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Indigenous governments participated in an intercultural dialogue with Colombia’s Constitutional Court to discuss the effects of mercury pollution associated to illegal mining in their territories

The Court convened the dialogue after a long legal battle held over 20 years. Gaia Amazonas participated with the intention of promoting the opening of civic space by providing legal advice and helping prepare all the necessary materials for the conversation.

Commitments, collaboration and connections - takeaways from a Strategy Workshop on Women's Rights to Land and the Rio Conventions

During 3-5 July 2023, I had the privilege to participate in a Strategy Workshop on Women’s Land Rights and the Rio Conventions (climate change [UNFCCC]; biological diversity [UNCBD]; and combatting desertification [UNCCD]). Co-organised by the TMG Think Tank for Sustainability, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the UN Convention on Combatting Desertification, the workshop was the first time that actors working across the three conventions were brought together to exchange and develop concrete actions on strengthening women’s land rights.

Green Livelihoods Alliance hails Supreme Court’s Writ of Kalikasan against Palawan miners, DENR

The Green Livelihoods Alliance in the Philippines lauds the Writ of Kalikasan issued by the Supreme Court of the Philippines last August 16, 2023, to compel the the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Ipilan Nickel Corporation and Celestial Nickel Mining and Exploration Corporation to provide evidence to dispel concerns regarding the potential harmful impact of a mining project to the  Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Historical Deal for Biodiversity

It was an awkward incident: right at the moment that the Chinese environment minister serving as chairman of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD COP15) wanted to adopt what has been touted as the “Paris Agreement of biodiversity”, the representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) asked for the floor and stated that the agreement was unacceptable because it did not include a new independent Global Biodiversity Fund. It seems his words, spoken in French, were lost in translation for Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu. He looked confused, quickly consulted the CBD Secretariat, and then lowered the hammer saying that the agreement was adopted as nobody had “objected”.

Indigenous youth in Bali are leading the way to keep their forest and lake sacred

August 9 commemorates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous youth are working as agents of change at the forefront of the climate and biodiversity crises. The youth of the Adat Dalem Tamblingan Indigenous people in Bali are leading the way: in order to protect the biodiversity in their lake and forest and preserve the values of their ancestors, they are raising awareness and documenting their culture through videos. The Green Livelihoods Alliance interviewed them:

Exploring Locally Led Adaptation

Decisions on how to tackle the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and entrenched poverty are mostly made far away from local contexts. Only a small proportion of resources are channelled to the local level for locally-designed and locally-led  resilience initiatives. Locally Led Adaptation enables people to take the lead, by providing them the information, capacity, and resources they need to deal with the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and deprived livelihoods.

MOPP and PACs Strengthening Relationship Following SDI’s Intervention

With funding support from the Green Livelihoods Alliance Forest for a Just Future Program, the SDI and Milieudefensie conducted a research on the operations of MOPP in 2022. Findings from the research were released in February 2023. The findings showed social and environmental harms at the Maryland Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP).

Ghana’s forest guardians use mobile app to expose illegal deforestation

In the Bia West district of Ghana, local communities are harnessing the power of a mobile app to help authorities detect and locate illegal logging.

Selling forests for carbon credits is neo-colonialism

Liberia's government threatens to sell 1 million hectares of forests to Blue Carbon. The company wants to 'harvest' carbon credits and sell them to big polluters. This is land-grabbing and neo-colonialism. 14 NGO's call upon Liberia and Blue Carbon to immediately halt the negotiations.