#sacredsites — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #sacredsites, aggregated by home.social.
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Sacred Sites As Refuges For Native Plant Diversity In An Urbanized Tropical Landscape [Madagascar]
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00489-x <-- shared paper
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H/T @nicolas Salliou | Senior scientist at ETH Zürich
“When [the authors] investigated the potential for blue-green infrastructures for the capital of Madagascar,… a large team surveyed plant communities along a rural-urban gradient.
They found that 12 Malagasy "sacred" hill settlements, situated in the core of a pre-colonial kingdom, are particularly precious as they host a high diversity of native plants. A key insights when one considers that Madagascar is a unique hotspot for biodiversity and human cultures…”
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“In fragmented and intensively managed remnant urban green spaces, enabling natural regeneration is crucial to sustain ecosystem functioning and associated services. Natural regeneration therefore offers an important lens into ecological resilience in human-modified landscapes. Here [the authors] present one of the most comprehensive field-based assessments of urban plant diversity in the Afrotropics, comprising over 25,000 naturally regenerating woody plant individuals of 206 species (39% native) across 329 vegetation patches in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Landscape-level native species diversity declined with greater building complexity, density and socio-economic development, whereas exotic species showed no consistent associations with determinants of urban characteristics. Native species richness was highest in ‘sacred’ forest fragments, many of which contain historic remains dating back to pre-colonial times. Notably, seven of the ten most species-rich patches were located in such sites. [Their] findings highlight the potentially important role of these sites in sustaining native species diversity and indicate how socio-cultural factors can present both opportunities and barriers for tropical urban conservation and restoration...”
#sacredsites #antananarivo #madagascar #vegetation #nativeplant #urban #greenspace #tropical #hillsettlements #spatialanalysis #survey #ecosystem #biodiversity #ecology #regeneration #humanimpacts #GIS #spatial #mapping #afrotropics #forest #forestfragments #precolonial #sustainability #diversity #native #sociocultural #restoration -
Forgotten Keepers of the #RioGrandeDelta
An industrial buildout on the southern tip of Texas is erasing the last traces of an ancient world that still hasn’t died.
by Dylan Baddour
May 13, 2024"This society has been trying to get rid of #Mancias’ people for 500 years. It couldn’t kill them all, so it’s destroying the evidence that they ever existed. That’s what Mancias sees as 100-ton bulldozers flatten the hills his #ancestors camped on, churn up their bones, and casually crush them into rubble, removing these last traces of their world.
" 'They almost annihilated us, and that #genocide continues,' Mancias said. 'To destroy the #environment you have to destroy the people who protect it.'
"He faces a formidable foe here at the last frontier for oil and gas on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Every other major inlet from the Mississippi River west through Port Arthur, Houston, Freeport, Lavaca Bay, and Corpus Christi is already ringed with #refineries, #ChemicalPlants, and terminals.
"But at the farthest tip of #Texas, the #RioGrande meets the Gulf between #WildlifeRefuges, a #StatePark, and a majestic #wilderness that still shelters endangered and little-known #wildlife.
"This is where Houston-based developer #NextDecade has begun constructing an $18 billion #MegaProject, which it called the 'largest greenfield energy project [financed] in U.S. history' when it announced in 2023 that it had secured investors to proceed.
"Named #RioGrandeLNG, the 750-acre facility will eventually pipe in up to 27 million tons per year of gas from #fracked wells in the #PermianBasin, supercool it to negative 260 degrees fahrenheit, and load it onto #TankerShips for sale overseas as liquefied natural gas (#LNG). It’s part of an explosion of lookalike projects that quickly made the United States the world’s top exporter of liquefied gas and drove soaring gas production at home.
"On an adjacent tract, another project called Texas LNG intends to build atop a site called #GarciaPasture—an ancient village ground where people lived seasonally for almost 800 years. The World Monument Fund calls it 'one of America’s premier #archaeological sites.' That project has its permits and awaits investor commitments before breaking ground.
"And about 5 miles away, #SpaceX continues to expand its #Starbase complex, where it manufactures and launches the most powerful #rockets in the world (which occasionally explode and fall to earth).
"Mancias fears this is just the beginning.
" 'All of this will be gone,' he said, driving his pickup truck down a highway through the marshes. 'They’re going to destroy all of this.' "
Read more:
https://www.texasobserver.org/forgotten-keepers-of-the-rio-grande-delta/#DefendingTheSacred #SacredSites
#TexasObserver #InsideClimateNews #BigOilAndGas #CulturalGenocide #CorporateColonialism #ElonSucks #MegaProjects #Pollution #Fracking #SpaceIndustry #DefendTheSacred #EndangeredSpecies -
#Trump administration fast-tracks #oil and #mining projects, angering #environmentalists
By Mary Cunningham
Updated on: April 25, 2025"The Trump administration said it will accelerate permit approvals for #mining, #drilling and #FossilFuel production and transportation on public land, fast-tracking a review process that would normally take years.
"In announcing the emergency procedures Wednesday, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the management of federal lands and natural resources, said the permitting process will now take up to '28 days at most' — a drastic departure from the current one- to two-year timeline.
"The government agency said the move is in response to President Trump's January 20 declaration of a national energy emergency. In an executive order on the first day of his second term, the White House said it would 'eliminate harmful, coercive 'climate' policies that increase the costs of food and fuel.' [#ClimateChange, caused by harmful oil, gas and coal, will take care of that! #FAFO!]
"The speedy permitting policy opens the door for the U.S. to expand oil and gas projects and for Mr. Trump to make good on his promise to "#DrillBabyDrill" — a common refrain on his campaign trail. The new guidelines will apply to a wide range of energy projects, including crude #oil, #NaturalGas and #coal.
"The U.S. leads the world in oil and gas production, with an output of 20 million barrels of oil a day and accounting for roughly a quarter of global gas production, according to the International Energy Agency.
"The DOI said it would use #emergency authorities under the National Environmental Policy Act, #EndangeredSpeciesAct and the National #HistoricPreservationAct to expedite the permitting process.
" 'The United States cannot afford to wait,' Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement on Wednesday. 'President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security, and these emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both.'
Environmental advocates rebuked the announcement, saying that in addition to adverse environmental impacts on public land and water sources, the expedited procedures will strip away community members' ability to weigh in on projects happening in their own backyards. Experts say the move is expected to draw legal challenges."
#LeaveItInTheGround #Oiligarchy #NoDrilling #NoPipelines #BigOilAndGas
#ExtractiveIndustries #USPol #WaterIsLife #SacredSites #WildlifeRefuge #Extinction #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #MadKingTrump -
Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans
By Ernest Scheyder
April 18, 2025- Forest Service to republish environmental report within 60 days
- Publication needed to approve land swap for Resolution project
- Native groups oppose project on religious grounds
- Related case still pending at Supreme Court"The #Trump administration said on Thursday it would approve a land swap needed for #RioTinto and #BHP to build one of the world's largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Indigenous groups vocal about the need to preserve historical lands and Western governments eager to boost critical minerals production and offset China's sector dominance."The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, said it will republish within 60 days an environmental report needed for the #ResolutionCopper project land swap to occur.
"Congress and then-President #BarackObama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill [#NDAA] with the condition that an environmental report be published.
"The underground mine - which President Donald Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.
"Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.
"Yet the mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow the Oak Flat site where Arizona's San Carlos Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
"Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last September to block the land swap. The court has not yet decided whether to take that case.
Were the court to do so, however, the Forest Service said on Thursday it 'may reevaluate how to proceed' regarding the land swap." 'The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule, just like it's rushed to erase Native people for generations,' said #WendslerNosie, an #ApacheStronghold leader."
#Apaches #WesternApaches #NativeAmericans #SacredSite #ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#Apaches ask lower court to stop government’s imminent transfer of #SacredSite
Becket Law, via #CensoredNews, April 25, 2025
There will be a Hearing May 7, 2025 @ 0930 @ Sandra Day O’Connor
U.S. Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85003WASHINGTON – "A coalition of #WesternApaches, other #NativePeoples, and non-Native #allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025.
"In #ApacheStronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch the short video linked below to learn more).
"The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the #USSupremeCourt."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/apaches-ask-lower-court-to-stop.htmlVideo link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh68xOn0B_8#SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #RioTinto #RecycleCopper #CulturalGenocide #NDAA #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest -
#ApacheStronghold #PrayerJourney to #SupremeCourt: Oak Flat Mirrors National Struggle for Sacred
By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, August 30, 2024
"On July 11th, 2024, the Apache Stronghold started the journey of prayer to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect #MotherEarth. We have traveled, held ceremonies and gathered prayers from Tribes, Communities, Churches, and people in support of saving Oak Flat and religious freedom and protections for all. We began in the Northwest, West Coast, South, Mid- west to the East to gather in Washington DC at the Supreme Court on September 11.
"We are appealing a lower court ruling that would have allowed the total destruction of Oak Flat by allowing the land to be transferred to #ResolutionCopper, a foreign owned company, owned by #BHP and #RioTinto.
We will appeal Apache Stronghold v. United States to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11. The case involves the federal government’s planned destruction of Oak Flat—known in Apache as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel —a sacred site where Western Apaches and other Native peoples have worshipped since time immemorial. Oak Flat is the birthplace of our religion and the site of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else."The United States is now planning to transfer ownership of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign- owned mining company that plans to destroy it. Resolution’s mine will swallow Oak Flat in a two-mile- wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, ending Apache religious practices forever.
"Our lawsuit challenges the destruction of Oak Flat as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (#RFRA), #TheUSConstitution, and the #1852Treaty with the #WesternApaches. In March, the sharply divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 6-5 vote, ruled that the obliteration of Oak Flat does not amount to a 'substantial burden' on our religious exercise and that the Constitution and federal civil rights laws do not apply to the government’s disposition of 'its own land.'
"In September, we will ask the Supreme Court to correct this ruling and hold that federal law protects Oak Flat. The stakes could not be any higher. If the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is allowed to stand, the United States will be allowed to destroy Oak
Flat and any other sacred site with impunity. If the Supreme Court rules in our favor, it will ensure that #NativeAmericans receive the same protection for our religious freedom that all other religious groups across the country already enjoy. A decision in the case is expected in 2025."Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. explained, 'what saddens me, what I have witnessed going through #reservations, towns, sitting with and discussing with many people across this country, is seeing that when it comes to the #environment, it’s not being protected. When we talked about water or land, it not only affects Oak Flats but many places have been affected by Acts of Congress, the cities are no different. The United States does not protect the environment by bypassing the laws that they enacted, I have seen devastation across this country, the government pursuing unproven endeavors overlooking it’s peoples essential liberties. We need to come together on this court case, our spirituality and the survival of the earth are at stake, the suffering of the people is what we are bringing to the Supreme court.
This is an invitation to participate in the Apache Stronghold’s #DayOfPrayer on September 11, 2024, at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C."Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-prayer-journey-to.htmlFMI:
http://www.apache-stronghold.com/#SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #WaterIsLife #SacredSites #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews #IndigenousActivism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #ChichilBiłdagoteel #RespectTheTreaties