For Land & Life: The Oakland Institute Podcast

The Oakland Institute
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As a leading policy think tank, the Oakland Institute is bringing fresh ideas and bold action to the most pressing social, economic, and environmental issues of our time. In partnership with impacted communities, we research and document threats to land rights, livelihoods, and natural resources, and develop communications and advocacy campaigns to support and elevate these struggles in the international arena.

  1. 09/04/2024

    Maasai Rise to Defend Ancestral Land ft. Joseph Oleshangay

    Maasai communities have acted as the ancestral guardians of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa for centuries. Today, they are under attack as the Tanzanian government wages a brutal campaign to forcibly evict them from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to boost tourism revenues. Despite mounting pressures to force them from their homes, Maasai have recently waged a historic protest mobilization in defense of their rights to land and life. On today's episode we speak with Joseph Oleshangay, a Maasai human rights lawyer on the frontlines of this struggle. Based in Arusha and working with the Legal and Human Rights Centre, Joseph was the recipient of the 2023 Weimar Human Rights Prize for his ongoing efforts to protect the rights of the Maasai people in Ngorongoro and Loliondo. As one of the leading voices working to protect Maasai land rights, he has faced retaliation and surveillance from the Tanzanian government. We are extremely grateful to have him as our guest today and recognize his courage for continuing to speak out on behalf of impacted Maasai communities.  Tune in to learn more about the crippling livelihood restrictions these Indigenous communities face as the government prioritizes the interests of safari tourists over their well being. We also discuss the complicity of international conservation NGOs and donor governments and how listeners can support their struggle.  Learn more: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/country/tanzania

    1h 5m

  2. 07/17/2023

    Crackdown on Loggers in Papua New Guinea ft. Eddie Tanago

    After decades of being exploited for natural resources, Papua New Guinea is cracking down. Our guest today is Eddie Tanago, the Campaign Manager at ACT NOW, a PNG-based organization on the forefront against illegal logging and other destructive extractive industries. He discusses the recent historic fine imposed on a logging firm in PNG for tax evasion and the path forward to a truly people-centered development strategy. For more see: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/country/papua-new-guinea

    23 min

  3. 03/01/2023

    Carbon Pipelines Fuel Environmental Racism ft. Sikowis Nobiss, Mahmud Fitil, Jaylen Cavil & Alejandro Murgia-Ortiz

    Summit Carbon Solutions intends to build the world’s largest carbon capture and storage pipeline across the Midwestern US, despite fierce and sustained citizen opposition. While media coverage so far has focused on the opposition white landowners in the path of the proposed route have to the pipelines – this project represents the latest instance of environmental racism as Indigenous, Black, Brown and Migrant communities will face some of the greatest risks if this project goes through. Today's episode features several leading activists fighting against this and other proposed carbon pipelines in Iowa – Sikowis Christine Nobiss, Founder & Executive Director of Great Plains Action Society (GPAS), Mahmud Fitil, Frontlines Action Director GPAS ; Jaylen Cavil Advocacy Director for the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement; Alejandro Murgia-Ortiz Community Organizer with Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. The full report is available at: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/midwest-carbon-express-summit-carbon-solutions

    53 min

  4. 09/26/2022

    A Decade of Struggle to Reclaim Land from Foreign Agribusinesses in Senegal, ft. Ardo Sow

    As US-based holding company African Agriculture Inc. (AAGR) has filed an initial public offering to fund a large-scale agribusiness project in the northern region of Saint-Louis in Senegal, local communities are demanding the company return their land stolen over a decade ago. Today's episode features an interview with Ardo Sow from the Collectif pour la Défense du Ndiaël, who have been steadfastly campaigning for the return of their ancestral land since 2012.  Learn more: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/communities-senegal-demand-return-land-aagr-senhuile https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/company/senhuile https://grain.org/article/entries/4815-who-is-behind-senhuile-senethanol   Music credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S25uEldJffU

    27 min

  5. 07/20/2022

    Agroecology: The Solution to the Food Price Crisis ft. Luwayo Biswick, Malawian Permaculture Farmer

    The world is currently in the midst of a food price crisis, with prices of staple foods and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides skyrocketing on global markets. As usual, the most vulnerable are being hit the hardest by these rising prices. The good news is that more and more farmers are breaking free from the reliance on expensive and polluting pesticides and fertilizers to feed themselves and their communities. In Malawi, Luwayo and Grace Biswick run the Permaculture Paradise Institute. By using agroecological practices, they have transformed their land to produce an abundant diversity of crops year-round. They have also made their livelihoods resilient to climate shocks and market volatility, while saving on agricultural inputs. Hear their story and how they are helping scale up agroecology in a country in urgent need of a new path forward on the latest episode of For Land & Life – The Oakland Institute Podcast. To learn more see: https://www.facebook.com/permaculturetraining/

    23 min

  6. 03/03/2022

    Stealth Game: Community Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya ft. Abdinoor Dima Jillo, Isaiah Biwott and Violet Matiru

    This episode explores the devastating impact privatized, neocolonial wildlife conservation and safari tourism have had on Indigenous pastoral communities, specifically in Northern Kenya.  Since its founding in 2004, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has set up 43 "community" conservancies on over 42,000 square kilometers of land in Northern and Coastal Kenya – nearly 8 percent of the country's total land area. Although terms like “participatory,” “community driven,” and “local empowerment” are extensively used by NRT, this episode amplifies the voices of pastoralist communities who have been dispossessed of their ancestral lands, through corruption, cooptation, and sometimes through intimidation and violence, to create wildlife conservancies for conservation dollars. Guests include: Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Executive Director and author of the Stealth Game report Abdinoor Dima Jillo, member of the Borana Council of Elders in Isiolo County, Kenya Isaiah Biwott, community member Tugen community, Baringo County, Kenya Violet Matiru, Executive Director, Millennium Community Development Initiatives, Kenya Host: Andy Currier Report available: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/stealth-game-community-conservancies-devastate-northern-kenya

    45 min

  7. 12/06/2021

    Art as Resistance ft. David Solnit

    If you’ve participated in any mobilizations over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen the work of today’s guest, Oakland Institute Senior Fellow David Solnit. A climate justice, global justice, anti-war, arts, and direct action organizer, David is also an author, a puppeteer, and a trainer. He was a key organizer in the shutdowns of the WTO in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. Today is he deeply involved in climate action protests.  In this episode, David reflects on decades spent on the front lines of some of the most important mobilizations and shares his thoughts on the role art can play in resistance movements. To see David's work firsthand and stay up to date on his current organizing see: https://www.facebook.com/david.solnit

    24 min

  8. 09/19/2021

    UN Food Systems Summit Resistance: Part II ft. Elizabeth Mpofu, Alejandro Argumedo & Anuradha Mittal

    The second episode in a two part series exploring resistance to the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit and mapping out sustainable, bottom-up approaches to food sovereignty. Featuring Elizabeth Mpofu (La Via Campesina), Alejandro Argumedo (Swift Foundation) & Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute) Intro: Chivy Sok Host: Andy Currier For more see: //www.oaklandinstitute.org/food-systems-summit

    41 min
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About

As a leading policy think tank, the Oakland Institute is bringing fresh ideas and bold action to the most pressing social, economic, and environmental issues of our time. In partnership with impacted communities, we research and document threats to land rights, livelihoods, and natural resources, and develop communications and advocacy campaigns to support and elevate these struggles in the international arena.

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