James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, dedicated his official visit to Peru this December to learning about the situation of the country’s Indigenous Peoples, especially with respect to the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent regarding development projects and the effects of extractive industries on Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact. He met with government officials, Indigenous leaders, and corporate representatives in Lima, as well as in diverse towns and villages affected by resource extraction.

Protests are ramping up again against the Keystone XL project after the US Department of State released a draft of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) covering the pipeline route from Nebraska to the Canadian border.  The proposed pipeline remains under review at the State Department, and will take comments for 45 days.  Obama recently announced

In a surprising move, officials from Russia’s Altai Republic have approved construction of a pipeline that would bisect the sacred Ukok Plateau, carrying natural gas from Siberia to China. The August 2nd decree gave Gazprom and its contractors permission to conduct work on the Ukok Plateau despite what Greenpeace Russia claims would be a violation of several local and federal laws.