A Far-Off Inuit World, in a Dozen Shades of White - by A.O. Scott http://www.changemakers.net/library/temp/nyt033002.cfm http://www.atanarjuat.com/ This New York Times article discusses a landmark film from the traditional Inuit world. In standard histories of world cinema, the Inuit people of northern Canada figure mostly in connection with Robert J. Flaherty's "Nanook of the North," an epochal silent documentary made in 1922. Eighty years later, the voices of the Inuit can at last be heard on screen. "The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)" directed by Zacharias Kunuk and based on an ancient folk epic, is the first feature film made in the Inuktitut language by an almost entirely Inuit cast and crew.... It's always interesting when a hitherto unrepresented corner of the world shows up on the screen. Part of the wonder of the movies, even at this late date in their history, lies in their ability to acquaint us with cultures and places far removed from what we already know. Notable Feature(s): A companion article on the community-based filmmaking process and company behind the film, one that maintains traditional cultural storytelling, consensus, and survival values even as it meets the challenges of modern production. Contact Information: Igloolik Isuma Productions, Inc. P.O. Box 223 Igloolik, Nunavut   X0A 0L0 Canada Telephone: 867.934.8809   Fax: 867.934.8700 Email: isuma@isuma.ca Asháninka@the Peruvian Amazon - by Keane Shore http://www.idrc.ca/reports/read_article_english.cfm?article_num=837 In an open grass hut on the edge of the Peruvian Andes and the Amazon jungle, an unlikely sight heralds a revolution: a computer on a rough plank table, displaying Internet web pages. The anachronistic beige box, owned by a village of indigenous Asháninka, called Marankiari Bajo, is connected to the Internet by high-powered radio. The tiny community, located more than 500 metres above sea level and 400 kilometres from Lima (a journey that includes many changes in elevation), is remote — yet in touch with the world. Perhaps more importantly to the villagers, it's also networked with other Asháninka communities nearby. Until recently, they didn't even have telephones. The Asháninka do not see the Internet as the beachhead of a cultural invasion from the North. Rather, they have seized it as a tool to reinforce and perpetuate their own culture, to build a larger sense of community purpose among the 400-odd Asháninka villages scattered across South America, and to tell their own story to the world. In the process, they bypass outside news media and governments, which they think tend to marginalize them. Contact Information: Mino-Eusebio Castro Lider Asháninka, Marankiari Bajo Communidad Indegena Asháninka Amazonia Central del Peru Rio Perene Jefatura Asháninka Peru Telephone: (51-64) 54-41-67   Email: ashaninka@amauta.rcp.net.pe owayeriite@yahoo.com.mx mag@idrc.ca Indigenous Filmmakers Give Glimpse into Their World http://us.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ipsnews.net%2Finterna.asp%3Fidnews%3D28356 An April 2005 report on the Anaconda Awards for videos made in South America's tropical rainforests. Notable Feature(s): Grand Prize winner "The Search for Blue" by Peruvian director Fernando Valdivia; Native Networks information on film festivals. Landmark Victory for Indians in International Human Rights Case Against Nicaragua http://www.indianlaw.org/iachr_decision.htm http://www.indianlaw.org/default.htm On Monday, September 17, 2001, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights released its decision declaring that Nicaragua violated the human rights of the Awas Tingni Community and ordered the government to recognize and protect the community's legal rights to its traditional lands, natural resources, and environment. Notable Feature(s): Detailed summary of the case; the Indian Law Resource Center,providing legal advocacy for the protection of indigenous peoples' human rights, cultures, and traditional lands so that Indian tribes and nations may flourish for generations to come. Contact Information: Armstrong Wiggins, Indian Law Resource Center Telephone: 202.547.2800   Visiting disaster - by Sue Wheat http://www.guardian.co.uk/GWeekly/Story/0,3939,740155,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/GWeekly/front/ From the June 20, 2002 issue of The Guardian Weekly, comes this article on ecotourism developments and their sometime deleterious impact on the indigenous people and communities around the world. Contact Information: The Guardian Weekly 75 Farringdon Road London, EC1M 3HQ UK Telephone: 44 0 20 7713 4400   Fax: 44 0 20 7242 0985 Email: gwwwsubs@guardian.co.uk A Collection of Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World http://www.abyayala.nativeweb.org/ NativeWeb is an international, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to using telecommunications including computer technology and the Internet to disseminate information from and about indigenous nations, peoples, and organizations around the world; to foster communication between native and non-native peoples; to conduct research involving indigenous peoples' usage of technology and the Internet; and to provide resources, mentoring, and services to facilitate indigenous peoples' use of this technology. As access to the Web grows and indigenous peoples reach out through cyber-space, NativeWeb will grow also. Through NativeWeb, indigenous people (and peoples) become visible to each other and themselves and organize actions in a multitude of local, national, and international institutions. The shape of indigenous social action changes as wider audiences are created and especially as the means of creating audiences become the means by which audiences become actors. From Chiapas to Nunavut and from Samiland to Thailand, indigenous communities widen, coalesce, and interact as they work, communicate, and organize via the Internet. NativeWeb's purpose is not to "preserve," in museum fashion, some vestige of the past, but to foster communication among peoples engaged in the present and looking toward a sustainable future for those yet unborn. Notable Feature(s): Law and legal issues for indigenous peoples; native peoples' database; up-to-date news and media and native and indigenous newspapers. Contact Information: Email: feedback@nativeweb.org ALERTANET - Portal on Law & Society http://alertanet.org/ ALERTANET is a portal on law and society, multiculturalism, indigenous peoples, legal pluralism, justice, penal control, alternative dispute resolution, human rights, woman and gender, democracy, critical theories of law and state, and Latin American issues. It seeks To promote a Latin American virtual (and real) network on Law & Society; To facilitate the exchange of ideas between members of different networks, activists & scholars; To support the efforts for social change, democracy, justice, pluralism, human rights, and peace in the region. Notable Feature(s): All materials in Spanish and English. Contact Information: Email: editora@alertanet.org alertanet@alertanet.org Australian and United States Law Of Aboriginal Land Rights: A Comparative Perspective - by A. Dan Tarlock http://www.vje.org/articles/tarlock.html This article compares and contrasts Aboriginal claims to the occupation and use of land throughout the Australia with United States Indian law. This is a rapidly evolving area of aboriginal jurisprudence of the High Court of the Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Aborigines had no pre-settlement land titles until the Labor government enacted land title legislation in the 1970s. This legislation, and the profound value shift that it represented, ultimately led to the Commonwealth High Court's Mabo decision which reversed two hundred years of precedent and recognized the existence of native land titles in Australia. Why should United States environmental and natural resources lawyers be interested in the Australian High Court's aboriginal jurisprudence other than for academic reasons? The fundamental idea of United States Indian jurisprudence, that the federal government should treat aboriginal peoples as quasi-sovereign entities, has had a powerful influence on countries such as Australia and South Africa, which came to this idea late in the twentieth century. As a matter of legal process, modern Australian aboriginal jurisprudence is based on the United States's Supreme Court Indian jurisprudence. Therefore, the Australian cases are an interesting example of the convergence of different legal systems resulting from similar ideas taking root in areas of the world that face similar problems. This article offers two reasons why the Australian experience is relevant to both Indian and environmental law in the United States. The first is a practical one. For example, United States and multi-national mineral companies operate in Australia, and the country's rich mineral resources often sit beneath lands where potential aboriginal usufructuary or possessory claims exist. Also, lawyers must understand the basis of these claims to be able to formulate the pro-active accommodation plans that are being negotiated in Australia. The second reason is that American Indian law can be enriched by the Australian High Court's aboriginal rights jurisprudence. Biological Diversity and Indigenous Knowledge http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1997-98/98rp17.htm A thoughtful and thorough examination of many of the issues related to the protection of indigenous knowledge and biological diversity, particularly in an international context. Consideration of property rights in biological resources is of importance to indigenous peoples, who claim that their cultures and livelihoods depend on these resources, and that their knowledge and practices relating to the natural environment constitute part of their intellectual property. Unfortunately, existing intellectual property rights (IPR) systems do not provide for recognition of indigenous peoples' collective rights in knowledge relating to biodiversity. This paper examines remedies that may be available to correct the problem. International standard-setting developments and other processes provide a useful context within which measures for recognizing and protecting indigenous knowledge can be considered. The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples being developed by a working group of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights provides, at Article 24, for indigenous peoples' rights to 'their traditional medicines and health practices, including the right to the protection of vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Contact Information: Email: dpl.publications@aph.gov.au Canada's Tibet: the killing of the Innu - Colin Samson, James Wilson and Jonathan Mazower http://www.survival.org.uk/index2.htm A November 1999 (full text) report from Survival International on the treatment and condition of the Innu people of Labrador, Canada. The report details Innu suicide rates among the world's highest and the devastating loss of traditional roles and customs as the Canadian government implements its policies of assimilation of these indigenous hunting people to white culture and ways of being and doing. Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) http://www.cwis.org/ The Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) is an independent, non-profit [U.S. 501(c)(3)] research and education organization dedicated to wider understanding and appreciation of the ideas and knowledge of indigenous peoples and the social, economic and political realities of indigenous nations. The Center fosters better understanding between peoples through the publication and distribution of literature written and voiced by leading contributors from Fourth World Nations. An important goal of CWIS is to establish cooperation between nations and to democratize international relations between nations and between nations and states. Site includes African Documents European and Asian Documents North, Central, and South American Documents Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian Documents Tribal and Inter-Tribal Resolutions and Papers Internationally Focused Documents United Nations Documents Treaties, Agreements, and Other Constructive Arrangements . Notable Feature(s): Fourth World Documentation Project; online magazine Fourth World Journal. Contact Information: Rudolph C. Ryser, Chairman Center For World Indigenous Studies ATTN: Rudolph C. Ryser 1001 Cooper Point Road SW , Suite 140-214 Olympia, WA   98502 USA Telephone: 360.754.1990   Email: usaoffice@cwis.org Chiapas Media Project (CMP) http://www.chiapasmediaproject.org/ http://www.chiapasmediaproject.org/html/projects.html The Chiapas Media Project (CMP) began in 1997 with a series of consultations with indigenous community leaders throughout the state of Chiapas, Mexico. At each of these meetings, the leadership explained the importance of information in their struggles for human rights, democracy, land reform, and respect for indigenous rights. The Chiapas region, located near the southern border of Mexico, is mostly an area of subsistence farming with a large native population. It has been the stage of armed conflict between guerillas and the government and indigenous rights have been at the center of these conflicts. During the planning stage the community leaders emphasized their desire to document their struggle toward political and economic development. Video seemed a perfect technology to give faces and voices to that struggle. The originality of the project was that it moved away from the creation of passive documentaries and turned instead toward the creation of a local workforce competent in technology and able to become active producers of information. In February 1998, the first cameras and editing equipment were delivered to the population, and a group of six local inhabitants received instruction in basic camera usage. Within a little more than one year, more than 100 young people were trained in video and computer technology. Remarkably, the project also sponsored the first women's video and computer workshop for six women from four communities. Because the culture is strongly patriarchal and women do not usually have access to education, much less modern technology, the Chiapas Project represents genuine innovation by which opportunity for learning is available to all along with empowering women to assume new and prominent roles within the community. Notable Feature(s): Reports on CMP initiatives and successes; related videos that offer a unique, firsthand perspective on the lives and struggles of indigenous communities in Chiapas. Contact Information: The Chiapas Media Project 4834 N. Springfield Chicago, Illinois   60625 USA Telephone: 773.583.7728   Fax: 773.583.7738 Email: cmp@vida.com promedia@laneta.apc.org Claudia Andujar wins 2000 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize http://www.lannan.org/CF/andujar.htm Claudia Andujar was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1931, and spent her childhood in Romania and Hungary. In 1956 she immigrated to Brazil. A photography project documenting the way of life of the Carajá Indians in Central Brazil led Ms. Andujar to a career in photojournalism. In the early 1970's she met a group of Yanomami Indians in the Amazon Basin of Northern Brazil. Intrigued by their way of life, she gave up her career as a photojournalist to embark on an in-depth photographic essay on the Yanomami. She received a two-year fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for this endeavor.During the fellowship Ms. Andujar was witness to one of the most significant cultural dislocations to occur in Yanomami history, when the government began construction of a transcontinental highway in Northern Brazil. Villages were razed to pave roads, and the Yanomami suffered a devastating measles epidemic. Ms. Andujar temporarily gave up photography to help establish health outposts for the Yanomami....Throughout the years Ms. Andujar has used her photographs to celebrate the rich culture of the Yanomami people. Her photographs have given the outside world a glimpse into the complex spiritual and magical world of the Yanomami. In 1998, she published the book Yanomami: The House, The Forest, The Invisible featuring eighty-five of her photographs. Her work has been shown internationally, in both solo and group exhibitions. Contact Information: Lannan Foundation 313 Read Street Santa Fe, NM   87501-2628 USA Telephone: 505.986.8160   Fax: 505.986.8195 Email: jo@lannan.org Coalition For Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment http://www.amazoncoalition.org/history.htm The Amazon Coalition is the outcome of a 1990 meeting held in Iquitos, Peru between U.S.-based environmental organizations and representatives of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples' Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). COICA participants argued that the best defense of the Amazon came through support of indigenous claims to territory and urged environmentalists to develop policies and strategies that value the Amazon as a biosphere of flora, fauna and human life. Contact Information: Amazon Coalition 1367 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 400 Washington, DC   20036-1860 USA Telephone: 202-785-3334   Fax: 202-785-3335 Email: amazoncoal@igc.org Convention on Biological Diversity http://www.biodiv.org/ The objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity are "the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources." The Convention is thus the first global, comprehensive agreement to address all aspects of biological diversity: genetic resources, species, and ecosystems. It recognizes – for the first time – that the conservation of biological diversity is "a common concern of humankind" and an integral part of the development process. Contact Information: Sally Bunning Secretatiat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 393 St. Jaques St (office 300) Montreal, Quebec   H2Y 1N9 Canada Telephone: +1 514 287 7012   Fax: +1 514 288 6588 Email: sally.bunning@biodiv.org Coordinating Body for the Indigenous People's Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) http://abyayala.nativeweb.org/declarations/coica2.html La COICA (Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indigenas de la Cuenca Amazonica) es una organizacion regional que representa alrededor de 400 pueblos indigenas amazonicos, cuya poblacion aproximada es de un millon y medio de personas distribuidos en: Peru, Guyana, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brasil, Venezuela, Guayana Francesa, Suriname y Colombia. Cultural Survival http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ The impulse for the founding of Cultural Survival came from the processes of 'development' undertaken in the Amazonian regions of South America during the 1960s. The 'opening up' of the Amazonian hinterland and the drastic effects this had on the indigenous peoples living there dramatized the urgent need to defend the human rights of these 'victims of progress.' It was also clear that this was not solely an Amazonian problem. All over the world, governments were seeking to extract resources from areas that had not hitherto been developed and, in the process, were mistreating their indigenous inhabitants. What should be done about this? What could be done about this? The nonprofit organization Cultural Survival was founded to try to answer these questions and to work for the solutions developed by the nascent indigenous and pro-indigenous movements. Notable Feature(s): Special project descriptions; weekly indigenous news; compendium of materials and articles on law and self-determination; Indigenous Action Network. Contact Information: Dr. Ian McIntosh 215 Prospect Street Cambridge, MA   02139 USA Telephone: 617.441.5410   Fax: 617.441.5417 Email: csinc@cs.org EcoBolivia Foundation http://www.ecobolivia.com/ EcoBolivia is a grassroots organization that is taking the initiative to protect the environment by identifying and championing sustainable livelihood and development. EcoBolivia describes best the indigenous culture and the natural beauty in which it works: "We are the inhabitants of the headwaters of the Amazon, an area recognized today as the most biodiverse area in the world. We live in the north of Bolivia in lands that extend from 6000 meters above sea level to almost sea level. We have mountains, valleys, cloud forests, dry forests, savannahs, sub tropical forests, tropical forests... We have paradise. We are from very diverse peoples: white, cinnamon, dark, Tacana, Moseten, Chiman, Esse Ejja, Quechua... We are a variety of peoples who have lived here for centuries and are part of this extraordinary environment. And we are also from the city, where we are extremely concerned with the damage suffered by the land and our forests, and from where we put in our 'little grain of sand.' Thirty years ago we still lived peacefully in our areas. It was a restful life. Then progress arrived, and everything began to change. This worried us a great deal and we decided to do something to protect our world. We knew that we could do nothing alone, so in 1993 we created Eco Bolivia Foundation." EcoBolivia strongly believes that protected areas can exist only with the assent and commitment of the communities within and around its borders. Since its inception, EcoBolivia has sought the involvement of indigenous communities in planning and decision-making. EcoBolivia has held workshops and meetings throughout the region to increase understanding of conservation, share ideas, and develop formal agreements for cooperation. Assisting the local ethnic people to create their own organization and aiding local communities to secure legal title to the lands they have traditionally used has been a major area of activity. The work has included mapping land use, performing a diagnostic census of more than 2,000 inhabitants to support their claims, and providing technical assistance to those communities pursuing land titling. Notable Feature(s): Background information on Madidi National Park and EcoBolivia's efforts to focus attention on that area's wealth of resources for furthering scientific knowledge; EcoBolivia has established research and observational facilities to facilitate the work of biologists, botanists, and other scientists from around the world who come to study the park's unparalleled diversity of flora and fauna. EcoBolivia also emphasizes the role of ecotourism in achieving its goals. Contact Information: Rosa María Ruiz Eco Bolivia Foundation PO Box 8505 La Paz Bolivia Telephone: Tel/Fax:591-2.315974   Email: derekt@shadow.net First Peoples Worldwide http://www.firstpeoples.org The mission of First Peoples Worldwide is to create an indigenous-controlled international organization that advocates for indigenous self-governance and assists in the delivery of culturally appropriate economic development. Notable Feature(s): Summary of programs; updates on developments affecting indigenous people around the world. Contact Information: First Peoples Worldwide 2300 Fall Hill Ave., Suite 412 Fredericksburg, VA   22401 USA Telephone: 540.371.5615   Fax: 540.371.3505 Email: rbluecloud@firstnations.org Fundación Instituto Indígena http://www.institutoindigena.cl Fundación Instituto Indígena is a Chilean NGO with many years of experience with the native towns of Chileans. The group works principally in education, training, legal work, productive development and organizational development oriented to native communities, particularly the Mapuche. Notable Feature(s): Spanish site for news, projects, archives;Diario de la Sociedad Civil. Contact Information: Marcela Orrego G. Fundación Instituto Indígena Carrera 607 Temuco Chile Telephone: 56.45.742800   Fax: 56.45.742800 Email: comunicaciones@institutoindigena.cl Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN) http://www.grain.org/front/index.cfm Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN) is an international non-governmental organisation that promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people's control over genetic resources and local knowledge. The loss of biological diversity, particularly in the "gene rich" countries of the South, undermines the very sense of sustainable agriculture as it destroys choices for the future and robs people of a key resource base for survival. Genetic erosion is more than just the loss of genes; it is the loss of options for development. GRAIN pursues its goals by protecting and strengthening community control of agricultural biodiversity and by promoting agriculture rich in biodiversity Notable Feature(s): October 2002 report Traditional knowledge of biodiversity in Asia-Pacific additional GRAIN publications and reports; biodiversity rights legislation around the world; online and print quarterly publication Seedling. Contact Information: GRAIN Girona 25, pral., E-08010 Barcelona Spain Telephone: +34 933011381   Fax: +34 933011627 Email: grain@grain.org Hopi Foundation http://www.hopifoundation.org/pages/1/index.htm The basic mission of the Hopi Foundation is to Help People Help Themselves. The Hopi name—Lomasumi'nangwtukwsiwmani—signifies the process of furthering unity of aspiration blossoming into full maturity over time. The directors Poley and Taylor believe in the Hopi concept of Naya, which means people working together for a common good. Naya means that every Hopi individual has a valued role in building a better community. Notable Feature(s): One of the foundation's initiatives is Native Sun, a solar electric enterprise to allow Hopi people to remain independent of utility companies; another initiative, Gentle Rain Designs, is creating local self-sustainable employment opportunities while balancing modern financial needs with strong cultural values of family, environmental stewardship and self determination. Contact Information: The Hopi Foundation Barbara Poley and Loris Taylor P.O. Box 301 Kykotsmovi, Arizona   86039 U.S.A. Telephone: 928.734.2380 888.   Email: bapoley@direcway.com kuyi@direcway.com hopifound@direcway.com Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and the Environment Bibliography http://new.aaanet.org/committees/cfhr/bibindenv.htm Contact Information: American Anthropological Association 4350 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 640 Arlington, VA   22203-1620 USA Telephone: 703.528.1902   Fax: 703.528.3546 Email: lvanolst@aaanet.org International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) http://www.savetibet.org/ ICT works to promote human rights and self-determination for Tibetans and to protect their culture and environment. The ICT Web site provides access to a host of materials on the human rights situation today in Tibet and its historical and religious background. Notable Feature(s): Current news, links, press releases. Contact Information: International Campaign for Tibet 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520 Washington, DC   20006 USA Telephone: 202.785.1515   Fax: 202.785.4343 International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) http://www.iisd.org/ For development to be sustainable it must integrate environmental stewardship, economic development and the well-being of all people—not just for today but for countless generations to come. This is the challenge facing governments, non-governmental organizations, private enterprises, communities and individuals. The International Institute for Sustainable Development meets this challenge by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic instruments, climate change, measurement and indicators, and natural resource management to make development sustainable. By using Internet communications, IISD covers and reports on international negotiations and brokers knowledge gained through collaborative projects with global partners, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries and a better dialogue between North and South. Notable Feature(s): Integrating Aboriginal Values into Land Use and Resource Management; vast collection of materials on communities and livelihoods. Contact Information: IISD Headquarters 161 Portage Avenue East, 6th Floor Winnipeg, Manitoba   R3B 0Y4 Canada Telephone: 204.958.7700   Fax: 204.958.7710 Email: info@iisd.ca José Ancán: An Ashoka Fellow Several of José Ancán's activities in recent years have drawn on his background in the field of art. He has presented a collection of Mapuche art in a "National Encounter of Art and Culture." He has produced award-winning videos on Mapuche ceremony, traditional medicine and daily life for television airing and university use. Ancán is attempting to transform the Chilean educational system into an effective agent for addressing the needs of indigenous people and, more generally, for instilling respect for people of varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A member and vigorous protector of the Mapuche people and their culture, José Ancán is persuaded that Chile's school system, with certain much-needed reforms, can be transformed into a vitally important instrument for addressing the needs and problems of indigenous people and for generating throughout the country a better appreciation of the value and contributions of people of varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Ancán also believes that the key obstacle to the needed reforms is the absence of appropriate, carefully developed and well-tested materials presenting the ideas and cultural practices of indigenous groups. Accordingly, he is engaged in a carefully conceived and pioneering effort to develop, test and refine the needed materials and to prepare them for use in schools throughout the country. Contact Information: Email: FSS@ashoka.org Knowledge, Innovations and Practices of Indigenous and Local Communities http://www.biodiv.org/sbstta2/sb207.html This is a report from one of the committees of the Convention of Biological Diversity. The report maps many of the convention's provisions on indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles. Indigenous and local communities have been developing, conserving and sustainably using the biological resources on their lands and territories for millennia. Indigenous and local communities have developed a wide variety of plants and animals for food, medicine and other purposes. Traditional knowledge has and will continue to give critical clues to scientists in the agricultural, medicinal and industrial fields. In addition, traditional knowledge provides important directions for natural resource use and ecosystem management. Indigenous and local communities not only have extensive knowledge of their surrounding environment, but they also have an important role in implementing any conservation policy on the ground. Contact Information: Sally Bunning Secretatiat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 393 St. Jaques St (office 300) Montreal, Quebec   H2Y 1N9 Canada Telephone: +1 514 287 7012   Fax: +1 514 288 6588 Email: sally.bunning@biodiv.org Medicinal Plant Use in Africa http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/peopleplants/wp/wp1/africa1.htm#customary http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/peopleplants/about.htm This article comes from the People and Plants Initiative, which aims to contribute to equitable use of plant resources and continuity of local ecological knowledge in developing countries. The People and Plants Initiative collaborates with a wide range of local, national and international institutions. WWF International, UNESCO and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, created the People and Plants Initiative in 1992. Notable Feature(s): Practitioners can submit case studies of lessons learned to editors: Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas or Alan Hamilton. Contact Information: People and Plants Fax: 212.4.329544 Email: peopleandplants@cybernet.net.ma Mountain Voices http://www.mountainvoices.org/ http://www.panos.org.uk/ This Web site presents interviews with over 300 people who live in mountain and highland regions round the world. Their testimonies offer a personal perspective on change and development. The project is part of Panos Institute's Oral Testimony Programme, which aims to amplify the voices of those at the heart of development: people who are disadvantaged by poverty, gender, lack of education and other inequalities. Collections have been gathered from communities in the Himalaya (India and Nepal); the Andes (Peru); the Sierra Norte (Mexico); Mount Elgon (Kenya); the highlands of Ethiopia and Lesotho; southwest and northeast China; the Sudety mountains (Poland); and the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan. Notable Feature(s): Transcripts of interviews, grouped by location. Contact Information: Oral Testimony Programme Panos Institute 9 White Lion Street London N1 9PD U.K. Email: info@mountainvoices.org Nawa Institute http://www.agamanawa.com/nawa.html In ispite of current communications revolution, the vital information needed for the preservation and survival of indigenous communities is still not accessible to them. This reality has kept valuable informational resources pertaining to such issues as legal protection of territory, education, health care, and self-guided, environmentally sound development out of reach of many native communities. Threatened communities lack basic information about their rights and methods to protect their cultures and territories; at the same time, they are unable to disseminate information about their plight which might bring world attention to their causes. Nawa's objective is to bring together similarly situated communities throughout the world and, where necessary, to train them and their chosen representatives in different areas of communications. Notable Feature(s): INIYA, an alliance of indigenous and non-indigenous young people to promote open spaces and opportunities for active participation of indigenous peoples in the co-creation of a sustainable global community; news from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and elsewhere. Contact Information: Nawa Institute c/o Yaxche Learning Center (Yaxche School Inc.) 4100 NDCBU Taos, New Mexico   87571 USA Email: nawa@agamanawa.com Programme for Traditional Resource Rights http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wgtrr/ Contact Information: University of Oxford Mansfield College Oxford OX1 3T UK Fax: +44 (0) 1865-282904 Email: wgtrr.ocees@mansfield.ox.ac.uk Researching Indigenous Peoples Rights Under International Law http://intelligent-internet.info/law/ipr2.html This paper was originally produced in 1992, prior to the Internet and the explosion of information it has engendered. In updating it, the author created links to online materials on indigenous peoples rights under international law. This paper is not a comprehensive guide to information on indigenous people; it is a guide to researching international law and indigenous peoples rights. Contact Information: Steven C. Perkins Email: SPerkins@andromeda.rutgers.edu Rights of Indigenous Peoples – Fact Sheet from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs9.htm The site includes documents and other records in support of the Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004). The program aims to promote and protect of the rights of indigenous people. It also wants to help empower groups and individuals to make choices that enable them to retain their cultural identity while participating in political, economic and social life, with full respect for their cultural values, languages, traditions and forms of social organization. Contact Information: Indigenous Project Team High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights Palais des Nations 1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: 41 22 917 0212 Survival International http://www.survival.org.uk http://www.survival.org.uk/index2.htm Survival is a worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights. Working in close partnership with local indigenous organisations, Survival campaigns for the recognition of the land rights of tribes ranging from the Indians of Amazonia to the Maasai of East Africa, from the Wichí of Argentina to the indigenous tribes of West Papua, from the Innu in Eastern Canada to the 'Bushmen' of Botswana and Namibia. Survival is the only worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples through public campaigns. It was founded in 1969 after an article by Norman Lewis in the UK's Sunday Times highlighted the massacres, land thefts and genocide taking place in Brazilian Amazonia. Like many modern atrocities, the racist oppression of Brazil's Indians took place in the name of 'economic growth'. Today, Survival has supporters in 82 countries. It works for tribal peoples' rights in three complementary ways: campaigns, education and funding. Survival works closely with local indigenous organisations and focuses on tribal peoples who have the most to lose, usually those most recently in contact with the outside world. Notable Feature(s): World-wide collection of human rights campaign information organized by country; on-line newsletter; links. Contact Information: Survival International 11-15 Emerald Street London WC1N 3QL United Kingdom Telephone: 44 (0)171 242 1441   Fax: +44 (0)171 242 1771 Email: survival@gn.apc.org Tebtebba http://www.tebtebba.org/ Tebtebba Foundation, the Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education, was established in 1996. Tebtebba, "discourse" from the Philippine indigenous Kankanaey dialect, is firmly committed to the recognition, protection and promotion of indigenous peoples' rights worldwide. Tebtebba's main thrust is to help build the capacity of indigenous peoples to assert their rights and articulate their own analyses and perspectives on issues directly affecting them. To support its advocacy work, Tebtebba conducts researches on issues and policies that directly impact on indigenous peoples. Its advocacy work is aimed at influencing United Nations processes as they affect indigenous peoples rights; monitoring the World Trade Organization, the multilateral financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other multilateral bodies. In order for indigenous peoples to be informed of developments that affect them and for indigenous peoples views and perspectives to be popularized, Tebtebba comes up with several regular and special publications. Notable Feature(s): Extensive collection of reports, analyses, and other documents on indigenous peoples and their cultures; Putting Together a Picture of Asian Indigenous Women; background paper and position on intellectual property rights and the issue of patenting plant, animal, and human resources. Contact Information: Marly Carino Tebtebba Foundation Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research No. 1 Roman Ayson Road 2600 Baguio City Philippines Telephone: (63) 74 4447703   Fax: (63) 74 4439459 Email: tebtebba@skyinet.net UNFPA Documentary Wins Indigenous Film Award http://www.unfpa.org/modules/dispatch/issues99/nov99/indigenous.htm The documentary "Ahinam Chay" (Quechua for "This is the story."), presented by UNFPA's Peru office, won the First Official Prize for the Defence of Women's Dignity and Human Rights at the VI American Film and Video Festival of Indigenous People and Originating Nations, held in August, 1999, in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The UNFPA documentary shows scenes from a literacy project set up in the Peruvian highland region of Cuzco. Women learn to read and write, while reflecting on their reproductive and sexual health, gender roles, and their status within the family and community. This is the first time that a bilingual literacy method, using both Spanish and Quechua, the local language, has been used. The same method is being carried out in the Bolivian provinces of Chuquisaca and Potosí. The four-year project is being funded with $3 million from the United Nations Foundation, established by United States businessman, Ted Turner. Contact Information: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 220 E. 42nd Street New York, NY   10017 USA Email: dungus@unfpa.org United Nations Guide for Indigenous Peoples http://193.194.138.190/html/racism/00-indigenousguide.html This information set is designed to provide indigenous peoples with practical information on the operations and procedures of the United Nations (UN) and its various agencies related to human rights and development. The information set is divided into different leaflets, each focusing on a particular topic, so one can explore specific issues of concern. The first part of this set provides background information on human rights within the UN system. The second part outlines how the UN system is addressing issues of major concern to indigenous peoples, including human rights, the environment, development, health and education. Notable Feature(s): More on indigenous peoples; French and Spanish versions of the site; contact list of UN staff involved in these issues. Contact Information: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights World Conference against Racism Secretariat United Nations 1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: 41-22 917-9050 Email: wcr.hchr@unog.ch Vincent Carelli - Video in the Villages / Brazil http://www.library.american.edu/subject/media/aufderheide/villages.html http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/filmfest/2001/villages.html This is a brief introduction to Vincent Carelli's innovative use of documentary with indigenous people in Brazil. The subject matter of these three short documentaries (Espirito da TV, Festa da Moca, Pemp) produced by the Centro de Trabalho Indigenista in conjunction with various indigenous groups in Brazil and directed by the Center's head, Vincent Carelli, is shaped by each indigenous group's way of using video. Contact Information: Vincent Carelli Projeto Video nas Aldeias Centro de Trabalho Indigenista Brazil Telephone: 202.387.3500   Fax: 202.234.6049 Email: steves@edf.org