FEATURE-Thailand s green goals threaten indigenous forest dwellers Reuters 1/21/2021
By Rina Chandran
BAN SABWAI, Thailand, Jan 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - F or three generations, the family of Suwit Rattanachaisi has farmed a plot of land in a forest in northeastern Thailand s Chaiyaphum province, growing cassava and maize while living in a modest home a few miles away.
The forest was declared a national park in 1992, and under a forest reclamation law passed in 2014, Suwit and dozens of other farmers from Ban Sabwai village were evicted.
With no other means to make a living, many returned to the Sai Thong National Park.
Indigenous communities wary of UN biodiversity rescue plan
Some of the world’s leading conservation groups have backed conservation projects that dispossessed indigenous peoples of their ancestral ties and homelands
By Eleonore Hughes / AFP, PARIS
As crunch UN talks to reverse the accelerating destruction of nature loom, indigenous communities are sounding an alarm over proposed conservation plans that they say could clash with their rights.
The COP-15 UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China provisionally slated for early October will see nearly 200 nations attempt to thrash out new goals to preserve Earth’s battered ecosystems.
To limit the devastating effects of species loss caused by pollution, hunting, mining, tourism and urban sprawl, the draft treaty proposes to create protected areas covering 30 percent of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030.
Top positive environmental stories from 2020: Species evade extinction, more protected areas, monitoring tech improves
Interest in renewable energy surged, and multiple Indigenous women leaders got some long-overdue credit and recognition in 2020.
Jan 07, 2021 18:45:36 IST
All told, this was a pretty bleak year. The COVID-19 pandemic brought tragedy and confusion; fires razed parts of Australia, the Amazon, and the Western U.S.; and the world is still barreling headlong into the sixth mass extinction of species. But positive stories emerged. Species were brought back from the edge of extinction; interest in renewable energy surged; environmental monitoring technology improved; new protected areas were created; and a few Indigenous women leaders got some long-overdue credit and recognition.
For his commitment, Chris Ozyck named 2020 New Haven Register Person of the Year
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Long time environmental advocate Chris Ozyck stands by the ongoing restoration of the Grand Avenue bridge on the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, Conn. on Dec. 31, 2020. Ozyck has been named the Register s 2020 Person of the Year.Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media
NEW HAVEN For decades, Chris Ozyck has worked to make New Haven a more verdant and carefully tended home, helping tie the city and its residents together into a community.
Across the city he is known for his advocacy for the environment as well as for people and communities.