Yanomami Community Members Killed in Clash with Miners

While details are still emerging, it appears that as many as 80 Yanomami community members in the Amazon in Venezuela have been massacred by illegal gold miners. According to a submission to prosecutors this week in Puerto Ayacucho, the massacre occurred in early July. The national prosecutor’s office has appointed two officials to lead investigations, and the Venezuelan military has conducted interviews with witnesses. 

Survival International's Director, Stephen Corry, demanded that Amazonian governments "stop the rampant illegal mining, logging and settlement in indigenous territories." 

Read more from the New York Times here and from the BBC here.

UEBT Hiring Project Officer

The Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT), a Natural Justice partner on work around communities, dialogue and biotrade, is seeking a Project Officer on Business and Biodiversity Policy Implementation. The Project Officer will “work closely with other UEBT staff to provide support to companies developing systems and procedures on issues such as community engagement, contribution to local development and access and benefit sharing (ABS).” 

For more information on the position and how to apply, visit UEBT’s page here.

Belo Monte Construction Allowed to Resume

Rendering of the proposed Belo Monte dam via
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

The $13 billion Belo Monte mega dam is under construction again in the heart of the Amazon as the Brazilian Supreme Court has provisionally overturned a Regional Federal Tribunal’s ruling that construction should be stopped. According to the Supreme Court's website, the ruling of Judge President Britto may be reviewed once the court conducts a “more detailed analysis of the merit of the case.” 

The government supported the decision, stating it prevents “major and irreparable damage to the economy, to public property and to the country’s energy policy.” Amazon Watch’s Executive Director, Atossa Soltani, stated "this unfortunate decision doesn’t invalidate the Tribunal’s judgment that the project is unconstitutional.” The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is expected to appeal the decision and demand a review by a full bench of the Supreme Court. 

Read this earlier blog post for more context. Learn more about Amazon Watch's opposition to the dam's construction here. Read more from Indian Country Today, the BBC, the Washington Post, and Reuters.

Participate in IUCN WCC

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress starts next week and the latest newsletter from IUCN has spotlighted the many ways that people from around the world can participate and contribute without traveling to Jeju.

Questions for prominent experts, politicians and CEOs participating in dialogues on the Congress’s five themes (climate, food, development, people and governance, and saving nature) can be asked through this link. Many of the events will be broadcast live and can be viewed here. The conversation on Twitter will be grouped around the #IUCN2012 hashtag and IUCN’s Facebook Page will also be updated frequently.

Natural Justice will be attending. Please share any thoughts on the Congress with us on Twitter (@NaturalJustice) or at our Facebook Page.

Khwe Indigenous Values Workshop in Bwabata National Park

More photos here

From 19-22 August, 2012, Natural Justice attended and helped to facilitate a Khwe Indigenous Values workshop held in Bwabwata National Park, West Caprivi, Namibia as the beginning of a bicultural community protocol (BCP) process. The workshop was hosted in partnership with the Open Society for Southern Africa's (OSISA) Indigenous Rights Programme, the Kyaramacan Association, and Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC). The workshop was attended by several community representatives from all 10 villages within the park, including elders, youth and Khwe conservation officers, a representative from the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism and youth of the San community from Botswana. 

For historical reasons, the Khwe community is slowly losing many of their values, some of which incorporate important knowledge around sustainable use and management of natural resources. Further, very little intergenerational transfer of traditional knowledge is taking place. This is leaving the Khwe community vulnerable on many levels. In the community's partnership to co-manage the park with the government, their knowledge and relationship with the resources in the park is essential. 

The workshop ran over three days and focused on the indigenous values of the community. Healing and respect were among some of the values the workshop emphasised. Participants were asked to bring any natural resource they hold knowledge of to share with the workshop. The women and men went in separate groups and collected plants and certain roots. They also demonstrated how they to harvest a root from a tree sustainably. On the final day, the participants selected a custodian committee comprised of elders, women and youth. 

Imbak Canyon Ethno-forestry

Harry Jonas of Natural Justice presented on "ABS: From International Law to Local Realities" at a workshop hosted by Yayasan Sabah and Petronas in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The workshop focused on how best to develop and implement an ethno-forestry study in Imbak Canyon. The study is "a long term project leading towards the positioning of Imbak Canyon as the centre of learning for indigenous communities in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, for gene bank conservation and the exploration of pharmaceutical and biotechnological potentials." Other presenters included Dr Agnes Lee Agama (Global Diversity Foundation) and Dr Charles Vairappan (University Malaysia Sabah).

OSISA Briefing on San Values Workshop

Via www.OSISA.org

The Open Society for Southern Africa, a partner and funder of Natural Justice, released a briefing this week on workshop held in Bwabata National Park on San Values and Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) run jointly by Natural Justice, Kyaramacan Association, Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation, and the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The workshop sought to “exploit the synergies between on-going work on San values and on Bio-cultural protocols to help empower poor and marginalised indigenous communities.” 

The OSISA briefing describes two reasons why the workshop was important. Firstly, “it will contribute to the establishment of a Khwe custodian committee for maintaining and promoting traditional knowledge, skills and values amongst the youth and residents.” Secondly, “it will serve as a planning session for the proposed bio-cultural community protocol (BCP) in Bwabwata National Park.”  

The briefing notes that the workshop is part of a broader effort by OSISA’s Indigenous Rights Programme and Natural Justice to support the development of BCPs by Indigenous communities in southern Africa. 

The briefing can be accessed directly here. Learn more about OSISA’s Indigenous Rights Programme here and find OSISA's Facebook page here and Twitter handle here. Read about Natural Justice’s previous work in Bwabata here.

Natural Justice Joins GNHRE

Natural Justice has recently joined the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE). The network, which describes itself as a network for the creation of change, is an “internet-based project aim[ing] to build a dedicated portal for the exchange of scholarship, thinking and insights drawn from community-embedded experience and praxis at the interface between human rights and the environment.” 

The aim of the network is “to build a global network of researchers, policy-makers, opinion-formers and community activists whose diversity forges new conversations and relationships. We are building a network for the creation of change – and it starts with the transformation of thinking.” As part of this mission, the network produces the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment.

Read more about the GNHRE here. Information on the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment can be found here. Find Natural Justice’s profile on the GNHRE website here.

BCP Initiative Briefing Note

Natural Justice has released a new briefing note on the Biocultural Community Protocols Initiative entitled Biocultural Community Protocols: Articulating Stewardship, Asserting Rights, Affirming Responsibilities.

The briefing note first seeks to articulate what biocultural community protocols (BCPs) are, offering a clear definition of BCPs and detailing how BCPs are developed and used. It then offers a number of examples where communities are working through the Initiative to develop BCPs. Included are the Tanchara and Daffiama communities of northern Ghana, which are developing BCPs on gold mining and shea nut conservation, respectively. The work of a community in the Ulu Papar Valley of Sabah, Malaysia, who used various forms of participatory action research to establish a Community Use Zone in a state park that overlaps with their customary lands, is also presented. Communities developing BCPs in Kenya, India and South Africa are also spotlighted. 

The note also briefly outlines Biocultural Community Protocols: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators, which was developed by Natural Justice to support community members and supporting organisations in facilitating BCPs. The new Community Protocols website, as well as the numerous key publications available on the Natural Justice website, are also presented. 

The briefing note can be downloaded here. Learn more about BCPs at the new website here and on Facebook here.

FPP Report: Indigenous Peoples and the Green Climate Fund

The Forest Peoples Programme and the Indigenous Peoples’ Network of Malaysia (JOAS) have drafted a technical briefing for Indigenous peoples, policy makers and support groups entitled Indigenous Peoples and the Green Climate Fund. The note seeks to offer background on and critically analyse the fund created to support global action on climate change at the 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, concluding that the “views and recommendations of Indigenous Peoples are not being taken fully into account.” 

The briefing includes a section on understanding the Green Climate Fund (GCF), offering basic details to those just learning about the GCF as well as summaries of the latest updates. The briefing also considers the key challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in the development of the GCF and lists three recommendations with detailed justifications: 1) ensuring effective environmental and social safeguards and a rights-based approach to climate financing; 2) ensuring Indigenous peoples’ access to a dedicated fund for financing climate change actions; and, 3) ensuring Indigenous peoples’ full and effective participation in governance. 

The full briefing can be downloaded here. Read more about the Forest Peoples Programme here, and follow them on Facebook here and on Twitter at @ForestPeoplesP.