Category: Indigenous peoples

Latin America’s environmental challenge

Peru’s indigenous Andean and Amazonian women are driving an economy based on distribution and ancestral knowledge about ecology, the environment and culture, which enables them to live in harmony with nature, writes Carmen Grau. Now they are working for visibility and for the recognition of their contribution to the global struggle against climate change.

For the 45 million indigenous people of Latin America, their link with the environment goes beyond its potential use as a resource to a spiritual and cultural connection. Seeing a river dying because of drought or pollution is like losing a family member.

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Bolsonaro Calls for Carnage and Environmental Holocaust in Brazil

One of the many reasons many in Brazil – and those who follow developments in that country – are deeply disturbed by the victory of Jair Bolsonaro in the recent presidential elections is his attitude to the environment. He plots a massive land grab in the Amazon ― one that would amount to genocide and ecocide. This is why RGL is publishing this article by  Felipe Milanez

The assassination of peasant leader Aluisio Sampaio on October 11 by gunmen at his home in Castelo dos Sonhos in the Northern state of Pará, signals an explosion of violence in Brazil’s countryside, especially in the Amazon. As a member of the Federation for Workers in Family Farming, Sampaio led land disputes against grileiros (land grabbers). His contract killing was followed by the assassination of Davi Mulato, of the indigenous Gavião people, also in the Amazon region, in the state of Maranhão. The murder was denounced as a hate crime by the indigenous movement.

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An Anti-Forest Policy: Rhetoric or Sleight of Hand?

If the Indian government really meant what it said by “building on our rich cultural heritage” and “participatory”, would it not seriously review why the Forest Rights Act (FRA} and Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA}, meant to give adivasis (indigenous people in South East Asia RGL} the self-governing space they need, are not implemented?

Forests have been the cultural and livelihood lifeline for hundreds of millions of people in India, not to mention home for thousands of species of plants and animals, write Madhu Ramnath and Ashish Kothari. They have an exalted place in virtually every spiritual and religious tradition, in their civilisational history, mythology and folklore, scientific traditions, and even in its politics. So when any government announces a new National Forest Policy, there should be widespread dialogue around the most important question: will it safeguard the most crucial values of India’s forests? From an examination of the draft policy put out by the government on 14th March 2018, the answer is a resounding no. Continue reading “An Anti-Forest Policy: Rhetoric or Sleight of Hand?”