Global Justice Ecology Project teams up with KPFK Pacifica’s Sojourner Truth show for weekly Earth Minutes which are written and recorded by GJEP Executive Director Anne Petermann and air every Tuesday.
This week’s Earth Minute discusses a plan by the Chinese government to remove over one million nomad people from nearly one billion acres of land in order to free up the land for development.
The text from this week’s Earth Minute:
China’s government recently announced a new plan to “resettle” Inner Mongolia’s last remaining nomad populations by 2015. This would free up nearly a billion acres of grassland in China for development projects, including highways, rail lines, mines and power plants.
Traditional Mongol herders are protesting this plan that would resettle over one million people, and accuse authorities of illegally taking away their grazing lands and extinguishing their traditional culture. China’s actions violate their rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In early June, thugs hired by land-grabbers clashed with traditional herders who were tending livestock on some of their last grazing lands. Many herders were beaten and two women were hospitalized with serious injuries.
China’s Five-Year settlement plan not only impacts Mongolia’s nomads, but would also affect remaining nomadic populations in Tibet.
Land grabs such as these are increasing globally as countries and companies covet the territories of Indigenous and rural peoples for land-intensive projects such as biofuel plantations and hydroelectric dams.
For the Earth Minute and the Sojourner Truth show, this is Anne Petermann of Global Justice Ecology Project.
