Alert Update - August 6, 2010

We have added a new protest email - the first one below - which is going to Indian government officials in support of local demands. Please take part in this new protest target. Also, our action to date has caused HSBC and WestLB banks to publicly distance themselves from Vedanta and Niyamgiri mining, an early success. This is reflected in the updated 2nd email to send. Please send both!

The Dongria Kondh are an indigenous tribe who have lived since time immemorial around the mountain Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa. Because they revere this mountain as an important spiritual place, it has not thus far suffered the deforestation and degradation experienced by similar areas in that part of the world but contains an elephant reserve with Sambar, Leopard, Tiger, Barking Deer, various species of birds and other endangered species of wildlife. 

However now Vedanta Resources, a truly international mining company registered in Britain to provide a thin veneer of credibility, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. The Dongria Kondh have been struggling with all their might to protect their mountain but are being overpowered by the  financial and political might of this multi-billion dollar company. In 2006, thousands of tribal people armed with bows and arrows came out to protest against the alumina refinery being set up by Britain's Vedanta Resources Plc. Local vociferous and effective protest continues to this day.

To support these local efforts, we believe that the key to stopping this from happening is for many people from around the world to write to the banks that finance Vedanta’s operations  and the UK’s Department of International Development who have key roles to play to prevent this disaster from taking place.

Many groups from around the world  have been campaigning to persuade  Vedanta's  shareholders and financiers to distance themselves from the company. As a result of their good work, the Church of England,   the Norwegian government's sovereign pension fund and several other of Vedanta's shareholders  have now sold their investments in the company, citing human rights concerns.

A group of international NGO's wrote to Vedanta's bankers in April this year asking them to dissociate themselves from the company. None of the banks have done so, so now it’s time to name and shame them, time for people from all around the world to send emails expressing our disgust that they continue  bankroll this disgraceful project.

Please click on "Take Action",  add your name, country and email and, with a few clicks of the mouse,  you can send emails to people who could, if they wished, prevent this ecological destruction and injustice from taking place. Please share this action alert with your friends and ask them to do the same.


** Your email will go to the following banks who have invested in Vedanta..

ANZ, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays, BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank, China Ex-Im Bank, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Macquarie bank, Merrill Lynch, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Natixis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scotia Bank, Société Générale, Standard Chartered, State Bank of India, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Remember my information for 3 months to make future sending easier (privacy)

I do not wish to receive occasional short notifications of new action alerts (~3 a month)

In addition to new action alerts, inform me of major forest and climate policy developments (~2/month), and provide original environmental analysis (~2/month) (more information)

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