Destroyed villages in Kenya, ruined farmlands in Myanmar and oil contamination in Peru. As the world grows smaller, extractive industries expand and in the process leave little consideration to the people affected. Across the world, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities are being severely harmed by land grabbing, deforestation and contamination, all making it harder for these communities to uphold their way of life. As a result, cultures that have persisted for generations are slowly being destroyed.

With no one else to lead the fight, Indigenous Peoples themselves are on the front line, defending both their environment and their basic human rights. They want to protect the natural world that benefits us all and stand up to the corporations taking advantage of both local communities and sometimes entire countries. But this takes sacrifice. A silent war is being waged against Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are defending their lands against the expansion of industry.

In this podcast, we seek to explore, understand and give a voice to the defenders of human and environmental rights, those people holding extractive companies to their responsibilities and fighting for fair global supply chains.

This Podcast is a production launched by the Zero Tolerance Initiative (ZTI) https://www.zerotoleranceinitiative.org/, a global coalition led by Indigenous Peoples, local community representatives and supportive NGOs. These groups work collectively addressing the root causes of killings and violence against the human rights defenders resisting global supply chains. The initiative supports communities in defending themselves and holding companies and investors to account.