Description

FILAC is an Indigenous-led organization located in Bolivia that works with Indigenous people across South America on community and environmental sustainability rooted in Indigenous human rights of self-governance. They also support dialogue and consultations between Indigenous peoples and various sectors including government, civil society, academia, business, and others. Indigenous communities across Latin America are often sites of resource extraction and Indigenous peoples are also laborers in industry who are exposed to harmful and exploitive working conditions. FILAC will work with community leaders to build their leadership and governance capacity to combat these harms taking place in their communities by outside governments and businesses. They will also support 4 pilot remediation sites to combat water and soil damage. They expect these sites will all deal with gold mining remediation in communities that have high amounts of mercury in the air, land and water in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. Finally, this grant will support their work to bring Indigenous leaders to the Summit of Presidents of the Amazon to ensure Indigenous representation and consultation at this Summit.
This grant will not only support Indigenous communities and their efforts to combat the harmful effects of extractive industry but also support the expression of human rights.