On March 8, 2012 several hundred Indigenous people began a two week march across Ecuador to call attention to their protest of a large-scale open-pit copper mine. Ecuacorriente, a Chinese company, has been authorized by the Correa government to develop a mine near El Pangui, Zamora-Chinchipe Province, in the southern part of the country.
Over the past six months, Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin has travelled repeatedly to Ecuador, reporting on the impact of Canadian mining projects on the Indigenous Peoples who live there. In February, she spent time with the Shuar people, whose ancestral territory is threatened by a Solaris Resources copper mining project.
By Brandi Morin (Iriquois, Cree)
By Pablo Xol (Maya Qʼeqchiʼ, CS Staff)
By Verónica Aguilar (Mixtec, CS Staff)
On May 22, the International Day for Biological Diversity, Cultural Survival presents the practice of chaku, or vicuña wool harvesting, in the La Angostura area of Catamarca Province in Argentina. Chaku is an economic and cultural activity that promotes the conservation of nature on Indigenous lands.
By Esther Mwangaza
The Lemera cluster in the Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in cassiterite, a valuable mineral used in the global electronics industry. However, the pursuit of this mineral has led to conflicts with the ancestral land rights of Indigenous Pygmy communities. Mining operations have displaced many Pygmy families from their farmlands and cassava fields without consultation, leaving them without sustainable livelihoods and access to natural resources like water wells and sacred sites.
By Mariana Campos Rivera (CS intern)
“Blessed is the water
that makes the flowers of this threatened land grow
because in the face of death it grants beauty.”
-Fredy Chicangana (Quechua), Poet
By CS Staff Rosy Sul González (Maya Kaqchikel), Verónica Aguilar (Mixtec), and Cesar Gomez (Maya Pocomam)
Climate change is accelerating worldwide, and Indigenous communities are experiencing the impacts and risks most acutely due in large part to their close relationship with Mother Earth and their status as stewards and protectors of the land.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
