Henry Red Cloud, Ralf Kracke-Berndorff and David Bartecchi participated in the United Nations Biodiversity Conference at UNESCO headquarters in Paris this week. One stream of the conference focused on the importance of indigenous knowledge in the protection of biodiversity. 
Above: David Bartecchi, Henry Red Cloud, Celine Planchou (CSIA – Paris), Ralf Kracke-Berndorff, and Sophie, Gergoud (CSIA Paris) 
Above: The Celine Planchou from CSIA – Paris looks on as Ralf adjusts his earphone. 
One of the highlights of our visit to UNESCO headquarters was our meeting with Douglas Nakashima, Director of UNESCO’s L.I.N.K.S. (Linking Indigenous Knowledge Systems) project where we discussed Village Earth’s work on the Pine Ridge Reservation and our efforts to protect and utilize Lakota knowledge systems in our projects.
Spring II Session
GSLL 1517 – Community-Based Organizing
Taking a practical “hands-on” perspective, this course will explore the theories, tools, styles and challenges of community-based organizing. It will discuss practical strategies for developing community leadership and working with marginalized communities, exploring the ideas and examples from Evo Morales, Paulo Freire, Saul Alinsky, Sub-Comandante Marcos, the Bridge Immigrant Rights experiment and Martin Heidegger.
