for clean air, clean water, and the common good Garifuna community members in the Tela Bay region of northern Honduras favor small-scale eco-tourism.

Transcription

1 Connecting Communities Protecting the Planet LOCAL VOICES for clean air, clean water, and the common good SUMMER 2009 IN THIS ISSUE: LOCAL VOICES Empowering communities in: Belize (pgs. 1-2) Honduras (pgs. 1-2 & 4) Panama (pg. 2) Ukraine (pg. 2) Mexico (pg. 3) Guatemala (pg. 5) PHOTO: James Rodríguez, PEOPLE OF ELAW Nityanand Jayaraman India (pg. 6) Jennifer Gleason U.S.A. (pg. 7) Raquel Gutierrez Najera Mexico (pg. 7) Garifuna community members in the Tela Bay region of northern Honduras favor small-scale eco-tourism. Too often, voices of local communities are ignored in the rush to extract resources and pursue development schemes. Local communities bear the greatest costs, including polluted air, dirty water, and the destruction of traditional ways of life. Yet, local voices are often ignored in decisions about the natural environment and communities. The heart of ELAW s work is making local voices heard. Collaborating with grassroots advocates, ELAW helps communities speak out for a sustainable future. We help communities challenge short-sighted development schemes and remedy environmental abuses. We help local citizens the people who would suffer the impacts of environmental degradation speak out for long-term solutions. Empowering local voices means changing the way we make decisions about the natural environment. That change is long overdue. The following brief reports describe progress making local voices heard. ELAW advocate Antoinette Moore is part of a team of lawyers who are helping indigenous Maya communities in Belize secure traditional land rights near Sarstoon Temash National Park. Those communities are developing sustainable forest projects to build local living economies. With help from the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, villagers in Conejo and Santa Teresa have drafted forest management plans, with sustainable harvesting cycles, that will benefit local Q eqchi families, and community members are providing guided tours of the national park. Meanwhile, the government of Belize continues to try to open Mayan lands for speculation by multinational oil companies. Domestic courts and the Inter-American Human Rights Court have affirmed Mayan land rights, but the Maya people, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years, continue to be left out of the discussion. In July, Antoinette will share her experience defending the Maya with Garifuna communities in Tela Bay, Honduras. These communities have lived along the white-sand beaches of the Honduran Caribbean coast for more than 200 years. These beaches are now eyed by developers for high-end mega-tourist facilities. ELAW Associate Director Lori Maddox will join Antoinette and a team of Mesoamerican attorneys who are working to protect communities and coastlines in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, and meet with residents of Tela Bay. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

2 ELAW U.S. Staff Bern Johnson Executive Director Lori Maddox Associate Director Maggie Keenan Communications Director Rita Radostitz Director of Philanthropy Jennifer Gleason Staff Attorney Liz Mitchell Staff Attorney Mark Chernaik Staff Scientist Meche Lu Environmental Research Scientist Glenn Gillis Information Technology Manager Kalindi Devi-Dasi Bookkeeper Vannia Glasinovic Program Assistant Lauren Ice Office Manager ELAW U.S. Board Glenn Miller, Chair Mike Axline John Bonine Mary Lou Church Cheryl Coon Maisie Grace David Hunter Scott Pope Amy Solomon Kay Treakle The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) is a network that facilitates the development and practice of public interest environmental law throughout the world. The network of ELAW advocates exchanges legal, scientific and technical information, ideas, precedents, and strategies across national boundaries in support of grassroots, public interest environmental law. EDITOR: MAGGIE KEENAN NEWSLETTER LAYOUT: ARIES CREATIVE PRINTED BY CLANCEY PRINTING CO. USING SOY BASED INKS ON UNBLEACHED 100% POST-CONSUMER RECYCLED PAPER LOCAL VOICES: Honduras, Panama (CONTINUED) Maya Community members conduct field inventory for sustainable forest management Honduran attorney Clarisa Vega works with Garifuna communities in Honduras and will share successful strategies from other countries in the region. Cancun is not for everyone. Communities on this Caribbean coast have music, cultural heritage, food, reefs, jungles and beaches to offer, and they want visitors, but they want to develop tourism in a way that is consistent with their culture and lifestyle, and benefits local people, not faraway corporations, says Lori. Clarisa is working to strengthen the voice of LOCAL VOICES: Ukraine Residents of Hnizdychiv, a small village in western Ukraine, are celebrating victory after taking on environmental hazards that threatened their community: Seventy tons of pesticides were being stored in faulty containers; a distillery was emitting foul odors and polluting a nearby river; excessive amounts of gravel were being removed from the river bed; and residents were worried about government plans to supplement local water with water from an area where cattle carcasses, distillery waste, and poultry plant waste had been dumped. Last summer, community members asked ELAW partners at Environment People Law (EPL) for help challenging the environmental abuse. EPL s help was instrumental: the government has promised to remove the pesticides by 2010, the removal of excess gravel has stopped, and plans to tap water from a potentially contaminated source were shelved. EPL also helped the community launch their own environmental organization, to continue advocating on behalf of the community. ELAW congratulates EPL on this victory for the citizens of Hnizdychiv. PHOTO: SATIIM Garifuna communities in contentious debates over the future of their traditional lands. She advocates for the marginalized in domestic tribunals and before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Clarisa and others in the ELAW network have been inspired by recent news from Belize and Panama. The Belize portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef was designated a UN World Heritage site in Since then, tourist development has destroyed mangrove forests and eroded coastlines. In May, the UN World Heritage Committee alerted its Belize Ambassador that the Committee intends to move ahead and place the Belize Barrier Reef on its in danger list, to bring attention to the crisis and afford extra protection for this unique marine environment. In Panama, Hector Huertas and Aresio Valiente, Kuna Indian attorneys, announced that the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights has accepted a case they filed nearly a decade ago advocating for thousands of Kuna and Embera peoples who were displaced to make way for a hydroelectric dam on the Bayano River. ELAW scientist Meche Lu visited the area. I was appalled at the conditions. The power lines run overhead but the people live in abject poverty, without electricity. These are their lands. How did they benefit? Now they will have their voices heard. Thanks to the help provided by your lawyers, the residents of our village have water, have a chance to improve the environmental situation in the village, and feel like masters of their land. We would like to express special thanks to Maryana Bulhakova. By doing her job she improves people s mood and helps them feel full dignity and pride for themselves and their country. Residents of Hnizdychiv, March 7,

3 We fear that if this project moves forward, we will lose part of our history and part of our land. Punta Banda would be wounded to death. LAW advocate LOCAL VOICES: Mexico The Fate of Punta Banda: Community members speak out Carlos Lazcano Punta Banda lies at the southern tip of Ensenada Bay. Tiger Woods and Texas billionaire Red McCombs have plans to turn a pristine oceanfront near Ensenada into a luxury tourist destination. The exclusive resort will include homes expected to fetch between $3-10 million. More than 2,000 community members and others have signed a petition asking Tiger Woods to reconsider. The Mexican government gave the project a thumbs-up in May and the area has already been fenced off. We fear that if this project moves forward, we will lose part of our history and part of our land. Punta Banda would be wounded to death, said Carlos Lazcano, a local community member. The Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History approved the project and says there is nothing left to be discovered. Anthropologist Mike Wilken, who lives in Ensenada and teaches at San Diego State University, disagrees. In a KGTV report from San Diego, Wilken says the government didn t look hard enough. Preservation laws are stronger in the U.S. but those protections are not in place in Mexico. ELAW partners in Baja California are working with local community leaders, scientists and residents to ensure that any plans for Punta Banda comply with Mexican law and include local voices in decisions being made about Mexico s cultural heritage. It s a David and Goliath battle, but ELAW partners and local residents are committed to protecting this land for future generations and ensuring that any development truly benefits the local community. Community members support: Respect of our rights and our laws, especially local ordinances. Access to our cultural resources, including archeological sites. Access to our natural resources, including clean water. Respect of our culture and environment. Development of the economy, while respecting our land. Development of our community in harmony with its cultural background and the environment. The creation of an eco-archeology park. Join others calling on Tiger Woods to think again: 3

4 LAW advocate LOCAL VOICES: Honduras Garifuna Resistance to Mega-Tourism in Tela Bay by James Rodriguez We want a project that belongs to us. We don t want outsiders to come and exploit us or remove us from our ancestral lands. Teresa Reyes, community leader, Triunfo de la Cruz village Today, the Garifuna have well-established communities along the Caribbean Ocean on the Gulf of Honduras, southern Belize, the Guatemalan coast (along the port city of Livingston), the Island of Roatan, in addition to coastal cities in Honduras and Nicaragua. Our culture is based upon establishing a harmony with our natural environment," explains Teresa Reyes, a community leader in Triunfo de la Cruz village. The deforestation process needed to begin construction of the 312-hectare Micos Beach & Golf Resort started in January The local Garifuna population are neither happy with the prospects nor the process. As an alternative, most members of the Garifuna communities are betting on the development of small-scale eco-tourism. Such industry provides direct income without any middlemen and is less stressful on the natural environment. The fishermen gladly offer to take tourists to Punta Sal or around the Micos Lagoon in their motorboats and canoes. In Miama and Barra Vieja one can find a few families willing to cook up fresh fish or the traditional rice and beans dish, while very rustic cabins can also be found to sleep in. Along the beaches, locals have built palm canopies: We built them for the tourists as sun shelters. We want them to come visit us, explains a Barra Vieja resident. Trying to compete against the unlimited economic resources of the Tela Bay Touristic Development Society may seem an impossible task. Nevertheless, a women s project in San Juan has taken up the challenge and found the courage to invest in the community. Three beautiful all-equipped cabins were inaugurated in April Each costs $40/night, regardless of how many guests stay. We want a project that belongs to us. We don t want outsiders to come and exploit us or remove us from our ancestral lands. We want to develop an eco-tourist industry which is ours and which will sustain our Garifuna cosmovision and respect the natural environment, says Reyes. James Rodriguez is a photo journalist who has traveled widely among Garifuna communities. With his permission, we share excerpts from his online commentary: ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: James Rodríguez,

5 SUMMER 2009 LAW advocate LOCAL VOICES: Honduras LOCAL VOICES: Guatemala Garifuna Resistance to Mega-Tourism in Tela Bay by James Rodriguez We want a project that belongs to us. We don t want outsiders to come and exploit us or remove us from our ancestral lands. Teresa Reyes, community leader, Triunfo de la Cruz village Today, the Garifuna have well-established communities along the Caribbean Ocean on the Gulf of Honduras, southern Belize, the Guatemalan coast (along the port city of Livingston), the Island of Roatan, in addition to coastal cities in Honduras and Nicaragua. Our culture is based upon establishing a harmony with our natural environment, explains Teresa Reyes, a community leader in Triunfo de la Cruz village. The deforestation process needed to begin construction of the 312-hectare Micos Beach & Golf Resort started in January The local Garifuna population are neither happy with the prospects nor the process. As an alternative, most members of the Garifuna communities are betting on the development of small-scale eco-tourism. Such industry provides direct income without any middlemen and is less stressful on the natural environment. The fishermen gladly offer to take tourists to Punta Sal or around the Micos Lagoon in their motorboats and canoes. In Miama and Barra Vieja one can find a few families willing to cook up fresh fish or the traditional rice and beans dish, while very rustic cabins can also be found to sleep in. Along the beaches, locals have built palm canopies: We built them for the tourists as sun shelters. We want them to come visit us, explains a Barra Vieja resident. Trying to compete against the unlimited economic resources of the Tela Bay Touristic Development Society may seem an impossible task. Nevertheless, a women s project in San Juan has taken up the challenge and found the courage to invest in the community. Three beautiful all-equipped cabins were inaugurated in April Each costs $40/night, regardless of how many guests stay. We want a project that belongs to us. We don t want outsiders to come and exploit us or remove us from our ancestral lands. We want to develop an eco-tourist industry which is ours and which will sustain our Garifuna cosmovision and respect the natural environment, says Reyes. James Rodriguez is a photo journalist who has traveled widely among Garifuna communities. With his permission, we share excerpts from his online commentary: Community members travel to Guatemala City. PHOTO: James Rodríguez, Speaking out for a clean environment I struggle for access to basic services for everyone. The indigenous people in Guatemala deserve opportunities to develop in equal conditions. ELAW helps us learn about tools being used to address similar problems, in other countries. We hope to adapt these experiences to our country, with good results. Lucia Xiloj Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation In San Marcos, Guatemala, Canadian mining giant Goldcorp operates the Marlin gold mine and uses toxic cyanide to extract gold. The indigenous communities of San Miguel Ixtahuacan and Sipacapa are suffering and their water is contaminated. Residents traveled to Guatemala City in May (above) to protest the corporation s activities in the Guatemalan highlands. This coincided with Goldcorp s annual shareholders meeting. ELAW partners in Guatemala are helping community members understand the science behind community health problems. For example, residents show signs of contact dermatitis. ELAW scientists explained that this is likely due to exposure to arsenic, a potent carcinogen that could be released to the environment in mining wastes. ELAW scientists interpreted the results of surface water quality analysis conducted by a local organization. The analysis revealed that surface waters near the Marlin mine contain excessive levels of arsenic. ELAW partners and a local organization will use this information to call on Goldcorp to clean up its act. USE FEWER RESOURCES: Sign up to receive the electronic version of the ELAW Advocate. Write to us at enews@elaw.org ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: James Rodríguez, 5

6 THE PEOPLE OF ELAW The best legal resources from around the world is not Lexus/Nexus, it s the ELAW network, where other people who care respond to your requests for information and solidarity. We get the information we need, in a form we can understand, and use it in the various fora where people s struggles are waged. Nity Jayaraman in India Left to right: Karen Coelho, Nity Jayaraman and Rahel Madhura. Nityanand Jayaraman from Chennai, India, visited ELAW in June with his wife Karen Coelho and daughter Rahel Madhura. He says, I practice journalism for a living and activism for the soul. Nity has worked for 15 years with grassroots defenders in India fighting against pollution and corporate crime. His writings and youth awareness work highlight the racism inherent in environmental pollution and solutions. Be it environmental degradation or a proposal to remediate it, the worst burden is always borne by the poor, the marginalized -- such as the dalits and minorities in India, and the communities of color in North America. Nity has collaborated with ELAW since India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is also home to the world s largest concentration of people living in poverty. Rapid industrial growth and miles of new highways have not remedied this poverty, and may have made it worse. The problems are daunting and the task is enormous, but there is no choice but to keep the fight on for a better way, says Nity. Mark Chernaik, ELAW Staff Scientist, has worked with Nity for years. We provide information about how pollution from particular industries impacts human health and the environment, how these industries are regulated in other countries, and what industries in India can do to reduce their impact on communities, says Mark. Nity recognizes the immensity of the challenges he faces in India, but sees promising signs in the struggles of marginalized people and the possibility of awakening youth: In March this year, 15,000 people who were drinking contaminated water in Bhopal got clean water. That s half the population of the area. The rest will get clean water by August. This is the culmination of many years of hard work. Local women have braved batons and abuse to have the Supreme Court s order of 2004 uphold their right to clean water. Waste management is another enormous issue. We are drowning in garbage. In my community, we are using street theater to tell people that it is possible to set up local composting operations for apartment complexes and individual households. It s a system that works and a local youth collective is active in this. The area where we live is where the bureaucrats live. We are showing them a better way and sending a good message to the next generation. 6

7 LAW advocate THE PEOPLE OF ELAW Jennifer Gleason has climate solutions Protecting the climate is an enormous challenge that calls for innovative solutions. ELAW Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason is taking the lead in advancing policy solutions that work. Jennifer is collaborating with grassroots advocates around the world to advance energy policies that encourage people to generate energy from renewable sources. This innovative approach is succeeding in Germany, where Feed-in-Tariff policies (FITs) have Germany on track to reduce C02 emissions by 40% by Feed-in-Tariff policies have proven to be the most effective way to promote the generation of renewable energy. A strong FIT ensures that a generator of electricity from qualified renewable sources like a home owner with roof top solar panels will be able to connect to the grid and sell electricity at a price that ensures a profit. Jennifer serves on the steering committee of the Alliance for Renewable Energy, to promote FIT policies in North America. She also teaches Energy and the Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. With support from the World Future Council, Jennifer worked with colleagues in the United Kingdom and Germany to determine what makes some FITs more effective than others. That information is now available to parliamentarians and others who want to learn more about protecting the environment using climate-friendly energy policies (see: Renewable Energy for Oregon and around the world Jennifer is now working to bring FIT laws to Oregon, North America, and around the world. At the ELAW Annual Meeting in March, she met with ELAW partners from 25 countries to share exciting progress with renewable policies in Germany and Spain. In Chile, Jennifer is working with lawyers at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) to promote renewable energy as a positive alternative to building big dams in Patagonia. FIMA called on ELAW to help lay the groundwork for adopting a FIT in Chile. ELAW and FIMA co-authored a paper that explains the environmental costs of traditional energy sources in Chile vs. renewable energy sources, and outlined renewable energy policies that would work in Chile. In Oregon, Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that he would send a Feed-in-Tariff policy to the legislature in the 2009 session. Many renewable energy advocates in Oregon were disappointed in the governor s final proposal and asked ELAW to draft a strong FIT bill. The Oregon legislature is now weighing what approach Oregon should take. European countries offer valuable lessons in designing and implementing effective energy policies. Jennifer is helping integrate these lessons at home and around the world. THE PEOPLE OF ELAW Award-winning partner Raquel Gutierrez Najera, Mexico ELAW partner Dr. Raquel Gutierrez Najera received a 2009 Environmental Merit Award for her inspired work protecting Lake Chapala, Mexico s largest fresh water lake. This award recognizes Raquel s tremendous work helping citizens speak out for the wise use of Mexico s natural resources. ELAW has worked closely with Raquel since Raquel helped secure international protection for Lake Chapala, which was declared a Ramsar site earlier this year. Under the Ramsar treaty, Lake Chapala will be protected as a wetland of international importance. Mexico s National Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources presented Raquel s award as part of a UN World Environment Day celebration in June. 7

8 Phone: (541) Fax: (541) Web: SUMMER Garden Avenue Eugene, Oregon USA Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage P a i d Eugene, Oregon Permit No. 686 Return Service Requested Connecting Communities Protecting the Planet LOCAL VOICES for clean air, clean water, and the common good IN THIS ISSUE: LOCAL VOICES Empowering communities in: Belize (pgs. 1-2) PHOTO: James Rodríguez, Honduras (pgs. 1-2 & 4) Panama (pg. 2) Ukraine (pg. 2) If you prefer to receive an electronic version of the ELAW Advocate please us at enews@elaw.org. Mexico (pg. 3) Guatemala (pg. 5) PEOPLE OF ELAW A Lasting Legacy for the Environment Steve Johnson first heard about ELAW 20 years ago, when it was just an idea being batted around a dinner table. He was very involved in community environmental issues, and he agreed that the more we share lessons from around the world, the better it is for the environment. A few years later, when he was meeting with an attorney to draft his will, he decided that ELAW would be one of the beneficiaries. Steve doesn t have children, so it seemed natural to him to figure out what good he could do with the money that he would be leaving behind. Steve decided he would choose just two charities so that it would not dilute the impact of his gift. He knew that his estate would be enough that an organization the size of ELAW could do something significant with the bequest. He drafted his will to leave half his estate to ELAW and half to the University of Oregon libraries for special projects. Steve s oldest living relative will celebrate his 103rd birthday this summer, and all his grandparents lived well into their 90s. Steve is just past 60 years old with his longevity genes and his healthy lifestyle (Steve is a world-class master s swimmer) he should be around for a few more decades. But, he says, I knew I needed a will. I didn t want the State to determine what would happen to my estate, which is what would happen by default if I didn t make my own. We are thrilled with Steve s decision to include ELAW in his will. I d recommend it to anybody, Steve said. It is an easy way to ensure that you have a lasting legacy. THINK GLOBALLY. GIVE LOCALLY. Please visit to make a secure, online donation. Nityanand Jayaraman India (pg. 6) Jennifer Gleason U.S.A. (pg. 7) Raquel Gutierrez Najera Mexico FIND OUT MORE If you are interested in finding out more about how to include ELAW as a legacy in your will, or about lifetime charitable planning, please contact Rita Radostitz, Director of Philanthropy rita@elaw.org or x 14 ELAW s full legal name is Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. Our U.S. Tax ID Number is ELAW invites you to become an Environmental Hero by making a donation to ELAW. Please send a check or credit card donation in the enclosed envelope. Or, you can make a charitable gift by gifting a security. Consult with your tax and investment advisors about the amount and types of securities you wish to give and then call ELAW at (pg. 7) Garifuna community members in the Tela Bay region of northern Honduras favor small-scale eco-tourism. Too often, voices of local communities are ignored in the rush to extract resources and pursue development schemes. Local communities bear the greatest costs, including polluted air, dirty water, and the destruction of traditional ways of life. Yet, local voices are often ignored in decisions about the natural environment and communities. The heart of ELAW s work is making local voices heard. Collaborating with grassroots advocates, ELAW helps communities speak out for a sustainable future. We help communities challenge short-sighted development schemes and remedy environmental abuses. We help local citizens the people who would suffer the impacts of environmental degradation speak out for long-term solutions. Empowering local voices means changing the way we make decisions about the natural environment. That change is long overdue. The following brief reports describe progress making local voices heard. ELAW advocate Antoinette Moore is part of a team of lawyers who are helping indigenous Maya communities in Belize secure traditional land rights near Sarstoon Temash National Park. Those communities are developing sustainable forest projects to build local living economies. With help from the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, villagers in Conejo and Santa Teresa have drafted forest management plans, with sustainable harvesting cycles, that will benefit local Q eqchi families, and community members are providing guided tours of the national park. Meanwhile, the government of Belize continues to try to open Mayan lands for speculation by multinational oil companies. Domestic courts and the Inter-American Human Rights Court have affirmed Mayan land rights, but the Maya people, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years, continue to be left out of the discussion. In July, Antoinette will share her experience defending the Maya with Garifuna communities in Tela Bay, Honduras. These communities have lived along the white-sand beaches of the Honduran Caribbean coast for more than 200 years. These beaches are now eyed by developers for high-end mega-tourist facilities. ELAW Associate Director Lori Maddox will join Antoinette and a team of Mesoamerican attorneys who are working to protect communities and coastlines in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, and meet with residents of Tela Bay. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2