The following photos were taken in the late afternoon of Thursday, December 3rd, outside of the Moon Palace, where countries from around the world are negotiating its fate. This protest was organized by the International Forum on Indigenous Issues. Indigenous peoples, whose rights have been historically ignored by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held a protest to demand the inclusion of their rights in any climate agreement.
Indigenous Peoples have been some of the traditional caretakers of the forests and it is on Indigenous lands where most of the Earth’s intact ecosystems can be found. These lands are now under threat because of the determination of Industrialized countries to create market-based climate schemes. Because they are based on the market, these schemes threaten to worsen the problem of global land grabs and displace Indigenous communities from their traditional lands.
This protest followed another protest earlier in the day organized by Indigenous Environmental Network, that targeted Canada’s tarsands gigaproject. To view that photo essay, click here
All photos below by Anne Petermann/ Global Justice Ecology Project – Global Forest Coalition.
The protest turned into a media feeding frenzy.
