To the disappointment and frustration of the Tsilhqot’in Nation, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced it would accept a repackaged proposal for the previously rejected Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine, which threatens the sacred lake Teztan Biny in British Columbia.

A court in Papua New Guinea this week cleared the way for the Chinese state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp. to proceed with a massive nickel-mining project that had been blocked by injunctions over the environmental impact of the company’s plan to dispose of mine tailings in the ocean.

Citing environmental concerns, a Brazilian judge has halted construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon rain forest. If constructed, it would destroy a vast area of forest and displacing tens of thousands, including tribal people.

Hello my name is Michael Preston and I am a member of the Winnemem Wintu tribe and newest member of the Sacred Land Film Project crew. I just wanted to share a little more about my tribe and do what I can to help tell our story. Just a little brief internal history, we were told by our former leader Florence Jones,

In a major victory for indigenous land rights, India’s environment minster on Aug. 24 struck down a controversial mining project in eastern Orissa state that would have threatened the survival of the 8,000-member Dongria Kondh tribe.

After a two-day court hearing, the traditional custodians of Phiphidi Waterfall last week won an injunction to halt the construction of a tourist resort at their sacred site for 20 days, allowing them to prepare for further legal action.
The Ramunangi clan, in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, has been waging a years-long battle to protect the [...]

“An international outcry is needed. Toxic mine tailings dumped into the Bismarck Sea could undermine the marine food chain at its source, potentially rendering all fish unsafe to eat and destroying the livelihoods of the Indigenous people who depend on the sea. Could thousands of letters from world citizens get the attention of the PNG government?”

As tourists flock to South Africa this month for the World Cup tournament, a tribe in the north of the country is urgently struggling to save a sacred site from being destroyed by tourism development.

The government of Papua New Guinea dealt a harsh blow to traditional landowners May 28 when it passed a pair of amendments to the country’s Environment Act barring legal challenges to mining and other resource projects.

In a demonstration to show solidarity with the Brazilian indigenous peoples who will be gravely affected by the recently approved Belo Monte dam project, actress Sigourney Weaver will join members of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to peacefully protest in front of the Brazilian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York [...]

All over the world, indigenous people protect places of spiritual significance and hotspots of biodiversity. James Cameron’s symbolic story of the Na’vi, in his film “Avatar” parallels the struggle that indigenous people around the globe face to defend sacred places Western culture seeks to dominate.

International outcry is mounting against the Brazilian government’s plan to move forward on the massive Belo Monte dam on the Amazon’s Xingu River. Take action and attend a Bay Area event March 19.

A controversial and long-delayed hydroelectric dam project on Brazil’s Xingu River received the green light on Feb. 1 when the Brazilian Environment Ministry issued an environmental license for the dam’s construction.