On July 21st, Digital Democracy, Natural Justice and Oxfam hosted the Africa Forum for Earth Defenders. This two-hour virtual event brought together over 120 participants, primarily earth defenders from across the African continent, to share stories of work they are doing on the frontlines, and highlight new tools and strategies that help put power in the hands of local communities.

El 14 de julio de 2021, Digital Democracy, junto con los co-anfitriones Alianza Ceibo, Amazon Frontlines y Oxfam, organizó un evento de lanzamiento global para Earth Defenders Toolkit, un espacio de colaboración para defensores de la tierra y sus aliados.  Este evento virtual de dos horas reunió a más de 160 participantes de todo el […]

By Caitlin Looby on 2 August 2021. Crossposted from Mongabay. The Earth Defenders Toolkit is a growing collection of apps, resources and blogs where Indigenous peoples and their allies can come together to connect and mobilize. The goals of the toolkit are to support local autonomy, allowing Indigenous communities to maintain ownership of data and reduce the […]

En todo el planeta, los pueblos indígenas y las comunidades locales están al frente de la protección de los bosques, pastizales y otros ecosistemas fundamentales, de las amenazas ambientales. A menudo lo hacen con un riesgo extremo para su seguridad personal y sin apoyo externo. Únase a nosotros el 14 de julio para celebrar el […]

En todo el continente africano, las comunidades locales están trabajando juntas para proteger sus bosques, sabanas, desiertos y costas de amenazas externas e industrias extractivas.  El 21 de julio, Natural Justice, Oxfam y Digital Democracy convocarán conjuntamente el Foro de África para Defensores de la Tierra, un evento virtual de dos horas para reunir a […]

Hoy es el lanzamiento completo de Earth Defenders Toolkit, un espacio de colaboración para defensores de la tierra y sus aliados. El kit de herramientas proporciona una colección creciente de recursos y materiales de capacitación para las comunidades en la primera línea de la lucha por defender ecosistemas críticos en todo el mundo, y redes […]

To remedy the high learning curve that comes with understanding information technology, trainings focused on using a digital tool should be accompanied by training in basic tech literacy focused on components of this broader ecosystem in which the tool lives.

A common theme that has come out of conversations with partners about earth defender needs is figuring out where and how to get started. Many earth defender communities are aware of the emerging threats or problems within their community or their lands, but are less sure about what kind of actions to take, and rarely start directly from the point of view of wanting to make a map or conducting monitoring. Instead, it may be necessary to start thinking more broadly and to ground the conversation in something central to the lifeworld of the community: the territory.

In our research and years of accompanying partner communities in using digital technologies, we have found that mapping can be one of the most effective ways of building skills in using technology, because mapping already involves something that community members already have quite a lot of knowledge about: the territory, lands, and waters.

Because mapping projects invariably involve conversations about the land or water, they can help restart processes of knowledge transmission that have become stilted due to these influences of modernity or colonialism, and allow communities to record and archive local knowledge.