Vedanta, a British mining company, is intent on strip-mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god.
Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend.
There are 8,000 Dongria Kondh living in the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa, India. They worship and protect Niyamgiri mountain and consider themselves the royal descendents of the mountain god.
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| The Dongria Kondh farm and gather in a way that has protected the forest. © Jason Taylor |
The top of the mountain, which is worshiped by the Dongria Kondh as the seat of their god, has rich deposits of the aluminium ore bauxite.
The British mining company Vedanta is intent on strip-mining this resource, which will devastate the forests, the rivers that flow from the mountain and the culture and identity of the Dongria Kondh.
Villagers who have been removed from their homes at the base of the mountain for Vedanta’s bauxite refinery have suffered threats and force and have lost all their land and means of supporting themselves.
Although the Supreme Court has forbidden Vedanta from mining the mountain, it has welcomed an application from Vedanta’s Indian subsidiary, Sterlite, if they follow certain guidelines, including providing funds for ‘tribal development’. But no ‘development’ or ‘compensation’ package could cure the problems that mining Niyamgiri will cause: the destruction of a unique environment and a unique culture.
Unless the government acts quickly to protect the mountain, mining could begin soon. The Dongria Kondh would lose their livelihood, their home, their identity and the sanctity of their most religious site.
In common with other displaced tribal groups worldwide, they would also lose their health, their self-sufficiency and their expert knowledge about the hills, forests and farming systems that they have nurtured.
Your support is vital if the Dongria Kondh are to survive. There are many ways you can help.
