Beijing is not the only Asian city with lethal air pollution

John Vidal in the Guardian (UK): Air pollution in Beijing has been described as "apocalyptic" this week with people choking their way through murky streets, short of breath and their eyes stinging from toxic air. But Beijing is just one of hundreds of cities, largely in Asia, where poisonous air is now the fastest growing cause of death in urban populations.

In the past few months there have been acute air pollution incidents reported in Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan. In Tehran, the desperate authorities had to close all public offices, schools, universities and banks twice in the last two months; In Nepal the army has had to give up its cars and in Kabul it has been reported that there are now more deaths as a result of air and water pollution than from conflict.

Statistics are unreliable, with few cities able to monitor accurately either the source or the level of the cocktail of pollutants emitted by traffic, ships, industry, brick kilns and domestic heating. But go to the hospitals and doctors will tell you that up to 80% of people admitted come with respiratory or other chronic diseases linked to air pollution. In Tehran, more than 4,500 people were said to have died last year because of air pollution – but because cancers can take years to develop the true figure may be far higher.

Perhaps because there are no drugs available to counter air pollution, it has never been taken as seriously by governments as other diseases like HIV/Aids or malaria, even though the World Health Organisation estimates more than 2 million people worldwide die every year from bad air and that it is now among the top 10 killers in the world. But governments may have to act as new research shows it to be rapidly worsening....

Smog over Shanghai, shot by Seader, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Water grabbing occurring at 'alarming rates'

Cecilia Rosen in SciDev.net: Deals in which rich foreign corporations and countries buy or lease agricultural land abroad result in nearly half a trillion cubic metres of fresh water also being grabbed each year — often enough to grow sufficient food to abate undernourishment in the 'grabbed countries', a paper reveals.

The majority of land grabbing takes place in Africa and Asia, and the amount of grabbed water per capita often exceeds the water requirements needed to provide a balanced diet to residents in the grabbed nations, says the paper, published last week (2 January) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

It describes land grabbing as a "new form of colonialism that has intensified in the last four years, initially in response to the 2007 to 2008 increase in food prices". But it adds that "the interests of foreign land purchasers can be reconciled with those of developing countries if land grabbing can be used as a means to create new jobs and bring in investment and technological advances from which the local economy could benefit".

The amount of grabbed land is often a significant portion of a country's total area, for example nearly 20 per cent in Uruguay, around 17 per cent in the Philippines and almost seven per cent in Sierra Leone, the paper says....

USAID photo taken in Africa

Rural demand for better water driving mobile water treatment growth in Asia Pacific

Space Daily via SPX: Rapid urbanization in the Asia Pacific [region] is prompting the rural population to intensify its demands for a better quality of life, which includes access to cleaner and purer water. This, coupled with demand for high quality water from water-intensive industries, makes a robust case for mobile water treatment in the region.

New analysis from Frost and Sullivan, Asia-Pacific Mobile Water Treatment Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $48.2 million in 2011 and is expected to reach $298.3 million by 2017. As the costs of addressing the water needs are high, mobile water treatment systems are fast emerging as the most viable option in countries with budgetary constraints.

Water quality and type varies from location to location, depending on the source and geography, and this has a direct impact on costs. To keep their systems affordable, the biggest players are leveraging their strengths in different technologies to put together the best combination of technologies, which can treat a vast variance of water influents.

"Mobile systems' ease of transport and quality of output are popularizing them at the consumer level; while the increase in investments and the number of water-intensive industries is driving the market at the commercial and industrial level," said Frost and Sullivan Research Associate Prashanth Kay....

An irrigation well in Bhaun, Pakistan, shot by Syed Usman Ali, public domain

Climate change, disaster risk: Asian action critical

Bindu N. Lohani in the Philippine Daily Inquirer: ... one thing is clear: Weather-related disasters are increasing in both frequency and intensity. Witness the string of severe recent floods across Asia—from Pakistan, to Thailand, to the Philippines—and Hurricane “Sandy” in the United States, which have vividly shown us how extreme weather events can bring entire countries to a virtual standstill. Volatile weather extremes are hitting Asia and the Pacific more often than any other region of the world.

This gives the Asia-Pacific region a huge stake in mitigating global temperature rise while adapting to already rising climate change impacts. Sixty percent of the region’s people rely on highly climate-sensitive farms, forests and fisheries for their livelihoods. Seven out of the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change and disasters caused by natural hazards are in Asia and the Pacific. A decrease in fresh water availability can affect more than one billion Asian people by 2050.

The region has borne the brunt of the physical and economic damage of increased disasters. It accounted for 38 percent of global disaster-related economic losses between 1980 and 2009. People in the Asia-Pacific region are four times more likely to be affected by disasters than those in Africa, and 25 times more likely than those in Europe or North America.

A recent report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted that storms and floods, in particular, are becoming endemic to the region, and their increasing frequency and severity can slash economic growth and development. And as we have seen time and again, it is the poorest and most vulnerable citizens who suffer the most. We cannot hope to bring an end to poverty without building resilience to climate change and these associated events....

True-colour satellite image showing flooding in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani Provinces in Central Thailand (right), compared to before the flooding (left). Ayutthaya lies north of Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, and the floods plaguing Thailand in October 2011 did not spare this historic city. From NASA

AIPP Report on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change is increasingly impacting the livelihoods and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples through erratic rainfall, unpredictable climatic patterns, flooding, and increased water and food security. To explore these challenges, consider the ways that Indigenous peoples are responding to them and identify policy options to support Indigenous peoples' climate change adaptation, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) has released a report entitled “Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia.” 

The report reviews two case studies on Indigenous adaptation practices. The first, a survey of the Tangkhul Naga of northeast India, notes the significant impact of climate change in the community, including shifts in species of birds, reduced frost in October, increased pests and weeds, and shifting rain patterns. In response, the Tangkhul Naga have adjusted their agricultural practices to emphasise un-burnt shifting cultivation over rain-fed terrace paddies. The report also considers the adaptation practices of the Pidlisan-Kankanaey community of the Philippines. 

The report then summarises key international frameworks relevant to climate change adaptation. It concludes with policy recommendations on Indigenous peoples and climate change adaption, urging greater recognition of Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and community-based adaptation strategies, increased recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights, ensuring free, prior and informed consent in all mitigation and adaptation programmes, and providing sustainable livelihood diversification support to communities. 

“Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia” can be downloaded here.

Himalayan glaciers will shrink by almost 10 percent, even if temperatures hold steady

Science Daily: Come rain or shine, or even snow, some glaciers of the Himalayas will continue shrinking for many years to come.

The forecast by Brigham Young University geology professor Summer Rupper comes after her research on Bhutan, a region in the bull's-eye of the monsoonal Himalayas. Published in Geophysical Research Letters, Rupper's most conservative findings indicate that even if climate remained steady, almost 10 percent of Bhutan's glaciers would vanish within the next few decades. What's more, the amount of melt water coming off these glaciers could drop by 30 percent.

Rupper says increasing temperatures are just one culprit behind glacier retreat. A number of climate factors such as wind, humidity, precipitation and evaporation can affect how glaciers behave. With some Bhutanese glaciers as long as 13 miles, an imbalance in any of these areas can take them decades to completely respond. "These particular glaciers have seen so much warming in the past few decades that they're currently playing lots of catch up," Rupper explains.

In fact, snowfall rates in Bhutan would need to almost double to avoid glacier retreat, but it's not a likely scenario because warmer temperatures lead to rainfall instead of snow. If glaciers continue to lose more water than they gain, the combination of more rain and more glacial melt will increase the probability of flooding -- which can be devastating to neighboring villages.

"Much of the world's population is just downstream of the Himalayas," Rupper points out. "A lot of culture and history could be lost, not just for Bhutan but for neighboring nations facing the same risks."...

The glacial lakes of Bhutan, NASA image

Cities of Dhaka, Manila, Bangkok, Yangon and Jakarta face highest climate change risks – Maplecroft Risk Atlas

Maplecroft News: Multinational companies operating in the Asian growth economies will be exposed to spiralling environmental risks over the coming decades, according to Maplecroft’s 5th annual Climate Change and Environmental Risk Atlas , which identifies Dhaka, Manila, Bangkok, Yangon, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Kolkata as the cities facing the most risk from the onset of climate change.

Maplecroft’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), which forms a central pillar of the Atlas, classifies seven cities as ‘extreme risk,’ out of a list of 50 that were chosen for their current and future importance to global business. Dhaka, Bangladesh, (ranked 1st), Manila, the Philippines (2), Bangkok, Thailand (3), Yangon, Myanmar (4), Jakarta, Indonesia (5), Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (6) and Kolkata, India (7) emerged as the most at risk from the changing temperatures and weather systems that are forecast to take hold in the coming years.

The CCVI has been developed by Maplecroft to identify risks to populations, company operations, supply chains and investments in 197countries down to a level of 25km2. It evaluates exposure to climate related natural hazards; the sensitivity of populations; development; natural resources; agricultural dependency; research and development; government effectiveness and education levels.

With strong economic growth of above 5% forecast for countries such as the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia and India in the next few years, the relevance of climate change to populations and business in the major commercial centres should not be underplayed, states Maplecroft in its analysis.
“As global corporations expand into the emerging growth markets, their operations and supply chains will become exposed to a complex set of climate risks that have the potential to disrupt business continuity,” states Maplecroft’s Head of Maps and Indices, Helen Hodge. “It is essential for companies to identify where suppliers, assets and personnel are most at risk and plan for the long term.”...

Manila Bay at night, shot by Waiting for serendipity, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Greenpeace says Philippine seas is facing an unprecedented crisis

Samar News (Philippines): Climate change, ocean pollution, and overfishing threaten the Philippines’ stature as the leader in global marine biodiversity, and are already affecting communities that rely on rich marine ecosystems for food.

At a community conference held at the Municipal Hall of Donsol, Sorsogon, Greenpeace today expressed alarm over the unprecedented destruction of the Philippine marine ecosystem that foreshadows serious health, social and economic impacts.

“We are an archipelagic nation. Soon, we will become the epicenter of global marine adversity if our government agencies refuse to acknowledge and address the crisis at sea,” said Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“Our seas are already under threat from massive overfishing and decades of unsustainable fishing practices that have resulted in today’s dwindling fish catch. With ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures, fish won’t be able to spawn and propagate. That now leaves 30 million Filipinos with even less fish to eat,” he added.

There is also the problem of illegal commercial fishing. Monsignor Angel Dy of the Sorsogon Social Action Foundation Inc. said that fisherfolk around Burias-Ticao Pass cannot compete with large commercial fishing vessels that encroach on municipal waters. “We know that illegal and unregulated fishing is rampant in our waters, and yet no one seems to be doing anything about it. This is the reason why last year some bishops went to President Aquino to request that his office ban commercial vessels from the waters around Burias, Ticao, and Ragay Gulf,” said the Monsignor....

Traditional boatbuilding in the Phlippines, shot by Paul Shaffner, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Workshop on Legal Empowerment in Southeast Asia

Rooftops in Jakarta.

From 6-7 November in Jakarta, Indonesia, Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) attended a two-day workshop on legal empowerment in Southeast Asia. Hosted by Namati, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the Indonesian Legal Resource Centre, and the TIFA Foundation, the workshop brought together over 30 lawyers and legal specialists focusing on legal empowerment in the region. Over the two days, the group heard presentations, engaged in participatory methodologies and developed a forward-looking strategy for the region. Participants also assessed how to ensure that justice issues are referenced in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals process, which they considered to be a particularly strategic approach to creating systemic change. On behalf of the Natural Justice team, Harry thanks the organizers for the opportunity and looks forward to supporting next steps.

International Conference on Heart of Borneo Initiative

The proposed Heart of Borneo boundary

(in yellow). Courtesy of WWF-Malaysia.

The island of Borneo is one of the world's major biodiversity hotspots, with thousands of plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth. It is politically divided into the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, the Indonesian provinces of West, Central, South, and East Kalimantan, and the state of Brunei Darussalam. In 2007, the three national governments signed the Heart of Borneo Declaration, a unified conservation vision for "maintaining Bornean natural heritage for the benefit of present and future generations". The Heart of Borneo initiative, which is facilitated by the Worldwide Fund for Nature-Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia), aims to protect 22 million hectares of the largest contiguous forest in Southeast Asia through effective management of forest resources and a network of protected areas, productive forests, and other sustainable land uses.

From 6-7 November, Holly Shrumm (Natural Justice) attended an international conference entitled "Heart of Borneo +5 and Beyond: Shaping and Nurturing Sabah's Future Together". Held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, the conference was organised by the Sabah Forestry Department and co-hosted by a range of other government agencies and non-governmental organisations, including the Sabah Biodiversity Centre, Partners of Community Organisations in Sabah (PACOS Trust) and Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP).

The first session on global perspectives on conservation included a diverse group of presenters, most notably, on renewable energy (Dr. Daniel Kammen, Energy and Resources Group, University of California-Berkeley), on the connections between people and forests (Dr. Tint Lwin Thaung, Executive Director, The Centre for People and Forests), and on the drivers of deforestation (Rhett Butler, founder of Mongabay.com).

The second session introduced a new and complementary initiative called "Forever Sabah", which aims to transform Sabah's current trajectory into a diversified, conservation-based green economy. The multi-stakeholder panel was moderated by Darrel Webber (Secretary General, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and included interventions from Sam Mannan (Director, Sabah Forestry Department), Cynthia Ong (LEAP), Anne Lasimbang (PACOS Trust), Dr. Glen Reynolds (the Royal Society's South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme), Jeffrey Horowitz (Avoided Deforestation Partners), and Abdullah Latiff Mohamad (WWF-Malaysia).

The bulk of the rest of the conference consisted of breakout sessions (which included presentations and  open discussions about next steps for Heart of Borneo) on the following five themes: forests and biodiversity; agriculture and plantations; infrastructure and energy development; community development; and tourism. When the groups presented their outcomes in plenary, a common thread throughout - bolstered by strong representation of Indigenous community members from across Sabah - was the need to recognise Native Customary Rights and land title and to ensure participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the Heart of Borneo design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation process.

Palm Oil Producer Violations Exposed

A series of major Asian palm oil companies that are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have been exposed for violations of RSPO guidelines. As a recent press release from the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) demonstrates in documenting several of these cases, these violations raise the question of whether the RSPO is actually able to enforce its own standards. 

It was recently established by Green Advocates, representing the Kru tribes in Liberia, that a subsidiary of Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer, Sina Mas, had clearly violated the RSPO’s New Planting Procedure by not advertising plans to clear and plant oil palms and not publicising a High Conservation Value Assessment. According to RSPO standards, the company should cease clearance until due process is followed, especially as community members have expressed concern that their land is being taken without their free, prior and informed consent. 

The FPP press release documents further violations of RSPO guidelines in Liberia, Cameroon, Malaysia, and Indonesia, many uncovered through a partnership between FPP, Sawit Watch and other partners to review the practices of 15 major palm oil companies in West Africa and Southeast Asia. It concludes by noting Sawit Watch’s concern that the RSPO must significantly improve its system as its credibility is clearly at stake. 

Find the full press release here. Download FPP and Sawit Watch’s review of 15 RSPO members practices here.

Palm Oil and Bioenergy Strategies in SE Asia - Regional Seminar

Via SEI

As the cultivation and processing of palm oil and other biofuel foodstocks continues to expand in Southeast Asia, increasing its economic significance with support from international finance institutions, regional development banks, and governments, the region is witnessing unprecedented land use changes and changes in the exploitation of natural resources and local livelihoods. In this context, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is hosting a regional seminar in Bangkok, Thailand, from 15-16 November 2012 on “Palm oil and bioenergy strategies in South East Asia: Review of field lessons and debate on ways ahead.” 

The seminar will seek to support the coordination of existing governmental policies, regulations and regional strategies for palm oil and bioenergy through the provision of lessons learnt and new research data from case studies on land use change and water resource management in palm oil plantations and feedstock processing. It aims to contribute to an evidence-based dialogue on the rigour of the existing strategies, and to consider how further implementation can be enhanced to promote sustainable production. The seminar will include presentations of national and regional bioenergy and palm oil strategies, lessons from case studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia, and a panel debate, involving participation from governments, regional development banks, companies and NGOs. 

The seminar will draw from the lessons the SEI has learned from its experience in the field, including case studies on community grievances and water governance in the oil palm sector in central Kalimantan, Indonesia (download here) and on how the European Union can revise its policies to support ‘sustainable’ palm oil cultivation (download here). SEI recently hosted at seminar on “Promoting Biofuels, Creating Scarcity?” in Brussels (learn more here).

New IIED Article on Community Protocols

Credit: Nick Lunch

As delegates prepare for the 11th Conference of Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) from 8-19 October in Hyderabad, India, Krystyna Swiderska of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has prepared an article tracing the community protocols developed by two communities, the Raika of Rajasthan, India and the Dusun of Sabah, Malaysia to claim rights guaranteed by the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol  on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the CBD. 

The article notes that “although they have conserved important biodiversity of the regions where they have lived for generations, many communities are struggling to safeguard their biodiverse resources.” It presents community protocols as a way that communities are asserting their rights and engaging with outside actors. It then details, with text and photos, the unique ways of life of the Raika and Dusun and how they are using community protocols to protect their rights. 

The article can be found here. IIED’s recent publication on community protocols, rights and consent, drafted and edited in partnership with Natural Justice, can be found here in English and here in Spanish.

ALF Presentation on Creative Media and the Law

Namita Malhotra of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) presented on her experiences using different forms of media to communicate the law at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology on 3 October, 2012. The presentation introduced faculty from Srishti and the Natural Justice India team to the use of different media forms and some of their potential challenges. ALF has used these different forms as tools to intervene on a variety of issues ranging from piracy to censorship. Their work continues to highlight the need for experimental modes of communicating the law, with an emphasis on exploring how the law can be deconstructed and understood through a multidisciplinary lens. This presentation will help to inform Natural Justice and Srishti’s work in setting up a lab to focused on exploring how design can be used to flesh out legal problems.

Gujjar Community Consultation in Sariska Tiger Reserve

Natural Justice’s Arpitha Kodiveri and Sankar Pani attended a two-day workshop organised by Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthan (KRAPAVIS) in Alwar, Rajasthan from 9-10 September, 2012. The workshop sought to understand the challenges faced by the Gujjar community after the declaration of the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. Arpitha and Sankar presented on the concept of Biocultural Community Protocols and how a protocol might be relevant in the Sariska context. They were also involved in the consultation of community leaders from the 11 effected villages located in the core area, seeking to understand the grounds and process for the proposed relocation to surrounding areas and developing strategies for securing rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Kachchh Community Workshop on Forest Rights Act

Natural Justice’s Arpitha Kodiveri and Sankar Pani attended a two day consultation on ‘Community Forest Rights under Forest Rights Act: Challenges and Opportunities for Biodiversity Conservation in Kachchh District.’ The workshop was organised by  Sahjeevan, a Kachchh-based NGO, from 6-7 September, 2012. The consultation took place between members of pastoralist communities from the Banni and representatives from organisations working on the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA). As most communities are being denied various rights in forest areas, the workshop focused on the applicability and implementation of the FRA in Kachchh district with an emphasis on issues faced by pastoralist communities and on communities dependent on fishing and salt cultivation. The issues noted were the lack of implementation of the FRA provisions around grazing rights as well as evictions for industrial activities and the declaration of special economic zones. 

The primary recommendations from the consultation were: 

• To ensure implementation of the FRA through a widespread awareness campaign and the facilitation of claims by the district administration in collaboration with civil society organisations; 

• The withdrawal of clearances granted for the diversion of forest land not in compliance with the FRA; 

• Traditional rights in the protected areas should be strengthened and should be recognised under the FRA.

Imbak Canyon Ethno-forestry

Harry Jonas of Natural Justice presented on "ABS: From International Law to Local Realities" at a workshop hosted by Yayasan Sabah and Petronas in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The workshop focused on how best to develop and implement an ethno-forestry study in Imbak Canyon. The study is "a long term project leading towards the positioning of Imbak Canyon as the centre of learning for indigenous communities in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, for gene bank conservation and the exploration of pharmaceutical and biotechnological potentials." Other presenters included Dr Agnes Lee Agama (Global Diversity Foundation) and Dr Charles Vairappan (University Malaysia Sabah).

National Consultation on Protected Areas & Forest Rights

Sankar Pani of Natural Justice participated in a National Consultation on the Protected Areas and Forest Rights Act (FRA) on 12-13 August, 2012, in New Delhi. The consultation was organised by the Future of Conservation Network (FoC), a network of ecological and social organizations and individuals committed to the effective and equitable conservation of biodiversity. FoC's objective is to foster dialogue and engagement in complex conservation issues, and to help tackle increasing threats to both biodiversity and livelihoods. 

The basic objective of the consultation was to discuss the issues relating to poor, improper, and/or non-implementation of the FRA in protected areas such as Sanctuaries, National Parks and Tiger Reserves. Many participants suggested that the Nodal Ministry should appoint an independent committee to review the implementation of the FRA in protected areas. They also emphasised that until the recognition process is completed no person should be evicted or relocated from their existing occupation and residence. 

Other issues which surfaced during the consultation included: 

• Limited recognition of community rights under the FRA in protected areas, BRT sanctuary in Karnataka is an isolated case where the community rights of Soliga tribes have been recognised; 

• While the claims are pending before appropriate authorities, the relocation process for Tiger Reserves are also continuing which is a violation of the FRA’s guarantees of people’s rights over forest land to be protected until a rights recognition process is completed; 

• The Critical Tiger Habitat guideline needs to be compliant to FRA; 

• The Critical Wildlife Habitat Protocol which was put in place in 2007 and its replacement draft protocol put in place in 2011 ignore many vital objectives of the FRA under which the protocol is in place; 

• In states like Gujurat, the implementation of the FRA in Scheduled Areas and not in Non-Scheduled Areas is a matter of great concern; 

• Communities other than Scheduled Tribes and pastoralist communities have not had their rights respected under the FRA; 

• Alternative land has not been made available for relocation despite the official policy to do so; 

• Government agencies have not raised awareness on the FRA amongst communities in Pas and activists and NGOs have been prevented from working in the area; 

• The habitat rights of Preemptive Tribal Groups (PTGs) have not been recognized to date nor has there been any clarification in this regard from the Nodal Ministry; 

• In Maharashtra, communities’s ability to transit through and produce non-timber forest products has been restricted in the buffer zone of the Tadoba Tiger Reserve. Some people have been blocked from their own villages through new gates and regulations.

New film: "Palawan: Our struggle for nature and culture"

Ancestral Land/Domain Watch (ALDAW), a local network of indigenous people struggling for the protection of their ancestral lands against large-scale corporations in the Philippines, has produced a short film entitled "Palawan: Our struggle for nature and culture". The synopsis is as follows:

The struggle to save Palawan (known as the Philippines’ Last Frontier) is not only about saving trees and rare species. It is also about nourishing the Filipino cultural heritage, so powerfully represented by those indigenous communities that - after escaping Spanish and American colonization and while resisting the new ‘mining imperialism’ now - continue to represent the 'living roots' from which all Filipinos originate. According to the filmmakers, environmental plundering by mining companies is not only a crime against nature but it is also a crime against culture, a sort of genocide that annihilates the most profound roots of the Filipino's history and ultimately plunders the cultural heritage of the whole nation. In this film, Kawali, the mythical ancestor depicted by Batak narrators, emphasises humility and trust towards the supernatural beings in charge of animals and plants. On the contrary, the attitude of Kawali’s brother-in-law comes to represent the epitome of inappropriate behaviour, such as the lack of respect towards the mystical keepers of animals and here, specifically, towards the “father of bees”, a relationship that contemporary Batak continues to restore though the lambay ceremony. The sudden switch between the narration of the Batak myth and the threats posed by mining companies serves to introduce the advocacy efforts of ALDAW.

ALDAW would like you to circulate these links amongst your friends and networks and kindly consider signing the following online petitions:

• No to Mining in Palawan
• Stop Mining Palawan Forest

New RRI Report on NRM

With increased pressures upon the environment, and growing awareness of the need to engage broader populations in conservation efforts, the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) has released a new series of papers which spotlight women activists involved in natural resource management (NRM) in Nepal, Indonesia and China, along with more general research on the intersection of NRM and gender in Asia. The compilation is entitled ‘The Challenges of Securing Women’s Tenure and Leadership for Forest Management: The Asian Experience.’ The research focuses on status of forest tenure rights and gender rights in the case studies considered, and illustrates that ‘exclusion and inequality on gender grounds are still rife and complicated by the intersection of cultural and social norms, economic pressures, and inadequate legal and institutional frameworks.’ 

The summary of the research can be downloaded here. The full document can be downloaded here. The RRI press release and the individual briefs can be found here.