On top of the socio-economic reform demands being pushed by the National Democratic Front, collectively dubbed as the comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reforms (CASER), is the free distribution of land for the country’s landless rural poor. During the ill-fated peace talks in Amsterdam in July, the question was raised: where will the government get the land to distribute for free to would-be agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs)? One of the answers: public lands.

The Kichwa people of the San Martin region have traditionally occupied the upland forests which since 2005 were classified as the Regional Protected Area - Cerro Escalera by the regional government of San Martin. Today, many of these communities lack any secure rights to these forests and are regularly stopped and restricted from accessing its forest resources vital for their subsistence.

Indigenous peoples across Latin America have demonstrated their determination to protect their communities and their territories over the centuries and, in the process, have proven their role as stewards of the environment. Threatening to encroach upon ancestral lands, contaminate water sources, and divide communities with the construction of mega projects, national and multinational companies have long wreaked havoc on the environment and taken advantage of indigenous communities. Yet, the communities have not sat idly by.

On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we celebrate the successes of indigenous peoples in Latin America in protecting their lands and communities. In particular, we recognize the strong leadership of indigenous women who have stood at the front lines of many of these achievements and celebrate the indigenous communities that have defended their lands from mega-projects. 

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are stewards of natural resources and nature. We have been conserving our territories for thousands of years. Each indigenous community has its own territory. For indigenous nomadic pastoralists our territory consists of summering grounds, wintering grounds, migration routes, stopovers and mid-way stations with different ecological, social, economic and cultural assets. These assets include forests, rangelands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, coasts, seas, and many other types of ecosystems and wildlife.

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) will lead the tribal folk of the Cordillera Region in marking World Indigenous People’s Day on August 9, 2017 – with a vow to further assert their right to self-determination.

“Our common plight as indigenous peoples experiencing national oppression, discrimination, development aggression and human rights violations strengthens our resolve to unite with indigenous peoples and other oppressed sectors in the Philippines, as well as our brothers and sisters in other nations,” stated CPA Chairperson Windel Bolinget.

Mental Health Australia says governments need better response to ‘slow-burning, invisible kind of tragedy’

Governments are better at tackling natural disasters than longer-term problems in remote Indigenous communities, the head of Mental Health Australia has said.

Bauxite has played a role more critical than perhaps any other bit of dirt in the modern land rights struggle.

The 1963 Yirrkala bark petit­ions protesting an Arnhem Land deal to mine the ore used to make aluminium arguably kicked off the drive to legally reclaim indig­enous property.

It was to be a profound matter not merely of ownership, but of deep cultural identity; of connection to country.