Indigenous people in eastern Panama are watching in alarm and frustration as huge tracts of the tropical forest in which they live are cut down by illegal loggers. The seriousness of the situation became clear in March of this year, when two people died and three others were injured in violent confrontations between indigenous communities and loggers.
Many of the Wounaan community leaders working to find a nonviolent, just resolution to this conflict are members of the local Mennonite Brethren churches, the predominant churches in the area.
The Wounaan people hunt, fish, and cultivate small plots of land, however they do have not have government recognized rights to the forests they have inhabited for centuries.
MB Mission and MCC are working to support these communities as they use non-violent means to find a just solution to this conflict.
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Photo credit: Tropical Rainforest at its Best!
[…] provided by the MB Herald. For more information on the situation in Panama, refer to the blog post Working for Peace in Panama. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. This entry was posted in […]