Additional articles

Indigenous Ecuadorians March Against Canadian Copper Mine
QUITO, Ecuador, March 8, 2012 (ENS) – Several hundred members of the largest Ecuadorian indigenous organization today began marching to the capital, Quito, to protest new mining in their territory. They expect to arrive in Quito on March 22. The indigenous march started from Yantzaza in Zamora Chinchipe province southern Ecuador, where …

The Amazon’s Internet Indians

March 13, 2012, www.aljazeera.com | Amazonia is much more than just the earth’s lungs: it is home to 20 per cent of the world’s fauna, 20 per cent of its fresh water reserves and countless animal species.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil started the conquest of the massive ancient forest in order to increase the country’s prosperity – a people without land moved to a land without people, built roads, dams and cities.

Since then, two million hectares of tropical rainforest have been burned down and cleared in the Amazon every year.  An area approximately the same size as France, 65 million hectares, has now disappeared.

Today, the earth’s largest forest is home to 20 million people: All of them have their own, usually conflicting, ideas about the future development of the Amazon region.

 

“Way cool!”
Meet the tribe using the internet to tackle the logging mafias targeting their villages.

Original early American Bison stock brought back from Canada to Montana Reserve

March 13, 2012, www.whitewolfpack.com | They say you can’t go back in time but something very close to that is taking shape in Montana. Dozens of bison calves were recently brought over from Canada to a large piece of land with very high hopes. Conservationists hope to restore this land to it’s original state.

These baby bison are an important part of the equation to restore this land as they are from the original genetic stock of bison that used to roam what’s known as the American Prairie Reserve. Hundreds of their ancestors that came from that same area were sold to Canada in 1906 for its Elk Island National Park. The bison were originally sold to Canada to help the species survive extinction which were being decimated in the U.S. Now in an act of returning the offspring of these original bison transplants, there is great expectation of returning this land to it’s original biodiversity. The plan is to help restore a complete grassland ecosystem.

 

Original early American Bison stock brought back from Canada to Montana Reserve
www.whitewolfpack.com
71 bison calves were released last Thursday to join 140 bison that were already on the 123,000-acre reserve. Only some 500,000 bison roam the rural U.S. lands today, which is only a fraction of the tens of millions that once were.
  • GoodNews FortheEarth and Rosie Carnam like this.

Lakota Indians Block ‘Keystone XL Pipeline’ Trucks in Six-Hour Standoff

 

March 6, 2012, www.colorlines.com | “Five Lakotas on Pine Ridge Indian land in South Dakota were arrested Monday after attempting to block two tarsands pipeline trucks from entering their land. According to the Lakota activist the six-hour standoff started when the trucks refused to turn around claiming they had “corporate rights that supersede any other law.”

“~ Lakota Indians Block Tar Sands ‘Keystone XL Pipeline’ Trucks in Six-Hour Standoff. Both the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Tribal Council’s oppose Tar Sands. This link includes a video, with a 93 year old woman, and other activists speaking in a dialogue with a tribal policeman.”
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/03/lakota_indians_block_keystone_xl_pipeline_trucks_from_enterincolorlines.com
  • Rita Jacinto, Anne-Marie Engwall, Rosalie Anne, Anne-Marie Engwall, Rosalie Anne, Veronica Smith, Tammy Mc Daniels, Shane Wilson, Eugenia Linn, Diana Burke, Lesley Labbe, Monica Flinchbaugh, Patricia Clary likes this.

Judges allow Guarani Indians to remain on ancestral land in Brazil

February 10, 2012, Survival InternationalGuarani girls

New rainforest and indigenous reserve established in Peru

news.mongabay.com, 2/07/12, “On February 4th, the Peruvian government and a small indigenous group created a new Amazon reserve, dubbed the Maijuna Reserve. Located in northeastern Peru, the 390,000 hectare (970,000 acres) reserve is larger than California’s Yosemite National Park and over three times the size of Hong Kong”

posted by  Therese Williams, “This new conservation area protects a true jewel: a complex of Amazonian high terraces—a habitat unknown until recent biological inventories—that shelters a flora and fauna with a number of new, rare, and specialized species.”  Judith Green and Robert Brothers like this.

$18 Billion judgement by Ecuador against Chevron affirmed by US Court of Appeals

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a major blow to Chevron’s efforts to evade responsibility for the devastation it caused in the Amazon rainforest of Northeastern Ecuador.

The appeals court reversed an order by District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan that purported to block enforcement of an $18 billion judgment delivered by an Ecuadorian court in February 2011

Here’s a related story, http://chevrontoxico.com/news-and-multimedia/2012/0104-chevron-guilty-verdict-upheld-by-ecuador-appellate-court.html

Chevron contamination in Ecuador

Small town rises up against deforestation in Pakistan

The town of Ayun, home to 16,000 people in the Chitral district of Pakistan, has been rocked by large-scale protests and mass arrests over the issue of corruption and deforestation”  — Jeremy Hancemongabay.com, January 02, 2012.  Here’s an article from the local paper, http://www.chitralnews.com/Deforstation-22–Dec-2011.htm    And here are two comments on the mongabay article:
  • Salman Khan · 

    I am proud of Kalash people in Pakistan , who have the strength and courage to protest against the senseless & selfish destruction of our only remaining forest! , I cant believe why the mainstream media of Pakistan that is considered such a powerful force in the nation is not promoting this very important issue?
  • Farrukh Iqbal Qureshi

    Shame on us. Instead of providing trees to the people to plant in the area, we are giving them batons and sticks.

A White Salmon River free of Condit Dam is monumental for tribal elder, kayaker and a fish biologist

Oct 25, 2011, www.oregonlive.com | In 1913 the Condit Dam went up near the mouth of the White Salmon, supplying electricity to a paper mill but stopping salmon cold.  It’s scheduled to be breached Wednesday. With 700 pounds of dynamite, PacifiCorp contractors will set off a final charge to complete a drain tunnel blasted into the bottom of the dam, creating a hole that will empty the last of Northwestern Lake and begin the dam’s demise.”

“~ DAM REMOVALS FREE RIVERS FOR SALMON!
See also this in-depth article re 8 OTHER DAM REMOVALS in the Pacific Northwest, http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/10/for_a_tribal_elder_a_kayaker_a.html
Condit Dam Removed from the White Salmon River in Washington
www.whitesalmonriver.org”
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Peru in shock move to abolish uncontacted tribe’s reserve

June 8th, 2011, www.survivalinternational.org | “The survival of the uncontacted tribe whose images caused a worldwide sensation in February is in jeopardy, after Peruvian government plans to abolish a reserve that protects their territory were exposed.
  The Indians live inside Brazil, close to the Peru border. The Murunahua reserve protects neighbouring uncontacted Indians on the Peru side, but has been invaded by illegal loggers in recent years.

 

“~ SUCCESSFUL NEWS REPORT AND TWITTER CAMPAIGN move Peru’s Culture Ministry to publicly announce that the Murunahua reserve will not be closed and said it plans to do more to protect uncontacted tribes
Peru reverses move to abolish uncontacted tribe’s reserve
Recent report proves Murunahua reserve is still the target of illegal logging, and moves Peru’s government to change its position and strengthen…”
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Recognition for Native people who honor the Earth is good news for the Earth

December 17, 2010 – Mail Tribune, A steep Rogue River rapid near Gold Hill will again be named for the ancient American Indian village there.  The U.S. Geological Survey this week gave final approval for changing Powerhouse Rapid to Ti’lomikh Falls in honor of the Takelma village at the waterfall, which was a key salmon-fishing stretch for the Indians.
“Isn’t that grand?” said Agnes Pilgrim, 86, who is the oldest known surviving member of the Takelma tribe. “It cheers my heart that we get recognition. It’s long overdue, but it’s great to have it move forward.”