#communitiesspeak by NTFP-EP

In this episode, we sit down with Gordon John Thomas, a Dusun Tatana, Kuala Penyu from Sabah, Malaysia. He is the Programme Coordinator of PACOS Trust (Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah), a community-based organization dedicated to supporting indigenous communities in Sabah. We discuss their work supporting Indigenous peoples in establishing their community protocols, and how such protocols significantly contribute to the conservation of their territories and biodiversity.

For this episode, we spoke with Pirawan Wongnithisathaporn from the Karen indigenous group based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. "Pi", as she is known to many,  grew up in the forest where their culture, beliefs, and identity are intertwined. She works as Environment Programme Officer for the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), a member and partner of NTFP-EP, and the CSO Forum on Social Forestry in ASEAN.

In celebration of this years' Earth Day, we are honored to have a conversation with John Vincent "Toto" Colili, an indigenous youth leader of the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Katutubong Kabataan (SNaKK) in Palawan, Philippines. We discuss their initiatives that contribute to restoring and protecting their forest ecosystems in their ancestral land. Toto also shares his experience, challenges, and advice to fellow youth on the importance of participating and organizing on environmental issues along with some thoughts on youth engagement for healthy forests and healthy earth.