SIRGE Coalition

📢 Voluntary standards and certification schemes, such as the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI), are used to greenwash mining and certify minerals as responsibly produced. But these frameworks allow mining companies to act without accountability and have several gaps that pose risks to Indigenous and human rights and the environment. Chelsea Hodgkins of Public Citizen talks about the dangers of the CMSI and Lead The Charge's assessment of third-party assurance and accreditation programs. Check it out here! 👇🏾 #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeoples #HumanRights #JustTransition  #EnvironmentalJustice #EnergyTransition

Happy New Year!! 🎊

Renewables won't save our planet from the climate crisis. 🌎 While moving away from fossil fuels is critical, the transition to renewable energy has led to an environmentally destructive mining boom that harms human rights and is itself carbon intensive. Instead, we need to reduce consumption and learn from Indigenous cultures that have, for a long time, protected ecosystems. 🌳 Read more from Mongabay.👇🏾 #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #JustTransition #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

As we close out 2024, we want to take a moment to reflect on everything we have accomplished together. This has been a year of progress, challenges, and lessons. But most importantly, it has been a year powered by the people behind the work: every coalition member, partner, and ally who has stepped forward, shared their experience and expertise, raised their voices, and supported our joint path. To the founders of the SIRGE Coalition, thank you for your vision and energy that continues to inspire and guide our work. To the partners and contributors, whether you organized events, wrote reports, sat in long meetings, or stood up for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights on the ground or in conferences, or channelled funds so that work could materialize, you are the reason this moves forward. We invite you to look back with us, not just at the events of the year, but at the stories of resilience and hope from the Peoples all over the world that remind us why this work matters. Also, we invite you to look forward and to bring the strength coming from looking back to face the year ahead in advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the energy transition, with the deep conviction that we are in this together. #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #JustTransition

Join us next month for our online webinar on Indigenous Peoples’ Principles and Protocols for Just Transition! 🌱 Indigenous representatives from the seven socio-cultural regions convened the Indigenous Summit on Just Transition in Geneva in October 2024 to discuss our perspectives, knowledge, and lived experiences related to just transition. Together, we charted a path forward to safeguard the world’s ecosystems and our rights during the global energy transition. We defined our collective vision for a true just transition—one that prioritizes the well-being of the planet and its peoples over profit. 🌍 We invite Indigenous people, civil society, private sector, policymakers, and allies to join us in this critical discussion, recognizing that a truly just transition is only possible through collective action and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and the ecosystems we protect. ✊🏾 ➡️ Register: https://lnkd.in/e-Yi3zvS #IndigenousSummit #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #JustTransition

🆕 Forest Peoples Programme's new report highlights the achievements and continued challenges for the integration of Indigenous and Forest Peoples rights in EU law, policy, and practice. 🌳 Within the past 2 years, the EU has adopted multiple pieces of legislation, such as the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), to address Indigenous and human rights and environmental due diligence. However, challenges remain in their implementation. 📃 Furthermore, Indigenous Peoples' right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and inclusion of their participation are still lacking in policy processes. 📢 To ensure a truly just and green energy transition, the EU must uphold and respect the rights of Indigenous and Forest Peoples. ➡️ Click the link to read the full report, featuring Yblin Roman Escobar of SIRGE Coalition, who discusses EU policies and advancing Indigenous Peoples' rights. "I see three main areas to focus on. First, ensuring compliance with FPIC, making sure it is included and enforced in all relevant plans and projects. Second, Indigenous voices should be directly involved in both the rollout of these policies and in energy transition plans. Finally, we need real financial support. At COP26, for example, governments pledged €1.7 billion for Indigenous Peoples, but of the 48 percent already allocated, only two percent has gone directly to Indigenous communities. Funding like this, if properly directed, could have a tremendous impact. If we think about forest and biodiversity for example, when Indigenous voices and needs are overlooked in conservation and biodiversity programmes, these efforts often fail and can even lead to forced relocations and rights violations. Indigenous Peoples should be empowered according to their self-determined goals and priorities." - Yblin Roman #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #JustTransition #Deforestation #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

🚨 A new report from Global Witness reveals that the Philippines' push to become a major player in the global mining industry is endangering Indigenous Peoples and biodiversity. The Philippines is one of the most mineral-rich countries and the second-largest producer of nickel in the world. While mining for minerals like nickel is seen as necessary for the green energy transition, it has put Indigenous Peoples at the front lines of land theft, violence, and violation of rights, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. One-third of environmental land defenders killed in the Philippines were Indigenous and most of those cases were linked to mining. 👉🏾 Read more via Grist. #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #JustTransition #Philippines

During #RawMaterialsWeek, Yblin Roman Escobar of SIRGE Coalition discussed the impacts of the global energy transition on Indigenous Peoples and emphasized that the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) prioritizes accelerating mineral extraction but fails to provide explicit mechanisms to ensure Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for Indigenous Peoples. 🌍 Currently, FPIC is often reduced to consultation, and the lack of a clear requirement to ensure FPIC in the CRMA falls short of meaningful participation. Explicitly including a provision to ensure FPIC during the implementation phase of all strategic projects would require companies to demonstrate compliance with FPIC principles through binding legal mechanisms rather than relying on vague plans or voluntary commitments, which leave Indigenous Peoples vulnerable to exploitation and rights violations. For example, certification schemes, such as the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI), are designed to address sustainability and human rights concerns in mineral extraction. However, they lack robust provisions for FPIC and cannot replace binding legal frameworks, which are essential to guarantee compliance with international human rights standards, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Yblin Roman joined Matti Blind Berg of Svenska Samernas Riksförbund (SSR), Caroline Avan of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, and Chiara Adamo of European Commission during a discussion event moderated by Emily Iona Stewart of Global Witness and organized by EU Raw Materials Coalition and European Environmental Bureau, along with SIRGE and SSR. Case studies from the Sami Peoples in Sweden and Indigenous communities in Argentina were shared. Mining activities in Sweden have led to significant land loss, destruction of livelihoods, and cultural erosion for the Sami communities. The ILO Convention 169, a critical international framework for protection of Indigenous rights, has yet to be ratified. In Argentina, Indigenous communities reported significant resistance and rights violations from mining companies and public authorities who claim having strong environmental safeguards and community acceptance. It was also emphasized that benefit-sharing agreements must be fair, equitable, and transparently negotiated. However, they cannot replace FPIC, which must occur during the upfront phase, where Indigenous Peoples have the right to say "yes" or "no" to a project. Without FPIC, benefit-sharing risks becoming a substitute for genuine consent, undermining the rights of Indigenous Peoples. #RawMaterialsWeek2024 #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeoples #JustTransition

📢 All eyes on Bolivia! In October 2024, the Quechua community of Totoral Chico rejected a farce consultation by mining company La Salvada Sociedad Colectiva, which was already operating in their territory without the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of affected Indigenous communities. Furthermore, there has been continuous criminalization against Indigenous defenders in Bolivia. 👉🏾 Read the full story via Cultural Survival: https://lnkd.in/ezaEbNyb? #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousRights #Bolivia #IndigenousDefenders #AllEyesOnBolivia

Reposted via EARTHWORKS Community, labor, and environmental groups called on lithium companies in Imperial Valley, California to make binding commitments to guarantee good local jobs, protections against environmental harms, and respect for the rights of Indigenous community members. The coalition is called Valle Unido por Beneficios Comunitarios, and it launched with an event this week. ➡️  Read about the launch here: bit.ly/valle-unido-story #IndigenousRights #IndigenousPeoples #JustTransition #ClimateJustice