A group of Baka "Pygmies" and their neighbors in southeast Cameroon have sent an impassioned plea to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), urging the conservation giant to stop funding anti-poaching squads that are responsible for a long history of persecution against the Baka. One letter by a village elder reads, "When WWF started its work here in Ndongo we welcomed it, but … [Read more...]
Help defend the brave indigenous folk of the Amazon
"We have come here to tell the government and companies that these lands are not for sale."– Jaime Vargas, President of the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador. Jaime and Narcisa traveled from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Houston recently on a mission… to challenge the Ecuadorian government face-to-face during its 11th Round oil concessions promotional roadshow at the North America … [Read more...]
Gathering Shamans to save the land
The Amazon Conservation Team has achieved success by abandoning conventional land protection practices and following the guidance of shamans. I met Liliana Madrigal and her husband, Dr. Mark Plotkin, at an environmental grant makers’ conference in 2001. With my background in anthropology and my work with an environmental foundation, I had been interested in the Amazon … [Read more...]
All of life is infused with spirit
Custodians of Sacred Sites from four African countries are working together to revive tribal traditions and protect their sacred sites and territories. They have released a statement of Common African Customary Laws to protect these sacred places and bring their message to an increasingly detached modern world. The Nanyuki Custodian Meeting in Kenya has drawn up a statement … [Read more...]
The world’s scientists’ climate change observations
As the UN’s climate change conference begins in Durban, Survival calls for the ecological knowledge and insights of tribal peoples to be heeded in global decisions concerning climate change. From the Amazon to the Arctic, tribal peoples typically have the smallest ecological footprints, having practiced sustainable ways of life for thousands of years, but they are also more … [Read more...]
Uncontacted tribes at risk of huge population loss
Survival International has warned on the eve of World Health Day (April 7) that uncontacted tribes face massive population loss if their land is not protected. Tribes like the Amazon Indians shown in the incredible aerial footage released by Survival this year are likely to lose more than half their population if outsiders invade their land. Around 100 tribes worldwide … [Read more...]
