The Amazon fires are Bolsonaro’s political crimes and call for urgent action

By "Political Ecology from the South/Abya Yala" Working Group of the Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO) (scroll down for translations into Español, Portuges, Français, e Italiano; you can add your signature here) The recent images of fires in the Amazon, in Pantanal, Cerrado and Chaco as well as the smoke clouds hovering over São …

Urban forests, regeneration and conflicts: the case of Prati di Caprara in Bologna (Italy)

by Andrea Zinzani and Enrico Curzi An analysis of the socio-environmental conflict in the course of the regeneration process of Prati di Caprara in Bologna (Italy): how urban political ecology can help us framing the politics and nature of urban forests. At the end of November the first World Forum on Urban Forests, promoted by the …

Of climate catastrophe and sacrifice zones – Battle for the Hambacher Forest

by Andrea Brock Activists have occupied Germany's Hambacher Forest for six years to prevent the area being destroyed and mined for coal. This month the forest has been making headlines as police brutality, coorporate power and state violence combine to attempt ousting the occupiers for good. This is a revised version of an article originally …

Italian eco-narratives – Paths into the nationalisation of forests

by Roberta Biasillo and Marco Armiero What if we let Italy talk through its forests? What if we unfold Italian history through its forests? Today’s blog discusses Italian forest narratives and how they may be read. This article was originally published on whitehorsepress and is inspired by an article published in Environment and History. "That Italy’s …

Into the fascist forest – a real Italian controversy

by Wilko Graf von Hardenberg and Marco Armiero Can a forest be fascist? This may seem a facetious question, but it is one that Italians have been discussing of late due to a fire that occurred at the end of August 2017. This article was originally published on The Conversation. The fire, allegedly started accidently …

Forest Defenders Conference, June 2017, UK

On 21st and 22nd June 2017,  the Forest Defenders Conference will be held in Oxford, UK, to discuss the challenges and the violence experienced by environmental defenders worldwide. The conference will bring together front line activists, investigators and community leaders with human rights groups, environmentalists, funders, media representatives, lawyers, security specialists and researchers to build …

Political ecologies of enclosures and commoning in Mexico’s forests

The experience of Mexico, a global pioneer in community forestry, highlights the possibilities and challenges of commons as alternative forms of more just and sustainable socio-ecological regimes.* The experience of community forestry in Mexico, a global pioneer in common property arrangements in forest regions, highlights the possibilities of commoning as alternative forms of social organization, economic production …

‘Never seen it so bad’: violence and impunity in Brazil’s Amazon

Violence has been legitimized as a normal part of politics. It has become informally “acceptable”. I’ve never seen, working for the past 10 years in the Amazon, a situation so bad.  Last week ENTITLE fellow Felipe Milanez was interviewed by the Guardian regarding the persistent wave of violent dispossession and the ensuing “humanitarian catastrophe” taking …

Extractivismo: Nuevos contextos de dominación y resistencia

En el contexto actual de represión que sufren las ONGs ecologistas en Latinoamérica, hemos querido compartir este texto del CEDIB de Bolivia para dar visibilidad al importante trabajo que hace esta organización. El Centro de Documentación e Información de Bolivia (CEDIB) recientemente publicó un trabajo colaborativo titulado Extractivismos: Nuevos contextos de dominacion y resistencia. En el …

Rural and Urban Solidarity Arises Against Istanbul Megaprojects

By Eleanor Finley* In the summer of 2013, popular resistance succeeded in stopping the demolition of Gezi Park, one of the last public green spaces in Istanbul. Yet urban transformation and development projects have continued throughout the city at a dizzying pace. Nearly every neighbourhood in Istanbul today grapples with some new high-rise, luxury apartment …