World Rainforest Movement
Forest peoples around the world are resisting and struggling against different threats to their survival, both forest destructive projects (like mining, oil extraction, industrial plantations, etc.) but also those with a preservation character (REDD+ projects, national parks, protected areas, etc.). One of the main reasons for and at the same time one of the key issues in these struggles is the fact that in most of the tropical forest countries worldwide, customary land rights of forest peoples are ignored by the state and corporations. Lacking legal land titles, their existing customary rights are violated regularly where forests are destroyed.
In 2009, the global food corporation Unilever sold its palm oil subsidiary Plantations et huileries du Congo (PHC) to Feronia, a company listed on the Toronto stock exchange. European development banks are major funders and shareholders of...
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FAO , chose Forests and Education as the theme for 2019 and underlines the importance of investing in forest education. But what does FAO mean by “forest education”?
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The declaration is open for sign-on in solidarity until 31 January 2019.
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Dear friends, We need your urgent support. The Ekuri People’s ancestral land in Nigeria is under threat. The people of Ekuri live in Cross River State in the southeast corner of Nigeria almost on the border with Cameroon, deep in the...
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Ladies and gentlemen, The Platform of the Actors on Land – SIF – and the Collective for the Defense of Malagasy Lands – TANY offer you their greetings and would like to urge you to sign a petition. LET’S SAVE MALAGASY...
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Dear friends, Local communities in the Mekong region in Southeast Asia, who depend on the Mekong river and numerous other rivers and lakes for their livelihoods, need our urgent support. The dams already built on the main Mekong river and...
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Dear friends, WRM is pleased to announce the release of three new materials that we would like to share with you on March 21, designated by the United Nations as International Day of Forests. – The first is a new document called...
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Only available in Spanish. Survival International, WRM – Movimiento Mundial por los Bosques Tropicales, CIMI – Consejo Indigenista Misionario, el consultor independiente para pueblos indígenas aislados Sr. Antenor Vaz y el...
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Dear friends, your support in needed! The Sengwer people – an indigenous hunter-gatherer community in the Cherangany hills in Kenya- is being forcibly evicted from its territory. Many of us have been following closely the story, as...
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Letter sent by the Save the Mekong Coalition, to the Mekong countries Prime Ministers demanding the immediate cancellation of the Don Sahong Dam and moratorium on decisions over other mainstream projects for the overall benefit of people...
read moreWomen, Forests and Extractive Industries: The Case of the Mikea Indigenous Women in Madagascar
Women Stand Up to Fight the Suzano Paper Mill in Maranhão, Brazil
The Wayana Indigenous Peoples in Suriname and Conservation NGO’s: A “true love” story?
The Human Cost of Strictly Protected Areas in the Congo Basin
Sarawak: Save the Mulu Rainforest from oil palm plantations!
Mapuche Lavkenche Women’s Resistance to the Chilean Forestry Model
Infrastructure From and For Forest Communities: The MicroHydro Power in Long Liam, Sarawak
Indonesia. The Gloomy Truth Behind Geothermal Energy: A misleading Narrative of “Clean Energy”
Indigenous territories in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, threatened by monoculture plantations
Indigenous Peoples Face Difficulties Accessing Justice on Land Matters in Cameroon
Indigenous Baiga women in India: “Our story should be heard”
Ecuador: Stories of Dispossession and Deforestation Caused by the Extraction of Palm and Wood
Dynamics and Processes of Change in the Peruvian Amazon: Learning from the Kechwa-Lamas Peoples
Displacement and Dispossession in Tanzania: How “Conservation” is Destroying the Maasai
Beyond Forests: Conservation NGOs have Turned into “Companies”
Attempt to Re-Colonize Forests in India The new Draft Amendments to Indian Forest Act
Tanzania: Community Resistance against Monoculture Tree Plantations
Rising for the Right to Say NO: Southern Africa Peoples Permanent Tribunal
Resistance by Women Defenders of Territory to Extractivism in Latin America
Peru: forest inhabited by the indigenous Shawi to be handed over to Canadian mining firm
Peasant communities and those dependent on the forests united in struggle
No to ProSAVANA and MATOPIBA. Solidarity with people in Mozambique and Brazil!
India: Plantations uproot women from their customary forests
Cameroon: Urban and Rural Activists Against Industrial Plantations’ Abuses Towards Women
California, United States: Decision on Tropical Forest Standard is postponed until April 2019
Borneo: Penan village successfully resists logging operations
A Reflection from Africa: Conquer the Fear for Building Stronger Movements
Women landowners in Central Bougainville block the Panguna Mine pact
Women in the anti-mining struggle in El Salvador: “We are that swarm of bees”
The Rights of Nature: A balance, 10 years after its constitutional recognition in Ecuador
The Ngäbe and Buglé Resistance: Keeping extractive industries out of their territories
Indonesia: Protests on Java against forest destruction by the expanding cement industry
Harassed by palm oil company, villagers in Thailand defend land
Food Production and Consumption: Resistance against domination
Dercy Teles on the popular movement of rubber tappers in Brazil
Brazil and land rights: A historical struggle that continues and intensifies
Stories, identity and struggles: How local communities live with and talk about Mekong’s landscape
Madagascar: Citizens’ protests put Soamahamanina mining project on hold
From the loss of fish to climate change: A look into the recent dam movement in the Mekong Region
Forests to the highest bidder in Nigeria: how REDD proves unable to stop deforestation
Bribris: a people never conquered who are standing up to REDD
Why are we in jail? A women’s fight against injustice and domination in India
The resistance struggle of indigenous women in defence of life
The Mundukuru peoples in Brazil: forestry concessions imposed on indigenous lands
The multiple challenges for popular resistance and mobilization in defence of forests
The Farce of “Smart Forestry”. The Cases of Green Resources in Mozambique and Suzano in Brazil
Territories and food sovereignty: Where the struggles of peasants and forest communities converge
REDD Alert! How REDD+ projects undermine peasant farming and real solutions to climate change
Philippines: Resisting Land Grabbing and Corporate Oil Palm Plantations
Mining, militarization and criminalization of social protests in Latin America
Mining activity kills Indonesia’s peasants and fisher people
Malaysia: Indigenous groups from around the globe adopt anti-dam declaration
Living on the run: devastation of the Ayoreos’ lives and land at the hands of livestock farmers
Liberia: Vambo Community Activists ask for international support against gold mining
Learning from India’s Chipko movement: fighting for feminism and for the environment
India: Appeal to the government and the UN on indigenous forest communities’ rights
Honduras’ Garifuna communities resist eviction and theft of land
Furthering mining in Africa in a Summit held at the centre of mining finance
Brazil: Three indigenous leaders and forest defenders were murdered
Brazil: Forest Carbon Demonstration Project in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve
A grandmother standing up to mining and logging companies in the Solomon Islands
Why are women fighting against extractivism and climate change?
The forests not seen on picture post-cards: looking beyond the tropical belt
Thailand’s New ‘Forestry Master Plan’: Same old strategy dressed up in new clothes
Sixth National Conference on Páramos and High Mountains, Water for Life!, Colombia,
Petition to stop harassment of a defender of earth and water in Peru: Yes to Water, No to Mining!
Páramos in Colombia: a short reflection on current threats and resistance action
Movement of People Affected by Dams in Brazil denounces violations, proposes solutions
Mexico, Lacandon Rainforest: Montes Azules REDDeldía Movement
July 26: International Day for the Defense of Mangrove Ecosystems
Insisting on REDD is playing a game already lost for the climate and peoples
Honduras: COPINH achieves partial victory against hydroelectric dam project
HidroAysén project rejected by ministerial committee due to strong social pressure
Ecuador: Statement of the women’s gathering against extractivism and climate change
Declaration of the People’s Summit on Climate Change, Lima, Peru
AlteRAtive Energies: When the only “alternative” is integral change
Women of the Amazon defend the rainforest from the dangers of oil drilling
The struggle and resistance of mangrove communities in Latin America
Stop the Conversion of Mangrove Forests, Local Initiatives Support Save the Mangrove Forest
Philippines: Rally for the revocation of Philippine Mining Act
Peru and Brazil: Matsés indigenous peoples against oil industry activity
Nigeria: Dutch court condemns Shell – but more justice is needed!
Mega-dams in Sarawak: how indigenous peoples rise to defend their rights
Mapuche conflict in Chile: The need for dialogue to address historic demands
Malaysia: Penan indigenous peoples threatened by logging and mega dam
Indonesia: Gold in Bukit Tiga Jurai affecting food sovereignty
Indian organizations declared all the Tiger Reserves in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserves as illegal
Support the struggle against the Belo Monte dam, a struggle that has not ended
Phillipines: Oil palm company A. Brown grabs Higaonon indigenous people’s lands
Philippines: Continuing the campaign against mining in Palawan
Open letter against the “green economy” and in favour of life
Nigeria: Cocoa plantation project threatens pristine forest lands of the Etara and Ekuri-Eyeyeng
Malaysia: Baram Dam would flood indigenous communities to benefit mining in Borneo
Indonesia: Farmers protest against eviction caused by Debt Nature Swap (DNS)
India: Michelin factory menaces forest of the “untouchables”
Impacts of oil prospecting and exploration in Virunga National Park
Gabon: Resisting Olam land grabbing for oil palm plantations
Environmental Human Rights Advocates Challenge REDD+ in Chiapas and in California
Ecuador: Inter-American Court of Human Rights rules in favour Sarayaku people
The necessary changes to genuinely celebrate the International Year of Forestsnter title here
Philippines: Attempts to undermine local resistance to mining
Mexico: REDD+ in Chiapas finances disease, death and intercommunity conflicts
Mega-projects and the criminalization of struggles to defend people’s rights in India and Honduras
Malaysia: Landmark decision against oil palm joint venture companies
Indonesia: Sources of livelihood threatened by REDD+, mining and oil palm projects
India: Women take the lead in the fight for their rights over forest
India: Ravaged Landscape, Devastated People – Tales of Hydro Power CDM projects in Himachal Pradesh
False solutions to climate change enabling land grabbing in Africa
Brazil: Belo Monte dam would turn the Xingú River into a river of blood
At the end of the International Year of Forests, is there anything to celebrate?
The Garo Women in Bangladesh: Life of a Forest People without Forest
Panama: Land dispute and violation of the Naso people’s Human Rights
Malaysia: Penan demand against government for forestry licenses
Uganda: The Batwa issue declaration calling for their rights to be recognized
Posco: Destroying forests in India and establishing carbon sink plantations in Uruguay
Nigeria: The long arm of justice is finally catching up on Shell
Kenya: Projected sugar cane plantations may wipe out invaluable Tana River Delta
In Africa mangroves are disappearing and with them, the livelihoods of its people
Ecuador: Statement by the indigenous peoples against forest/REDD CO2lonialism
Ecuador: Memory and future emerge from women’s struggle for their mangroves
Ecuador: Disputes against shrimp farming contribute to women’s lib
Dominican Republic: The people say “no” to the cement factory at Los Haitises!
Cambodia’s Prey Long forest is “equivalent to life itself” for local communities
This study looks at how Compensatory Afforestation is accelerating both, the destruction of forests in India by big corporations and the appropriation of community land for the supposed compensation.
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The booklet “Promise, Divide, Intimidate and Coerce: 12 tactics palm oil companies use to grab community land” aims to support communities who want to strengthen their resistance and better prepare themselves to stop corporations from establishing on their lands.
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A Collection of Articles Published in the WRM Bulletin on the issue of Resistance, Women and the Impacts of Plantations.
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The main goal of this booklet is to inform communities about the serious problems that a REDD project can cause for the people involved. WRM has visited a number of these communities over the past few years. All of them,...
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The forest of the Congo Basin expands over an area of continuous tropical rainforest cover only second to that of the Amazon forest. The region’s forests are found in Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon,...
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By the World Rainforest Movement This book gathers articles published in the monthly electronic bulletin of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) regarding indigenous peoples and their struggles in defence of the forest. These peoples are...
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As we all know, the conservation of the world’s forests requires the adoption of a series of measures to change the current model of destruction, among which the empowerment of local communities to manage their own forests. In most of...
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by Oilwatch and World Rainforest Movement. This publication has been jointly produced by Oilwatch and the World Rainforest Movement for dissemination at the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity which...
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This book gathers a selection of articles published in the monthly electronic bulletin of the World Rainforest Movement (WRM), addressing the issue of the processes leading to the destruction of African forests and the struggles developed...
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By the World Rainforest Movement. August 9 has been declared as International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. On this date, the WRM wishes to express its full support to the numerous indigenous peoples around the world that are...
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CUIDANDERAS is a mini-series from the Urgent Action Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (UAF-LAC). It presents stories of Latin American women defenders who are committed to caring for their territories, healing their bodies, and...
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This recent publication from War on Want and London Mining Network highlights the immediate need for a full and rapid transition away from fossil fuels. But this transition, they argue, will not succeed, nor will it bring about justice or...
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Solidarity with communities standing against tree plantations!
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We need your support! We call on organizations, groups, networks and movements to sign this petition in solidarity with Gabonese communities threatened by OLAM / SOTRADER plantations. You can adhere until Thursday, September 19.
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An inteview with Winnie Overbeek, the International Coodinator of the WRM, about the causes and the impacts of the deforestation in the Amazon.
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It should be clear for society that this is not an isolated phenomenon. In fact, it is the result of a series of actions taken by agribusinesses and big miners.
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In a context of a thriving eucalyptus plantations industry in China, around 150 Yong’an residents are suing both Guangxi Lee & Man Forestry Technology Ltd. — the timber company that operates the nearly 300,000-square-meter...
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In the Yich K’isis region of Guatemala, the construction of three hydroelectric dams has been planned: Pojom I, Pojom II and San Andrés. These dams will receive water by diverting the Negro, Pojom, Yalwitz Primavera, Varsovia and...
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Despite the many profound damages that industries cause in the world’s forests, they also cause something else to emerge: the strong and diverse resistance movements of affected communities defending their territories, livelihoods,...
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Appeal to India, to its Supreme Court, States, Party Leaders, to the NHRC, NCST and to the UN organs to protect millions forest dwellers’ Human Rights and biocultural diversity from forced evictions.
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Resist the anti-adivasi designs of the BJP government!
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FAO chose Forests and Education as the theme for 2019 and underlines the importance of investing in forest education. But what does FAO mean by “forest education”?
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On February 13, 2019, India’s Supreme Court passed an order that instructs state governments to evict forest dwelling communities if their claims to live in their forests have not been recognized under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). After...
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The NGO Survival International has an on-going petition for a new conservation that respects indigenous peoples’ rights and promotes human and ecological diversity. The aim is to reach 20,000 signatures and they need your help! Sign the...
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Cacique Babau, from Serra do Padeiro Tupinambá community, state of Bahia, has been suffering repeated threats against him and his family. Faced with this worrying situation, people and social organizations, through a letter to Governor...
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After 11 representatives of the Bunong ethnic group in Cambodia were denied visas to go to France to attend judicial proceedings against plantation company, Bolloré, the hearing was postponed until October. In 2015, Bunong peasants in...
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The Secretary of Family Farming, Coordination and Territorial Development in Misiones, Argentina, signed an agreement to develop the cultivation of genetically modified corn with high productivity, in Misiones and Northeast Corrientes. The...
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A report from the Indian organization Kalpavriksh documents community initiatives that protect biodiversity while ensuring their cultural, livelihood and food sovereignty in the Dooars region of North West Bengal. Indigenous communities in...
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Although this WRM publication was first published in 1994 and then updated in 2003, it is still very much relevant nowadays. It includes an extensive review and analysis on issues such as wilderness and preservation, the politics of parks,...
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Statement from All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM), 28 February, 2019.
read more Please endorse the letter enclosed below that will be sent to the Indian Supreme Court and the Prime Minister of India urging them to stop this injustice!
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Press Release. The Supreme Court of India, hearing a decade-old petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act, ordered that forest dwellers whose claims for recognition of forest rights have been rejected would have to be evicted in a summary and time-bound manner.
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Cacique Babau, from Serra do Padeiro Tupinambá community (Brazil), has been suffering repeated threats. People and social organizations, through a letter to the Governor, demand that the state guarantee his safety. We urge you to sign-on the letter in solidarity.
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The declaration is open for sign-on in solidarity until 31 January 2019.
read more (Only available in Portuguese) Os povos das florestas convidam a Marcha em Xapuri: Com Chico Mendes no empate contra o capitalismo verde. 14 de dezembro, 17 h, Xapuri, Acre, Brasil.
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We said it in Mundemba, Cameroon, we reiterated it in Port Loko, Sierra Leone, we re-affirm this in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire: the abuse against women in and around industrial oil palm plantations must STOP!
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Available only in Spanish
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A report from Oakland Institute documents in detail the many rights abuses faced by the Maasai in the Ngorongoro and Loliondo regions of Tanzania. In recent years, hundreds of Maasai homes have been burned and tens of thousands of people...
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From June 15-17, 2018, indigenous peoples and communities that live and work in forests gathered in Sena Madureira, Acre, to denounce the false solutions to environmental and climatic degradation that green capitalism proposes. They...
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The short film “Sacred Voices”, supported by the African Biodiversity Network and the Gaia Foundation, shares the messages of eight traditional Sacred Site Custodians from Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and Uganda. Sacred Sites in...
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Traditional upland farming implemented through swidden (‘slash-and-burn’) technology (kaingin) in The Philippines is demonized and antagonized through restrictive legislation. In Palawan forests are being destroyed by agribusiness...
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The publication recently launched by the Mexican organization Otros Mundos Chiapas is an effort to share many elements and experiences of community forest management. Facing a vast quantity of information disseminated by governmental and...
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The platform SIF and Collective TANY call on the Malagasy public opinion and all citizens worldwide to sign a petition to urge the Malagasy authorities to adopt laws which secure the farmers and local communities rights on their...
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Aklu Chero, a tribal leader protesting the construction of the dam, was shot at by the police on April 15. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photos) Since April 14, 2015, the oustees of Kanhar Dam Project in the Sonbhadra distrct of the northern Indian...
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The “Weaving Resistances” project, from the Organization “Democracy and Global Transformation Program” in Peru, shares three videos that are testimony to a constant and courageous struggle of, especially, women from the...
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Only available in Spanish. Comunicado internacional. Ante los hechos ocurridos en el río La Pasión, en Sayaxché, Petén, Guatemala en donde se ha registrado la muerte masiva de peces y otras especies en su cauce (se habla de...
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An article by Charo Rojas, Marilyn Machado, Patricia Botero and Arturo Escobar charts the cumulative processes that have infringed the rights of Afro-descendant populations and destroyed their territories. These processes, they say, are of...
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This report from the organization Corner House explores the question “What’s the alternative to current energy systems?” in a context of a growing climate crisis and increasing uncertainty over the future of fossil fuels. In energy...
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This site examines the questions surrounding the Mekong Region’s ‘development’, and tries to identify new ones, giving particular importance to both the consequences that are masked from mainstream explanations, as well as...
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This video shows the struggle of communities that depend on the forests in the Republic of Congo, and that of their defenders, to reduce the impacts of deforestation and to guarantee their rights to manage and control their own...
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In Thailand, both the army and civilian governments define forests as “wilderness free of inhabitants”, neglecting that tropical forests have always been home to indigenous and peasant communities. Laws have marked local people as...
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Women from all corners of the Southern African region descended on Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to participate in the People’s Summit. They aimed to share their experiences on how they have been affected either by decisions made by governments...
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Mangrove peoples and communities have a close bond with mangroves, fishing and the seas. Mangroves and the seas are wholly interconnected natural elements, as is the life of marine coastal peoples. That is why this July 26 the slogan for...
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The mangrove ecosystem towns and communities have a close bond with the mangrove swamps, fishing and with the oceans. Mangroves swamps and oceans are natural elements that are closely linked with the coastal marine areas. Therefore, on...
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Environmental Justice Atlas, by EJOLT, a large EU project bringing science and society together to catalogue ecological distribution conflicts and resistance struggles. The interactive map describes in detail 900+ cases of environmental...
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February 25, 2014 Download here the full letter in pdf format with the final list of sign-ons We, the No REDD in Africa Network (NRAN) together with the undersigned organizations and individuals, strongly condemn the massive evictions...
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In response to the government’s decision to abandon the initiative to leave the oil in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block beneath Yasuní National Park untapped, and to begin drilling operations, a youth organization called...
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Only available in Portuguese. -Ao Ministério da Justiça Exmo. Sr. José Eduardo Cardoso, Ministro da Justiça – À Diretoria de Proteção Territorial da FUNAI Sr. Aluísio Ladeira Azanha – Diretor (dpt@funai.gov.br) –...
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This action is being undertaken by our friends in Brazil, in the Bajo Parnaíbo region of the state of Maranhão. They have asked for our help to gather signatures for a letter that will be sent to the National Institute for Colonization...
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Only available in Portuguese – 11 de setembro – Dia Nacional do Cerrado. Movimento Geraizeiro apresenta suas reivindicações aos governos federal, estadual e municipais Neste momento centenas de famílias de Geraizeiros rumam...
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“Manufacturing Consent” is a film that features evidence and first-hand testimony of the abuses of PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya (PT Borneo) in Muara Tae. The company, a subsidiary of First Resources Ltd, bulldozed farmland and forests...
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Against oil extraction in the Amazon forest in southern Ecuador:
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By Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Rurais de Xapuri – Federação do Povo Huni Kui do Acre. What are the real problems of forest peoples in Acre? Why aren’t REDD and environmental services a solution to these problems? What concerns forest...
read more New report: “Recognising Sacred Natural Sites and Territories in Kenya: An Analysis of how the Kenyan Constitution, National and International Laws can Support the Recognition of Sacred Natural Sites and their Community Governance...
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by Winfridus Overbeek The forest known as the Mata Atlantica (Atlantic Forest) in Brazil is one of the richest biomes in the planet in terms of biodiversity. It used to cover most of the coast of the country. But the process of brutal...
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ACTION ALERT – GABON As many countries in Africa, Gabon is facing an alarming rate of expansion of oil palm and rubber plantations. The government has given the Singapore based company Olam 300,000 hectares of land to establish...
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A video documentary launched on July 27 by ALDAW, showing the cultural values of Palawan and the encroachment of mining operations in ancestral...
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Three testimonies of resistance from Brasil, 2019.
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Produced by the World Rainforest Movement Interviews: Winnie Overbeek Camera and Edition: Flavio Pazos. A story of the peoples of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. In Brazil, the Atlantic Forest, which covered the country’s...
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Produced by the World Rainforest Movement Directed by Flavio Pazos The United Nations declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests You may have already heard that the livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people depend on forests, that...
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Animation about the differences to local people between a forest and a tree plantation. Produced by the World Rainforest Movement Created by Flavio Pazos If you have troubles watching the video, try using Chrome You can download the...
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