GENEVA (1st October 2013) –Construction of a mega-steel plant in Odisha in Eastern India should be halted immediately, United Nations independent human rights experts* have urged, citing serious human rights concerns. The project reportedly threatens to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area.
“The construction of a massive steel plant and port in Odisha by multinational steel corporation POSCO must not proceed as planned without ensuring adequate safeguards and guaranteeing that the rights of the thousands of people are respected,” the group of eight experts stressed.
While India has the primary duty to protect the rights of those whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by the project, the experts underlined that “POSCO also has a responsibility to respect human rights, and the Republic of Korea, where POSCO is based, should also take measures to ensure that businesses based in its territory do not adversely impact human rights when operating abroad.” More
Joint community rice harvesting by the Karen people in the highlands of northern Thailand.
By Dr. Maurizio Farhan-Ferrari, Environmental Governance Programme Coordinator
Forest Peoples Programme, Moreton-in-Marsh, UK
Two peer-reviewed studies published recently by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Bank show that strict conservation is less effective in reducing deforestation than community forests that are managed and controlled by indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities within multiple use systems.
This article argues that indigenous resource management systems are not only well poised to reduce deforestation rates but also to provide a rich array of experiences, expertise, and practices that can significantly contribute to protecting biodiversity, food security, and sustainable livelihoods in indigenous communities, as well as finding answers to climate change challenges. More
A vulnerable ethic minority village inside Cambodia’s remote Seima Protection Forest today became one of the first in Cambodia to receive a collective land title, which will help villagers fend off threats to their land and culture while also strengthening conservation goals.
The Senior Minister for Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, H.E. Im Chhun Lim, visited the ethnically Bunong village of Andoung Kraloeng village to mark this historic moment. The legal system has been piloted in three villages – the first two received titles last December, but the third is the only one in a protected forest and so sets crucial precedents for similar villages.
It has taken eight years for these first villages to receive their titles, but with the system now in place the rate of issuance is now expected to rise. Hundreds of other villages are eligible and many have begun the application process, including 12 in and around the Seima area. Eventually it is hoped to offer this opportunity to all interested villages around the reserve. More
Lucrative mining projects backed by foreign investors are destroying forests and threatening indigenous tribes who live off the land in the Philippines’ Palawan. Aljazeera’s 101 East explores if a balance could be struck between development and local interests.
Phnom Penh, (SCB Press)–Cambodia’s indigenous people plan to hold peaceful rally march in Ratanakiri’s Banlung city on 19 March to protest against land grabbing and rampant illegal logging in their community according to letter issued today from Ratanakiri ADHOC Office to provincial hall.
The protest march will have 1000 indigenous people from different affected communities of Ratanakiri to participate in the march. The letter stated that the marcher will first rally at ADHOC Office in Ratanakiri to pray for help from ancestor spirit and then walk from office across key departments and offices of the province which those are Department of Transpiration, Agriculture, Information, Ratanakiri Forestry Administration Office, Court House, Provincial Hall and provincial roundabout before return to provincial ADHOC office. More
Despite water shortages, Chilipoi village women with their own small homestead plots are able to grow enough vegetables to feed their families. ALERTNET/Manipadma Jena
By Manipadma Jena
GANJAM, India (AlertNet) – Efforts to secure land ownership for tribal people in one of India’s poorest states are bolstering their economic security in the face of climate-induced hardships, and helping conserve farmland and forest.
In the hamlet of Kharibandh in Ganjam, a coastal district in the eastern state of Orissa (now officially called Odisha), 13 households of the Sabar tribal community each received title to 400 square metres (0.1 acres) of government land two years ago. The families had lived in Kharibandh for three generations, but had no legal right to the land.
Today, Rabibari Sabar, a 51-year-old widow, pedals vigorously on a foot pump to pipe pond water into her plot of seasonal vegetables interspersed with coconut and papaya trees. As well as feeding her family, she earned 1,500 rupees ($30) last year selling tubers and spinach from her homestead farm to neighbouring villagers. More
Member of the Prey Lang Network said yesterday that Ouch Sam On, the deputy governor of Kampong Thom province, had told them he would not be responsible if they were shot while protecting Prey Lang forest.
Kim Cheng, 50, a member of the network, said villagers would not obey an order to stay out of the forest and would continue patrolling for illegal loggers.
“Ouch Sam On threatened villagers and told us we were not allowed to patrol anymore,” he said.
“Maybe he is cooperating with businessmen who are illegally cutting trees, so he is afraid our patrols will expose his interest.”
More than 30 companies have been granted economic land or mining concessions in the forest, which covers 3,600 square kilometres in four provinces in the country’s north, and villagers say illegal loggers regularly cut down trees for luxury timber. More
The sounds of birds chirping filter down through the forest canopy as the 200 members of Prey Lang Network walk deep into Cambodia’s most precious rainforest.
The group, dedicated to stopping illegal logging, have set out on foot from the city of Kam Pong Thmor to the Prey Lang Forest, arguably Cambodia’s Amazon, a remote 200,000 hectares of virgin timber. Five hours in, they discover newly built roads and illegally logged timber. More
Gram Sabhas should become more effective as this will ensure transparency, and corruption will be minimized
Liz Mathew
New Delhi: The environment ministry will not clear any mining in forest areas unless local village councils give their consent, Kishore Chandra Deo, minister of tribal affairs and Panchayati Raj, said in an interview. A Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh, Deo took charge of the two ministries in July. He said the revival of village councils is the best way to ensure larger people’s participation in governance Edited excerpts: More
Indigenous Issues in Asia 