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Lützerath 7, 41812 Erkelenz, Deutschland

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Lützerath 7, 41812 Erkelenz, Deutschland

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Lützerath 7, 41812 Erkelenz, Deutschland

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climate justice movement fighting against coal extraction and respective expropriation for it. Lützerath as symbol for the possible reach of 1.5 degree target.

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Water protection against tarsand oil from Alberta, Canada, by Enbridge Inc.’s controversial Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. see Violence and resistance at the frontlines of climate justice - Resilience

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Despite months of struggle by water protectors, the tar-sands oil of Alberta, Canada is flowing through Enbridge Inc.'s controversial Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. But for indigenous-led water protectors, environmental activists and concerned citizens who stood with them, the fight against the "black snake" is far from over.

Instead, actions have shifted from the forests, wetlands, rivers and fields along the 330-mile pipeline to courtrooms and government offices around the country. At stake now, say some activists, is not only the water and land, but also the right to oppose fossil fuel infrastructure projects in the future.
Water protector testimonies regarding police violence at the Line 3 action in northern Minnesota in August 2021. Jo Christian's testimony begins at 20 seconds. Video courtesy of the Giniw Collective.

"This is the fossil fuel industry's endgame. They know that the fossil fuel era is over, that people are going to protest any new infrastructure," said Jo Christian, an artist and activist who spent time at Line 3 frontlines this summer. Law enforcement there subjected her to an excruciating "pain compliance" maneuver that dislocated her jaw and temporarily paralyzed part of her face.

"These tactics are definitely being used to scare us, they're throwing everything at the wall to see what they can make stick. They're trying to get people to be afraid of standing up for water, and they're trying to make us afraid to stand up in direct action. That's why they're using pain compliance, felony theft charges, critical infrastructure, all of these egregious things. Clearly they're afraid," said Jo. She is charged with a felony and a gross misdemeanor for her actions in Minnesota, "because they see that we do hold power, and that they have to figure out a way to stop that."

One of many Treaty People actions on June 7; this one was near the Mississippi River headwaters. (Ron Turney photo)
Jo has used her passion for circus arts, puppetry, and outdoor spectacles to draw attention to injustice, raise voices and build community through street theater organizations for 30 years. On the day in August that she went to the frontlines, Hubbard County law enforcement officers changed tactics with demonstrators.

Instead of extracting her from the site and arresting her, as was typical in hundreds of arrests for direct action, they first subjected her and others to "pain compliance." The technique involves forcefully pressing fingers into an area behind the jaw where nerves that control sensation in the face pass through a narrow channel.

The maneuver - repeated numerous times - caused a burning sensation so severe that Jo said she and others screamed. Later, she compared it to the pain of childbirth. Left with partial paralysis of her face and a partially dislocated jaw, Christian was arrested and jailed. She now faces up to 11 years in prison.
Amy Jo Christian, artist, puppeteer and water protector, employing her talents at Milpa Mexico, a February 2020 event in Oaxaca, Mexico, in defense of native corn. (Tracy L. Barnett photo)
Jo is one of more than 900 water protectors still facing legal action in the water protector movement, and police violence has not succeeded in its aim of stopping resistance.
The National Day of Action against Line 3 brought out water protectors across the country, like this group of carolers from the Philly Water Protectors in Philadelphia. (Photo: Joe Piette)
A little over a year ago, construction on the Line 3 pipeline started and the first 22 water protectors were arrested shortly after that at an early action near the construction site. That day, indigenous-led water protectors had rallied to stop construction, protect the land and water, the habitat of wild rice, manoomin, a culturally significant food of the Anishinaabe, as well as treaty rights. Line 3's new route crosses more than 200 bodies of water - including the Mississippi River, twice - and carries 760,000 gallons of dirty tar-sands oil a day.
Fox Valley Sunrise Movement near Green Bay, Wisconsin, braved the winter chill to keep the pressure up on Line 3 during Tuesday's National Day of Action. Photo: Ann Munster
On the anniversary of the first arrests, dozens of protests sprang up to mark the occasion by staging speeches, rallies, caroling parties and meetings with elected officials. They demanded that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertake a new federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. Hosted by groups such as the Fox Valley Sunrise in Green Bay, Extinction Rebellion in San Francisco, and Philly Water Protectors in Philadelphia, the organizers shared a list of grievances: included was the fact that Enbridge has already been fined $3.32 million by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for violations that occurred during construction. Additionally, they state, millions of gallons of artesian water are being lost due to the puncture of an underground reservoir during drilling for the pipeline. Organizers also noted, the pipeline construction violates U.S.-Anishinaabe treaties. To complicate matters, the pipeline carries the carbon emissions equivalent of 50 new coal-fired plants in a time of " code red " climate emergency.

It was around 30 degrees in Green Bay, Wisconsin - a rather warm winter day - when participants in the Day of Action marking the anniversary met to picket and sing in front of the Army Corps of Engineers. Grace Quinn, an organizer with Sunrise Fox Valley and a water protector who had been on the frontlines last summer said,

"I've done a good amount of public speaking, and think I'm pretty good at it, but yesterday when I was speaking I ended up breaking down and crying when I was talking about the pipeline."

In an interview after the event, she recalled how the Mississippi River had been a lifeline during the protests, providing a chance to bathe, recreate and cool off during the 90-degree summer days. Noting the damage from frac-outs that has already occurred during the pipeline construction, Quinn said,
Courtesy Philly Water Protectors

"We know what happens with pipelines, pipelines spill. It's only a matter of time before this one spills too."

Keeping the gatherings upbeat, many of the Day of Action events featured music. The Philly Water Protectors caroled downtown, sporting homemade elf hats. Back in Green Bay, the event featured songs by Mary Hansen, who had come from her home in Peshtigo.

"We are here. We are here. We're gonna stand our ground. Our water is at risk so we're shuttin' Line 3 down," state the lyrics to one of her songs. "We are here. We are here. Their line is on OUR ground."

About a dozen pipeline fighters in Fargo, North Dakota gathered at the Army Corps of Engineers Office there to join the National Day of Action as well. Although the pipeline is operational, they said they do not plan to stop opposing it, reported the local e-paper Inforum.
Philly Water Protectors (Photo: Joe Piette)

"We will never stop fighting for waters and land," said Hannah Cook, a water protector who had been part of the summer resistance along Line 3, according to Inforum. "One day, it will be turned off. It's a ticking time bomb."

As of last summer there are 10 pipelines under construction in the United States, including Line 3, and seven more planned, according to the website Statista. Thousands of miles of pipeline are up for replacement in the coming years, according to industry analysts.

Currently, hundreds of people who had been part of frontline resistance during the pipeline construction are tied up in legal conflicts. About 90 people face felony charges, which can carry more than 10 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. During the nine months of pipeline construction, officers made more than 1,000 arrests. While those taken into custody last December were charged with common misdemeanors such as trespassing on a posted construction site or unlawful assembly, charges escalated as the project continued. Local prosecutors began bringing charges such as felony theft when activists locked themselves to machines that kept construction from moving forward and gross misdemeanors for "trespassing on critical infrastructure," under a law that was passed to protect important sites after 9/11. In one case, dissidents were charged with a felony for "aiding attempted suicide," when two people refused to get out of a pipe section.

"The charges we are facing are so ridiculous," said Jo, whose court date has been continued to Feb. 9. "The fact is I was exercising my First Amendment rights, and that I was also exercising my rights to demand that we uphold treaty rights in that region. Not only was I tortured for that, the police in that county were paid by a corporation, they were essentially acting as a security force for a multinational corporation. Then, on top of that, the state is following up by filing felony charges against me for stealing Enbridge's time."

Courtesy of Extinction Rebellion - San Francisco
As a condition of building the pipeline, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission had ordered Enbridge to set up an escrow account to cover the cost of law enforcement related to the pipeline. Before construction started Enbridge and local law enforcement began cooperating to discuss strategies for containing demonstrators, according to articles by The Intercept.

So far, local law enforcement has been paid nearly $3 million from the account for equipment, training and officer time surrounding Line 3 construction, according to the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Not only has law enforcement been tapping the Enbridge escrow account. The chief prosecutor for the hundreds arrested during protests, Jonathan Frieden, submitted invoices to the escrow account for his office's overtime, according to documents obtained by the Center for Protest Law and Litigation through a public records account. The Center for Protest Law and Litigation is representing water protectors facing charges from the actions on Line 3.

Last summer Frieden submitted invoices asking for money to cover the cost of prosecuting demonstrators. (See the documents here https://www.protestlaw.org/news/minnesota-prosecutor-sought-enbridge-funding-to-prosecute-at-line-3) On July 30 Frieden sent an email to Rick Hart, the account manager for the Line 3 escrow account, along with an invoice for $12,207 for the additional hours three staff had worked related to the pipeline. The "hours are due to multiple arrests/citations/complaints and prosecution for public safety related costs for maintaining the peace," according to Friedan's invoice.

Hart replied, "Prosecution expenses are not an allowable reimbursable expense for the Line 3 Public Safety Escrow Account."

Frieden persisted with his demands and in an e-mail to Hart noted that he disagreed with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which administers the fund. "I look forward to hearing why multiple late nights and overtime hours by my staff to charge the individuals endangering the public don't qualify under public safety," wrote Frieden, "I assume the cost to arrest them is covered, just not to prosecute them: How does that make sense under the language you provide below?"

Frieden also asked that he have more time to submit expenses, noting, "I would like to speak with you over the phone regarding the 180-day time limit following completion of the project. I'm wondering if that might be changed in the future given the significant amount of resources my office will be expending over the next 6 months in the prosecution of criminal acts associated with Line 3."

"This leveling up of charges and setting a precedent where you can charge somebody with felony theft for a corporation's time," said Jo. "That's really scary when you think about the large-scale impacts."

Tara Houska, an environmental and Indigenous rights attorney and founder of the Giniw Collective, which has helped lead the movement to block Line 3, also was arrested after an action that turned violent when police fired rubber bullets and used other "non-lethal" types of force on water protectors. From jail, she wrote a letter that was eventually published in Vogue. In it Houska, who is a citizen of Couchiching First Nation, wrote,
Grace Quinn, an organizer from Fox Valley Sunrise, spoke at the Green Bay Day of Action. (Courtesy of Grace Quinn)

"A few years back, I was asked what world I fear most. I remember speaking of water protectors, the folks standing up for all life with their bodies, minds, and hearts, sitting behind bars as the world burned and the seas rose. Here we are."

Water protectors involved in Line 3 have launched a campaign to "Drop the Charges" and are collecting signatures on a petition asking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to drop all charges.

"It's entirely wrong that Enbridge - a foreign oil corporation - has committed egregious crimes against the water and people, yet it's us who are being prosecuted. Every day that pipeline is in operation, Minnesotans are in danger. It must be shut down, and all charges against Water Protectors must be dropped," said Winona LaDuke, who herself was arrested at a Line 3 action and is the executive director of Honor the Earth.

Water Protectors defending treaty rights argue that they were upholding the supreme law of the land by resisting Line 3 and should not be prosecuted, according to the Indigenous Environmental Network. The pipeline crosses the 1854, 1855, and 1867 treaty territories of the Anishinaabe.
ACTION ALERT: Hundreds of water protectors are currently facing criminal charges in Minnesota for standing in defense of the water, the climate, and the treaty rights of the Anishinaabeg people. Learn more about the Drop the Charges campaign HERE.

"I think it's really important to recognize that we don't need to respond to this with fear," said Jo, who was on a call earlier in the week to get out the word about the Drop the Charges campaign. "We actually can respond by seeing the power we have. I think that focusing on these experiences can lead us to collectivizing and mobilizing, basing our experience on resilience and connection rather than fear. That's what is going to move us forward. We need to keep being on the front lines. These charges need to be dropped in order for us to stand up for land and water, and not criminalize [those actions]. Then the next step is: How do we keep mobilizing? How do we keep showing up?"

"As Indigenous Femme and 2-Spirit leadership in this movement has taught and modeled for me: For those who understand the land and water to be our relatives, not resources, there is no choice but to fight for their health and survival as well as that of future human generations."

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Violence and resistance at the frontlines of climate justice

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Despite months of struggle by water protectors, the tar-sands oil of Alberta, Canada is flowing through Enbridge Inc.'s controversial Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. But for indigenous-led water protectors, environmental activists and concerned citizens who stood with them, the fight against the "black snake" is far from over.

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In 2001 Mexico planned on building a new airport in Texcoco. However, the community that lived in the region (largely indigenous) objected to the project because they feared their territory being taken away without a say in the process. This is just one example of how people in Mexico challenged big building projects and won.

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Uppage Fruit Harvest (Garcinia-gummi gutta) in Western Ghats, Karnataka

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Uppage Fruit Harvest (Garcinia-gummi gutta) in Western Ghats, Karnataka

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Since few years, there is an increase in the cases and spread of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), a highly pathogenic virus that spread from monkeys to humans through virus-infected ticks. This increase has been linked to increased deforestation, mono cultivation in the region and uppage in Garcinia-gummi gutta fruit harvest. This fruit is of immense importance as it is believed to stimulate weight loss, suppress appetite and possess natural diuretic properties. Although the extraction of non-timber forest products by local communities was a widely proposed strategy to stem deforestation while enhancing livelihood, this good extractivism has now become problematic. This uppage of fruit harvest has reduced the food for the monkeys in the region and deforestation has shrunk the forest habitat of monkeys. This has resulted in malnourished monkeys falling prey to KFD. They inturn seek food near cities and thereby increasing the spread of disease even further. From my first-hand experience, I could say that the communities in the region have realised this implication and have now started growing more fruit trees specially for the monkeys and other animals to consume. But never the less, this isn't a solution to the extractivism that is still happening in these forests.

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A controversial massive land reclamation project near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau on waters to the east of Lantau Island in Hong Kong that is expected to destroy natural habitat,  create huge carbon emissions, and upset land justice. Refer to the below links for details:
1. https://earth.org/is-lantau-tomorrow-vision-the-sight-hong-kong-needs/
2. https://greenearth.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/The-Green-Earth-Position-Paper-Legco-Lantau-Tomorrow-Vision-20201111-1.pdf
3. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-5266-3_4

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Lantau Tomorrow Vision is not the best option to tackle Hong Kong's housing issue. Considering its long construction time and concomitant environmental impacts, it is worthwhile to explore other development strategies, such as redeveloping brownfields, to increase land supply.
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In her second policy address, Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam announced Lantau Tomorrow Vision, a large-scale reclamation project to build a 1,700 hectare-island off the east coast of Lantau Island. This is one of eighteen feasible options released by the Land Supply Task Force in 2018 and is the one the government is most adamant about to tackle land shortage. Reclamation has been the preferred way to increase land supply in Hong Kong - most of the new towns of Shatin, Tseung Kwan O, Tuen Mun, and Tung Chung sit on reclaimed land, accounting for 25% of developed areas - however, one of such scale is unprecedented.
Lantau Tomorrow Vision Leaflet. Source: GovHK
With the motto: "creating a quality and sustainable living and working environment for the Hong Kong People", Lantau Tomorrow Vision is presented as the panacea to the city's housing woes. Upon completion, this artificial island could accommodate up to 400,000 residential units, with 70% - 280,000 units - reserved for public housing, accounting entirely for the housing shortfall. As of this year, there are 253,000 applicants on the waiting list for public housing, with an average waiting time of 5.8 years . From these numbers, Lantau Tomorrow Vision could be the silver bullet to Hong Kong's housing shortage, but how "quality" would the living environment be? According to the government website, the project provides up to 40,000 housing units, with the average household size of 2.8, this would draw 1.12 million people to the island - or a density of 65,882 people per square kilometres - making it more populated than Kwun Tong, the densest district in Hong Kong, with a population density of 59,000 people per square kilometres . Is a congested urban environment the ideal model for "quality living" as the government claims?

As part of the "sustainability" goals, Lantau Tomorrow Vision would set up a $1 billion Lantau Conservation Fund to improve the rural environment on Lantau. One of its main targets is to explore practical means to compensate for habitat lost due to the project; this is mainly to quell oppositions from green groups and Chinese White Dolphin activists - highlighting Hong Kong's "develop first, conserve later" mentality - as previous compensation efforts have proven this mindset unrealistic. During the construction of the Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau bridge, the government set up marine parks to protect the dolphins in the area, but it was all in vain ; the number of CWDs continued to plummet throughout the project, from 80 in 2012 - around the commencement of the project - to a record low of 32 at the end of its construction in 2018. "Compensation measures are useless", said Taison Chang, chairman of the Hong Kong's Dolphin Conservation society, "There were no dolphins going there. What is the value of a marine park when no dolphins appear there?"
White dolphins near Lantau Island. Image: AFP
Lastly, it takes a substantial amount of fill material to build an island. To source adequate material for Lantau Tomorrow Vision, the government development bureau is prioritising inert construction waste - generated from local construction work - to supply half the fill material needed for the project, and the remaining would be covered by marine sand from China. However, the department's assertion on having adequate material is called into question, since previous reclamation projects mainly relied on marine sand for filling - only 10% of the 650 hectares highway was obtained from local construction reserves. Over 90 million cubic metres of fill material had to be transported from China.

Even if the department's claim was true and the city had enough fill material to supply 50% of the material for Lantau Tomorrow Vision, delivering half-an-island worth of marine sand from China would create a large carbon footprint. According to an NGO The Green Earth, the 1,700-hectare Lantau Tomorrow Vision could require over 260 million cubic metres to fill. To provide some context, a typical dump truck holds 10 cubic metres, meaning 26 million truck-load of fill material would be needed!

Indeed, housing is a dire problem that demands action from the Hong Kong government, but is reclaiming the only way? Chan Kim Ching, a researcher at the Liber Research Community, thinks not. Liber Research Community studies brownfields - previously developed lands that are now neglected - on its redevelopment potential. The group found multiple brownfield sites across Hong Kong and among which, 380 hectares could be used for housing development. "This is enough land to provide 95,000 public housing flats, equivalent to the city's supply of public housing in the past six years," reported the group. Although it does not measure up to the 1,700 hectares of the Lantau Tomorrow Vision, it shows that there is more than one way to increase land supply for housing.

The biggest advantage of redeveloping on brownfields over reclaiming is that they require significantly less time. Most of the sites come with connections to vital infrastructure (drainage, electricity, transport etc.), greatly reducing the time needed for development; in comparison to building an artificial island where all the infrastructure must also be built from scratch. According to the government's projection, the first residential population intake is in 2032. With the peaking and ageing population, Hong Kong people cannot afford another decade with the housing crisis, especially when there are quicker alternatives.
A brownfield site in Hong Kong. Source: Our HK Foundation
Another benefit of redeveloping is the improvement of existing land resources. Brownfields are an eyesore to the urban landscape. They are occupied by industrial operations such as container yards, vehicle parking, and covered warehouses, which are often incompatible to its surrounding area. Depending on usage, they also harbour contaminants such as petroleum, metals, and solvents, posing safety hazards to the environment. Redeveloping serves the double benefit of cleaning up the urban environment and addressing housing demands.

Although Lantau Tomorrow Vision could increase land supply for housing in Hong Kong, it is not the only viable option. Considering its long construction time and concomitant environmental impacts, it is worthwhile to explore other development strategies, such as redeveloping brownfields, to tackle the housing crisis.
Featured image by: Wikimedia Commons

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Is Lantau Tomorrow Vision the Sight Hong Kong Needs? | Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future

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Lantau Tomorrow Vision is not the best option to tackle Hong Kong's housing issue. Considering its long construction time and concomitant environmental impacts, it is worthwhile to explore other development strategies, such as redeveloping brownfields, to increase land supply.

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Tunisia and Morocco are major world producers of phosphate. In 2017, Morocco (including Western Sahara) was the third biggest producer of phosphates in the world,48 its reserves  amounting to over 70 per cent of global supply. The sector in Morocco is monopolised by the public company Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP).
Gabes and Safi: the phosphate twins in the extractivist hell

Massive pollution is generated from the phosphate factory, causing significant decrease of fish population.
Workers’ and other inhabitants’ health: respiratory disease, bone fragility and teeth yellowing.

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Gabes and Safi: the phosphate twins in the extractivist hell
Massive pollution generated from the phosphate factory, causing significant decrease of fish population.
Workers’ and other inhabitants’ health: respiratory disease, bone fragility and teeth yellowing.

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Drought caused for avocado plantations.

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Title: Petorca, el pueblo de Chile que está cerrando escuelas por culpa de la sequía - BBC News Mundo

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Coca-cola Factory Plachimada, kannimari Medu, Kerala, India

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Coca-cola Factory Plachimada, kannimari Medu, Kerala, India

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Coca-cola Factory Plachimada, kannimari Medu, Kerala, India

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Dangerous extracting of fishes by china in Persian Golf has destroyed local life in costal cities of Iran.

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Aquaculture farm in Hao, built by Chinese company leasing the land and ocean. Very controversial for political reasons; French president Macron vetoed the project for its dangerous Chinese influence. Also environmental concerns, since local government regulations were corrupt.

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Une vue d'architecte de la future ferme aquacole de Tahiti Nui Ocean Foods. (© DR)

Wang Chen, président de Tahiti Nui Ocean Foods (TNOF), entouré de son état-major, a tenu, hier à la présidence, une conférence de presse commune avec le gouvernement au grand complet.

Après l'obtention de tous les permis de construire, un travail commun sur les contraintes environnementales et une visite à Hao la semaine dernière, l'investisseur chinois a confirmé que "toutes les conditions sont désormais réunies", y compris "l'ensemble du financement du projet", pour que sa société procède en décembre au démarrage des travaux sur l'atoll.

"La protection de l'environnement est restée, tout au long de l'instruction, la préoccupation majeure du gouvernement", a déclaré Teva Rohfritsch. Aucune dérogation au code de l'environnement n'a été mise en place.

Le vice-président estime que 80 % des questions liées aux installations classées pour la protection de l'environnement (IPCE) sont clarifiées ; il ne reste donc plus qu'à formaliser cette partie du dossier.

L'investisseur et le gouvernement ont répété que la ferme aquacole, qui "vise une production de haute qualité utilisant uniquement des espèces et variétés provenant des lagons polynésiens", s'inscrit dans une démarche de développement durable.

Wang Chen a annoncé qu'il sollicitera les labels internationaux ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) et BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices), qui feront du poisson élevé à Hao un produit de luxe : "Best lagoon, best fish, best market !" (Le meilleur lagon, le meilleur poisson, le meilleur marché !), selon le président de TNOF, qui a détaillé les aspects écologiques de son projet.

Un quart de la surface du lagon

Les toitures de l'écloserie et de l'usine de transformation seront recouvertes de panneaux solaires, qui non seulement fourniront une énergie propre à l'exploitation, mais aussi aux véhicules et peut-être même aux bateaux qui travailleront sur le lagon.

Vidéos : en ce moment sur Actu

Le groupe Tianrui, maison-mère de Tahiti Nui Ocean Foods, fabrique d'ailleurs panneaux solaires et véhicules électriques. À terme, TNOF traitera ses déchets sur place. Wang Chen a indiqué que la ferme pourrait même aider au traitement de certains des déchets de l'atoll et que les déchets de poisson pourraient même être utilisés comme nourriture par l'élevage porcin.

Les rori seront mis à contribution pour absorber les déjections de poissons. Les cages d'élevage seront espacées d'un kilomètre, soit deux fois ce qu'impose la norme internationale. La ferme occupera ainsi un quart de la surface du lagon de Hao, qui fait 720 km2, mais aucune cage ne sera installée à proximité du village et des cocoteraies exploitées pour le coprah. "On va mieux circuler que dans certains atolls perlicoles", a assuré Teva Rohfritsch.

TNOF vise une production annuelle totale de 50 000 tonnes de poisson, sachant qu'il ne sera pas possible de le faire uniquement à Hao. D'autres atolls voisins pourraient accueillir des cages d'élevage, comme par exemple Amanu. Mais, a souligné le gouvernement, TNOF n'étendra pas ses activités aux atolls qui ont une activité touristique et/ou perlicole.

300 à 500 emplois en phase d'exploitation

Côté emploi, le chantier devrait embaucher quelque 300 personnes, dont 30 à 50 cadres, techniciens et fournisseurs de nationalité chinoise.

La base vie, destinée aux travailleurs non originaires de Hao, aura une capacité de 250 personnes, tandis que les personnels chinois seront logés à part. Le chiffre pourrait monter jusqu'à 500 travailleurs en phase d'exploitation, là aussi avec environ 10 % de nationaux chinois. L'investissement total est maintenu à 1,5 milliard de dollars US (151,6 milliards de francs) : "On l'a annoncé en Chine, on est sérieux, ça ne changera pas", a assuré Wang Chen.

Ce dernier et le gouvernement ont insisté sur la collaboration à long terme avec l'Université de l'océan de Shanghai, où une dizaine de jeunes Polynésiens ont déjà été formés à une technique "unique au monde" en matière d'écloserie. L'Université de l'océan continuera de fournir un soutien technique et un partenariat avec l'Université de la Polynésie française est envisagé.

Enfin, Wang Chen a pris soin de remercier les membres du gouvernement, qui "ont leur population et la protection de l'environnement très à cœur" et avec qui "tout le travail est fait en transparence, c'est une méthode nouvelle, on va dire". Il a dit avoir pour ambition de faire de l'aquaculture "le troisième emblème de la Polynésie", après le tourisme et la perliculture.
C.P.

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Ferme aquacole de Hao : le chantier débutera en fin d'année

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Après une dernière visite d'inspection, les investisseurs chinois ont confirmé le démarrage des travaux du projet aquacole à Hao pour le mois de décembre. Les mesures prises pour préserver l'environnement ont été détaillées. Il faudra ensuite 30 mois pour que l'exploitation proprement dite commence.

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Foreign forest plantation and explotation in Mapuche indigenous communities.

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Pee hee mu’huh / Thacker Pass: US' largest lithium mine likely to be built in area sacred to local Indigenous Peoples (because they claim a massacre of white colonizers against indigenous people had taken place there in 1865)

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Pee hee mu’huh / Thacker Pass: US' largest lithium mine likely to be built in area sacred to local Indigenous Peoples (because they claim a massacre of white colonizers against indigenous people had taken place there in 1865)

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Lithium Nevada Corp. seems likely to soon start building the US' largest lithium mine in an area, today on the border between the states of Nevada and Oregon, that is sacred to local indigenous groups, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the People of Red Mountain (1). According to the Guardian, "tribal oral history depicts US soldiers killing dozens of Indigenous people in the late 1800s, including women and children, and leaving behind a burial ground with deep spiritual significance. The generations that followed have honored the expansive site with ceremonies while continuing to hunt and forage for traditional foods and medicines"(2).

It has been disputed though by the potential mining company and the courts whether the site of the massacre was actually located at the so-called Thacker Pass, and a permit to perform archeological digging as a legally obligatory preparation for the mining site installation was issued. As the initiative "Protect Thacker Pass" notes in a press release, "according to mine opponents, issuing the permit and conducting the archeological dig will violate the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the National Historic Preservation Act"(3). According to Will Falk, attorney of Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and People of Red Mountain, among others, a dig "will likely destroy the remains of massacred Paiute people" (3).

Lithium Americas, on their website, don't mention the local indigenous communities and the issue at all in the first overall description of the project that can be found, and just briefly later on the website, where it is said that their approach "ensures the local community is included early in the development process" (4).

Will Falk though, discussing the court decision to issue the digging permit and its claim of the supposedly unproven location of the massacre, says: "We are asking Judge Du to reconsider her decision until meaningful consultation takes place with all Nevada Tribal leaders and people.", and, among others, that the federal government was "perpetrat[ing] this atrocity" [that the massacre had represented](3).

Sources (all online sources accessed on April 26, 2022):

(1) By "Newswire" referred to in the following way: "a group of Paiute and Shoshone people from the Fort McDermitt and Duck Valley reservations calling themselves Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain)". Source: https://newswire.kepw.org/2021/07/26/native-american-groups-seek-to-preserve-traditional-sites-threatened-by-lithium-mine/

(2) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/02/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-fight-save-sacred-land-nevada

(3) https://www.protectthackerpass.org/press-release-ignoring-evidence-of-massacre-remains-bureau-of-land-management-issues-permit-for-archeological-dig-at-thacker-pass/

(4) https://www.lithiumamericas.com/usa/thacker-pass/

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RENO, NV - In yet another blow to Lithium Americas' troubled Thacker Pass lithium mine, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and a group of Paiute and Shoshone people from the Fort McDermitt and Duck Valley reservations calling themselve s Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) filed a motion in Federal District Court on Tuesday, July 20 alleging that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in permitting the project. The Paiute name for Thacker Pass is Pee hee mu'huh.

The motion alleges that BLM violated at least five provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act section 106 by failing to adequately consult with tribes, failing to give opportunities for public comment, and failing to consider input in development of their plan for mitigating or avoiding impacts to Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone cultural sites in Pee hee mu'huh. The motion asks the court for a "preliminary injunction" which would halt the mining company from conducting any ground-disturbing activities in the near future.

Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said: "We will do everything possible to support the indigenous People of Red Mountain and protect this sacred place by making sure that the proper consultation is afforded to all stakeholders, especially the Tribes."

The motion is likely to result in Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu becoming plaintiff-interveners in an existing lawsuit, which was filed on February 26 th by four environmental organizations (Basin and Range Watch, Great Basin Resource Watch, Wildlands Defense, and Western Watersheds Project).

The existing lawsuit claims that the Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws. Native American claims under the National Historic Preservation Act represent an allegation of wrongdoing not yet heard in the courts, opening a new front in the legal battle.

Will Falk, one of the attorneys representing Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu in this case, believes that this motion will likely delay the project significantly and could even void the already-granted Federal permit unless actions are taken to come into compliance with the law.

"The BLM Winnemucca office failed to honor its obligations to consult with Native American Tribes about traditional cultural properties and sacred sites in Pee hee mu'huh under the National Historic Preservation Act. The Joe Biden administration and first-ever Native Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland have promised that federal agencies will engage in meaningful and robust government-to-government consultation with the Tribes. They are not currently honoring that promise to Tribes who consider Pee hee mu'huh sacred."

Lithium Nevada, the U.S. subsidiary of Lithium Americas, originally planned to begin constructing the Thacker Pass mine in early 2021 through a contractor with the North American Coal Corporation, but delays in permitting, determined opposition, and concerns from locals have already put the project a year behind schedule.

The Thacker Pass project already faces two lawsuits, official protests to required water rights transfers, a protest camp on the mine site that has been in place for six months, contentious public meetings, and widespread opposition from local indigenous peoples, farmers, and ranchers.

Native opposition has been particularly determined. On June 24th, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments, passed resolution #AK-21-027 stating that "NCAI opposes the Thacker Pass lithium mine" and calling on the Department of the Interior to rescind the permits.

The injunction request filed today is the second the court has received in the past two months. On May 27 th, the four environmental groups who filed suit in February also asked the court for a preliminary injunction to halt planned "mechanical trenching" operations at Thacker Pass at twenty-seven undisclosed sites. This trenching would be up to "40 meters" long and "a few meters deep" at seven sites. The remaining twenty sites would undergo excavations up to five feet deep.

In response to the news of this planned trenching, Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu organized a rally on July 7 th at the offices of Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., the for-profit archeological company hired to excavate the cultural sites at Thacker Pass. At the demonstration, speakers from allied groups and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu emphasized that the proposed mining activities will desecrate this sacred place, which is the site of a massacre described in Paiute oral history.

In an official statement delivered to Far Western employees, the group stated: "The Tribal Members who comprise Atsa Koodakuh wyh Nuwu are fiercely concerned with the proposed desecration of cultural sites and ancestors' remains. Our oral histories are clear regarding the fact that Peehee Mu'huh [the Paiute name for Thacker Pass] is a massacre site. Western science, government policy, and corporations deny our self-determination and self-representation through this failure to honor traditional knowledge; proposing to verify our truths through an act of desecration instead."

Supporters of Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu have also filed complaints with the Register of Professional Archeologists alleging the digging up the cultural and burial sites at Thacker Pass. Removing cultural artifacts and remains without full consultation and consent violates the ethical principles outlined by the Society for American Archaeology. Principle Number 2: Accountability states that "responsible archaeological research, including all levels of professional activity, requires an acknowledgment of public accountability and a commitment to make every reasonable effort, in good faith, to consult actively with affected group(s), with the goal of establishing a working relationship that can be beneficial to all parties involved."

The People of Red Mountain's letter confronts Far Western's breach of ethics and emphasizes the responsibility of Far Western's archaeologists "to heal historic traumas and re-vision the relationship between Archaeology and Indigenous Peoples to be based on morality and ethics rather than extraction of ancestors, minerals, and knowledge."

Lithium Americas stock price peaked at $26.82 on January 19 th, four days after the Record of Decision was released, but has since dropped to half that value. The mine project, which would violate indigenous rights, destroy important wildlife habitat, and pollute air and water, has been described as a "national and international embarrassment."

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Timeline

January 15, 2021 - Due to regulations cuts and "fast-tracked" permitting under the Trump Administration, the Bureau of Land Management releases a Record of Decision approving the Thacker Pass mine less than a year after beginning the Environmental Impact Statement process required under the National Environmental Policy Act. On the same day, the Protect Thacker Pass camp is established.

February 11, 2021 - Local rancher Edward Bartell files a lawsuit (Case No. 3:21-cv-00080-MMD-CLB) in U.S. District Court alleging the proposed mine violates the Endangered Species Act by harming Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, and would cause irreparable harm to springs, wet meadows, and water tables.

February 26, 2021 - Four environmental organizations (Basin and Range Watch, Great Basin Resource Watch, Wildlands Defense, and Western Watersheds Project) file another lawsuit (Case No. 3:21-cv-00103-MMD-CLB) in U.S. District Court, alleging that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Land Policy Management Act, and other laws in permitting the Thacker Pass mine.

May 13, 2021 - Lithium Nevada informs Plaintiffs in the Feb. 26th lawsuit that it intends to begin ground disturbance at Thacker Pass as soon as June 23 to remove Native American artifacts & cultural sites as part of a "Historic Properties Treatment Plan."

May 27, 2021 - The four environmental groups who filed suit on Feb. 26th ask Federal Judges for a Preliminary Injunction to block Lithium Nevada's proposed Historic Properties Treatment Plan.

June 8, 2021 - In exchange for a two-week extension to file response briefs to the Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction, the BLM and Lithium Nevada agree that no ground disturbance activities at Thacker Pass would occur before July 29, 2021.

June 12, 2021 - A rally opposing the Thacker Pass mine is held in Reno, Nevada, with several hundred people attending. Speakers include members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone tribe, Duck Valley

June 24, 2021 - The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments, called on the Department of the Interior to rescind the permits for the Thacker Pass project.

July 7, 2021 - A rally is held at the Carson City office of Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., the for-profit archeological company hired to excavate the cultural sites at Thacker Pass. Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) deliver a signed letter stating that if Far Western digs up sacred and cultural sites at Thacker Pass, they will be committing actions that are unethical and wrong.

July 19, 2021 - The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) file a motion in Federal District Court alleging that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in permitting the planned lithium mine.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Motion filed in U.S. District Court on July 19th by the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain).

2. Letter to Far Western Anthropological Research Group from Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain).

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Native American groups seek to preserve traditional sites threatened by lithium mine - Eugene Community Newswire

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RENO, NV - In yet another blow to Lithium Americas' troubled Thacker Pass lithium mine, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and a group of Paiute and Shoshone people from the Fort McDermitt and Duck Valley reservations calling themselve s Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) filed a motion in Federal District Court on Tuesday, July 20 alleging that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in permitting the project.

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Mount Tom Price mine, Tom Price WA, Australia

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Destruction of sacred sites systematically allowed by state legislation despite protection act

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Destruction of sacred sites systematically allowed by state legislation despite protection act

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In the state of Western Australia, there has existed since 1972 the so-called "Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (AHA)", which, according to the WA government site, "protects all Aboriginal heritage sites in Western Australia, whether they are registered or not." (1) Nevertheless, mining companies have systematically been given permission to destroy sacred sites upon request. One article, written after one incident that made the headlines when the Rio Tinto mining company destroyed a 46,000-years-old sacred site at Juukan Gorge (near marked spot on the map), notes: "The mining industry made 144 requests to the WA Government to 'impact' heritage sites between 2017-2021. Only one was rejected."(2) One study of 2014 found for example shows how the AHA systematically doesn't fulfill its actual purpose of protecting sacred sites, and that indigenous communities are never included into the process of dealing with requests (3).

Considering that within the 14 months after the destruction of the sacred site at Juukan Gorge, "22 requests have been granted and 1 declined" (2), it becomes hard to believe in the words of Rio Tinto, published on their website:

"It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the destruction of a site of such exceptional cultural significance never happens again, to earn back the trust that has been lost, and to re-establish our leadership in communities and social performance." (4)

Sources (Online sources all accessed on April 26, 2022):

(1) https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-planning-lands-and-heritage/aboriginal-sites-objects-and-ancestral-remains

(2) https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/how-our-laws-allow-the-destruction-of-sacred-indigenous-sites/13435592

(3) https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3911255c8081f93d62dd059c48257c8c0009f3cd/$file/tp-1255.pdf

(4) https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge

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Aboriginal sites, objects and ancestral remains

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The Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (AHA) protects all Aboriginal heritage sites in Western Australia, whether they are registered or not.

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Deforestation in Australia since arrival of Europeans

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Deforestation in Australia since arrival of Europeans

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According to the Australian Wilderness Society (1), “Just 50% of Australia’s forests and bushlands remain intact compared with pre-European arrival. The other 50% has been either permanently destroyed and replaced with another land use or is classed as degraded forests and bushlands—most of which was previously cleared but now regrowing vegetation of different ages.” It is further said that “Australia has lost 27% of our rainforest, 19% of open forest, 11% of woodland forest and 28% of mallee forest since 1750.” Referring to sources such as, for instance, Global Forest Watch (2)(3), large shares of this process can be traced back to deforestation. Reasons for this can be, among others, land for cattle grazing for the beef industry, of for the logging industry.

Sources (online sources all accessed on April 26, 2022):

(1) https://www.wilderness.org.au/news-events/10-facts-about-deforestation-in-australia

(2) https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/AUS/?dashboardPrompts=eyJzaG93UHJvbXB0cyI6dHJ1ZSwicHJvbXB0c1ZpZXdlZCI6WyJkb3dubG9hZERhc2hib2FyZFN0YXRzIiwic3Vic2NyaWJlVG9BcmVhIiwicmVjZW50SW1hZ2VyeSIsInNoYXJlV2lkZ2V0Il0sInNldHRpbmdzIjp7InNob3dQcm9tcHRzIjp0cnVlLCJwcm9tcHRzVmlld2VkIjpbImRvd25sb2FkRGFzaGJvYXJkU3RhdHMiLCJzdWJzY3JpYmVUb0FyZWEiLCJyZWNlbnRJbWFnZXJ5Il0sInNldHRpbmdzIjp7Im9wZW4iOmZhbHNlLCJzdGVwSW5kZXgiOjAsInN0ZXBzS2V5IjoiIn0sIm9wZW4iOnRydWUsInN0ZXBJbmRleCI6MCwic3RlcHNLZXkiOiJzaGFyZVdpZGdldCJ9LCJzdGVwc0tleSI6InNoYXJlV2lkZ2V0IiwiZm9yY2UiOnRydWV9&location=WyJjb3VudHJ5IiwiQVVTIl0%3D&map=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%3D%3D&showMap=true&treeLossTsc=eyJoaWdobGlnaHRlZCI6ZmFsc2V9

(3) (for maps illustrating loss of tree cover) https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/?map=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%3D%3D&mapMenu=eyJkYXRhc2V0Q2F0ZWdvcnkiOiJmb3Jlc3RDaGFuZ2UifQ%3D%3D&mapPrompts=eyJvcGVuIjp0cnVlLCJzdGVwc0tleSI6InJlY2VudEltYWdlcnkiLCJzdGVwc0luZGV4IjowfQ%3D%3D

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Australia is home to some of the most unique and magnificent nature in the world. Our country has vast savannahs and grasslands, tropical rainforests, endangered gum forests and diverse woodlands that provide shelter to our most precious threatened species. Yet, Australia is one of the worst developed countries in the world for broadscale deforestation - killing tens of millions of native animals (including threatened species) and wiping out endangered forests and woodlands. In fact, we've cleared nearly half of our forest cover in the last 200 years!

1. Around 5,000 square kilometres, of virgin bushland and advanced regrowth are cleared annually. In addition to destroying native wildlife, it is the major cause of salinity and causes around 14% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.¹

2. Australia has lost 25% rainforest, 45% of open forest, 32% woodland forest and 30% of mallee forest in 200 years.²

3. The effect of these changes has been considerable. Around 20% of Australian mammals, 7% of reptiles, 13% of birds are listed as Extinct, Endangered or Vulnerable.³

4. More than 100 species have gone extinct in NSW in the last 200 years.⁴

5. Australia has one of the highest rates of tree clearing of any developed country historically. In the past, we've cleared more bush each year than poverty-stricken countries like Burma, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and the Congo.5

6. Currently 1,000 animal and plant species are at risk of extinction, including the koala.4

7. In 2014-15, the woody vegetation clearing rate in Queensland was 296,000* hectares per year (ha/year), similar to the 2013-14 woody vegetation clearing rate of 295,000 and over three and a half times what it was in 2009.⁶ 2009-2010: 83,000 hectares 2010-2011: 92,000 hectares 2011-2012: 155,000 hectares 2012-2013: 261,000 hectares 2013-2014: 295,000 hectares 2014-2015: 296,000 hectares

8. In New South Wales, the government has followed Queensland's lead by ripping up their native vegetation laws.

9. Meanwhile in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, plans are afoot for massive clearing in the Kimberley and Keep River regions for industrial agricultural schemes.

10. Australia's greenhouse gas emissions from tree clearing could spiral further out of control. In Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Victoria, clearing laws have either been recently weakened or are currently facing rollbacks. Emissions from tree clearing from 2016 to 2030 are projected between 673 and 826 Mt CO²e without substantial policy change. By way of comparison, this is the equivalent of operating at least three to four extra dirty Hazelwood coal fired power plants for this same period. CO2 Australia.

Reference:

1. The Wilderness Society blog

2. Forest Network

3. Commonwealth (1998a); The Wilderness Society blog

4. Department of Environment, NSW

5. Forest Fact Sheet

6. Queensland Government report

Here are 10 facts about deforestation in Australia that reiterate how badly we need stronger laws to protect our precious wildlife and nature.

*Clearing rates are rounded to the nearest 1,000 hectares per year

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10 facts about deforestation in Australia | Wilderness Society

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Australia is home to some of the most unique and magnificent nature in the world. Our country has vast savannahs and grasslands, tropical rainforests, endangered gum forests and diverse woodlands that provide shelter to our most precious threatened species.

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Illegal mining of a family to provide money for their meal of the day

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Cobalt mining in the province of Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo

About half of all mined cobalt worldwide comes from this region. With growing demand of rechargeable batteries, the amount of mines has increased.
The mines are often close to towns and villages - local communities are cut off their original farmland and water sources, without having a say in the matter. Often whole villages are forced to be relocated. Their new homes lack basic of services (fresh water, fertile farmland, schools, health care). Air and water pollution are a big problem.

Due to the destructive consequences of the coal mining, many people are forced to work in the mines for survival because there are no other income options. This results in frequent child labour, life-threatening work conditions and lack of prospects for local communities.
Many children do not go to school because there are needed to provide the income for food by illegal mining with their bare hands. There is almost no girls labouring here artisanal miners believe the presence of women makes cobalt disappear. Reports are that kidnappings and even blood sacrifices are rampant.

Mostly investors from China own the mining companies. The government fails to protect local communities from the fatal consequences.
One local voice: "They take our copper and cobalt but when a child dies on their mine, they are nowhere to be found.”

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India plans to fell ancient forest to create 40 new coalfields. Narendra Modi’s dream of a ‘self-reliant India’ comes at a terrible price for its indigenous population:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/08/india-prime-minister-narendra-modi-plans-to-fell-ancient-forest-to-create-40-new-coal-fields

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Over the past decade, Umeshwar Singh Amra has witnessed his homeland descend into a battleground. The war being waged in Hasdeo Arand, a rich and biodiverse Indian forest, has pitted indigenous people, ancient trees, elephants and sloth bears against the might of bulldozers, trucks and hydraulic jacks, fighting with a single purpose: the extraction of coal.

Yet under a new "self-reliant India" plan by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to boost the economy post-Covid-19 and reduce costly imports, 40 new coalfields in some of India's most ecologically sensitive forests are to be opened up for commercial mining.

Among them are four huge blocks of Hasdeo Arand 's 420,000 acres of forest in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, which sit above an estimated 5bn tonnes of coal.

It marks a significant shift. The coal industry in India is state-owned, but this auction of 40 new coal blocks will see the creation of a privatised, commercial coal sector in India. Among those bidding for it are India's rich and powerful industrial giants, including the $14bn (£11bn) Adani group run by the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who operates India's largest coal power plants and has close ties to Modi.

The coal auction has already proved controversial at both the local and political level. At least seven of the coal blocks up for auction were previously deemed "no go" areas for mining due to their environmentally valuable status and about 80% of the blocks are home to indigenous communities and thick forest cover. Four state governments - West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh - have written to Modi in opposition or raised legal objections to the auction, and one coal block, which overlapped with the Tadoba tiger reserve in Maharashtra, has already been removed.

The forest in Chhattisgarh sits on huge coal reserves. Photograph: Dinodia Photos/Alamy

Amra, who is an Adivasi, a term used to describe India's indigenous people, was one of nine local sarpanchs - village leaders - who recently wrote to Modi demanding a stop to the auction in Hasdeo Arand. He said: "If the government gave me the option to give up my life in exchange for no more mining happening in the forest, I would do it in a second."

Amra has seen first-hand the environmental devastation wreaked by open-cast coal mines. In 2011, two vast open-cast mines were excavated on the forest's peripheries, ripping up the fragile land and filling the surroundings with pollution, smoke, heat, noise and poison. Crime rose drastically in the area and the elephants that lived in the forest, disoriented by the new hostile conditions, became aggressive, leading to dozens of deaths.

The prospect of more significant blocks of the forest, the largest in India, being handed over to private mining operations was more than Amra could bear. Five villages will be destroyed and more than 6,000 mainly indigenous people displaced, as well as thousands of hectares of trees, torn down for mines and roads.

"If more mining happens everything will change; the natural resources will be gone, our way of life will disappear, everything will be under threat," he said. "We are tribal people, we cannot go out and live in the cities and no amount of money can ever compensate us. There is no forest like this in the world - cut it down and it can never be replaced."

While across the world governments have geared towards a "green recovery" post Covid-19 - the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said recently there was "no good reason for any country to include coal" in recovery plans - India is putting fossil fuel at the forefront of its strategy to turn the pandemic into economic opportunity.

"Why cannot India be the world's largest exporter of coal?" asked Modi as he announced the coal auction project.

Yet with its 45% ash content, making it some of the most polluting coal in the world, there is unlikely to be an international market for Indian coal. In addition, many major factories in India cannot run on "dirty" domestic coal, meaning they will still need to import it from abroad.

There is also a question of necessity. While India is the world's second largest consumer of coal, and annually imports 247m tonnes, costing more than $20bn (£15bn), India's electricity demand is forecast to fall by up to 15% over the next five years due to the economic reverberations of Covid-19. Meanwhile, a report this week by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air concluded that the current state-run coal mines of India already have capacity to produce 20% more coal than the expected demand in 2030.

If the Chhattisgarh forest is chopped down, its biodiversity cannot be replaced. Photograph: Dinodia Photos/Alamy Stock Photo

Environmental activists also question why India cannot be weaned off foreign coal through a gradual increase in investment in domestic renewable energy, such as solar. This month, Modi inaugurated Asia's largest solar farm in the state of Madhya Pradesh. India is the world's cheapest producer of solar power and the cost of constructing a new solar plant is 14% less than that of a building a new coal plant. With proper investment, it has been estimated that the solar energy industry could generate as many as 1.6m jobs in India by 2022, far more than would be generated by domestic coal.

But India's joint secretary for coal, Maddirala Nagaraju, said that all the country's projections showed that demand for coal would increase and insisted that increased domestic coalmining was the "cheapest way of meeting the energy needs of the people".

"We are the country with the fourth largest coal reserves in the world and we need to provide energy security for over a billion people: coal is the only way," said Nagaraju. He conceded that there would be "costly trade-offs" in opening up protected forest areas for mining, but said this had the support of local communities who "want the land to be acquired because they get high compensation packages".

He added: "Yes, some people have objected, but the mining will bring a lot of development, employment and money to these areas. How else will we develop these Adivasi people in central India?"

Among the prominent opponents to the project is the former environment minister, Jairan Ramesh, who also wrote a letter to Modi condemning coal auctions. It was during his time in office that a survey was carried out in 2010 on India's biggest coalfields and determined that 30% were "no-go areas" due to their biodiversity or resident tiger or elephant populations. Yet since Modi came to power in 2014, that 30% has been reduced to about 5%.

Ramesh alleged this was a direct result of pressure from the powerful corporate coal lobby, Adani in particular. The Adani group is contracted to operate two of the mines currently open in Hasdeo Arand, and has been pushing to expand mining operations in the forest for years, even reportedly offering microloans to local tribal people in order to win their support.

"Adani is behind this," claims Ramesh. "He is one of the most influential forces on the government."

"Modi poses as a great environmental champion globally but his track record is one of complete loosening of environmental laws and regulations," Ramesh added. "The corporate lobbies are just too powerful and in the name of ease for businesses, environment has become the biggest casualty."

The Adani group rejected the allegations as baseless and politically motivated. A spokesperson said the company: "Has always strived to provide balanced and affordable energy supply to an energy-deprived population of 1.3 billion people whose per capita energy consumption is less than half the world's average and almost one-tenth of many of the developed economies.

"The Adani Group has been a leading contributor to India's vision for a balanced energy mix and an enabler of India's leadership in meeting its [Paris agreement on climate change] target."

It said it aimed to become the world's largest renewable energy company by 2025.

This article was amended on 18 August 2020. India is home to sloth bears, not sloths as referenced in an earlier version.

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India plans to fell ancient forest to create 40 new coalfields

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Over the past decade, Umeshwar Singh Amra has witnessed his homeland descend into a battleground. The war being waged in Hasdeo Arand, a rich and biodiverse Indian forest, has pitted indigenous people, ancient trees, elephants and sloth bears against the might of bulldozers, trucks and hydraulic jacks, fighting with a single purpose: the extraction of coal.

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The rise of global demand for fossil fuels brings to an intensive resource extraction for the energy sector.

Extractivism is not just the activity of resource extraction but a development model, which organizes – on the basis of the exploitation and marketing of resources for export – the political, socio-economic and cultural relations within the respective country or region: the economy and class structures, gender relations, the state and public discourse.
- Giorgos Velegrakis

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Given the rise of global demand for fossil fuels, resource extraction for the energy sector intensifies. Extractivism is not just the activity of resource extraction but a development model, which organizes - on the basis of the exploitation and marketing of resources for export - the political, socio-economic and cultural relations within the respective country or region: the economy and class structures, gender relations, the state and public discourse. This is especially the case in resource-rich countries in the global South, but is also an economically attractive way for the U.S. to re-industrialize (through the exploitation of "non-conventional" fossil fuels).

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August 2019 · IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science

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(PDF) New "extractivism" in Europe? The case of Greece in times of economic crisis

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Given the rise of global demand for fossil fuels, resource extraction for the energy sector intensifies. Extractivism is not just the activity of resource extraction but a development model, which organizes - on the basis of the exploitation and marketing of resources for export - the political, socio-economic and cultural relations within the respective country or region: the economy and class structures, gender relations, the state and public discourse.

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Evaporation ponds for the extraction of lithium salts from the brines 

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Lithium mining in Northern Chile - an example of "green extractivism"

- Lithium mining is a water-intensive process, taking place in one of the driest places on Earth, leading to water scarcity and environmental damages (e.g. changes in the natural hidrodynamics of the salt flat, biodiversity loss) in the already fragile desert ecosystem
- Local Atacameño indigenous communities are deeply affected by this practice: their autonomy & self-sufficiency is endangered by the increasing depleation of water resources and its consequences for agriculture and livestock. Their cultural and ritual sites are endangered and disrespected. The (spiritual) values they ascribe to the landscape and natural elements (e.g. water) are not considered at all.
- Further damages are caused by the chemicals used in the process (further research is needed to determine the effects of exposure to certain substances in the air / soil / water)
- Local communities receive mere paybacks as monetary compesation for the damages
- Lithium is crucial for the "green transformation", since it is a fundamental element of batteries for e-vehices & energy storage systems
- Water in Chile is still privatized (lots of issues around water rights also in the South, where hydroelectric power plants require huge amounts of water). The government assigns water & land rights (to corporations). In the last years the main concessions for lithium mining were given to a US-American & a Chilean company, while the last auction was won by a Chinese and a Chilean company. This bidding process is still not concluded and is worthy of attention considering the agenda of the new government and the current work of the Constitutional Assembly.
- Lithium mining doesn't affect just Chile, but also Bolivia & Argentina in the so-called "lithium triangle", one of the biggest lithium reserves in the world

➡️https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/14/electric-cost-lithium-mining-decarbonasation-salt-flats-chile

➡️Jerez, B., Garcés, I., & Torres, R. (2021). Lithium extractivism and water injustices in the Salar de Atacama, Chile: The colonial shadow of green electromobility. Political Geography, 87, 102382.

➡️Gundermann, H., & Göbel, B. (2018). Comunidades indígenas, empresas del litio y sus relaciones en el salar de Atacama. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena, 50(3), 471–486. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26534172

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Lithium (Jadarite) Extraction in Serbia by Rio Tinto
project update:  https://balkangreenenergynews.com/rio-tinto-exploring-all-options-after-serbia-canceled-its-lithium-project/

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Rio Tinto’s past casts a shadow over Serbia’s hopes of a lithium revolution

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People in the Jadar valley fear environmental catastrophe as Europe presses for self-sufficiency in battery technology

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Pipeline constructed to extract crude oil. Construction through indigenous territory. In turn they lost their living rights. There were huge protests, protest camps etc.

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What is the Dakota Access Pipeline?

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a 1,172 mile-long underground pipeline constructed by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) of Dallas, Texas. DAPL began operating in June 2017, transporting approximately 570,000 barrels of crude oil, a fossil fuel, every day.

The pipeline carries crude oil from the Bakken oil fields located in North Dakota to Illinois, where the oil is then transported to oil terminals and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico by another pipeline. The pipeline travels through various communities across several states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.

How does DAPL impact Indigenous communities?

In early 2017, The Trump Administration signed orders which granted authorization for the construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River, just half a mile upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The placement of the pipeline at this location exposes the Standing Rock Sioux community's land and water supply to contamination including any neighboring downstream communities. Additionally, the construction of the pipeline destroyed places that hold cultural significance to the tribe's heritage including ancestral burial sites.

The construction of the pipeline took place on land reserved for the Lakota/Dakota peoples through the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. The treaty granted millions of acres of land to be reserved for the Great Sioux Reservation and to be used by the Lakota/Dakota peoples forever. However, violations of the treaty began immediately after it was signed causing the reserved land to be gradually reduced and even stolen for the past 170 years.

Environmental Risks and Past Incidents

Pipelines pose a detrimental threat to the environment and communities located near them. According to the FracTracker Alliance, the U.S. contains 2.7 million miles of pipelines that transport natural gas and hazardous liquids. A significant number of these pipelines are placed near communities or near locations that hold cultural or ecological significance. Pipeline spill incidents are attributed to over 34 million gallons of hazardous liquids spilled. These spills pose a threat that could expose the land and drinking water supply to hazardous contamination.

The FracTracker Alliance conducted a study tracking all of the pipeline-related incidents between January 2010 and November 2018. Their findings reported over 5,000 incidents, 596 injuries, 126 fatalities, over 29,000 evacuations, 808 fires, 219 explosions, and over $4 million in damages. In their report, they stated, "on average each day in the U.S. 1.7 pipeline incidents are reported requiring 9 people to be evacuated, and causing almost $1.3 million in property damage. A pipeline catches fire every 4 days and results in an explosion every 11 days. These incidents result in an injury every 5 days, on average, and a fatality every 26 days". These numbers emphasized the harmful and often fatal impact pipelines have on the environment, vital resources, and the lives of both workers and residents living near pipelines.

Resistance Against the Pipeline

Resistance against the construction and operation of DAPL has been ongoing for over 4 years, since early 2016. The #NoDAPL campaign movement was established in April 2016, by activists of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at the start of the construction of the pipeline. The movement began with protests which developed into encampments located on and off the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Allies and supporters demonstrated their support through marches, campaigns, shutdowns, displays, blockades, and sabotaging equipment which helped further delay the pipeline's construction process.

Legal action was taken in July 2016, when the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). The lawsuit was in response to the ACE's violation of the National Historic Preservation Act and their inability to provide adequate analysis and consultation of the environment. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe believed that the environmental assessment conducted to reroute the pipeline closer to the Tribe's community did not include consideration of the negative impacts on the ecological, cultural, socioeconomic, and public health of the Tribe as well as any neighboring communities.

The legal battle continued for years until recently in January 2021, when the U.S. Court of Appeals declared that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did indeed violate environmental laws. Although this ruling is a step in the right direction, it did not call for the shutdown of DAPL, allowing it to continue to operate illegally without a permit.

What is currently happening with DAPL?

The Biden Administration has made notable progress acting to stop the construction of the Transnational Keystone XL oil pipeline (KXL), among signing other restorative climate action orders. This is a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and validates their concerns about their community as well as their long battle. However, it is vital that the Biden administration continues on this restorative path by shutting down DAPL as well as other pipeline-related operations. In an interview with The Guardian, Dallas Goldtooth, a member of the Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine nation stated, "This is a vindication of 10 years defending our waters and treaty rights from this tar sands carbon bomb. I applaud President Biden for recognizing how dangerous KXL is for our communities and climate and I look forward to similar executive action to stop DAPL and Line 3 based on those very same dangers".

Although effort has been made to stop the operation of DAPL, the battle still continues. Land sovereignty is a right of Indigenous communities serving to protect and preserve Indigenous land. However, this is not true when pipelines such as DAPL are constructed and operate on Indigenous lands interfering with full ownership of Indigenous lands.

References

Center for Constitutional Rights. "The #NoDAPL Movement Was Powerful, Factual, and Indigenous-Led. Lawsuit Lies Can't Change That." Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Constitutional Rights, 21 Feb. 2018, ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2018/02/21/nodapl-movement-was-powerful-factual-and-indigenous-led-lawsuit-lies-can-t.

Energy Transfer. "Dakota Access Pipeline Facts." Home, Energy Transfer LP, daplpipelinefacts.com/.

Januchowski-Hartley, Stephanie R., et al. "Scientists Stand with Standing Rock." Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 30 Sept. 2016, science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6307/1506.1.

Kelso, Matt. "Pipeline Incidents Continue to Impact Residents." FracTracker Alliance, Matt Kelso, BA Https://Www.fractracker.org/a5ej20sjfwe/Wp-Content/Uploads/2019/10/Fractracker-Color-Logo.jpg, 12 Mar. 2020, www.fractracker.org/2018/12/pipeline-incidents-impact-residents/.

Kennedy, Michael. "The Dakota Access Pipeline." Earthjustice, Earthjustice, 16 June 2020, earthjustice.org/cases/2016/the-dakota-access-pipeline.

Lakhani, Nina. "'No More Broken Treaties': Indigenous Leaders Urge Biden to Shut down Dakota Access Pipeline." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Jan. 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/21/dakota-access-pipeline-joe-biden-indigenous-environment.

Mapes, Lynda V. "Tribe Sees Dakota Access Pipeline as Just Latest in Long History of Violations." The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 1 Nov. 2016, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/tribe-sees-dakota-access-pipeline-as-just-latest-in-long-history-of-violations/.

Pace, Julie. "Trump to Sign Orders Advancing Keystone, Dakota Pipelines." The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 24 Jan. 2017, www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/trump-to-sign-orders-advancing-keystone-dakota-pipelines/.

Press, Associated. "A Look at Biden's First Executive Orders in Office." PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 20 Jan. 2021, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-look-at-bidens-first-executive-orders-in-office.

Seattle Times Staff. "What You Need to Know about the Dakota Access Pipeline." The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 1 July 2017, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-dakota-access-pipeline/.

Whyte, Kyle Powys. "(PDF) The Dakota Access Pipeline, Environmental Injustice, and U.S. Colonialism." ResearchGate, https://Www.researchgate.net/Publication/312040136_The_Dakota_Access_Pipeline_Environmental_Injustice_and_US_Colonialism, Jan. 2017, www.researchgate.net/publication/312040136_The_Dakota_Access_Pipeline_Environmental_Injustice_and_US_Colonialism.

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The Dakota Access Pipeline - The Indigenous Foundation

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The Dakota Access Pipeline and Its impact on Indigenous Communities What is the Dakota Access Pipeline? The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a 1,172 mile-long underground pipeline constructed by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) of Dallas, Texas. DAPL began operating in June 2017, transporting ap

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Mining conflict Las Bambas

Mining conflicts according the largest peruvian copper mine are ongoing for years as the mining companies Xtrata and MMG did not met the contracts made with local communities. In the past displacements of a community as well as environmental pollution happened. Locals answered to the breaking of arrangments with road blokades which were shut down with police violence with one person killed. The latest conflict is about unauthorized road uses.

CooperAcción; Observatorio de conflictos mineros en el Perú (Hg.) (2015): Caso: "Las Bambas". Informe ecpecial 2015. Jesús María, Lima.

https://perusupportgroup.org.uk/2021/12/las-bambas-dispute-ratchets-up-with-threatened-closure/

https://larepublica.pe/economia/1383952-estudio-revela-impacto-mineria-apurimac

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-mining-clash-idUSKBN12F01W

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The conflict continues between the Las Bambas mine, owned by MMG, and communities of Chumbivilcas, Cuzco. On 7 December, community, mine and government representatives met to negotiate a solution but failed to reach agreement.

Chumbivilcas leaders had requested that they supply 5% of the trucks for transporting copper ore as well as fifty other vans and 5% of minor paving maintenance contracts (having previously asked for 20%), but the company rejected the demand. The communities claim that the company is offering them an " an inferior and discriminatory price " compared to their interactions with other suppliers. They also want to meet with the mine's general manager rather than just with people from the community relations office.

The communities' demands are voiced in the context of changes brought about to mining plans for Las Bambas by successive governments. The previous owners of Las Bambas, Xstrata, did not include overland transportation of ore in their plans agreed in initial discussions with communities. This is because Xstrata would have piped the ore from Las Bambas to its already operative Tintaya mine in Espinar, Cuzco.

When MMG acquired the mine, these plans were dropped, and the then government allowed the company to transport ore overland instead. They did so without any changes to the Environmental Impact Assessment and without discussions with the affected communities. Rural communities were suddenly faced with a constant flow of heavy trucks pounding through their villages, causing significantly heightened pollution but bringing them no benefits.

The communities of Chumbivilcas also say that the land over which the road passes is communal land, and that there was no prior consultation over its use. They argue that they have a right to negotiate afresh.

MMG has confirmed that it will have to shut down the Las Bambas mine ( responsible for around 2% of global copper production) until the disagreement is resolved. It says it will continue to meet its responsibilities to the communities. It attributes the impending closure to supply difficulties. It also faces disputes with other communities connected to the mine.

Fifteen associations and businesses from Challhuahuacho district (in Apurímac) met with officials from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) to request an immediate resolution of the conflict. Other contractors of Las Bambas have also called for the blockade to end and for the national government to take action, claiming that it is an illegal strike that is affecting their rights to work and freedom of movement.

The National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE) stated that the cessation of production at las Bambas would put at risk over 8,000 jobs (half the workers live in Apurímac or Cuzco) and will generate large losses for suppliers and local governments.

As a result of the loss of local government income from the closure, the local mayors of Cotabambas have said that they will need to ask for US$196 million from central government, as compensation for lack of tax income. District governments in Cotabambas have also expressed concern that the disagreements with Chumbivilcas in Cuzco could affect tax income for communities in Apurímac.

These distinct positions between communities in different regions reflect the range of impacts that mining can have that are not reflected in legal definitions of the areas of influence of mines, and which often determine requirements for local mining tax receipts or other forms of compensation.

This means that some communities closer to mines, such as those in the areas of direct influence, receive increased tax receipts through the mining canon or community projects directly paid for by a mine, and can sometimes gain increased access to jobs. Meanwhile communities further away from a mine can still experience negative effects (such as mine-related pollution) but may not receive any benefits.

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Las Bambas dispute ratchets up with threatened closure - Peru Support Group

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The conflict continues between the Las Bambas mine, owned by MMG, and communities of Chumbivilcas, Cuzco. On 7 December, community, mine and government representatives met to negotiate a solution but failed to reach agreement. Chumbivilcas leaders had requested that they supply 5% of the trucks for transporting copper ore as well as fifty other vans [...]

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Next to the city of Kiruna in the north of Sweden, the Luossavaara Kirunavaara AB is extracting iron ore in a great mine. To expand the project, the whole city of Kiruna is currently being relocated 3km to the east so that the area where the city is currently located can be used for extravice purposes. The mining sites are both located in Sámi reindeer herding territory and thus the Sámi are protesting against there extractive activities and the Sámi parliament tried to raise awareness for this problem.

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Its population of 1.7 million largely comprises Indigenous Peoples from eight different major ethno-linguistic groups, collectively known as the Igorot.
This area's natural resources and high commercial value means that extractivist projects and land grabbing is taking place in violation of Indigenous rights and despite the existence of progressive laws such as Law of the Republic No. 8371, known as the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA). Large-scale mining began in the 1990s

The indigenous peoples here are facing serious militarisation, harassment, violence, and criminalisation as consequences of new 'Anti-terrorism' laws.

At least 272 environmental defenders were killed between 2001 and 2019, according to the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, a network of Philippine environmental organizations. More than half of them were protesting mines, like the three young farmers in Masbate province on the island of Luzon, who were killed in October 2017 after they were red-tagged.

Monday in July 2006: Chandu Claver, his wife, and 10-year-old daughter were in their car at a busy intersection after dropping off the youngest daughter at her school. Without warning, a dark van pulled in front of them and two armed men with rifles stepped out and opened fire. Claver was shot three times in the shoulder and once in the stomach. His wife was shot seven times in the chest. A bullet grazed their daughter’s head. His wife was killed. Claver resisted many government actions and was part of a group that had been pushing back against “development aggression,” or corporate activities imposed on Indigenous ancestral lands without tribal consent. Many of these ventures are helmed by Canadian corporations.

https://www.iwgia.org/en/philippines/4036-activists-are-not-terrorists-the-criminalisation-of-human-rights-defenders-in-the-philippines.html

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A member of the Indigenous Tuwali tribe walks past barbed wires during a protest against the Australian-Canadian mining corporation, OceanaGold Philippines, near Malacanang Palace in Manila in November 2019. Photo by Dante Diosina/AFP

Not only do Canadian mines in the Philippines degrade the environment and displace Indigenous communities, activists say, eco-defenders are targeted by the Philippine government for protesting them. A VICE World News investigation.

Tipping Point covers environmental justice stories about and, where possible, written by people in the communities experiencing the stark reality of our changing planet.

It was 6:45 a.m. on a Monday in July 2006: Chandu Claver, his wife, and 10-year-old daughter were in their car at a busy intersection after dropping off the youngest daughter at her school in Tabuk, a city in the Philippines about 450 kilometres north of Manila, nestled in the lush and mountainous Cordillera region.

Without warning, a dark van pulled in front of them and two armed men with rifles stepped out and opened fire. Claver was shot three times in the shoulder and once in the stomach. His wife was shot seven times in the chest. A bullet grazed their daughter's head.

The ambush was supposed to kill him, but it took his wife's life instead.

Claver, an Indigenous Igorot man from the tribal town of Bontoc in the Cordillera, said he was targeted for his work as an Indigenous activist, doctor, and politician critical of the government. He resisted many government actions and was part of a group that had been pushing back against "development aggression," or corporate activities imposed on Indigenous ancestral lands without tribal consent. Many of these ventures are helmed by Canadian corporations.

Claver is one of hundreds of environmental defenders who have been targeted. He said he was red-tagged-falsely labelled a communist-by the Philippine government. The longstanding practice, which has escalated under President Rodrigo Duterte, is often used to silence and intimidate people critical of the regime-human rights defenders, journalists, even local residents-by alleging ties between them and the national Communist Party's armed wing of rebels, deemed terrorists. The point is "to scare and terrorize people and try to prevent them from resisting," Claver said.

At least 272 environmental defenders were killed between 2001 and 2019, according to the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment, a network of Philippine environmental organizations. More than half of them were protesting mines, like the three young farmers in Masbate province on the island of Luzon, who were killed in October 2017 after they were red-tagged. The three farmers had opposed the Masbate Gold Project, the country's top gold producer, according to Kalikasan.

A third of those killed were Indigenous, like the Lumad leaders from the island of Mindanao in 2015. The Lumad have long been displaced by the encroachment of mining companies on their homes. Eufemia Cullamat vividly remembers the events of September 1, 2015, when armed men came to their Indigenous community in Sitio Han-ayan, Diatagon, and gathered roughly 200 men, women, and children in a local basketball court. Then, in front of them, the gunmen shot community leaders Dionel Campos and Juvello Sinzo-Cullamat's uncle. "We all saw how they exploded (Campos') head," she told VICE World News. "It felt like our world had collapsed."

After the September killings, about 3,000 Lumad evacuated their ancestral lands and moved to the town of Lianga, over 25 kilometres away. Rights groups later claimed that the killings were perpetrated by a government-backed paramilitary group. The Philippine Army has denied any links to the group.

"We are basically living with half of our body already six feet under."

Since Duterte came into power in 2016, extrajudicial killings, including those of land defenders, have skyrocketed. Environmental watchdog Global Witness declared the Philippines the deadliest country for land and environmental defenders in 2018, when 30 people were killed. Last year, over half of the 212 reported killings worldwide occurred in just two countries: Colombia, with 64 activists killed, and the Philippines, with 43.

Leon Dulce, Kalikasan's national coordinator, has spent nearly a decade recording the number of people killed while trying to protect the environment. "You get desensitized at some point because of how wholesale the murders are," Dulce told VICE World News. "We are basically living with half of our body already six feet under."

A number of activists and experts say some of the extrajudicial killings and forced displacement are byproducts of Canadian mining in the Philippines. In most cases, the Canadian government offers little recourse for those harmed. The activists point out that because the Philippines is rich in natural resources, and law enforcement violently punishes people resisting development, the country is attractive for companies that want to mine with few regulations. Mining companies also face few checks and balances that would otherwise maintain environmental standards and human rights-and the Philippine Army, police, and militias have a mandate to protect flagship projects, including major mines run by transnationals.

Canada's share of mining worldwide is substantial. According to its natural resources ministry, nearly half of the world's mining companies are headquartered in Canada. Fifteen percent of mining in the Philippines is Canada-owned, with six Canadian companies operating in the country, the ministry said.

Ryan Nearing, a spokesperson for Canada's ministry of international trade, said, "We expect that (Canadian mining companies) uphold a high standard of responsible business conduct," and pointed to an ombudsperson role established last year to ensure companies pursue "socially responsible business practices."

The Mining Association of Canada did not respond to several requests for comment. Australian-Canadian company OceanaGold, owner of one of the largest gold-copper mines in the world out of the Philippines, said in a statement it is committed to responsible mining, which necessitates human rights and transparency, and follows or has spearheaded several responsible mining frameworks. "We do not have firsthand knowledge of what is happening at other mine sites across the Philippines," said OceanaGold spokesperson Melissa Bowerman.

And yet, people who have been affected by Canadian mining sites say companies are failing to meet their own high standards.

"Canadian mining companies are complicit in the violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples not only because there is no free, prior, and informed consent, but also in the violation of their rights to their land and way of life," said Claver.

Julie Simongo, an Indigenous Ifugao leader, found her name and 26 others printed in posters and widely distributed pamphlets in October 2018, calling them "allies" of communist rebels and telling the public to "be careful of these groups." Most of those named were farmers and Indigenous peoples. They had been red-tagged.

Simongo said the 27 had one thing in common: they were critical of human rights and environmental abuses at the gold and copper mine in Didipio village, about 280 kilometres northeast of Manila. The mine was acquired by OceanaGold in 2006.

Members of the community had opposed the mining site since the 1990s, but after OceanaGold began commercial production as an open-pit operation in 2013, villagers have complained about the lack of safe drinking water, polluted surface water, and the loss of more and more land. "They said it would have a positive impact on the community but it only made things worse," Simongo said.

In June 2019, the company's 25-year licence expired. OceanaGold told VICE World News it had permission from the Department of Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to continue operating legally during the waiting period. The company says the authority over the Didipio mine rests with the national government, and not local officials.

In response, the Didipio community, backed by the local government, set up a barricade the following month to block access into the mine. OceanaGold claims it suspended operations in October 2019, but activists continued to object to trucks making deliveries to the site.

The barricade was broken this April, when the police violently dispersed 30 people who were peacefully blocking three tankers from entering the site. Photos and videos of the clash obtained by VICE World News showed activists shoved to the ground by police using riot shields. The dispersal injured some community members and at least one activist was beaten and arrested, according to the watchdog group MiningWatch Canada.

"I admire the community because they remained steadfast, even if there were 100 police, to prove they were adamant about stopping the tankers," Simongo said. "We had the barricade for so long and it just ended like that. With three fuel tanks forcing entry," she added. "But we couldn't stop them. They had guns."

Spokesperson Bowerman told VICE World News the trucks were there to replenish a critically low fuel supply needed to stave off environmental damage and damage to the site. "If the power grid supply at the mine is disrupted...and there are insufficient diesel reserves on hand to generate back-up power, the underground pumping station will not operate, flooding the underground mine," Bowerman said.

According to Bowerman, OceanaGold didn't participate in April's fuel delivery, but spoke with the Philippine National Police beforehand to ensure it would be peaceful. She denied excessive use of force at the barricade site and said police escorted the three trucks to ensure they weren't stopped at the government checkpoints. The governor approved the fuel delivery, Bowerman said. (The regional police refused to comment, and said a report had already been submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The department did not reply to requests for comment.)

Earlier this summer, the Philippine Court of Appeals rejected OceanaGold's bid to continue operating the Didipio mine as it waits for Duterte's signature on its renewal application. The company has said it is willing to challenge the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

April was not the first time land defenders and residents in the area said they were targeted. According to the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, security forces stormed the same site in 2008 and allegedly destroyed and displaced 187 family homes, beat residents, and used tear gas, truncheons, and shields. The UN Human Rights Council also received a report in 2019 detailing similar allegations.

In response to the human rights council, Mick Wilkes, the president and CEO of OceanaGold, wrote, "We are not aware of any forced evictions of 180 families from their homes in connection with the Didipio Mine in June 2008. This does not accord with our records or understanding of activities at that time at all."

OceanaGold's response said more than 600 residents were asked to relocate for the development and construction of the mine, 26 of whom refused. The company then reached out to arbitrators. In the end, some residents settled with the company, four families were ultimately allowed to stay, and two families were evicted. "While a company bulldozer was used for the dismantling process in February 2008," he wrote, "it is not correct that any homes were burned down in 2008."

Bowerman denied beatings targeting residents, and said the people who have opposed the mine represent a "small number."

"It is our understanding that the majority of the community, who self-Identify as Indigenous peoples, support continued responsible mining," Bowerman said.

Simongo disagrees.

"From then until now, it's all been lies. They are liars," she said. "Please, just stop the operation. Just leave."

It's easy to see why the Philippines attracts foreign mining interests: it ranks as the fifth most mineral-rich country in the world, with an estimated $1 trillion of untapped minerals like gold, copper, zinc, and silver.

The government has also made it especially easy to invest. The 1995 Mining Act, which caters to foreign mining investors, was introduced as the country was grappling with national debt accrued during Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship and a decrease in mining operations in the early 1990s. The act also reflected the pursuit of rapid privatization and free market economies encouraged by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. It made taxes and royalty payments to the government low, and gave companies de facto ownership over land and mining assets for up to 25 years with the possibility of extension.

While the act mandates environmental impact assessments and compels developers to get consent from Indigenous communities before setting up mines in ancestral lands, activists say companies have skirted the rules-with government support. This has resulted in alleged human rights abuses and long-lasting environmental destruction. "The Mining Act has led to the onslaught of big mining corporations against the environment, against the Indigenous peoples, against the country in general," said human rights lawyer and former Philippines senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares, in 2019.

The Mining Association of Canada claims that the industry directly benefits local economies, due to the positive impact on local workers and businesses.

However, the benefit to local employees, and the Philippines itself, is negligible compared to the profit margin for these companies. The mining sector in the Philippines employed 212,000 Filipinos in 2018, and in 2017, paid $529.6 million in national and local taxes, fees, and royalties, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau -less than 1 percent of the country's GDP. Mineral exports, however, amounted to $4.26 billion in 2018, with Canada, Japan, Australia, and China as the major countries of destination.

Mining propped up by military

Activists say infractions caused by mining companies are made possible because the Philippine Army and other state security forces have a government mandate to protect projects deemed essential to the Philippine economy.

In a statement to VICE World News, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Marine Major General Edgard Arevalo said that the deployment of military personnel "is necessary to establish a secure environment to allow the smooth implementation of government projects and provide security of vital infrastructures in the hinterlands." This deployment is by virtue of a memorandum of agreement between the Department of National Defense and companies, he added.

Arevalo said that the armed forces deploy official paramilitary units-composed of army reservists, inactive soldiers, and volunteers-to guard mining sites. The government created these civilian paramilitary units more than 30 years ago, with the prime purpose of dealing with local insurgency threats. Over the years, they have been accused of various human rights abuses and at one point were even disbanded, only to be revived again. In 2018, Duterte granted them financial support.

"The state security is their biggest investment guarantee."

"These policy mandates are cited by military officials as the basis as to why they have presence in mineralized lands...and why they are harassing and militarizing communities opposed to these projects," said Dulce, Kalikasan's coordinator.

While this exists however, Dulce said foreign "companies have always been complicit"-and Canadian corporations are no exception. "You've never seen them condemn or make proactive efforts to diffuse tension in the area," Dulce said. "The state security is their biggest investment guarantee."

Canada has a lot to gain

"The mining industry is Canada's flagship industry overseas," said Catherine Coumans, a research coordinator with MiningWatch Canada.

In 2017, the minerals sector directly and indirectly contributed 5 percent-$97 billion-to Canada's total GDP and held $169 billion in assets overseas. Canada also boasts that the industry has directly or indirectly created 630,000 jobs in urban, rural, and remote regions domestically.

Several Canadian mining companies are also publicly traded on the Vancouver and Toronto stock exchanges. Even the Canadian Pension Plan, a publicly funded retirement plan that Canadians contribute to through their taxes, has several equity holdings in publicly traded mining companies, including B2Gold, which indirectly owns the Masbate gold site where the three young farmers were killed. (The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

Despite mining's lucrative impact, some communities in the Philippines are still reeling from decades of unresolved ecological degradation at Canadian mining sites, and advocates say they worry it will continue to worsen under Duterte. Coumans said mining is particularly dangerous in the Philippines because the country is made up of thousands of small islands and has a dense population. Waste from the mines typically contaminates the ocean and other waterways, which are heavily relied on for fishing, bathing, drinking, washing clothes, and more. From an environmental and human rights standpoint, "the Philippines is not a good place for mining, but Canadian companies are showing up there anyway," Coumans said, adding that she believes "every single mine" has displaced people and polluted waterways.

Canadian mining companies dispute this claim, with OceanaGold pointing to their environmental standards and efforts, including collaboration with local communities, governments, and other stakeholders, over water management and related concerns. However, Coumans noted that such efforts are voluntary, so mining corporations don't face consequences if they don't follow the standards they promote.

Unenforceable rules may have long-term consequences: One of the Philippines' worst ever environmental disasters took place in March 1996 at a Canadian mining site in Marinduque, an island in the southwest. Toxic leftover waste leaked out of the Marcopper Mining site, run by Marcopper and its parent company, Placer Dome, a Canadian corporation that has since been taken over by Barrick Gold. The waste flooded nearby villages and the Boac River, which was full of fish and shrimp. Hundreds of people were displaced, including 400 families who lived in Barangay Hinapulan, a village that was buried in 6 feet of muddy water.

Marcopper, Placer Dome, and Barrick Gold have faced several legal actions since the disaster, including a civil suit launched by the provincial government of Marinduque in 2006 in Nevada. (Barrick Gold became a party to the suit after it acquired the company.) Placer Dome had more earnings from mines in Nevada than those in Canada, so the rationale for launching the suit in the state was that "in a globalized world where mining companies can be headquartered in one country, be on stock exchanges and raise funds in multiple countries, and mine in yet another country, they should be able to be held to account in any of the jurisdictions where they have a significant nexus," Coumans said. Ultimately, the Nevada court said the suit should be decided in either Canada, where Barrick is headquartered, or in the Philippines, where the alleged infractions took place. The suit is now on hold, yet to be resolved, and failed settlement attempts have marred negotiations.

In 2014, Earth Rights International accused Barrick Gold of "coercive settlement provisions," alleging the company tabled $20 million with a stipulation that would "prohibit the province from using any of the settlement fund to rehabilitate and remediate the environmental damage caused by the mine's operations or to stabilize the dangerous mine structures abandoned by the company more than a decade ago."

In a statement to VICE World News, Barrick Gold spokesperson Kathy du Plessis said Placer Dome spent over $50 million remediating the spill. "We do not believe that the lawsuit has any merit. We are vigorously defending the case," she said. Plessis also noted that the company no longer has any operations in the Philippines.

According to a 2019 two-part series by independent media outlet VERA Files, the Boac river is still biologically dead and local residents in Marinduque, including Racquel Logatoc, the chief of the affected Bocboc village, continue to suffer from skin irritation, fatigue, and body aches as a result of heavy metals-like lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, copper, and chromium-flowing through their blood. Doctors blame interactions with a toxic environment for the health problems, VERA Files reported, and a health emergency was declared in the region in 2016.

Things are getting worse

At least 157 land defenders had been killed since Duterte came to power, according to Kalikasan. This is an annual rate that far outstrips his predecessors: it's more than three times higher than occurred under Benigno Aquino III, and eight times higher than under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

This is not surprising, given Duterte's ongoing brutal drug war that has resulted in the deaths of about 27,000 Filipinos through alleged extrajudicial killings at the hands of police. The controversial new anti-terror law doesn't allay fears, either. The law, which barrelled through Congress this year, gives police and military broader powers to go after suspected terrorists. The definition of terrorists is disturbingly vague, say critics, who worry that the law will be used to silence dissenters.

Dulce said Duterte "has taken opportunity of the (pandemic) to railroad the passage" of the law, and he believes Duterte will not enact a stronger human rights policy, or strictly regulate foreign interests. In August, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau announced it was looking for new mining projects, and that the environmental "trade-off" will help the economy recover. "With (Duterte's) kind of fascist thinking, there's no way we can get out of this way through dialogue," said Dulce.

Dulce and other activists have asked the United Nations to intervene, especially because its declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples compels governments to consult with Indigenous communities before any development takes place on ancestral lands. But the declaration is not legally binding, unless countries legislate it themselves.

Against the backdrop of a pandemic-which Duterte has responded to by mobilizing police and military to the streets rather than health workers-environmental defenders on the ground are left with little hope.

At least nine human rights defenders have been killed since March despite the COVID-19 movement restrictions, said rights group Karapatan, while Dulce said they have monitored at least 555 environmental defenders who have suffered human rights abuses during the lockdown. Among that number is Zara Alvarez, a human rights activist who documented the murders of farmers and land defenders and had been red-tagged. She was gunned down last month while walking home from the grocery store.

The Office of the Presidential Spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. However, Arevalo, the spokesperson for the armed forces, said that whenever they name individuals as supporters of communist parties, "those are based on information in our possession sourced from captured documents, forensics of computers, cellular phones, external hard drives, and other data storage seized during combat operations." He said the information also comes from former terrorists who now assist the government in its counterterrorism operations, and denied any accusations that the military was behind any killings of environmentalists or land defenders. "These, again, are mere accusations against the AFP to discredit the government and tarnish our reputation," he said.

Arevalo also claimed that Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore have themselves declared the Communist Party of the Philippines a terrorist organization. Canada's public safety ministry does not include the Communist Party on its list of international terrorist entities, and Australia's national security site doesn't either.

"We are really hoping for accountability over the crimes and killings perpetrated by the state," said Dulce. Since 2001, he added, "not a single case (of killings) has sufficiently been resolved."

Canada is turning a blind eye

The land defenders have also turned to the companies, as well as the countries where their headquarters are based, to take responsibility.

"Shouldn't the mother countries be accountable for allowing their corporations to take advantage of weak policies overseas? They're benefiting from human rights violations here in the Philippines; they're benefiting from natural resource plunder," said Dulce.

After being red-tagged in 2018, Simongo and others named in the posters made the seven-hour road trip from Dipidio to Manila to appeal to the Canadian embassy for protection.

"We wanted to ask for protection and to ask Canada to investigate the violations of the company," said Simongo, "so people would know the truth."

The four red-tagged eco-defenders detailed human rights violations at the Didipio mining site and showed pictures of the pamphlets connecting them to communist guerrilla insurgents, said Coumans, who accompanied the delegation. They wanted the embassy to denounce Duterte's practice of red-tagging, and wanted to know if Canada could offer support, including amnesty, if dangers escalated.

The answer to both requests was no, and according to Coumans, the diplomat they spoke with said he wouldn't issue a public statement because he didn't want to spark conflict. Instead, Coumans said the embassy grilled Simongo and the others, and the diplomat questioned whether they had legitimate ties to the Communist Party. "It was like an intelligence-gathering exercise for the embassy," Coumans said. "There was no follow up...I don't think they understood or cared about us."

"Maybe it was our lack of finances and resources. We weren't able to return and keep asking for help. Maybe that's why," said Simongo.

The Canadian embassy in Manila did not respond directly to the allegations but spokesperson Michel Cimpaye said, "Promoting respect for human rights is at the heart of Canada's international policies and engagement, and the Embassy in Manila has been responsive in bringing the concerns raised by the miners to the mine operator."

Canada's Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, Sheri Meyerhoffer, is supposed to hold corporations accountable. The ombudsperson role, introduced last year, is tasked with reviewing claims of human rights abuses by mining and oil and gas companies, although according to Myerhoffer's spokesperson, Nelson Kalil, she has not undertaken any investigations yet. Kalil said they are aiming to launch their complaints and dispute resolution mechanism in November.

Not everyone thinks Meyerhoffer will be successful. Penelope Simons, a University of Ottawa legal scholar specializing in resource extraction, thinks Meyerhoffer's role won't work in practice because the ombudsperson cannot compel or summon corporations to participate in investigations, and all participation is voluntary.

Meyerhoffer has acknowledged this: When the government first introduced the role in 2018, "it stated our office would have the powers to compel testimony or documents from companies," Meyerhoffer said in a statement. "These powers were not granted." Meyerhoffer said while she can't force companies to participate in investigations, those that don't cooperate could face consequences, including loss of government funding, which provide "leverage to encourage companies to meaningfully participate in the process."

Ten years ago, Liberal MP John McKay introduced responsible mining legislation, Bill C-300, which would have forced corporations to comply with widely accepted international human rights and environmental standards. Consequences for not doing so would have included loss of financial support and withheld support from Canadian embassies.

The legislation, unsurprisingly, failed. "The extractive industry is a large, wealthy and well-connected interest group, with prominent ex-politicians, including former Liberal Minister of International Trade Jim Peterson, among its lobbyists," said an op-ed co-authored by Simons at the time.

"You can never, ever underestimate the influence of the mining industry-ever," McKay told VICE World News. After nearly a decade, McKay said some of the companies in the industry have signed a bunch of self-policing protocols, especially the "more legitimate" companies "concerned about reputational damages." But not much has changed. Until the ombudsman can investigate and expose violations, "we will continue to have egregious situations that embarrass our nation and diminish our brand," McKay added.

Six months after surviving his assassination attempt, Claver received a tip that he was in danger again.

"Around the New Year (2007), we received very reliable information that, because I was difficult to pin down, the military was planning on utilizing my children to get to me," Claver said. "That changed everything... I knew I had to get out."

Claver organized a vacation to Canada with his daughters and immediately claimed refugee status when they landed. They were granted amnesty as political refugees in 2007, applied for permanent residency in 2010, and have lived on the West Coast since.

Today, Claver does advocacy work for Migrante Canada, a group supporting Filipino migrants, but he's also pushed back against Canadian mining interests as an international representative with Cordillera Alliance and Bayan Muna, a left-leaning party-list in the Philippines. Several additional groups in Canada continue to call out the link between Canadian mining and human rights violations in the Philippines.

Filipinos who end up in Canada often face xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments, even though Canadian corporations may have contributed to the displacement and migration in the first place. Still, Claver said he's one of the lucky ones. Other Filipinos who end up in Canada have to spend huge amounts of money working with a recruiter to get placement as labourers through temporary foreign worker programs, which are also exploitative.

"I declared myself as a refugee, but I could do that because I had resources," Claver said. Some people who have been red-tagged and reach out to Canada for support go to the Canadian embassy, but "the batting average is very, very low," he added.

The embassy did not respond directly when asked why it's so difficult for red-tagged people protesting Canadian operations to seek amnesty. Cimpaye pointed to Canada's guidelines for supporting human rights defenders, but did not specify how they are applied in the Philippines.

This mirrors issues present in Canada. Claver said he noticed how similarly Canadian resource extraction companies and the Canadian government treat Indigenous communities in the Philippines and those in Canada, and said, "I can't help but see a racial aspect to all of this."

Indigenous communities across Canada have a long history of pushing back against resource development on their ancestral lands, with Wet'suwet'en land defenders advocating this year against the Coastal GasLink oil and gas pipeline. Militarized police were deployed against them in February.

'We need to defend what is ours'

In the Philippines, most activists and Indigenous peoples continue to defend their communities and the environment largely on their own.

Simongo continues to hold onto hope that the Duterte government will not renew the OceanaGold licence. "We believe that by approaching different embassies, and our supporters, they might help us get to the president," Simongo said.

Cullamat, who witnessed the Lumad killings in 2015, also refuses to back down. She is now a congresswoman for Bayan Muna, and said the murders gave her the courage to tell not just the country but the rest of the world about the dire situation of Indigenous communities and environmental defenders in the Philippines. "While Filipinos are killing each other, foreigners that are taking our resources are turning a blind eye," she said. "They are making us fight against each other because of foreign interests in our own country. We should be the ones benefiting from our natural resources."

Cullamat knows that her vocal opposition to the government's mining policies could kill her. She has already been red-tagged by a government official on Facebook, while the military has accused her of defending communist rebels. But she is convinced the defence of Philippine land, especially ancestral land, is her life's purpose. "When I saw the killings, I was afraid. I'm still afraid. I'm afraid even today," she said.

"But we need to defend our lands because there is nothing more important for our future generation," Cullamat added. "No matter how big the money is, it doesn't matter because that is finite. But if we take care of our lands, that will be enjoyed by many generations. We need to defend what is ours."

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Land Defenders Are Killed in the Philippines for Protesting Canadian Mining

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A member of the Indigenous Tuwali tribe walks past barbed wires during a protest against the Australian-Canadian mining corporation, OceanaGold Philippines, near Malacanang Palace in Manila in November 2019. Photo by Dante Diosina/AFP Not only do Canadian mines in the Philippines degrade the environment and displace Indigenous communities, activists say, eco-defenders are targeted by the Philippine government for protesting them.

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Conga goldmine - Yanacocha mining company - claims legal ownership of Máxima’s land while Máxima says she never sold any of her land to the company - numerous eviction attempts - intimidation attempts through state and company - company gave up in 2016

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One woman's victory against a mining giant in Peru

Máxima Acuña, a farmer from Peru's northern highlands, recently won the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize for her resistance against the mining consortium Yanacocha in Cajamarca, Peru.

At the prize acceptance ceremony in San Francisco on 18 April, in lieu of a speech Máxima sang her story: 'Because I defend my lakes, they want to take my life.'

Goldman Environmental Prize

Yanacocha is the largest gold mine in Latin America and fourth largest in the world, operating since 1993. The mine is now owned by the US Newmont Mining Corporation, a Peruvian mining company, and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.

Gold mining causes 'toxic mine drainage' - when you break up rock that's been underground for a long time chemical reactions cause it to release toxic metals and acids. And at Yanacocha cyanide-laced water is used to separate the gold from the rock.

Locals have been complaining for years of contaminated water and the disappearance of fish in the rivers, lakes and streams. Reinhard Seifert, an environmental engineer who spent years investigating the effects of the Yanacocha mine on the area's water quality found traces of lead, arsenic, cyanide and mercury in the drinking water, linked to the rising rates of gastrointestinal cancer amongst residents of Cajamarca.

One Woman's Story of Resistance

In 2011, Yanacocha bought up lands in Cajamarca in order to expand their operations into a new mine, Conga. Yanacocha claims legal ownership of Máxima's land while Máxima says she never sold any of her land to the company, and the land deeds bear her name.

Quoted in these pages in 2012, Máxima said: 'I may be poor. I may be illiterate, but I know that our mountain lakes are our real treasure... Are we expected to sacrifice our water and our land so that the Yanacocha people can take gold back to their country? Are we supposed to sit quietly and just let them poison our land and water?'

The Conga mine had plans to dry up five lakes, including the one that Máxima's land borders. It became the highest profile environmental conflict in Peru amongst an estimated 200 such conflicts in 2012, with several deaths of defenders at the hands of the police.

In 2012, Yanacocha sued Máxima and her family for alleged illegal occupation of their own land, and the court ruled in Yanacocha's favour. The judge sentenced four members of the family to suspended jail sentences, which were then overturned in December 2014 with a verdict that saw Máxima victorious against Yanacocha's claim to her land.

The family had already suffered numerous eviction attempts and physical violence on their property, and after the 2014 verdict things intensified. On 3 February 2015, agents from the Peruvian police special operations division and private security forces destroyed parts of Máxima's house that were undergoing construction. One year later, and the family was still suffering intimidation: on 5 February 2016 Máxima's home was again stormed by security forces, this time to destroy her crop of potatoes.

But since then, the company has said 'We do not anticipate development of Conga for the foreseeable future,' a statement which has been hailed as a victory for Máxima and those who are resisting Conga.

What Does Extractivism Mean In Latin America?

Sadly, this story is not unique to Cajamarca. Mining for minerals such as gold, silver and copper is common across the continent - Latin America consistently tops the global list for mining exploration, and in 2014 had one of the largest shares of total global exploration budget, at over 26 per cent. Fossil fuel extraction shows a similar picture. In 2011, the Latin American Energy Organization released figures that placed Latin America as the region with the second largest oil reserves after the Middle East, with 20 per cent of global reserves.

This kind of mining and fossil fuel exploitation is referred to as extractivism in Latin American contexts. It is the base of many Latin American neoliberal economies such as in Peru and Colombia. In countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, it's referred to as neo-extractivism - when government taxes from extractive activities are invested into health and education programs.

But the meaning of extractivism is not just about extraction: it is also about the conditions under which extraction takes place, and in whose interests. In Latin America, the conditions are often situated within a rural and/or indigenous context. This means communities in these areas live principally off the land and are subject to the forces of nature to access water and grow crops, forces of nature that become distorted by extractive activities and ever more sharpened by climate change impacts.

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Why Does Extractivism Affect Women More?

Because of socially assigned gender roles, women are often the principal caregivers of the family - responsible for growing or providing food - in the kinds of community contexts where extractivism usually takes place. And so when water is contaminated and/or scarcer, women feel the negative impacts more. The declaration from the 2014 Gathering of Women against Extractivism and Climate Change in Ecuador said that 'the impacts of extractive activities alter the cycle of the reproduction of life, whose regeneration falls on the shoulders of women.' The altering of natural cycles, such as the contamination of water near the Yanacocha mine, manifests as more work in women's lives.

The impacts of extractivism on women not only include an increased burden to the work women do to provide food and water to their families, but permeate deep into the social fabric of communities. At the gathering on extractivism in Ecuador, women gave testimonies: 'When the mining and fossil fuel companies come to our territories they cause huge problems, they break the social weave and replace it with conflict in families, division in the communities, and confrontation between us.'

In these situations, the gendered divisions of labour show up in starker relief as men take on jobs in the industry. The local economy now revolves more around the masculinized wage labour in the mine and reduces importance of the shared economy of caring for the practical and emotional needs of the community. The existing gender divide of labour creates power imbalances, worsened by extractivism: as 'women's work' mostly goes unpaid, the waged work in the mine that men can access lends increased power to men's voices in the community (though they also suffer from extractivism in a dangerous, unhealthy, exploitative workplace).

Extractivism breaks the social fabric of communities in other, more violent, ways. As respected Uruguayan environmental analyst Eduardo Gudynas writes: 'There is no such thing as neutral or inoffensive extractivism...Violence is always present in one way or another, ending up affecting above all the weakest, the local communities, especially campesino small farmers and indigenous groups.'

The violence permeates the entire community, but affects women particularly because of gender-based violence. Melissa Wong Oveido, a representative of the Latin American Union of Women ( ULAM, a regional network of women affected by extractive activities and policies), quoted in El País said:

' In Latin America psychological, physical and environmental violence against indigenous, rural and Afro-descendent women on the part of extractive industries is on the rise. Women are dispossessed of their lands; they are victims of sexual abuse and trafficking. '

Rising Up In Resistance

With the upswing in extractive projects in Latin America and its negative impacts on local communities there's been a corresponding rise in socio-environmental conflict on the continent. Resisting extractive projects is a dangerous business, and more land and environmental defenders died in 2014 in Latin America than anywhere else in the world, with 88 out of 114 total recorded deaths.

More and more women are joining and leading resistance movements: and as women, this comes with certain risks linked to their gender. In a comprehensive 2015 report (PDF) on criminalization of women environmental defenders in the Americas, the authors state that:

' In all of the cases presented women suffered an attack linked to their gender: rape threats, public shaming linked to sex and sexuality, harassment of several types, and infamies against their honour. These attacks prevent women from developing their activism in surroundings favourable to the rights of people, of territory, and of nature. '

It might not be immediately apparent why the intimidation in Máxima's case is particular to her being a woman. But when women resist extractivism, they become easier targets for retaliation by those in power. For example, they are less likely than men to have the resources to deal with court cases - as Máxima herself has said, she is illiterate. For a woman who doesn't have the title deed to her land, as Máxima has, the outcome is likely to be dispossession. And much of the intimidation that Máxima has suffered focused on destruction to her home and crops - women's traditional domain, and Máxima's source of income.

Violence Against Women Is Linked To Violence Against The Earth

Women feel negative impacts of extractivism more because of their roles as caregivers. But there are more subtleties at play here: why are women obliged to take care of the family, the home, the sick, and children? Similarly, why is the earth obliged to be a provider of 'environmental services'; to give up its buried riches to profit transnationals? The logic of exploitation of women's work and of the earth is the same: they are resources to be profited from. The struggles of women to free themselves from the cycle of unpaid labour as caregivers are linked to the struggles to protect the earth from desperate over-exploitation.

There is another subtlety. Extractivism is inherently violent, and tears not only at the earth but at the fabric of whole communities. Women already experience everyday gender-based violence, which is exacerbated by extractivism with impacts such as sexual harassment from migrant workers. But when women resist in their communities, the violence they already face increases: it is used as a tactic against them.

Máxima's refusal to bow to the intimidation she faces because of her struggle only increased the violence against her. But she, like so many women, is not going to give up the fight. Máxima's connection to her land underlies her decision to fight the corporation. As she said to El País: 'I won't be quiet. I know they'll come after me and they're going to disappear me. But on the land I was born and on the land I'll die.'

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One woman's victory against a mining giant in Peru

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One woman's victory against a mining giant in Peru Máxima Acuña, a farmer from Peru's northern highlands, recently won the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize for her resistance against the mining consortium Yanacocha in Cajamarca, Peru.

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Isla, Ana. "“Greening,” the Highest Stage of Extractivism in Latin America."

2004, Skye Resources, a Vancouver-based mining company, was granted permission
by the government to begin work in a large area in northeastern Guatemala that was home to at
least 20 Maya Q’eqchi’ communities, including Lote Ocho. Earlier that year, Skye had bought
the rights to the open-pit Fenix nickel mine, located near the majority-Maya town of El Estor,
from the Canadian mining company INCO. Skye also bought INCO’s 70 percent share of its
subsidiary, EXMIBAL, which Skye then renamed CGN. But the deal also saw Skye acquire the
long-festering, unresolved disputes over land left by INCO and EXMIBAL’s violent past (as an
example, between 2006 and 2008, CGN dispatched helicopters to terrorize those living in the
land). CGN campaign culminated in two waves of evictions targeting several Indigenous villages
on January 8, 9, and 17, 2007. Eleven women from Lote Ocho were allegedly gang-raped by
police officers, soldiers, and CGN’s security during the last eviction. Consequently, these women
have been suing Hudbay Minerals Inc., a Toronto-based mining company that bought Skye in
2008, acquiring Skye’s legal liability. The impoverished community
eventually split and drifted apart as some members accepted jobs at CGN. Supported by Rights
Action, (Archives) the litigation, seeking justice, continues in Canada and Guatemala.

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Lenca indigenous community
Extractivist project: hydro power plant since 2013
criminalization and killing of defenders: eg. Bertha Caceres (murdered 2016)

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Adani Carmichal Coal Mine in Queensland, Australia
The Indian multinational company Adani got free hold to Australian land including indigenous territories in 2019. They are building a coal mine which is subsidised by the Australian government. The land has traditionally been 

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Keystone Pipeline

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Bori, Нигерия

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The exploitation of natural resources by Shell (starting in 1956) caused environmental degradation, pollution of potable water and agricultural land. The Indigenous Ogoni people organised protests against Shell, e.g. a demonstration with 300.000 participants in 1993.

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A constantly expanding number of companies (like Shell) have proposed Tar Sands and Fracking Gas pipelines through Unist’ot’en territory.  The proposed pipelines are a threat to the watershed, as well as the plants, animals and communities that depend on them.
[https://unistoten.camp/]

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Iglesia Catolica Santa Fe Ocaña, San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

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Iglesia Catolica Santa Fe Ocaña, San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

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Iglesia Catolica Santa Fe Ocaña, San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

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·      conflict between residents of Santa Fe Ocana and a Mega Cement Factory

·      in October government declared exceptional security state

·      peace agreement after the exceptional state passed

·      however, negotiations did not include resistant activists, thus protest continued

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- Texaco (oil company) started extracting oil in the area in 1964/72
- a lot of pollution: crude oil intered the area, pits were not covered --> worst oil-related
disaster of the world
- company was sued (in 1993) --> legal process: a lot of corruption & ambiguities; still not properly resolved

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Yasuni National Park, Puerto Francisco de Orellana, Ecuador

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Yasuni National Park, Puerto Francisco de Orellana, Ecuador

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Yasuni National Park, Puerto Francisco de Orellana, Ecuador

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Oil extractivism since 1930`s,
uproar against that in 2007 by indigineous women
since 2019 oil production forbidden by court

The protest actions of the Waoraní are endowed with very little agency due to many factors, such as status, language barriers, logistical and financial limitations, effort of mobilization, lack of legal basis, difficult access to knowledge, power relations, etc. The cohesion among the Waoraní and its principles, values and constant insistence, coupled with the interaction of indigenous oil opponents and numerous actors, however, showed the effect that the protest actions have. However, the cohesion among the Waoraní and their principles, values and constant insistence, coupled with the interaction of indigenous oil opponents and numerous actors, showed the effect that networking and group dynamics can bring about and ultimately lead to a prime example of climate protection as a community task.

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The Canadian mining company Belo Sun plans to open a massive gold mine in indegenous territories in the Volta Grande do Xingu. To validate its Environmental Impact Assessment, meetings with indegenous representatives are required. Although in-person meetings were authorized by the Brazilian National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI), affected indegenous communities and allied organizations opposed this decision, as meetings would have posed a serious health threat due to the Covid-19 situation during at that time. The resistance succeeded as FUNAI withdrew their decision. Project plans are put on hold now.

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Vaca muerta megaproject
Oil and gas extraction

https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/megaproject.pdf

Vaca Muerta is a fracking megaproject: fossil fuel companies (like Shell, Total, Wintershall, etc.) are drilling enormous shale oil and gas reserves in the northern Patagonian region of Argentina. The extracted oil and gas shall mainly be used for energy for Argentinian energy demand but the government also plans long term exports through continental pipelines.

Development of Vaca Muerta threatens the rights of the Mapuche Indigenous community, who have opposed the fracking activities imposed on their land as it has many adverse effects on it. Several demonstrations have taken place since the project has violated national sovereignty, indigenous law and bears the risk of environmental degradation.

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repaving of the BR-319 will open access to protected and indigenous lands for land grabbers, loggers, cattlemen, international soy business, oil and gas projects,

no consultation of indigenous communities, 63 indigenous areas are considered affected

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Adani Carmichal Construction camp, Belyando Queensland, Australien

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Adani Carmichal Coal Mine in Queensland, Australia

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Adani Carmichal Coal Mine in Queensland, Australia

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The Indian multinational company Adani got free hold to Australian land including indigenous territories in 2019. They are building a coal mine which is subsidised by the Australian government. The land has traditionally been used for native ceremonies, rock art and burials by the Wangan and Jagalingou people.
Indigenous land rights for  1,385 hectares have been undermined to make mining possible (native title of the land was taken away).
Protesters fighting  for their rights on the land which is now owned by Adani can be arrested for trespassing. However, indigenous people continue to defend their land.
Here is one reaction from a Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owner: "  For nine years we have said NO to Adani’s toxic coal mine that will rip the heart out of our Country and destroy our songlines" https://www.adaniwatch.org/_tour_de_carmichael_ride_with_coedie_in_wangan_and_jagalingou_country_against_adani_s_mine

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amazon