[JURIST] Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox [official profile] called [press release] on Mongolia Wednesday to protect the environment.

Land rights defenders from 29 countries call for greater vigilance in ensuring governments comply with laws

MUMBAI, Sept 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Dozens of land rights defenders from 29 countries have written to the United Nations to draw attention to the increasing violence they face from states and corporations, and calling for greater vigilance in ensuring governments comply with laws.

As a 53-year civil war winds down, coca growers face growing pressure to shelve their lucrative crop.

Mauricio Quiróz has always had a plan.

The 38-year-old farmer and entrepreneur lives with his wife and three kids on a small ranch on the lush, steep mountainside that surrounds the municipality of Briceño, in the department of Antioquia in northwestern Colombia.

YAOUNDE — 

Leaders of Cameroon's indigenous forest peoples say their survival is at risk if they are further deprived of access to the lands that are the source of their livelihoods.

Speaking in Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, indigenous representatives said they had experienced increasingly serious violations of their land rights by palm oil and other agro-industries, mining firms and timber concessions, as well as the process of creating protected areas on their ancestral lands.

(Ecofin Agency) - In an open letter sent to the president of Madagascar on August 17, the Tany group exposed its concerns about land grabbing by foreign investors in the country. For the civil society group, whose objective “is to support the development of Malagasy farmers and citizens and defend their lands and natural resources”, it is urgent to boost land tenure and establish a stricter framework for land related transactions.

Communities have continued to suffer targeted killings, threats, displacement from their land and the effects of anti-personnel mines. 

Colombia's Indigenous peoples say their rights continue to be violated, and their land stolen, in spite of the peace deal signed last November between the government and FARC rebels.

Indigenous peoples across Latin America have demonstrated their determination to protect their communities and their territories over the centuries and, in the process, have proven their role as stewards of the environment. Threatening to encroach upon ancestral lands, contaminate water sources, and divide communities with the construction of mega projects, national and multinational companies have long wreaked havoc on the environment and taken advantage of indigenous communities. Yet, the communities have not sat idly by.

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) will lead the tribal folk of the Cordillera Region in marking World Indigenous People’s Day on August 9, 2017 – with a vow to further assert their right to self-determination.

“Our common plight as indigenous peoples experiencing national oppression, discrimination, development aggression and human rights violations strengthens our resolve to unite with indigenous peoples and other oppressed sectors in the Philippines, as well as our brothers and sisters in other nations,” stated CPA Chairperson Windel Bolinget.

Rebels imposed environmental rules remote rainforest regions, government struggling to fill power vacuum

• Historic claim recognised around Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue mine
• Court upholds $3.3m Timber Creek payout ruling against NT government

The federal court has handed down two major wins for native title holders, dismissing a government appeal against a landmark compensation case and recognising an exclusive native title claim around a $110bn mine owned by Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group.

Temer’s unelected government and its neoliberal austerity agenda are greatly threatening the lives of Brazil’s Indigenous tribes.

Indigenous groups in Brazil are under threat — as right-wing government officials drastically slash funding to an agency meant to protect them, already leading to increased homicides over land dispute issues.