- 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.
2025 saw a mix of news sweep through Indigenous communities around the world, touching on issues both new and old. Efforts to increase direct funding to support Indigenous peoples’ land rights have persisted for more than two decades now, but this past year dealt a setback to those efforts as a result of the sudden USAID funding cuts in January. That put additional strain on community-led conservation efforts in places like Ethiopia and in the Amazon Basin.
Indigenous representation at climate talks was another perennial pain point. And while there was an unprecedented number of Indigenous delegates at this year’s U.N. climate conference in Brazil, COP30, Mongabay reported on the continued failure of these summits to involve Indigenous peoples in decision-making.
And as always, Indigenous communities around the world continued the struggle to protect their territories, with the search for so-called critical minerals posing an increasingly serious threat. Many of these mining projects were approved without communities’ consent or sufficient environmental safeguards. Meanwhile, the age-old problem of illegal artisanal mining on Indigenous lands continued, perpetuating the pollution of the forests and rivers they depend on.
The past year also saw big solutions stories. Indigenous peoples formed Indigenous guards, some of them led by women, who blend traditional protection strategies with modern technologies to protect their forests and prevent invasions of their lands. Mongabay also reported on Indigenous-led conservation initiatives to save wildlife, restore watersheds and resist the advance of monoculture farming and deforestation — even when few receive compensation for the work they do.
Here are Mongabay’s most notable Indigenous news stories from 2025:
1. Brazil’s operation to stop illegal gold mining in Munduruku Indigenous territories
Mongabay published a five-part series on the details of coordinated operations to evict illegal gold miners from the Munduruku and Sai-Cinza Indigenous territories, both of which are home to Munduruku communities.
In March, government officials and Munduruku organizations told Mongabay that while the raids hadn’t led to a reduction in mining activity, the operation wasn’t over yet. Illegal miners and their machinery were still present in some areas, and several Munduruku organizations told Mongabay they were worried the illegal activity would resume once security forces withdrew.
Find all five stories here.
2. California’s largest Indigenous tribe reclaims vital creek and watershed to restore major salmon run
Mongabay traveled to Northern California to report on the restoration of Blue Creek, an important 19,000-hectare (47,100-acre) watershed located 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the mouth of the Lower Klamath, a crucial refuge for migrating salmon.
For decades, the watershed has been damaged by dams and logging. But in 2002, a timber company agreed to sell it back to the Yurok Nation, California’s largest Indigenous tribe.
The Yurok Nation lost ownership of Blue Creek, which it considers sacred in the 1800s due to westward U.S. expansion. It was officially returned to the tribe earlier this year. It is considered the largest land-back conservation deal in California history, according to the Oregon-based Western Rivers Conservancy.
Learn about the restoration of Blue Creek here.
3. DRC conflict devastates Indigenous lands and people, forcing many to flee from armed groups
At the start of this year, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo cities of Goma, Bukavu and Minova fell to the rebel armed group M23. Many Indigenous Batwa and Bambuti peoples were forced to flee from their homes.
The armed conflict is linked to access and control of the DRC’s rich mineral resources, such as gold, cassiterite and also the largest-known reserve of coltan, a mineral used in the manufacture of computers and smartphones. M23 profits from the illegal exploitation and smuggling of natural resources by multiple actors in the region, which contributes to deforestation and biodiversity loss, environmentalists told Mongabay.
In an interview with Mongabay, Samuel Ade Ndasi of the NGO Minority Rights Group (MRG) told Mongabay that Indigenous communities have been forcibly displaced and some community members were being used as forced labor in extractive activities.
Read the full story here.
4. Community conservation efforts in Ethiopia stalled by USAID funding cuts
The sudden USAID funding cuts announced in January this year affected conservation efforts in southwestern Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley, where Indigenous Mursi, Bodi, Northern Kwegu and Ari communities live in the 197,000-hectare (486,000-acre) Tama Community Conservation Area (TCCA).
The TCCA is also home to reticulated giraffes (Giraffa reticulata), African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) and other threatened species, which have been protected since 2022, when the conservation initiative was established. With $8.5 million in USAID support, the project helped reduce illegal hunting, create local jobs and improve community-led biodiversity management.
With the funding cut, the project was suspended and many community members returned to illegal hunting and unsustainable use of natural resources. Conservationists and Indigenous leaders highlighted the risks of dependency on foreign aid, pointing to how a sudden impact on funding can reverse any ecological and social gains made.
Read the full story here.
See our reporting on the impact of USAID cuts on community conservation in the Amazon here.
5. Indigenous guardians protect Amazon forests in Ecuador from extractives
Mongabay traveled to the Pakayaku community in the Ecuadorian Amazon to learn about the local forest guardian program, in which 45 women “warriors” are enrolled. The area has historically been the target of loggers and illegal miners, with the government perceived as neglecting the plight of the community.
The women guardians, who carry out patrols across 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of rainforest, have successfully kept extractive activities out of the forest, all while maintaining their cultural traditions and ecological knowledge.
Members of the community have created a “plan of life” map that details their vision, identity and economic alternatives to extraction. However, recent actions by the administration of President Daniel Noboa, including a bill to privatize protected areas, where Indigenous territories are also located, have raised concerned among Indigenous leaders.
Learn about the women’s efforts to stop invaders here.
6. What does an NGO do when its funds are tied to human rights abuses?
In 2022, Mongabay covered a 160-page report commissioned by WWF to investigate its role in alleged human rights violations by rangers it funded against communities in Africa and Asia. The independent panel found that WWF staff members were aware of abuses beginning in 2008 and did little to address them at the time.
John Knox, a human rights expert and former U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, served on the independent panel commissioned by WWF. Mongabay interviewed Knox in January about how organizations and donors should navigate funding issues when they learn about human rights abuses, as well as the specific path they can take in these situations.
Knox told Mongabay that cutting support from a protected area should be a last resort, but, if a proactive effort isn’t made to address the issues, then NGOs and funders who are directly responsible for violations should consider disengaging completely.
Read the full interview here.
7. Indigenous communities in Argentina raise concerns about lithium exploration on their ancestral lands
Members of Indigenous Atacama and Kolla communities near Argentina’s abundant lithium reserves in the provinces of Jujuy and Salta raised concerns that the Argentine crude oil exporter Pan American Energy didn’t obtain their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) before exploring for the lithium on their ancestral lands.
They also told Mongabay that there’s a lack of public information about the company’s plans and the potential impact on the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin, which they depend on for their livelihoods. The affected area is also home to two globally threatened flamingo species — the Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus) and James’s flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi) — as well as other key wetland bird species.
As well as the lack of transparency, some of the residents’ other concerns include the potential impact on water sources if lithium mining expands.
See what we found out about the company and its plans here.
8. Sámi people in Norway raise concerns about the impacts of yet another mine
Norway has granted the mining company Blue Moon Metals permission to construct and operate a copper mine in Hammerfest, a municipality on the northwestern coast of the island of Kvaløya. Indigenous Sámi fishers and conservationists say they’re worried about the company’s plans to dispose of its mining waste in Repparfjord, a nationally protected salmon fjord in the Norwegian Arctic.
Once operational, the copper mine will deposit between 1 million and 2 million metric tons of tailings at the bottom of the fjord annually, according to the company’s permit. The Norwegian Environmental Agency told Mongabay that the company plans to place its mining waste into the fjord in a controlled manner to limit the spread of harmful residues.
Some Sámi residents, whose livelihoods depend on fishing and reindeer herding, expressed concerns that the mine and marine waste deposit will destroy vital marine habitats for species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and disrupt traditional breeding and migration areas for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).
Read the full story here.
9. Micro-hydro systems successfully power Indigenous homes in remote Philippine villages
Mongabay reported on a community-led effort, supported by civil society groups, to install micro-hydro alternatives in remote Philippine villages that were previously cut off from the national power grid — an existing reality for around 3.6 million households across the country. The villages, located in the country’s mountainous north, overcame this challenge by building and maintaining small-scale hydroelectric generators.
Residents, predominantly of Indigenous Igorot people, hauled equipment through the mountains on foot or on horseback, as they don’t have any road networks. In Mataragan, they set up two generators, one for household use and the other to run irrigation pumps for their rice fields and threshers to process the rice.
The micro-hydro systems have small environmental footprints and are now powering homes and schools. Conflict in the region over large-scale dams created additional challenges for the villages and an NGO that supported them.
Learn about the communal effort here.
10. Indonesia’s pledge to recognize Indigenous and customary forests draws skepticism
Indigenous rights activists in Indonesia say the government’s pledge to recognize 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of Indigenous and customary forests by 2029 is another empty promise. They note similar pledges have been made before that have never materialized, such as a bill on Indigenous rights, which has languished in parliament for more than a decade. The new pledge was announced at the United for Wildlife Global Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where it was welcomed as a sign of progress.
Another hurdle that contributes to skepticism about the pledge is the slow, costly process for communities to be acknowledged by local regulations — a necessary step to gain legal recognition for customary forest rights. So far, the government has recognized less than 2% of mapped customary forests.
Instead, activists told Mongabay that the government continues to displace Indigenous peoples through its extractive and infrastructure projects. Critics urge the government to implement legal reforms and recognize Indigenous lands beyond the 1.4-million-hectare target. Otherwise, they warn, the pledge will remain symbolic, rather than transformative.
Find more details here.
Featured investigation of 2025: Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Bolivia persuaded to grant companies exclusive carbon and biodiversity credits deals
This investigation revealed how companies entered Indigenous territories in Brazil and Bolivia, including Vale do Javari, Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous territory, to persuade communities to grant them exclusive carbon and biodiversity credits deals. Many of the communities involved said they weren’t properly informed about what they were signing up to and never had the chance to give consent.
The deals covered more than 8.5 million hectares (21 million acres) for carbon and biodiversity credits. The projects failed to materialize in Brazil’s Amazonas and Acre states, with communities pleading to end the 10-year contracts, but the companies went on to sign more contracts in Bolivia, again without adequate consent from communities.
Funai, Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency, warned of legal insecurity and lack of standards in the carbon credit initiatives, and an inquiry by Brazil’s Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Police is underway. Meanwhile, the businessmen involved have set their sights on more than 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) in the tri-border area between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Brazil’s Public Ministry has called for the deals to be annulled.
Read the full investigation here.
Bonus conservation solutions story: 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor underway for communities and wildlife in Congo
The NGO Strong Roots Congo is securing a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor for communities and wildlife between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The idea is for multiple communities to register their customary lands as community forestry concessions under an environmental management plan. The sweeping corridor will be made up of these many community forestry concessions.
Since the conflict between the DRC government and the M23 armed group escalated in January, there have been some delays. But the corridor is more than halfway toward its goal, with almost 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land, made up of 23 community forest concessions, secured by Strong Roots so far.
The project aims to rectify a historical wrong in the creation of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, which displaced many families, by engaging communities in conservation.
Learn about the community’s efforts here.
Banner image: COP 30 President André Correa do Lago and Ana Toni, CEO of COP 30 speak with indigenous people of the Munduruku ethnicity during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Photo by Hermes Caruzo/COP30.
Last year’s top 10 Indigenous news stories:
Latest Mongabay podcast episode: How ‘Adventure Scientists’ provide pioneering data for conservation. Listen here:
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
Credits
