Select Page

People Power – Sacred Mountain Saved

This is what makes environmental campaigning all worthwhile – the planned mining on the sacred Indian Mountain the tribal land of the Dongria Kondh has been stopped, afte four years of protests by locals and environmental organisations.

Controversial plans to develop a bauxite mine on sacred tribal land in India have been cancelled by India’s environment ministry. The Dongria Kondh’s – an indigenous tribe who have lived since time immemorial around the mountain Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa – demands have been met, and the area will remain wild, lush and sacred. Multi-national company Vedanta’s existing aluminum refinery in the area had polluted local rivers, damaged crops and disrupted the lives of the local tribe; and will now not be able to expand six-fold. This is a Dongria Kondh victory first and foremost.

The project has been delayed by four years because of the Dongria Kondh’s intense opposition locally – including the brandishing of bows and arrows – as well as from environmental and tribal rights group. Globally, a loosely coordinated campaign sought to persuade multi-national Vedanta’s shareholders and financiers to distance themselves from the company. This is their magnificent victory as well – for Survival International and Amnesty International, various celebrity activists such as Bianca Jagger and Michael Palin, and numerous other loosely affiliated affinity campaigns, including most recently from Ecological Internet working with the Rainforest Information Centre.

“Yet again global people power has come to the aid of small, intact communities battling the ecosystem destroying economic growth machine. The Dongria Kondh’s amazing efforts should be placed in the context of a global people’s power movement to protect and restore ecosystems, and wrest control of land from industrial and speculative capitalism,” asserts Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet’s President.

News from: http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/ and http://forests.org/

Indian Sacred Mountain Under Threat

By Forests.org Forest Protection Portal
a project of Ecological Internet
July 13, 2010

Vedanta Resources, a British mining company, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. The Dongria Kondh have been struggling with all their might to protect their mountain but are being overpowered by the financial and political might of this multi-billion dollar company.

They have been protesting locally for years, and have appealed for international support for their campaign to keep their sacred Niyamgiri Mountain ecologically and culturally intact.

Take Action Here Now:

Follow the link below for updated information and for a chance to make a difference.
It is time for all our voices to be heard.
Don’t let them steal Our Earth.

http://forests.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=india_mine