'Lives of the Forest' was created by indigenous activists from across the Asia Pacific region exploring the likely impacts of the UN's REDD programme on indigenous resources and lifestyles. It was created during a participatory video facilitator training in Ifugao (Philippines) by representatives of 15 distinct indigenous communities from 8 different countries.
The Apus, or sacred mountains are the guardians of the climate and the source of all pure water and thus have the power to protect or devastate communities living on them. The clip was made as part of a campaign to resist evangelical authorities and this video has resulted in local people taking up again traditional practices to nurture Mother Earth.
This is a shortened version of a film made by Maasai pastoralists, living near Oltepesi in Kenya, in March 2009. It documents the devastating impacts of a seemingly endless drought across the region that killed livestock and people, threatened livelihoods and caused wide-spread suffering to many of the indigenous pastoralist communities.
'Peru Conversations with Mother Earth' is a powerful film relating the Andean cosmovision. Quechua videographers documented seasonal changes, hail, melting glaciers, christian fundamentalism, and other threats to their culture, livelihoods and landscapes.
In this article Nick Lunch (InsightShare Co-Founder & Co-Director) describes how the Biocultural Portal (currently working under the project name 'Conversations with the Earth), functions as a web based resource for Indigenous Peoples and other stewards of biocultural diversity to share participatory video promoting local solutions to preserve the worlds biocultural diversity. He argues how the project - as a process at grassroots level - challenges power inequality but is simultaneously empowering for government officials, UN officers, civil servants, donors, NGOs, activists and communities alike.
Participatory Video project undertaken by indigenous community leaders at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, May 2008.
The Voice of the Batwa PHOTOSTORY is a detailed description of the process through which a group of Batwa, from various squatter camps in Uganda, created a powerful film documenting the discrimination and marginalisation they face.
The Batwa are an indigenous people of the Great Lakes region of tropical Africa. Formerly hunter-gatherers, they were expelled from their ancestral forests to make way for conservation and tourism projects. They experience extreme racial discrimination from their neighbours, poverty, landlessness and unequal access to education and healthcare.
'Voice of the Batwa' was planned and filmed by members of the Batwa people during a Participatory Video project facilitated by InsightShare. Part of this film was aired on Ugandan television as well as being screened to local and national politicians, donors and NGOs.
This short clip shows the Kisoro District Regional Commissioner make concrete commitments to help improve the situation for the Batwa people of South West Uganda, in particular helping them with land claims and rights to education.
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