At this year’s United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Land is Life will be highlighting our global mission and grassroots partnerships at the following events. Contact [email protected] for information on how to attend.
Land is Life Event at the United Nations: Discussion on Threats to Indigenous Populations Living in Voluntary Isolation in the Amazon
April 25, 2019, 1:15 pm – 2:45 pm, United Nations, Room S-1521
Land is Life will convene a panel discussion featuring Alicia Cahuiya: Leader of the Waorani Nation of Ecuador, Maria Quispe, Brian Keane: Rapporteur of the Permanent Forum, and Antenor Vaz: Expert on Peoples Living in Isolation from Brazil. The panel will discuss the findings of a report which details the current situation of and potential threats to the lands and territories of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation in the Amazon and El Chaco regions. The report has been developed with contributions from 10 Indigenous organizations from the region. It provides a clear overview of the status of land rights recognition for these groups as well as maps that identify the extractive and development projects that threaten those lands and territories, coupled with analyses of the opportunities to protect their lives and biocultural diversity of their lands and territories.
Indigenous Rights Defenders Under Attack: Challenges and Responses
April 25, 2019, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Rudin Center, New York University
Human Rights Defenders and Indigenous Peoples are increasingly under attack worldwide. This convergence of threats was recognized by a report last year from the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples. That report highlighted how intensified competition over natural resources — led by private companies and at times with government complicity — has placed indigenous communities seeking to protect their traditional lands at the forefront as targets of persecution.
This panel features perspectives from the Americas, Asia, and Africa on the nature of these threats against Indigenous rights defenders and the responses these organizations and their allies are taking to ensure the security of indigenous rights defenders and advancing efforts to defend the lands, resources, and rights of Indigenous communities: Register Here
Join the Gwich’in to Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from Drilling: April 29, 2019, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm, United Nations, Room CR-9
This gathering is In solidarity with the Gwichin to demand Free Prior Informed Consent from any company who intends to bid on oil leases offered by the United States Department of Interior on their ancestral lands, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Join us to understand the urgent threat to these lands from oil development and to elevate this pristine area for international protection.