Following the success of Bruce Parry’s ‘Tribe‘ series, the BBC is back with another anthropological style series: ‘Tribal Wives’. This time British women from a variety of backgrounds are sent to live with different tribes to experience the life of tribal women, including the Kuna in Panama, Waorani in Ecuador, Afar in Ethiopia, and Himba in Namibia.

The programme is an interesting insight into tribal life, but mainly focuses on the British women themselves, rather than highlighting the problems that tribal peoples are facing.

Survival works with both the Waorani and the Himba who face real threats: the Waorani from oil exploration and logging, and the Himba from a proposed dam which will flood their lands. The programmes are on BBC 2 at 9pm on the following dates:

Episode 1: 18 June - Kuna in Panama
Episode 2: 25 June - Waorani in Ecuador
Episode 3: 2 July - Afar in Ethiopia
Episode 4: 9 July - Himba in Namibia

Further info at: www.tribalwives.com

Tribal land could enjoy greater protection
under international law. © Survival

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, UNPO, has launched a campaign for countries to ratify the only international law for tribal peoples.

International Labour Organisation Convention 169, or ILO 169, recognises tribal peoples’ land ownership rights and says they should be consulted about projects that affect them. Unlike UN Declarations, it is legally binding. The more countries that ratify the Convention, the more force it will have.

Survival’s own campaign for ILO 169 is also gaining momentum; so far, 119 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion calling on the UK government to ratify the Convention.

At the moment the UK refuses to sign up to the law, saying that it has nothing to do with this country. But they are wrong – if the UK were to ratify ILO 169, it would be a major step forward in recognising and protecting tribal peoples’ rights everywhere.

Find out if your MP has signed the Early Day Motion. If they haven’t, write to them today!

From global news front-pages to Facebook, the media has come alive in recent days at the sight of the uncontacted tribe on Brazil’s border with Peru. Thanks to the impact of these photographs, many millions of people have become aware of the dangers facing these unique people.

Here’s a collage from the web and media storm as viewed from Survival’s offices in London.



		“ They are so brave. instead of running from something that must be terrifying to them, they stand their ground and defend themselves. ”

Entrancing annatto seeds await preparation, © Fiona Watson/Survival

Bixa orellana, or annatto to the English-speaking food industry, is a tree giving a wonderful and widespread dye. Its red seeds (pictured), once processed, are often used for the yellowing of cheese, smoothies, cereals and other food stuffs.

Being a plant native to South America among other places, it also brings colour to tribal peoples. This photograph was taken in Brazil where many tribes turn the seeds into body paint for rituals, celebrations and general beautification.

Vedanta Resources, the British-based resources firm, faced a whirlwind of criticism in recent weeks. Coverage of its attempted installation of a mining facility in the hillside home of Indian tribal peoples has swept the web and beyond.

The Dongria Kondh live in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, India. The planned mine will strip them of their livelhoods, culture and religious heartlands.

Survival has just launched a campaign in defence of these people as the Indian Supreme court prepares to announce their fate.



Various British newspapers acknowledged the ‘social and environmental catastrophe’ on the drawing board:

The Telegraph: ‘…mining company is about to end a way of life forever.’

The Independent: ‘…Norway has already excluded Vedanta from its national pension fund investments.’

Indian magazine Tehelka tells the troubling tales of similar Vedanta projects in the past that caused the sort of destruction now on the cards.



A number of colourful videos from human rights organisations highlight the campaign and cultural stories. Action Aid offer a fascinating account of the push to have Vedanta shareholders realise what’s going on.

Another video gives a stirring musical outlook on life in the Nyamgiri hills and the danger it faces.



The finance community raised the alarm on the project with articles highlighting Vedanta’s new scheme as a dodgy investment. Commodityonline.com notes that the company is in ‘a tight spot’.

Meanwhile Vedanta’s own website makes no mention of the tragedy it’s proposing.



With the global outcry ringing in the courts and boardrooms that matter, it’s time to add your voice to the throng. We face another urgent moment of action to defend a people on the brink of destruction. Please use our tool to send a letter by mail to the Prime Minister of India.

Portrait of a Yanomami shaman, © Claudia Andujar

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, a Shaman himself, speaks of the xapiripë (the spirits):

‘Only those who know the xapiripë can see them because the xapiripë are very small and bright like light. There are many, many xapiripë, thousands of xapiripë like stars.

‘They are beautiful and decorated with parrot feathers, painted with urucum (annatto). Others have oraikok and others still have earrings and use black dye. They dance very beautifully and sing differently.’

As hyponotic as the portrait is, the Yanomami find themselves threatened by ranchers, goldminers, soya growers and others in the business of stealing Yanomami land.

The latest threat is the mining bill making the rounds in the debating hall of Brazil’s congress. You can help: write to the Brazilian president expressing your concern. It really works.

In recent days Latin Finance, a digest of Latin American financial affairs, made Peruvian president Alan Garcia its ‘Man of the Year’.
President Garcia is keen to promote oil exploration on the lands of uncontacted Indians in the Peruvian Amazon. He’s not so keen, however, to even admit the existence of the peoples whose lands are being invaded.
Latin Finance’s award spurred Survival to send the magazine a short letter:

In recent days US magazine Latin Finance made Peruvian president Alan Garcia its ‘Man of the Year’.

President Garcia is promoting oil exploration on the lands of uncontacted Indians in the Peruvian Amazon. He’s not so keen, however, to even admit the existence of the peoples whose lands are being invaded.

Latin Finance’s award spurred Survival to send the magazine a short letter:

Dear Sir,

Peru’s economy may well be making ‘admirable progress’, as your magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’, Alan Garcia, Peru’s president, says, but at what cost.

The oil exploration and production his government is encouraging is endangering the lives of tribal peoples in the Peruvian rainforest who have had no contact with the outside world.

These ‘uncontacted’ tribes are extremely vulnerable to any form of contact with outsiders, like oil workers, because of their lack of immunity to western diseases, and it is very common for more than half of a newly-contacted tribe to die.

Moreover, this land is recognised as belonging to the tribes by international law - a law which Peru has ratified and which President Garcia’s government is choosing to ignore.

What do you think? Should President Garcia be awarded ‘Man of the Year’ while at the same time plotting the destruction of entire peoples?

Share your comments here, or you might wish to speak up for tribal people suffering in Peru over at the living in Peru website.

Last Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Oliver Steeds reported on the Kalahari Bushmen’s campaign to return to their ancestral lands. Al Jazeera have now posted both parts of the video report online, and it’s well worth a watch:

Part 1:

Part 2:

The reports include interviews with Bushmen, a background to the campaign by the Bushmen organisation First People of the Kalahari, and an update following the court victory in December last year.

You might have noticed that a couple of new icons have appeared on the front page of the Survival website…

These are our new ‘news feeds’. You can click on the icons to subscribe to the latest news and blog headlines from our site. Whenever we publish a news item, you’ll be told about it automatically – but it won’t clog up your e-mail inbox.

The news items will appear in your favourite newsreader. I like Google Reader (it’s free, simple-to-use and web-based) but there are lots more. Even Outlook 2007 supports newsfeeds.

In time, we’ll add our petitions, job adverts and letter-writing campaigns so you can truly keep up-to-date with what’s happening at Survival. But don’t worry – you’re still not going to get more than one or two headlines a day.

So give it a try (you can always unsubscribe!) – go to feeds.survival-international.org/SurvivalInternational and subscribe using the buttons on the top-right of the page (or you can just paste the address straight into your newsreader).

And if you have a blog or website and want to keep your visitors up-to-date with Survival campaigns, you can add this Survival news widget to your page just by copying and pasting the code on the right-hand side:

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Of course, we’re still publishing our monthly e-news. Sign up now to get a summary of our main news stories delivered straight to your e-mail inbox each month.

We’ve been busy – our new-look website launched last week along with our broadband TV channel, Tribal Channel.

We’ve pruned some of the articles on the old website and written some new material. Above all, I hope that you can find what you want a bit more easily, whether you’re hunting for an article in our news archive or browsing through our Tribes section. And for those who prefer to use a search box, Google will now be helping you to find what you’re after.

This blog is also a new development. Expect to find news from the field, views from tribal people, supporters’ diaries and updates from the Survival team.

So, what do you think? Love it or loathe it? Have any suggestions? Found any bugs?! Tell us here by leaving a comment below, or e-mail me on webfeedback@survival-international.org.