The world’s indigenous peoples are making themselves heard in international arenas, and at the national level, where their growing mobilisation is translating into political muscle. But many challenges remain in the fight for recognition of all their rights.

IPS LAUNCHES YEAR OF REPORTING ON THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

Ten years ago the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre burst onto the world stage giving social movements and civil society the space to challenge the orthodoxies symbolised by the World Economic Forum. Visit the IPS TerraViva World Social Forum 2010 site for independent news, analysis and commentary on up to 35 WSF events that will take place on every continent in 2010. What are the continuing challenges that drive social movements, and will the WSF stay relevant and innovative? Read IPS TerraViva to find out.
www.ips.org/TV/wsf2010/

WSF: Reconciling Social and Environmental Needs
By Mario Osava* IPS/TerraViva
SALVADOR, Brazil, Jan 31, 2010 (IPS) ? One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is to attend to the urgent social needs of the planet?s population, and particularly the one billion people living ?on the brink of survival?, while dealing with the equally urgent demands of the environment.
www.ips.org/TV/wsf2010/wsf-reconciling-social-and-environmental-needs/

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NICARAGUA: Can Army Protect Plundered Forest Reserves?
By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA (IPS) – The Nicaraguan state has embarked on an iron-fisted policy, including the use of military force, to clamp down on those responsible for environmental depredation, after repeated denunciations by organisations and government officials that the country’s two largest biosphere reserves are being plundered.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50175

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BIODIVERSITY: The Amazon Is Not Eternal
By Stephen Leahy*
PARIS (Tierramérica) – The Amazon jungle “is very close to a tipping point,” and if destruction continues, it could shrink to one third of its original size in just 65 years, warns Thomas Lovejoy, world-renowned tropical biologist.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50194

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BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK (IPS) – A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50170

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BOLIVIA: Unprecedented Gender Parity in Cabinet
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ (IPS) – Evo Morales began his second term as president of Bolivia by swearing in a cabinet made up of an equal number of women and men – unprecedented in this South American nation with a strong patriarchal tradition.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50123

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BIODIVERSITY: Words Are Not Enough
By Stephen Leahy
PARIS (IPS) – Words are not enough to stop the rapidly unraveling web of life, agreed heads of state and international conservation organisations at a high-level meeting that ended here last Friday.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50094

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IPS wants to redress a huge imbalance that exists today: Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women?s. You can change your perspective – Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp

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DON’T MISS IPS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.

Elections, health, education, armed conflicts, corruption, laws, trade, climate change, the global financial and food crises, and natural disasters – IPS covers these frontline issues asking an often forgotten question: What does it mean for women and girls?
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp

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DON?T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE.

Through coverage of issues like food security, extractive industries, biodiversity and climate change, IPS is giving a voice to people whose stories are seldom heard. IPS is also highlighting the various challenges they face in the globalised world: health and food insecurity, environment degradation and poverty.
www.ipsnews.net/environment.asp

You’ll find more IPS indigenous news and links at: ipsnews.net/new_focus/indigenous_peoples/

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IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.

Visit Inter Press Service at www.ipsnews.net