forests
Zapotec Municipality Manages its Forests
A news report from December 2010 explained that about 30 years earlier, the Zapotec municipality of Ixtlán de Juárez had gained the right from the Mexican government to manage its forest resources themselves. Before then, outside interests had exploited the forests for their resources without much thought for the future. With the people of the […]
Mining in the Saranda Forest
Mining for iron ore is destroying the Saranda Forest in the southern part of India’s Jharkhand state and causing serious health problems for the Birhor living in it. An article in the environmental news website Mongabay.com last week describes the growing destruction of the Sal trees, which dominate the forest. It is considered to be […]
The Batek Love the Forests
A group of birders and photographers gathers around the young Batek widow hoping for a close-up view of the wreathed hornbill she’s raised. Doubtless attracted by news stories in August about the huge bird and its human protector, the visitors to Kampung Aur, located in Malaysia’s Taman Negara National Park, try to lure the bird […]
Batek Woman Enjoys Avian Companion
A fairly young Batek widow has found comfort from the loss of her husband by caring for a huge tropical forest bird, a wreathed hornbill. Several Malaysian newspapers, including the New Straits Times and The Star, published articles about the human/avian friendship last week. The 37-year-old Batek woman, named Umi, lost her husband a year […]
Paliyans Cherish their Forests
Paliyans in the Dindigul District of India’s Tamil Nadu state have finally succeeded in gaining the right to gather products in nearby forest lands. According to an article in The Hindu last week, they have been struggling since 2001 to gain the legal right to gather minor forest products in areas where they have traditionally […]
The Batek Love Forests
Numerous Batek people living in Kuala Koh say that they still prefer living nomadically in the Malaysian forests rather than in permanent houses. Several were interviewed by Aimuni Tuan Lah for a report published in the Malay-language newspaper Utusan Malaysia last week. Over 60 Batek families move about the forest of Kuala Koh, also known […]
Kadar Gaining Self Confidence
A couple months ago, some Kadar were working to restore one of their worship sites in Kerala’s Vazhachal Forest when forestry department officials going past asked them to stop. They politely refused, citing their rights under India’s Forest Rights Act (FRA). According to a report last week by Sibi Arasu in The News Minute, a […]
A Dam Proposal that Doesn’t Die
The government of Kerala has made it clear that they do not plan to give up on the Athirappilly project, despite opposition from experts, conservationists and the local Kadar people. A news report last week in The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, described the latest government maneuvers that they hope will result in damming […]
The Piaroa and the Giant Spiders
The Piaroa not only eat giant spiders that they find in the forests of southern Venezuela, they use them for their shamanic purposes. A European TV channel that specializes in culture and arts programing, the Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne (ARTE), sent a crew to Venezuela in order to broadcast last week a program […]
Protect the Gorillas and Hassle the Mbuti
When the Mbuti trespass in the forests of the world famous Virunga National Park to forage or to hunt, park guards frequently treat them brutally. The Inter Press Service reported recently on the harsh treatment and the discrimination that the indigenous people of the northeastern D.R. Congo receive from the national park service. The Mbuti […]
