In a major development, leading international conservation, environmental, indigenous and development organizations have united to oppose expansion of industrial logging in the Congo rainforest - the second largest rainforests remaining. This is perhaps the rainforest struggle of the decade.

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 9 (IPS) - Buenos Aires has unexpectedly become the new stage for a long-standing battle between an Argentine oil company and an Ecuadorian indigenous community fighting to defend its ancestral land rights in the Amazon rainforest. 

Representatives of the Kichwa community of Sarayaku have come to the Argentine capital to call on President Néstor Kirchner to intervene in the conflict. 

"Our people's future is threatened. We are living in a constant state of fear," Marlon Santi, a community leader from Sarayaku, told IPS. 

The U.S.-Mexico border and the troubles faced by indigenous communities whose lands have been spliced down the middle are nothing new. But with increased fear of terrorism and heightened homeland security measures in the United States, the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona, which shares 75 miles of its border with Mexico, is being squeezed into a precarious position.

The full transcript of the video conference between the Rainforest Foundation, Congolese organisations, the World Bank, and others, concerning the Bank's involvement in the forests of the Congo, that took place on July 8th, is now available for download at this website:

 http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/sites/default/files/Transcript.pdf

The president of the Confederation of Ethnic Peoples (COMPAH) of Honduras reported that Elipidio Martinez Chavarria, leader of the Pech of eastern Honduras, was fatally shot on Saturday in Dulce Nombre de Culmi, Olancho province. Martinez was the head of the Federation of Pech Tribes of Honduras and was a leading force against landowners and loggers taking over indigenous lands in the region. The motive for the killing is unknown, but COMPAH believes that Chavarria’s death was linked to the defense of land.

Good News! Below is a press release from our campaign partner, the Rainforest Foundation in the UK.  Since January this year, we’ve been sending letters to World Bank president James Wolfensohn on behalf of DRC forest communities. The good news is that Wolfensohn agreed to listen directly to indigenous peoples of DRC, and promises continued dialogue with them concerning the Bank’s plans for forest exploitation.  THANKS for every letter you wrote on this issue!  More letters will certainly help.
 
 
RAINFOREST FOUNDATION
PRESS RELEASE

 The Twa were the first inhabitants of the equatorial forests of the Great Lakes region. Originally a high-altitude forest people, inhabiting the mountains of the Albertine Rift Area in Central Africa, they specialized in hunting and gathering. At present, the Twa of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa live in Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and southwest Uganda.

Global Response is very happy to report on the inspiring March for Life in Honduras, which ended with a peaceful and powerful rally in Tegucigalpa on June 30.  Thanks to all who sent letters in support of the march to Honduran government officials.

During a protest at the Coca airport last week, 50 indigenous people from the Siona, Huaorani, Cofan, and Shuar groups demanded that Texaco pay $6 billion to clean up half a million hectares of land polluted by former oil productions. Representatives for Texaco said they had spent $40 million already and did not intend to spend more.

The European Roma Rights Center sent a letter to the United Nations and Kosovo officials protesting the recent violence against the Roma by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The letter, which presents evidence documenting the destruction of approximately 70 Roma homes, urges authorities to investigate the violence and punish those responsible.