Belize Forest Quilt from Midway being shown at UN Headquarters

A quilt made by 19 women of Midway village, showing animals of the rainforest is being shown at UN Headquarters as part of International Women's Day. 

Here are profiles of the Midway artists: http://advocacynet.org/modules/fck/upload/file/belize.pdf


Marceline Kongolo, founder of SOS Femmes en Danger, attended the echibition's unveiling on March 8, and the eleven advocacy quilts will be shown until April 27th.

Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/7knjys8

Seismic trails used for poaching

Oil exploration in the Sarstoon Temash National Park (STNP) is helping poachers extract natural resources, a SATIIM/Belize Defence Force (BDF) patrol has discovered.

Since the seismic trails have been opened up, remnants (trunks and pieces of timber) of illegal logging and hunting activities were observed, and the poachers have cut smaller trails from the seismic lines to areas further into the park.

SATIIM rangers and BDF personnel departed Punta Gorda on November 15, 2011, for a 4 day monitoring mission of the STNP. On this trip they encountered US Capital Energy operations in full rig: seismic lines cut, workers drilling, boats travelling up and down the river transporting workers, etc. The seismic lines, which originate from the banks of the Sarstoon River, cut right across the park. One of the first lines cut on the Temash River has been flagged with tapes and the mangroves have been cut clean about 10 feet from the river’s edge. Other seismic lines were flagged and cut straight to the river’s edge leaving no buffer.

Gangs of illegal loggers are informed of SATIIM patrols via radio and are then able to use seismic lines to reach the river and escape to Guatemala by boat without being apprehended. SATIIM has called on the Belizean government to make US Capital Energy cover the cost for SATIIM to monitor and patrol the seismic lines which cut across the park, coming from the international border and providing open access to poachers and illegal hunters and loggers. This will help to ensure that these seismic lines will in fact not become highways for the Guatemalans to come and extract our precious resources inside the park. 

Due to the clear evidence of poaching, SATIIM is requesting that seismic testing activities are suspended until it is agreed how the impacts would be mitigated. SATIIM also suggests that an environmental assessment of seismic testing in the STNP should be conducted to identify potential impacts and recommend mitigation measures prior to the continuation of seismic testing.

Illegal logging discovered during the SATIIM/BDF patrol of the park

Seismic trail making an escape route in the park

US Capital Energy drilling a seismic line in the park

Seismic trails cut to the river's edge allow easy escape
routes for Guatemalan poachers

“End the Secrecy!” –  SATIIM Demands Explanation for US Oil Company’s Return to National Protected Land

*Government ignores local communities requests for information

*Defies historic Supreme Court ruling based on country’s constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) calls all those who care about Belize’s biocultural diversity demand that the government explain what an oil company is doing on protected land.

On October 25 SATIIM learned that the American oil company, US Capital Energy had suddenly re-appeared on protected and Maya land -- without prior notice or consent of the communities.

According to reports, the oil company has been operating for over a week inside the Sarstoon Temash National Park (STNP) in Southern Belize. While the park is officially co-managed with the surrounding Q’eqchi Mayan and Garifuna villages, the government never informed SATIIM that a permit had been issued. The company is wasting no time -- a truck equipped for seismic drilling has already arrived along with a drill-ready tractor.  Trees were cut for two seismic lines in Sunday Wood village, with rumors of plans to cut more in the village of Crique Sarco.

This is merely the latest ‘surprise’ in a shameful history of secrecy that began one morning in 1997. Five Indigenous communities in Southern Belize woke up to learn that the government had declared their ancestral land a national park in 1994. Ever since, these communities have struggled to defend their land at every turn.

Notably, in 2006 they won a temporary injunction against seismic testing in this protected area, where an entirely new ecosystem was recently discovered. Another ruling from the Supreme Court confirmed Maya rights to land and resources and Belize’s obligation to conform to international standards of informed consent established when it signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007.

Nonetheless, the government has kept all dealings with US Capital Energy secret.  SATIIM asked for information in several letters to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Forest Officer. The government has ignored each one.

When SATIIM met with Indigenous leaders Monday 7 November, all villagers expressed outrage and growing concerns that the government and the company did not inform them about the seismic activities. SATIIM demands that the government respect: 1) the rule of law; 2) environmental justice; 3) economic equality; and 4) its obligations under UNDRIP and legal rulings by Belize’s highest courts.

Most of all, SATIIM demands the government end the secrecy around US Capital Energy’s new operations in Southern Belize.  SATIIM and the Indigenous communities have agreed to use any means necessary to bring the government and company in compliance with national and international law.

Another voice on sustainable community forestry

John Makin, committee chairman...

Listen to SATIIM board member and Conejo resident Manuel Caal talk about his village's sustainable community forestry initiative and fight for land rights:

Quilting for the Forest in Midway, Belize

This summer, 13 women in the Q'eqchi Mayan village of Midway gathered regularly to embroider quilt panels depicting flora and fauna of the Sarstoon Temash National Park, beside which they live. The quilt project is a collaboration between SATIIM, the women of Midway, and the Washington, DC-based Advocacy Project. The panels will be sewn into a quilt by a group in DC, then displayed around the US to raise awareness about the park and threats to it, like deforestation and oil exploration. Ultimately, the quilt will be sold to benefit the women who made it.

IACHR Highlights the Importance of Respecting Indigenous Peoples' Right to Prior Consultation

From Amazone Watch:
IACHR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | August 9, 2011
For more information, contact:
Caroline Bennett, 415-487-9600 x327 or caroline@amazonwatch.org


Washington, DC – On the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) highlights the importance of indigenous and tribal peoples' right to prior, free and informed consultation with regard to decisions that may affect them.

As the organs of the Inter-American Human Rights System have reiterated, States must guarantee that indigenous peoples are consulted on all matters that may affect them, taking into account that this consultation must be aimed at reaching agreement with regard to the administrative or legislative actions that have an impact upon their rights.

The right to consultation, and the corresponding State duty, are linked to several individual and collective human rights. Apart from being a manifestation of the right to participation, the right to be consulted is fundamental for the effective enjoyment of indigenous peoples' right to communal property over the lands they have traditionally used and occupied, and is also directly related to the right to cultural identity, insofar as these peoples' culture may be affected by the State decisions that concern them.

The right to prior consultation is especially relevant for the conduction of development or investment plans or projects and for the implementation of extractive concessions in ancestral territories, given that said plans, projects or concessions, in undermining the natural resources that are present therein, can affect the survival and cultural integrity of indigenous peoples and their members. The effective participation of indigenous peoples through their own institutions and distinctive forms of organization is required before the approval and implementation of these plans, projects or concessions, as a guarantee of their individual and collective survival, as explained by the IACHR in its Report on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples' Rights over their Ancestral Lands and Natural Resources.

The IACHR calls upon the States of the Americas to adopt the domestic legal measures required to recognize, and especially to enforce indigenous peoples' fundamental right to prior consultation and -in the cases defined by inter-American jurisprudence- to prior, free and informed consent, with regard to decisions that may affect their rights or interests.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in a personal capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.