The UN Climate Conference (COP16) in Cancun is turning out to be both anti-climactic and anti-climatic.
Cloistered Climate Talks
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indigenous peoples
Postcard from…Mini Numa
Ten Mixteco men led me across a stream and through a cornfield on a toilet tour of Mini Numa. At each adobe hut housing a shiny white flush toilet, I snapped a photo of a contented owner. In recent years, six children had died in this small village from diseases rooted in poverty and lack of sanitation. With the support of the human rights organization, Tlachinollan, the Mini Numa community had forced the hand of the government to support the right to health.
Move the Money, Starve the Empire
June 26 may have been the last day of the U.S. Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit, but it might very well be the emergence of a more powerful antiwar movement in this country.
Will Cash Cool the Planet?
Call it guilt money, a long-overdue environmental debt payback, or a smart investment in a hurting planet. Whatever it’s called, climate-change repair funds are on the way.
Annotate This: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Last month, after 30 years of advocacy by Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations finally passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This Declaration is more than a hard-won victory for Indigenous rights. It embodies a progressive global approach to issues that confront us all, including the environmental crisis that is poised to spiral into ecological collapse if we do not slow global warming.
Indigenous Womens Pushback
Indigenous activists are putting up a fight – against violence. At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, activists are focused on passing a declaration that recognizes the right of Indigenous Peoples to their lands, territories, and resources. This organizing drive is seeking international legal protection from the violence done to Indigenous Peoples, which over the centuries has threatened their very survival. Indigenous women, meanwhile, are organizing against gender-based violence. This violence has derived not just from gender discrimination and subordination but also from the violation of the collective rights of Indigenous communities.