Humankind and Nature
Take action, support indigenous initiatives and campaigns
Non-indigenous people must join indigenous peoples in their fight against the exploitative and extractive industries that make land uninhabitable and violate human rights.
Because it really is a matter of life or death. For both Humankind and Nature as we know it.
Never have the tragic effects of our fossil-fuel dependency been a part of the conversation as much as right now. What started as warnings from the scientific community has now turned into alarming reports of wildfires, floodings and murderous temperatures. And despite the accuracy of the forecasts predicting nefarious consequences, the speed, frequency and scale with which these catastrophes have occurred was unexpected.
At this point, it's shocking how governments are still allowing further projects by extractive industries, let alone subsidizing them.
And the part Indigenous Peoples have played in this is obvious, as the ecological devastation these projects bring is felt most immediately and gravely by the communities that live in the places where extraction occurs. Not only are these indigenous and local communities the least responsible for climate change, but they're also profoundly affected by extractivism, whether it be because it poisons the water they drink or because it destroys the land they live off.
Not only that but what is more unfair is that these same indigenous communities have often been the most determined and invested activists in protecting Nature and preserving biodiversity. Countless scientific reports have stated the unequivocal role of Indigenous Peoples as the best guardians of the ecosystems they're a part of.
For them, the greedy motivations behind this continued exploitation of resources are often unfathomable. For millennia, they have been aware of what most of us are just beginning to understand: we are Nature, and in the words of climate activist Vanessa Nakate, "we cannot drink oil, we cannot eat coal."
Moreover, for Indigenous Peoples, extraction has often meant being subjected to all sorts of abuse, violence and death. It has often meant reliving the intergenerational trauma of being dispossessed of the lands with which they have a unique and irreplaceable bond. By remaining silent, we are complicit in killing the guardians of our last protected ecosystems and, consequently, in our own demise.
There's no time for giving in to helplessness. You can take action now. Subscribe and share the appeals we've linked below. Join these organizations and causes from wherever you are, and, if you can, donate or join in loco mobilizations of groups fighting to stop extractive industries. Remember to take the lead from indigenous voices and learn from indigenous knowledge.
Learn about the how the Adivasi who live in Hasdeo Forest are being ignored by PM Modi who's pushing for coal mining while calling India "green":
Take action by signing this letter addressed to PM Modi in support of the Adivasi of Hasdeo Forest:
Raise awareness on social media:
#Adivasi
#SaveHasdeo
@TribalArmy
@josie360
@survival
Learn about the plight of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and how president Bolsonaro is allowing and supporting their genocide by extractive industries, timber and agrobusiness.
Take action by signing the appeals from the Yanomami and the Guarani and the petitions to stop Bolsonaro:
Sign the petition to stop Brazil's Genocide.
Raise awareness on social media:
#StopBolsonaro
#SOSYanomami
#Yanomami
#MarcoTemporalNao
#PL490Não
#StopBrazilsGenocide
Learn about the Ojibwe people's fight against Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy building and operating of Line 3.
Take action by signing this statement of opposition to Line 3 and the letter addressed to president Biden urging him to stop Line 3.
Raise awareness on social media:
#StopLine3
@IENearth
@GiniwCollective
@ResistLine3
@zhaabowekwe
Learn about the expansion of the largest open-pit coal mine in Latin America, which is destroying the land and water resources that the indigenous Wayúu of the La Guajira region of Colombia have long depended on and find sacred.
Take action by signing this petition by Oxfam to support indigenous women defenders in Colombia, one of the most dangerous countries in the world for those who publicly oppose the destruction of natural resources due to mining and other extractive industries.
Raise awareness on social media:
Learn about the fierce opposition of Ecuador's indigenous communities to the destruction of the Amazon. Members from several communities recently gathered in the streets of the country's capital to protest Executive Decrees 95 and 151—these were signed by right-wing president Guillermo Lasso to allow an unbridled expansion of the mining and oil industries on pristine Amazon rainforest areas.
HAPPENING NOW: Indigenous @CofanesS community gather outside Ecuador’s @Ambiente_Ec to deliver their land title claim for 63, 775 hectares of ancestral territory.
— AFrontlines (@AFrontlines) October 19, 2021
“We are the owners of our ancestral territory, we demand the Ecuadorian gov’t respect our right to territory.” pic.twitter.com/8FORyDnQ6A
Take action and join the voices of Ecuador's indigenous communities. At Amazon Frontlines you can get updates on this situation and sign the letter these communities took to Ecuador's constiutional court.
Raise awareness on social media by using these hashtags:
#JusticeForTheAmazon
#IndigenousRights
#WhoShouldDecide
#KeepItInTheGround
#IndigenousResistance
Learn more about the impending threat of oil drilling to the unique and important Okavango watershed ecosystem.
Namibian activist Reinhold Mangudu shared this beautiful poem as a part of Re:Wild's campaign to protect the Okavango:
Take action and sign this open letter from "A coalition of global conservation organizations, including Re:wild, and public figures like Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, Forest Whitaker, Leonardo DiCaprio and Indigenous rights leader Nemonte Nenquimo [who] have joined local civil society leaders and organizations in Namibia and Botswana."
Raise awareness on social media:
#SAVETHEOKAVANGO
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