Over the past 12 years, RAN has supported through our Protect-an-Acre small grants both Defense and Ecological Conservation of Intag (DECOIN) and Community Defense Council in the Intag region in the western Andes of Ecuador, a cloud forest ecosystem that is a globally significant biological hot spot. For 2 decades now, communities there have successfully led the struggle to halt all mining in the region, keeping out major Japanese and Canadian corporations.

Copper Mesa, until last year, was the owner of a two mining concessions in the Intag. But the company ran into a strong, organized opposition from communities, local government and, eventually even the national government, which eventually stripped Copper Mesa of its concessions in the country.

Now the Toronto Stock Exchange, which had been sued by 3 Intag activists, has delisted Copper Mesa from the exchange.

DECOIN organizer Carlos Zorrilla wrote in an email to Intag community supporters:

“This is a key victory in Intag’s very long and exhausting battle against mining interests. So big in fact, that I still find it difficult to believe. After all, this has been a dream of ours and something we’ve been working on for almost six years.”

Copper Mesa’s shares lost about 60% of their value in the 48 hours after the TSX delisting.

It isn’t every day that you get go on speaking tour in Minneapolis/St. Paul with a delegate from Papua New Guinea. Or to meet activists and students in a city full of bicycles and inspired, socially and environmentally active people and delightful local food co-ops. Or to witness the connection between the global and the local becoming as clear as what’s possible when we all work together…

The residents of Minneapolis/St. Paul are living near the fancy headquarters of Cargill, the very corporation that is leveling rainforests in Papua New Guinea to expand their palm oil plantations.
What a realization.

Matilda Pilacapio, human rights and environmental activist from Papua New Guinea

It was a deeply significant experience to hear Matilda Pilacapio’s powerful and poignant personal narrative of Cargill’s rainforest destruction in her community. It was heartbreaking to hear the devastation of traditional ways of life, of matrilineal land ownership, of communities held together by forest subsistence being ripped into unsustainable cycles of brutal plantation work, dismantled family structures, polluted rivers, lost ecosystems, undrinkable water, and deceptive contracts that trick people into giving up their ancestral land. It was sobering to hear that the corporation responsible for these atrocities is in the Twin Cities area, and that the people of Papua New Guinea and everywhere are counting on us to take action in our own communities to literally change the world. It was inspiring to realize that we can.
The positive aspect of globalization is that it has united people and information. We live in a time where it is possible to make ripples that reach literally around the world by affecting the corporations and institutions that are in our communities. What an incredible amount of agency we have as Americans.
It has never been clearer to me that as Americans, we have an opportunity (and a responsibility) to use that agency.
After Matilda’s lectures and slides of the effect of oil palm in Papua New Guinea, people would ask, “What can we do?” “I am hoping that you all will set up a strategy with RAN” Matilda said. Now, students and community members are stepping up to start a RAN- Twin Cities chapter. People have already started to raise awareness about oil palm and participate in Global Days of Action with 350.org to highlight the connections between Big Agriculture, deforestation, and climate change. In spite of being busy students, activists, and parents, people are making time to work on this important issue, largely because of the power of Matilda’s words! We are meeting tonight to figure out specifics of how community members want to make a difference here, and I am so excited and honored to see the brilliance of people here stepping it up in their own backyards to protect the land of people like Matilda and the climate we all share.

Hillary V Lehr is the Grassroots Action Manager for the Rainforest Action Network’s Forests Program.

How will an Obama Administration handle Native Rights issues in the face of fossil fuel expansion? That’s the question raised in a good article from by Joe Friesen in the Globe and Mail today. Several northern Indigenous leaders will soon visit the President Elect to ask for support in battling dirty oil development on their traditional territories. According to the article,

They will ask Mr. Obama to put pressure on the Canadian government and the TransCanada and Enbridge pipeline companies to agree to a revenue-sharing deal for native people.

Friesen also provides background on seven Native American members of Obama’s transition team including several beltway veterans and a new positon for Wizipan Garriott, the first ever “First Americans public-liason officer” for an incoming administration.

A wave of major coal and oil developments within Native Lands in the US and Canada will no doubt keep the team busy. Aside from controversies in Canada, TransCanada also faces lawsuits from Native communities South of the boarder claiming that the company failed to conduct proper environmental reviews. In Arizona, Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe members are taking direct action to oppose proposed coal mines.

Obama’s team should show leadership on Indigenous rights by embracing the delegation from the North and strongly enfocing US treaty obligations. It should also move to reverse the course set by the Bush Administration by endorsing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People–already signed by 143 members of the United Nations (but not the US and Canada).

Coming up in November, RAN staff will be attending the FSC General Assembly meeting as one of 350 members of the environmental chamber. The FSC is the only forest certification scheme in the world in which RAN and environmentalists can fight for greater protections – others, like the SFI, won’t even let us in the door. And it’s a good thing too, because this year we have some serious issues to bring up with the FSC.

As you can read in our letter to the FSC Executive Director (ran-to-fsc-101308), the FSC’s Controlled Wood Standard has serious problems with inclusion of wood fiber in violation of the FSC’s rules. Meanwhile, critics have alleged that ‘an estimated sixty percent of FSC timbers come from ancient forests’. As FSC members, RAN is asking the FSC to respond to this claim by providing accurate data regarding the percentage of FSC timbers derived from primary (never industrially managed) and old-growth (older than 200 years) forests.

As RAN undertakes our strategic review of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC’s) benefits and costs, how the FSC responds to these controversies will affect whether, and how much, RAN can continue supporting the FSC. In coming months, we will continue to report back our conclusions to our members and supporters. Stay tuned.

Thanks in part to the support from tens of thousands of RAN activists and supporters, this past June the Grassy Narrows First Nation won an unprecedented victory when AbitibiBowater, the largest paper company in the world, agreed to stop logging in their traditional territory and the provincial government agreed to honor Grassy Narrows’ consent for future decisions in their region. This important precedent for Indigenous Peoples’ rights allows us a unique opportunity to begin a new phase for the Old Growth Campaign. One of our top priorities will be to return to working to protect tropical rainforests, as well as reviewing the long history of the old growth campaign and commitments from companies such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. Another opportunity for forest protection is on the table at the UN climate negotiations and RAN’s team is accredited and ready to go. What else do you think we could do? We welcome your thoughts and input below.

Above all, RAN’s Old Growth campaign is committed to end logging in ancient forests worldwide. As part of planning this new phase for the campaign, RAN has begun undertaking a strategic review of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC’s) benefits and costs. The credibility of the FSC continues to be threatened by controversies with specific certifications, with contentious policies such as the Controlled Wood Standard which operates much lower standard into than the FSC itself, and with the volume of wood certified from old growth forests. These controversies affect whether, and how much, RAN can continue supporting the FSC. RAN staff will attend the FSC annual meeting in November, we will report back our conclusions to our members and supporters as well as through dialogue with other NGOs.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support for this important work!

Jennifer Krill
Program Director

In addition to the dozen or so First Nations here, representatives from twenty US and Canadian non governmental organizations have also gathered this week in Ft. Chipewyan.

That’s a lot of talking heads and coordinating with this motley can be a challenge in any situation. For a small community like Ft. Chip already overtaxed by endless legal and regulatory fights, it can be nearly impossible.

This morning, all 18 of us met to begin streamlining communication with Ft. Chip and other native communities represented at the conference and settled on some good positions that we hope to formalize in a proposal by the end of the conference:

1. To develop a set of consensus principals to guide relationships and build accountability between NGOs and First Nation communities.
2. To commit resources to enhance community capacity to engage effectively with NGOs.

Wish us well, we’ll need all we can get to keep this boat sailing!

Water is life–that’s the resounding message from the third annual Keepers of the Water Gathering here in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

More than 400 crowd into the community hall for the opening plenary. Elected leaders from eight First Nations stretching across Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories welcome us in turn at the front. Translators relay the chiefs’ blessings into five languages from a bank of radio broadcasting booths in the back.

Each of them shares a unique threat to water in their region–tar sands, mining, pulp mills and others–but the unity between them is clear.  Booming expansion of tar sands and other industrial projects in the far North are robbing native communities of their health and culture.

During the next two days, I’m here to learn more about what’s going on in the communities of the McKenzie River Basin, offer the support of Rainforest Action Network, and share the results of both with you. So stay tuned, ask lots of questions, and give us your feedback on how a scrappy bunch of rabble-rousers like us can make a difference in one of the biggest industrial projects in the world.

Looking for a little good news? Try this: earlier this month, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the largest forest conservation deal in Canadian history, and set a historic precedent for the rights of Indigenous people at the same time.

On July 14th, the Ontario government agreed to prohibit development on at least half of the remaining wilderness areas in the region’s northern boreal forest – protecting about 56 million acres.

To put this in perspective, 56 million acres is about half the size of California, or 80 times the size of Yosemite National Park. It’s about equal to nearly all of the remaining roadless areas in the entire United States. If the government keeps its promise, we’ll have protected the largest untouched forest in Canada and the 3rd largest wetland in the world.

Not too bad, eh?

As much as this is encouraging news for critters and the climate (northern boreal ecosystems store about 97 billion tons of CO2), it’s also an important milestone for human rights in Canada, and maybe even the future of environmentalism. Here’s why. In addition to committing to protect important wilderness areas, the Ontario government also acknowledged its responsibility to seek the consent of its indigenous people, stating: “because any decision on development has the greatest affect on communities, local planning will only be done in agreement with First Nations.”

That might seem like a simple statement, but it has huge ramifications. As we learned in grade school, the last several centuries of human history is filled with ugly, tragic stories of Indigenous people being decimated or forced off their land by settlers and, more recently, industrial development. From the Amazon to Alberta, Indigenous communities continue to be threatened by oil, logging, mining, and other industries. But if the Ontario Government keeps its word, the 36 First Nations communities living in this region would have the right to refuse destructive projects on their territory.

That’s a huge victory, and it was won by a unique coalition that realized that environmental and human rights are one and the same. Indigenous communities such as Grassy Narrows, KI, Ardoch, Six Nations and others have been on the front lines of battles to assert their sovereign rights. In coordination with an international alliance of environmental, labor, and immigrant rights organizations, students, faith-based communities, and human rights groups, they’ve blockaded logging roads, lobbied the provincial government, and have created the political space for change. “It is critical that any development of natural resources in the Far North must respect Aboriginal and treaty rights while supporting an environmentally sustainable economic future for our people,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy.

What’s next? First, we need to follow through to make sure this victory is fully realized. Visit here for the latest update. Meanwhile, a similar coalition of diverse interests can encourage other provinces in Canada to follow Ontario’s lead. On the heels of the boreal victory, last week the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations filed a suit against the Alberta and federal government, asking the court to rule invalid the government authorization for thousands of oil projects on the band’s core territory.

It is clear that we are witnessing a transformation of the values and voices that determine resource extraction in Canada. The boreal is “unspoiled and undisturbed,” Ontario Premier McGuinty says. “And if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s not going to stay that way forever unless we do something…It’s our responsibility as global citizens to get this right and to act now.”
Amen! Care to join us to make sure he keeps his word?

LINK to the Grassy Conference Call – click here to listen

On June 19th, 2008, RAN hosted a conference call to discuss the Old Growth Campaign’s part in the Indigenous lead efforts that brought us to the tremendous news that AbitibiBowater had decided it was time to leave the Whiskey Jack forest in the traditional territory of the Asubpeeschoseewagong, or Grassy Narrows First Nation people who have lived in that beautiful and priceless area for thousands of years.

(From www.freegrassy.org) Asubpeeschoseewagong – the Indigenous or Ojibway name for Grassy Narrows – is situated 80 kilometers north of Kenora, Ontario in Canada. The community membership is approximately 1,000, and their traditional land use area spans a forest of approximately 2,500 miles. The community has lived sustainably for millennia, using the forest for physical, economic, cultural and spiritual sustenance.  Approximately 50 percent of the community still lives a subsistence way of life where members depend upon hunting, trapping, and gathering berries and medicines from the land.

The Grassy Narrows community has been through many traumas including attendance in white-governed residential schools, forced relocation away from their traditional living areas, mercury contamination, flooding of sacred grounds and burial sites, and clearcut logging of their forests. These traumas have led to many social, health and economic problems, as well as the near devastation of the culture.

For thousands of years this community has been strong and self-reliant.  Now, as a result of the continued economic dispossession and cultural annihilation that they have suffered, Grassy Narrows exhibits the signs of distress that have become typical of First Nations communities across Canada.  Indigenous people, as compared to any other racial or cultural group in Canada, have the lowest life expectancies, highest infant mortality rates, substandard and overcrowded housing, lower education and employment levels, and the highest incarceration rates.

In the face of this oppression, the people of Grassy Narrows are actively resisting the continued destruction of their territories, re-occupying their lands, reviving their culture and fighting for the right to manage their land as they see fit, otherwise known as self-determination.

It is an incredible honor to work in solidarity with these people and their allies, and it is a great day when we can announce the results of our work together in fighting for their land and their rights to self-determination, and for the rights of the Earth.

We hope you enjoy this audio recording of a breakdown of RAN’s involvement in this campaign. In it you will hear from some of our Old Growth campaign staff as well as some of the activists and volunteers who helped make the withdrawal of AbitibiBowater a reality.

In addition to the recording attached to this post, I encourage you to also listen to this interview on CBC National primetime radio with Roberta Keesick, a Grassy Narrows grandmother, trapper, and defender of the land.  It is a great piece and it gives people a chance to also hear directly from someone from Grassy.

LINK to the Grassy Conference Call – click here to listen

Update: Photos can be found here and here.

RAN joined with more than a dozen other groups to sponsor a week-long occupation of the Ontario Legislature in Ontario. Pictures and news reports are below. Event details can be found here.

Independent News Coverage

• Paul Terefenko, “Natives Stake Their Claim.” Now Magazine. May 29, 2008
• Judy Rebick and Judy Finlay, “Indigenous People Defending Their Land and Our Environment.” ZMag. May 26, 2008.

Mainstream News Coverage

• Kevin Misener, “Rallies mark native day of action.” Canadian Press. May 29, 2008.
• Jonathan Spicer, “Canada’s Aboriginals slam ‘third world conditions.’” Reuters. May 29, 2008
• Peter Koven, “Ontario’s Mining Act assailed.” Financial Post. May 29, 2008
• “Aboriginals march through Toronto on day of action.” CTV. May 29, 2008
• “First Nations Protesters Hit the Streets Thursday.” CityNews. May 29, 2008″
• Jered Stuffco, “Ottawa must intervene in Ontario’s land and mining disputes: Fontaine.” Canadian Press. May 27, 2008
• Toronto Star Editorial: “First Nations vs. Mining Act.” May 27, 2008
• Murray Campell, “Inaction on native issues not helping government or jailed protester.” The Globe and Mail, May 27, 2008
• Tobi Cohen, “Aboriginal protesters kick off weeklong protest at Ontario Legislature.” The Canadian Press. May 26, 2008
• Tobi Cohen, “Native Leaders Jailed in mining protest get temporary reprieve.” The Canadian Press. May 26, 2008
• Gagandeep Ghuman, “Groups walk to protest mining law.” Toronto Star. May 26, 2008
• Jim Coyle, “Why is defending ancestral lands a crime?” Toronto Star. May 26, 2008
• Tobi Cohen, “Aboirginal chief vows to return to jail if Ontario doesn’t negotiate on Mining Act.” The Canadian Press. May 25, 2008.
• Jonathan Jenkins, “Natives to camp out at Queen’s Park.” Toronto Sun. May 23, 2008

Press Releases

• Advisory: “Chiefs speak in support of KI, Ardoch and Grassy Narrows at Queen’s Park.” May 27, 2008.
• Release: “Natives and non natives unite to protect lands and livelihoods.” May 26, 2008.