Building Local Capacity to Secure Land Rights and Manage Natural Resources in Southern Belize
Background : The Maya Leaders Alliance (MLA) is a coalition of Maya organizations based in Southern Belize. It has played a key role in the efforts to defend Maya lands, culminating in recent legal victories. The MLA also promotes sustainable development and the well-being of Maya communities through social, economic and cultural development. On June 28th 2010 the Maya achieved a tremendous victory when the Supreme Court decided to uphold Maya land rights. To learn more about the most recent victory please visit our website.
Problem : The MLA recently obtained donated office space, but has yet to install an internet connection. Given the poor phone lines and frequent blackouts in Southern Belize, having a satellite connection is critical to enabling the continued protection of Maya lands.
Goal : We hope to support the Maya Leaders Alliance by providing them with basic communications tools for the coming year. The installation costs are minimal, and internet fees are about $80/month. Your donation to this cause, while it may seem modest, will help the MLA face these challenges. Please join us and visit our cause page and donate!
$20 equals a week internet connection
$80 equals a month internet connection
$150 covers installation
$1,000 equals a full year of internet access
We’re thrilled to announce a special opportunity to access premium seats to see artists including Sting James Taylor & Carole King, the Eagles, Earth Wind & Fire and many more – all while benefiting the Rainforest Foundation US!
This one-of-a-kind opportunity is part of our collaboration with Tickets-for-Charity®, a unique online platform that works with some of the biggest names in entertainment to offer fantastic concert seats to at the s
ame or better price you’ll find elsewhere – and the sale of each ticket supports one or more great causes, including ours.
Here is how it works:
- Go to www.ticketsforcharity.com
- Select the artist and seats you want to purchase
- Select “Rainforest Foundation US” as your charity of choice at checkout (listed in the “Artist Affiliated Charities” section). We will then receive a donation for each ticket purchased (usually $20 – $50 per ticket!)
We wanted to remind you to check out Tickets-for-charity ® so that you can access premium seats to some of the summer’s hottest concerts while donating to the Rainforest Foundation US. For each ticket you buy a portion of that cost will be donated directly to us!
Here’s an update on a few of the concerts that are coming up:
- June 29th Vans Warped Tour in Phoenix, AZ. $30 will be donated per ticket.
- June 30th Carole King & James Taylor at Madison Square Garden.
- July 6th Widespread Panic in Omaha, NE. $15 will be donated per ticket
- July 7th Sting in Camden, NJ. $20 will be donated per ticket.
- July 8th Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum in Pittsburgh, PA. $15 will be donated per ticket.
- July 9th Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum in Camden, NJ. $15 will be donated per ticket.
Check out ticketsforcharity.com for info on all the artists and shows.
Year-End Challenge from RF Board
Double Your Impact: Donate before December 31 and the Rainforest Foundation Board will match your gift! Learn more
RF-US partner the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) has joined with other indigenous leaders to call on the government of Guyana to respect indigenous rights in the development and implementation of national climate change strategies.
Guyana is a small South American country along the Atlantic Ocean and nearly 80 percent of its land is covered by intact rainforest, much of which is the traditional land of Guyana’s indigenous peoples. The government of Guyana has become a strong advocate for the country’s participation in proposed avoided deforestation programs – such as UN-REDD and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) – that aim to provide economic rewards to developing countries to keep their forests intact. Guyana is an FCPF pilot country, and the World Bank recently approved the country’s readiness plan on its proposed avoided deforestation program. In June, the president of Guyana also launched a national Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) that seeks to raise international funds to reward Guyana for the “carbon services” provided by its intact rainforests.
Angela Cropper, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program. Photo courtesy of Rainforest Foundation Norway
As our partners’ work has shown, indigenous and traditional forest peoples are often at the forefront of protecting and conserving old-growth rainforests, which they depend upon for their survival. And their role is increasingly important as global negotiations turn to forest conservation as a key method for stemming climate change.
These issues were the focus of discussion in Oslo, Norway, from June 15-18, as the three Rainforest Foundation organizations and partners gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the organization. The conference, Rainforests and Climate Change: Making Sustainable Development Possible, was organized by Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN). RF-US’s Executive Director Suzanne Pelletier and Program Director Christine Halvorson attended.
Read the Oslo Statement on Rainforests, Communities and Climate Change.
Originally posted on the RF-US website on July 2, 2009
After months of protests, indigenous peoples in Peru secured an important victory on June 18 when the Peruvian Congress voted to repeal two controversial laws that threatened to impinge on indigenous peoples’ rights. The laws were passed in 2008 to facilitate implementation of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement.
The repeal of decrees 1090 and 1065 was greeted with praise from leaders of AIDESEP, Peru’s national Amazonian indigenous organization, who called on their constituents to end their protests. Indigenous protesters have been blocking major roads and waterways into the Amazon since April to protest decrees 1090 and 1065 as well as seven other legislative decrees that indigenous leaders claim threaten their land, sovereignty and right to free, prior and informed consent.
Originally posted on the RF-US website on June 9, 2009
In March 2008, the U.N. Human Rights Council appointed Professor S. James Anaya as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Anaya is the former chair of the Rainforest Foundation US Board of Directors and is one of the most prominent lawyers and scholars on indigenous rights in the world. He has represented indigenous peoples in several landmark cases currently supported by Rainforest Foundation, including the case of the Mayangna community of Awas Tingni in Nicaragua and the Maya villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz in Belize.
Rainforest Foundation spoke with Professor Anaya last week, after the close of the Eighth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, to learn more about his statement to the Permanent Forum and his work in his first year as Special Rapporteur.
Originally posted on the RF-US website on June 5, 2009
From our friends at Amazon Watch:
Bagua, Peru (June 5, 2009) – At approximately 5 am this morning, the Peruvian military police staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of northern Peruvian Amazon. Several thousand Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets, among them are confirmed reports of at least 18 injured and four people confirmed dead, although the number of dead is likely to be several times higher.
Continue reading Amazon Watch’s press release here.
Read RF-US’s previous coverage of the indigenous protests in Peru.
Originally posted on the RF-US website on June 1, 2009
International efforts to address climate change were at the heart of many discussions at the Eighth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. This issue hit close to home for indigenous participants from Panama. The country is currently participating in two U.N. pilot programs to integrate forests into market-based efforts to reduce international carbon emissions: the U.N. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (U.N.-REDD) Program and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Indigenous communities are concerned about how Panama’s participation in these programs will impact them as much of their traditional land includes old-growth forests that could be included in REDD efforts.
Rainforest Foundation sat down with our partner Onel Masardule, an indigenous Kuna and Executive Director of the non-profit Foundation for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge (FPCI) in Panama, to discuss climate change, REDD and other issues facing the indigenous peoples of Panama.
Originally posted on the RF-US website on May 28, 2009
Last week, Rainforest Foundation US welcomed our partner Joenia Batista de Carvalho of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) in Brazil to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Joenia is a prominent indigenous rights activist, and played a key role in the successful campaign to secure the full recognition of Raposa Serra do Sol in the state of Roraima. She was the first indigenous woman lawyer in Brazil and is a recipient of the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award. She is currently studying indigenous rights law at the University of Arizona College of Law on a Fulbright. RF-US sat down with Joenia during the Permanent Forum to learn more about her work and the struggle for indigenous rights in Brazil.
