March 8, 2012 – International Woman’s Day – marked the beginning of the two-week march for “Water, Life, and Dignity of Indigenous Peoples” in Ecuador. Led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the trip will take protesters 435 miles to Ecuador’s capital, Quito. The route includes a number of places emblematic in the anti-mining struggle, and protesters have managed to gather support from various sectors of society.
Ouch Sam On, a deputy governor of Cambodia's Kampong Thom province, told Prey Lang activists last week that he "would not be responsible if they were shot while protecting Prey Lang Forest," according to our campaign partners at the Prey Lang Network. The comment was made after Sam On ordered activists to desist their regular patrols through the forest, where they monitor for illegal logging. On their patrols, members of the Prey Lang Network regularly burn any wood they find that has been illegally cut down by loggers.
We’d like to thank all those who took action against the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill in the US Senate last week. Activists across the country called, tweeted, and facebooked their senators encouraging them to vote against a transportation bill that included approval for the construction of the tarsands pipeline. We especially applaud the courage of the Lakota community on Pine Ridge Reservation for their heroic efforts to block the tran
Late Monday afternoon five Lakota tribal members were arrested when they formed a blockade to prevent trucks carrying equipment for the Keystone pipeline across the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation. Some 75 members of the Lakota tribe arrived to the town of Wanbli, South Dakota, responding to a call to action from KILI Radio, a community radio station of Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Indigenous Peoples Confederation of Honduras (CONPAH) released a statement calling on the government of Honduras to withdraw a REDD proposal submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. The Indigenous Confederation called on donors to suspend all activities relating to REDD in Honduras. The statement declares that the Honduran government submitted a proposal for a REDD project without consulting the Indigenous peoples whose land would be used for forestation programs.
Indigenous rights activists across Mexico and the world are celebrating the news that a federal court suspended 38 mining concessions in the sacred Wirikuta Reserve in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The court prohibited the granting of any further permits within the municipality of Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, as long as the core issues of the conflict between the Huichol (Wixarika) people and mining companies remain unresolved.
TransCanada announced on Monday that the company will proceed with the construction of the southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline, the segment that would extend from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf of Mexico. Since this segment would not cross the Canada-US border, it does not require US government approval. TransCanada plans to begin construction despite a lack of approval for the northern leg of the pipeline.
Cultural Survival joins the International Accountability Project and Bangladeshi organizations in celebrating a victory in the fight against the Phulbari coal mine. On Tuesday, seven United Nations Special Rapporteurs issued a joint press release calling for an immediate halt to the project due to the many human rights risks and violations it poses.
The Public Broadcasting Network aired a Center for Investigative Reporting video during the PBS Newshour on February 28. The video is episode 3, “A Land Grab in Ethiopia,” of a series called Food for Nine Billion. Anuak people tell how the government forcibly removed them from their homelands so that foreign agro-industrial investors can plant food and fuel crops for export. The problem is examined from the point of view of feeding the world’s growing population.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
