#tontonationalforest — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tontonationalforest, aggregated by home.social.
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#Indigenous leaders: #PlanetaryHealth and #IndigenousHealth are interdependent
On day two of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the climate crisis that #IndigenousPeoples are overwhelmingly expected to bear was highlighted.
by Jenna Kunze April 19, 2023
"Indigenous peoples around the globe agree that their health and the health of the planet are interdependent and in jeopardy. On day two of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, this fact — that Indigenous people make up 5% of the world’s population but are responsible for 80% of its biodiversity — was repeated again and again by global Indigenous leaders.
"'As we are all aware, Indigenous peoples have least contributed to the problems of climate change nonetheless, due to their interdependence with their vital environment in their ecosystems, they suffer at its worst effects,' said Francisco Cali Tzay on Tuesday, a #Mayan #Cakchiquel from #Guatemala and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Special Rapporteur keeps tabs on Indigenous peoples globally and reports back to The United Nations Commission on Human Rights on best practices.
"This year’s theme: human health, planetary and territorial health, and climate change gave attendees an opportunity to talk about the shortcomings of governments and non-Indigenous leaders. Others called upon the Permanent Forum to take action.
"#SanCarlosApache Tribal Chairman, Terry Rambler, drew attention to a “major human rights violation” happening at #OakFlat, a sacred area within #Arizona’s #TontoNationalForest where #ResolutionCopper — a joint venture of two mining giants #BHPBilliton and #RioTinto — seeks to develop one of the largest #CopperMines in North America.
"'Apache people have lived, prayed and died at Oak Flat from time immemorial,'
Rambler said. 'Every person by virtue of being human has the right to practice their religion. By violating the rights of Apaches to practice our religion and maintain our spiritual health and wellbeing, the United States is failing to comply with international standards incumbent on them.'"'By violating the rights of Apaches to practice our religion and maintain our spiritual health and wellbeing, the United States is failing to comply with international standards incumbent on them.'
"#Sámi youth from #Finland, #Sweden and #Norway called upon the Permanent Forum to urgently turn their attention to green transition projects in #Sápmi, the traditional territory of the Sámi, which stretches across the Nordic countries and into Russia.
"'In the name of saving the planet, the Nordic states are digging into our #mountains, drilling holes into our rocks, and making it impossible for Sámi to practice our #traditional livelihoods,' said Elle Rávdná Näkkäläjärvi, a spokesperson for the delegation. 'What is being shown to the world as a shift to sustainability is just #Nordic #colonialism hiding behind a new kind of mask.'
"In 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court stripped the operating license of the Fosen Vind project on Norway’s west coast after ruling it was built illegally and violated the Sámi’s human rights, and in January, a Swedish state-owned mining company found 'vast amounts of #RareEarthMinerals' it could mine to decrease dependency on #China. That mining, however, would 'devastate the local Sámi community,' the Sámi youth said.
"'We demand the Nordic states to immediately halt the ongoing human rights violations against the Sámi,' they said. 'We plead the global Indigenous community to notice this green colonialism.'
"The #GlobalIndigenousYouthCaucus — composed of Indigenous youth from all seven regions within the UN — also made waves on Tuesday, calling on the Permanent Forum and the General Assembly to assist in perpetuating ancestral knowledge by enforcing an intergenerational Indigenous advisory group for bodies of the United Nations. That advisory group could share and apply #TraditionaKnowledge and #IndigenousMethodologies within UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization.
"'Environmental destruction not only contributes to #ClimateChange , but also impedes on our ability to access to traditional knowledge, traditional medicines, sacred sites, and traditional practices,' The Global Indigenous Youth Caucus spokesperson said. 'As Indigenous youth, we are future bearers of knowledge, and we hold both the knowledge of our ancestors, and our descendants.'
"Indigenous Rights Governance partner at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Claire Charters, gave an intervention about the disproportionate risks #Māori people are facing in a changing landscape.
"'We must ensure that Māori are centered in the discussions on mitigation and adapting to climate change, and that Indigenous knowledge is more deliberately considered,' Charters, who is Māori, said. 'Climate change is accelerating the severity and frequency of major weather events. We must act with urgency to understand the risks and minimize the impact on our lands, territories, cultural infrastructures, and the overall well being of our Indigenous communities.'
"Climate will remain a central theme in the upcoming days of the UNPFII. Tomorrow, the Native Women’s Association of Canada will host a session on 'Indigenous Women’s Perspectives On the Burning Issues of Climate Change', and the International Indian Treaty Council will join with other Indigenous Peoples Organizations to discuss the contentious conservation goal of 30×30 and how it violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples."
#WaterIsLife #ClimateCatastrophe #LandBack #LandDefenders #Koyaanisqatsi #LifeOutOfBalance #SaveThackerPass #LandBack #IndigenousRights #ExtinctionRebellion #LastStand #TheStand
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Another reason NOT to mine in the American #Southwest! If we need "critical minerals," than RECLAIM THEM FROM CIRCUIT BOARDS AND BATTERIES!
Is the Southwest too dry for a mining boom?
Critical minerals for the #CleanEnergy transition are abundant in the Southwest, but the dozens of mines proposed to access them will require vast sums of water, something in short supply in the desert.
by Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News
Jan 28, 2024
"To understand mining in the U.S., you have to start with the #MiningLaw of 1872. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill into law as a way to continue the country’s development westward, allowing anyone to mine on federal lands for free. To do this, all one needs to do is plant four stakes into the ground where they think there are minerals and file a claim. Unlike other industries that make use of public lands—such as the oil and gas industry—no royalties are paid for the minerals extracted from the lands owned by American taxpayers.
"The #SanCarlosApache tribe has fought for years to stop #ResolutionCopper’s proposed mine. It would be built on top of #OakFlat, a #SacredSite to the Apache and other #Indigenous communities, and a habitat of rare species like the endangered Arizona #HedgehogCactus, which lives only in the #TontoNationalForest near the town of #Superior. The fate of the mine now rests with the #USDistrictCourt in Arizona after the grassroots group #ApacheStronghold filed a lawsuit to stop it, arguing its development would violate #NativePeople’s religious rights.
"But for communities located near the mine and across the #PhoenixArizona metropolitan area, the water it would consume is just as big of an issue.
"Throughout the mine’s lifespan, Resolution estimates it would use 775,000 acre feet of water—enough for at least 1.5 million Arizona households over roughly 40 years. And experts say the mine would likely need far more.
"'By pumping billions of gallons of groundwater from the #EastSaltRiver alley, this project would make Arizona’s goal for #stewardship of its scarce #groundwater resources unreachable,' one report commissioned by the San Carlos Apache Tribe reads. In one hydrologist’s testimony to Congress, water consumption was estimated to be 50,000 acre feet a year—about 35,000 more than the company has proposed drawing from the aquifer.
"The Resolution #CopperMine isn’t the only water-intensive mining operation being proposed. Many of what the industry describes as 'critical minerals,' like #lithium and copper, are found throughout the Southwest, leading to a flurry of mining claims on the region’s federally managed public lands.
“Water is going to be scarcer in the Southwest but the mining industry is basically immune from all these issues,” said Roger Flynn, director and managing attorney at the #WesternMiningActionProject, which has represented tribes and environmental groups in mining-related lawsuits, including the case over Oak Flat."
Read more:
https://grist.org/drought/is-the-southwest-too-dry-for-a-mining-boom/#WaterIsLife #SaveOakFlat #Arizona #RioTinto #CopperMining #CorporateColonialism #ClimateChange #ExtremeDrought