From Bugoma Forest to Bugoma Forest; a closed circuit along the shores of the Itaka Lya Mwitanzige (Lake Albert), crossing the Bugungu ancestral lands occupied by the Murchinson Fall National Park up to Pakwach and down towards the Mahagi territories, finally cruising the lake on a boat back to Hoima district. 550 km to walk along with the Women Environmental and Human Rights Defenders, the custodians of a land that the extractive industry is clearing.

In solidarity with the Women Environmental and Human Rights Defenders

Woman Environmental and Human Rights Defenders are identified above all by what they do. They are characterized as such through their actions to protect environmental and land rights. They are not necessarily only members of big, well-known environmental NGOs. They may work as journalists, activists or lawyers who expose and oppose environmental destruction or land grabbing; or they are often ordinary people living in remote villages, forests or mountains, who may not even be aware that they are acting as environmental human rights defenders. They may be small-sale farmers with no land deeds; fisherwomen; teachers in remote rural communities; and in some cases even government officials. In many other cases, they are indigenous leaders or community members who defend their traditional lands against the harms of large-scale projects such as mining and dams. Many become environmental human rights defenders by accident or necessity, taking a stand against injustice or harm to their environment. Their marginalization may be amplified by increased vulnerability in rural communities, where they don’t have access to information, communication or support networks.