Kenya’s New Mining Bill, 2014

Natural Justice’s work in Kenya has focused around the LAPSSET project. One major factor around our work has been the myriad of bills in Parliament waiting passing that will regulate community land, mining, oil and gas, energy and infrastructure.

One of the more significant and impactful pieces of legislation, the Kenya Mining Bill 2014 was passed on its third reading last week.  The bill repeals the former archaic remnant of a long-forgotten epoch, the Mining Act from 1940 and still in force, which fails to adequately meet the current demands of the emerging sector.  The primary objective of the bill is to consolidate all of the current laws related to mining.  It also seeks to implement a number of articles within Kenya’s Constitution pertaining to land management, respect for the environment and agreements for natural resources.

As the bill stands, there are certain concerns that still need to be addressed.   A major concern is the wide discretionary powers held by the Cabinet Secretary, which belie transparency and good governance, though the latest draft has attempted to create a body known as the Mineral Rights Board that takes some powers, though minimal, away from the Cabinet Secretary.  The definition of community in the bill is also disconcerting.  In the Interpretation section of the bill, a community is defined as (a) a group of people living around exploration and mining operations area; or (b) a group of people who may be displaced from land intended for exploration and mining operations.  The definition, worryingly, does not clarify what ‘around’ or ‘group’ means nor does it include other communities who may still be affected by mining operations.

Another issue is the failure to include provisions adequately dealing with consultation with communities in relation to mining activities.  There should be consultation with communities in all aspects of the planning process according to international law and best practices, however the bill is silent on this.  The bill has provided for royalties to be shared among the National Government  – 70% to the County government – 20% and to the community where mining operations occur – 10%.  This is an improvement from the previous allocation of 5% to communities. Finally, the Mining Bill outlines the acquisition of community land without consent if the Cabinet Secretary considers it to be contrary to national interest.  This is a vague and arbitrary term.  The bill fails to provide a solution for communities who refuse to allow their land to be used for mining.  Natural Justice shall continue to follow up on the developments and discussions around this law with community members and partners as it awaits presidential assent.

New Report Published on the Impacts of Mining in Uganda

The National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Uganda and The Gaia Foundation (UK), have published  a new report entitled "Mining and its Impacts on Water, Food Sovereignty, and Sacred Natural Sites and Territories".

Focusing on Uganda’s Bunyoro region,  the report reveals how mining is significantly threatening ecosystems and communities.  It advocates for the recognition and protection of watersheds, food sovereignty areas, and Sacred Natural Sites and Territories as No Go Areas for mining and extractive activities.

Mining and extractive activities are growing rapidly in Uganda and across Africa. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda estimates there are 3.5 billion barrels of oil and gas deposits in Uganda’s Albertine region alone.  The impacts of mining are of grave concern to communities and civil society organisations across Uganda and beyond.

The report warns that oil extraction, which is projected to begin in Uganda by 2017, would have destructive, widespread and long-term impacts on the Bunyoro region, which is celebrated for its rich biodiversity and cultural heritage.  The region’s abundance of water, food growing areas and Sacred Natural Sites and Territories, upon which surrounding ecosystems and the lives and livelihoods of communities depend, are at great risk. Women are likely to be disproportionately affected by mining given their dependence on these ecosystems and the vital role they play in their protection. As ecosystems are interconnected, the impacts of mining would threaten not only Uganda but also the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Sudan- which share a common watershed - with untold political implications.

The report emphasises the important role of communities, civil society and government in preventing and reducing the impacts of mining on water, food sovereignty and Sacred Natural Sites and Territories.  It cites relevant laws and policies, which could be used to assert a right and responsibility to say ‘No’ to mining. It also calls for recognition of, and compliance with, unwritten law – the laws of the Earth (Earth Law) which are reflected in communities’ customary governance systems - as central in the protection of Nature from the threat of mining and extractive activities. 

The report is published with support from the African Biodiversity Network, and Advocates for International Development.

NJ Community Training for Chiadzwa Community Development Trust

From 10 to 12 February 2014, Natural Justice conducted initial training on biocultural community protocols with Chiadzwa Community Development Trust and members of the Marange and Arda Transsau, impacted by diamond mining in the region. 

During the training workshops, Trust and Community members discussed their visions for the future, their needs for development and what they would like to address in the development of a community protocol, as a tool to address the concerns the community has with respect to past and impending relocation, impacts on culture, the environment and poverty and as a starting point for dialogue with external parties.

“Our Resources, Our Future, Putting Local People First” – 5th Alternative Mining Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa

From 4 to 5 February 2014, Stephanie Booker and Frances Kelsey of Natural Justice attended the 5th Alternative Mining Indaba, held at the Ritz Hotel in Cape Town.

The Alternative Mining Indaba, organised by Bench Marks Foundation, Oxfam, the Economic Justice Network and Norwegian Church Aid, brought together 200 activists from all over Africa as well as from Brazil, Canada and Myanmar to discuss, from the perspective of local communities, the impacts of mining and other extractive industries.

The Alternative Mining Indaba was held at the same time as the African Mining Indaba, an international mining conference taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and therefore provided an alternative space for those organisations working with communities to focus on the local social, economic and environmental impacts of mining. Under the heading “Our Resources, Our Future, Putting Local People First”, various groups - from community forums to international non-governmental organisations presented and discussed their experiences, knowledge and expertise on the impact of mining.

In parallel sessions, presentations fuelled discussion on specific issues, including community rights and community empowerment in relation to mining activities; mining and social protection; civil society’s response to illicit financial flows in the extractives sector; and community perspectives on the oil, gas and forestry industries.

In their presentation on free, prior and informed consent in the extractives context, Oxfam America mentioned community protocols as a potential tool for engendering constructive dialogue between companies and communities.

Natural Justice presents on the Kenya Mining Bill 2013

From December 5-6th Natural Justice attended the Annual General Meeting of the Kenya Oil and Gas Working Group (KOGWG). KOGWG is a platform for stakeholder, Civil Society and community engagement on governance, sustainability and development issues in the oil and gas sector in Kenya. 

The first day was a policy review meeting to discuss the Mining Bill 2013 and Petroleum Act. To set up these discussions, presentations on the experiences of other countries in the region were given. Mohammed Athman from Save Lamu presented on his recent experiences in South Africa at the Natural Justice and Namati Land Symposium. Mohammed shared case studies of other communities across Africa who are struggling with similar issues, especially, how to put the law in people's hands. 

In the afternoon, Maya Sikand from Natural Justice gave a presentation on the current Kenyan Mining Bill. The presentation focused on human rights and environmental issues within the Bill, including consent, compensation, benefit-sharing and Environmental Impact Assessments. Notes from the group discussion on the Bill will be submitted as input from the Working Group.

The Paudhi Bhuinya Community, Odisha, India

On November 20th 2013 a workshop on Biocultural Community Protocols was held in Bhatuda village, Odisha, India. The workshop was organized by Jeevan Vikash in collaboration with HBS-Natural Justice. George Pyara Jojo from Jeevan Vikash and Kishore Kumar Patnaik from HBS-Natural Justice took part in the workshop. Around 85 villagers belonging to: the Paudi Bhuinya Community (PBC), other Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes of Bhatuda Panchayat, participated in the workshop. The villagers shared and discussed their cultural activities and livelihoods. These traditions have been practiced by PBC for generations, many consisting of unwritten ceremonies and other beliefs of their ancestral system. 

The Government of India recognizes 13 Tribal communities in Odisha as Primitive Tribal Groups of which PBC is included. The entire Sundargarh district falls under the 5th Schedule area of the Indian Constitution. The Paudi Bhuinya Community celebrates four festivals each year: Asandi (August), Gohana (August), Thakurani (December) and Korma (November). During these festivals all the PBC people get together in the village and have feasts and celebrate by making merry with wine. The PBC depend for their livelihood on cultivation in the hill areas, forest products and daily labour in adjacent mining areas. They produce millets, pulses and paddy. The harvest takes place only in the rainy season. The community faces a number of diseases, malnutrition and drinking water problems due to mining leakage of pollutants into the air and streams. They don’t have any other water facilities in the area. The villages are surrounded by hills and are located inside the forest. The industry’s mining work has been ongoing nearby in the Bhutuda Grama Panchayat hills. People from other communities like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (other than PBC tribes) and others also live in those hilly areas. 

According to Ms Alati Patra, Secretary and Mr Sitaram Deuri, President of the Forest Rights Committee, 94 persons from Bhatuda village submitted their individual forest right claims under “The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Rules” before the Forest Rights Committee (FRC) a year back but till today not one family has received forest rights recognition. The FRC says all the claim forms were submitted a year ago before the District Forest Officials, Sundargarh but they accepted only 52 claims and the remaining claims were rejected by the DFO for reasons unknown. 

The Government of India introduced a central project for the development of PBC but a lot of work remains pending to implement the schemes. The PBC live in two blocks of Sundargarh district. They do not have any land records and are located far away from most government schemes. But they still live happily and make merry with their traditional values.

Field Visit to Sariska Tiger Reserve - Alwar, Rajasthan, India

Three team members from the NJ India office (Arpitha Kodiveri, Revati Pandya and Vaneesha Jain) visited the offices of the NGO Krapavis, Rajasthan, and also several villages inside Sariska Tiger Reserve. 

On 13th November, 2013, Arpitha, Revati and Vaneesha discussed the following issues with Aman Singh, who is running the NGO Krapavis based out of Alwar, Rajasthan:

• The status of relocation in 5 villages in Sariska Tiger Reserve as per the Relocation plan prepared by the Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Jaipur, in November 2009. It appears that relocated communities are not given adequate ownership rights over the new land, which needs further looking into. Further, it has come to light that in the relocation process of the village Kiraska, residents were forced to surrender any land they owned outside Kiraska to the Government as well, which is in complete violation of both enacted law and basic principles of fairness. 
• The main barrier to the relocation process for local communities in view of the declaration of Sariska as a Critical Tiger Habitat appears to be that the offer of land for land is not being placed before communities as required by law. The community seems to be divided on the issue of relocation, which remains a sensitive topic of discussion. Meanwhile, local communities inside Sariska are becoming increasingly aware of their rights under the FRA. 
• The problems faced by the Umri village which was recently relocated to Mojpur. We will shortly be analyzing a petition filed before the local authorities by Krapavis on behalf of the erstwhile residents of Umri. 
• The status of illegal mining which is still ongoing in the southern part of Sariska and the ensuing problems faced by local communities. Such mining is primarily open-cast mining done for dolomite extraction by big businessmen and politicians. 
• The problem of lack of proactiveness by the local administration –the statutorily mandated Forest Rights Committee has not been set up in many villages, and where it has, the constant changing of the Forest Officer leads to the villagers being unable to have their concerns redressed. Different Forest Officers have varying levels of sympathy with local communities. 
• One of the main problems the villagers seem to face is that their cattle is often ‘arrested’ by Forest Department officials when they overstep the grazing boundaries and taken to a cattle prison, locally known as ‘Kalighati’. The community, which is pastoralist and dependant on these cattle for their livelihood, then have to pay heavy fines for the release of their cattle. 
• FRA claims are not being filed, due to the Government’s denial of its applicability in Sariska on the claim that it is not a ‘Scheduled Area’. This issue needs our immediate attention. 
• Discussion and review of a proposal to experiment with the implementation of the FRA in the villages in the buffer area. 

On Day 2, the NJ team was taken to visit 5 villages inside the core area of Sariska Tiger Reserve by Krapavis. These were the villages of Benak, Bera, Loj-Nathusar, Bakhtpura and Kalikol. We interacted briefly with the residents of each of these villages. Our conversations were often mediated by Aman Singh from Krapavis. These visits served as a useful introduction to the field, to get a sense of the local dynamics and environment. Amongst other things, we were told of how villagers have, on several occasions, been beaten up by Forest Department officials on false charges of poaching. On this day, we also visited the field station of Krapavis in Bakhtpura. 

On Day 3, we met a local resident from Haripura village inside Sariska, Nanak Ram, who took us inside the reserve to his village. We spent the rest of the day and the night in Haripura, talking to the residents about their daily lives, the issues they face with the Forest Department, their rituals and beliefs, their relationship with Nature, and concerns around the FRA. We were witness to the importance of cattle in the lives of this pastoralist community. Over the coming few weeks, we hope to write about our experiences in more detail, and also share some of the stories we were told by the community members. 

On the following day, we trekked up to the village of Lilunda, which has a maximum of 20 houses. We spoke to Dadkali Tai, who is a village elder there. Conversations with the residents of Lilunda suggest that while there has always been trouble with the Forest Department, pressures seem to have escalated over the last couple of years, and it appears that the need for implementation of the FRA is more urgent than ever. 

The final day on the field in Rajasthan saw spent visiting the site where a village has been recently relocated. There was a stark contrast in the experience of relocation between the Gujjar community and Meena community who previously inhabited the tiger reserve. While the Meenas seemed satisfied and happy to have been relocated as it has brought with it access to schools and better medical facilities, the Gujjars, whose livelihood has traditionally depended on the sale of milk, are unhappy at having been forced into agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. We are now looking at how to strategize around this issue and seeing how legal action on behalf of the Gujjars can be taken. 

Mining, Oil and Gas at MindSpeak Business Club

http://basetitanium.com/education-and-media/photo-library

On Saturday October 26th Maya Sikand from Natural Justice attended a public forum in Nairobi about the Voluntary Principles and the growing mining, oil and gas sectors in Kenya. The meeting was hosted by business analyst Aly-Khan Saatchu's monthly business club, Mindspeak. The panel featured Cliff Otega, a Kenyan mining analyst, His Excellency David Angell, Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya, Evelyn Samba, Deputy Secretary to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and Simon Wall, Corporate Affairs Manager of Base Titanium. The meeting drew an audience of over 200 people.

The challenges for the new and growing mining sector in Kenya and the opportunities for guidelines such as the Voluntary Principles were discussed by each of the panelists. Cliff Otega pointed out to a room full of young people hoping to benefit from this new industry, that the extractives industry doesn't actually provide many employment opportunities as it is so capital and machinery intensive. Kenya should not look to this as the sector that will transform the economy for youth. However, all the panelists agreed that the multiplier effects, including infrastructure and services development will bring benefits to the region.

A focus for the meeting was on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, a multi-stakeholder initiative involving governments, companies and NGOs, that was founded in 2000. It is the only set of principles specifically guiding the extractive industries in respecting human rights. Currently, several countries, including Canada, are participants, as well as a number of corporations and NGOs. High Commissioner Angell, Chair of the Voluntary Principles from 2011-12 spoke extremely positively of the Canadian government's and corporations' efforts to improve Corporate Social Responsibility programs in the extractives sector. Currently, Canadian extractive companies have over $10 billion invested in East Africa alone.

Many audience members as well as representatives from KNCHR raised questions about whether extractives-led development actually benefits local communities. There was also much discussion on redress mechanisms to actually hold international companies accountable to these lofty principles. The issues of benefit sharing, land acquisition and compensation were also raised as matters Kenyans need to be wary of as the extractives sector expands.

The major case for mining in Kenya discussed was Base Titanium Mineral Sands project in Kwale. This is Kenya's first large-scale, world-class mining investment. Simon Wall from Base Titanium spoke about the company's environmental and social performance that adheres to the highest global standards, particularly as signatories to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. In the 13 year lifespan of the project Base Titanium will put over $1.1 billion into the Kenyan economy, $220 million in direct royalties to the government and the rest as operational costs including food, salaries and services.

Natural Justice attends the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba

Stephanie Booker of Natural Justice attended the 2nd Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 10th -11th September 2013.

Hosted by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), the Environmental Justice Network (EJN), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT), the theme of the ZAMI was "Community Rights, the key to Empowerment". Held parallel to the annual Zimbabwe Mining Indaba, the ZAMI was attended by over 100 participants of civil society organisations, non-government organisations, community-based organisations including the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Women in Law Southern Africa, as well as and chiefs and members of communities affected by mining from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia.

Participants discussed key issues such as:

• Ongoing and envisaged reforms in the mining sector;
• The impacts of mining on women;
• The impacts of mining on communities and strategies being used to advance community interests;
• The Kimberly Certification Scheme;
• Opportunities and challenges under the new Constitution;
• The African Mining Vision;
• Mining taxation and illicit financial flows.

Participants were also privileged to hear direct experiences from community members themselves, including the impacts of mining on families, general health, the health of pregnant women and water sources.

The Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba featured in Zimbabwean Daily News here.  In it, ZELA Programme Officer, Shamiso Mtisi notes that whilst the extractives sector is one of the most important sources of a nation’s income with great potential to contribute to economic development, the costs of extractive industries have been socialised, with a huge impact on communities.

The Declaration formulated by the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba 2013 can be found here.

For more information and for regular updates on mining issues in Zimbabwe, like ZELA’s facebook page.

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Petition to Halt Mining on Mountain Range in Odisha

The Mining Zone Peoples' Solidarity Group, an international research group focusing on new economic policy, has drafted a petition directed towards Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council, about grave concerns and environmental devastation resulting from iron ore mining in the sensitive Khandadhar mountain range in Odisha, India.

The full petition is copied below (unedited) and available for signing here.

To: Sonia Gandhi

Chairperson, National Advisory Council

10, Janpath, New Delhi 110 011

The spiritually, culturally, biologically, and ecologically unique Khandadhar mountain range, source of the fabled Khandadhara waterfalls, is being ravaged by predatory mining. Matters stand to get desperate if the Pohang Steel Company of South Korea (POSCO) and other companies are permitted to source iron ore from close to 150,000 hectares of this densely forested region, as projected. Devastation threatens as jungles are felled; mountaintops are exploded into rocks and red dust; waterfalls and rivulets get polluted or dry up; a rare tribal culture becomes extinct; endangered wildlife, including tigers, elephants and bison are deprived of habitat; and tens of thousands of people are denied water from the Khandadhar watershed and lose their source of livelihood and life.

The Khandadhara waterfall of Sundergarh is 244 meters high (800 feet). The waterfall is Orissa’s tallest and, being of sublime beauty, deserves to be a World Heritage Site. The waterfall, the mountains and forests from which it arises are sacred to the Pauri Bhuiyan, a community listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). Their deity, Kandh Kumari resides on the mountaintop. Their mythology speaks of the origin of the waterfall, relating it to another high and beautiful waterfall of the same name in Keonjhar district, which is also threatened by mining. Indeed, these mountains, forests and waterfalls are sacred to all the indigenous peoples living around the mountain, who recognize their life-giving value. Local legends say that once a year Kandh Kumari descends from her home in the mountains to visit Bonai, in the plains. Thereby she demonstrates the allegiance of the Pauri Bhuiyan to the Bonai dynasty of rulers, who have been the acknowledged monarchs in the region for 59 dynasties. Even the British declined to exploit these mountains because they were fearful of the popular uprising that would result upon violation of the sacred abode.

The Pauri Bhuiyan have resided on the mountain-tops from time immemorial. They share genetic traits with the Andaman aboriginals, which indicate that they descend from some of the first modern humans in India. Their language is claimed to be the source language of Oriya. As such, the Pauri Bhuiyan are bearers of a unique and irreplaceable human heritage that is intimately tied to the area’s geology and biodiversity. They will become culturally, perhaps physically, extinct if mining continues on the Khandadhar range.

In the 1990s, many families of Pauri Bhuiyan were forced to come off the mountaintops and settle in the plains on the pretext that their shifting cultivation damaged the forests. In fact, the Pauri Bhuiyan’s methods of cultivation regenerate the forest instead of damaging it—in obvious contrast to mining. There is an abundance of fruit trees in the mountains, planted by the Pauri Bhuiyan over generations. Despite their symbiotic and nurturing relationship with the forest, the Pauri Bhuiyan are routinely, and viciously, persecuted by the local administration. On April 15, 2012, the forest department burned down all the huts, clothes, food and other belongings of 20 Pauri Bhuiyan families who had shifted to near Derula village, part of their ancestral homeland.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples precludes forced displacement of indigenous peoples, specifically prohibiting “(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities; (b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources; (c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights; (d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration.” Furthermore, this is a Fifth Schedule area and is entitled to have the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act as well as the Forest Rights Act implemented in letter and spirit. Neither act has been implemented to date.

The densely forested Khandadhar mountains shelter abundant wildlife and form part of a vital elephant corridor. They are home to rare species such as the limbless lizard, which seems to exist only here, and indicates the richness of the forest’s biodiversity. The sloth bear, leopard, Indian bison, wild dog, python and even the tiger are to be found in this jungle. In January 2012, a tigress was sighted by Phuljhar village, near the foot of the Khandadhara waterfall. As you are well aware, these creatures are not only highly endangered but also entitled to the highest legal protections.

Last but not least, the Khandadhar watershed provides water to fields all around the mountains in at least 20 villages, and even to the Brahmani River. The forested mountain range also serves as a barrier to monsoon clouds and causes local precipitation, providing water to southern Sundergarh and western Keonjhar. Mining will destroy the mountain range and its forest cover, and therefore the water source of tens of thousands of people living in the valleys drained by the Brahmani and the Baitarini.

It is said that future wars will be fought over water, the single most precious resource on earth. This major water source deserves to be cherished and protected for current and future generations, rather than devastated by mining.

Extant Mining

Deep inside the forest, invisible from normal roads, rises a horrific sight—the blood-red carcass of a mountain that has been stripped of its skin of trees and topsoil. At least 1,000 trucks per day are loading iron ore here. Trees for miles around are coated with thick red dust, and another hill nearby has been shaved of trees in preparation for mining. The dead mountain is Kurmitar, a 133-hectare iron ore mine currently being operated by Kalinga Commercial Corporation Limited under lease from Orissa Mining Corporation. KCCL boasts on its website of exporting iron ore to China and manganese ore to an unnamed Korean company, and of having exceeded its production target by more than 500 percent. Production is projected to increase four-fold once a new conveyor belt becomes operational. For reasons unknown to us, the Shah Commission, which was charged by the Supreme Court to investigate illegalities in iron ore mining, visited Orissa twice but did not survey the Kurmitar Mine.

KCCL is removing water from one of the source springs of the Khandadhara for its mining operations, and the destruction of Kurmitar mountain has dried up other water sources as well. Khandadhara’s water flow has sharply reduced in recent years, and if mining continues the waterfall could dry up completely. At least one canal downstream, where villagers (including resettled Pauri Bhuiyan) used to fish, bathe, water their livestock and draw water for irrigation, has become bone-dry, causing immense distress. Other rivulets are running red with mining dust and polluting fields. The water in the falls is crystal clear in normal times, but when it rains the waterfall now bleeds red.

When a 133-hectare mine has such a devastating effect, the havoc to be wreaked by subjecting a projected 2,500 hectares of this exquisite ecology to mining by POSCO is beyond imagination. Even more alarming, in Keonjhar district mining leases on a staggering 143,900 hectares of Khandadhar mountain and forests have been granted to a variety of companies. These will destroy 52 villages of Pauri Bhuiyan and another indigenous group, the Juang.

The bizarrely low royalty rates that the government charges for iron ore mining are widely known. The truth is, however, that no price can compensate for the wanton destruction of Khandadhar’s geological, biological and cultural heritage, as well as of the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people threatened by mining in this mountain range. One of the most bounteous gifts of nature is being turned into something worse than a desert. Furthermore, this concerted assault on the home territory of an endangered and vulnerable tribe amounts to ethnocide.

We are writing to demand that mining in the Khandadhar range be immediately halted—forever; that any promises made to POSCO and other companies be revoked; that extant violations of environmental and other laws by mining companies be vigorously investigated and severely punished; that forest and other officials be punished for their atrocities on the Pauri Bhuiyan; and that the Pauri Bhuiyan be permitted to resume living on the hilltops and assume their traditional role of guardians of the forests, the mountains, and the waterfalls.

Further information and the petition are available here.

Landmark Ruling Against Indigenous Title in Guyana

Via www.forestpeoples.org

The High Court of Guyana has controversially ruled in support of a mining concession on titled Indigenous lands, setting a dangerous precedent for the already marginalised Indigenous communities of Guyana. The case was brought by residents of Isseneru village who received title over the land in 2007 in terms of the Amerindian Act of 2006. The court held that as the mining permits were received before the Act came into operation they were not bound by its provisions. 

In a press statement, the Isseneru Village Council stated that they are “deeply disappointed and worried with this ruling and what it means to our village and to Amerindian communities in general. On the ground it has serious environmental and social impacts for us. The miners have, for example, brought with them problems related to drugs and prostitution. At the higher level, we feel that when the High Court tells us that we have no rights to decide and control what takes place on our land, then the land is not ours.…Just Friday, when inquiring at the office of the GGMC [Guyana Geology and Mines Commission], we learnt that our whole land is covered with mining concessions. Yet, the government has not informed us about this.” 

Find out more through the Forest Peoples’ Programme press statement in English here and in Spanish here. The Isseneru Village Council press statement can be accessed here.