Multimedia: Someone Else’s Treasure – Kisluyan
(Watch in High Definition on Vimeo)
High in the mountains of the Philippine island of Mindoro, members of the Alangan tribe live in the village of Kisluyan, on the same land their ancestors have lived on for generations.
Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement by the Mindoro Nickel Project, a proposed open pit nickel mine on their ancestral land.
The Alangan are one of eight indigenous tribes in Mindoro, known collectively as the Mangyan. The Mangyan once occupied the whole island. As more and more settlers began moving to the island, the Mangyan were gradually pushed off the more fertile areas higher and higher into the mountains. Now, with the proposed mine threatening to push them off their mountain, they are left with nowhere to go.
For the Alangan, their land is the very foundation of their identity. Generation after generation, the Mangyan have been taught to care for the land; “we take care of the land, and the land will take care of us.” Many of them believe that disaster will befall them if their sacred lands are desecrated by the proposed nickel mine.
Someone Else's Treasure - Kisluyan
See more:
BAYAN Canada Calls for Justice in the Philippines
September 21st was the 37th anniversary of former Philippine dictator Marcos introduced a state of martial law in 1972.
A memorial was organized by BAYAN Canada to honour the memories of the thousands of victims who were disappeared, detained, tortured and killed during the Marcos dictatorship. The memorial was also used to remember over 1000 people who have been the victims of extrajudicial killings since current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001.
Justice for the Philippines
"While we remember the thousands of victims who were disappeared, detained, tortured and killed during the Marcos dictatorship, we hold Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo responsible for the extrajudicial killings of over 1000 Filipino citizens and the enforced disappearances of over 200 since she took power in 2001." - BAYAN Canada
Justice for Jose Doton
Justice for Jayson Delen, Armando Javier, and Markus Bangit
Justice for All
Justice!
Justice in the Philippines
Justice for Alice Omengan-Claver, who was a member of BAYAN
Justice for Romy Sanchez
Justice
Justice for Father William Tadena
Justice for Leima Fortu
Justice for Markus Bangit, Armando Javier, and Cris Hugo
Justice!
Filipino Migrant Workers Movement
Oust GMA! - Graffiti calling for the ousting of Philippine President Glorian Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna.
For more information:
Residents of Mankayan Evacuated
Danger Zone: Sinking Area
I was in Mankayan, in the Philippines, about a year and a half ago and one of the issues I reported on was the sinking and ground subsistence in the area as a result of irrisponsible underground mining practices. I recently recieved a message from the Cordillera People’s Alliance reporting that:
“Residents of Brgy* Aurora in Mankayan, Benguet province are now evacuating as a result of the continuing massive land subsidence in Mankayan, Benguet. Long years of Lepanto Mining’s underground large mining operations has created mazes of tunnels underground has been causing land subsidence as early as the 1970′s, the worse cases were in 2009. The disastrous land subsidence in 1999 buried alive a local resident whose body was never found.”
*[Brgy=Barangay=Municipality]
Careless underground mining practices have induced surface subsistence and ground collapse. Many homes and buildings have been abandoned, and can be seen sinking into the ground. One Lepanto worker is quoted as saying that there are tunnels "as big as municipal buildings" underneath the area. Residents of Barangay Aurora, in Mankayan, are now being evacuated for their safety.
This is the spot where there used to be an elementary school, the Victoria Gold mine's tailings pond is visible just below. In 1999, the school building was suddenly swept away in a landslide killing Pablo Gomez, a local villager who was in the building at the time. The loss could have been considerably worse, however, if the landslide had occurred during school hours when there would have been as many as two hundred elementary school children in the building.
The view from Mankayan, where the houses are build along the side of the mountains.
You can see more recent photos from Mankayan HERE
More information at the Cordillera People’s Alliance
The Effects of Climate Change are the Greatest Threat to Humanity – Oxfam
Oxfam’s recent report, Suffering the Science – Climate Change, People and Poverty, argues that the effects of climate change pose the greatest threat to humanity. The following are a few excerpts from the report, illustrated with some of my photos:
Flooding in the Philippines
The report combines the latest scientific observations on climate change, and evidence from Oxfam’s work in almost 100 countries around the world.
Mother and children on the streets of Bangladesh.
“Women living in poverty, who already face a daily struggle to survive, are being hit the hardest,” – Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada.
Flooding in the Philippines
A survey of top climate scientists, also published by Oxfam, said poor people living in low-lying coastal areas, island atolls and mega deltas and farmers are most at risk from climate change because of flooding and prolonged drought. The scientists named South Asia and Africa as climate change hotspots.
Drought in Tanzania
Growing rice in the Philippines
More people on the planet depend on rice than on any other crop. Rice plants react very quickly to temperature change: they show a 10% drop in yield for every 1ºC rise in minimum temperature. In parts of the Philippines, farmers have had to stop growing rice completely during the droughts caused by the ‘El Nino’ years, and river delta and coastal rice production has already suffered badly accross South-East Asia because of storms that overwhelm sea defences and salt-water intrusion into paddy fields.
Eating rice and fish in the Philippines.
An Asian Development Bank report warns that rice production in the Philippines could drop by 50-70 per cent as early as 2020.
Fisherman in Tanzania
Crops are only one part of the food story. Fish stocks are also endangered by climate change — threatening the loss of a significant source of protein and income for the 2.6billion people who get 20 per cent of their protein from fish. In many countries, dependence on fish consumption increases with poverty. In addition, 500 million people in developing countries depend — directly or indirectly — on fisheries for their livelihoods.
Fisherman in the Philippines
Both wild and farmed fish are threatened by a whole range of climate-driven problems — from raised sea levels and floods that damage fish farms on coasts and in river areas, to the increasin acidification of the oceans as a result of GHG emissions. A recent study suggests that 90 per cent of the food resources of the ‘coral triangle’ of the western Pacific will be gone by 2050, potentially affecting 150million people.
Health problems in Tanzania
In the last few months, several bodies including the Commonwealth countries’ health ministers have concluded that climate change is the greatest threat to health globally this century. The poorest and hottest countries will suffer the most. The loss of healthy life years as a result of global environmental change is predicted to be 500 times greater amongst poor African populations than amongst European populations. Climate change-driven alterations in patterns of disease and illness are already occurring globally, and 99 per cent of the casualties of climate change now are in developing countries.
Urban slums in Bangladesh
Rapid urbanization — which can be spurred by climatic factors as people seek new livelihoods in cities — brings disease with it. Urban sprawls often lack health infrastructure, and migrant workers may not be able to afford care and medicine. Some of the worst health statistics emanate from cities.
Escaping the heat in Tanzania
Small increases in temperatures hit human beings hard. None of us, no matter how well acclimatised, can do heavy work effectively above 35ºC or so. A couple of degrees higher than that, and our bodies soon get exhausted. Once core body temperature passes 38ºC, heat stress may set in. The body tries to cool down by sweating; dehydration may follow. People’s work rate slows. Ultimately, production and incomes decline.
Rice farmer in Bangladesh.
“Working under the open sky during summer has become nearly impossible in the past four years or so — for farmers and their cattle alike.” — Mir Ahmed, Bangladeshi farmer.
Getting water in Tanzania
Finding and transporting clean water is a central occupation in the working day of many people in developing countries, especially women. When a community is short of food, or suffering an outbreak of desease, there are immediate ways in which they can be helped. However, scarcity of water is a much greater problem. According to the UN Development Programme, over one billion people lack access to safe water today, and that number can only increase.
2009 is one of the most important years in human history. In Copenhagen in December, politicians will meet at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Climate Change Convention. This meeting will decide whether we face a future on a hot glowering planet, or whether we set a course for climate safety for everyone.
see the full report for more information and references.
