Protecting Lands - Sustaining Lives

News

Climate change conference marks the 20-year anniversary of the Rainforest Foundation

July 6, 2009

As our partners’ work has shown, indigenous and traditional forest peoples are often at the forefront of protecting and conserving old-growth rainforests, which they depend upon for their survival. And their role is increasingly important as global negotiations turn to forest conservation as a key method for stemming climate change.

These issues were the focus of discussion in Oslo, Norway, from June 15-18, as the three Rainforest Foundation organizations and partners gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the organization. The conference, Rainforests and Climate Change: Making Sustainable Development Possible, was organized by Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN). RF-US’s Executive Director Suzanne Pelletier and Program Director Christine Halvorson attended.

Continue reading here.

Peruvian Congress repeals two laws, indigenous leaders call for end to protests

July 2, 2009

After months of protests, indigenous peoples in Peru secured an important victory on June 18 when the Peruvian Congress voted to repeal two controversial laws that threatened to impinge on indigenous peoples’ rights. The laws were passed in 2008 to facilitate implementation of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement.

The repeal of decrees 1090 and 1065 was greeted with praise from leaders of AIDESEP, Peru’s national Amazonian indigenous organization, who called on their constituents to end their protests. Indigenous protesters have been blocking major roads and waterways into the Amazon since April to protest decrees 1090 and 1065 as well as seven other legislative decrees that indigenous leaders claim threaten their land, sovereignty and right to free, prior and informed consent.

Continue reading here.

News Alert: Police attack indigenous protesters in the Peruvian Amazon

From our friends at Amazon Watch:

Bagua, Peru (June 5, 2009) - At approximately 5 am this morning, the Peruvian military police staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of northern Peruvian Amazon. Several thousand Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets, among them are confirmed reports of at least 18 injured and four people confirmed dead, although the number of dead is likely to be several times higher.

Continue reading Amazon Watch’s press release here.

Read RF-US’s previous coverage of the indigenous protests in Peru.

Rainforest Foundation US is excited to announce that we are now a partner charity with Tickets-for-Charity®

Tickets-for-Charity® is a great new way to support Rainforest Foundation US while accessing great seats to see some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Coldplay, Billy Joel, Elton John, Kenny Chesney, Diana Krall and many more!
Learn More

Promoting indigenous rights worldwide: U.N. Special Rapporteur S. James Anaya

June 2, 2009

In March 2008, the U.N. Human Rights Council appointed Professor S. James Anaya as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Anaya is the former chair of the Rainforest Foundation US Board of Directors and is one of the most prominent lawyers and scholars on indigenous rights in the world. He has represented indigenous peoples in several landmark cases currently supported by Rainforest Foundation, including the case of the Mayangna community of Awas Tingni in Nicaragua and the Maya villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz in Belize.

Rainforest Foundation spoke with Professor Anaya last week, after the close of the Eighth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, to learn more about his statement to the Permanent Forum and his work in his first year as Special Rapporteur.

Read our interview with Professor Anaya here.

RF-US attends U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

From May 18-29 indigenous leaders and activists from around the world descended on New York for the eighth session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, an important forum for addressing indigenous rights within the U.N. system. Rainforest Foundation US has been attending the Forum and welcomed partners from Brazil and Panama to New York.

The Permanent Forum is a key opportunity for indigenous peoples to gather to discuss their work, form new partnerships and advocate on a range of matters from social and cultural issues to environmental justice and human rights. The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the U.N. Economic and Social Council and submits recommendations to the Council on issues affecting indigenous peoples.

We will be posting updates on important issues under discussion at the Permanent Forum as well as interviews with our partners.

Read more here.

Brazil: Non-indigenous settlers leave Raposa Serra do Sol

May 6, 2009

The beginning of the month brought good news for our partners in the indigenous area of Raposa Serra do Sol (RSS), Brazil when national police and soldiers began to escort non-indigenous settlers out of the territory. The Supreme Court of Brazil ordered the removal of the settlers, primarily rice growers and cattle ranchers, in a March 2009 decision that upheld the demarcation of RSS as an indigenous area. According to news reports and our partners at the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), all major commercial interests have left the area and the remaining removals are proceeding peacefully.

Continue reading here.

Former RF-US partners win the Goldman Prize

April 27, 2009

Former RF-US partners, Wanze Eduards and Hugo Jabini of Suriname, have been named joint winners of the prestigious Goldman Prize, described by some as the "Nobel Prize for grassroots environmentalism". Eduards and Jabini are leaders of traditional Saramaka Maroon communities in Suriname, which were originally established by freed slaves in the 1700s. Eduards and Jabini formed the Association of Saramaka Authorities (ASA) in 1998 to pressure the government to respect the rights of the Maroon communities and to end logging concessions on their traditional lands. In 2008, their work led to a landmark decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that asserted the rights of indigenous and traditional peoples in the Americas to control natural resource exploitation on their land.

Rainforest Foundation-US supported ASA and the Saramaka communities in 2001 and 2002 to map their traditional lands and to document the impact of the logging concessions on their communities. The information collected by Eduards, Jabini and the community members was important in establishing the peoples’ rights to their land before the Inter-American Court.

Read the full story here.

Photo: Head Captain Wanze Eduards and Hugo Jabini / credit: Vicente Franco