Demand #1: Recognition to Land, Territories and Resources
Global indigenous leaders are calling for 5 demands, in this series of playlists we explore each demand in turn.
Demand #1 Recognition to Land, Territories and Resources
Communities need ownership over their ancestral land to protect forests. With no formal land security traditional communities often face serious conflict when trying to evict illegal loggers, poachers and land grabbers.
There is now clear and undeniable evidence that where indigenous people have strong rights, there are standing forests.
Only 0.6% of forest was lost inside Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon between 2000 and 2012, compared with 7.0% of forest outside such lands.[1
On the 12th September 2013 the Honduran government granted almost 7% of its territory to the indigenous Miskito people who have lived traditionally on this land for centuries. We follow the leadership of the indigenous organisation, MASTA, as they speak to their elders and explore solutions to better govern their land.
After a seven year battle, the Mayangna community of Awas Tingni won a landmark ruling at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and demonstrated that international human rights law could protect indigenous peoples, their land and their natural resources. As a result a Demarcation Law was passed in 2003 in Nicaragua to recognise and respect […]
The community of Lago do Mainá have lived with the forest and the river, nature for them is the most fundamental thing they have. However a military training base and increasing incursions by soldiers created tension between the community and the army. Through the use of social mapping the people of Lago do Mainá have […]
On 1st September 2014 Edwin Chota and three indigenous Asháninka leaders were murdered while defending their forests. They had been denouncing the increasingly violent illegal loggers operating on their ancestral lands for over a decade with little recognition from the government. Through their widows, family and friends we learn about their ongoing fight for land […]
Even a well-managed, recognised forest faces constant challenges but innovative drone GPS technology, cooperative campaigning, local government support and eco-tourism are helping the Setulang people thrive. They have shown that community rights, the environment and development go hand in hand. Setulang boasts clean water, sustainable fishing and hunting, building materials, fruit and traditional medicine, a […]
From Friends of the Earth The Ugandan Government along with private investors Wilmar International and BIDCO are developing palm oil plantations on pristine islands in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. The project is promoted as bringing development to the islands, but communities who rely on subsistence agriculture and the local forests for survival say their land and livelihoods […]
The Indigenous Quest sheds light on the massive forest loss in Kalimantan caused by big multinationals to clear land for palm oil plantations. These forests are known as the lungs of the earth, as they provide the most oxygen while harboring carbon dioxide. This short documentary tells the story of Mr. Japin, an indigenous farmer […]
Roberto, Teofilo and the Shipibo Conibo communities of Patria Nueva and Nueva Saposoa have been managing their forest for decades. They use an innovative forest monitoring system that incorporates traditional foot patrols and the latest technology-including GPS, smart phone applications, satellite-generated deforestation alerts and drones. These tools have have allowed the community monitors, alongside government officials, […]
Jargarian land is a local name for Aru Archipelago. Indeed, not many know the territory that became part of the Maluku. Aru consist of 187 islands large and small settled indigenous peoples living in these islands maintaining the integrity of the Aru Islands indigenous communities until now. In 2012, there was a sudden survey and […]
Despite their customary land being recognised by the Indonesian Government in 2012, the Seko community have been defending their land against large-scale energy development for the last 3 years. In 2016, 14 community leaders were criminalized, including 1 woman. They were sentenced for at least 7 months. They oppose a large scale hydro-electric power plant, […]
Kalinga Nagar Industrial Estate is a hub for several metal production mills that are built over land forcefully acquired from indigenous peoples. The methods of displacement and land acquisition was extreme and led to several human rights violations including the killing of fourteen indigenous people in a police firing. With the presence of twelve steel […]
Brazil’s African slave descendants, the Quilombola, have fought a long and hard struggle for recognition. After the abolition of the slave trade they were left abandoned and ostracised, devoid of rights and outside of Brazilian mainstream society. But things are slowly changing amongst rural communities. In the 1988 constitution Brazil’s Quilombola were granted access to […]
In the territory of the Shipibo people of the Peruvian Amazon, the indigenous community of Santa Clara de Uchunya are facing the devastation of their ancestral forests and rivers. This is due to the aggressive expansion of a palm oil plantation operated by Plantaciones de Pucallpa S.A.C., a member of a group of companies controlled […]