Aurelio Chino Dahua, the "apu," or traditional leader and president of the Quechua Federation of the Upper Pastaza, attended this year's UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May in New York city, with the support of Cultural Survival in partnership with the Rainforest Foundation US. Cultural Survival coordinated a meeting for him with both the outgoing and the incoming Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya and Victoria Tauli Corpuz, respectively.
By Elliot Setzer, Intercontinental Cry
Taseko Mines Ltd. applied to the Federal Government for a second judicial review on March 26, 2014 after their proposal for the New Prosperity gold and copper mine in Tsilhqot’in territory was yet again rejected.
On March 26, 2014, the Quechua Federation of the Upper Pastaza River Basin (FEDIQUEP) declared a permanent strike until the Peruvian government shows signs of progress toward meeting the Federation’s conditions regarding compensation for oil contamination in its territory. Meetings among the communities, the oil company, Pluspetrol, and the government are slated for the end of April.
On April 7, 2014, in a magistrate courtroom in Nanyuki, Kenya, Samburu community members and their supporters battling for their land rights in Laikipia went head to head with African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), President Moi, and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) as they attempted to restore the criminal case against the Samburu tribe. Those in attendance were a number of Samburu elders, Lempaa Suyianka for Katiba Institute, Ngigi for Prof Yash, and Carol Mburugu for Kituo Cha Sharia.
Underground Railway Theater’s production of Sila will be showing at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge starting April 24, 2014. Playwright Chantal Bilodeau and director Megan Sandberg-Zakian merge Inuit myth with contemporary Arctic policy to use stories of personal significance to show the impact of global warming and climate change.
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.
