Indigenous Peoples constitute 5% of the global population but protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. They hold unique systems of knowledge in safeguarding natural resources, in adapting to and mitigating climate and disaster risks, in medicine, in history and in sustaining peace, among others. These are deeply rooted in their culture and relationship with their land and their community.
Yet due to the abundance of natural resources in their ancestral domain, indigenous communities in different parts of the world face risks of land grabbing, displacement, and other forms of human rights violations. In Brazil, indigenous groups are threatened by recent public pronouncements from the new president-elect of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who wants to roll back protections of the Amazon rainforest and indigenous rights and open up mining and commercial farming on indigenous reserves. In the Philippines, indigenous schools and communities in Mindanao are vulnerable to suspicions of linkages with armed groups and are caught in the middle of military operations, with the president threatening to bomb these schools. In Japan, the government recently approved a bill recognizing the Ainu minority as an indigenous people for the first time, after decades of discrimination and forced assimilation.
In solidarity with the struggles of Indigenous Peoples around the world and in celebrating the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APC) invites you to join the Pulangiyen community in Culture and Integrity from the Ground, a Local Forum, to be held on 26 and 27 March 2019 at Balay Laudato Si’ in Bendum, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Philippines.
This is a local event humbly offered to others who may wish to join and APC is offering this occasion to gather and share about the experiences of life in Bendum among its partners and friends. With this local forum, deeper insight into cultural integrity is sought as this relates to basic dignity, indigenous knowledge, and practices of sustainable land use management.
Ms Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Pedro Walpole SJ, APC Executive Director and ESSC Director for Research, are the main speakers. Forum topics and speakers are:
- Recognizing Cultural Integrity: Ms Mercy Pakiwag, APC Deputy School Manager and Mr Jason Menaling, Bendum Forest Management Head
- Learning Sustainable Living: Mr Andres Ignacio, ESSC Director for Planning and Geomatics Manager, and Mr Arnel Santander, Bendum Farm Coordinator
- Accompanying Youth Towards Leadership in the Margins: Ms Amor Paredes, Hulas Youth Program Manager, and Ms Jenny Lynn Lee, APC School Manager
Participants are invited so next year they can come back and share their stories.
For more information on the APC forum, please send an email to sylviamiclat(at)essc.org.ph.
