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Dear friends,
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Bulldozers are about to destroy a sacred wildlife corridor, high in the peaks of Nepal.
It's home to red pandas, Himalayan black bears, and some of the last snow leopards on Earth.
But in just a few weeks, hydropower companies want to start building three massive dams -- creating an endless lake that would drown the valley and all the life it holds.
Indigenous communities are fighting back in court, but winning isn't guaranteed.
So now they have an emergency plan: to buy specific pieces of land that would make building the dams impossible. It's totally brilliant -- with our help they can block the only viable routes for new roads into the mountains. Without roads, nothing else can go ahead.
Our donations could provide the emergency deposit for every piece of strategic land. This would block the bulldozers and keep the entire wildlife corridor out of reach -- 400,000 acres of life, protected.
We know this tactic works: Avaaz members have already helped to protect other critical habitats in this way -- thank you. Now let's make this plan work!
Everything is lined up, and there's just enough time before the diggers move in. Together we can stand with Indigenous communities to defend this precious mountain wilderness!
Your donation will also help to power other Avaaz campaigns to defend life on Earth. Donate what you can now:
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Snow leopards face life-and-death threats at every turn: mega infrastructure projects, poaching, and the climate crisis… their world is melting away, shrinking year by year. There may only be 3,500 left in the wild. These new hydropower projects would be another nail in the coffin -- damming the magnificent Chhujung, Chhunjam, and Bakhang rivers, and flooding the giant Lungba Samba valley. Local Lhomi Singsa and Bhote people have guarded this land for centuries -- if these projects go ahead their villages, monasteries, and way of life could all be washed away. But by partnering with them, we can help stop these dams. It's their plan to buy this land -- a fight for biodiversity, and their own survival. It's already worked in other parts of Nepal, but it requires funding that local communities simply don't have. If we raise enough, we could:- Buy strategic parcels of land in Nepal -- registering them as officially protected, blocking bulldozers from their intended construction sites, and supporting the legal and media work to ensure protections are upheld;
- Partner with Indigenous communities who are fighting to protect their lands around the world -- supporting them to resist megaprojects, and protecting our world’s remaining biodiversity;
- Fund crucial lawsuits and campaigns that challenge land grabs and the decimation of ecosystems and watersheds; and
- Push for radical action on biodiversity and climate, and get Indigenous leaders to the nature summits that matter in the coming months.
Our movement supported the Bhote community to lay down protections for this region in 2019 -- helping to create a huge 'biocultural heritage zone'. But Nepal’s hunger for hydropower has only grown. Now, we need to help finish the job, and protect this place for good. Together, we can help Indigenous communities preserve their cultures, and protect a vast snow leopard habitat in a rapidly changing world. Donate what you can now:
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Avaaz is proud to have stood with Indigenous Peoples in their fight for justice -- blocking megaprojects and land grabs from Tanzania to the Amazon. We’re a movement from every country on Earth: lawyers, activists, teachers, journalists, grandparents. And when millions of us act as one, across the planet, we can make an outsize difference to the world we leave our future ancestors.
With fierce hope and endless determination,
Jon, Kaitlin, Mike, Bert, Antonia, Ana Sofia and the whole team at Avaaz
Note: The donation amounts provided above are based on the cost that it would take to help protect the entire wildlife corridor from destruction. By purchasing specific plots of land, the local community would effectively protect the entire wildlife corridor -- because they'd be able to block the construction of roads into the area, preventing any further construction. The cost includes the actual land purchase, legal costs, and media work to ensure that the protection is upheld by local authorities.
PS. This might be your first donation to our movement ever. But what a first donation! Did you know that Avaaz relies entirely on small donations from members like you? That's why we're fully independent, nimble and effective. Join the over 1 million people who've donated to make Avaaz a real force for good in the world.
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