On December 3rd, 2017, a year and a week ago, Marivic Danyan, a young indigenous woman less than 30 years of age saw how the Philippine Army murdered her father, her two brothers, her husband, an uncle and cousins. It was a massacre. Today, Marivic spoke with Real World Radio, because the peaceful struggle for their lands continues. It all…
December 2nd marked 33 months of the murder of the Lenca people defender, Berta Cáceres, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department (Honduras) and the attempted murder of environmental activist Gustavo Castro, member of Otros Mundos Chiapas – Friends of the Earth Mexico. The case went to trial after many irregularities in the investigation carried out by the Public…
With certain advances in the recognition of the role of indigenous people and local communities in terms of the conservation of biological diversity, the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity came to an end in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Nevertheless, some environmental organizations are worried about the role of corporations in the official…
24 hours after the historical decision by the Third Committee (on cultural, social and humanitarian aspects) of the United Nations General Assembly in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, the representative of Vía Campesina, Diego Montón, assessed from New York the process and its final outcome. The draft…
The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) started on Saturday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, under the theme “Investing in biodiversity for people and planet”. The event will take place through November 29th. Environmental activist Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International´s Forests and Biodiversity program coordinator, who is present at the COP, warned that…
On November 14, at dawn, the Comando Jungla attacked Mapuche community Temucuicui. There were helicopters and tankettes surrounding the territory. As a result of the armed attack by the command, Camilo Catrillanca, a 25-year-old Mapuche man, grandson of Lonko Juan Segundo Catrillanca, of the Temucuicui traditional community and son of Marcelo Catrillanca, a renowned leader of the Mapuche people, was…
“It´s a sham” saying that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is solving the serious socioenvironmental effects of this industry, said Nigerian environmental activist Rita Uwaka. “There are more environmental abuses, human rights abuses in countries where most of these RSPO certified companies exist”, she added. The annual conference of the RSPO is taking place from Monday to Thursday…
“The fact that Berta Cáceres´ relatives and COPINH don´t have a legal representantive in this first trial is something extremely serious. This has been an arbitrary decision made by the Court, as a response of Cáceres´ family insisting on including the masterminds of the crime in this trial as well”, said Colombian lawyer Reinaldo Villalba, president of the “José Alvear…
On October 27-28, Friends of the Earth Spain, together with La Vía Campesina Europe and other agrarian, cattle farming, environmental and consumption groups celebrated “The Days of Action for Good Food” demanding changes in the food system based on policies that promote healthy food for the people and the planet. “We´ve been seeing for years that the European food system…
In 2004, Uruguay was the first country that enshrined the access to drinking water as a human right and a common good, not a commodity, in its Constitution. The irrigation law passed by the Parliament in 2017 authorizes private companies to bottle and sell water, that is, against what is established in the National Constitution. On October 26, several civil…
