We recently shared an overview of the global launch event for Earth Defenders Toolkit which happened on July 14th. This week, we’re diving into some of the testimonies shared at the event by our partners.

On July 14, 2021, Digital Democracy along with co-hosts Alianza Ceibo, Amazon Frontlines & Oxfam hosted a global launch event for the Earth Defenders Toolkit, a collaborative space for earth defenders and their allies.  This two-hour virtual event brought together over 160 participants from around the world, the majority identifying as earth defenders, to share […]

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 […]

Em todo o continente africano, as comunidades locais estão trabalhando juntas para proteger suas florestas, savanas, desertos e costas de ameaças externas e indústrias extrativas.  Em 21 de julho, Natural Justice, Oxfam e Digital Democracy estão convocando o Fórum da África para Defensores da Terra, um evento virtual de duas horas para reunir os defensores […]

Em todo o planeta, os povos indígenas e comunidades locais estão na linha de frente da proteção de florestas e outros ecossistemas essenciais das ameaças ambientais. Freqüentemente, o fazem com risco extremo para sua segurança pessoal e isoladamente do suporte externo. Junte-se a nós em 14 de julho para comemorar o lançamento do Earth Defenders […]

Hoje é o lançamento do Kit de Ferramentas para Defensores da Terra, um espaço colaborativo para os defensores da Terra e seus aliados. O kit de ferramentas fornece uma coleção crescente de recursos e materiais de treinamento para comunidades na linha de frente da luta para defender ecossistemas críticos em todo o mundo e 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.