Dear Friends,
Last week, I sat down with leaders in Northern Sierra Leone whose forests have been ravaged by illegal logging and mining. “The soil is becoming infertile, and our water is drying up,” an older woman told me. “We don’t recognize our own home.”
These men and women are determined to fight back. And they’re clear about what they need to win – the power to govern the lands they depend on.
We hear this demand all over the world: in cities and small towns; in forest areas and grazing lands; and across poor countries and rich countries. Communities facing harm want to shape what happens in the places where they live.
These same communities are often eager to lead the urgent transitions that we need to make to address our acute climate and environmental crisis: stewarding nature, building public transportation and affordable housing, farming regeneratively, building systems to reduce waste, and building clean energy infrastructure. They want to do so on their own terms.
That’s not how the world works now. The communities in Northern Sierra Leone say the national government hands out licenses to log or mine without informing them, much less asking their consent. And there is little to no investment in forms of development that would allow them to flourish and protect their lands at the same time.
If this resonates with you, if your community has been fighting to have a voice over what happens on their land and it feels like an uphill battle, we would love to connect with you. We believe it’s time to come together, across our borders, to build a stronger global movement for grassroots environmental justice.
Join us for a virtual community conversation to share experiences and shape what a new global campaign could look like. You will hear from justice leaders from around the world who are committed to coming together to fight for common priorities. There are two options to join:
- July 25 3:00-4:30 PM GMT (Spanish translation available)
- July 26 9:00-10:30 AM GMT (French translation available)
If you can’t make the virtual community conversation, please do share your views on our community forum.
Thank you for everything you’re doing.
In solidarity from Makpele, Sierra Leone,
Vivek Maru