We are living in unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably changed our world within a few short months. This has changed the nature of our and our Members’ work in support of ICCAs–territories of life.
This webpage aims at compiling information that is related to the COVID-19 pandemic and territories of life.
We are holding global calls for the ICCA Consortium membership to discuss several aspects of the pandemic, including impacts and responses within our membership and territories of life in general.
In Malaysia, Consortium Member PACOS Trust is supporting isolated Indigenous communities as they face the COVID-19 crisis. Anne Lasimbang tells us which strategies they have employed to date, and how they plan to move forward during the recovery phase. Read more ▸
San Youth Network (SYNet), an ICCA Consortium Member for several years, is a youth organization that promotes a variety of development strategies that benefit… Read more “Support Our Member San Youth Network to Help San Communities Facing COVID-19 Crisis in Botswana” ▸
The Indigenous Obu Manuvu community of Davao City on Mindanao Island, Philippines owns over 13,000 hectares of ancestral forests. By engaging the Obu Manuvu “Pusaka” cosmology, they manage these ancestral forests as an ICCA to benefit biodiversity, regional economy and, more importantly their well-being and culture. This video highlights the value of their historical experiences with epidemics and how their time-tested adaptations helped them cope. Read more ▸
ICCA Consortium Members and Honorary members elevated the voices of Indigenous peoples and local communities in events on small-scale fisheries and ocean governance. Read more ▸
The Gobierno Territorial Autonomo de la Nación Wampis (GTANW) has taken legal action against the oil company GeoPark Peru SAC for threatening the Wampis Nation and their territory of life in the northern Peruvian Amazon. The ICCA Consortium fully supports the GTANW’s demands to the Peruvian government and GeoPark to halt all activities related to oil exploitation and leave Wampis territory immediately and permanently. Read more ▸
We have joined more than 330 other organisations condemning the continued operation of the mining industry amidst a global pandemic, environmental rollbacks and crackdown on civil society action. Read more ▸
Our membership and allies shared their experiences with community health and wellbeing during the pandemic, underscoring the importance of self-reliance and an intercultural and respectful approach to health. Read more ▸
En Ecuador, los Pueblos Indígenas y comunidades locales han desplegado diferentes respuestas frente a la situación actual de emergencia, basadas en sus costumbres y en su cosmovisión. En este artículo, nuestro Miembro ALDEA analiza y documenta esta variedad de respuestas comunitarias. Read more ▸
Nomadic pastoralists in Iran play an important role in national food security and sovereignty. Since the arrival of COVID-19, they have been deeply concerned about the impact that the pandemic is likely to have on their society and way of life. UNINOMAD, ICCA Consortium Member, outlined its members’ concerns and proposed solutions in a letter sent to key national authorities on 10 March 2020. Read more ▸
In the current context of State inaction and corruption, the challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic have hit Indigenous communities in Guatemala especially hard. ICCA Consortium Council Member Felipe Gómez describes this multi-faceted crisis, along with the hopes and strategies of Indigenous communities: solidarity, spirituality, and community organization. Read more ▸
In Mexico, our Member Ka’Kuxtal and the Mayan communities with whom they work are promoting several strategies in response to the current crisis, in the areas of health, food sovereignty and communication, to take their care into their own hands. Read more ▸
How can traditional indigenous knowledge help us cope with the pandemic? Sutej Hugu, our Regional Coordinator for East Asia, tells us of the Indigenous Taiwan Self-Determination Alliance and their reflections on the current situation. Read more ▸
Indigenous peoples and local communities who are defending their territories of life face heightened risks in the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Line Defenders reports on the impacts of COVID-19 on the safety and work of human rights defenders, and shares practical tips for the physical, emotional and digital protection of defenders working from home. Read more ▸
Albert Maurilio Chan Dzul, Coordinador del Consorcio TICCA para Mesoamérica y representante de U Yich Lu’um, A.C., comparte las reflexiones y estrategias de su organización frente a la pandemia actual, profundizando sobre resiliencia, relación espiritual con el territorio y salud mental. Read more ▸
In Canada, the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership held a virtual dialogue on the importance of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a message of great hope, Allison Bishop shares the group’s collective reflections about human relationships with nature and the opportunity that IPCAs represent to care for the natural world. Read more ▸
The ICCA Consortium organised the first round of online discussions to bring together our membership in this difficult time, to strengthen solidarity, share experiences and responses from territories of life around the world, and jointly reflect on the ICCA Consortium’s role, both now and into the future. We shared inspiring stories as well as challenges, as we considered how the ICCA Consortium could play a role in confronting and affecting the dominant paradigms that led to the emergence of COVID-19. Read more ▸
Protocolo comunitario ante la contingencia por el COVID 19.¿Cómo enfrentar la emergencia sanitaria por el COVID19 con organización comunitaria?, por Ka’ Kuxtal Much Meyaj… Read more “Protocolo Comunitario Ante la Contingencia por el COVID 19” ▸
