Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines face a range of
threats from what they frequently describe as 'development aggression'.
As they struggle to defend their land, much of it is in areas of forest
or mountain that are rich in natural resources and so conflicts often
arise with
companies,
many of them based outside the Philippines, who want to exploit those
resources - mostly without the consent of the Indigenous Peoples.
The main problems that Indigenous Peoples face are from large-scale
mining that digs up their land, in the construction of large-scale
dams that floods their land, in widespread logging
that deforests their land, or in the creation of nature
reserves or agriculture
that sees them ejected from or restricted in access to their own land.
All of these activities can lead to conflict which leads to militarisation
of their land, and in loss of livelihood or encroachment of settlements
which can lead urbanisation.
