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More than 100 Wapichan people from 15 communities of the South Rupununi District of Guyana gathered on the 2nd and 3rd March to celebrate joining a global campaign in support of indigenous peoples and community land rights. The women, youths, village leaders and elders met in the mixed Makushi-Wapichan Village of Shulinab to re-affirm their commitment to secure their 2.8 million hectare ancestral territory in the Rupununi savannahs and tropical forest of the Upper Essequibo basin.The Wapichan people of Guyana are settled in 17 communities and make a living from small-scale farming, hunting,Cheap China Jerseys, fishing and gathering, combined with free-range ranching, a little cash cropping (mainly peanuts) and traditional artisanal mining for cash income.Speeches on the land struggle were presented by Village Toshaos (elected leaders). Activities included a public screening of the Wapichan representatives receiving the Equator Prize award from the United Nations in Paris last December; alongside a film “Territories of Life”, made by the NGO Life Mosaic,Cheap Jerseys, telling the stories of land rights struggles of indigenous peoples around the world.Local Indigenous peopleElder Elizabeth Andre of Aishalton Village told the crowd meeting at Shulinab “Since I was a little girl I used to hear my daddy talking about the land, naming our creeks,Brian Campbell Jersey, rivers and mountains. He talked about the need to have our land rights respected. I never believed that after all this time, which is nearly 60 years now that nothing would have been done to properly protect our territory. We want all our lands titled together. We do not want divisions and gaps. We want our lands whole. My mother is very elderly. I want her to see our territory legally recognized so she may die peacefully, knowing that our people and our future generations are secure on our collective land. We look to our new government to take action now. We have waited long enough”.Many villagers and leaders present in the meeting called for fair and effective actions to title their collective land. Several people raised concerns about the accelerating pace of destructive mining around the Marudi Mountain. People from the southern villages also rang new alarm bells about the encroachment of Brazilian gold miners who are now rapidly approaching pristine forest areas around Blue Mountain, which is a sacred site of the Wapichan people.In responding to these challenges, participants underlined the collective support of all their villages for membership of the Global Call to Action on Indigenous Community Land Rights being launched globally this week by indigenous peoples, communities and a coalition of international social justice and development NGOs,Cheap Jerseys Online, including Oxfam,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Rights and Resource Initiative and Forest Peoples Programme.The people of the Wapichan villages applauded the President of Guyana for his written agreement to hold formal discussions between the government and Wapichan representatives and organisations on steps needed to legally secure their collective territory.It is expected that preliminary discussions with the government through the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs (MIPA) will start in meetings. The villagers are hopeful that a good faith process can be agreed for limitation, delineation and titling of all of their territory in line with indigenous peoples’ rights and international standards. The villagers are also asking that the Norwegian-funded Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) Project adopt participatory and rights-based approaches to advance land titling to the full satisfaction of the communities and in compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.The celebration ended with participants expressing their camaraderie with the Akawaio and Arekuna peoples of the Upper Mazaruni in their long land struggle. They likewise communicated support for all indigenous peoples in Guyana seeking to secure land rights,Alexis Sanchez Jersey, including the Villages of Nappi and Parashara, whose traditional lands are threatened by land grabbing in the Central Rupununi.