topic: Indigenous Rights

topic: Indigenous Rights

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On renewable energy, it’s time to debunk the ‘transition minerals’ narrative (commentary)
- The world needs to move from fossil fuels to renewable ones, but the narrative pushed by powerful financial, political, and environmental institutions — that it’s necessary to massively scale up mining of “transition” or “critical” minerals to achieve this — is false, a new op-ed argues.
- Not only do these minerals’ extraction cause countless environmental and community harms, the numbers cited about how they are used — and the number of new mines needed — don’t add up, a recent report has shown.
- “The vast majority [of critical minerals] are used in industries that are either unrelated — or in direct opposition — to the clean energy transition,” the author writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Michael Painter put Indigenous land rights at the center of conservation
- Michael Painter, an ecological anthropologist who joined the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1997, spent much of his career working at the intersection of conservation, Indigenous land rights, and rural development.
- In Bolivia, he helped strengthen partnerships with Indigenous organizations in the Gran Chaco and Greater Madidi, including efforts that supported the titling and management of large Indigenous territories.
- Painter later worked within WCS to advance a human-rights-based approach to conservation, including safeguards for research involving people and stronger recognition of Indigenous rights and governance.
- Painter died on February 11, 2026.

Invaders storm Indigenous Amazon land, threatening isolated people
- About 200 people have invaded the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state since August 13, breaking through Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai) gates, removing signs and establishing camps.
- The invasion followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area that completely overlaps with the federally protected Indigenous Land — creating legal confusion which authorities say has been exploited by individuals who wish to occupy the area.
- Federal authorities have warned of an imminent risk of confrontation and potentially genocide against Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation and have called for the urgent deployment of the National Force and Federal Police.
- On August 26, a federal court ordered the Union and Funai to send teams from the Public Security Force within 48 hours to contain the invasion but the deadline has passed and the teams have not yet arrived.

Philippines fast-tracks critical minerals, raising Indigenous, environmental concerns
- The Philippines’ new critical-minerals policy targets at least 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of prospective mineral areas, more than 11 times the land currently covered by approved mining projects, according to an environmental legal group.
- Environmental and Indigenous rights advocates warn that expanded mineral development could increase pressure on forests and ancestral domains.
- Critics say that by rolling out the simultaneous processing of mining permits and clearances, the new policy could undermine meaningful free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) if Indigenous communities are pushed to make decisions without adequate time and information.
- The mining industry has welcomed faster and more predictable permitting, while advocates are calling for stronger community participation and safeguards for Indigenous rights and ecosystem health before large-scale critical-mineral development proceeds.

Drought is deepening a health crisis among Peru’s recently contacted Indigenous Matsés
- Since initiating contact with the outside world in 1969, the Matsés Indigenous people of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon have faced a barrage of epidemics.
- During a recent visit to the Matsés reserve, Mongabay found a population still suffering from outbreaks of deadly malaria and hepatitis B, exacerbated by state neglect and environmental threats like drought.
- Matsés leaders, anthropologists, and health experts warn that exposure could be fatal for isolated groups neighboring Matsés land, as well as those in nearby reserves across the wider Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor.
- Drought and an intensifying El Niño could further compound these health pressures by disrupting rainfall patterns, creating conditions that allow malaria-bearing mosquitoes to proliferate and affecting river transport for medical care.

Displaced by a typhoon, Taiwan’s Bunun people fear for the future of their culture
- More than a hundred Bunun Indigenous people were forced to resettle in lowland areas after 2009’s Typhoon Morakot destroyed the only road leading to Tengjhih, their mountain settlement, in southern Taiwan.
- The Bunun, who believe the connection to their ancestors is a pillar of their identity, still wish to return to their ancestral land, saying it would allow them to preserve rituals and traditional knowledge.
- Each year, however, climate change is making rainfall more destructive, wreaking havoc on efforts to rebuild and reopen the road to Tengjhih.
- Indigenous communities have heavily criticized the government’s resettlement program, under which families receive ownership of the apartments they are given, but not of the land on which the buildings stand.

Siraya language, deemed ‘extinct’ over a century ago, finds its voice again in Taiwan
- A family of Siraya activists in Taiwan is a major driving force behind the revival of their ancestral language — more than a hundred years after it was last spoken.
- The work to revitalize the Siraya language, which began more than 20 years ago, helped secure the community’s legal recognition as Taiwan’s 17th Indigenous group.
- The story of the Siraya language’s revitalization began as a love story between Siraya activist Uma Talavan and Filipino musician Edgar Macapili.
- While she could not understand a Dutch missionary’s Siraya translation of the Gospel of Matthew, her husband recognized similarities between the Siraya language and his mother tongue, Bisaya, both of which belong to the Austronesian language family.

Australia’s 30×30 conservation promise matters a lot, but how it’s achieved is key (commentary)
- How Australia — one of the planet’s most megadiverse nations — tackles its goal to conserve 30% of its land and seas by 2030 (30×30) may signal whether this, the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment, can succeed.
- With just four years to meet its promise, Australia has a way to go, but has also achieved some important milestones in part by involving Indigenous communities closely in the effort.
- “If Australia meets the target well, it will help demonstrate that conservation can be representative, rights-based, well-funded, and effective,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Ashéninka leader reportedly killed while patrolling Indigenous territory is found alive
- Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tumisha was reportedly shot and killed Aug. 23 while patrolling the territory of the Onconashari Indigenous community in Peru’s Ucayali region. He was subsequently found to be alive.
- Onconashari residents have reported incursions linked to unauthorized copaiba extraction since at least 2020, including threats against community members who objected.
- The community has a long history of territorial monitoring and in 2025 received formal government recognition for its Forest Surveillance and Control Committee, which Pascuala later coordinated.
- Global Witness has documented more than 60 killings and disappearances of environmental and land defenders in Peru since 2012; AIDESEP says at least 38 Indigenous defenders were killed in the Peruvian Amazon between 2014 and 2026.

At global desertification conference, pastoralists call for greater recognition
- Hundreds of pastoralists are in Mongolia for the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, or UNCCD, from Aug. 17 to 28, 2026.
- They want stronger protections for Indigenous pastoral traditions, greater access to funding and resources to address climate change, and official recognition of Indigenous knowledge of how to adapt to a hotter, drier world.
- The pace of arable land degradation is 30 to 35 times the historic average, threatening even the most resilient communities, according to the U.N.
- Pastoralist delegates say that though their traditions offer biodiversity benefits, traditional knowledge is not always enough as climate change and land degradation accelerate.

In Raja Ampat, children learn that their knowledge can help protect their islands
- Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment.
- A recent children’s book reading was part of a gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad.
- The book turns the biodiversity of Indonesia into a visual story about what could be lost if mining damages the environment.
- The author and illustrator hope that seeing their home, animals and stories represented in a book will encourage the children to tell more stories of their own.

Xokleng Indigenous people plant thousands of critically endangered pine in Brazil
The Xokleng Indigenous people of Santa Catarina state of southern Brazil have planted nearly a 100,000 seedlings of a critically endangered native tree, Mongabay contributor Letícia Klein reported. The Brazilian pine (Araucaria angustifolia), or araucária, can grow more than 50 meters (164 feet) tall and has a straight trunk with a broad crown of branches […]
Indonesia integrates Indigenous data in bid to put customary lands on map
- The Indonesian government has integrated data from its Ministry of Culture, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency and AMAN, the country’s largest Indigenous peoples’ alliance, to build a new dataset covering 3,857 Indigenous communities.
- The database will document and register customary territories and capture cultural aspects as well, including Indigenous languages, local foods and traditional knowledge.
- It is hoped that the database will provide greater visibility of Indigenous territories and enable them to be incorporated into permitting, development planning and spatial planning, but it does not grant legal recognition to Indigenous communities or customary territories.

Pete Brosius brought Penan forest stewardship in Sarawak into court
In the early 1990s, the logging roads running through Sarawak’s Upper Baram became the site of a bitter confrontation. Penan families built wooden barricades and faced off bulldozers, timber trucks, and state security forces. As the protests drew international attention, the government of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud restricted media access and portrayed the Penan […]
New Zealand opens marine reserves with groundbreaking Māori co-management model
- Five new marine protected areas (MPAs) came into effect in Aotearoa New Zealand in July after more than a decade of grassroots and governmental work — and a sixth is expected to open in the near future.
- The MPAs are no-take marine reserves, areas where all extractive activities are banned, co-managed by the regional Māori tribe Kāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation.
- The reserves are the first in the country to be co-managed by Indigenous people and the government through shared decision-making and a joint ranger team.
- The reserves are the first part of a planned network, called Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia, which is expected to have not only the reserves but also other types of protected areas that have less strict protections.

Brazil marks borders for isolated Indigenous group in the Amazon after decades
Agents of Brazil’s Indigenous agency, FUNAI, spent 60 days in June and July 2026 physically marking the borders of the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. The 411,000-hectare (1 million-acre) area in the Amazon biome of Mato Grosso state is home to the Kawahiva, an isolated Indigenous group. The government agency confirmed the presence of the […]
New leadership initiative carries on legacy of late Indonesian environmental activist
- The Yaya Leadership Initiative, launched in memory of late Indonesian environmental leader Nur Hidayati, aims to develop a new generation of community leaders, particularly women, young people, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots activists.
- The initiative builds on Yaya’s leadership approach, which emphasized sharing power, supporting women and young activists, and connecting environmental, Indigenous, agrarian, and human rights movements.
- Organizers say the initiative is especially important as Indonesian environmental defenders face rising threats, while social movements struggle with fragmentation, polarization, and a lack of leadership succession.
- The YLI has begun supporting emerging leaders through fellowships and aims to build networks that help activists remain in their movements, work across causes, and nurture the next generation of leaders.

On the Great Barrier Reef, management by Traditional Owners is growing
- Joint management of the Great Barrier Reef is changing, with Traditional Owners playing an increasing role in the conservation of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
- Despite climate change continuing to threaten the health of the Reef, the World Heritage Committee has again decided not to put the Great Barrier Reef on its “in danger” list, and has cited increased levels of Traditional Owner management in its decision.
- Traditional use and management agreements currently cover 43% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coastline and the government has announced new funding and measures to further include Indigenous management.
- There are still gaps in the full inclusion of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their traditional waters, say Indigenous governance organizations, though strides are being made.

Indonesia leads global tally of abuses linked to Chinese transition-mineral investments
- Indonesia recorded 96 allegations of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese investments in transition minerals from 2023 to 2025, the most of any country, with 90 involving nickel, according to a new report.
- Water, soil, and air pollution were among the main environmental concerns, while Indonesian nickel processors accounted for 57% of work-related deaths and 68% of injury allegations documented globally.
- The report also documented allegations involving Indigenous rights violations, intimidation of environmental defenders, and failures to obtain free, prior, and informed consent around nickel projects in Indonesia.
- The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, which compiled the report, says Chinese companies need stronger human rights and environmental due diligence, as gaps between corporate commitments and practices could create growing risks for workers, communities, and supply chains.

Texas activist’s claims of Indigenous ancestry face scrutiny
A recent investigation from Grist, a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization, raises questions about environmental activist Juan Mancias’ Indigenous claim to the land he works to protect in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2017, Mancias traveled to France and helped pressure French banks to withdraw support for oil and gas projects that he said threatened […]
Fatal barge crashes fuel fear over Madeira River waterway expansion in Brazil
- Brazil is planning to dredge the Madeira River to boost grain exports despite recent fatal barge collisions and poor dialogue with local communities.
- In addition to accidents, expanded traffic and dredging pose risks of erosion, water pollution, harm to aquatic species and fishing.
- As national elections approach, communities worry that politicians will prioritize agribusiness over the safety of those who rely on the river to access doctors, schools, work, trade and daily routines.

Siraya gain recognition as Taiwan’s 17th official Indigenous group
- On July 30, the Siraya became the first Indigenous group from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Identity Act, which offers pathways to redress the erasure of their Indigenous identities.
- The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers.
- The Siraya, a traditionally matrilineal people residing mainly in the southern city of Tainan and its surroundings, are considered to be the largest of the Pingpu Indigenous groups.
- Seen to be “well assimilated” with the Han Chinese population, the Pingpu communities have been largely denied not only official Indigenous status but also legal protections, resources, and other benefits.

Indigenous groups renew legal challenge to Indonesian conservation law
- Indigenous groups in Indonesia are petitioning the country’s Constitutional Court to invalidate parts of a 2024 conservation law, arguing it could allow the government to designate ancestral lands as conservation areas without communities’ consent and threaten their customary land rights.
- The court case comes a year after the court denied a judicial review of the law’s legislative process, despite dissent from two justices.
- The latest legal challenge focuses on provisions allowing the creation of “preservation areas”, which the groups say could restrict communities’ access to their lands and undermine traditional forms of conservation.

Climate change doubled likelihood of Canada’s extreme fire weather, study finds
Human-induced climate change has more than doubled the likelihood of the extreme weather conditions that fueled Canada’s destructive 2026 wildfire season, finds a rapid analysis. As of early August, thousands of wildfires torched more than 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) across the country — an area already significantly in excess of Canada’s 30-year annual […]
Doña Oscarina, master ceramicist, documented Indigenous knowledge along the Tiquié River
- Doña Oscarina Caldas Azevedo was a Desana master ceramicist, farmer, teacher, and Indigenous environmental researcher from Brazil’s upper Rio Negro region.
- As the first woman to serve as an Indigenous Environmental Management Agent on the Tiquié River, she helped bring women’s agricultural knowledge into environmental monitoring.
- She documented crop cycles, rainfall, river levels, and community life, while cultivating 18 varieties of cassava and preserving knowledge of ceramics, medicinal plants, and ritual practice.
- Through teaching, research, publications, and international forums, she worked to ensure that younger generations could continue applying and expanding this knowledge.

Brazil’s mining agency under fire over corruption and omission probes
- Federal prosecutors are suing the Brazilian mining agency for failing to monitor wildcat gold mines in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Illegal miners take advantage of the agency’s lack of oversight and name small areas as the origins of tons of gold that have actually been taken from protected areas.
- Measures implemented in the past few years have contributed to a sharp decrease in gold laundering in Brazil, but illegal metal is now being smuggled out of the country.
- ANM’s top officials are also under investigation for receiving bribes to favor mining companies.

New ‘conservation deed’ aims to protect tree kangaroos, forests, people in Papua New Guinea
- On June 30, 266 clan leaders across 41 villages in Papua New Guinea’s Torricelli Mountains signed a legally binding “conservation deed” that protects rainforest and its inhabitants and is the result of decades of work by the Tenkile Conservation Alliance.
- The deed shields the range’s exceptional biodiversity, including the critically endangered tenkile and weimang tree kangaroos, after a long-stalled effort to secure formal government protected-area status has left communities exposed to logging pressure.
- Conservation deeds have held up in court, with a 2025 National Court ruling citing one to restrict logging on clan lands in East New Britain.
- Built over two years through a free, prior and informed consent process, the Torricelli deed bans commercial logging and mining, as well as the hunting of threatened species, renews every five years and gives the alliance a model it now plans to extend to nearby areas under similar threat.

Nicaragua’s gold boom is now encroaching on protected areas and Indigenous land
- Mining concessions have begun to encroach on protected areas and Indigenous and Afro-descendant territory, the result of a mining boom that began in 2022, according to a new investigation from community-based Indigenous group Wangki.
- Since 1994, Nicaragua has granted 213 mining concessions covering more than 2.4 million hectares (5.9 million acres), representing approximately 20% of the country’s total land area. A significant portion of that — 113 of the concessions — has only been granted in the last three years.
- The Nicaraguan government has signed trade agreements, passed new laws, and revised environmental regulations to help accelerate the expansion of the mining sector, especially by Chinese companies.
- Pollution and deforestation from mining threaten ancestral traditions, and make it harder to practice subsistence farming and find clean drinking water, the investigation said.

Palm oil expansion reignites decade-old Indigenous land conflict in Indonesia
- Two palm oil companies have resumed clearing forest in a long-disputed Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo, more than a decade after international pressure halted operations.
- The Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae says the companies are clearing its ancestral land without its consent, while the companies maintain they legally acquired the land from a neighboring village.
- Community members say the renewed clearing is destroying regenerating forest and farms central to their livelihoods, despite years of advocacy, international recognition, and an unresolved complaint to the RSPO, the top certifier of sustainable palm oil.
- Advocates say the dispute exposes persistent weaknesses in Indonesia’s recognition of Indigenous land rights, allowing companies to rely on administrative boundaries that communities say override customary ownership.

Report: Indonesian authorities weaponize laws to silence environmental and Indigenous defenders
Indonesian authorities are wrongfully prosecuting environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders who protest deforestation, pollution and land grabs, says a new report by international nonprofit Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 70-page report, HRW uses 15 publicly recorded cases from 2015 to 2025 as examples to suggest how police use complaints from companies and politicians to […]
How can Indigenous knowledge reshape AI development?
As artificial intelligence increasingly becomes a part of ecological monitoring, a growing body of research suggests integrating Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) into ethical frameworks for AI governance to prioritize environmental reports contributor Shradha Triveni for Mongabay. Researchers in a recent study published in the journal AI and Ethics examined how the Navajo philosophy of Hózhó, […]
Indigenous Parakanã fear election U-turn may spark new invasions in Brazil
- The Parakanã Indigenous people are reoccupying their territory in Pará state after the eviction of around 3,000 invaders by federal forces.
- The intruders, however, are ready to come back if Brazil’s next administration carries a new anti-environmental agenda in 2027.
- Experts compare illegal activities such as gold mining to powerful bacteria that may return even stronger if you don’t use the proper antibiotic.
- Also in Pará, the state administration has the challenge of keeping deforestation under control after a successful operation in the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area.

Brazil court orders recognition of Indigenous land and apology for historic atrocities
A federal judge in Brazil has given the country’s government 24 months to recognize the traditional territory of the Kajkwakratxi-Tapayuna Indigenous people in the northwestern state of Mato Grosso. The court accepted evidence from federal prosecutors that detailed decades of government inaction following massacres, forced displacement and other human rights violations against the Kajkwakratxi-Tapayuna people. […]
Pat Lowe spent decades describing and defending the Kimberley
- Pat Lowe, who died on July 2nd, 2026, aged 84, was a psychologist, writer, naturalist, editor, and longtime defender of the Kimberley in Western Australia.
- Her understanding of the region was shaped by years living with Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike at Kurlku in the Great Sandy Desert and by listening to Indigenous knowledge-holders.
- She helped found Environs Kimberley, later chaired it, served on its board for decades, and edited its newsletter for 29 years.
- Lowe also supported Broome’s literary community, wrote extensively about the Kimberley, and argued that communities should be able to reject projects that would permanently damage Country, the Indigenous Australian term for ancestral lands, waters, relationships, knowledge, and responsibilities.

Khuiusi Khisêtjê helped his people recover their land and future in the Xingu
- Khuiusi Khisêtjê assumed leadership after disease and violence reduced his people to around 50 and killed many of their elders.
- He helped recover the Wawi Indigenous Territory, which contained ancestral villages, sacred places, and the graves of Khisêtjê relatives.
- He worked to preserve Khisêtjê songs, language, oral history, and cultural knowledge while preparing younger leaders to navigate Brazilian institutions.
- As soy farms and pesticide use expanded around the territory, he continued defending the land and, in 2018, led his community deeper into the forest.

For Brazil’s Xokleng people, saving a sacred tree means saving their culture
- The Zág Institute, an initiative of the Laklãnõ/Xokleng Indigenous people, is restoring the Brazilian pine on their traditional territory in the state of Santa Catarina.
- Sacred to the Indigenous people, the Brazilian pine is a critically endangered species; replanting it is seen as a way of strengthening their identity.
- Nearly 100,000 seedlings have been planted across 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres), in the process restoring water sources and degraded land.
- The reforestation project involves the whole community in planting the seedlings, which is done through collective efforts throughout the year and also by donating them to Indigenous families.

Third year of wildfires threaten isolated Indigenous group in Bolivia
Wildfires have burned thousands of hectares of forest and savanna in the Chacobo-Pacahuara Indigenous territory in the Beni department of northern Bolivia, according to satellite imagery and on-the-ground sources. The fires likely resulted from illegal burns in pastures surrounding the Indigenous territory. The fires hit Chacobo-Pacahuara in September and October 2025, the third consecutive year […]
An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader
- Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, a prominent Indigenous leader from Colombia’s Putumayo region, to hear his take on the incoming government’s plans and how it might affect Indigenous communities and forests in Colombia.
- Abelardo de la Espriella, from the far-right Defenders of the Homeland party, won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 and will be inaugurated on Aug. 7.
- De la Espriella says he will expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country and has promised to tackle violence using greater force and militarization.
- In this interview with Mongabay, Peña explains that the atmosphere on the ground is tense, in part because de la Espriella’s policies might exacerbate existing conflicts linked to a controversial copper mine in the region.

Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor
- Solomon Islands is the latest Pacific island nation to sign on to a new network of marine protected areas (MPAs) known as the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves, or MOCOR, which was announced by Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji at the first Melanesian Ocean Summit in May.
- Located in the southwestern Pacific, Melanesia is a hotspot for marine biodiversity and the discovery of new species.
- While large marine corridors can be more effective than isolated MPAs, researchers caution that robust management and enforcement are necessary to prevent them from becoming so-called “paper parks.”
- Details about MOCOR’s size, configuration, precise location, governance, enforcement mechanisms and community consultation processes are scarce.

Trump reduces size of 2 national monuments in Utah as Republicans reshape land management
President Donald Trump is sharply reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah. The move to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by about 90% unravels protections established by former presidents for areas with unique archaeological and historical features. It comes as Republicans under Trump have sought to drastically reshape the management […]
Lawmakers seek rights probe into Indigenous conflict at Indonesian timber firm
- Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding investigation into alleged human rights abuses linked to a long-running land conflict between the Dayak Kualan Indigenous community and timber company PT Mayawana Persada.
- The community says the company cleared customary forests and sacred sites without its consent, while community leaders have faced criminal charges they describe as retaliation for opposing the project.
- The conflict coincides with one of Indonesia’s largest recent deforestation cases, with more than 42,500 hectares (105,000 acres) of forest, including peatlands and orangutan habitat, cleared inside the company’s concession since 2016.
- Indonesia’s human rights ministry says it will investigate the allegations, while lawmakers have urged police to halt criminal proceedings against community members and review the company’s operating permit.

A fraction of promised climate money reaches Amazon communities: Interview with Latimpacto’s leaders
- Despite major funding pledges for the Amazon, much of the promised capital never reaches Indigenous peoples and local communities, often because funding structures are poorly aligned with on-the-ground realities.
- Latimpacto, a Colombia-based philanthropic network, is working to close this gap through initiatives that train funders, support locally led innovation and integrate Indigenous knowledge into conservation and development projects.
- Mongabay spoke with Latimpacto’s leaders, Carolina Suárez Visbal and Juan David Ferreira, who say the organization is also advocating for stronger domestic philanthropy across Latin America, arguing that better tax incentives, trust-based grantmaking, and patient, flexible capital are needed to complement international funding.
- Suárez Visbal and Ferreira say they see greater collaboration between Latin America and Southeast Asia as a key opportunity, calling for shared funding mechanisms and knowledge exchange to strengthen conservation of tropical forests and broader socioecological resilience.

Roads, loggers close in on an unprotected refuge for isolated Kakataibo
- Isolated peoples and forests in the Kakataibo Extremo Norte area of the Peruvian Amazon are under threat from illegal loggers, drug traffickers, the construction of illegal roads, and multiple forestry concessions.
- Indigenous leaders and organizations have sought formal recognition for the area as an Indigenous reserve since 2021, but the Ministry of Culture rejected the application in 2023 because it relates to isolated Kakataibo people who are already recognized by the Peruvian state and receive protections in a nearby reserve.
- Sources told Mongabay that threats to the area’s isolated groups are increasing, exposing them to significant risk due to their extreme vulnerability.
- To apply for a new reserve, the Ministry of Culture said organizations should carry out a new study on the presence of isolated peoples in the region, but sources say studies have already been done and that they lack the finance to do them again.

In AI race, Indigenous values could guide environmental issues, researchers suggest
- A recent study provides a framework for the integration of Indigenous knowledge and values into AI governance and examines how these ethical principles can translate to practical requirements for individual AI projects.
- The authors say that Indigenous ecological knowledge embodies collective responsibility and could provide an ethical basis for questioning whether the scale of a proposed AI model is justifiable given its environmental cost, prioritizing ecological integrity over unbounded technological expansion.
- Some Indigenous researchers voice skepticism over whether a broad category of ‘Indigenous values’ exists and whether Indigenous knowledge could truly be translated into AI tools.

NGO support can negatively impact allocation of Amazonian territorial rights, research finds
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a critical role in the fight to secure title to ancestral Indigenous lands in the Amazon. They can provide financial assistance and legal representation in court, but new research shows that for groups that do not benefit from this support, the arrival of NGOs may cause more harm than good. […]
New data reveals surge in human rights abuses linked to transition minerals mining
New data released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that, worldwide, South America has the most abuse allegations associated with large-scale mining for transition minerals over the past 15 years. Such minerals are essential for the shift away from fossil fuels and are critical for other industries, such as tech and […]
Crackdown lets rainforest reclaim illegal road in rare win for the Amazon
- Recent satellite images show forest closing over the path of an illegal road that nearly severed the Xingu Socioenvironmental Corridor in 2022.
- In early 2023, civil society pressure put the road at the top of the government’s agenda, leading to enforcement operations and a sharp decline in new illegal road openings across the Xingu Basin.
- Conservationists warn the gains remain fragile: Invaded Indigenous territories face violent backlash, illegal mining is regrouping, and this year’s elections could redefine Brazil’s environmental policies.

New Indonesia roadmap aims to protect Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity
- Indonesia is developing a roadmap to recognize and protect Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPLCs) traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation, aligning with its commitments to international frameworks.
- Indigenous communities in Indonesia already safeguard vast biodiverse areas — an estimated 29 million hectares (71.6 million acres) — through customary practices, though only a small portion has been formally documented or recognized.
- The lack of legal recognition of Indigenous territories and rights leave many communities vulnerable to having their conservation efforts overlooked or criminalized despite their role in protecting ecosystems.
- Experts and advocates argue the roadmap must be backed by stronger policy recognition and broad collaboration among government, Indigenous groups, experts and civil society.

Deforestation is just a symptom. The disease is de-governance (commentary)
- Forests in places like Indonesian Papua do not disappear because trees fall, but because governance fails, a new op-ed argues.
- What’s needed is a rethink of how Indigenous territories have been systematically stripped of effective governance, and what a shift back to local jurisdiction over forests would allow.
- “It’s a shift from protecting forests as external objects to governing territories as living systems, from delivering projects to building institutions, and from treating communities as beneficiaries to recognizing them as decision-makers,” the author writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous people in Cambodia claim they’re blocked from sacred sites
- Indigenous Forest rangers told Mongabay they cannot access places where people have prayed, made offerings, fished and camped for generations.
- The community protected area designation lets the Kuy people engage in sustainable farming and manage the forest, which is tucked inside the Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary about 70 miles south of the Thai border.
- A representative from Santana Agro, a cashew processing company that operates in the area, denied allegations the firm is encroaching into the protected area.

US moves to allow commercial fishing in Pacific marine protected areas
On June 11, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive proclamation to open additional commercial fishing grounds in remote areas of the Pacific. The proclamation says restoring access to these areas “will promote economic opportunity.” However, local groups warn it will open the door to overfishing in a crucial marine habitat and sacred cultural site. […]
Death and exile: A war plagues Indigenous Jiw and Nukak in the Colombian Amazon
- By late May, at least 48 people were killed in rural areas of Colombia following clashes between the FARC guerrilla dissident groups controlled by the aliases “Calarcá” and “Iván Mordisco.”
- Conflicts have displaced 10 Indigenous Jiw families from the municipality of Mapiripán, Meta department. They had to reach the urban area of San José del Guaviare for protection.
- The clashes occurred near the Tomachipán-Cumare road, an illegal trail used by dissident armed cells as a strategic corridor to mobilize and transport drug trafficking supplies in the Guaviare department.
- Experts warn that controlling this disputed area is important for armed groups, as it means dominating strategic zones in the department and also being closer to the Venezuelan border.

Conservation efforts by families displaced for national park sees success in DRC
Descendants of families forcibly displaced during the creation of Maiko National Park in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo back in the 1970s are now leading a new wave of community-led conservation. Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr., from one such displaced family, is the head of the Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL), […]
Illegal miners adapt their strategies in Yanomami Amazon territory
- Illegal miners are adapting their tactics in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Amazonas and Roraima states to evade efforts in the last few years to remove them, found researchers.
- Miners are fragmenting into smaller groups instead of concentrating near airstrips, going deeper into the middle of the Amazon forest, moving to specific border areas with Venezuela and paying high prices to continue their activities.
- Illegal mining is significantly down in the territory due to the government operation, said Indigenous people and authorities, though concerns remain for the health of isolated Indigenous people.
- Brazil’s government says it is in the phase of “scavenging the territory” to remove miners deep in the forest which are unable to be detected by satellite imagery and require long walks into the Amazon.

Trump administration repeals rule that allowed bison to graze on public lands
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration recently repealed the 2024 Public Lands Rule, which established that conservation should have equal priority with industry when it comes to accessing leases for U.S. public land. That shift in priorities will apply to 245 million acres (99 million hectares) of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management […]
Australia establishes the first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In […]
Amazon deforestation declines as Brazil reduces forest loss nationwide
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project. Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) […]
In Ecuador, an Indigenous community goes thirsty despite its two rivers
- On the banks of the Puní River’s middle basin, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, illegal mining has increased by 2,700% over seven years, contaminating the main water source for the ancestral Kichwa community of Capirona.
- Residents of Capirona say that, by 2021, the color of the Puní River started to change, turning brownish. Meanwhile, problems such as skin rashes, fungal infections and itching became frequent.
- In samples of mining ore collected by Ecuadorian authorities from an illegal mining camp on the banks of Puní, signs of mercury were found at levels far exceeding the permitted limit for this metal in agricultural soils.
- Industrial farming activity has also polluted the waters of the Shalkana River, another watercourse located within the community. Despite being surrounded by two rivers, residents of Capirona rely on two water tankers sent weekly by municipal authorities, which is enough for barely half of the families for just a few days.

A blueprint for effective activism 10 years after defeating a dam in Borneo (analysis)
- Threatening to inundate hundreds of square kilometers of forest and displace thousands of people on the island of Borneo, the Baram Dam spurred a principled response from a coalition whose members endured threats and harassment while undertaking brave actions like maintaining a 26-month road blockade.
- Ten years since Indigenous and local communities united with civil society organizations across the world to send that proposal down to a historic defeat, two leaders of one NGO that was key to the victory reflect on what helped the campaign succeed.
- “While the Baram victory cannot be automatically replicated — since each river, each community, each political configuration is its own — the structure of the campaign’s Indigenous-led physical resistance, rigorous independent science, and international solidarity infrastructure that amplifies without supplanting local leadership has been reactivated in varying forms and sites of victory across the world,” they write.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

U.S. defense spending on critical minerals surges in the last decade
- U.S. Department of Defense grants for critical minerals between 2021 and 2025 was nearly $550 million, up from just $31.3 million in the previous five-year period, an investigation has found.
- Lithium projects received the largest share of U.S. defense grants, followed by neodymium and boron combined projects, graphite and aluminum.
- Members of communities affected by some of these projects told Mongabay that U.S. state backing has meant projects are being fast-tracked without the necessary social and environmental checks or meaningful consultation.
- Experts say that increasing geopolitical pressure is transforming mineral supply chains, as well as trade patterns and relationships between countries, and could decrease the availability of minerals needed for the green energy transition.

In Peru and Brazil, extractivism threatens Indigenous people in isolation: Report
- Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) in Peru and Brazil’s Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor are under threat by oil and gas expansion, proposed highways and illegal mining, a recent report says.
- Oil and gas blocks overlap with 10% of the 16-million-hectare corridor, including nearly 1.7 million hectares of intact tropical forest, and 12% of PIACI reserves pending approval are at risk from oil and gas.
- The report identifies 13 mining concessions and 500,000 hectares of logging concessions on the Peruvian side alone.
- Indigenous leaders and civil society organizations in Peru say the government must stop handing out concessions and revoke or relocate existing ones, otherwise PIACI face exposure to disease due to forced contact, conflict and the destruction of the ecosystems they depend on to survive.

Indigenous communities in eastern Indonesia revive systems for marine protection
Across the small islands of eastern Indonesia that lie within the Wallacea region, one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity regions, coastal communities are reviving ancient customary systems to safeguard marine ecosystems from destructive fishing and habitat loss. This movement is the centerpiece of Jejak Wallacea, a recent documentary highlighting how local empowerment can succeed […]
Local indigenous people get more land in a DRC community forest
Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo granted 31 community forest land titles to farmers in May, bringing a total of more than a million hectares of forest in Tshopo under the legal stewardship of local Indigenous peoples. Bantu and Indigenous Mbuti communities have lived in the province for generations, but without official […]
Legal protections for Brazil’s isolated Indigenous peoples: Interview with prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto
- Across Brazil, orders known as land-use restrictions serve as temporary protective measures for the territories of recently contacted Indigenous peoples and those living in voluntary isolation.
- But while the measures are meant to allow time for the formal demarcation process to be carried out, they’ve now become an end to themselves, renewed repeatedly and failing to prevent the invasion and exploitation of these lands, says Brazilian federal public prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto.
- Dalberto told Mongabay in an interview that the measure is meant to be precautionary and accompanied by other protective measures by government agencies, such as monitoring work and operations to combat crime.
- He also raised concerns about the frequency with which issues affecting Indigenous territories are being raised to the country’s highest court, rather than being resolved at local courts and tribunals, which closes off an important front in the fight for fundamental rights.

Descendants of people pushed out for DRC national park lead forest conservation efforts
- Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr. is a descendant of one of the families that had to leave the forests of what is today in and around Maiko National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Now, he heads the management committee of the Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL) and works with communities to protect biodiversity through local conservation efforts.
- According to experts, the sustainability of conservation efforts depends largely on the ability to balance biodiversity protection with improving the living conditions of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- According to satellite imagery from Global Forest Watch, forest loss in the Bamasobha CFCL was reduced from 940 hectares in 2024 to 120 hectares in 2025.

Brooklyn Rivera, defender of Nicaragua’s Indigenous lands, dies in detention
- Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, known as Taupla Brooklyn, died on May 30th in the custody of Daniel Ortega’s government after being detained since September 2023.
- For more than five decades, he fought for the land rights, autonomy, and political representation of Nicaragua’s Miskitu and other Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.
- His work centered on La Moskitia, where illegal settlement, logging, mining, cattle ranching, and state-backed projects threatened Indigenous territories and forests.
- Rivera moved between resistance, negotiation, electoral politics, and uneasy alliances, remaining fixed on the claim that Indigenous peoples had rights that preceded the Nicaraguan state.

Davis “Yellowash” Washines, Yakama elder who spoke for the river and salmon
- Davis “Yellowash” Washines, a Yakama elder, public servant, ceremonial leader, and former police chief, devoted much of his life to defending Yakama treaty rights, clean water, and the Columbia River, known to the Yakama people as Nch’i-Wána.
- Drawing on his background in law enforcement, he described the toxic pollution at Bradford Island near Bonneville Dam as a crime scene, with the water, salmon, and people who depended on them as victims.
- His work joined law, culture, education, and public service: he served as Yakama Tribal Police chief, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission police chief, Yakama Nation General Council chairman, counselor, language instructor, trustee, and board chair.
- The 2022 designation of Bradford Island as a Superfund site reflected years of persistence, but he saw the deeper goal as clean, healthy fish, safe water, and the fulfillment of responsibilities to future generations and those unable to speak for themselves.

The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability
- Amazon biodiversity protection depends on more than keeping forests standing; a forest can remain on the map while losing ecological function, governance protections, enforcement capacity, or public support.
- Six connected gaps shape Amazon conservation: finance and forest economy, governance, enforcement, forest function, Indigenous rights, and narrative.
- Progress is possible. Brazil has reduced deforestation before, satellite alerts can strengthen enforcement, Indigenous land rights can protect forests, and better finance and monitoring can make protection more durable.
- The central challenge is making the systems around the forest pull in the same direction: finance that favors protection, governance that reduces impunity, enforcement with consequences, rights that hold on the ground, monitoring that reveals what tree cover hides, and stories that show where action is possible.

Givaldo Santos, Kaiowá and Guarani leader, was killed on May 1st, aged 40
- Givaldo Santos, vice-chief of the Kaiowá and Guarani community in Taquaperi, was shot dead on May 1st inside the Taquaperi Reserve.
- His killing came amid longstanding land disputes, overcrowding in the reserve, and recent police operations linked to contested territory.
- Santos had reportedly been seeking accountability after a collision on the same highway killed two Indigenous people, including a 12-year-old boy.
- He leaves behind a wife, five children, and a community still seeking answers about his death.

‘Same dangerous project’: Fury after Indonesia revives disputed mine
- Indonesia’s environment ministry has reapproved a controversial zinc and lead mine in North Sumatra, less than a year after the Supreme Court forced it to revoke the project’s earlier environmental approval over disaster-risk concerns.
- The revised environmental assessment replaces a proposed tailings dam with a plan to bury mining waste underground, but critics and independent experts say the mining company cannot realistically bury all of its waste and will still require a dangerous aboveground storage facility.
- Residents, activists and legal advocates argue the new approval is legally flawed because it relies on a framework already annulled by the Supreme Court, and say the company failed to conduct meaningful public consultation or provide key documents to affected communities.
- Communities opposing the mine say previous company activities have already caused environmental damage, flooding and water disruptions, and vow to continue fighting a project they fear could threaten lives and farmland in the earthquake-prone region.

Philippine fishing and Indigenous communities wary of clean energy boom in Marcos stronghold
- The Philippines is currently highly dependent on fossil fuels for energy generation, but the government has committed to reaching 50% renewables by 2050.
- The resulting energy boom — especially in Ilocos North, the president’s home province — has seen an influx of foreign investment, but also raised questions about who will bear the costs of the country’s energy transition.
- Fishers in Ilocos Norte say they worry that wind energy projects in their traditional fishing grounds will disrupt marine life and fishing routes.
- Inland, the Masamuyao Isneg Yapayao tribal council is trying to stop the expansion of a solar farm that officials say failed to obtain the tribe’s consent.

Organized crime adds to environmental destruction in the Amazon, report finds
A new report by the International Crisis Group finds that organized crime has become a “major obstacle” to protecting the Amazon. Criminal groups often operate across borders and are expanding control over huge swathes of land, which undermines state efforts to combat environmental crimes such as drug trafficking, deforestation and illegal mining. “In Colombia, park […]
Tensions rise in DRC mining region as community leaders arrested over protest
Civil society groups have denounced the “arbitrary” arrests of 11 community leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo following a peaceful protest over the impacts of mining operations on local communities. Authorities made the arrests on May 1 in the country’s southeastern Lualaba province, prompting calls by local and international NGOs for the “immediate and […]
Karajarri celebrate Australia’s first ‘Sea Country’ Indigenous Protected Area
- The Kimberley region of northwestern Australia is a biodiversity hotspot and ancestral home of the Karajarri people, who recently dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first “Sea Country” Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), covering around 237,000 hectares (587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems.
- Proponents of IPAs say they can empower Indigenous Australians as decision-makers in land management, combining traditional ecological knowledge with conservation goals.
- IPAs now account for 54% of Australia’s progress toward protecting 30% of its territory by 2030.
- While research shows every $1 invested in IPAs yields up to $3.40 in social, economic and environmental returns, advocates stress that Indigenous communities still need meaningful, sustained support.

Whose map counts in conservation? The rise of participatory mapping
- Participatory mapping is increasingly used in conservation to bring local knowledge, land use, cultural values and community priorities into spatial planning.
- A new review of 398 studies finds that the field has grown quickly, especially over the past decade, but still lacks consistent standards for methods, ethics, data ownership and evaluation.
- Cases such as Massaha in Gabon show how community maps can challenge global or official datasets that make lived-in forests appear empty or unclaimed.
- The approach is most useful when maps are tied to real decisions, clear governance processes and safeguards for the people and places being mapped.

Ecuador failing to end Yasuní oil drilling: Interview with Waorani leader Juan Bay
- Mongabay recently interviewed Juan Bay, the president of the Waorani Nation (NAWE) in Ecuador, on the stalled efforts to shut down oil drilling in Yasuní National Park that overlaps with Indigenous territories.
- A voter referendum in 2023 required the Ecuadorian government to shut down the 43-ITT oil block by August 2024, and the decision was backed up in a 2025 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
- Since then, however, there’s been virtually no progress, Bay said, with the government having shuttered just 10 out of 247 oil wells in the block.
- Bay said communities continue to suffer from the environmental and cultural destruction caused by oil exploitation, as well as the internal divisions that formed between some Waorani communities.

In eastern Indonesia, communities revive customary systems to protect the seas
- A new documentary, “Jejak Wallacea,” highlights how coastal communities across eastern Indonesia are reviving customary marine management systems to protect ecosystems threatened by destructive fishing, turtle hunting and habitat loss.
- Communities featured in the film use locally rooted approaches including seasonal fishing closures, turtle hatcheries, mangrove restoration, customary sanctions and community patrols to manage reefs, fisheries and coastal forests.
- Conservation groups behind the project say community-led systems rooted in Indigenous and local knowledge can succeed where top-down conservation models and formal protected areas alone often fall short.
- The initiatives have helped protect species including sea turtles, dugongs and thresher sharks, but organizers say long-term success depends on stronger government recognition and support for community-based conservation.

New data platform aims to reduce conflicts between First Nations and businesses in Canada
- Mongabay spoke with Robert Jago, founder of a comprehensive Indigenous-led data platform compiling information on every First Nation in Canada.
- The platform organizes and verifies contact information, territory maps, governance background and more, to facilitate collaboration between Indigenous communities, business and government.
- A goal of the platform, Jago said, is to reduce conflicts between extractive industries and Indigenous peoples, given that lack of access to accurate information is at the root of many such conflicts.
- Canada has plans to expand extractive, energy and infrastructure projects across the country, including on Indigenous lands and in the Arctic region.

Crime affects 32% of Amazon Indigenous areas, says study
- The report by the NGO Amazon Watch looks at how organized crime activities and illicit economies are transforming dynamics within different Indigenous Amazonian territories.
- It also highlights the impacts from state military operations deployed in response to these criminal activities. The research was conducted in seven Indigenous territories across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela.
- Among the consequences highlighted by the report, experts cite the systematic violations of land rights, violence against young people and women, and various health impacts, among other problems.

Paraguay expanded a reserve in the Gran Chaco. Why is deforestation still rising there?
- Approximately 2.78 million hectares (6.87 million acres) were added to Paraguay’s Chaco Biosphere Reserve in 2011, yet the area continues to be one of the country’s worst hit by forest loss.
- Regulations are only selectively enforced by the government, if not entirely ignored, critics say.
- Property owners often exceed how much native vegetation they can legally clear on their land to make room for cattle pasture and agriculture.
- As the forest shrinks, Indigenous Ayoreo-Totobiegosode living in that part of the reserve have struggled to maintain voluntary isolation; they rely on the forest for food, shelter and medicine, and don’t have immunity to many outside diseases.

Killings related to land conflicts double in Brazil, most in the Amazon region
On June 12, 2025, Everton Lopes Rodrigues was found beheaded in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. An Indigenous Avá Guarani, Rodrigues was the 21-year-old son of the chief of the Yvyju Avary Indigenous village, and next to his body was a letter, left by his killers, containing “serious threats” against Indigenous communities. Marcelo […]
Despite restrictions, forest loss continued on Ituna land, home to isolated people
- The Ituna/Itatá Indigenous land in Brazil lost 2,211 hectares of tree cover from 2022-25, despite being protected by a temporary land use restriction order to protect people living in voluntary isolation, according to data from Global Forest Watch.
- The land has been under a series of land use restriction orders since 2011.
- Authorities told Mongabay that the illegal deforestation is caused by land-grabbers who clear the forest without permits to establish cattle ranches and other agricultural activities, later exploiting loopholes to legitimize land appropriation.
- In 2023, Brazil’s federal government carried out an operation to remove invaders. Though satellite data show forest loss continues, it significantly reduced in 2025.

New report reveals how environmental crime threatens Amazonian communities
Crime and militarization pose an existential threat to Indigenous territories across the Amazon Basin, a new report warns. Published ahead of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) taking place this week in New York, the report finds Indigenous groups are being harmed by restricted access to crucial natural resources, and are suffering […]
Brazilian state greenlights deforestation for contested open-pit gold mine
The state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon has authorized Canadian mining company Belo Sun to begin clearing nearly 600 hectares, or almost 1,500 acres, of rainforest for an open-pit gold mine. Legal experts say it’s premature to clear a forest the size of 840 soccer fields while key aspects of the project remain unresolved. […]
AI is a double-edged sword for Indigenous stewardship, say U.N. experts
- At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 25th session, U.N. experts called attention to the opportunities and dangers of AI-centered conservation efforts.
- A study published by former chair of the permanent forum Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim highlighted that AI can positively contribute to the protection of the environment but also impact efforts, due to its high consumption of energy, water and critical minerals.
- AI can support the protection and management of Indigenous peoples’ lands and resources, such as by monitoring the environment to detect deforestation, fires, or illegal extraction.
- Experts warned that to ensure the protection of Indigenous peoples and their territories, governments must prevent all forms of land-grabbing, water exploitation and mining activities related to data centers and energy sources, and respect Indigenous rights, worldviews and aspirations.

AI tool tracks spread of illegal gold mining in Amazon protected areas
- Gold mining presumed to be illegal caused 6,000 hectares (more than 14,800 acres) of deforestation in Amazonian protected areas and Indigenous territories during the last three months of 2025, according to a new quarterly report from the Amazon Mining Watch platform.
- New mining scars were identified in all nine Amazonian countries, with Brazil, Peru and Guyana suffering the highest levels of mining-linked deforestation.
- Soaring gold prices are driving this destruction, experts say, and call for more monitoring, law enforcement and coordinated action between countries to tackle the issue.
- Using an AI algorithm that’s constantly being improved, the Amazon Mining Watch platform aims to serve as an early-warning tool for authorities and civil society to identify and address new incidences of illegal gold mining, especially in border areas.

Goldman Prize winner Alannah Hurley fights Pebble Mine “from a place of love”
- Alannah Acaq Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for organizing opposition to what would have been the largest open-pit mine in North America, called Pebble Mine.
- Proposed in 2001, Pebble Mine was vetoed in 2023 by the Environmental Protection Agency for posing a major threat to the abundant salmon fishery of Bristol Bay, in southeast Alaska. That veto received additional support this year in court by the Department of Justice.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Hurley discussed the long path she and the United Tribes of Bristol Bay’s coalition have walked to defeat Pebble, as well as the hurdles that remain ahead as the fight moves to court, and as UTBB pursues more comprehensive protections for the Bristol Bay watershed.

War, climate change, and AI on the agenda at this year’s U.N. Indigenous forum
- From April 20 to May 1, 2026, Indigenous delegates from around the world will gather at the United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City to discuss the latest issues Indigenous peoples are facing and provide expert advice and recommendations in the U.N. system.
- This year’s forum is focused on the topic of survival in the midst of war, with its official theme “Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict.”
- Experts emphasize that Indigenous peoples already face health inequities from colonialism and climate change, and these harms are compounded by armed conflicts, unsustainable extraction for the AI boom and biodiversity conservation policies that risk ecological degradation and further displacement of Indigenous peoples from their lands.
- Indigenous delegates planning to attend the forum shared their thoughts and plans for the forum.

Brazil taps legal loophole to issue bids for Amazon ‘tipping point’ road
- The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched renewal works for the BR-319 highway, using a new legal loophole to bypass environmental licensing requirements.
- The road cuts through the heart of the Brazilian Amazon; paving it, according to scientists, would push the rainforest closer to tipping point.
- Observers suggest the move by Lula, who came to office on a pro-environmental platform, is a bid to rally regional voters ahead of this year’s elections.

In Brazil, unfinished water project leaves Indigenous villages without safe water
- According to Brazil’s Ministry of Health data obtained by Mongabay, of the 4,134 Indigenous villages in Brazil’s North Region, only 1,934 — about 47% — have proper infrastructure to supply drinking water to the population.
- To avoid scarcity, many communities resort to improvised solutions, using buckets and pipes to fill their reservoirs with water from rivers and waterfalls. In times of drought, shallow wells are also dug on riverbanks.
- Their emergency strategy against thirst, however, increases a series of health risks, forcing entire villages to consume ferrous, dirty, and contaminated water — all vectors for infectious diseases.
- In some areas of the North, in addition to chemical purification solutions such as Salta-Z, nanotechnology-based collective filters have helped communities cope with the water crisis — and, according to their complaints, with government neglect.

Council recommends opening US Pacific marine monuments to commercial fishing
A U.S. fishing regulator recently recommended allowing commercial fishing across all four of the country’s Pacific marine national monuments. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) said the move is “about restoring sustainable fishing.” Conservationists and native peoples, however, say it will damage some of Earth’s most pristine ocean ecosystems. The monuments — Pacific […]
Venezuela’s new mining law could spell disaster for the Amazon, critics warn
- Venezuela passed a law to update the country’s mining regulations and attract international investment in gold, silver, coltan and other minerals.
- While some environmental protections are included in the bill, critics say they’re not rigorous enough to stop the deforestation or human rights abuses already happening in the Venezuelan Amazon.
- The law describes a commitment to “ecological mining development” that critics call a dangerous attempt at greenwashing.

Indigenous & community leaders say, ‘secure forest financing with us, not for us’ (commentary)
- With the expansion of government forest protection programs like REDD+ in recent years, Indigenous communities are increasingly asking if these initiatives boost their autonomy and benefits, or repeat old patterns of exclusion.
- These programs’ success will increasingly depend on the full participation of their peoples in the process that determines how benefits and revenues from these transactions are shared, three Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders write in a new op-ed.
- “We believe the path forward is clear: climate policy must be built with communities, not for them,” they say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Brazil’s capital, Indigenous leaders rally as land disputes and mining pressures grow
BRASILIA (AP) — Indigenous people in Brazil have marched in the capital, Brasilia, to protest what they say are violations of their land rights. They accuse large corporations of advancing farming, logging and mining projects on their lands. The protest is part of the annual Free Land Indigenous Camp, Brazil’s largest Indigenous mobilization. This year’s […]
A human rights center opens a path to justice for Indigenous Peoples in the Central African Republic
- In Bayanga, a forest town on the edge of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas complex, a small human rights center is restoring hope to the Ba’aka, one of the best-known Indigenous peoples of the Congo Basin.
- Established in 2015, the center helps resolve conflicts within local communities, promotes access to justice, provides human rights training and awareness, and helps the Ba’aka community participate in political and societal life. It also assists residents in obtaining administrative documents such as birth certificates and identity cards.
- The center has already handled 880 cases, ranging from financial disputes over loans or wages to physical violence and sexual abuse.
- Thanks to the trust it has earned from the communities, it plays a role in preserving social peace in this forested region.

Railroad & tariff war boost soy in Brazil’s Cerrado, endangering Indigenous lands
- Driven by the tariff war between the U.S. and China, soy production in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state is breaking records and encroaching on the Cerrado biome.
- Logistics projects such as the Ferrogrão railroad are expected to scale up production, further increasing the risk of deforestation.
- In the Tirecatinga Indigenous Land, amid still-standing Cerrado, Indigenous peoples are already feeling the impacts of pesticides and dams.

American Samoa said ‘no’ to deep sea mining, Washington heard ‘faster’ (commentary)
- The U.S. government is moving fast to grant leases to corporations for deep sea mining in places like the territory of American Samoa: once issued, these are very difficult to rescind.
- Leaders there have weighed in against this lease on cultural and environmental grounds, but the federal agency in charge has merely acknowledged this dissent while continuing to move forward.
- “American Samoa is not a test case; it’s at risk of becoming the federal government’s blueprint” on deep-sea mining licensing, a new op-ed states.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Behind the scenes of the Amazon’s gold rush: Director Richard Ladkani on the making of ‘Yanuni’
- A new documentary film, “Yanuni,” highlights the journey of Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous chief from the Brazilian Amazon, as she moves between two worlds: Brazil’s capital, Brasília, and a remote village in the Xipaia Indigenous Territory.
- The film focuses on her ongoing battle to protect the Amazon, alongside her husband, Hugo Loss, the head of Special Operations at Brazil’s environmental protection agency (Ibama), who leads dangerous operations to crack down on illegal mining deep in the Amazon.
- In an interview with Mongabay, director Richard Ladkani shares behind-the-scenes insights into the filming process, important conversations and actions that helped shape the narrative and more details about some of the critical moments and events it covers.

Indigenous groups demand halt to Belo Sun Amazon gold mine
More than 120 Indigenous protesters have occupied a federal building in Altamira in the Brazilian Amazon since Feb. 23. They are demanding that authorities block a Canadian mining company’s license to open one of the country’s largest open-air gold mines on the Xingu River. Led by a movement of Indigenous women, the protest follows a […]
Many Indigenous peoples in Asia feel excluded from nat’l biodiversity planning: Report
- Many Indigenous peoples in Asia say they have little sway on their nation’s biodiversity goals, despite calls in the global U.N. biodiversity agreement for their full and effective participation in decision-making, according to recent reports.
- The research found 13% of survey respondents participated in state-led consultations with Indigenous peoples while almost 60% reported that participation was not meaningful.
- However, the research also found that Indigenous peoples increasingly participated in the NBSAP revision processes compared with a previous global biodiversity agreement for the 2011-20 period.
- Some Indigenous sources said they felt like their participation was tokenistic and recommend the creation of an Indigenous-led version of the national biodiversity targets to help influence policy.

Contested Amazon dam called to review water flow as river ecosystem fails
- A federal court and Brazil’s environmental agency ordered the Belo Monte hydropower plant to revise the Xingu River’s water-sharing plan, a decade after its debut, but a legal stay blocks enforcement of the ruling.
- The plant’s water flow has been subject to several complaints, as low water levels in the Volta Grande do Xingu have dried flooded forests and rock habitats, disrupting fish and turtle reproduction and threatening endemic species.
- “Increasing the amount of water is the only solution to restore this ecosystem,” says Josiel Juruna, coordinator of an Indigenous-led monitoring program documenting the impacts.

A decade after the death of Berta Cáceres, we can no longer tolerate threats to environmental activists (commentary)
- On the 10th anniversary of the murder of environmental activist Berta Cáceres, the director of the Goldman Environmental Prize argues in a new op-ed that the era of impunity for such crimes is over and that the capacity to defend such people is steadily increasing.
- A 2015 winner of the award for her work defending her Indigenous community against a hydroelectric development in Honduras, Cáceres was killed by gunmen hired by executives of the dam-building company.
- Her legacy has since made her a legend, with her likeness now adorning a banknote in her nation, and her story inspiring a wave of philanthropy aimed at protecting nature’s defenders.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Study finds livestock pushing lions away from shared rangeland in Kenya
- A new study in Kenya’s Mara conservancies finds lions increasingly avoiding areas used by Maasai livestock, even after the animals have moved on.
- Researchers suggest lions are responding not just to immediate encounters with herders but to past grazing pressure and perceived long-term risk.
- The findings raise questions about how livestock grazing may reshape predator behavior and wildlife use of shared landscapes.
- Experts say any grazing limits must balance conservation goals with Maasai livelihoods that depend heavily on livestock.

Brazil Supreme Court opens path to mining in Indigenous land for first time
- Last month, the Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the possibility of mining exploration and exploitation inside an Indigenous territory for the first time, at the request of an Indigenous Cinta Larga association in the southwestern Amazon.
- While the decision does not automatically authorize mining within Cinta Larga land, it has set a deadline for Congress to regulate mining in Indigenous lands and has established provisional rules in case mining authorization is approved by Congress, such as allowing mining on only 1% of the territory.
- A representative of the Cinta Larga Patjamaaj Association told Mongabay that the absence of such a law has prevented them from being able to benefit economically from mining on their land, leading to a lack of income for health, education and sustainability projects.
- Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), several public prosecutors and other Indigenous peoples and organizations have raised concerns about the precedent this could set, and say that by establishing these rules, it can be interpreted as opening the door to future exploration requests while on-site environmental compliance inspections in Brazil remain rare.

Human rights commission calls on Peru to protect isolated Kakataibo people
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has requested that the Peruvian government take action to protect the isolated Kakataibo Indigenous people in the Amazonian departments of Ucayali, Huánuco and Loreto. The group lives in voluntary isolation in the Kakataibo North and South Indigenous Reserve, where it’s under threat from illegal loggers and other invaders who […]
Concern among Indigenous leaders, relief for a few, as Amazon Soy Moratorium falters
- Mongabay spoke with various stakeholders across Brazil’s political spectrum on what the possible unraveling of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a key zero-deforestation agreement, may mean for Indigenous peoples and their lands.
- Most Indigenous leaders say a weakening or end to the moratorium will increase deforestation, pollution and invasions of their lands — as satellite imagery points to advancing forest loss near one territory — while a few leaders see this as an economic opportunity that will allow them to sell soy farmed on their lands without any penalties.
- As cracks form in the 20-year-old moratorium, the environment ministry says existing deforestation policies still stand and that given potential impacts on Indigenous lands, environmental enforcement and control mechanisms remain active and strengthened.
- The government of the state of Mato Grosso says the moratorium created an unfair legal framework, while soy industry association Abiove said Brazil can still maintain high socioenvironmental standards without it. Both did not address whether there are potential impacts on Indigenous lands.

Five Yanomami infants in Brazil die amid whooping cough outbreak
Five Indigenous Yanomami infants have reportedly died from a preventable respiratory illness called pertussis, or whooping cough. The outbreak began Jan. 7 in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Roraima state in northern Brazil. A representative of the Urihi Yanomami Association (UYA) told Mongabay that health authorities have been slow to respond. Three of the […]
Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea
- Researchers have developed an Ocean Equity Index that seeks to measure how equitable ocean initiatives are based on 12 criteria.
- The index, which was introduced alongside an academic study, can be used by governments, companies and community or Indigenous groups; the authors hope its use will be institutionalized globally.
- Assessing equity quantitatively is challenging because of the subject’s complexity and because perspectives of equity vary widely across actor groups, experts say.

Brazil revokes decree privatizing three Amazonian rivers after Indigenous protests
Brazil has revoked a presidential decree that placed sections of three Amazonian rivers — the Tapajós, Madeira and Tocantins — under a state-led privatization program. Indigenous groups had protested the plan for 33 days by blockading a Cargill grain port in Santarém in the western Brazilian Amazon. The decree was a part of a larger […]
Indigenous communities oppose Papua forest rezoning for palm oil
- Indigenous communities in Indonesian Papua have filed an administrative objection against forestry ministry decrees that reclassify more than a million acres as nonforest land, clearing the way for oil palm development under the government’s food estate program.
- The rezoning last September was carried out without the communities’ knowledge or consent, and the affected areas include swaths of forest that they have proposed as customary forests.
- The communities only learned of the decision months later, after NGOs obtained the decree. If the ministry fails to respond to their objection, they plan to sue in the State Administrative Court.
- The expansion aligns with the government’s drive to boost food and biofuel production, but Indigenous rights advocates warn the plan could cost communities their forests, livelihoods and cultural ties to the land.

Amazon riverfolk warn blasting rocks for shipping route will kill fisheries
- As Brazil moves to explode the deep, rocky river territory of the Lourenção Rocks, locals on the Tocantins River say the government’s refusal to recognize them as “impacted” excludes thousands of fishers from protections.
- Scientists compare the 43-kilometer (26.7-mile) rocky stretch to an “underwater Galapagos,” warning that detonations will destroy the quiet water pockets and deep rocks where rare species breed.
- The industrial shipping route is designed to accelerate global exports of soy and minerals, a move critics say prioritizes corporate profit over the survival of traditional peoples.

Bringing Mongabay’s Amazon narco airstrip exposé to the stage
Mongabay Latam’s award-winning investigation that uncovered 67 secret airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon sent shockwaves across Peru’s media landscape. It drew public attention to Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory against drug traffickers. To communicate this story to a wider audience, Mongabay Latam […]
As Nepal votes, climate change is an elephant in the room for Sherpa community
- Seasonal migration and low resident voter presence in Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Everest) region mean election campaigns concentrate on infrastructure rather than climate adaptation, leaving long-term environmental resilience underprioritized.
- Sherpa communities are witnessing retreating glaciers, erratic snowfall, avalanches and flooding, consistent with IPCC reports on elevation-dependent warming, changing snow and monsoon patterns and downstream water risks.
- Everest mountaineering revenue and helicopter tourism generate income, but limited reinvestment in climate adaptation, environmental regulation and sustainable infrastructure threatens ecosystems and the local economy in the face of climate change.

In Ecuador’s Chocó, roads shape the fate of the rainforest
- The Chocó rainforest in northwestern Ecuador has experienced some of the worst deforestation in the world, with only around 3% tree cover remaining in the western lowlands.
- A lot of the deforestation can be traced to an influx of loggers in the 1990s and the many roads and trails that they created in the process, which are now being used by new settlers.
- In an effort to save a part of the Chocó, the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation has been building a reserve by buying up parcels of land, one at a time. Its Canandé Reserve has grown to roughly 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) but still faces pressure from roads and trails built by expanding communities.
- Residents respect the need to conserve the forest but also express a desire to improve connectivity, with the ability to travel within the area and to nearby cities.

Researchers eye jaguar conservation wins under Brazil Indigenous stewardship project
- The jaguar is listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List due to threats such as habitat loss and overhunting, but finds a safe haven in Brazil within protected areas and Indigenous lands.
- A pioneering new Brazilian initiative seeks to strengthen the protection of 15 Indigenous territories and their biodiversity through land sovereignty, environmental restoration and monitoring.
- The initiative may benefit jaguar conservation in one of the big cat’s last remaining strongholds.
- The initiative is still in its early stages, and so far there are little to no links between the project and jaguar conservation programs. But researchers say they hope conservation efforts, even if not explicitly aimed at jaguars, can have a ripple effect on protecting the species.

Kiliii Yüyan puts Indigenous ‘Guardians of Life’ and their planetary stewardship in focus
National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan returns to the Mongabay Newscast to share his experience creating his new book, Guardians of Life: Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Science, and Restoring the Planet from specialty publisher Braided River. This book documents the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of nine Indigenous communities worldwide, featuring contributions and essays from many members of […]
Malaria outbreak among Indigenous Pirahã linked to forest loss, satellite data find
- According to data from Global Forest Watch, the Pirahã Indigenous Territory in Brazil lost 7,000 hectares of tree cover from 2002-24.
- A large spike occurred in 2024, when the territory lost 3,200 hectares of tree cover.
- Government officials told Mongabay that the recently contacted Pirahã people are facing a malaria outbreak, and the deforestation is the result of an effort by Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency to improve food security.
- The situation is complex, conservationists say, and although the clearings to plant crops may exacerbate the risk of malaria, the Pirahã people need food to improve their ability to fight the disease.

Brazil mining boss sentenced for illegal gold operation on Indigenous land
A Brazilian federal court has sentenced a key financier to more than 22 years in prison. He was found guilty of leading an illegal mining operation in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, a huge protected area in the Amazon Rainforest that has been devastated by pollution, disease and deforestation. Rodrigo Martins de Mello, known as Rodrigo […]
In Peru’s Andes, Quechua women turn human-wildcat conflict into coexistence
- In Peru’s Andean highlands, Quechua women who once killed pumas in retaliation for livestock losses are now leading efforts to protect them.
- Through a women-led conservation group, communities used camera traps and monitoring to reframe pumas and other wildcats as part of a shared ecosystem.
- Practical measures such as improved corrals, nonlethal deterrents and forest protection have sharply reduced conflict and ended retaliatory wildcat killings.
- An alpaca wool textile cooperative links conservation with women’s economic empowerment, strengthening both livelihoods and wildlife protection.

Indigenous protests force Brazil to suspend Tapajós River dredging plan
Brazil has suspended a decree on dredging and privatizing the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, after protests shut down a grain terminal — but Indigenous groups are pressing for its full revocation. Hundreds of Indigenous protesters have since Jan. 22 blockaded the Cargill grain facility in the Amazonian city of Santarém over […]
‘We have to bring trust’ into funding talks: Valéria Paye on Indigenous-led funds
- Indigenous-led funds provide direct funding and support for Indigenous movements, including on the frontlines of environmental change.
- Mongabay speaks with Valéria Paye, executive director of the Podáali Fund (the Indigenous fund for the Brazilian Amazon), about how their approach differs from mainstream philanthropy by prioritizing trust, reciprocity and Indigenous leadership, governance and management.
- She explains how supporting Indigenous peoples and their territories is a form of “climate policy” and highlights the strong presence of and global support for Indigenous peoples at U.N. climate conference COP30 in Brazil as the reason for tangible outcomes such as the legal recognition of several Indigenous territories.
- Paye shares key lessons from her experience to date with the Podáali Fund, why she thinks the Tropical Forests Forever Fund is “no different” from other state-established funds and her advice for non-Indigenous organizations that want to support Indigenous environmental stewardship.

Bolivia Indigenous communities, local gov’ts help protect nearly 1 million hectares
- Bolivia has created four new protected areas covering 907,244 hectares (2.2 million acres) of Amazon lowlands and Andean highlands, creating corridors intended to improve wildlife migration and maintain forest-based economies for local families.
- Because the creation of nationally protected areas has slowed in Bolivia in recent years, conservation groups have looked to departmental and local governments for help protecting the rainforest.
- The new protected areas help strengthen wildlife corridors between larger national parks.

A dam threatens Nepal’s Indigenous community; they want it on the ballot
- Residents of Mulkharka, largely from the Indigenous Tamang community, learned only in 2023 about plans for the Nagmati Dam near their settlement on the northern edge of Kathmandu and now strongly oppose it, saying officials highlighted benefits but hid social, environmental and safety risks.
- Locals fear displacement as well as loss of forests, rituals, grazing land and medicinal plants, with estimates of up to 80,000 trees cut, increased human-wildlife conflict and erosion of ancestral ties to the land.
- Critics and engineers warn the $190 million dam is unnecessary and systemically risky, citing weak environmental assessments, seismic vulnerability and catastrophic flood potential for downstream Kathmandu if the dam fails.
- As Nepal heads into parliamentary elections, Mulkharka residents want the dam debated at the ballot box calling for development models that prioritize community consent, ecological safety and accountability.

Brazil declares açaí a national fruit amid biopiracy concerns
Brazil recently passed a law to recognize açaí, a berry endemic to the Amazon, as a national fruit, citing concerns about biopiracy — the commercial exploitation of native species and traditional knowledge without consent or fair compensation. Açaí is a staple food in northern Brazil, where it’s eaten as a savory paste typically served with […]
Indonesia fast-tracks final permit for Papua rice megaproject without Indigenous consent
- Indigenous rights activists in Indonesia’s Papua region are condemning the government’s rapid approval of a massive rice plantation, arguing the government fast-tracked a key land permit without proper consultation or consent from Indigenous landowners.
- The activists say the process ignored Indigenous communities’ free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and reflects a broader pattern under the food estate program that sidelines Indigenous rights and environmental safeguards in the name of national food security.
- Critics warn of widespread deforestation, land dispossession and social conflict, echoing past failures of similar schemes elsewhere in Indonesia.
- The government claims that procedures were followed, but Indigenous representatives and civil society groups say consultations were minimal, protests were ignored and the project amounts to forced land appropriation.

World Bank carbon program risks further infringing upon rights of Indonesian Indigenous community (commentary)
- The Indigenous Dayak Bahau community of Long Isun has long fought for recognition, land rights and justice in Indonesian Borneo, and while those disputes remain unresolved, a new threat to their sovereignty has appeared: the World Bank’s carbon program.
- The bank did not create the conflict, but by moving forward with a carbon offset project on this land that is still contested, it would risk reinforcing the status quo that enabled logging companies to operate on their territory without genuine consent.
- “A genuine response from the World Bank could set an important precedent: resolving customary land disputes before launching carbon projects,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra
- Women’s rights groups in Indonesia’s Dairi regency have been at the forefront of a legal challenge against a zinc mining company, which ultimately prevailed in court and set a legal precedent in the country in May 2025.
- The women farmers joined a group of 11 villagers who say their successive victories in Indonesia’s courts was due to their unrelenting consistency and not giving up throughout the last two decades.
- Developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral, backed by China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., is now proposing for a new permit after the environment ministry revoked the old one and is hoping to gain the approval of all community elements, including villagers.
- However, according to the local activists who spoke to Mongabay, they will continue to resist the mine.

World Bank watchdog looks into Nepal cable car project amid Indigenous outcry
- The World Bank Group’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) is assessing a complaint by Nepal’s Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) people over the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) advisory involvement in the controversial Pathibhara cable car project, formally registered in December 2025.
- The cable car, planned on land sacred to the Yakthung people and near the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, has sparked protests over alleged violations of Indigenous rights, forest clearance, threats to wildlife and inadequate environmental assessment.
- Complainants argue the IFC failed to transparently disclose its advisory support to IME Group until late in the project, raising questions about accountability and compliance with IFC safeguards, despite the IFC saying it exited the advisory agreement early and did not directly support the Pathibhara project.
- The case will undergo a 90-day CAO assessment to determine whether it proceeds to dispute resolution or a compliance review, amid ongoing legal challenges and community protests.

Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides
- Indonesia has revoked the permits of 28 companies after a post–Cyclone Senyar audit found environmental violations that authorities say worsened deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025, which killed about 1,200 people.
- The revoked permits cover about 1 million hectares of forests and include major players such as pulpwood producer PT Toba Pulp Lestari, marking a shift toward framing permit enforcement as post-disaster accountability.
- Two high-profile projects in the Batang Toru ecosystem were hit: a nearly completed hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, both long criticized for operating in landslide-prone terrain that’s the only habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.
- Environmental groups have welcomed the revocations, but warn the move is incomplete, calling for transparency, ecosystem restoration, protection against permit transfers to new operators, and broader action to halt deforestation in vulnerable watersheds.

How US intervention could deepen Venezuela’s environmental crisis
- Following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. has expressed interest in the country’s oil and minerals. But the current landscape means that a rushed investment could be disastrous for the environment, critics warn.
- Venezuela has an estimated 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest in the world. But decaying infrastructure and corruption make investment almost impossible, with a high risk of spills inside sensitive ecosystems.
- The country also has massive mineral deposits, many of them in the rainforest and on Indigenous territory. The mines are largely controlled by criminal groups, making U.S. involvement there extremely complicated, critics said.

Canceled tourism project still threatens local communities in Tanzania
Roughly one year ago, the Tanzanian government canceled a multimillion-dollar tourism project funded by the World Bank, citing concerns over human rights violations. However, community members near the project in Ruaha National Park report that they continue to face violence by park guards. Civil society groups say the government threatens people with eviction. Local residents […]
Conservation’s unfinished business
- A recent Nature paper argues that many persistent failures in conservation cannot be understood without examining how race, power, and historical exclusion continue to shape the field’s institutions and practices.
- The authors contend that conservation’s colonial origins still influence who holds decision-making authority, whose knowledge is valued, and who bears the social costs of environmental protection today.
- As governments pursue ambitious global targets to expand protected areas, the paper warns that conservation efforts risk repeating past injustices if Indigenous and local land rights are not recognized and upheld.
- To address these challenges, the authors propose a framework centered on rights, agency, accountability, and education, emphasizing that more equitable conservation is also more durable.

Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier
- Ever since Mitú was first established as a settlement in 1935, it has rapidly transformed into an expanding urban town in one of Colombia’s most isolated departments.
- The Amazonian forests, rivers and Indigenous communities who surround Mitú are impacted by urbanization, the overexploitation of natural resources, cattle ranching, illegal mining and timber extraction which have caused deforestation, soil degradation and water pollution.
- Researchers say the construction of a highway from Mitú to Monfort has attracted settlers who cleared land around the road to expand the urban center and develop agricultural production and cattle ranching.
- Mongabay found 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of tree cover loss in Mitú since 2014.

Massive Amazon conservation program pledges to put communities first
- The Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) is a massive conservation program that has helped reduce deforestation across 120 conservation areas in the Brazilian Amazon and avoided 104 million metric tons of CO2 emissions between 2008 and 2020.
- A new phase of the program, called ARPA Comunidades, will now focus on supporting the communities who live in and protect the forest, by helping them increase their revenue through the bioeconomy or sale of sustainable forest products.
- Backed by a $120 million donor fund, ARPA Comunidades aims to increase protections across 60 sustainable-use reserves in the Brazilian Amazon spanning an area nearly the size of the U.K., directly impacting 130,000 people and helping raise 100,000 out of poverty.

The climate fight may not be won in the Amazon, but it can be lost there
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. After five decades studying the plants and peoples of the Amazon, Mark Plotkin, an ethnobotanist and co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team, is still asked whether the rainforest’s glass is half-full or half-empty. His answer is unchanged. “By […]
Guatemala’s eco defenders reel from surge in killings and persecution
- In 2023, there were four recorded killings of environmental defenders in connection to their work; in 2024, this figure shot up to at least 20, according to advocacy group Global Witness.
- An ongoing political crisis, persistent criminalization, and the spread of organized crime have all fed the rise in violence against Indigenous and campesino communities and defenders.
- This is happening despite a change of government, led by President Bernardo Arévalo, whose movement was backed by Indigenous communities.
- Land grabbing, mass arrest warrants and judicial persecution are increasingly common, together with the use of force, say human rights defenders and activists.

Deforestation climbs in Central America’s largest biosphere reserve
- Nicaragua’s Bosawás Biosphere Reserve has lost more than a third of its primary forest cover since the turn of the century.
- 2024 marked the biggest year of deforestation, with 10% of Bosawás cleared in just one year.
- Cattle ranching is among the top causes of forest loss, with outsiders encroaching into Bosawás to clear forest for pasture.
- Indigenous advocates and residents say the loss of forest is threatening their way of life, and that they have faced violence due to encroachment.

Top 10 Indigenous news stories that marked 2025
- Lack of progress on direct funding for Indigenous land rights, poor representation at climate talks, and intensifying mining pressure were central issues that affected Indigenous peoples in 2025 covered by Mongabay.
- Our investigations revealed how communities were persuaded to sign over land rights for shady carbon deals, and how a high-profile operation to clear out illegal miners from Amazonian territories has barely made a dent.
- We also covered more hopeful stories, highlighting the communities putting forward their own solutions, including women forest guardians in the Amazon, and micro-hydro development in mountainous Philippine villages unreached by the grid.
- To end the year, here are Mongabay’s top 10 stories on Indigenous communities that marked 2025.

Fights against development projects marks 2025 for Nepal’s Indigenous people
- From protests to court rulings, for Nepal’s Indigenous peoples and local communities, 2025 was marked by activism and struggles to secure their forests, land and territories from infrastructure projects.
- As threats from hydropower, cable cars and mining projects increased, communities lost touch with their forest, lands and sacred connection with nature, which impacted biodiversity conservation.
- However, communities pushed legal action against these projects that operated without FPIC, community consultation, environmental regulation and safeguards.

Will Australia’s main environment law continue marginalizing Indigenous authority, despite overhaul? (commentary)
- Australia’s main environmental law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), was recently updated.
- The EPBC overhaul is a major shift in environmental standards, which also appoints a new independent environment watchdog and other changes, but one of the most urgent failures of the old policy remains unresolved: the marginalization of Indigenous input and authority.
- The real test in the updated EPBC lies in how it’s implemented, a new op-ed argues: “If governments continue treating First Nations as consultees rather than partners, the new laws will inherit the same weaknesses that allowed deforestation, cultural loss and biodiversity decline under the old regime.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

BRICS+ offers Indigenous & local communities ways to advance environmental and social goals (analysis)
- As the world grapples with climate change, biodiversity loss and resource scarcity, Indigenous and local communities remain at the forefront of conservation, yet are often sidelined in terms of global environmental governance.
- However, as the geopolitical landscape shifts, new opportunities are emerging for these communities to assert their influence: one alternative is the BRICS+ alliance, a coalition of 10 nations that has increasingly positioned itself as a counterbalance to Western-dominated global governance structures.
- BRICS+ “offers unique opportunities for reimagining Indigenous inclusion through their emphasis on multipolarity, South-South cooperation, and alternative development paradigms that could, if strategically leveraged, provide space for Indigenous voices to shape governance from within,” and therefore bring environmental and social goals forward, a new analysis argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

The Amazon in 2026: A challenging year ahead, now off the center stage
- As Belém’s COP30 ended in compromise, political forces moved swiftly to accelerate destruction far from the global spotlight.
- New infrastructure projects, critical minerals, fires and novel threats to the Amazon remain looming for 2026 after a year in the spotlight preparing for COP30.
- In 2025, the rainforest saw illegal miners finding new smuggling routes and an increasing backlog of families waiting for settlement in Brazil.
- As carbon credit schemes and violence against environmental defenders continue to loom, products made from Amazon raw materials renew hope for the value of a standing forest.

Protected areas in Africa are vital but local perceptions vary (commentary)
- Protected areas are cornerstones of global biodiversity conservation strategy, yet their social impacts remain contentious.
- A recent study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with Middlebury College examined perceptions of these areas among thousands of local residents living near five forested regions of Central Africa and Madagascar.
- “Conservation practice needs to take seriously how the people living near protected areas perceive those areas, and what benefits and harms they associate with them, in their full unevenness and complexity,” the authors of a new op-ed say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Nepal Indigenous leaders refile writ petition against hydropower project
- In 2024, Indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people filed a writ petition against a hydropower project expressing concerns over what they say is a flawed EIA, forged signatures and community rights violations in Lungbasamba landscape, a biocultural heritage home to endangered flora and fauna.
- More than a year since the petition, leaders say the construction work has progressed in the absence of an interim order from the court to halt the construction, which has impacted their livelihoods, supported by farming, yak herding and trade in medicinal herbs.
- Demanding the project’s cancellation with an interim order to halt the ongoing construction activities, and to declare the EIA void, leaders filed another petition in November.
- Given the criticisms over the project and impacts outlined by the EIA report, the company says it still looks forward to the project, which is set to be completed in 2028.

Hope, solidarity & disappointment: A familiar mix for Indigenous delegates at COP30
- COP30, held in Brazil, was promoted as both the “Amazonian COP” and the “Indigenous COP,” where more than 900 Indigenous representatives from around the world formally took part in the negotiations.
- While Brazil announced the demarcation of new Indigenous territories and 11 signatories issued a joint commitment to strengthen land tenure for Indigenous peoples, wider frustrations overshadowed these measures.
- Indigenous delegates described a familiar pattern: They were invited into the venue but not into the center of decision-making; that divide was visible in the Global Mutirão, the main COP30 outcome, in which Indigenous peoples appear in the preamble but are absent from the operative paragraphs — the part of the text that directs how countries must act and report.

In Chocó, river defenders say race for energy transition threatens lifelines
- Colombia is looking to accelerate its energy transition amid growing international demand for strategic minerals. But activists from El Carmen de Atrato in Chocó, western Colombia, allege that El Roble, the country’s only active copper mine, is harming the environment and local community.
- The Atrato River, which flows beneath El Roble, was granted constitutional rights in 2016, yet activists raise long-standing concerns over water pollution, tailings dam risks and alleged failures to meet conservation commitments in the area surrounding the mine.
- Critics say the mine has been allowed to operate under antiquated environmental regulation, with a modern environmental licence still under review.
- El Roble rejects all allegations, stating it is a responsible business that complies with environmental regulations. The company says it is the primary source of employment in El Carmen and points to its track record of local investment and community projects.

Across Latin America populist regimes challenge nature conservation goals
- Although in some cases politicians build campaigns on promises around environmental conservation and land rights, once in office, leaders shift direction towards favoring extractive industries and watering down nature protection.
- In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro dismantled the regulatory apparatus created to conserve biodiversity and recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples.
- In Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, administrations have promoted expanding the agricultural frontier and drilling in the Amazon, prioritizing economic growth over sustainability concerns and Indigenous rights.

From COP30 to Sri Lanka, indigenous voices shape climate & food sovereignty
- Indigenous protests at the recently concluded COP30 echo global climate-justice demands, calling for territorial rights, forest protection and an end to extractive industries — themes strongly reflected in the discussions at the Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty held this August in Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lanka’s third Nyéléni Forum brought together more than a thousand grassroots food producers and Indigenous communities, who warned that climate impacts in the country — from erratic rainfall to coastal disruption — are deepened by land-grabs, industrial agriculture and weak community rights.
- Nyéléni concluded with a collective call — the Kandy Declaration — which rejected market-driven climate solutions such as carbon offsets, instead promoting agroecology, community control of land and seeds and people-led governance as essential for climate resilience and food sovereignty.
- Links between Brazil’s Indigenous protests and Sri Lanka’s forum reveal a growing global movement, asserting that climate stability depends on protecting the rights, knowledge and territories of the communities that safeguard biodiversity and produce much of the world’s food.

Brazilian Amazon’s most violent city tied to illegal gold mining on Indigenous land
Violence has escalated in the small Brazilian town of Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade as illegal gold mining on the nearby Sararé Indigenous Territory has exploded over the last two years, according to the 2025 Amazon Violence Atlas. Located in Mato Grosso state near the Bolivian border, Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade recorded the highest […]
Respecting uncontacted peoples can protect biodiversity and our humanity (commentary)
- Protecting regions inhabited by uncontacted Indigenous peoples is vital from both a human rights and environmental perspective; these territories represent some of the planet’s last intact ecosystems, and are also rich carbon sinks.
- But in recent years, these communities that choose to live in isolation have been seen and contacted more frequently by outsiders like illegal miners and loggers, and the results have at times been violent, with reports about these incidents going viral.
- “Some argue that isolation is no longer possible, that climate change, deforestation and economic pressure will make contact inevitable. I believe that argument is defeatist and ethically indefensible. It assumes that outsiders know what is best for these communities, repeating the same paternalism that has caused centuries of harm,” the writer of a new op-ed states.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous Dayak sound alarm as palm oil firm razes orangutan habitat in Borneo
- Indigenous Dayak communities report wildlife encroaching into villages, land grabbing, and loss of cultural and livelihood resources as a palm oil company begins clearing forests on their customary lands — in some cases without consent or even prior notification.
- PT Equator Sumber Rezeki (ESR) has already cleared nearly 1,500 hectares (3,700 hectares) of rainforest inside this region that’s designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and orangutan habitat, with much of the deforestation occurring this year and signaling far more destruction to come.
- The company’s parent group, First Borneo, is driving widespread deforestation across Kapuas Hulu with two other plantations, yet its palm fruit is still entering global “zero-deforestation” supply chains through intermediary mills despite corporate no-buy pledges.
- Environmental groups are urging the government to halt or revoke ESR’s permits and protect the orangutan-rich landscape, warning that continued clearing undermines Indonesia’s climate commitments and threatens both biodiversity and cultural survival.

SE Asia forest carbon projects sidelining social, biodiversity benefits, study finds
- Across Southeast Asia, forest carbon projects intended to offset greenhouse gas emissions are falling short on social justice safeguards, according to recent research.
- The study identifies weak governance, land tenure conflicts, corruption and fragmented policies as contributing to the shortcomings.
- Well-managed forest carbon initiatives have an important role to play in global efforts to reduce emissions, the researchers say, but they must center the rights of traditional custodians of forests.
- Against the backdrop of global democratic backsliding, experts urge greater scrutiny of project accountability to uphold social and environmental standards within the carbon sector.

In Kenya, Maasai private landowners come together to protect wildlife corridors
- The Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Kenya is entirely owned and managed by Maasai people and covers 2,400 hectares of land to protect biodiversity and secure land rights.
- Maasai herders lease their private lands to the conservancy, and in return, they cannot sell the land to anyone other than another member of the conservancy for conservation purposes, nor can they put up fences.
- The conservancy’s land strategy arose after outsiders purchased land in the county, fencing it off and blocking open grazing areas for wildlife and livestock to roam.
- Conservationists say the conservancy’s model has seen success but caution that it will continue working if Maasai landowners feel like they will continue receiving benefits from the land strategy and are included in decision-making.

One small Indigenous territory emerges as illegal mining hotspot in Brazil’s Amazon
One small Indigenous territory is currently the site of roughly 70% of deforestation in Indigenous territories across the Brazilian Amazon due to illegal mining over the last two years, according to government data. The Sararé Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso state is home to about 200 Nambikwara people. From January 2024 to August 2025, illegal […]
As agroforestry declines in Indonesia’s Flores, a traditional ecological lexicon fades with it
- In Indonesia’s Flores highlands, the Manggarai people once practiced diverse agroforestry that blended farming with forest care — traditions carried in hundreds of specialized words for crops, tools and rituals.
- A new study recorded 253 of these agroforestry terms now at risk of disappearing as monoculture farming, tourism and forest loss reshape Manggarai’s landscapes and livelihoods.
- From 2002 to 2024, Manggarai lost about 71 hectares (175 acres) of humid primary forest, mostly cleared for monoculture plantations that disrupt traditional agroforestry systems.
- Researchers say reviving the fading lexicon — through schools, community exchanges and policy support — can help restore Indigenous knowledge crucial for biodiversity, food security and climate resilience.

What was achieved for Indigenous peoples at COP30?
- The two-week COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, saw the largest global participation of Indigenous leaders in the conference’s history.
- With the adoption of measures like the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, a $1.8 billion funding pledge, and the launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), the summit resulted in historic commitments to secure land tenure rights for Indigenous peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant people.
- Yet despite these advances, sources say frustrations grew as negotiators failed to establish pathways for rapid climate finance for adaptation, loss and damage, or to create road maps for reversing deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels.
- While some pledges appear ambitious, Indigenous delegates say effective implementation of the pledges will depend on government transparency and accountable use of funds.

What’s at stake for the environment in Honduras’ presidential election?
- Honduras will hold elections Nov. 30 for president and all 128 seats in Congress.
- The winners will hold office for the next four years, shaping the country’s environmental policies at a time when its many forests and ocean ecosystems are rapidly disappearing.
- Leading candidates include Rixi Moncada of the progressive LIBRE party, Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal party and Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura of the conservative National party.

Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’
Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering […]
Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure
- Brazil will collaborate with the Colombian and Dutch delegations to develop the road map outside the formal U.N. process, with the goal of bringing it back for discussion at COP31.
- Experts say the Belém summit showed disappointing deals after ambitious promises, failing to address the environmental and economic needs of climate change.
- The turbulent final plenary exposed deeper diplomatic rifts, with one delegate accusing Colombian counterparts of behaving “like children” amid high tensions.

Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support
- The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) secured $6.7 billion in sponsor capital at COP30, representing less than a quarter of the $25 billion initially required for a full-scale rollout.
- Policy analysts warn that a smaller fund could likely lose the capacity to outpace deforestation drivers in tropical forests — key in the race to avoid climate disaster.
- Rich nations blamed operational rifts and budget constraints to hold off funding TFFF, a struggle that reflects a worldwide crisis in climate finance; nearly one-third of the funds raised by global forest mechanisms remain undisbursed.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities
- Communities along Cambodia’s O’Ta Bouk River are experiencing severe water contamination, skin ailments and the collapse of fish stocks, which they blame on an unregulated gold mine operating upstream inside Virachey National Park.
- Satellite imagery analysis shows more than 2,400 mining sites across Mekong river basins — including alluvial and heap-leach gold mines — whose toxic runoff threatens rivers, floodplains, farmland, wildlife and millions of downstream residents.
- Communities downstream of the gold mine told Mongabay that authorities have failed to act on the problem, despite multiple indicators suggesting the pollution of the river is linked to mining activity.
- Documents show that a company linked to tycoon Try Pheap controlled the mining area at the time when communities reported pollution that’s left them fearful for their health, livelihoods and food security.

A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- Gunmen killed Vicente Kaiowá e Guarani on November 16th during a land-reclamation effort, in an attack his community says was carried out by organized militias rather than internal rivals.
- The Kaiowá of Pyelito Kue and Mbarakay face a long pattern of violence as they try to return to their tekoha, despite their territory being officially recognized but still undemarcated.
- Recent assaults—including multiple attacks in early November and clashes linked to pesticide drift—reflect a recurring cycle in which reoccupations are met with armed reprisals.
- Rights advocates say Vicente’s death underscores a broader failure of the state to enforce constitutional land rights, leaving the Kaiowá exposed to continued killings on territory that legally belongs to them.

Why don’t forest protectors get paid? asks Suriname’s president
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Brazil, Suriname is taking a large step into the spotlight, reports Mongabay’s Max Radwin. With about 93% forest cover and a status as one of only three nations to boast […]
The land deal threatening a vital piece of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest
- A 30,019-hectare (74,178-acre) forest in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is on the verge of being sold to Bom Futuro, a Brazilian agriculture company with plans to clear the land, documents reviewed by Mongabay suggest.
- The forest is being sold by a local affiliate of Dutch wood flooring producer INPA, which has helped sustainably manage the area since the mid-2000s.
- Conservationists say the plot is an important part of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest, which acts as a transition between the Amazon Rainforest and the Gran Chaco and Cerrado savannas.

Amazon Indigenous groups fight soy waterway as Brazil fast-tracks dredging
- Brazil is pushing the Tapajós River waterway as one of the main Amazon shipping corridors and preparing it for privatization, which will enable regular dredging and maintenance to improve its capacity.
- Traditional communities and environmental groups warn that dredging and heavy vessel traffic threaten fish stocks, turtle nesting areas and other wildlife.
- The Tapajós waterway is a central component of the new Amazonian logistics plans to move commodities such as soy and beef, including the contested Ferrogrão railway.

With military backing and oligarch allies, Indonesia pushes controversial food estate
- The Indonesian government is fast-tracking a massive food estate and biofuel push in South Papua, anchored by new plantations, an $8 billion bioethanol supply chain, and major infrastructure projects including a new highway and expanded airport plans.
- The initiative revives decades of state-driven “food estate” ambitions that have repeatedly failed — from Suharto’s peat-wrecking Mega Rice Project to Joko Widodo’s abandoned cassava fields — yet now comes with stronger political will, military backing, and efforts to attract private and international partners, including Brazil.
- Funding and execution remain shaky, with the appointed operator, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, still unfunded amid competing fiscal pressures as the government pursues costly programs like nationwide free school meals.
- Large-scale land clearing is already underway amid reports of militarized suppression of local resistance, while oligarch allies such as the Jhonlin Group are playing prominent roles, underscoring both the urgency and controversy surrounding Prabowo’s self-sufficiency drive.

Indigenous Dayak resist new southern Borneo national park amid global protection deficit
- Indigenous peoples and student protesters staged several demonstrations in Indonesian Borneo in August in a bid to pressure local authorities to cancel plans for a 119,779-hectare (295,980-acre) national park in the Meratus mountain range.
- Meratus Mountains National Park would be the first national park in South Kalimantan province, and the 58th in Indonesia.
- The draft plans will absorb almost two dozen villages impacting several thousand families, many of whom fear displacement given the lack of formal state recognition of Indigenous communities.
- Local civil society organizations say the public protests reflect a lack of consultation with affected communities, a pattern established by many governments as countries rush to protect 30% of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030.

What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election?
- Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
- The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues.
- Candidates range from the left-wing Jeannette Jara to conservatives José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei.
- Whoever wins will have to address the clean energy transition, ongoing land disputes with Indigenous groups, and a controversial mining sector that has clashed with local communities.

Donors renew $1.8 billion pledge for Indigenous land rights
The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in […]
Governments commit to recognizing 160 million hectares of Indigenous land
The governments of nine tropical countries recently made a joint pledge to recognize 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, of Indigenous and other traditional lands by 2030, according to a Nov. 7 announcement at the World Leaders Summit, an event hosted ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure […]
Cautious win for Indigenous groups in Malaysia as palm oil firm pauses forest clearing
- Indigenous Penan and Kenyah residents in Malaysian Borneo have filed a lawsuit and a complaint with Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil certifier, accusing palm oil company Urun Plantations of clearing natural forest within its concession along the Belaga River in violation of its lease and sustainability certification.
- Urun Plantations agreed in late October to pause development activities after a palm oil mill suspended buying palm fruit from the plantation.
- Satellite imagery and NGO field evidence indicate ongoing deforestation since 2023, while the company says it is only replanting previously developed land and denies breaching certification rules.
- The company maintains the project has local support, with the dispute underscoring growing tensions in Malaysia’s Sarawak state over palm oil expansion into remaining forests and Indigenous territories.

How a ‘green gold rush’ in the Amazon led to dubious carbon deals on Indigenous lands
- A Mongabay investigation has found that companies without the financial or technical expertise signed deals with Indigenous communities in Brazil and Bolivia, covering millions of hectares of forest, for carbon and biodiversity credits.
- Many of the communities involved say they were rushed into signing, never had the chance to give consent, and didn’t understand what they were signing up to or even who with.
- Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency has warned of legal insecurity and lack of standards in carbon credit initiatives, and an inquiry is underway — even as the businessmen involved target more than 1.7 million hectares in the tri-border area between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.
- Two and a half years since the deals were made, Brazil’s Public Ministry has called for them to be annulled, following Mongabay’s repeated requests to the ministry for updates.

The price of gold: In Venezuela, mining threatens Indigenous Pemón
- Across southern Venezuela, Indigenous communities have been drawn into mining for gold as their traditional way of life has been disturbed and they lack other economic opportunities.
- Armed groups and a push for extractives have turned the Imataca Forest Reserve in the state of Bolivar into a mining hotspot, sources tell Mongabay, boosting deforestation and river pollution and destroying the livelihoods of Indigenous Pemón families.
- In Canaima National Park, the collapse of tourism and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed communities into mining. Many operations in the park are run by Pemón, who own rafts, employ local workers and partner with external financiers providing machinery and fuel in exchange for a share of the gold.
- In theory, Venezuela legally guarantees land rights for Indigenous people and requires consultation on extractive projects, but communities denounce a lack of consultation, with both legal and illegal mining encroaching on their territories.

Brazil hosts COP30 with high ambitions — and scaling environmental ambiguities
- Three environmental moves in Brazil are drawing criticism as the country hosts COP30: a green light for exploratory oil drilling on the Amazon coast, an end to the Soy Moratorium and a push for looser environmental licensing.
- Experts fear the plans could risk a lack of global accountability, watering down COP30’s outcome to vague promises and softer language.
- Following COPs held by petrostates, the summit in Belém comes with recent decisions from Norway, Australia and China to support new fossil fuel projects, illustrating a global trend that jeopardizes bolder deals at COP30.

After 6 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing pushed to 2026
- The trial of the two suspects charged in the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon in 2019 was pushed to 2026, triggering outrage among the Guajajara people and Indigenous rights advocates.
- The trial over the crimes will be a legal landmark as the first Indigenous cases to go before a federal jury in Maranhão; usually, killings are considered crimes against individuals and are tried by a state jury, but these crimes were escalated to the federal level because prosecutors made the case that they represented an aggression against the entire Guajajara community and Indigenous culture.
- A long-awaited anthropological report on the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes was concluded and attached to the court case in August, but the trial is very likely to only happen in early 2026, “given that there is not enough time for it to be held by the end of this year,” the judge’s advisory staff in the case said.
- Paulo’s father, José Maria Paulino Guajajara, said he is “really angry” at white people for killing his son for no reason — and inside the Arariboia territory, where their entrance is forbidden. “We Indians are dying, and the white man won’t stop killing us.”

New pledge, old problems as Indonesia’s latest Indigenous forest promise draws skepticism
- Indonesia has pledged to recognize 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of Indigenous and customary forests by 2029, a move the government says will curb deforestation and advance Indigenous rights.
- Advocates call the pledge another empty promise, citing years of stalled reforms, including a long-delayed Indigenous Rights Bill and a slow, bureaucratic process that has recognized less than 2% of mapped customary forests.
- Rights groups say state-backed development continues to drive land grabs and forest loss, with a quarter of Indigenous territories overlapping extractive concessions and widespread conflicts linked to the government’s strategic national projects (PSN).
- Critics urge the government to enact legal reforms and recognize Indigenous land beyond the 1.4-million-hectare target, warning that without real action, the pledge will be symbolic rather than transformative.

Indigenous delegates prepare for COP30 with focus on justice, land and finance
- The 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, will run from Nov. 10-21 in Belém, Brazil, and is expected to host the largest participation of Indigenous peoples in the conference series’ history, with more than 3,000 Indigenous delegates registered.
- Mongabay spoke with some of the delegates from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific about their expectations for the conference and their objectives.
- They’re calling for recognition of Indigenous lands as a climate solution, a just energy transition, protection for forest defenders, and financial pledges that ensure at least 20% of forest conservation funds be directed to Indigenous and local communities.
- COP30 is expected to launch initiatives such as the Belém Action Mechanism for a just transition and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility. In the lead up to the conference, governments and donors also announced major commitments to recognize customary lands and provide funding support land rights.

Women can help rebuild our relationship with lions: Voices from the land (commentary)
- The inclusion of women in Africa’s lion conservation efforts is essential to not only to protect the species, but to do so sustainably with the buy-in of nearby communities — which at times can have a tense and challenging relationship with the predatory species, say members of the Mama Simba, a program within Ewaso Lions made up of Samburu women in Kenya.
- The women say they remember how, when they were young, wildlife was in abundance, that their parents and grandparents lived alongside wildlife in harmony and that lions held a powerful place in their culture, identity and daily lives.
- “Everything changes when women are not asked to sit on the sidelines but invited to lead,” they say in this opinion piece.
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Suriname’s plan to capitalize on carbon: Q&A with President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons
- Suriname’s first female president, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, sat down with Mongabay to discuss her goals for the U.N. Climate Change Conference taking place next week in neighboring Brazil.
- She’s been a vocal proponent of climate financing for countries meeting their emission targets and conserving the rainforest.
- At the same time, Geerlings-Simons is grappling with Suriname’s deep-seated mining industry, which often skirts regulations and destroys natural ecosystems with mercury and cyanide.
- Geerlings-Simons said she recognizes the importance of extractive industries for funding the country’s infrastructure, law enforcement and the agencies that provide environmental oversight.

Indonesia pledges energy transition — but the country’s new NDC says otherwise
- Indonesia’s newly submitted second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), in accordance with the Paris Agreement, contains emission-reduction targets widely seen as insufficient to meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius.
- This contrasts with President Prabowo Subianto’s pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that Indonesia could embark on a genuine energy transition.
- Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario of 8% annual economic growth, Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than in 2019; in contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction.
- Critics say this suggests deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth.

Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring […]
Despite new land title, Bolivia’s Indigenous Tacana II still face invaders
- After a process lasting more than two decades, the Bolivian government has granted the Indigenous Tacana II people a formal title to their ancestral territory, encompassing more than 272,000 hectares of land.
- While this recognition grants them full ownership and legal security, leaders and researchers say it is not enough to protect them from the country’s political insecurity, the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations and invasions by illegal actors.
- The Tacana people have reported land encroachments and the illegal opening of roads, which impact the transit zone for uncontacted Indigenous peoples.
- ● Experts on Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) told Mongabay that the title may provide a territorial barrier for the isolated people, but specific territorial protection measures are still required to guarantee their full protection.

Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples
- A comprehensive global report on uncontacted Indigenous peoples, published Oct. 27 by Survival International, estimates that the world still holds at least 196 uncontacted peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific region.
- About 95% of uncontacted peoples and groups live in the Amazon — especially in Brazil, home to 124 groups. Survival International says that, unless governments and private companies act, half of the groups could be wiped out within 10 years.
- Nine out of 10 of these Indigenous groups face the threat of unsolicited contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. It’s estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups.
- After contact, Indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International says that, if these peoples are to survive, they must be fully protected, requiring serious noncontact commitments by governments, companies and missionaries.

Indonesia’s most vulnerable push for nation’s first Climate Justice Bill
- Climate change is forcing migration and deepening inequality across Indonesia, displacing rural residents, Indigenous peoples and those with disabilities — groups least responsible for the crisis.
- Fishers and farmers say they’ve been driven abroad by collapsing livelihoods caused by erratic weather, only to face exploitation and unsafe working conditions overseas.
- Indigenous and disabled communities are also seeing their food security, mobility and safety undermined, yet they remain largely excluded from government responses and public discourse.
- Civil society and affected groups are pushing for Indonesia to pass a Climate Justice Bill, which would enshrine climate justice as a constitutional right and protect vulnerable communities through coordinate national policy.

Forest sanctuaries and spiritual balance in the Karen highlands of Thailand
- One of Thailand’s largest Indigenous groups, Karen Pgaz K’Nyau culture is deeply rooted in animist beliefs that emphasize the importance of living in balance with nature.
- Their approach to land management incorporates sacred and community forests and traditional small-scale farming, where rituals, prayers and customary regulations govern the use of natural resources.
- However, the pressures of modernization and exclusionary conservation policies undermine their capacity to continue their spiritual practices on ancestral land, threatening cultural identity, food security and ecosystem integrity in many highland villages.

Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- For generations, the Pakayaku community in Ecuador’s Amazon has successfully kept unsustainable mining, logging and oil extraction activities out of forests while preserving their cultural traditions and ecological knowledge.
- Mongabay visited the community to see their guardian program, made up of 45 women warriors who constantly patrol 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of rainforest to detect incursions — which few have been allowed to witness firsthand.
- The community created a “plan of life” map that details their vision, identity and economic alternatives to extraction.
- Leaders worry Ecuador’s concentration on courting international investment in sectors like mining and natural gas could threaten the forests.

Booming sea otters and fading shellfish spark values clash in Alaska
- In Alaska, a state brimming with iconic wildlife — from grizzly bears to king salmon, humpback whales to harbor seals — the charismatic, densely coated sea otter stands out as perhaps the state’s most hotly debated, controversial species.
- Sea otters were nearly hunted into extinction a century ago for their luxurious pelts. But they have been surging in population in the Gulf of Alaska, bringing both benefits to nearshore ecosystems and drawbacks to the shellfish economy (due to the otters’ voracious caloric needs).
- Described by commercial shellfish harvesters and Native Alaskans as pillagers of clams and crabs, sea otters are seen by many marine biologists as having positive impacts on kelp forests — important for biodiversity and carbon storage. Scientists stress that shellfish declines are complex, with sea otters being just one among multiple causes.
- Native Alaskans are the only people given free rein to hunt sea otters. But long-standing federal regulations stipulating who qualifies as Native Alaskan make it illegal for most to manage their own waters. Tribes are fighting for regulatory changes that would enable them to hunt and help balance booming sea otter populations.

Deforestation and disease spread as Nicaragua ignores illegal cattle ranching
- Illegal cattle ranching has torn through Nicaragua’s rainforests in recent years, supplying a growing international market for meat despite calls for better oversight of the industry.
- The practice has led to a spike in cases of New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), a parasitic fly that feeds on warm-blooded animals
- A new investigation by conservation group Re:wild found that years of industry reforms still haven’t prevented cattle ranchers from deforesting protected areas and Indigenous territories.

Indigenous women and the path to a just energy transition: Voices from the land (commentary)
- The implementation of the energy transition is unfolding at the expense of biodiversity and communities — particularly Indigenous women, says Galina Angarova and Daniela De León, members of the SIRGE Coalition.
- They say Indigenous women stand at the frontlines of the energy transition as defenders of their lands and waters and as visionaries shaping alternative pathways rooted in balance, reciprocity and care.
- “A just and sustainable future cannot be achieved without the full participation, leadership and consent of Indigenous women,” they write in this opinion piece.
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

In Nepal’s hills, a fight brews over the country’s biggest iron deposit
- Nepal’s government has granted a mining concession for what it calls the country’s biggest iron deposit in Jhumlabang, a remote farming community that could supply Nepal’s steel demand for years.
- Local residents say they were never properly consulted and fear displacement, water pollution, and destruction of forests and farmlands that sustain their livelihoods and cultural traditions.
- Community groups and Indigenous rights advocates argue the project violates Nepal’s obligations under international law guaranteeing the right to free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous peoples.
- Officials and the mining company insist due process will be followed, but villagers vow to resist the project, saying development should not come at the cost of their land, health and environment.

Chief Kokoi, defender of the Rupununi, died on October 12th
- Tony Rodney James, known as Chief Kokoi, was a Wapichan leader from Guyana’s South Rupununi who devoted his life to defending Indigenous rights, culture, and ancestral lands.
- After leaving politics in the 1970s, he became toshāo (village chief) of Aishalton for six terms and helped establish the Region Nine Toshaos Council, which united Indigenous communities across the Rupununi.
- As president and vice president of the Amerindian Peoples Association, he fought for legal recognition of Indigenous territories and opposed gold mining at Marudi Mountain, despite facing death threats for his stance.
- Decorated with the Golden Arrow of Achievement, he remained a mentor to younger toshaos until his death on October 12th 2025; in Aishalton, he is remembered as a guardian of the land whose spirit still walks the savannas.

Indigenous monitoring project helps protect isolated peoples in Colombia’s Amazon
- Indigenous communities neighboring the peoples living in isolation in Colombian Amazon have spent more than a decade helping the latter remain separate from the outside world.
- Members of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and of the community of Manacaro use traditional knowledge and technology alike to monitor threats to their territory and to protect nearby communities living in isolation.
- In Manacaro, women take on traditionally masculine roles by patrolling the rivers, collecting data, and safeguarding their neighbors’ lives amid the advance of armed actors and illegal mining.
- Surveillance work has provided evidence of uncontacted peoples, such as the Yuri and Passé ethnic groups, which was fundamental in the federal government’s decision to formally recognize them.

Legal actions to protect the Amazon produce mixed results across the region
- Amazon countries employ various civil procedures that empower people to seek legal redress for damage to the environment and its associated consequences.
- Several cases from Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, have set international legal precedents for punishing negligence by both extractive companies and the state.
- Civil lawsuits are not an effective approach when in the case of informal economies, which require more drastic mitigation measures.

Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities & conservation: Report
- A new environmental report warns that expanding nickel mining is placing Raja Ampat’s coral reefs, forests and Indigenous communities under intensifying threat.
- Using geospatial mapping and field evidence, researchers document how mining concessions overlap with critical ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots within the UNESCO-designated geopark.
- They also describe the industry’s deep colonial-era roots, its modern expansion under state and private control and its connections to global electric vehicle supply chains through companies like Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen.
- Activists are urging the Indonesian government to revoke all remaining mining permits, enforce no-go zones and shift toward sustainable economic alternatives that protect the archipelago’s ecological and cultural heritage.

Mamai Lucille Williams, a quiet symbol of dignity amid destruction, has died, aged about 93
- Mamai Lucille Williams, a Patamona elder from Karisparu in Guyana’s North Pakaraimas, was forcibly evicted in 2018 when miners—accompanied by police and a mining officer—destroyed her home and farm to clear land for gold extraction.
- Her case, raised by local Indigenous councils, became emblematic of the wider struggle against illegal and unsafe mining that continues to displace Amerindian communities across Guyana and the Amazon.
- Despite government promises of compensation, Mamai spent her final years away from her ancestral land, which she had occupied since childhood, symbolizing the precariousness of Indigenous tenure amid extractive expansion.
- She died in September 2025, remembered by her community as a “living symbol of courage, resilience, and dignity” and honored for preserving the Patamona language through her contribution to the first Patamona Learning Handbook.

Putumayo’s women guardians defend land and culture amid Colombia’s deforestation
- In Colombia southwest, Kamëntšá and Inga Indigenous women are at the forefront of the struggle to defend their territory, which provides water to the rest of the Putumayo. Through transmitting their language, cultivating traditional farms, sharing ayahuasca, and traveling the Sibundoy Valley, they keep their knowledge system alive: this is the basis of their defense of the territory.
- Although less than 30% of land in the region is suitable for cattle ranching, approximately 8,000 hectares (84%, 19,700 acres) are dedicated to this activity, impacting key ecosystems and water sources.
- At least 45 women have organized to resist the advance of monocultures and deforestation. They achieve this through their chagras, traditional growing spaces that contain hundreds of edible and medicinal plant species.
- Their knowledge and deep connection with the territory have enabled them to participate in the creation of Indigenous reserves and to oppose large-scale road-building projects on their land.

‘We can have abundant rivers and wildlife’: Director of ‘The American Southwest’ on new film
- “The American Southwest” is a new film that explores the importance of the Colorado River in western North America to people and to wildlife.
- Part natural history film, part social documentary, it explores the challenges the Colorado faces as its resources are stretched thin by the demands for cities, energy and agriculture.
- Negotiations over the river’s water after a current agreement expires at the end of 2026 offer an opportunity for more equitable sharing that includes the river itself and long-marginalized representation from the Native tribes who live along the river’s length.
- The film appeared in theaters beginning Sept. 5 and on streaming platforms Oct. 10.

Voices from the Land
Indigenous peoples are experiencing firsthand the impacts of the environmental and climate crises on their lands and communities. This commentary series, produced by the collective Passu Creativa with the support of Earth Alliance, is written by Indigenous leaders from around the world, including Goldman Prize winners, political officials, and representatives of grassroots movements. These leaders […]
In Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands, youths blend ancestral and world faiths to protect forests
- In the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, Indigenous youths continue to practice Arat Sabulungan, a cosmology that sees nature as filled with spirits, while blending it with Islam and Christianity.
- Researchers documented 11 rituals linking spirituality to forest management, such as offerings before tree felling and periods of abstinence, showing how traditions are adapted across generations.
- Scholars note that rituals can both restrain overuse and legitimize extraction, highlighting the complex role of Indigenous cosmology in shaping human-nature relations under modern pressures.
- Ongoing logging, land-use change and weak government support have stripped large tracts of forest from the Mentawais, undermining the islands’ ecosystems and the cultural practices tied to them.

Peru considers stripping protections for Indigenous people and their territories
- Several bills working their way through Peru’s Congress would loosen restrictions for oil and gas drilling, and make it harder for Indigenous people to obtain protected status for their land.
- One of the laws gives Congress the power to reevaluate the legal categorization and reserve status of Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact, or PIACI.
- Some advocacy groups called for the suspension of international climate financing to several parts of the Peruvian government until they implement concrete PIACI protections.

COP26 pledge to support Indigenous & local forest tenure was just met. What was learned?
- The $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights made at the 2021 U.N. climate conference has been met one year ahead of schedule.
- Sources told Mongabay that the pledge led to an increase in funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities’ tenure and guardianship, but direct funding to these groups still remained low.
- The pledge succeeded in meeting its goals thanks to the continuous coordination between donors, said stakeholders, and funding patterns shifted over the years to increase direct funding to Indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as to groups in Asia.
- Stakeholders said future pledges must involve early and consistent dialogue with communities, support for the rights of forest defenders, simplified processes and reduced administrative barriers for more direct funding, as well as greater inclusion of women and youth.

MPs across Latin America unite to stop fossil fuels in the Amazon
- On Oct. 7, a network of more than 900 lawmakers presented the results of a parliamentary investigation into the phaseout of fossil fuels in the Amazon at the Brazilian National Congress in Brasília.
- The report by Parliamentarians for a Fossil-Free Future links fossil fuel extraction in the Amazon to deforestation, ecosystem fragmentation, pollution from spills and toxic waste, community displacement, health problems and violence from armed groups.
- MPs from five Amazonian countries — Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia — have presented law proposals in their national parliaments to halt the expansion of fossil fuel extraction in the Amazon region of their countries. But the level of ambition varies across nations, with countries still relying heavily on extractive industries.

Indigenous leaders gather at the IUCN Indigenous Peoples and Nature summit
More than 100 Indigenous leaders from across the world are gathering at the global Indigenous peoples’ summit at the IUCN World Conservation Congress that begins Oct. 8 in Abu Dhabi. The summit aims to set priorities and commitments for the broader conservation community, highlighting Indigenous peoples’ effective participation in environmental negotiations, leadership and action. IUCN […]
Africa’s largest freshwater lake could be site of Kenya’s nuclear power plant
- The proposal to build a 1,000-MW nuclear power plant on Kenya’s southeastern coast has faced strong opposition from residents and environmental experts, who warn of potential harm to communities, fisheries and the environment.
- Government agencies are now holding consultations at another prospective location on the other side of the country, near Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake.
- Kenya’s energy needs today are met mostly from low-carbon sources, and the country is on track to achieve universal energy access by 2030, but authorities say nuclear power is needed to meet future development goals.
- Some experts, however, warn about the high costs, delays, and long-term environmental risks associated with nuclear power projects.

Brazil Supreme Court creates park to honor last man of the Tanaru people
Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the creation of Tanaru National Park in the western Amazon state of Rondônia, protecting the land where the last member of the Tanaru Indigenous people, known as the “Man of the Hole,” or Tanaru, lived in isolation until his death in 2022. The park will serve as a memorial to […]
South American trade bloc orders Peru to crack down on mercury trafficking and illegal gold mining
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A South American trade bloc has ruled that Peru is failing to curb illegal gold mining and mercury trafficking. The Andean Community, which includes Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia, made the decision on Monday. They have ordered Peru to reform its laws and seize illegal mining equipment. Indigenous groups say mercury […]
Indigenous consent isn’t a ‘box-ticking’ exercise: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Government officials and companies in South Africa seem to be increasingly using free, prior and informed consent as a box-ticking exercise, says Sinegugu Zukulu, an Indigenous activist and Goldman Prize Winner.
- He underlines that the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires States to consult and cooperate in good faith with communities, allowing them the right to say “No” to a project.
- “The distant planning that goes on in ivory towers without our representation ends up going against our wishes,” Zukulu writes in this opinion piece. “The aspirations of Indigenous communities should always be respected.”
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Just as Raja Ampat fetches UNESCO Biosphere Reserve title, nickel mining looms
- On Sept. 27, UNESCO designated 26 new biosphere reserves, including Indonesia’s Raja Ampat, which is also recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark; the two designations make it one of few places on Earth honored for both geological heritage and biodiversity.
- Yet nickel mining threatens to carve up the region’s forests and coral reefs; a new report finds that nickel concessions in Raja Ampat cover 22,000 hectares, including zones that overlap with coral reefs and marine habitats.
- This raises questions about whether international recognition alone can safeguard Raja Ampat against the growing pressure of nickel extraction, driven by global demand for batteries in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.

Philippine tribes revive reforestation to defy coal mining expansion
- Indigenous residents, farmers, and church groups in the southern Philippines continue to resist a coal mine they say threatens health, livelihoods and ancestral lands.
- Since 2022, strip mining has destroyed forested slopes, polluted roads with coal dust, and caused frequent accidents from heavy truck traffic.
- Critics say accountability is elusive after San Miguel Corp., one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, sold the companies operating the mines to an undisclosed buyer, obscuring ownership.
- Tribal leaders are reviving reforestation as a form of protest, vowing to block any mining expansion into their ancestral domain.

Report finds 226 Indigenous land defenders in Peru at risk of violence
- A report by Indigenous rights advocacy groups ProPurús and AIDESEP shows a panorama of violence faced by environmental defenders in Peru’s Amazonian region.
- The report found 226 cases of Indigenous defenders at risk between 2010 and 2024 in Ucayali department and neighboring parts of the departments of Huánuco and Loreto.
- Illegal activities such as drug trafficking, gold mining and logging are the main drivers of violence, according to the report.
- The expansion of monoculture plantations, many of them with legal protection, is another source of persistent pressure on Indigenous territories.

Peru court upholds 28 years in prison for loggers in Indigenous murders
- Eleven years after the murders of four Indigenous leaders of the Alto Tamaya Saweto community, an appeals court ratified the sentences for four loggers.
- The judges upheld the initial sentence of 28 years and three months in prison for loggers José Estrada and Hugo Soria, as well as brothers Josimar and Segundo Atachi.
- Meanwhile, Eurico Mapes Gómez, accused by the Public Ministry of being a third material author of the murders, was not sentenced, having been a fugitive of justice since 2022, when the first trial took place.
- The defendants failed to attend the hearing, and an arrest warrant was issued for the four loggers.

Brazil’s first private Amazon road paves new trade route to China
- Brazil’s government has signed a 30-year contract to privatize a section of the BR-364 highway, a key part of its plan to create an overland corridor to Peru to streamline commodity exports to China.
- Critics warn that expanding the highway into well-preserved rainforest risks repeating its history by attracting illegal loggers and land grabbers, a pattern that previously cleared vast areas for agriculture.
- The road is key to a new infrastructure initiative aimed at streamlining South American trade routes to China by creating a direct link between Brazil’s agribusiness heartland and Pacific ports in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Ethnologist Martín von Hildebrand awarded Lovejoy Prize for Amazon conservation
The second recipient of the Thomas E. Lovejoy Prize, launched in 2024, was announced Sept. 23 at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, during New York’s climate week. Martín von Hildebrand, an ethnologist and anthropologist, won the award for his decades of work with Indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon, helping them secure […]
Indigenous groups criticize Ecuador’s $47 billion oil expansion plan in Amazon
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Ecuador’s plans to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration for more than $47 billion has prompted opposition from seven Indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Those groups say 18 of the proposed blocks overlap their ancestral territories and that they were not consulted. Government officials say their plan is […]
Rights of nature concept creates room for life, but it’s still ‘fuzzy’: Study
- ‘Rights of nature’ cases are growing worldwide, but perceptions of it as a revolutionary ecocentric movement are too simplistic, according to a recent study that identified nine patterns of its application in Ecuador, India, New Zealand and the U.S.
- The authors found that environmental concerns are not always the common driving force behind rights of nature processes, and Indigenous peoples and local communities are not universally advocates of the legal rights framework.
- At the same time, the interests of traditional communities are most affected by rights of nature reforms, and the rules surrounding the concept have created space to question the way nature is used for short-term human gain.
- Researchers suggest that a successful scenario is one where the rights of nature process align with the local context, addresses local issues, and engages with communities to prevent conflicts.

Indigenous women in Peru use technology to protect Amazon forests
- Kichwa, Ticuna and Matsés women are leading forest patrols and training other women in the use of technology such as GPS, drones and satellite alerts.
- They are protecting the forest not only as an ecosystem, but also as a vital source of life, food, medicine and cultural heritage for their communities.
- Studies show that access to such technology has helped Indigenous communities significantly reduce forest loss.
- Through cunas, community childcare spaces, women are able to participate actively in forest monitoring workshops while passing ancestral knowledge to new generations, ensuring cultural continuity.

Indigenous fishers lead science-backed conservation of Colombia’s wetlands
- A community-based monitoring project is helping protect the rich diversity of freshwater fish species in the Ramsar-listed wetlands in the Colombian Amazon.
- By combining ancestral knowledge with scientific tools, Indigenous Amazonian leaders say their communities are strengthening their connection to their territory.
- Community monitoring and training efforts have helped inform fishing regulations to better protect ecosystems and ensure the sustainability of local populations’ livelihoods.

Oakes Award delivers top prize to Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes
Mongabay journalist Karla Mendes has received the 2025 John B. Oakes Award from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Mendes was presented with the prestigious prize at an event in New York on Sept. 18 for her investigation documenting a direct connection between increased violence against Indigenous Arariboia leaders and the expansion of illegal cattle […]
Permaculture promises peace, food, increased equality in Kenyan county
- In Kenya’s semiarid Baringo county, Indigenous pastoralists like Salina Chepsat are moving from herding to diversified organic crop farming.
- They benefit from training by the Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative in permaculture and seed saving, but male control of land still restrains how much they can do.
- Boreholes and a shared irrigation scheme enable year-round crops and foster cooperation among different ethnic communities with a history of hostilities.
- Experts call for co-designed strategies combining water access, land restoration and inclusive decision-making to secure food and peace.

Bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge with science and radio
Aimee Roberson, executive director of Cultural Survival, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how her organization helps Indigenous communities maintain their traditions, languages and knowledge while living among increasingly Westernized societies. As a biologist and geologist with Indigenous heritage, Aimee Roberson is uniquely suited to lead the organization in bridging these worlds, including via “two-eyed seeing,” […]
Marfrig’s bonds funded beef from illegally deforested areas in Brazil
- An investigation has found that half of the $2 billion Marfrig raised went to buying cattle raised on deforested land and fattened in feedlots linked to its board chair.
- Marfrig’s claims to track nearly 90% of its indirect suppliers in the Amazon contain blind spots, enabling ranchers from illegally deforested areas to rig the supply chain through paperwork.
- With new regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation demanding full traceability, the Brazilian cattle industry faces increasing pressure to identify herds and meet stricter environmental requirements for global markets.

Europe’s competition over Indigenous Sámi resources: Voices from the land (commentary)
- In northern Europe, Indigenous Sámi people continue to compete with neighboring nations for the same resources and lands, says Áslat Holmberg, former president of the Saami Council, political leader and advocate for Indigenous rights.
- He argues that this is part of continual colonial control, taking shape in the form of mines, energy projects, top-down conservation efforts and politics taking more land from Sámi reindeer herders and fishers or overriding Sámi rights in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
- “Our lands are seen as a storeroom of resources, just waiting to be plundered,” Holmberg writes in this opinion piece. “We are told that we must contribute and give more of our lands for the sake of the planet. But we have already given so much. Many of our communities are stretched to their limits.”
- This commentary is part of the Voices from the Land series, a compilation of Indigenous-led opinion pieces. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Protecting Indigenous Amazon lands may also protect public health, study says
- Healthy forests in protected Indigenous territories could help reduce the risk of certain illnesses for humans, a new study shows.
- Different factors influence how effective Indigenous territories are at protecting health, including whether a territory has legal protected status and the type of landscape surrounding it.
- Researchers found that Indigenous territories can effectively reduce the risk of vector-borne or zoonotic diseases if they’re located in municipalities with at least 40% forest cover.
- The study used a data set of respiratory, cardiovascular, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases recorded across the Amazon region between 2001 and 2019 to understand how pollution from forest fires, forest cover and fragmentation, and Indigenous territories impacted the risk from 21 different diseases.

South African Wild Coast communities challenge Shell in Constitutional Court
A South African court heard arguments Tuesday from coastal communities, NGOs and British oil and gas giant Shell on whether the multinational should be allowed to proceed with offshore exploration on the country’s Wild Coast. The hearing was accompanied by protests against marine oil and gas exploration across the country. The case goes back to […]
Landmines and violence in Colombian Amazon confine Indigenous Siona families
Siona Indigenous guards in southern Colombia are raising alarm that landmines and armed groups are cutting off their families from natural resources and trapping them in small portions of their territory. It’s been an ongoing problem for decades, Mongabay contributor Jose Guarnizo reported. In August 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expanded its […]
Norway fund drops Eramet over Indonesia mine threatening forests, Indigenous tribe
- Norway’s $1.6 trillion government pension fund is divesting its $6.8 million stake in French miner Eramet after its ethics council found “unacceptable risk” of severe environmental damage and human rights violations at the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine the company operates in Halmahera, Indonesia.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- Weda Bay Nickel sits in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot and has already cleared about 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of rainforest since 2019, far exceeding its plan, threatening endemic species and risking extinctions before they’re documented.
- The case highlights growing investor scrutiny over whether nickel for electric vehicle batteries and other clean-energy technologies can be sourced without destroying tropical forests or violating Indigenous rights.

Canada’s mining companies destroy biodiversity with impunity, Indigenous journalist reports
An international tribunal of environmental rights activists recently found extensive evidence that the Canadian mining sector is “guilty for the violation of Rights of Nature across South America and Serbia.” The guest on this episode of Mongabay’s podcast corroborates these accusations, and describes human rights abuses in South American nations that she has seen in […]
An ancient Indigenous civilization endures beneath an Amazon urban soy hub
- Ocara-Açu, a vast precolonial Amazon settlement, underlies the modern-day city of Santarém in Brazil, once serving as the core of a regional network that may have housed up to 60,000 people before the invasion of Europeans.
- Occasionally, Santarém’s rich Indigenous heritage surfaces through the cracks in the urban concrete, although archaeological sites have disappeared as a result of urban expansion, agriculture, and the construction of a soy terminal by commodities giant Cargill.
- Archaeological discoveries in the Santarém region challenge the long-held belief that the Amazon was too harsh to sustain large, complex human cultures, revealing a radically different urban paradigm.

Park guardians or destroyers? Study dissects 2 narratives of DRC’s Indigenous Batwa
- A recent study looks at two polarized characterizations of Indigenous people in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo: forest guardians vs. forest destroyers.
- The two narratives are rooted in colonial perspectives on the Batwa people who had lived inside the park until they were evicted in the 20th century; today, some Batwa populations have returned in an effort to try to rebuild their lives.
- Tensions remain between Batwa members who say they have faced broken promises and insufficient support from park management, but the park management team says it prioritizes Indigenous rights and efforts to improve livelihoods; meanwhile, the situation on the ground is changing amid renewed M23 rebel violence.
- Researchers say the overall situation is much more nuanced than the two narratives of forest guardians vs. destroyers allow for.

In Argentina, lithium exploration proceeds amid community disputes
- In 2023, the Argentine crude oil exporter Pan American Energy announced its plans to start exploring for lithium in Argentina’s Jujuy and Salta provinces.
- Sources told Mongabay that the company did not conduct an adequate free, prior and informed consultation (FPIC) with affected communities before beginning to explore for lithium on their ancestral land.
- They also expressed concerns about the lack of public information about the mining projects and the potential impact on the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin, which Indigenous communities in the region depend on for their livelihoods.
- Lithium mining here may impact two important flamingo species that inhabit the region and other key wetland bird species, biologists have said.

Lithium mining leaves severe impacts in Chile, but new methods exist: Report
- A new report on the impact of lithium mining in South America’s lithium triangle finds the rush to extract lithium in Chile’s Salar de Atacama has had a severe impact on the area’s water supplies.
- This has impacted the region’s Indigenous peoples, including the Lickanantay (Atacameño) peoples, who have faced a loss of vegetation cover and the disappearance of lagoons they depend on.
- Indigenous Colla people, whose land has not yet been exploited, told Mongabay they are concerned about the potential impact on their water supply if mining proceeds without implementing more sustainable mining methods, such as direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies.
- Researchers say DLE can reduce the amount of water needed for lithium mining but it still comes with challenges.

African wildlife conservation is local communities’ burden (commentary)
- Africa is home to a large portion of the world’s biodiversity, and while much is known about its wildlife, the human dimensions of conservation are still not well understood or appreciated.
- In many places, African people have been excluded from their traditional lands by protected areas, often by force, and yet these same people carry the burden of conservation on multiple fronts.
- “Instead of investing more money in militarization, we must invest resources into reconciliation with African peoples across time and scale to build new visions of conservation that are anchored in their diversity and knowledge,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Colombia’s Siona Indigenous guard faces landmines, violence around territory
- In the Buenavista and Santa Cruz de Piñuña Blanco reserves, two Indigenous leaders guard an ancestral legacy that armed conflict, landmines and the state’s uneven support threaten to erase.
- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted protective measures in favor of the Indigenous Siona reserves of Buenavista and Piñuña Blanco. But seven years later, their leaders report noncompliance, militarization and ongoing threats in their territory.
- Widespread landmines have caused mass displacement, robbed people of their freedoms, and confined the Siona to their own forest.
- Siona communities are demanding the legal expansion of their ancestral territory, approximately 52,000 hectares (nearly 130,000 acres), as a guarantee of their physical, cultural and spiritual survival in the face of slow government support.

Palm oil giant Socapalm still planting on disputed land in Cameroon as villagers seek redress
A land dispute between residents of a Cameroonian village and a major palm oil company remains unresolved despite protests and requests for meetings with authorities, NGOs and community members say. Residents of Apouh village in the country’s Littoral region have long accused Socapalm, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based multinational Socfin, of encroaching on their ancestral land […]
Brazilian police arrest Indigenous chief accused of logging endangered trees
Brazil’s Federal Police have arrested the Indigenous chief of the Mangueirinha Indigenous area in southern Paraná state. They accused José Carlos Gabriel, the chief of the territory comprising eight villages from two ethnic groups, of being part of a criminal gang involved with illegal logging critically endangered trees. Gabriel was detained along with three other […]
‘Independent’ auditors overvalue credits of carbon projects, study finds
- A recent study reviewed 95 flawed carbon credit projects registered under Verra, the world’s largest voluntary carbon credit registry, and found signs of systematic flaws with the auditing process.
- These issues suggest that carbon credits often fail to accurately represent actual emission reductions, thereby undermining global climate mitigation efforts.
- The findings further erode trust in the carbon market, with specialists warning that its entire credibility relies on independent verifiers; “The voluntary carbon market is broken,” an expert said.

Isolated tribes under threat as Peru votes down Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve
- The proposed Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve would have protected an area a fifth the size of Ireland in the Peruvian Amazon, home to several Indigenous communities living in isolation.
- Last week, a government commission voted 8-5 against the proposal, despite ongoing threats against the Matsés, Matis, Korubo, Kulina-Pano and Flecheiro Indigenous peoples.
- A new study will have to be developed and proposed to the commission, which could take several more years, critics of the outcome said.
- In the meantime, they warned, forest concessions in the area could expand and groups tied to mining, logging and drug trafficking could force the isolated groups off the land.

New report recommends ways to increase women’s access to funding
- In a new report, the global coalitions Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and the Women in the Global South Alliance (WiGSA) analyzed the structural challenges that Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local community women’s organizations face in accessing funding.
- The report found that most women’s organizations part of the WiGSA network face significant barriers to securing direct funding and experience alarming deficits in long-term, flexible and core funding to operate, among other challenges.
- Its authors share several recommendations to address the structural challenges women face and increase their access to funding, including the redesign of funding mechanisms and a transformation of the donor-partner relationship.

Report sees $20B in revenue for Amazon REDD+ projects despite unmet promises
- A recent report by the Earth Innovation Institute (EII) estimates jurisdictional REDD+ projects in the Brazilian Amazon could generate between $10 billion and $20 billion in revenue.
- The authors suggest that this funding could also scale up forest protection strategies, potentially reducing deforestation by up to 90% by 2030.
- However, experts are skeptical that these programs can ultimately address the root causes of deforestation and comply with proper consultation with local communities.
- Recent studies and investigations have revealed that many carbon credits do not represent real emissions reductions, are intertwined with environmental offenders and fail to include Indigenous peoples.

The making of an autonomous Indigenous nation in Peru’s Amazon
- The Wampís Indigenous people of northern Peru have spent decades resisting the expansion of oil drilling and other extractive projects in their Amazonian territory.
- In 2015, they became the first Indigenous group in the country to declare themselves an autonomous nation.
- While this has led to some positive results in the form of security and conservation work, the Wampís lack the resources to develop productive initiatives and expand guard posts across their 1.3-million-hectare (3.2-million-acre) territory.
- The state has not recognized the autonomous nation, a requirement for the Wampís people to receive direct funding from the state and international donors.

Dying for Arariboia
In Brazil’s Arariboia Indigenous Territory, the Guajajara people and uncontacted Awá have been subjected to violence and land grabbing. This Mongabay series reveals a pattern of targeted killings amid a surge of illegal cattle ranching and logging in and around Arariboia, fueling conflict and exposing failures in enforcement and land protection policy. Symbolizing these issues […]
Carbon offset markets are unfair to communities in Borneo & beyond (commentary)
- Recent investigations have found that many carbon offset projects overstate their impact, ignore Indigenous rights, and fail to deliver on promised benefits.
- In tropical forest regions like Malaysian Borneo, only 1% of climate finance reaches Indigenous communities, despite the latter’s proven role in preventing deforestation: in many cases these communities’ stewardship is what makes carbon offset programs possible.
- “The communities who have fought tooth and nail to keep these forests standing are not being rewarded with handsome sums for their efforts. The carbon credits (and the cash) flow primarily to the license holders, not to the Indigenous people who protect these lands,” a new op-ed states.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Liberian communities await justice at Salala rubber plantation after World Bank complaint
Five months after the World Bank’s private investment arm submitted its action plan to address community grievances against a rubber plantation it funds in Liberia, affected residents are still waiting for its implementation. The case goes back to a 2019 complaint filed by four Liberian NGOs with the internal watchdog of the International Finance Corporation […]
Officials struggle with land invasions in Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve
- Around 450 people have crossed into Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve this year in Mexico’s southern state of Campeche, deforesting hundreds of hectares of dry tropical forest.
- The group is made up of people who relocated from the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Veracruz and other parts of Campeche, according to officials.
- Authorities want to remove the temporary settlements before illegal agriculture and cattle ranching spread into other parts of the reserve. So far, they’ve been unsuccessful.

Indigenous people gain formal role in Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) recently announced the creation of a formal role for Indigenous peoples, giving them a voice for the first time in one of the Amazon Basin’s most important intergovernmental bodies. The announcement was made during ACTO’s fifth summit of presidents of Amazonian countries in Bogotá, Colombia, marking a historic shift […]
In Brazil, invaders set fires in Karipuna Indigenous land, leaders say
Indigenous leaders say land-grabbers are setting fires inside the Karipuna Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Rondônia state, in the northwest Amazon. The fires come less than one month after Indigenous leaders warned authorities about renewed invasions. Satellite monitoring detected more than 90 fire alerts in the territory between Aug. 14 and Aug. 25, according to an […]
Development banks under fire for backing disputed Nepal hydropower project
- Civil society leaders in Nepal continue to raise concerns about the in-development Tanahu hydropower project in Gandaki province, citing a lack of proper consultation, inadequate compensation for displacement, and environmental impacts.
- Project developer Tanahu Hydropower Limited (THL), a subsidiary of the national electricity utility, says it has completed the consultation process.
- Half of the complaints against hydropower projects in Nepal documented by a rights watchdog are related to the Tanahu project, which receives funding from the Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank and World Bank.
- Most of Nepal’s electricity is generated through hydropower, and the government plans to expand the country’s generating capacity nearly eightfold to 28,500 megawatts by 2035.

Indonesia’s Bajau fishers lament nickel mining’s marine pollution
For many members of the nomadic Bajau sea tribe on Indonesia’s Kabaena Island, growing up meant swimming and fishing in clear waters, just outside their homes built on stilts. However, in 2010, the water turned red, which the villagers blame on runoff from nearby nickel mining, Mongabay’s Hans Nicholas Jong reported in July. “Now, I […]
Pulp and paper giant APP moves closer to regaining FSC stamp despite pending review
- The Forest Stewardship Council has allowed Asia Pulp & Paper — “one of the world’s most destructive forestry companies” — to resume its remedy process toward regaining certification it lost in 2007 for deforestation and land conflicts.
- Watchdog groups say the decision is premature because a legal review of APP’s links to Paper Excellence/Domtar, the biggest pulp and paper company in North America, is still unfinished.
- Critics warn the move could erode trust, enable greenwashing, and expose communities in conflict with APP-linked companies to further harm.
- NGOs are calling for the remedy process to be paused until the review is completed and for full transparency on corporate ownership and compliance.

Indigenous groups demand action from South American leaders at Amazon summit
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon are urging South American presidents meeting in Bogota this week to turn promises to protect the region’s rainforest into concrete action, and to give Indigenous groups more say in the region’s future. The Fifth Presidential Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, officially opening Tuesday in the […]

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