Elimination of customary laws through regulations
In 1950, Indonesia’s forests spanned over 162,290,000 hectares, covering 80% of the country’s 192,257,000-hectare land area. According to the 1999 Forestry Law, the forest area owned by the state accounted for 133,876,645.68 hectares.
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The community-based organization Pangalasag is a member organization of the regional alliance Kalumbay and an organization of Higaonon indigenous people in the municipality of Opol, Misamis Oriental. “Pangalasag”, which means indigenous shield, was created to become a driving force in the resurgence of Higaonon customary laws especially in decision-making and granting of consent, aside from its literal meaning to defend against aggressors.
In early December of this year, the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) announced that it was granting a new loan of 22.5 billion reais, the largest in its history, to the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project.
The documentary video “Bajo Aguán: Grito por la Tierra” (Bajo Aguán: Cry for the Land) (1) was presented in Honduras on December 10 during a Human Rights Forum organized by the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras.
Chile is currently debating amendments to Decree Law 701, which was passed during the first years of the military dictatorship and has been used for decades to promote the expansion of large-scale monoculture tree plantations. This expansion is driven by hefty government subsidies, and has been achieved at the expense of the violation of the rights of Mapuche indigenous communities, who have been violently evicted from their lands and left marginalized in their own ancestral territory.
The Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL) and Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA) have developed the “Map of Mining Conflicts in Latin America” to serve as a database and information system for community management of mining-related social and environmental conflicts in the region. http://basedatos.conflictosmineros.net/ocmal_db/
“World Summit on Sustainable Forest (-destruction)”, a satirical blog on the summit that will be held on March 5th-6th 2013 in Stockholm (Sweden). You are invited to attend or follow this World Forgery Summit on sustainable forest destruction. Some of the key questions in the agenda:
*Can we find a way to rebrand monoculture plantations as being sustainable?
*Is there a way to make the bankrupt carbon trading system look like a part of the solution to the climate crisis?
“Mining, plantation firms reported for rights abuses”, a Jakarta Post headline informs that mining and plantation companies are among the actors that should be held responsible for numerous human rights abuses in the country, according to a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) report. The rights commission revealed that companies ranked second — trailing behind the National Police — in its list of institutions reported for human rights violations.
“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 belonging to the indigenous community of Muara Tae, assisted by the intimidation of armed police brought in to protect the company, while trying to obtain RSPO certification under fake information.
Only available in Portuguese.
Forum Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Social, Comissão Epsicopal Pastoral para o Serviço da Caridade, da Justiça e da Paz, Conselho Indigenista Missionário.
Download here the full document in Portuguese.
The Mundukuru indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon state of Para decided to cancel a contract that would have allowed the Irish company “Celestial Green Ventures” to sell carbon credits from forests in their territory. The agreement was signed earlier this year giving the Irish company the right over the carbon in forests inside the indigenous territory.
“We are going to cancel the deal. Many in the tribe didn’t want it, so to avoid problems we decided to stop it,” said Candido Waru, leader of a local association of the Munduruku people.
La Via Campesina International met in Surin, Thailand for the First Global Encounter on Agroecology and Seeds to share experience and construct a strategy and vision on agroecology and seeds.
In Thailand there is a growing shift made by small-scale farmers to move from the green revolution based model of industrial farming into agroecology which La Via Campesina thinks is the corner stone of food sovereignty.