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PBI-Honduras accompanies COPINH at anniversary gathering for Viva Berta Feminist Camp

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 5, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “Today marks one year since the construction of the Viva Berta Feminist Camp. Yesterday PBI accompanied @COPINHHONDURAS @ForoDeMujeres_ @RedDefensoras @ofraneh and the Tierras del Padre Lenca Indigenous Community during the commemorative activities.”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras added:

“We highlight the tireless spirit of the organizations that for three months dedicated their energy to building the camp and that today, a year later, continue standing firm in the demand of justice and the defense of human rights.”

On April 4, COPINH coordinator Bertha Zúniga Cáceres also tweeted: “One year ago, the Viva Berta Feminist Camp was set up as an expression of the search for justice for the sister of all #BertaCáceres.”

Criterio.hn also reports: “On the first anniversary of the Viva Berta Feminist Camp, they remembered the indigenous leader, Berta Cáceres and pressured the Judiciary to give strength to the Agua Zarca case with the prompt sentence of Roberto David Castillo Mejía, found guilty as co-author in the murder of the extinct environmentalist.”

Last year, Bertha also explained that the camp is an initiative of feminist organizations “to also accompany the demand for justice and ratify that this process is not only of interest to her daughters, her family or her organization COPINH, but also of the community of human rights in Honduras and outside Honduras.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH since May 2016.

Photo: PBI-Honduras at Viva Berta Feminist Camp, May 2021.

PBI-Honduras accompanies COFADEH during the return of criminalized student Eduardo Urbina from exile in Costa Rica

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by COFADEH.

On April 4, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“PBI accompanied @cofadehonduras [the Committee of Relatives of Detained-Disappeared in Honduras] during the return of Eduardo Urbina, a student criminalized in the context of demonstrations due to the electoral situation in 2017. Eduardo had to abandon his studies and flee to Costa Rica, a country where he remained in the exile.”

On March 30, Defensoresenlinea.com reported: “The young man, upon his arrival in Tegucigalpa, was received by his family who were waiting for him at the headquarters of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (Cofadeh), together with the general coordinator of the committee, Berta Oliva.”

In that article, Eduardo says: “Today I do not find words, I dreamed, I longed to be here and hug my family again. In the last two weeks I made two failed attempts to come from Costa Rica and each attempt was overwhelming, but I think there is a sample that when you work in a network, when you do things with love and are done thinking about the good of other people and justice and truth, things come out.”

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has also explained that Urbina was a member of the University Student Movement (MEU):

“Since July 2017, Mr. Urbina has been subjected to a stigmatization campaign through which he was accused of a series of acts of vandalism and terrorism.

He arrived in Costa Rica on December 11, 2017, before the Honduran authorities issued an arrest warrant against him for having allegedly participated in the burning of a military truck in Honduras, despite the fact that it occurred days after his arrival in Costa Rica.

The MEU has been strongly repressed by university and government authorities, who have resorted to the use of police force, elite bodies of the State security forces to repress demonstrations.

[Th government had also filed] criminal actions against the members of the MEU with the aim of dismantling and delegitimizing the movement and its activities in defense of the right to education and the peaceful exercise of protest.

In this context, within the framework of the conflict at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), there have already been three murders and at least 73 cases of criminalization through improper use of criminal law against members of the university movement.”

Photos by COFADEH.

PBI-Honduras amplifies CEHPRODEC message about Guapinol and Azacualpa resistance to mines

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Agence France-Presse.

On March 30, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “From @Cehprodechn [Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development] they warn that if “the mining concessions lead to territorial conflicts like @guapinolre or #Azacualpa, Honduras would be completely ungovernable”.”

Los Pinares mine

This past February, EFE reported: “Los Pinares has installed a processing plant for iron oxide pellets in the municipality of Tocoa, department of Colón and has requested an ‘expansion of the area of the concession from 100 hectares to 1,000 hectares.”

Then in March, @Guapinolre tweeted: “State declared the country free of mining but made an exception for Los Pinares/Ecotek – even though there is environmental contamination – so that it can continue destroying Carlos Escaleras National Park, showing how it succumbs to mining business pressure and economic influences.”

PBI-Honduras accompanies the Guapinol water defenders who spent 914 days in arbitrary detention for defending the Guapinol River from this mine.

Azacualpa

On February 7, 2022, the Toronto-based Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) tweeted: “Beyond despicable that Canadian/US mining company @AuraMinerals just snuck in at night & illegally demolished a CEMETERY to mine the gold under it. The Mayan community of Azacualpa in #Honduras has been fighting to defend their loved ones’ remains for years. Here’s the before & after.”

MISN had previously explained:

“Aura Minerals, a Toronto-based mining company, is seeking to dig up and move a 200 year old cemetery near La Unión, Copán, Honduras. The community of Azacualpa has countless loved ones currently buried in this valued site, with the most recent burial just earlier this year. Aura Minerals says that they cannot continue mining for gold without exhuming and relocating the bodies.”

The Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ) has also stated:

“On Monday, March 4, 2019, criminal charges were presented against 19 members of the Azacualpa community in La Unión, Copán.

The community members are accused of causing damage against the mining company MINOSA, subsidiary of the Canadian/U.S. Aura Minerals.

These charges have been filed in the context of a long conflict caused by Aura/MINOSA ever since it started its mining operation in the area in 1997. 

Since 2012, this mining company has been attempting to dig up all the dead from the Azacualpa Cemetery, and move them, in order to exploit the gold underneath. The company has used diverse mechanisms and schemes to achieve its goals.

It should be noted that on January 11, 2015, during a town hall meeting, the Azacualpa Community voted AGAINST digging up the dead and then closing the cemetery for mineral exploitation.

Despite the community’s decision, the municipal government and other entities of the local government have ignored this sovereign decision and have facilitated the company’s operations by all possible means.”

In December 2017, the Toronto-based company entered into a merger agreement with Rio Novo in which Aura acquired all the shares of Rio Novo. The company retains the Aura name and is currently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

New mining law in Honduras?

MiningWatch Canada has stated: “The General Mining Law was developed with technical assistance paid for with Canadian overseas development aid. Its passage in 2013 lifted a seven-year moratorium on any new mining projects.”

It has also noted: “This law was developed and passed with strong diplomatic support from the Canadian embassy, and with contributions from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the former Canadian International Development Agency.”

Earlier this year, EFE reported: “Honduras announced on Monday [February 28] the cancellation of the approval of extractivist exploitation permits for ‘being harmful’ against the State and declared itself a country ‘free of open-pit mining’.”

BBC added: “The [new] government [of President Xiomara Castro], which was sworn in [on January 27] said that it would cancel environmental permits for mining operations across the country. It is not yet clear if the cancellation will apply only to new projects or also to those already operating.”

As noted above, @Guapinolre has tweeted: “State declared the country free of mining but made an exception for Los Pinares/Ecotek.”

We continue to follow this situation.

CEHPRODEC tweet: “[We are watching] the mining situation in Honduras, with its respective distribution by department. A problem that not only generates environmental impacts, but also social conflict. #NoToMining”

       

Sentencing hearing for an intellectual author of the murder of Berta Cáceres postponed

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Honduras at the Viva Berta Feminist Camp, May 2021.

On February 16, the Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) tweeted: “Reading of the Judgment of the case against David Castillo for next April 4, 2022. The Sentencing Court with National Territorial Jurisdiction in Criminal Matters summons to read the sentence after a delay of more than 7 months.”

But by March 29, COPINH tweeted: “Once again the sentencing hearing for David Castillo is postponed for the murder case of our compañera Berta Cáceres.”

And on April 4, COPINH coordinator Bertha Zúniga Cáceres tweeted:  “Although there is no sentencing today, David Castillo’s guilty verdict is our victory. We continue!”

Her mother Berta was killed on March 3, 2016. In March 2018, David Castillo was charged as an intellectual author of the murder. That trial didn’t begin until April 6, 2021. He was found guilty on July 5, 2021, but has still not been sentenced.

Bertha has stated: “One year ago, the Viva Berta Feminist Camp was set up as an expression of the search for justice for the sister of all #BertaCáceres.”

Criterio.hn also reports: “On the first anniversary of the Viva Berta Feminist Camp, they remembered the indigenous leader, Berta Cáceres and pressured the Judiciary to give strength to the Agua Zarca case with the prompt sentence of Roberto David Castillo Mejía, found guilty as co-author in the murder of the extinct environmentalist.”

Last year, Bertha also explained that the camp is an initiative of feminist organizations “to also accompany the demand for justice and ratify that this process is not only of interest to her daughters, her family or her organization COPINH, but also of the community of human rights in Honduras and outside Honduras.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH since May 2016.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Corporation for Judicial Freedom and CAHUCOPANA at Embassy meetings about the humanitarian crisis in Antioquia

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 4, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“We thank the @EmbajadaEspCol [Embassy of Spain in Colombia] for today’s meeting with @CorpoJuridicaLi [Corporation for Judicial Freedom] in which the serious humanitarian crisis and lack of guarantees were discussed in #Antioquia, within the framework of a tour in Bogotá together with leaders of the territory organized by [the Spanish NGO] @Mundubat and [the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination platform] @coeuropa.”

PBI-Colombia also tweeted:

“We appreciate the meeting with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs @francediplo and @CAHUCOPANA [the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia] to discuss serious humanitarian crisis in Northeast Antioquia where, in the absence of protection guarantees for leaders like @carlosnordeste [CAHUCOPANA president Carlos Morales], it is urgent to implement collective measures.”

                 

The crisis in Antioquia

In January, Blu Radio reported: “Defenders said that they have made multiple alerts and have warned about the situation [in Antioquia] that has been presented by the presence of different actors of illegal armed groups [including the AGC and ELN], in addition, they denounced that the authorities have turned their backs on this situation.”

Last month, Community Peacemaking Teams (CPT) issued this Urgent Action, at the request of CAHUCOPANA, urging Colombian authorities to respond to the critical situation that is threatening the population of the Northeast Antioquia region.

1- Implement non-military actions that protect the civilian population and human rights organizations in the Northeast Antioquia region, seeking actions that effectively guarantee security for peace in the territory of the mining and farming communities.

2- To comply with and fully implement the Peace Agreements signed in 2016 and to generate new spaces for dialogue with the armed actors and involve the voices of the communities that resist in the midst of the conflict.

3- Provide guarantees for community leaders of Northeast Antioquia prosecuted since 2020.

4- Update the Early Warning Systems Report of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office No. 052-18, which has not been reviewed since June 14, 2018.

5- Comply with and fully implement the Peace Agreements signed in 2016 and protect the lives of the signatories of the agreements who live in the Territorial Spaces for Training and Rehabilitation – ETCR of Carrizal.

Canada in Antioquia

PBI-Colombia has previously noted: “The abundance of natural resources in these lands and the arrival of multinational companies, such as the Canadian Gran Colombia Gold, has provided the illegal armed groups who are present in the region with an extremely lucrative funding source in mining.”

The Hidroituango hydroelectric dam is located in the department of Antioquia.

Above Ground has noted: “EPM, a Colombian state-owned enterprise, has twice benefitted from the support of [the Government of Canada financing agency] Export Development Canada (EDC) in recent years. In 2016 and 2017, EDC provided EPM with financing totalling between 500 million and one billion dollars.”

The Committee for Human Rights in Latin America (CDHAL) has also highlighted that the province of Quebec pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has provided financing for the hydroelectric dam.

Isabel Cristina Zuleta of the Rios Vivos movement says: “Since its launch in 1997, this megaproject has been imposed by violence and the forced displacement of the population, victims of the armed conflict.”

We continue to follow this situation.

PBI-Canada webinar on CONTEC accompaniment of Rarámuri defence of ancestral territory, April 24

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Community leader Teresa González Parra and CONTEC director Diana Villalobos Díaz. This webinar on April 24 will highlight their work.

In August 2021, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanied Community Technical Consulting (CONTEC) at a blockade on the Creel-San Rafael highway conducted by the Indigenous Rarámuri forest community of San Elias Repechique to further their demand for legal recognition of their ancestral territory.

Photo: PBI-Mexico with Rarámuri forest community leader Teresa González Parra at the highway blockade.

The Rarámuri community also took part in another protest in the city of Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua on October 4, 2021, to defend their territory.

At that time, CONTEC said: “We demand an end to the criminalization that the Rarámuri indigenous communities are suffering, accused of theft for defending the looting of wood from their territory.”

CONTEC provides legal accompaniment to the community that resisted the Barrancas del Cobre-Creel Regional Airport being built in their ancestral forest.

Photo: Creel airport.

CONTEC has also accompanied the community in their struggle against the $1.1 billion TC Energy Encino-Topolobampo gas pipeline (which was eventually diverted away from their territory) and the San Juanito gas pipeline and aqueduct.

Their territorial defence has also included a sewing workshop.

The Bowe Najativo community sewing workshop is located on one hectare of ancestral land in an area known as Cerro de la Virgen on Rarámuri land claimed by businessman Fernando Cuesta as his Pino Gordo property.

After Cuesta filed a lawsuit against the community for dispossession, environmental damage and theft, the state police stopped the construction of the sewing workshop and tried to arrest Teresa González Parra.

On August 13, 2020, the day the police came, about 50 people from the community, accompanied by two CONTEC lawyers, including Diana Villalobos Diaz, walked more than two hours to the city of Creel where the Public Ministry office is located.

When they arrived in Creel, the Public Ministry told them they would have to go to Cuauthémoc, a municipality located three hours from Creel.

The community walked back home in the dark.

Photo: Teresa and Diana.

Webinar, April 24

To learn more about the Rarámuri struggle for their ancestral territory, please join us at a webinar on Sunday April 24 at 2:30 pm EDT.

You can sign up for that webinar here.

On March 24, 2022, PBI-Mexico signed an accompaniment agreement with CONTEC director Diana Villalobos Díaz in recognition of the danger her organization faces, notably for its work in defence of Indigenous rights.

Caravan for Water and Life opposes Canadian TC Energy Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline in Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Mexico at the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects where the Caravan for Water and Life was announced.

Earlier this year, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanied the organizations and communities that gathered in the municipality of Juan C. Bonilla, Puebla for the National Meeting of Struggles Against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects.

At that time, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “We celebrate that this meeting has been an opportunity for defenders of the territory and the environment to share their words and experiences on the road to articulating a culture of peace, justice and respect for community rights.”

Those gathered at the National Meeting expressed their opposition to the TC Energy Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline (across the states of Veracruz, Puebla and Hidalgo), the Morelos gas pipeline (across the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla and Morelos) and other megaprojects.

Pie de Pagina noted: “The final result of the Meeting was the announcement of the Caravan for Life that will depart on March 22. The caravan will advance through towns, communities and territories in resistance to megaprojects and will conclude a month later, on April 22, in the city of Juchitán, Oaxaca, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.”

The purpose of the Caravan for Water and Life is “to make visible the struggles against territorial dispossession, megaprojects and violence against communities in Mexico.”

Calgary, Canada-based TC Energy has five fully owned pipelines currently operating in Mexico and the largest Canadian investor in Mexico.

Just after the start of the Caravan for Water and Life, Natural Gas Intelligencer reported: “[The Federal Electricity Commission/CFE] is working with TC to complete [both] the Tuxpan-Tula and Tula-Villa de Reyes pipelines, which have been stalled by local conflicts.”

One of those “local conflicts” noted by Natural Gas Intelligencer has been the Indigenous Otomi peoples wanting the Tuxpan-Tula pipeline cancelled because it would cross the sacred hills of the Pahuatlán region in the state of Puebla.

The Territories of water report also documents community concerns and resistance to the Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline.

TC Energy also built the Encino-Topolobampo pipeline that moves natural gas from Texas through the mountains of Chihuahua to Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

That pipeline was opposed by the San Elías Repechique Forests community on the ancestral territory of the Rarámuri in the Sierra Tarahumara region in the state of Chihuahua. The Technical Community Consultation (CONTEC) was one of the organizations that supported the community in their opposition to this TC Energy pipeline.

Journalist Martha Pskowski writes: “Rarámuri communities voiced concerns that construction would impact their water sources, cause deforestation, and affect their farmlands.”

She adds: “[TC Energy] eventually agreed to modify the route to avoid Repechike’s territory. However, in other communities where construction started before the consultation got underway, it was impossible to turn back the clock.”

That pipeline was completed in December 2018.

As of December 2021, TC Energy was seeking to complete the Villa de Reyes pipeline by mid-2022, considering up to $2 billion in new capital investments by 2025, and possibly investing $4 billion to extend the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline.

We continue to follow the Caravan for Water and Life on social media.

#caravanaporelaguaylavida

On Sunday April 10 at 7 pm EDT, there will be a “Mass organizing call for allies of Wet’suwet’en” to “kick start an organizing campaign for settler allies who want to support the Wet’suwet’en fight against [the TC Energy] CGL” fracked gas pipeline now being built on Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia, Canada.

And on Sunday April 24 at 2:30 pm EDT, PBI-Canada will be hosting a webinar featuring CONTEC, the organization that supported the San Elías Repechique Forests community in their struggle against the TC Energy Encino-Topolobampo pipeline that was built on Rarámuri territory in Mexico. More details on this coming soon.

PBI-Colombia notes the extrajudicial murder of 11 people in Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: The massacre took place at this local market in Puerto Leguízamo.

On April 2, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “2022: 48 human rights defenders killed and 27 massacres. Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo 11 people murdered, communities denounce #ejecuciónextrajudicial [extrajudicial executions]. @WOLA_org urges authorities to investigate. PBI accompanies @Justiciaypazcol verification commission.”

The Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace has also reported:

“Days after the massacre occurred in the hamlet of El Remanso, corregimiento of Puerto Ospina, municipality of Puerto Leguizamo, testimonies continue to be known that deny the official versions of the national government about the operation that barbarically ended the lives of eleven people, including an indigenous [Quechua] governor [Pablo Panduro], [Divier Hernandez] a president of the JAC [Community Action Board] of El Remanso and his wife, a child, a peasant worker, as well as four wounded, three women.”

And PBI-Colombia has shared this WOLA article that notes:

“The incident that took place on March 28 in Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo department. On that day, 11 persons were killed by the Colombian armed forces.

The Minister of Defense and President Duque claimed in the press and social media that those who were “neutralized” were killed within the context of an armed operation and belonged to illegal armed groups. However, testimonies of the survivors and victims of the family members state that persons killed were civilians.

According to the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), what the government has deemed as an alleged confrontation between state forces and FARC dissidents resulted in the assassination of nine individuals and the capture of four others.

They report that the national army arrived at a local market where individuals were raising funds for neighborhood needs. Once there, the army opened fire in an indiscriminate manner against the fundraiser’s attendees killing nine people. Among those killed were Pablo Panduro Coquinche, an Indigenous Authority and Governor of the Kitcwhwa people.”

Putumayo

Justice and Peace has previously highlighted the military repression that resulted in Nasa leader Victor Campo being wounded and Yordan Rosero Estrella being killed.

Their report on that May 31, 2021, incident noted: “Today at 5:30 am in the municipality of Villagarzon, department of Putumayo, protesters tried to enter the Costayaco field owned by the [Canadian] oil company Gran Tierra Energy, in order to block its operation.”

Villagarzon is about 250 kilometres northwest of Puerto Leguizamo.

Justice and Peace also accompanies the Perla Amazónica Peasant Reserve Zone [ZRCPA] near Puerto Asis, which is about 200 kilometres northwest of Puerto Leguizamo.

The Guardian has reported: “Jani Silva [of the ZRCPA] says she has seen firsthand the effects of big business in Putumayo, where, she believes, oil companies ‘exploit irresponsibly’ and contaminate the environment.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Justice and Peace Commission since 1994.

Toronto-based Scotiabank finances Ecopetrol and Parex Resources in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

The Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2022 finds that:

“Fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached USD $4.6 trillion in the six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, with $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone.”

Among the top financing banks are five Canadian banks : (5) RBC: $201.229 billion; (9) Scotiabank: $149.344 billion; (11) TD: $140.883 billion; (15) Bank of Montreal: $117.090 billion; and (20) CIBC: $90.277 billion

This chart from the report also shows that four Canadian banks have put more than $73.1 billion in financing toward the fracking of oil and gas globally with Scotiabank (8), RBC (9), TD (10), and Bank of Montreal (14) in the Top 15.

The Banking on Climate Chaos website also has a searchable Financing By Bank or Client feature. Notably, it shows that Scotiabank is a top banker for the Colombian oil and gas corporation Ecopetrol.

Ecopetrol will operate both the Kalé and Platero fracking pilot projects near the community of Puerto Wilches in the department of Santander in Colombia.

Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. has highlighted that it “holds an undivided 30% non-operated participation interest in a Contract for Exploration and Production for Block VMM-37” where the Platero project would be conducted.

The search function also shows that Scotiabank is a key financier for Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc. that “holds interests in approximately 2.3 million gross acres over 24 onshore blocks in Colombia’s Llanos and Magdalena Basins.”

In March 2019, Colombia’s then-Mines and Energy Minister Maria Fernanda Suarez stated that Parex was among the companies “seeking to operate” a fracking block. Environmental defender Oscar Sampayo has further noted that Parex has had an interest in fracking Block VMM9 near Cimitarra, Santander since 2014.

Tweet: “Heather Neun from @PBIcanada with the support of @Credhos_Paz seeing in person the environmental effects, including water sources, produced by the Canadian company Parex Resources in the village of El Diviso in Bajo Simacota.”

The Banking on Climate Chaos report concludes to align their policies and practices with a world that limits global warming to 1.5°C and fully respects human rights, and Indigenous rights in particular, banks must:

“Prohibit all financing for all fossil fuel expansion projects and for all companies expanding fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure along the whole value chain.”

“Fully respect all human rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including their rights to their water and lands and the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Prohibit all financing for projects and companies that abuse human rights, including Indigenous rights.”

Corporate efforts to curb climate change?

In somewhat related news, CBC reports: “The head of the United Nations announced the appointment Thursday [March 31] of an expert panel led by Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former environment minister, that will scrutinize whether companies’ efforts to curb climate change are credible or mere greenwashing.”

The Banking on Climate Chaos 2022 report comments:

“[While] banks may tout their commitments to helping their clients transition, and yet the 60 banks profiled in this report funneled $185.5 billion just last year into the 100 companies doing the most to expand the fossil fuel sector, such as Saudi Aramco and ExxonMobil – even when carbon budgets make clear that we cannot afford any new coal, gas, or oil supply or infrastructure.”

The 40-page Banking on Climate Chaos report can be read here and was produced by the organizations noted below.

The Scotiabank headquarters at 40 King Street West in Toronto.

New climate change report highlights the important role of Indigenous forest defenders in Mexico and Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Mexico says: “Defending forests and life implies a high risk for Defenders of the Environment and the Mexican Government has a duty to protect them.”

The Guardian reports: “Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.”

That report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Climate Focus says that forests stewarded by Indigenous peoples and communities in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Peru sequester about twice as much carbon as other lands.

Juan-Carlos Altamirano, who co-authored the paper, says if the rights of forest communities are not protected the “most likely hypothesis” would be a failure to achieve the Paris climate goal of keeping global temperature rises below 1.5 Celsius.

The 22-page report can be read at Sink or swim: How Indigenous and community lands can make or break nationally determined contributions.

Excerpts from pages 13-15 of the report include:

– “Illegal actors are often linked to organized crime groups and frequently act in collusion with local officials and security forces to displace, intimidate, and criminalize local communities.”

– “All four countries [Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Peru] are among the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental defenders, many of them from IPLC [Indigenous peoples and local communities].”

– “Women leaders are often at particular risk of attack. In Colombia, women face significantly higher levels of threats, murders, and sexual violence than men. In Mexico, the Government has been implicated in 39 percent of attacks on environmental defenders, many of them members of IPLCs.”

– “Governments also frequently prosecute IPLCs for participating in protests or refusing to leave their lands: as of 2021, there are 32 [active cases against environmental defenders] in Colombia, and 22 in Mexico.”

– “Encroachment on IPLC land is facilitated by limited state presence in forest areas and the limited capabilities of law enforcement agencies. For instance, the failure to fill a power vacuum created by the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) resulted in other armed groups moving in, leading to a spike in land grabbing, deforestation, and murders of Indigenous and other environmental defenders.”

– “Both Mexico and Brazil have made drastic cuts to the budgets of environmental and forest agencies in recent years, despite rising (mostly illegal) deforestation.”

– “Violence against IPLCs also typically goes unpunished, with widespread corruption, together with limited training and resources, leading to only 8 percent of murders of environmental defenders in Colombia being successfully prosecuted.”

– “Threats to IPLCs’ land also arise out of governments issuing concessions that overlap with Indigenous territories. In Mexico, for instance, there is significant overlap between mining concessions and territories belonging to ejidos and Indigenous communities.”

– “All four countries have signed the Escazu Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes provisions to protect the rights of environmental defenders. However, so far, only Mexico has ratified it.”

– “In Colombia, legislation proposed to ratify the [Escazu] convention failed to pass in June 2021 after being actively opposed, sabotaged, and blocked by conservative politicians.”

COP27 in November

Peace Brigades International is planning to again highlight the role of frontline environmental defenders in countering climate change at the time of the United Nations COP27 climate summit on November 7-18, 2022, in  Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

To watch the video of our webinar featuring environmental defenders at the time of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland last year, click here.

Hannah Matthews (PBI international communications coordinator based in Mexico) moderated this panel featuring David R. Boyd (UN Special Rapporteur), Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras), Amaru Ruiz (Nicaragua), Nelly Madegwa (Kenya), Valeria Villalobos (Mexico), Sandra Calel (Guatemala) and Danilo Rueda (Colombia).

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