Another area considered sacred by the Huichol people of Mexico has been licensed out in concessions by the government. According to the Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), approximately 250 acres of beachfront property including the sacred area of Tatéi Haramara will be developed for tourism.

After marching for almost a week from areas surrounding the Prey Lang forest, some 400 Cambodian villagers were confronted by police who prevented them from going further. The confrontation with 30 armed police occurred at the site of the CRCK rubber plantation, where the protesters planned to hold a vigil.  The Vietnamese military-linked company holds a 15,000-acre concession to carve a rubber plantation out of the Prey Lang forest.

The United States will consider alternate routes for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, State Department officials announced today. The decision effectively delays any eventual approval for construction of an oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf coast until after the 2012 election.

Aljazeera reports today that 500 armed police have been sent to confront villagers who are trying to prevent the destruction of one of Cambodia's last primary forests, Prey Lang.  Several hundred villagers have been trekking deep through the forest for the past several days to protest illegal logging and government-granted concessions, according to the report.

The Ngöbe-Buglé Indigenous people took to the streets once more during the week of October 24th as a result of President Martinelli's failure to take their demands into account regarding changes to the country's mining code.

In another turn in the ongoing law suit over construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, a district federal court ruled on November 9th that Indigenous Peoples who oppose construction of the dam on the Xingu river do not have the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent on the project because it is not located on their traditional territory. This decision contradicts the Brazilian Constitution as well as Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which Brazil has endorsed.

November 8, 2011- According to WWF-Russia, Gazprom’s European projects meet higher standards for environmental protection and transparency than its projects inside Russia. The Nord Stream offshore pipeline, to be inaugurated tomorrow, will carry natural gas from Russia to Europe.

In this 10-minute video, Kuy villagers in Cambodia show their determination to protect Prey Lang (“Our Forest”) as bulldozers tear it down for agro-industry expansion and mining projects.  

Walking along a narrow path through ancient trees, Kuy elder Ru Lark says, “Our people are worried. How long can Prey Lang survive? Kuy people know we can look after it. It is part of our belief. We have lived here for many years, and the forest has not been lost. If the government can work with our communities, we know that we can save this forest.”

November 8, 2011– On today’s Moscow Times Opinion page,  the co-founder of Russia’s Party of People’s Freedom blasted the Medvedev government and the state oil company, Gazprom, for violating national laws and international accords. Vladimir Ryzhkov also hinted at corruption in the government’s project to build a natural gas pipeline across the Ukok Plateau, despite its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Ryzhkov served as a State Duma representative from 1993 to 2007 and currently hosts a political radio talk show.

November 7, 2011- An estimated 10,000 people ringed the White House on Sunday, calling on President Obama to reject a proposal to build a pipeline that would carry crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. Among them were prominent Native Americans and First Nations people, who urged the president to honor his promise of a “new deal” with Native Peoples and his pledge to take action against global warming.

On October 26 and 27, hundreds of Huichol people traveled 20 hours to the Mexican capital to demand, once more, that President Felipe Calderón cancel mining concessions in their sacred lands and fulfill his promises to the Huichol people.

October 31, 2011- In reply to a letter from Cultural Survival, Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment acknowledged “high ecological risks” in the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline across the Ukok Plateau, reiterating its preference for alternate routes. The letter, signed by N.R.