ATM calls for system change that upholds right to say No to mining

Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) joins the Global Day of Action mobilizations around the world today to call for a socio-ecological and systemic transformation that upholds the right of communities and Indigenous Peoples to say NO to mining and other destructive projects and ensures Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, said, “Together with various organizations and peoples, we reject the current extractivist green transition promoted by governments, corporations and international financial institutions. More mining of nickel, copper, cobalt and other transition minerals for the so-called green transition is a false solution to the climate crisis because it merely perpetuates the system that brought about ecological destruction and social injustice.”

According to Garganera, mining of transition minerals pollute the environment, destroy ecosystems and violate the human rights of communities and indigenous groups, especially in countries in the Global South like the Philippines. “It also contributes greatly to inequality,” he added.

Judy Pasimio, Overall Coordinator of LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights said, “Communities suffer from the devastation caused by mining as they become sacrifice zones to serve the overconsumption of rich countries in the Global North. Indigenous peoples lose their livelihoods and their ancestral lands as mining companies take over their territories, raze their forests and pollute their water sources. In developing real solutions to the climate crisis, we need to work with rural and indigenous communities, and not the corporations, which are the perpetrators of this crisis."

Meanwhile, Atty. Mai Taqueban, Executive-Director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)  stressed that governments and corporations profit hugely from the extraction of minerals despite strong resistance in the communities. “Mining literally costs people’s lives as environmental and human rights defenders are being killed and harassed to quell opposition to mining projects. In many cases, corporations dangle jobs and infrastructure projects - which cause divisiveness in the community, -  but rarely result in the upliftment of people’s lives.”

ATM joined calls for a just and sustainable transformation that dismantles corporate power, challenges  neocolonial dependencies, and redefines the relationship with nature based on care, solidarity, and ecological balance.

#AlyansaTigilMina #ATM #IpamanaHuwagIpamina #NoToDestructiveMining