indigenous peoples
Mexico court drops injunctions, paving way for controversial Tren Maya railway
A major section of Mexico’s Tren Maya railway line could be moving forward with construction, following a high court decision to reject several legal challenges that had created months of delays for the project. Line 5 of the Tren Maya project, which will run through Cancún, Tulum and Playa del Carmen, poses a serious threat […]
‘The water is brown’: Community in Guyana rings the alarm over unsustainable mining near river
CHINESE LANDING, Guyana – When first entering the territory of the Carib Indigenous community in Chinese Landing, northwest Guyana, there are no signs of environmental destruction. At first glance, it can even be said that the tiny riverine community is thriving. But this is hardly the case. Further into the center of the community’s titled […]
We’ve crossed the land use change planetary boundary, but solutions await
Just weeks after visiting a patch of Malaysian rainforest, Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler learned it had been logged for wood chips to supply a paper plant. A teenager at the time, Butler recalls being devastated. “This place of wonder and beauty was lost forever,” he wrote in a 2018 story. “The orangutan, the hornbills, […]
No permit? No problem for palm oil company still clearing forest in Papua
JAKARTA — More than 100 Indigenous people in Indonesia’s Papua region are calling on the local government to revoke all the permits of a palm oil company that’s continuing to clear land despite being ordered to halt all activities by officials. The order was issued after the company, PT Permata Nusa Mandiri (PNM), had one […]
Young Indigenous leaders demand greater say in climate solutions at global youth strike
The 2022 Fridays for Future (FFF) International Meeting held in Turin, Italy, ended today with a climate strike. Among the demands for urgent climate action from young Indigenous leaders are calls for greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in climate solutions. Climate activist Greta Thunberg attended the meeting remotely, but said that […]
Brazilian miners ramp up their invasion of Yanomami land in Venezuela
In southern Venezuela, the headwaters of some of the country’s largest rivers snake through remote parts of the Amazon rainforest near the Brazilian border, where Yanomami, Ye’kwana and other Indigenous communities have lived for hundreds of years. For most of their history, the Yanomami survived without much contact from the outside world, relying on traditional […]
Indigenous Shuar community in Ecuador wins decades-long battle to protect land
An Indigenous community in Ecuador has finally obtained national protections for part of its territory after decades of fighting off deforestation and pollution in its mega-diverse rainforests. Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas now includes the 5,497-hectare (13,583-acre) ancestral Tiwi Nunka Forest, which the Shuar Indigenous community of El Kiim lives in and relies on […]
$245-million initiative to create and maintain protected areas in Colombia
A new multi-million-dollar conservation initiative in Colombia aims to create numerous new protected areas and biological corridors across the country, bringing it closer to meeting long-term climate change prevention goals. The $245-million project, called Heritage Colombia, will support the creation, expansion and improvement of 32 million hectares (nearly 80 million acres) of protected land and […]
BP exploited Mexican communities hoping to benefit from carbon credits: report
Oil and gas giant BP has been caught up in a controversy involving low payouts to Mexican villagers participating in its carbon credit program, designed to improve forest conservation while offsetting the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. A report published this month in Bloomberg Green said BP has been buying carbon credits from numerous Mexican villages […]
World Bank approves $200 million IFC loan for industrial agriculture in Brazil’s Cerrado
A major loan was approved this week for an industrial food producer operating in Brazil, despite outcries from conservation groups and international shareholders worried that the money would ultimately fund activities that contribute to deforestation. The $200 million loan was granted to industrial agricultural producer Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) for monoculture soy and corn production […]