Last week, Environmental groups from the Philippines cautioned against the government sending in larger deployments of police and military to protect mining operations such as the one headed by the Australian mining giant Xstrata in Tampakan, Mindanao. The groups warn that doing so “would give rise to even more conflict and human rights violations against mining-affected communities.”

In a statement, Clemente Bautista Jr., National Coordinator of Kalikasan Peoples’ Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), said “We’re disappointed that the Environment Secretary favors militarization over peace talks and community consent …

A group of Algonquin warned on Friday they will ignore the court order issued last October and return to block the Uranium mine near Sharbot Lake unless the Province of Ontario calls a halt to the project.

“The destruction of the land, the consequence of a uranium mine being built, and the health effects will be devastating on our community,” said Chief Negotiator Robert Lovelace. “We have taken a stand that there will be no uranium mine in that area.”

Keith Leslie writes, “Lovelace [also] said he doesn’t …

Earlier this week, there were confrontations between police officers and indigenous People in Panama who are opposed to the development of a hydroelectric dam on the Cobre River. On Saturday, about 250 demonstrators closed the Pan-American highway, but were suppressed half an hour later and attacked with tear gas by the National Police.

This was to-be-expected, but as Larrissa Duarte, a spokesperson from the Movement in Defense of the Cobre River, said to La Prensa, they have been carrying out peaceful protests for the past five years, and a …

“All that Glitters is not Gold” is an informative and disturbing 6-minute video that looks at the Olympic Dam in Australia, the site of the world’s largest known uranium deposit.

Currently, BHP Billiton wants the federal and state government to approve a plan to bring 40 million tonnes of the radioactive ore to the surface every year for the next 50-100 years.

As relayed in the film, and in a press release for a related film, more than 80% of the radiation that will be brought up from deep within the earth will remain at the surface of the …

“Moving Mountains, ” is a film produced by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) which examines the toxic legacy of large-scale mining in the Philippines.

The primary focus in the following 10 minute clip is on the region known as the Cordillera.

Home to over a million settlers and indigenous people, the Cordillera is a row of great mountain ranges occupying half of Northern Luzon in the Philippines.

Currently, there are more than 60 pending applications by mining companies to explore and exploit the minerals in the Cordillera–altogether covering more than half of the region (over 11,000 hectares).

There are …

The World Rainforest Movement’s Bulletin for December features an article by Guadalupe Rodriguez, a Campaigner for Tropical Forests and Human Rights, which discusses the ongoing criminalization of anyone opposed to the exploitative activities of transnational corporations in Ecuador.

The article also discusses “the First Summit of Communities Criminalized for Defending Nature”, which was held on November 16th at the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador.

You can read the full article at World Rainforest Movement website. Here’s an excerpt:

As announced in the call to the Quito meeting, [the …

According to a recent article on Narco News, Colombia’s Anti-Narcotics Police will soon begin fumigating illicit crops inside of the country’s Indigenous Territories.

Though not publicly known until November 24, on October 8, the National Narcotics Council approved the new fumigation plan–alleging the government first engaged in a consultation process with the affected communities (which they are required to do by law).

Consultations have “supposedly been carried out in the departments (states) of Guaviare, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Cuaca, Caquetá, Vichada, Arauca and Guainía, and are still …

A group of Penan from the Upper Baram region of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak have reported Headman Kelesau Naan has vanished without a trace. He was last seen on October 23, 2007.

According to a media release by Bruno Manser Fonds, “The Penan leader, who was in his 70s, was last seen on 23 October 2007 in the vicinity of his village in one of Sarawak’s last intact rainforests. After two months, the Penan have decided to break the silence and have lodged a police report.” …

photo courtesy of www.paqg.org/

On Tuesday, December 12, the three judge tribunal in San Marcos released the sentence of the 7 seven Mayan farmers who were charged with a barrage of criminal offenses by GoldCorp earlier this year. To my surprise, the judgment was pretty much in favour of the Goldcorp 7! Five were acquitted of all charges, and the other two were put on two years probation and given …

The state of Michigan on Friday handed a huge defeat to Indigenous People, environmental groups and others who have actively opposed a controversial sulfide mine that the Kennecott Minerals Company - an international mining company with one of the worst environmental records in the world - wants to build in the pristine Yellow Dog Plains near Lake Superior.

Kennecott plans to tunnel below a prime trout stream (the Salmon-Trout River - that feeds Lake Superior) and use an acid-leaching process to extract nickel and other minerals - leaving in …