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Choike Blog
Under the Peruvian government's current plan, oil and gas concession blocs alone would cover 72 percent of Peru’s Amazon, according to a recent study by Duke University. Will energy, agribusiness, lumber, and mining corporations gain exclusive benefit to one of the largest repositories of fresh water, biodiversity, and other resources? Will the indigenous succeed in protecting their lands? June 2009.
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Indigenous peoples are on the cusp of the crisis in sustainable development. Their communities are concrete examples of sustainable societies, historically evolved in diverse ecosystems. Today, they face the challenges of extinction or survival and renewal in a globalized world. The impact of globalization is strongest on these populations perhaps more than any other because these communities have no voice and are therefore easily swept aside by the invisible hand of the market and its proponents. Globalization is not merely a question of marginalization for indigenous peoples it is a multi-pronged attack on the very foundation of their existence and livelihoods, for example:
Indigenous people throughout the world sit on the "frontlines" of globalization's expansion; they occupy the last pristine places on earth, where resources are still abundant: forests, minerals, water, and genetic diversity. All are ferociously sought by global corporations, trying to push traditional societies off their lands.
New advances in technology, the reorientation toward export-led development, and the imperatives of pleasing global financial markets are all driving forces in the extermination of countless native communities which stand in their way.
Traditional sovereignty over hunting and gathering rights has been thrown into question as national governments bind themselves to new global economic treaties.
New trade and investment agreements, which are opening up previously inaccessible territory to industrial extraction of natural resources, has forced indigenous peoples to defend their homelands under an invasion of unprecedented rate and scale: Big dams, mines, pipelines, roads, energy developments, military intrusions all threaten native lands.
Global rules on the patenting of genetic resources via the WTO has made possible the privatization of indigenous peoplesí genomes, the biological diversity upon which they depend, and the very knowledge of how that biodiversity might be used commercially.
National governments making decisions on export development strategies or international trade and investment rules do not consult native communities.
The reality remains that without rapid action, these native communities may be wiped out, taking with them vast indigenous knowledge, rich culture and traditions, and any hope of preserving the natural world, and a simpler, more holistic way of life for future generations.
The reality remains that without rapid action, these native communities may be wiped out, taking with them vast indigenous knowledge, rich culture and traditions, and any hope of preserving the natural world, and a simpler, more holistic way of life for future generations.
Despite increases in political influence, indigenous peoples in Latin America see few gains over the last decade, says new World Bank study. May 18, 2005.
Civil society groups release scathing report on World Bank forest policy. In 2002 the World Bank adopted a new policy on forests, over objections from civil society and indigenous peoples’ groups. Three years later, as the Bank policy comes up for review, a broad coalition of environmental and indigenous groups have published Broken Promises, an extensive report on the forest policy’s effects on the environment and communities. April 26, 2005. Pdf format.
A report launched by the World Bank points out that despite an increasingly active political role played by indigenous communities, there has been little change in the extreme poverty and marginalisation in which a majority of Latin America's indigenous people are steeped. May 20, 2005.
Since 1996, the World Bank has been in the process of revising its existing operational policy on Indigenous Peoples. The whole revision process has been slow and highly controversial and in December 2004, the Bank team finally released the second draft of the revised policy for 90 days’ public consultation.
The severity of the impacts of climate change and mitigation processes on indigenous peoples and the complex negotiating processes around climate change compels us to have a basic understanding of climate change and the policies and actions being taken to address it. This is the biggest proof that the dominant development model is unsustainable and therefore needs to be changed. International cooperation and solidarity to support the indigenous peoples' adaptation initiatives and to strengthen their contributions to climate change mitigation is crucial. September 2008.
Recent decades have witnessed a rapid increase in environmental degradation and exploitation, in many cases most severely in areas where local populations already suffer from the effects of oppression, discrimination and isolation. UNPO has utilized this year to inform the international community about the environmental perils UNPO Members are presently faced with. (PDF). December 2007.
Changing stereotypes and racist attitudes is essential for the long-term health and survival of tribal peoples. Whatever the factors that cause tribal peoples to be removed from their ancestral lands, the physical impacts are often similar: short-term shock and exposure to disease and longterm suffering from chronic mental and physical illnesses. October 2007, pdf format.
"In every world region, minorities and indigenous peoples have been excluded, repressed and, in many cases, killed by their governments," said Mark Lattimer, executive director of the nongovernmental organisation Minority Rights Group International (MRG) at a press conference in January 2006. The event was the launch of the first edition of The State of the World’s Minorities Report, compiled by MRG with the assistance of various United Nations agencies. April 2006.
The Mapuche people have a long and proud history of resistance to colonialism. Today, the Chilean state and multinational corporations continue in their long-standing efforts to steal the resources of the Mapuche and to subdue their ongoing struggle. Vladimir Painemal Morales, a youth leader of the Mapuche people, tells his story. July 2005.
About 400 members of the Embera Katio, a Colombian indigenous group, have been camped out in the offices of the Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia (ONIC) since 23 December to demand that the government protect their natural environment and human rights. March 2005.
This trial showed once again the application of the "Colabelli Doctrine" in the Chubut province: conflicts that should have been settled in the civilian realm settled under penal jurisdiction to ensure the "return" of lands to the accusing "owners" and in all cases the local landowners and multinationals.
The IFG's Indigenous Peoples and Globalization program has completed a map depicting the negative impacts of economic globalization on indigenous peoples. The map provides a striking visual image of the totality of the problem and offers a unique visual representation of globalization across the many sectors impacting native communities: oil, dams, biopiracy, logging, militarization, and industrial agriculture, to name a handful. The map also includes text describing the various impacts.
Groups that self-identify as indigenous live a peripheral existence. Most governments in Africa do not have disaggregated data or indicators to monitor the social, economic and political status of indigenous people. How then can they track progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals if the poorest of the poor are not even properly recognised? A major concern is that many states will focus on the bottom line of reaching the MDGs, rather than the matter of who reaches them or how. November 2007.
The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population. The following article by Ramona Vijeyarasa, human rights activist, explains the situation of indigenous people who were separated from their families and communities under State-based forced removal policies of the 20th Century. February 2008.
The twenty-first session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations met at the United Nations Office in Geneva from 21 to 25 July 2003. The Working Group is open to representatives of indigenous organizations, peoples and communities as well as representatives of Governments, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies.
The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in its resolution 2002/21, recommended that the WG at its 21st session (Geneva, 21-25 July 2003) adopt the theme "Indigenous peoples and globalization", and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) invite all relevant organizations and departments of the UN system to provide information and, if possible, participate in the meetings of the WG.
The local people have been increasingly dispossessed from their land without compensation, and have continued to be denied employment opportunities. Some communities have started to confront the abusive oil companies. It is probable that local agitation will boil over into violence if oil companies fail to shed their old bad habits of doing business in Sudan. September 2007.
Indigenous peoples took a strong interest in the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) and made a number of submissions and inputs throughout the process. This interest is based on the well documented fact that, without full recognition of and respect for our rights, extractive industries exacerbate poverty among indigenous peoples, undermine our socio-cultural integrity and well being and, in some cases, threaten our survival as distinct peoples. August 2004.
This note summarizes the main points in the conclusions and recommendations sections of the Final Report of the Extractive Industries Review (EIR), focusing on indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights generally, WB accountability/institutional issues and the definition of poverty and sustainable development.
"Our futures as indigenous peoples are threatened in many ways by developments in the extractive industries. Our ancestral lands -the tundra, drylands, small islands, forests and mountains- which are also important and critical ecosystems have been invaded by oil, gas, and mining developments which are undermining our very survival. Expansion and intensification of the extractive industries, alongside economic liberalisation, free trade aggression, extravagant consumption and globalisation are frightening signals of unsustainable greed." 15 April 2003, Oxford, United Kingdom.
This briefing reviews GEF policies and procedures relevant to protected areas and indigenous peoples. It claims that the approach is out of date and at odds with the requirements of the CDB, the instructions of the Conference of Parties and international best practice on protected areas.
The Cordillera Central is one of the prime regions torn by the war between the Colombian military and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). The rural population, which is mostly lower class and of indigenous decent, and consequently the sector of the Colombian populous most dramatically hit by the armed confrontations, defends itself through the "Indigenous War." June 2008.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is in the process of preparing an operational policy on indigenous peoples. IDB documents state that one of the primary goals of the policy is to safeguard indigenous peoples’ rights in the context of IDB development projects that could potentially affect them. Indigenous organizations have contested many of these consultations. August 2005.
