UN Recognizes Colombian Indigenous Community's Struggle

2015-05-21 3

Of the 1,200 proposals for sustainable development only 25 are recognized by the United Nations. Among them is the fight of the Yaigoje Apaporis indigenous community in the Colombian Amazon, who have successfully expelled multinational gold companies from their region. Its resistance, together with investigative research, demonstrated to the Colombian government that mining operations would wipe out the area's culture, damage the environment, and destroy its peoples' culture. The indigenous community's territory has now been declared a national park, but also immediately permits were issued to a Canadian multinational to exploit the area's gold reserves. teleSUR