Video / Audio - Forests and Climate Change
Land Grabs
What are land grabs? Why are they happening, and what are their impacts? Indigenous communities around the world are seeing their lands threatened by the extractive and agro-industries, by conservation schemes and by tourism developments. This video looks into the scale, drivers, and impacts of the global rush for land. In this video we hear from indigenous peoples from Asia, Latin America and Africa who have first hand experience of the impacts of land grabs.
Benefits of Territory
What are the benefits of secure tenure for indigenous peoples, for the environment and for wider society? This video is part of the 'Territories of Life' toolkit, a series of 10 short videos that share stories of resistance, resilience and hope with communities on the frontline of the global rush for land. The Territories of Life toolkit is being shared freely with thousands of communities around the world whose territories are central to their way of being.
Half a Million Hectares of Hope
This film documents the gathering of indigenous educators from across Indonesia and the Philippines in Kaseputan Ciptegalar, West Java. They discussed the problems: “The existing education system teaches ‘ilmu pergi’ - the science of leaving.” (Sarno Maulana, Pasawahan school, West Java). And they developed a vision of the future: "It is important for us to start our own education - our indigenous education. So we are the ones who determine its methods, we are the ones who determine its contents, and all of this within our territory.” (Jhontoni Tarihoran, BPAN)
Revival
Revival, a film from MELCA Ethiopia and The Gaia Foundation, follows a meeting of African Sacred Natural Site Custodians in the stunning highlands of Bale, Ethiopia. There they gathered to celebrate MELCA Ethiopia's ten years working to revive Sacred Natural Sites and customary law in Ethiopia, to exchange knowledge, stories and experiences. Featuring interviews with Sacred Natural Site Custodians and Earth Jurisprudence practitioners and vibrant footage from Ethiopia's unique highland ecology, Revival takes us to the heart of efforts to regenerate biocultural diversity and restore a respectful relationship with Earth in Africa (The Gaia Foundation, 2015).
The Amazonian tribespeople who sailed down the Seine
The Kichwa tribe in the Sarayaku region of the Amazon in Ecuador believe in the ‘living forest’, where humans, animals and plants live in harmony. They are fighting oil companies who want to exploit their ancestral land. A delegation of indigenous people are at the Paris COP21 climate conference to make sure their voices are heard. Can they win their battle? (The Guardian, 2015).
Speaking out: Indigenous women leaders in Peru
In this video, Nery Zapata speaks about the difficulties of being a woman from a minority group in Atalaya, leading the indigenous local organization. As President of CORPIAA and Coordinator of the Veeduría, she has an important role. Reaching and remaining in her position has required self-confidence and determination, as is evidenced from her words. The video also features Patricia Cachique, an indigenous leader from the native community Boca Apinihua. Patricia emphasizes the importance of training women as well as men in issues related to forest management and climate change, and points out the importance of shared knowledge between women and men if there is to be shared decision-making (Helvetas Perú, 2015).
A song of freedom for the Rainforest
A song of freedom for the Rainforest. Support forestvoices.com The Baka People are Indigenous Pygmy hunter-gatherers living in the rainforests of the Congo basin. They are amazing musicians and carry the knowledge of an egalitarian forest culture into the 21st Century. Due to the riches in their forest they are being pressured to leave the forests and live in roadside villages where they face ruthless discrimination and abuse. (www.forestvoices.com)
CBFM Local Solution to Global Challenges
The video “Community Based Forest Management: Local Solutions to Global Challenges”expounds on the important role of community based forest management in indigenous peoples’ livelihood and food security; spiritual and cultural values; and climate change mitigation. The video focuses on the land use system of Lua (La-weu) indigenous peoples including sustainable practice of shifting cultivation in northern Thailand; and the challenges faced by the Bhagpani and Sitalupakha Women’s Community Forestry User Groups on forest management in Nepal. (The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact / International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs / Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation for Education and Environment, 2014)
Heart of Iron
In the heart of the Congo Basin, global thirst for steel has driven miners to a vast, remote forest landscape called Tridom (Tri-national Dja-Odzala-Minkébé), which holds one of the largest untapped iron reserves on earth. Shot on location, Heart of Iron explores the complexity of mining in a region that is home to Baka and Bakola pygmy and Bantu tribes and a haven for gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants. The iron mines promise jobs, infrastructure, and new revenues but can benefits be balanced with impacts? From ministers to miners, conservationists to community members, the film asks: How do we ensure that mining benefits the poor and conserves Tridom’s rich cultural and natural heritage? (WWF / EU / UNESCO / World Bank, 2013)
Share the benefits! Logging, mining and the Baka
This song, produced by environmental artist Vicky Brown and artists from the village of Mintom in south-eastern Cameroon, calls for an equal distribution of timber and mining revenues being generated from the exploitation of their local forests and resources. (Living Earth UK, 2012)