The Shan Herald reports that the first construction phase of the Tasang Dam is nearing completion. According to a source from the Thai/Burma border, Chinese dam builders have been at the site since last November, and have so far installed about 90% of the dams pillars.

The Tasang is the largest of 4 dams currently planned for the Salween River, in Shan State, Burma. Once the Tasang is operational, thousands of Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Wa, Pa-O, Lahu, Padaung, Akha, Lisu and Palaung - face displacement at …

The following video is six-minute clip is from Poison Wind, a documentary that examines the devastating impact Uranium mining has had on Indigenous People in the four corners region of New Mexico and Northern Arizona.

“As a government’s cruel secret is carried on the face of the wind,” writes Jenny Pond, one of the film’s co-producers, “Poison Wind tells the story of a corrupt government, unconscionable greed and a policy of destruction aimed at the Aboriginal Homelands of Indigenous People from the 1940’s until today.”

It also tells the stories of those who worked at the mine, of those who struggle to …

On Saturday, January 12, seven indigenous people from Raposa Serra do Sol land were detained and abused by Brazil’s Federal Police after inspecting and promoting cultural awareness among tourists at Caracaranã Lake, an area that’s frequently promoted in tourist packages.

According to a recent statement by CIMI, the “tourists leave a lot of garbage, offend indigenous people who live there, play music at maximum volume until late at night and bring and consume alcoholic beverages inside indigenous areas. For this reason, indigenous communities decided to promote awareness among …

Indigenous Communities in the Philippines have been recently forced to step up their efforts to defend their lands against foreign mining interests. There were two separate blockades last month, both in Nueva Vizcaya, Northern Luzon.

The first blockade was set up on Thursday, December 10th, shortly after the Ifugao, Ibaloi and Kalanguya got word the Australia firm OceanaGold would soon arrive to start exploration operations on their land. Sure enough, the workers arrived the following day. Fortunately that’s all they did—at least until the 100-strong group escorted the workers …

The Andaman Trunk Road, a 200 mile-stretch of concrete that breaks through one of India’s most pristine landscapes, is being used now more than ever. According to recent figures, there has been a threefold increase in traffic since 2001 - “from 17,315 to 37,505 in 2006. A total of 27,674 vehicles travelled the road in the first seven months of 2007 alone.”

I suppose this increase should be expected - the road is obviously quite useful - but it’s a bit strange seeing as how the Indian Supreme Court …

With the Asian Development Bank preparing to give a $100 million loan and $200 million political risk insurance package to GCM Resources’ open pit coal mine in Phulbari, Bangladesh - the future of the entire local population becomes evermore uncertain.

On the land they’ve live on for generations, many continue asking themselves questions that no one should have to ask: “What will happen to us if we are forced to move from here? What will happen to our livelihoods? I don’t want us to live like this. Our mosques …

Moving along with its pleasant-sounding “comfortable housing program,” a lofty endeavor that aims to forcefully move 250,000 Tibetans into featureless apartment blocks under the auspices of ‘protecting the environment and boosting living standards,’ the Chinese Government announced it will relocate more than 52,000 Tibetan herders and farmers this year.

Human rights groups have been consistently speaking out against this program because the resettlements are in fact lowering the Tibetan Peoples’ standard of living. This is made evident in the report “No one has the Liberty to …

The International Indian Treaty Council will soon present the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with a document that reveals America’s legacy of systemic racism, forced assimilation and apartheid of Indigenous Peoples.

The 87-page Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report, which has been prepared with testimony from a number of individuals, covers issues such as: environmental racism, border injustices, the destruction of sacred places, violence against women, and most tellingly, the “overwhelming disparities in income, life expectancy, poverty and unemployment” in what can only be described as a system of …

There is yet another mine set to be developed on indigenous territory without the consent of the people—a mine that has been so poorly engineered that it threatens an environmental disaster.

According to a Press Release by the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation, Western Copper’s proposed Carmacks mine, set to begin this coming spring, “includes a heap leach pile built on the side of a mountain that will cover at least 31.5 hectares (79 acres), and is 90m (300 feet) high.” The mountainside heap would be …

January 4th of this year marked the 16th anniversary of the day more than 300,000 Ogonis participated in “a mass non-violent protest against the devastation of their environment by the heartless multinational, oppressive, genocidal, and apartheid-like policies of both the Nigerian authorities and Royal Dutch Shell towards them.”

Soldiers and mobile police responded to the protest by firing tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd, killing four youths. Over the next year, acts of genocidal violence were repeatedly committed against the Ogoni.

Three years prior to this, Ogoni …