Giving Communities a Voice
A Miskitu spiritual guide uses a conch to call the community to a meeting.
Many indigenous peoples around the world live on their traditional lands, which are often the most biodiverse places on earth. Sadly, indigenous communities are under more pressure than ever from governments and corporations seeking oil, minerals, timber, and cheap electricity. This "development" wreaks havoc on ecosystems and often leaves a toxic legacy.
ELAW is working with indigenous leaders throughout Latin America and around the world to give communities a voice, protect natural resources, and challenge polluters. A few examples of our recent work illustrate how ELAW is leveling the playing field and helping win victories for communities, human rights, and the global environment.
Protecting indigenous lands in Nicaragua
Miskitu lawyer Lottie Cunningham Wren is the founder of the Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. She is working in 33 remote communities to help indigenous peoples exercise their legal rights to protect natural resources.
Lottie was an expert witness in the Awas Tingni vs. Nicaragua case, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This case resulted in a tremendous land rights victory for indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. Lottie`s goal now is to implement that decision and help communities on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua demarcate and title their lands. "I want our communities to have ownership," she says.
Lottie traveled to Eugene in October to participate in a Working Exchange Fellowship. She worked one-on-one with ELAW staff and tapped the legal and scientific support she needs to face new threats posed by energy corporations eager to explore for oil off the Atlantic coast. She also learned about Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and how the communities she works with can use GPS receivers to expedite government efforts to demarcate native lands. ELAW scientists helped Lottie purchase a GPS receiver and are now working to design a GPS training program for local leaders.
Lottie Cunningham Wren at the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.
While in Oregon, Lottie traveled to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and met with Nelson Wallulatum, Chief of the Wasco tribe. The Chief spoke with Lottie about the challenges facing his people. Lottie said: "The tribes here face similar problems to those faced by our people. I will take this story home to our leaders."
Protecting indigenous lands in Panama
Hector Huertas is a Kuna attorney with Centro de Asistencia Legal Popular in Panama. He works to defend the human rights of the Kuna, Ngobe, Bugle, Embera, Wounan, Naso, and Bribri peoples. Hector traveled to Eugene in October to participate in a Working Exchange Fellowship where he worked with ELAW staff to challenge ill-advised hydropower projects.
Panama`s environmental agency has approved the environmental impact assessments for three proposed hydroelectric dams on the Rio Changuinola in western Panama. The Rio Changuinola watershed is adjacent to La Amistad International Peace Park and Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes territories of the Naso and Ngobe tribes. ELAW provided Hector with a hand-held GPS receiver that the indigenous communities will use to map the territory that would be impacted by the dams.
Hector has a wealth of experience protecting indigenous communities and their lands. He helped draft Panama`s first environmental law and chaired the Indigenous Caucus at the Organization of American States, where he is helping to draft the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He is also working with the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples to defend the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide.
Protecting indigenous lands in Belize from oil development
Sarstoon-Temash National Park. Photo: SATIIM
In Belize, the Ministry of Natural Resources has granted permission to a Texas-based energy corporation to prospect for oil in Sarstoon-Temash National Park. Sarstoon-Temash was designated a protected area in 1997 and joined the Ramsar list of Wetlands of International Importance in 2005. For the last decade, the indigenous Maya who live around the park have restricted their use of the Park’s resources, in accordance with the law governing protected areas.
ELAW partner Antoinette Moore is a part of the legal team working with the Sarstoon Temash Institute of Indigenous Management (SATIIM) to challenge the oil exploration in court. SATIIM filed a legal challenge to the oil exploration after learning that the oil corporation had been granted a permit to conduct seismic testing in the Park.
ELAW secured expert affidavits about seismic testing and its potential environmental impacts. The Supreme Court of Belize cancelled permission for seismic testing in the Park, requiring the defendants to assess the environmental impacts of such testing in a transparent manner before they reapply for permission.
Protecting Ecuador`s Choco Forests
A child collects water in La Chiquita.
Photo: Meche Lu
ELAW is working with partners in Ecuador to help communities in the Choco region protect themselves from polluting oil palm plantations and palm oil processing facilities.
ELAW scientist Meche Lu traveled to the African-Ecuadorian and Awa community of La Chiquita to see the problem first-hand and help the community understand the dangers of pesticides and factory effluents. ELAW scientists helped partners at Corporacion de Gestion y Derecho Ambiental (ECOLEX) monitor the factory effluent and interpret test results.
ECOLEX used this information to file a court case to halt the factory`s polluting activities. This was the first time that a local community in Ecuador has pursued legal action to clean up polluting palm oil plantations and mills!
In September 2006, the court in Pichincha required the Ministry of the Environment to act within 30 days to remediate the damage caused to rivers contaminated by palm oil factory effluents in the Choco Region. In his ruling, the judge cited technical information provided by ELAW showing that an environmental audit conducted by the Ministry of the Environment was flawed.
Award-Winning Partners
ELAW partners are the world`s leading grassroots advocates, including seven winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize. Our latest award-winners hail from Mexico and Chile. Congratulations Patricio and Miguel!
Miguel Fredes
2006 Finalist: Environmentalist of the Year, Latin Trade Magazine
Attorney Miguel Fredes scored a major victory against a multi-million dollar illegal logging racket that was devastating ancient forests in southern Chile. For years, the government of Chile allowed trade in the endangered "alerce" tree, a majestic conifer that is a relative to the giant sequoia. Despite alerce`s protected status, Chilean authorities allowed the export of alerce logged before 1973, or trees damaged by fire or disease. Miguel says: "This made a perverse incentive to log, burn, and illegally trade alerce trees." Miguel prompted a criminal investigation of corrupt authorities and won a landmark victory when the government announced it would allow no further export or trade in alerce. ELAW has worked with Miguel for many years and provided him with critical legal support in the alerce case.
Patricio Martin
2006 Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom
Patricio Martin is a staff attorney at Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA). Patricio runs CEMDA’s Cancun office and is the only staff attorney working to protect the fragile coral reef ecosystems of the region from threats by high-density hotel development, urban sprawl, and other forms of environmentally destructive economic development. ELAW is collaborating with Patricio and partners in Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala to protect the Mesoamerican Reef. The 2006 Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom also went to David Barsamian, Pratap Chatterjee, Fernando Garavito, Leanne Hinton, Charles Kernaghan, and Hugo Morales.
ELAW Annual Meeting: Valparaiso 2006
Top left: Fernando Dougnac (left), President of FIMA, with John Bonine, ELAW co-founder. Manolo Morales (right), Executive Director of Corporacion de Gestion y Derecho Ambiental (ECOLEX) in Ecuador, leads a Project Circle.
Valparaiso 2006
ELAW partners at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) hosted the ELAW Annual Meeting in Valparaiso, Chile, October 23-26. The meeting brought together leading environmental advocates from 14 countries for valuable collaboration and hard work. ELAW lawyers and scientists worked together to meet emerging environmental challenges around the world: protecting the global climate, reforming international financial institutions so they protect communities and ecosystems, restoring coastal and marine ecosystems, and giving communities a voice in decisions about the environment. FIMA put on a tremendous meeting that will help lawyers protect the environment through law around the world.
ELAW Partners Collaborate with U.S. Tribes
L to R: Waimem Franco, Winnemem Principle Chief Caleen Sisk-Franco, Mark Franco, Lottie Cunningham Wren, Ben Branham Jr. (Hoopa Tribal Councilman), Helene Sisk, Hector Huertas.
ELAW partners Lottie Cunningham Wren from Nicaragua and Hector Huertas from Panama are working with the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous Peoples Caucus of the Organization of American States (OAS) to draft declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples. Lottie and Hector are eager to involve more U.S.-based tribes in the OAS process.
While in Eugene on Working Exchange Fellowships, Lottie and Hector met with members of the Winnemem Wintu, an "unrecognized" tribe living along the McCloud River in northern California. The Winnemem are challenging government plans to raise the Shasta Dam. The lake that formed when the dam was originally built drowned Winnemem homesteads, ancestral villages, cemeteries and sacred sites. Plans to raise the dam higher threaten more sacred sites.
Lottie and Hector are now helping the Winnemem share their plight with indigenous leaders throughout the Americas through the Indigenous Peoples Caucus.
Many thanks to the Spirit Mountain Community Fund for supporting Hector and Lottie`s visit.
GPS Receivers: A Valuable Tool for Protecting Indigenous Lands
Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are an important tool for communities seeking to establish legal title to indigenous lands, or to prove that proposed projects would impact indigenous communities. ELAW has provided GPS receivers to Hector Huertas in Panama (photographed with ELAW scientist Meche Lu); Harrison Ngau in Sarawak, Malaysia; and Lottie Cunningham Wren in Nicaragua.
Protecting Forests in Liberia
Liberia, post civil war.
Photo: Jerome Verdier, Green Advocates
Liberia is richly endowed with tropical rainforests, iron ore, diamonds, and gold. The abusive exploitation of these natural resources helped fuel 15 years of civil war. As part of the recovery effort, the UN Security Council had banned the import of timber from Liberia.
ELAW partner Alfred Brownell, founder of Green Advocates in Monrovia, says: "Existing laws were confusing, conflicting, overlapping, or economically driven. Citizens and indigenous peoples had no rights to challenge government actions and tribal lands were deeded out to timber concessions."
ELAW worked with Alfred and his colleagues to draft Liberia`s first framework environmental law, which passed in 2003. More recently, ELAW helped Green Advocates participate in drafting the Liberian Forestry Reform Bill and submitted formal comments. ELAW partners around the world reviewed and commented on the draft while Green Advocates held workshops to help communities participate in the drafting process. On September 19, 2006, Alfred wrote to ELAW partners around the world:
"After a lengthy and sometime emotional debate, the Liberian Forestry Reform Bill was yesterday evening passed into law. ... It was a difficult and enduring fight ensuring that the bill pass unadulterated. I mince no words when I say it was tough. The timber lobbyist fought to the dying minutes. We were no match for their money. But we gave them a good run for their money with our passion and commitment.
In the dying minutes they became desperate, issuing threats. The head of the timber conglomerate called me on my cell phone and for more than three hours rained insults and threats. ... Even the Government crumbled under pressure from the timber lobby and wanted to water down the law.
We resisted that atttempt. I volunteered time off from my office to assist the head of the forest agency to explain the proposed law to the lawmakers...
Many special thanks to amigos, especially to Jen and the ELAW U.S. staff.
Once more we claim victory! "
ELAW Impact: Protecting Whale Breeding Grounds in Baja California
A baby gray whale near San Ignacio Lagoon, Mexico. PHOTO: Fernando Ochoa
Each year, gray whales travel from the Chukchi and Bering Seas to shelter and breed in Baja`s Guerrero Negro, San Ignacio, and Bahia Magdalena lagoons. The United Nations designated San Ignacio whale sanctuary a World Heritage Site in 1993.
Early in 2006, developers proposed to turn these fragile fishing grounds into a large marina with a yacht club and a pier for cruise ships. ELAW reviewed the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for these projects and found that plans to dredge La Bocana and build a jetty in Punta Abreojos, on Baja’s west coast, were flawed and threatened wetlands near whale breeding grounds.
ELAW partners at Defensa Ambiental del Noroeste (DAN) and Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) used our analysis to challenge plans for the ill-advised marina and jetty.
In response to this challenge, Mexico’s environmental agency, SEMARNAT, demanded more information from the developers. When the developers failed to provide the additional information, SEMARNAT terminated the project.
Fernando Ochoa, DAN General Director, wrote to ELAW partners around the world: "I want to give special thanks to ELAW scientists Meche and Mark for their hard and excellent work! They are true heroes!"
The developers have since resurrected the project and submitted a new EIA to Mexico`s environmental agency. ELAW partners in Mexico have again asked ELAW to help critique the EIA, identify the true impacts of the proposed project, and make the case that decision-makers in Mexico should reject the proposed development.
Fernando says, "Definitely having `won` the first time puts us in a strong position . . . the project is still ill-advised and with ELAW`s help we will protect the whale breeding grounds."
Working Exchange Fellows: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Jamaica
L to R: Palo, Dana, and Radek
ELAW hosts visiting fellows to help them gain the skills and resources they need to protect human rights, communities, and the environment. Fellows work one-on-one with ELAW staff to build legal skills and learn the science they need to meet environmental challenges. Visitors also tap ELAW expertise building strong organizations, visit with other U.S. NGOs, and study English at the University of Oregon`s American English Institute. Fellowhsips last from one week to three months.
In September, ELAW organized a two-week study tour for three partners from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, to help them learn how U.S. human rights and environmental law organizations in the U.S. build support for non-profit work. Palo Zilincik and Dana Marekova from Via Iuris in Slovakia, and Radek Motzke from Ekology Pravni Servis in the Czech Republic met with organizations in New York, Eugene, Portland, and Seattle.
This was Radek`s first trip to the United States. In the following he shares his "first impressions."
First Time in the U.S.
by Radek Motzke
It was my first visit to the United States. I must say that I liked it a lot. At first I did not see many differences from Central Europe. However, there was quite a big difference in people. Americans are friendly and noisy. Central Europeans are less friendly and less noisy. To be fair, most Czechs are nice people and they have a very fine sense of humor. However, they are more introverted and need some time before they open their hearts.
The meetings we had in New York were great. I was inspired by how the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Lawyers for Public Interest combined legal work with public relations and community organizing. In the Czech Republic we have to strengthen these extra-legal approaches because law is often inefficient, court procedures are lengthy, and the legislature is being eroded by lobbies.
After five days in New York, we flew to Oregon. The wooded hills reminded me of the Czech Republic. I enjoyed the clean, uncrowded beaches. Eugene was a big contrast with New York – lots of space, calm
atmosphere, and one-story wooden houses with nice gardens.
After a few days in Eugene we went to Portland and Seattle to meet with more environmental NGOs. One could see that these NGOs` concerns were like ours – trying to become more strategic in striving for sustainability!
I liked the way people spoke in the Northwest – slowly, loudly and they hit the point right away. People in the Czech Republic would not be as direct, but this is changing.
I learned in the U.S. that progressive politics may rise and fall over time. We never know when a Czech-version of George W. Bush might get elected. The message that I have brought home is that people must participate in everyday politics – the world belongs to them, not to politicians.
I want to thank ELAW for facilitating our study tour. It was a great learning exercise and it filled me with energy.
Carlette Falloon (left) and Nadia Watson from the Jamaica Environment Trust
Carlette Falloon and Nadia Watson from the Jamaica Environment Trust worked at ELAW for two weeks this summer, building skills to strengthen their non-profit organization. Sessions on developing a board of directors, managing multiple grants, bookkeeping, and improving public awareness kept them busy. ELAW scientists helped Carlette and Nadia identify the strengths and weaknesses in environmental impact assessments for development projects proposed for Jamaica’s coasts. "Our visit was a great success ... ELAW staff provided important information, tips and tools," said Carlette.
Headlines: E-LAW in the News, Autumn 2006
The Ship Breakers of Bangladesh
Rizwana Hasan
ELAW partner Rizwana Hasan of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) was interviewed by 60 Minutes for "The Ship Breakers of Bangladesh." The ship breaking industry dumps PCBs, asbestos, and other toxins from old ships on the beaches of some of the poorest countries in the world. ELAW worked with BELA to file a case in the Supreme Court challenging this polluting industry. The following is an excerpt from Rizwana`s interview.
60 Minutes: Rizwana Hasan of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association is in the forefront of the battle against the industry. She says the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh don`t respect even the most minimal environmental standards.
Rizwana: An industry that can`t comply with these minimum standards must not operate ... if you can`t pay your worker the minimum wage, you can`t operate. You can`t – if you can`t ensure the minimum environmental safeguard you shouldn`t operate.
60 Minutes: The Ship Breakers of Bangladesh, November 5, 2006