Bogota, 22 November 2018 – In an unprecedented and historic show of unity, leaders from every major faith tradition today joined indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian communities, climate scientists, and NGOs in pledging to defend the Amazon and end deforestation.

QUITO, ECUADOR — Thousands of activists and indigenous leaders have gathered in Quito after a 10-day march across Ecuador in defense of water and land rights. An estimated 2,000 people joined in towns and cities along the route, which began in Tundayme in the Amazonian province of Napo on November 4 and finished in the capital on November 14. Organized by ECUARUNARI (Confederación de la Nacionalidad Kichwa del Ecuador), the 890-kilometer march (equivalent to 553 miles) was a protest against mining and hydroelectric projects participants said are decimating Ecuador’s forests

As extreme rainfall brings more landslides, farmers are turning to bamboo to protect their land - and making an income from it

MAKOMBOKI, Kenya - Lunch at Macharia Mirara's house in the village of Makomboki used to be a cheery occasion as his children chattered about their morning at school. But these days, no one is home.

The family is absent because of the threat from an adjacent loose earth slope, which runs about a kilometre down to the valley floor in central Kenya's Murang'a County.

Little has been done to reverse the damage of gold mining and villagers have little recourse, say experts

NA NONG BONG, Thailand - They came in the night - about 150 men wearing masks and wielding sticks, knives and guns who swarmed the village of Na Nong Bong in Thailand's northeastern province of Loei, firing into the air while threatening and beating residents.

Journalist Sue Branford and social scientist Maurício Torres spent a month learning about Ferrogrão (Grainrail), one of the newest threats to the Brazilian Amazon – first meeting with government officials in Brasilia and then travelling along the proposed route, speaking to both sides in the heated debate over its construction. This the first of their reports.

Choj Mayan people have been blocking a road in San Mateo Ixtatan, Huehuetenango, against a hydroelectric project they claim is illegal.

Choj Mayan people have been blocking a road in Yich Kisis, San Mateo Ixtatan, Huehuetenango, in protest against a hydroelectric project in their community. On Monday and Tuesday, anti-riot police came to the scene. Six people were reported injured.

A Recent UN Declaration Offers Recognition of Human Rights in Rural Areas

On 28 September, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), meeting in Geneva, passed a resolution which calls for the UN General Assembly to adopt the “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.” This proposed declaration includes a number of rights, and specifically mentions that water resources in mountain ecosystems should be protected against pollution from mining activities.

The battle to stop the spread of extractive industries pits indigenous and peasant communities against powerful business interests, backed up by politicians who encourage the foreign investments that convert millennial ways of life into cash—for them

For more than half a century, the indigenous Kaiowá and Guarani people of Brazil have been deprived of their ancestral lands, and consigned to small reserves where it is impossible to maintain their traditional livelihoods. Generations of these indigenous peoples’ lives have been marked by violence and vulnerability as they have tried to reclaim what, according to the Brazilian constitution, is rightfully theirs.

Indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon have united and created the Wampis Nation – an autonomous territorial government – in order to defend their livelihood from the increasing pressure from extractive industries. Their autonomous government covers nearly an area the size of one-third of the Netherlands and more than 15,000 people are part of this one-of-a-kind initiative.

"Gender, Land and Mining in Pastoralist Tanzania" is the product of rigorous field research over two years by WOLTS team members from Mokoro and HakiMadini. Significant stresses from mining, population growth and climate change, as well as disturbing levels of violence against women have been uncovered in this study of two traditional pastoralist communities in Tanzania. Initial findings are based on repeat rounds of participatory fieldwork by the WOLTS team and have already received attention at national and local level.

The course is organized by the Netherlands Academy for Land Governance (LANDac), a network of organizations exchanging knowledge and experience on how land governance may contribute to sustainable and inclusive development.