Who we are
Yes to Life, No to Mining (YLNM) is a global solidarity network of and for communities, organisations and networks who are standing up for their Right to Say No to mining and advancing life-sustaining, post-extractive alternatives.
Our team
We believe communities, not states or multinational corporations, hold the key to a post-extractive future. Yes to Life No to Mining exists to bring this future into reality through solidarity and collective action. Coordination of the Yes to Life No to Mining network including support for YLNM members is through YLNM Co-Coordinators and Regional Contact People (RCP).
Please feel free to reach out to any of the YLNM team.
YLNM’s Co-coordinators
Mariana Gomez Soto, Strategic Coordinator, Latin America
Lynda Sullivan, Communications Coordinator, Europe
Tom Takezoe, Membership Coordinator, Europe
Regional Contact People
Ana Celestial, South East Asia;
Nat Lowrey, Oceania;
Babawale Obayanju, West Africa;
Guadalupe Rodriguez, Southern Europe & Latin America;
Merle Davis, North America;
Jen Moore, North & Central America;
Ramón Balcazar, Latin America.
Our history
2012 - 2013
A group of African communities and allied civil society groups met in Kenya to discuss how to respond to the rapid expansion of mining extractivism across Africa. They agreed on the need for a stronger stance against extractivism and the mainstream vision of mining ‘development’. African poet and civil society leader Nnimmo Bassey summed up the group’s feeling in a phrase- Yes to Life, No to Mining.
2014
After a period of global consultation with established anti-mining movements and organisations, the Yes to Life, No to Mining Network was officially launched in November 2014. In its first years the network focused on gathering, connecting and connecting with allies aligned with YLNM’s stance on mining, building an online web-space and toolkit, and establishing a working structure.
2015
Throughout the life of the network, YLNM has focused on facilitating reactive solidarity initiatives between members in times of need. For example, in 2015 YLNM members coordinated a global solidarity campaign to successfully secure the release of human rights defender Beejin Khastumur, of YLNM member group DMNN, who was imprisoned for opposing illegal mining.
2016
YLNM’s global team of regional coordinators have advanced an active programme of work to support and strengthen national and regional anti-mining movements through small grants, community exchanges, popular informational materials and toolkits, research, media amplification, webinars and supporting ‘emblematic’ communities in Colombia, Finland, Myanmar and Galicia
2017-2019
Bringing frontline voices to global prominence, since 2017, YLNM has collaborated on a number of different research efforts highlighting the critical need for post-extractive solutions to the climate and ecological crises. These include The Dark Side of Digitalization (2017) and A Justice Transition is a Post-Extractive Transition (2019) and a series of Emblematic cases
2020-2021
The pandemic further highlighted the inequalities and injustices in our world with extractive industries taking advantage to fast-track projects with impunity. As a result of this YLNM As a result of this YLNM with several organisations published a paper in 2020 Voices from the Ground: How the Global Mining Industry is Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic., this work continued in under the Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic.
2022
YLNM RCPs and Members continued work on Mining and the Pandemic with the launch of a report in May 2022, NO REPRIEVE | For life and territory: COVID-19 and resistance to the mining pandemic with a focus on Latin America. There were also case studies and systhesis from Asia Pacific, Africa, North America, and Europe. YLNM also held its first virtual Global Gathering, launched an Action Fund and produced Statements, Guides, Communiqués, Dispatches and Emblematic cases.
2023
In 2023, YLNM held another Action Fund round to enhance our existing efforts through direct financial support to communities saying Yes to Life, No to Mining. YLNM co-organised with partners across the globe an international gathering, the second Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractive Economy (TSF) in Indonesia in October 2023 and held our first RCP face-to-face since 2017. As of 2023, YLNM has over 60 members including frontline communities, organisations, and networks and 10 regional coordinators of which three are YLNM co-coordinators
Our members
Established in 2014, the YLNM Network now has over 60 member groups connected across borders and realities. These members hail from every inhabited continent on Earth and include frontline communities and people’s platforms, non-profit organisations and national and regional networks.
YLNM is also a home for honourary individual members who have placed their skills as academics, scientists, researchers and organisers at the service of our global membership. Beyond our official network, we maintain working alliances with many other groups defending human rights and our living planet.