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Register for This Year’s Brower Youth Awards

Tickets to this year’s Brower Youth Awards ceremony are now available! Every year, Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative honors the work of six young environmental activists. From advancing clean-energy solutions to tackling food waste at schools, this year's awardees (to be announced in September) are solving some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. There are two exciting ways for you to be a part of this inspiring and uplifting program: take advantage of free tickets to the awards ceremony on October 17, 5:30 p.m., at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, California; and join us for a reception immediately following the ceremony at Gather Kitchen & Bar in Berkeley, California. Register here!

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Spotlight on International Projects
Earth Island Institute is a fiscal sponsor for projects throughout the world. In this issue of IslandWire we are featuring updates on a few of them, below.

Environmental Education through Art

Earth Island’s Viva Sierra Gorda works with Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda to promote and protect the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, an ecological region in Querétaro, México. The group’s latest campaign uses art to educate those who visit or live in the region about the flora and fauna in the reserve. Querétaro artist Santiago Boldó painted several murals on the outside walls at a local school, inspiring viewers to learn more. See other pieces of the campaign’s artwork here.

Protecting Eagles of the Palearctic Region

Earth Island’s Altai Project, which works to protect landscapes and wildlife and support Indigenous peoples and traditional lifeways in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, will be attending a conference in Kazakhstan in September on the study and conservation of eagles and vultures of the Palearctic region. The international conference will bring together scientists and conservationists to discuss joint efforts by the countries where the birds breed, migrate, and overwinter. As part of its crackdown on civil society, and in an attempt to discourage the Altai Project’s work in the region, the Russian prosecutor general’s office recently declared the project an “undesirable organization,” making it a crime for Russian citizens to collaborate with it. Read more here. Photo of Egyptian vulture by Igor Karyakin.

Organizations Denounce Lawsuit against Activists

Last week, Earth Island’s Borneo Project was one of seventy-five civil society and human rights organizations that sent a letter in opposition to a defamation lawsuit against environmental group Bruno Maser Fonds (BMF). BMF is part of a coalition, which includes the Borneo Project, working to protect the rainforest and Indigenous lifeways in Sarawak, Malaysia. The strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) attempts to silence BMF for speaking out about corporate corruption. The Malaysian Centre for Independent Journalism reports that SLAPPs are on the rise in Malaysia to silence critics. This week, BMF held a tribunal for members of the Indigenous communities of Sarawak, as well as international scholars, who served as witnesses testifying on rainforest destruction and loss of Indigenous livelihoods in Malaysian Borneo. The Borneo Project's founder Joe Lamb served as a jury member. Watch the powerful tribunal here.