We’ve received inquiries both from local community members who want to share the Earth Defenders Toolkit resources with their own community, as well as from allies who are working with a community and would like to know more about how to bring and introduce the Earth Defenders Toolkit. In this post, we offer several concrete pathways for using the Toolkit.

On July 21st, Digital Democracy, Natural Justice and Oxfam hosted the Africa Forum for Earth Defenders. This two-hour virtual event brought together over 120 participants, primarily earth defenders from across the African continent, to share stories of work they are doing on the frontlines, and highlight new tools and strategies that help put power in the hands of local communities.

We recently shared an overview of the global launch event for Earth Defenders Toolkit which happened on July 14th. This week, we’re diving into some of the testimonies shared at the event by our partners.

On July 14, 2021, Digital Democracy along with co-hosts Alianza Ceibo, Amazon Frontlines & Oxfam hosted a global launch event for the Earth Defenders Toolkit, a collaborative space for earth defenders and their allies.  This two-hour virtual event brought together over 160 participants from around the world, the majority identifying as earth defenders, to share […]

By Caitlin Looby on 2 August 2021. Crossposted from Mongabay. The Earth Defenders Toolkit is a growing collection of apps, resources and blogs where Indigenous peoples and their allies can come together to connect and mobilize. The goals of the toolkit are to support local autonomy, allowing Indigenous communities to maintain ownership of data and reduce the […]

Across the African continent, local communities are working together to protect their forests, savannas, deserts and coastlines from external threats and extractive industries.  On July 21st, Natural Justice, Oxfam and Digital Democracy are co-convening the Africa Forum for Earth Defenders, a two-hour virtual event to bring together frontline defenders from across the continent to share […]

Across the planet, Indigenous peoples and local communities are on the frontlines of protecting critical forests, grasslands and other ecosystems from environmental threats. They often do so at extreme risk to their personal safety, and in isolation from external support. Join us on July 14 the celebrate the launch of Earth Defenders Toolkit,  a newly […]

Today is the full launch of Earth Defenders Toolkit, a collaborative space for earth defenders and their allies. The Toolkit provides a growing collection of resources and training materials for communities on the frontlines of the struggle to defend critical ecosystems around the world, and community networks for users to connect and share their experiences. […]

To remedy the high learning curve that comes with understanding information technology, trainings focused on using a digital tool should be accompanied by training in basic tech literacy focused on components of this broader ecosystem in which the tool lives.

A common theme that has come out of conversations with partners about earth defender needs is figuring out where and how to get started. Many earth defender communities are aware of the emerging threats or problems within their community or their lands, but are less sure about what kind of actions to take, and rarely start directly from the point of view of wanting to make a map or conducting monitoring. Instead, it may be necessary to start thinking more broadly and to ground the conversation in something central to the lifeworld of the community: the territory.