected” ~ Dr Sophie Chao   #PapuanLivesMatter #Boycott4Wildlife 

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​Little previous research had been done into how indigenous peoples themselves experience, interpret, and contest oil palm developments.

In particular, there is not much research done into how indigenous peoples relate to vulnerable, non-human beings such as native plants, animals, and elements, with whom many indigenous peoples entertain intimate and ancestral relations of kinship and care.

“Many people know that oil palm is devastating on tropical ecosystems and biodiversity. Much less is known about the impacts of this proliferating cash crop on the peoples who are being displaced, dispossessed, and disempowered in its wake.”

Pictured: A group of Marind women preparing sago starch that has been freshly rasped from the sago grove. Photo: Dr Sophie Chao

​I wrote this book because I wanted the world to understand how deforestation and industrial oil palm expansion are undermining Indigenous ways of being in West Papua.

​My book seeks to bring to life the worlds of people who live in the teeth of settler-colonial capitalism

[Pictured] Dr Sophie Chao

​Living with Marind transformed how I think about what it means to be “human”

And also what it means to coexist in mutually beneficial ways with other-than-human beings.

​The Marind think of plants and animals as not simply passive objects of human exploitation

Instead, these other-than-human beings are considered to be agents, persons, relatives, and subjects of justice in their own right.

This was a completely different way of thinking to the anthropocentric and individualistic logic of the Westernised parts of the world where I had lived, studied, and worked.

https://youtu.be/U0n1dbxUa1k

​Indigenous Marind enriched my world by inviting me to think beyond nature-culture divides

Humans share the planet with a whole array of different creatures. These creatures matter in the making of more sustainable, collective futures.

​“More-than-human becomings” is in the subtitle of the book because it is an invitation to think beyond the human and also beyond categories. Instead, the reader is invited to think about non-human beings and transforming worlds.

Marind are “More-than-human” because they consider themselves as beings within a lively and diverse ecology of life

This includes native plants and animals like cassowaries, birds of paradise, and sago palms, but also introduced – and sometimes dangerous – organisms like industrial oil palm.

“Becomings” was a way of getting readers to think about life beyond the static notion of “being.” To “become” is a constant transformation, unfolding differently across bodies, places, and time. Becoming, in some ways, never really ends.

​The ‘good life’, according to Marind, stems from the willingness of humans to consider non-human beings as subjects of dignity and justice

This good life is best achieved by immersing oneself in the more-than-human environment. Non-human beings are considered to be participants in the making of shared worlds, and also as subjects of harm and violence.

The “good life” is deeply intergenerational for Marind. They often talked about nurturing the forest, as a way of becoming good ancestors and how they can transmit traditional ecological knowledge to future Marind generations

​Time for Marind is not linear, it is spiralic

What you do now matters in terms of how you will be remembered. What you do now matters in terms of what you will be able to pass on to human and other-than-human beings to come.

There is a wisdom and responsibility that comes with this sense of time that I think is critical to heed in this age of planetary destruction.

Many of my Marind companions talk about conservation and capitalism as being “two sides of the same coin”

This is because they now find themselves excluded from both industrial oil palm plantations and from the conservation areas that are intended to off-set deforestation.

Images: Palm oil plantations and environmental destruction, Getty Images.

Both of these activities entrench a nature-culture divide that is alien to many Marind. Both undervalue the fact that Marind have always coexisted harmoniously with their environments.

These new “conservation zones” are the very same places where Marind fish, forage, and hunt. It is where they go to visit ancestral graveyards and sacred sites. It is where they walk with their families and friends to encounter their kindred sago palms, wild boards, possums, and gaharu trees.

For Marind, conservation and capitalism violate their territorial sovereignty and access to food and resources. Both types of activity are imposed by outside actors through top-down decision-making process that they are not party to.

​Human rights and environmental abuses in West Papua are made invisible in Australia, their closest neighbour, mainly for geopolitical reasons

Racism may have something to do with it – but I think geopolitical interests are a big part of the story

West Papua is incredibly rich in natural resources – from gold, copper, and coal, to timber and oil palm. Economic and political interests tend to trump human and environmental rights, in West Papua and elsewhere.

There are pockets of activism and advocacy in Australia, including by West Papuan diaspora and political exiles – but the movement hasn’t caught the public’s attention in the way other political causes have.

Accessing West Papua is difficult for non-Indonesian individuals and organisations. There is heightened militarisation of the region. This contributes to an ongoing invisibilisation of what is happening at the ground level, among Papuan people and across Papuan ecosystems.

​The demilitarisation of West Papua is absolutely vital if Papuans are to feel that they have a free voice in matters affecting them and their lands – including oil palm developments

Image: Andrew Gal for Getty Images

​Indigenous ways of being and thinking (although radically different from neoliberal capitalist and colonialist logics), should be central to decision-making

I would like to see the palm oil industry, together with the Indonesian government, try to understand the views, aspirations, desires, beliefs, and hopes of Papuan peoples themselves instead of entering with pre-conceived notions of what counts as progress, the good life, and wellbeing.

Government and corporate actors should engaging with Indigenous Papuans through a transparent, iterative, and trust-based process of consent-seeking, before any oil palm projects are designed or implemented.

This consent should be sought freely, well ahead of time, and only when communities have been given access to comprehensive and impartial information on the benefits and risks of oil palm developments.

Pictured: Marind man and child in Merauke by Nanang Sujana

Most importantly, government and corporate actors need to accept that some communities may, following lengthy consultations, still decide to withhold their consent to oil palm projects. This right to say NO to oil palm must imperatively be respected.

​Violence as a multispecies act: Marind describe oil palm as a colonising, killing and occupying plant beings

Oil palm, they often told me, does not want to share time and space with native plants, people, and animals.

It spreads uniformly across vast swaths of land, yet grows alone in monocrop form

This plant’s introduction has been accompanied by intensified military and corporate surveillance, community harassment and intimidation and exploitative labour conditions.

To think about violence in multispecies terms, brings us to consider situations where humans are not the only culprits, and non-humans not the only victims.

Oil palm’s acts of violence invite us to think about non-human beings as drivers and perpetrators of harm – even as they themselves are also subject to human and technological manipulations and exploitation.

Paraquat, a deadly herbicide, trickled down from rusty canisters strapped to the women’s backs, the blue-green venom seeping into their exposed skin.

Banned in many countries because of its toxic effects, no antidote exists for this lethal chemical. I thought of babies never to come. The faces of my friends, huddled in the bed of the truck, were caked in dust and watched the landscape unfurl, weeping.

Infants retched from the stench of mill effluents as we jolted down dirt roads without stopping so as to avoid attracting the attention of military men employed by the companies to guard their plantations. Bunches of oil palm fruit lay strewn along roadsides, piles of moldering blood-red and coal-black, shot through with razor-sharp thorns.

Bulldozers and chainsaws ripped through isolated patches of the remaining vegetation. Silhouetted against the bleary sun, pesticide-spraying helicopters zigzagged back and forth above us, spreading a milky veil of hazy toxins.

~ Dr Sophie Chao, excerpt from the prologue of ‘In the Shadow of the Palms.’

The day that MIFEE came

On August 11th 2010, a delegation of government representatives from Jakarta, led by the then minister of agriculture Ir. H Suswono launched the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE). A $5 billion USD agribusiness scheme to promote the country’s self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs and to make Indonesia a net food-exporting nation. Papuans from across the region were invited to the event including Marind community members from the upper Bian river. Paulus Mahuze, Marind clan leader recalls the arrival of MIFEE and how everything changed dramatically afterwards for his people. 

~ Dr Sophie Chao, excerpt from her book ‘In the Shadow of the Palms.’

“It was a hot day. There was dust (abu) everywhere, raised by the government convoys and military trucks. The dust stung our eyes and made our children cry. The government brought oil palm (sawit) company bosses with them from pusat (‘the centre,’ or Jakarta). They gave us instant noodles, pens, bottles of water. They also gave us cigarettes – the expensive kind. They talked a lot about MIFEE. MIFEE this, MIFEE that…but we didn’t understand what MIFEE was. We did not know what palm oil was because oil palm does not live in our forests. Then, the government officials and the oil palm bosses left. They never returned to the village. 
They promised us money and jobs. They said MIFEE would provide us with food. I thought that they would plant yams, vegetables and fruit trees. Instead they planted oil palm. They planted oil palm everywhere they could. They turned the whole forest into oil palm. They cut down all the sago to plant oil palm. This is what happened. Since then, everything is abu-abu (‘grey’ or ‘uncertain’).  

~ Paulus Mahuze, marind clan leader (as told to dr sophie chao in her book: In the shadow of the palms).

​Abu-abu means both “grey” and “uncertain”. For Marind, the future, hope and multispecies relations were all abu-abu and under siege

Pictured: Oil palm plantations in Merauke have contributed to unprecedented levels of deforestation, and water/soil contamination. Photo credit: Dr Sophie Chao.

The concept of abu-abu is one that many of my Marind friends would use to describe the worlds that they inhabit

Abu-abu communicates the sense of ambiguity, opacity, and strangeness that life on the palm oil frontier entails. Greyness manifests in the polluted waters of local rivers, and in the smoke-filled skies following forest burning.

Greyness also manifests in the dull and irritated skin of malnourished infants, poisoned fish, and pesticide-wielding workers

To live in a world of murk and uncertainty is violent and unsettling – but it is also a way of rejecting the possibility of any kind of radical divide between oneself and that murk. That’s why I approach abu-abu not just as a condition of suffering, but also as a stance of refusal.

What would or might come next for Marind and their other-than-human kin was unknown – and often feared.

This sense of greyness, or uncertainty is also metaphorical. For Marind the world is grey in that the future, hope, social and multispecies relations are all under siege.

Pictured: Dead fish, creative commons image, Pxfuel.

At the same time, abu-abu was a form of resistance in the way it refused fixed classifications, categories, or boundaries between things, ideas, and actions

​Whether “sustainable” palm oil can be achieved in practice demands a radical rethinking of the capitalist logic – the logic of endless growth

Careless profit-making, and externally imposed “development” and “progress” rhetorics. And that is a huge task. These kinds of rhetorics are deeply entrenched. Their origins are often unquestioned. Their impacts are often silenced.

​At the end of the day, I think the most important thing to ask ourselves about “sustainability” is – sustainability for whom?

Who gets to have a say over what happens to lands and forests? Who gets to be involved in decision-making processes surrounding oil palm projects? Is there scope to reconsider the scale at which these projects are being developed?

These are questions that have to be crafted and considered together with the Indigenous peoples most directly and indirectly affected by agribusiness expansion.

That, for me, is the beginning of any kind of conversation around sustainability – sustainability for people, plants, animals, and for all the other beings implicated in one way or another in the palm oil nexus.

The rationale for additional Food Estates in Papua and Indonesia is scrutinised in this 2022 report

“The rationale behind Food Estates, that they are an effective way to rapidly increase national food production, does not stand up to scrutiny.

“Over the years, previous attempts to launch Food Estates have failed, with little if any extra food produced. The various iterations of the Merauke Food Estate (MIFEE) are a good example of this.

“For these reasons, it is legitimate to call into question the real motivation behind the plans. With corruption still rampant in Indonesia, there is a significant risk that Food Estates will present new opportunities for profit by those in government and their associates.”

Quote from: Pandemic Power Grabs: Who benefits from Food Estates in West Papua, a report by AwasMIFEE and TAPOL (2022).

Upcoming online events and publications

Event: Eating and Becoming Eaten More-than-human metabolisms on the West Papuan Agribusiness Frontier

https://twitter.com/SSNDeakin/status/1556487944516825089?s=20&t=6XYWl5_WwEiVBCRnuOODag

The Promise of Multispecies Justice

Edited by Dr Sophie Chao, Karin Bolender, Eben Kirksey.

What are the possibilities for multispecies justice? How do social justice struggles intersect with the lives of animals, plants, and other creatures? Leading thinkers in anthropology, geography, philosophy, speculative fiction, poetry, and contemporary art answer these questions from diverse grounded locations.

You can find and follow me on Twitter if you wish @Sophie_MH_Chao

Pictured: Dr Sophie Chao researched the life of the Marind-Anim tribe in Merauke for three years. Her doctoral dissertation on the impact of oil palm plantations on the lives of the tribe won the 2019 best thesis award in Australia in the field of Asian Studies. Photo: ABC News Indonesia

https://twitter.com/Sophie_MH_Chao/status/1554625068906336256?s=20&t=KQOGXlMflLDymRCC19ppTw

https://twitter.com/DukePress/status/1553002952293584898?s=20&t=8y_Ry_oAL7Ef8cdQv5KBQA

https://twitter.com/eben_kirksey/status/1554656376982364160?s=20&t=8y_Ry_oAL7Ef8cdQv5KBQA

Images: Getty Images, Dr Sophie Chao, Nanang Sujana, Craig Jones Wildlife Photography, ABC News Indonesia.

Words: Dr Sophie Chao

Further Reading

‘In West Papua, oil palm expansion undermines the relations of indigenous Marind people to forest plants and animals’ by Dr Sophie Chao for The Conversation.

After 75 years of independence, Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia still struggling for equality by Dr Sophie Chao for The Conversation.

‘Kelapa Sawit Membunuh Sagu’: Sophie Chao Meraih Tesis Terbaik di Australia Setelah Meneliti Suku di Papua by Farid M. Ibrahim for ABC Indonesia.

In the plantations there is hunger and loneliness: The cultural dimensions of food insecurity in Papua (commentary)’ by Dr Sophie Chao for Mongabay.

The sky has no corners: My journey to a new understanding of nature, an essay by Dr Sophie Chao for Five Media.

Read and watch more stories about indigenous justice, land-grabbing and deforestation on Palm Oil Detectives

Mama Malind su Hilang (Our Land is Gone) by filmmaker Nanang Sujana

Image: Marind children in Merauke West Papua by Nanang Sujana

Mama Malind su Hilang (Our Land Has Gone) is a powerful documentary by celebrated and renowned filmmaker and photographer Nanang Sujana. His images and film tells the story of the Malind Anim tribe living in Zanegi village. They were dispossessed from their land which was given over to global palm oil corporations, in its place was Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE).

https://youtu.be/RqYoRh1aApg

“The Forest is the father, land is the mother and rivers are blood

“That’s the spirituality of most Dayak people in Kalimantan. They understand the interdependent nature of everything in nature.”

~ Dr Setia Budhi : Dayak Ethnographer

Image: Rainforest in Sumatra by Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

The people versus Feronia: Fighting palm oil agrocolonialism in the Congo

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Organised Crime: A Top Driver of Global Deforestation

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Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics used by palm oil companies intent on land-grabbing

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Palm Oil Lobbyists Getting Caught Lying Orangutan Land Trust and Agropalma

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13 Reasons To Boycott Gold for Yanomami

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Treespiracy: Forests are being destroyed against a background of corruption, illegality and apathy

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Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded

Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.

#animalExtinction #animalRights #animals #Anthropology #Boycott4wildlife #conservation #corporates #CreativesForCoolCreatures #deforestation #indigenous #IndigenousActivism #indigenousRights #interspecies #justice #landRights #landgrabbing #Malind #Marind #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #PapuaNewGuinea #Papuan #PapuanLivesMatter #rainforestConservation #research #Together4Forests #WestPapua #WestPapua

Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation

Indigenous and local communities are key to successful nature conservation and for protecting animals from extinction. Story via Eureka Alert and the University of East Anglia.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities provide the best long-term outcomes for conservation, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and partners in France.

Lead author, Dr Neil Dawson of UEA’s School of International Development, was part of an international team conducting a systematic review that found conservation success is “the exception rather than the rule”.

Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and actions are the critical for leading successful conservation initiatives. Supporting indigenous-led conservation is essential for saving animals from extinction #Boycott4Wildlife

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But the study, published today in the journal Ecology and Society, suggests the answer could be equitable conservation, which empowers and supports the environmental stewardship of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The research team studied the outcomes of 169 conservation projects around the world – primarily across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

From restoring national forests in Taiwan and community gardens in Nepal, to watershed restoration in the Congo, sustainable fisheries in Norway, game management in Zambia, and preserving wetlands in Ghana – the team took into account a range of projects.

They investigated how governance – the arrangements and decision making behind conservation efforts – affects both nature and the well-being of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The work, which is part of the JustConservation research project funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) within its Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), and was initiated through the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN CEESP).

It is the result of collaboration between 17 scientists, including researchers from the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) at the Catholic University of Lille and UEA.

Dr Dawson, a Research Fellow, examines poverty, wellbeing and environmental justice among rural populations, particularly poor and marginalised social and ethnic groups, and is a Steering Committee member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN CEESP).

Dr Dawson said: “This study shows it is time to focus on who conserves nature and how, instead of what percentage of the Earth to fence off.” 

“Conservation led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, based on their own knowledge and tenure systems, is far more likely to deliver positive outcomes for nature. In fact, conservation very often fails because it excludes and undervalues local knowledge and this often infringes on rights and cultural diversity along the way.”

International conservation organisations and governments often lead the charge on conservation projects, excluding or controlling local practices, most prominently through strict protected areas.

The study recommends Indigenous Peoples and local communities need to be at the helm of conservation efforts, with appropriate support from outside, including policies and laws that recognise their knowledge systems.”

Furthermore, it is imperative to shift to this approach without delay, Dr Dawson said.

“Current policy negotiations, especially the forthcoming UN climate and biodiversity summits, must embrace and be accountable for ensuring the central role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in mainstream climate and conservation programs. Otherwise, they will likely set in stone another decade of well-meaning practices that result in both ecological decline and social harms.

“Whether for tiger reserves in India, coastal communities in Brazil or wildflower meadows in the UK, the evidence shows that the same basis for successful conservation through stewardship holds true. Currently, this is not the way mainstream conservation efforts work.”

Craig Jones Wildlife Photography – A Bengal tiger drinking at a river

From an initial pool of over 3,000 publications, 169 were found to provide detailed evidence of both the social and ecological sides of conservation.

Strikingly, the authors found that 56 per cent of the studies investigating conservation under ‘local’ control reported positive outcomes for both human well-being and conservation.

For ‘externally’ controlled conservation, only 16 per cent reported positive outcomes and more than a third of cases resulted in ineffective conservation and negative social outcomes, in large part due to the conflicts arising with local communities.

However, simply granting control to local communities does not automatically guarantee conservation success.

Local institutions are every bit as complex as the ecosystems they govern, and this review highlights that a number of factors must align to realise successful stewardship.

Community cohesion, shared knowledge and values, social inclusion, effective leadership and legitimate authority are important ingredients that are often disrupted through processes of globalisation, modernisation or insecurity, and can take many years to re-establish.

Additionally, factors beyond the local community can greatly impede local stewardship, such as laws and policies that discriminate against local customs and systems in favour of commercial activities. Moving towards more equitable and effective conservation can therefore be seen as a continuous and collaborative process.

Dr Dawson said: “Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ knowledge systems and actions are the main resource that can generate successful conservation. To try to override them is counterproductive, but it continues, and the current international policy negotiations and resulting pledges to greatly increase the global area of land and sea set aside for conservation are neglecting this key point.

“Conservation strategies need to change, to recognize that the most important factor in achieving positive conservation outcomes is not the level of restrictions or magnitude of benefits provided to local communities, but rather recognising local cultural practices and decision-making. It is imperative to shift now towards an era of conservation through stewardship.”

‘The role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation’ is published in the journal Ecology and Society on September 2, 2021.

#animals #conservation #IndigenousActivism #indigenousRights #rainforestConservation

Boycotts A Great Weapon to Fight Ecocidal Corporates

Bill Laurance, James Cook University

Campaigns and boycotts get the attention of large corporations, because they hit them where it hurts: their reputation and market share.

Campaigns and #boycotts against corrupt commodities like #palmoil and #meat are effective in getting attention of corporate giants because they hit their wallets and sully their reputations #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🔥🙊⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/02/27/boycotts-are-a-crucial-weapon-to-fight-environment-harming-firms/

In October 2000, I was driving through downtown Boise, Idaho, and nearly careered off the road. Just in front of me was a giant inflatable Godzilla-like dinosaur, well over 30m tall. It was towering over the headquarters of Boise Cascade, one of North America’s biggest wood products corporations. For years, the firm had been tangling with environmental groups who blamed the company’s logging practices for declines in the extent of old-growth forests across the globe.

The huge inflatable reptile was the inspired idea of the Rainforest Action Network, who used it to label Boise Cascade a dinosaur of the timber industry. The blow-up dinosaur was headline news across the United States and the label stuck. Although Boise Cascade tried to deny it was yielding to environmental pressure, it ultimately agreed to phase out all of its old-growth wood products.

Environmental campaigns such as this one have become an increasingly important arrow in the quiver of conservation groups, for a very good reason. The world has become hyper-corporatised and globalised, with the result that, as I reported in 2008, deforestation is now substantially driven by major industries rather than by the exploits of poor people trying to make a living off the land.

Last-ditch tactics

Boycotts are typically a last resort. The Rainforest Action Network tried for years to nudge, cajole and finally pressure Boise Cascade to phase out old-growth products, without success. Its gentler tactics worked fine with other big corporations such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, but it took a gigantic dinosaur to get Boise Cascade’s attention.

Globally, some of the most impressive environmental achievements have come via boycotts, or at least the threat of them. Just in the past year, four of the world’s biggest forest-destroying corporations have announced new “no deforestation” policies in response to such environmental pressures.

Among the worst of these was Asia Pulp & Paper, whose reputation had become so synonymous with rainforest destruction that the retailers selling its products began fleeing in droves. Today, the corporation has ostensibly turned over a new leaf and even thanked Greenpeace – one of its most persistent critics – for helping it to see the light.

Across the globe, boycotts have helped to rein in predatory behaviour by timber, oil palm, soy, seafood and other corporations. They have led to impressive environmental benefits.

Banning boycotts?

But now, the power of boycotts might be on the brink of being reined in, after the federal government floated the idea of banning organised boycotts of companies on environmental grounds.

The move has sparked apoplexy among free-speech advocates, and came as a surprise even to observers whose expectations had already been lowered by the Commonwealth’s plan to devolve environmental powers to the states and territories.

The Boycott4Wildlife is a boycott on brands directly involved in tropical deforestation (and therefore animal extinction)

Parliamentary agriculture secretary Richard Colbeck said the move would be aimed at “dishonest campaigns”, singling out the campaign against furniture retailer Harvey Norman, which activists accuse of logging native forests.

“They can say what they like, they can campaign about what they like, they can have a point of view, but they should not be able to run a specific business-focused or market-focused campaign, and they should not be able to say things that are not true,” Colbeck told Guardian Australia.

At odds with free speech

Predictably, environmental groups are unimpressed. Reece Turner, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace-Australia, told me:

This policy is at odds with the Liberal party’s professed commitment to uninhibited free speech. The Coalition is going to remarkable extremes to protect big industry from campaigns that are essentially focused on greater transparency of business practices. These campaigns are designed to inform consumer choices – something the Liberal party should be supporting.

One of the more notable aspects of the proposed ban is that it could directly conflict with the Coalition’s stated environmental priorities – one of which is a desire to slow global rainforest destruction as a means to combat global warming.

Of all the environmental actions undertaken to date, boycotts have probably had the greatest direct benefit for rainforests.

As an aside, the Coalition government has recently struggled to find a consistent line on both environmentalism and free speech. Straight after taking office it scuttled the Climate Commission, and is currently fighting to repeal a raft of other carbon policies. Yet it has also announced that Australia will use this year’s Brisbane G20 summit as a “catalyst” to help China, India, Europe and the United States to cut their carbon emissions.

At this early stage, it’s difficult to say whether or not the proposed ban on environmental boycotts will solidify into firm Coalition policy or merely fade away, its proponents having realised this could be too polarising an idea. Let’s hope for the latter. This is a scheme that deserves to go the way of the dinosaurs.

Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

2. 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.

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.

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 or to help pay for ongoing running costs.

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Don’t forget to tag in #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife to get shared

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#boycottPalmOil #boycott4wildlife #boycottpalmoil #boycotts #brandBoycotts #conservation #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #consumerism #deforestation #ethicalConsumerism #meat #palmoil #rainforest #rainforestConservation #wildlifeActivism

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Steady State Economics:

An Interview with Martin Tye

Australasian Regional Representative, Centre for Advancement of Steady State Economics (CASSE)

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What is a Steady State Economy?

A Steady State Economy is a mildly fluctuating economy that does not exceed ecological and planetary limits.

A Steady State Economy is not an alternative economic ideology that is centred on endless GDP growth. It is neither capitalism nor communism.

Economic growth, with all of its downsides, is clearly unsustainable in the 21st century.  Long-term recession is no panacea either.  A steady state economy is the sustainable alternative to perpetual economic growth.

Economic growth was never a magic bullet; it is simply an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services–it can’t possibly lead to a sustainable outcome.  In contrast, the steady state economy provides the means for present and future generations to achieve a high quality of life. 

In this interview, Palm Oil Detectives speaks with Martin Tye, a representative of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) in Regional Australia. Martin studies ecological economics and history and passionate about improving the quality of life for current and future generations and restoring wildlife.

The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) was formed in 2003 by conservation biologist, author, speaker and media commentator Brian Czech.

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy. An interview with @SteadyStateEcon’s Australasian leader @MartinRev21

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“Somehow, we have come to think the whole purpose of the economy is to grow, yet growth is not a goal or purpose. The pursuit of endless growth is suicidal.”

David Suzuki

The goal of Steady State Economics is to substitute the model of endless GDP growth with a stable and mildly fluctuating economy

The term often refers to a national economy, but ‘Steady State’ economics also be applied to a local, regional, or global economy.

An economy can reach a steady state after a period of growth or after a period of downsizing or degrowth.

#SteadyState Economics calls for everyone to demand a shift from a model of endless GDP growth towards a mildly fluctuating economy that exists in harmony with animals and ecosystems @steadystateecon @martinrev21 #Boycott4Wildlife

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Economic growth A.K.A. GDP growth encourages wasteful overconsumption and #ecocide. Be a part of the solution, push for a #SteadyState economy and #Boycott4Wildlife the global brands destroying the world @steadystateecon @martinrev21

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In a #SteadyState economy people would choose to consume materials responsibly, conserving, economising, and recycling where appropriate. This movement is aligned to the #Boycott4Wildlife find out more @steadystateecon @martinrev21

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A steady state economy may not exceed ecological limits

Photos: Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

A steady state economy entails a population growth and per capita consumption that is stabilised and balanced.

GDP is a solid indicator of economic activity and environmental impact – not well-being. All else equal, the steady state economy is indicated by stabilised, or mildly fluctuating GDP.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a good indicator of well-being

Economic growth, otherwise known as GDP growth, encourages wasteful overconsumption

In a steady state economy, people consume enough to meet their needs and lead meaningful, joyful lives without undermining the life-support systems of the planet

With a Steady State economy, conspicuous consumption becomes a thing of the past

People choose to consume energy and materials responsibly, conserving, economising, and recycling where appropriate.

Citizens (yes citizens, not consumers) recognise that the culture of materialism as a bankrupt ideology and a poor path to happiness.

People forget about trying to accumulate evermore stuff, instead focusing on more worthwhile pursuits.

Personal and societal decisions about how much to consume take into account sustainability principles and the needs of future generations.

If the world continues on its current trajectory, in 20 years what will happen doesn’t bear thinking about. Things will get very ugly!

Industrial scale food agriculture is a necessary support to growing economies- all part and parcel of the package, in particular their demand for growing populations (consumers- who need to be fed, so they can buy).

A growing economy consumes natural resources and produces wastes. This results in biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, climate destabilisation, and other major environmental threats.

GDP growth metrics fails to consider the ecological impacts of production, or recognise ecological limits to growth. So ecological pressures continue unabated.

Photos: Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

What would steady state global agriculture look like?

Just as a growth economy tends to impart industrial characteristics to its agricultural systems, a steady state economy tends to impart sustainable characteristics to its agricultural systems.

~ Agriculture in a Steady State Economy

A fixed quantity of food

Such an economy requires a fixed quantity of food. There is no need for constantly increasing the amount of food produced, and there is a calming effect on the landscape – not as much land needs to be in crop-production mode.

Low throughput of energy and materials

In addition to stable population and consumption, a steady state economy features stable and relatively low throughput of energy and materials, a characteristic that applies to the agricultural sector.

Decentralised and local

The best way to achieve sustainable throughput in agricultural systems is to decentralize. Inputs, especially fossil fuel inputs, can be reduced by shifting to local systems of production, distribution and consumption. Agriculture in a Steady State Economy

If the world adopts Steady State model now, in 20 years significant improvements will be visible in the world

Guided by a dashboard of ecological, social and economic progress indicators (GPI’s) we will have begun to re-shape the world.

Ecosystems would have started their recovery, economies would be progressing towards a restructured smaller local and sustainable scale.

As resource pressures ease, so too will international and regional tensions

People will see improved life satisfaction as “well-being” replaces “growth” as a goal.

In this version of the future, the world would be a much happier and positive place than it is today. In this state, human achievement and potential will be maximised.

The Steady State economics model offers goals like sustainability and fairness with the least amount of impingement on individual freedoms.

A steady state economy has four basic principles:

1. Maintain the health of ecosystems and the life-support services they provide.

2. Extract renewable resources like fish and timber at a rate no faster than they can be regenerated.

3. Consume non-renewable resources like fossil fuels and minerals at a rate no faster than they can be replaced by the discovery of renewable substitutes.

4. Deposit wastes in the environment at a rate no faster than they can be safely assimilated.

The Steady Stater Podcast

To explain the concepts of the Steady State Economy, CASSE created a podcast in 2021.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7gywdCKiTyluVQhD5iKJW8?si=RXS_kBKeSQ2IZS1brECEzQ

A steady state: The only kind of economy that’s sustainable in the long term

It is an economy that meets people’s needs without undermining the life-support services of the planet.

This will paint a more realistic picture of the state of things, better inform policy and guide the changes they need to make.

The strongest move policy-makers can make is to adopt new performance indicators to replace GDP

People need to understand that “economic growth” is propping up short sighted economic parasites

We see resistance to change in the fossil fuel lobby, the palm oil lobby, meat agriculture, property developers, retail chains etc. Before universally smoking was frowned upon, we saw resistance from the tobacco industry. Before this, slave holders also resisted change.

Martin Tye

Photos: Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

People power is needed to change the system. The steady state economic model provides the only real solution

Research: Boycotts Are Worthwhile and Effective

Despite sustained and vigorous attempts by corporates and industry certification schemes like RSPO, MSC and FSC to downplay the impact and effectiveness of consumer boycotts, it turns out that boycotts are impactful and drive social change. They force profit-first and greedy corporations to change their ways and do better. They also create a tangible sense…

Simplicity and non-violence are obviously closely related

As physical resources are limited, people satisfying their needs by means of a modest use of resources are obviously less likely to be at each other’s throats than people depending upon a high rate of use. Equally, people who live in highly self-sufficient local communities are less likely to get involved in large-scale violence than people whose existence depends on world-wide systems of trade. ~ Buddhist Economics By E. F. Schumacher

Activists can take individual action and collective action to effect change

A good example of a collective of researchers, economists, conservationists and activists pushing for change is CASSE: The Centre for Advancement of Steady State Economics.

Good examples of grass-roots, bottom-up collectives include: the #Boycott4Wildlife, Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future and the Vegan Land Movement.

The Counterpunch: Consumer Solutions To Fight Extinction

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What is greenwashing?

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Why join the #Boycott4Wildlife?

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Follow the Steady State Economy on Twitter

@Martinrev21

@SteadyState

Photos: Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

https://twitter.com/martinrev21/status/1479876834258927621?s=20

https://twitter.com/R_Degrowth/status/1304304484261257216?s=20

https://twitter.com/SteadyStateEcon/status/1478404103051132954?s=20

https://twitter.com/martinrev21/status/1479347269300211715?s=20

https://twitter.com/SteadyStateEcon/status/1478769259182497793?s=20

https://twitter.com/martinrev21/status/1479187700657782789?s=20

https://twitter.com/SteadyStateEcon/status/1478483375430250496?s=20

Photography, Art: Craig Jones, PxFuel. CASSE, Pixabay

Words: Martin Tye, CASSE.

Pledge your support to the Steady State Economy

Further reading

Czech, B., and H. Daly. 2004. The steady state economy: what it is, entails, and connotes. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32(2):598-605.

Czech, B. 2019. The trophic theory of money: principles, corollaries, and policy implications. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 152(1):66-81.

Czech, B. 2006. Steady state economy. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Tom Tietenberg et al., National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, DC.

Czech, B. 2009. Ecological economics, in Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems. Developed under the auspices of UNESCO-EOLSS Publishers, Oxford, UK (copy compliments of UNESCO).

Czech, B. 2009. The self-sufficient services fallacy. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7(5):240-241.

Czech, B. 2008. Prospects for reconciling the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation with technological progress. Conservation Biology 22(6):1389-1398.

Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “Tragedy of the Commons.” Science, volume 162, pages 1243-1248.

Mill, John Stuart. 1848. “Of the Stationary State,” Book IV, Chapter VI in Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy, J.W. Parker, London, England.

Schumacher, E.F. 1966. “Buddhist Economics” in Guy Wint (ed.), Asia: A Handbook, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, U.K.

#Boycott4wildlife #boycotting #CASSE #CentreForAdvancementOfSteadyStateEconomics #community #conservation #CreativesForCoolCreatures #deforestation #degrowth #ecocide #ecology #economics #ecosystem #fossilfuel #MartinTye #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #politics #populations #rainforestConservation #research #SteadyState

Artist and Indigenous Rights Advocate Barbara Crane Navarro

Barbara Crane Navarro: In Her Own Words

Artist, Writer, Environmental & Indigenous Rights Activist

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Bio: Barbara Crane Navarro

Barbara Crane Navarro is a French-American artist, writer, Indigenous and animal activist who lives near Paris. From 1968 to 1973 she studied at Rhode Island School of Design, then she went on to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California, for a BFA.

Her work over many decades has been informed and inspired by time spent with indigenous communities. She took various study trips devoted to the exploration of techniques and natural pigments of different indigenous communities including the Dogon of Mali, West Africa, and the Yanomami communities in Venezuela and Brazil.

Over many years, during the winters, she studied the techniques of traditional Bogolan painting. Hand woven fabric is dyed with boiled bark from the Wolo tree or crushed leaves from other trees, then painted with mud from the Niger river which oxidizes in contact with the dye. Through the Dogon and the Yanomami, her interest in the multiplicity of techniques and supports for aesthetic expression influenced her artistic practice.

Her voyages to the Amazon Rainforest have informed several series of paintings created while living among the Yanomami. The support used is roughly woven canvas prepared with acrylic medium then textured with a mixture of sand from the river bank and lava. This supple canvas is then rolled and transported on expeditions into the forest. These are then painted using a mixture of acrylic colors and Achiote and Genipap, the vegetal pigments used by the Yanomami for their ritual body paintings and on practical and shamanic implements. Barbara is deeply concerned about the ongoing devastation of the Amazon Rainforest and this has inspired many of her films, installation projects and children’s books.

Palm Oil Detectives is honoured to interview to Barbara Crane Navarro about her fascinating work, indigenous activism, the devastation of deforestation and land-grabbing from gold mining on the Indigenous Yanomami people

Behind the insatiable appetite for buying #gold is a dark secret of money laundering, illegal #mining, #ecocide, sex #slavery and human misery for the #Yanomami people of #Venezuela & #Brazil. @BarbaraNavarro #BoycottGold4Yanomami

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Read more: Illegal gold mining and the Yanomami’s fight for their land

‘Illegal mining in the Amazon hits record high amid Indigenous protests’, Jeff Tollerson, Nature 2021.

FinCEN Files investigations into the gold trade from around the world. Kyra Guerny, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 2020.

Five Golden Rings and an Environmental Dilemma, Wake Forest University, 2018.

‘Gold mining leaves deforested Amazon land barren for years, find scientists’ The Conversation, July 1, 2020.

Mercury: Chasing the Quicksilver by InfoAmazonia

‘Pictures from outer space reveal the extent of illegal gold mining in Peru’, The Conversation, May 7, 2021.

‘Sex trafficking ‘staggering’ in illegal Latin American gold mines: researchers’, Reuters, 2016.

Yanomami: Povos Indigenas Brasil

Yanomami, Wikipedia

Help Barbara’s movement to #BoycottGold4Yanomami

1. By regularly sharing out these tweets below…

2. By following the #BoycottGold4Yanomami hashtag on Twitter and share out other people’s tweets

“I wrote Rainforest Magic, children’s stories about Yanomami children Namowë and Meromi to honour the Yanomami families I love and to raise awareness of the disappearing Amazon” #BoycottGold4Yanomami @BarbaraNavarro

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It’s important that consumers know – every item we buy affects the lives of people and animals. #Gold #mining and #palmoil directly impacts Indigenous peoples. #Boycottpalmoil #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @BarbaraNavarro

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#Yanomami children as young as 12 are forced into prostitution for illegal miners that take over their rainforest home for gold mining. Fight back against this with your wallet and refuse to buy gold! #BoycottGold4Yanomami @BarbaraNavarro

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Top Brazil gold exporter leaves a trail of criminal probes and illegal mines! Please #Boycott4Wildlife #BoycottGold4Yanomami! @ScarpullaA @barbaranavarro https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/top-brazil-gold-exporter-leaves-a-trail-of-criminal-probes-and-illegal-mines/ via @Mongabay

L’amico a sorpresa del ragazzo Yanomami nella giungla!  #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @ScarpullaA @barbaranavarro https://barbara-navarro.com/2021/12/24/ital-dec-24-lamico-a-sorpresa-del-ragazzo-yanomami-nella-giungla/

Amigo surpresa do menino Yanomami na selva!  #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @barbaranavarro @ScarpullaA https://barbara-navarro.com/2021/12/23/amigo-surpresa-do-menino-yanomami-na-selva/

The Art of #Greenwashing by Luxury Merchants of the Death #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @barbaranavarro @ScarpullaA https://barbara-navarro.com/2020/12/07/the-art-of-greenwashing-by-the-luxury-merchants-of-the-death-of-nature-and-indigenous-peoples-in-their-own-words-the-people-of-gold-and/

#Indigenous knowledge could be the answer to stopping #Climate Change! #ClimateEmergency @ScarpullaA @barbaranavarro #Boycott4Wildlife and #BoycottGold4Yanomami and save the forests, animals and indigenous peoples of South America! https://barbara-navarro.com/2021/12/25/indigenous-knowledge-could-be-the-answer-to-climate-change-the-st-andrews-economist/

Amigo surpresa do menino Yanomami na selva!  Boicote todos os produtos resultantes do desmatamento; ouro, óleo de palma, carne, soja, madeiras exóticas, pedras preciosas #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @BarbaraNavarro @ScarpullaA https://barbara-navarro.com/2021/12/23/amigo-surpresa-do-menino-yanomami-na-selva/

@Cartier Foundation uses #greenwashing “art” to sell their business model as eco-friendly. This is #greenwashing! #Yanomami people and #animals are dying for #gold! @BarbaraNavarro @ScarpullaA #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife https://barbara-navarro.com/2020/10/11/the-cartier-foundation-epitomizes-the-insidious-practice-of-using-an-art-foundation-to-seduce-the-public-into-believing-that-its-merchandise-and-business-model-is-actually-the-opposite-of-its-true/

My Exhibition “Pas de Cartier: Yanomami and Trees” Gold mining by @Cartier @Bulgariofficial and COVID-19 are killing the #Yanomami people. This is why we #BoycottGold4Yanomami @BarbaraNavarro @ScarpullaA https://barbara-navarro.com/2020/08/04/exhibition-pas-de-cartier-yanomami-and-trees-gold-mining-and-gold-luxury-items-covid-19-propagated-by-gold-miners/

“When you cut down the trees, you assault the spirits of our ancestors. When you dig for minerals you impale the heart of the Earth” Cacique Raoni Metuktire Illegal gold mining is why we #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Boycott4Wildlife @BarbaraNavarro @ScarpullaA https://barbara-navarro.com/2020/06/27/gold-fever-covid-19-and-the-genocide-of-the-yanomami-update/

“In the Venezuelan and Brazilian Amazon, I witnessed the destruction of nature from deforestation and gold mining worsen as I returned year after year”

Barbara Crane Navarro

The Yanomami communities I spent time with were very worried about this situation and the shamans worked to fight against it, but this has been in vain so far.

Since my birth, I was always an artist and spent my childhood drawing and painting

I want to understand why people in indigenous societies spend so much time and effort creating art and with such an incredible variety of supports and substances.

“Since 2005, I’ve created a performance and film project: Fire Sculpture, to bring urgent attention to rainforest destruction. And to protest against the continuing destruction of the Yanomami’s territory. I’ve publicly set fire to my totemic sculptures. These burning sculptures symbolise the degradation of nature and the annihilation of indigenous cultures that depend on the forest for their survival.”

~ Barbara Crane Navarro

The idea of burning the sculptures was to make a symbolic point about how Yanomami and other indigenous communities are endangered by our consumerism which creates chaos and destruction where they live, in their ancestral home.

I wrote Amazon Rainforest Magic, two stories of Yanomami children Namowë, a Yanomami boy and Meromi, a Yanomami girl in honour of the families I know and love

Several of the Yanomami children and their families I know well are among the characters in the two books of the series.

I self-published my books with CreateSpace years ago which was subsequently bought by Amazon’s KDP. Now my books are only available on Amazon or here at my gallery near Paris, where my artwork is also available.

The two books are available from Barbara Crane Navarro’s Amazon page in English, Spanish and French.

“Amazon Rainforest Magic” presents a world that at first might seem whimsical, where people, animals, and plants joke, conspire, and argue with each other. The serious point is that humans are no more important than any of the other creatures – all are mutually dependent, some are just more aware of it than others. 

The plants and the animals, each with special knowledge, accompany the hero, Namowë, as he embarks on a life-saving quest for a cure for his ailing youngest sister. When he embarks on this exciting journey through the jungle, he has already taken a big step toward maturity.

Behind the charming artwork and story is a clear message that we humans are not separate from our environment and that to put ourselves above nature is arbitrary and ultimately counter-productive.

Review by John L. Pope

All of the various indigenous communities along the rivers in the Amazon are very alarmed at the acceleration of the devastation of the forests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd3GoL5MeAg

“I discovered that much of the Yanomami’s art is about venerating nature and the spirits of the forests, sky, water and the animals.”

~ Barbara Crane-Navarro

Tundra project/Nature Morte

The repercussions of the 2019 fires in the Amazon and Arctic regions continue to impact forests, water, the atmosphere and indigenous communities. This art is an artistic dialogue between two territories and two geomorphologies. Each have a planetary resonance.

It’s important consumers know that every shopping choice we make has repercussions on the lives of people in other parts of the world

I try to eat only local and in-season vegetables grown nearby. What I grow myself I keep as jam and conserve to eat in the winter months.

Many different indigenous communities in the nine countries of the Amazon region are devastated by gold mining with its resulting deforestation, violence against indigenous peoples, mercury poisoning and Covid-19 propagated by gold miners.

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https://twitter.com/BarbaraNavarro/status/1350098960954892288?s=20

https://twitter.com/PattyLaya/status/1161291783084621827?s=20

Merchants of Gold, Greed and Genocide

Hunger for Gold in the Global North is fuelling a living hell in the Global South

Here are 13 reasons why you should #BoycottGold4Yanomami

Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute

Behind the insatiable appetite for #gold is a dark secret of money laundering, illegal #mining, environmental damage and human misery. #BoycottGold4Yanomami @BarbaraNavarro

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1. Gold mining = greenwashing of crime and corruption

2. Even the world’s biggest gold-importing nations don’t properly monitor the origins of their gold

3. Laundering crimes using gold is easy

4. Gold is a legal version of cocaine

5. Gold mining causes massive deforestation

6. Indigenous people have no rights

7. Brazil’s racist President, Bolsonaro allows land-grabbing to continue

8. Indigenous women and children are forced into sex slavery

9. Violence and murder in gold mining is common

10. Mercury kills ecosystems, people and animals

11. Ecosystems rarely recover from the damage – they are dead

12. Jewellery and electronics companies and criminals are the only ones who benefit from gold

13. Over a million children are forced to work in gold mines

How can I help?

Forests and rivers are a spiritual and practical necessity for Indigenous people

However their access to food and water is removed by palm oil and soy plantations, cattle grazing and gold mining, which contaminates the water and kills the fish. Forest wildfires are happening in the Amazon due to degraded and destroyed forests and rivers.

Dirty Gold War: A documentary about gold mining

The gold industry is overflowing with corruption:

If there’s a crackdown in Peru, you just smuggle the gold across the border to Chile. Or if there’s a crackdown all across Latin America, then you can simply sell your gold through the Emirates, where there are very few controls. It’s a very difficult industry to completely eliminate the opportunities for money laundering, because it’s so global and you can just keep shifting your business.

‘‘Dirty Gold’ chases ‘three amigos’ from Miami to Peru and beyond’:
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

https://youtu.be/hzrJ9I3AJAQ

Nobody needs to use gold jewelry or watches to decorate themselves. There are so many less destructive and non-destructive options. Small elements of gold are in phones and other electronic items. We should replace them as seldom as possible.

Barbara Crane Navarro

We all need to boycott palm oil, soy, meat, exotic wood, gold and any other product of deforestation.

The #Boycott4Wildlife movement has the same goals as the #BoycottGold4Yanomami movement

Indigenous peoples know that their well-being depends on healthy forests and ecosystems. They see the evidence of that truth around them every day.

The future well-being of people in the West will be determined by how soon we realise that we must respect nature and not take more than we need, just as indigenous peoples do.

“If we continue to treat nature as a commodity, all the living world, including us, will suffer”

~ Barbara Crane Navarro

Every effort, even the smallest effort, is important

I can’t predict the outcome, but I believe that we have to fight every day in order to mitigate the damage we’re doing.

Did you know that #gold #mining #palmoil and cattle grazing is destroying the last great swathes of the Amazon jungle? This land belongs to #Indigenous people! So #BoycottGold4Yanomami and #Boycottpalmoil @BarbaraNavarro

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“I was born in 1950 and we are no longer living in the world that I knew when I was young”

I was 20 when humans began using more resources every year than the earth could replenish.

~ Barbara Crane Navarro

“It has been heart wrenching to witness the decline of nature
and to grieve for what has disappeared.”

Barbara Crane Navarro

[Before] The pristine Amazon rainforest. [After] Absolute devastation following gold mining in the Yanomami territory at the border of Venezuela and Brazil.

There are many rainforest animals that I love that make the Amazon rainforest absolutely enchanting. The monkeys, pink river dolphins, giant river otters, capybaras, tapirs, macaws and so many birds and butterflies are some of my favourites.

Here are a few of the 1000’s of animals disappearing forever due to out-of-control extractive mining, palm oil and meat deforestation in the Amazon jungle

Southern Pudu Pudu puda

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Blonde Capuchin Sapajus flavius

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Savage’s Glass Frog Centrolene savagei

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Andean condor Vultur gryphus

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Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus

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Orange-breasted Falcon Falco deiroleucus

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Glaucous Macaw Anodorhynchus glaucus

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Nancy Ma’s Night Monkey Aotus nancymaae

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Maned Wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus

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Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

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Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita

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Bush Dog Speothos venaticus

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Marsh Deer Blastocerus dichotomus

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Alta Floresta titi monkey Plecturocebus grovesi

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Colombian Red Howler Monkey Alouatta seniculus

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Margay Leopardus wiedii

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Northern Muriqui Brachyteles hypoxanthus

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Brown Howler Monkey Alouatta guariba

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Andean Night Monkey Aotus miconax

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Spiny-headed Tree Frog Triprion spinosus

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White-Nosed Saki Chiropotes albinasus

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Amazon River Dolphin Inia geoffrensis

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Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita

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Spectacled Bear Tremarctos ornatus

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If you want to make a difference to the lives of Indigenous people in the Amazon, there are some NGOs to avoid, and others that are really making a difference…

Some NGOS such as Survival claim to be helping indigenous people are great pretenders. They spread awareness but don’t offer practical on the ground support for people like the Yanomami.

These NGOS that allegedly work for Indigenous Rights simply lobby to governments to recognise indigenous land rights. They write and talk about issues affecting Indigenous peoples without having any real, tangible impact.

I donate as often as possible to a Brazilian NGO, APIB: The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.

APIB on the other hand are taking the Brazilian government to court! They have an emergency campaign now concerning gold mining, deforestation and Covid.

Please donate to APIB:

With the funds they will take the Brazilian government to court for this disgraceful ecocide and genocide!

Photography, Art: Barbara Crane Navarro, PxFuel, Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Greenpeace, Sean Weston, Igarapé Institute.

Words: Barbara Crane Navarro

I welcome you to connect with me, you can find me here on Twitter @BarbaraNavarro

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#BoycottGold4Yanomami

Buy vintage jewellery instead

Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute

#Amazon #animals #art #BarbaraCraneNavarro #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottGold4Yanomami #BoycottPalmOil #Brazil #Christmas #Climate #ClimateEmergency #corruption #CreativesForCoolCreatures #deforestation #ecocide #gold #goldMining #greenwashing #indigenous #IndigenousActivism #indigenousRights #investigativeJournalism #jewellery #mining #palmoil #rainforestConservation #slavery #Valentine #Venezuela #Yanomami