A landmark ruling on “loss of heritage values for the entire state”: Holding a company accountable for damaging an aboriginal sacred site – Australia

Bridie Jabour and agencies, theguardian.com, Friday 2 August 2013 A mining company has been fined $150,000 for desecrating and damaging an Aboriginal sacred site in what the custodians are describing as a landmark ruling. OM Holdings, a subsidiary of OM Ltd, were found guilty of desecrating the Booto Creek Aboriginal sacred site known as Two Women Sitting … Read more

Indigenous population assert their culture and land rights peacefully: The patience of first peoples – Argentina

A bad place to be indigenous. But Argentina’s ‘original peoples’ are gathering momentum.A clash of dreamsIndigenous Argentinians, disrespected and ignored for too long, are forging new alliances in their quest to safeguard the natural world […]As I draw closer, I see the ramshackle collection of painted wooden structures around which people are gathering. This is Punta … Read more

Commemorating forced tribal migration 175 years ago: The Trail of the Tears remembered by Cherokees as “the place where they cried” – Tennessee

This map shows the forced paths of removal for several tribes of Indians. (Image: “Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 4: History of Indian-White Relations,” Wikipedia) This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Trail of the Tears, the forced removal of the Cherokee people and other tribes from their homelands in the Southeast to Indian … Read more

Machu Picchu: UNESCO World Heritage site close to some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes – Peru

In 2007, Machu Picchu was declared one of the seven new wonders of the world. Today, the lives of uncontacted tribes in the same valley are threatened by gas and oil extraction. […] Every year, nearly 1 million tourists visit the Inca citadel. Perched high on a ridge in the eastern Andes overlooking the Urubamba … Read more