¡La Vida no es un negocio!

A joint declaration by indigenous communities in Mexico, released during COP 13 in Cancún, argues that the 'green economy' and biodiversity conventions serve as fronts for corporate interests and the dispossession of indigenous lands. The document condemns the criminalization of environmental defenders and the use of deceptive conservation rhetoric to justify extractive projects, including wind and hydroelectric power. It specifically criticizes the REDD+ mechanism and the Nagoya and Cartagena protocols for favoring multinationals over indigenous sovereignty and biocultural heritage.

• The signatories argue that the Mexican state supports transnational corporations and a 'green economy' that facilitates the dispossession of indigenous lands through mining, wind, and hydroelectric projects, as well as monocultures and agrotochemicals.
• The document claims that environmental impact studies are manipulated to serve corporate interests and that the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior, and informed consultation is ignored.
• The REDD+ mechanism is criticized as evidence of a lack of genuine will to address climate change, with the authors stating that indigenous peoples should not be used as laboratories for sustainable development experiments.
• The Nagoya and Cartagena protocols, as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity, are viewed as tools that promote the privatization of common goods and ancestral knowledge to benefit multinational companies.
• The statement highlights a history of biopiracy, specifically citing the ICBG-Maya project involving ECOSUR, the University of Georgia, the US government, and Nature Limited of Wales, which was stopped by indigenous and peasant resistance in Chiapas.

APA

González, F. T., López, E., Galindo, F. H., & Hawkins, I. (2016). ¡La Vida no es un negocio! Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/es/la-vida-no-es-un-negocio/

Chicago

González, Fray Tomás, Ernestina López, Florentina Hernández Galindo, and Isabel Hawkins. ¡La Vida no es un negocio! Friends of the Earth International, 2016. https://www.foei.org/es/la-vida-no-es-un-negocio/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=González |first1=Fray Tomás |last2=López |first2=Ernestina |last3=Galindo |first3=Florentina Hernández |last4=Hawkins |first4=Isabel |title=¡La Vida no es un negocio! |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=4 December 2016 |url=https://www.foei.org/es/la-vida-no-es-un-negocio/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{gonzlez2016vida, author = {González, Fray Tomás and López, Ernestina and Galindo, Florentina Hernández and Hawkins, Isabel}, title = {{¡La Vida no es un negocio!}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://www.foei.org/es/la-vida-no-es-un-negocio/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }