Latoya Abulu

About

Latoya Abulu is a senior editor at Mongabay covering Indigenous news, nature-based solutions to climate change and stories about high conservation value ecosystems. / Latoya Abulu est une rédactrice en chef à Mongabay.

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651 stories
Fisherman Chapoka Miongo speaks from his traditional dugout canoe at the Shimoni channel, in Kwale county, Kenya, on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Artisanal fisheries on Kenya's coast say climate change, overfishing by large foreign vessels and a lack of other job opportunities for coastal communities is draining the Indian Ocean of its yellowfin tuna stocks. Miongo explained that warming waters forced tuna species to alter their migration patterns, making it harder for local fishers to catch them. Image by AP Photo/Brian Inganga.

New strategy to reverse Kenya’s shark decline tries to bring fishers on board

Anthony Langat 27 Mar 2026
Lubumbashi River, at the level of the Kalubwe bridge, where significant fish mortality was reported in November 2025. Image by Ruth Kutemba.

4 months after DRC mine spill, residents remain impacted

Ruth Kutemba, Elodie Toto 26 Mar 2026
Military police and Indigenous protestors at the Belo Monte Dam construction site in 2013. Image by Ruy Sposati /Agência Raízes.

Why the Amazon can’t be saved by courts alone (commentary)

Paulo Ilich Bacca, Luisa Fernanda Bacca 26 Mar 2026
Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous chief from the Brazilian Amazon. Image © Malaika Pictures.

Behind the scenes of the Amazon’s gold rush: Director Richard Ladkani on the making of ‘Yanuni’

Aimee Gabay 25 Mar 2026
Vincent Tateburuk

Many Indigenous peoples in Asia feel excluded from nat’l biodiversity planning: Report

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 20 Mar 2026
Two Twa women and children are resting under the shade of a cocoa tree next to the Ngite/Mavivi Twa camp in Beni, DRC. Image of Jackson Sivulyamwenge for Mongabay.

Growing number of Indigenous Twa forced out of DRC’s forests and into towns

Jérémie Kyaswekera, Jackson Muhindo Sivulyamwenge 11 Mar 2026
A meeting in the Cinta Larga territory in 2017. Image for representation purpose only. Image by Amazônia Real via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Brazil Supreme Court opens path to mining in Indigenous land for first time

Aimee Gabay 11 Mar 2026

Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations

Tonggo Simangunsong 6 Mar 2026
A fisherman is silhouetted as he casts his net into the Tapajos River in Santarem, Para state, 2020.

Concern among Indigenous leaders, relief for a few, as Amazon Soy Moratorium falters

Rubens Valente 3 Mar 2026
The Thonga people have practiced this fishing method for over 700 years. Image by Leonie Joubert.

Displaced for conservation, South Africa’s Thonga try to keep a fishing tradition alive

Leonie Joubert 2 Mar 2026

Photos: In the Colombian Amazon, fishing binds a community to river and forest

Aimee Gabay 26 Feb 2026

Researchers eye jaguar conservation wins under Brazil Indigenous stewardship project

James Hall, Karla Mendes 18 Feb 2026
A Pirahã family floating on a river, 2017.

Malaria outbreak among Indigenous Pirahã linked to forest loss, satellite data find

Aimee Gabay 17 Feb 2026
Aerial view of the Caramuru-Paraguassu Indigenous Territory in Brazil's northeastern Bahia state. Although the territory was officially recognized in 1926, it was illegally occupied by cattle ranchers for decades, which changed its climate, soil and forest characteristics. Image by Karla Mendes/Mongabay.

Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Indigenous lands show strong restoration gains

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 11 Feb 2026
A humpback whale breaching in Alaskan waters.

Indigenous concerns surface as U.S. agency considers seabed mining in Alaskan waters

Anita Hofschneider 11 Feb 2026
In the village of Três Maria in Mato Grosso, Brazil, a woman holds a sample of babassu coconut. The community initiative to protect the biome and fruit extraction in the Cerrado received a Xavante Award from the Podáali Fund.

‘We have to bring trust’ into funding talks: Valéria Paye on Indigenous-led funds

Holly C. Jonas, Alexandre de Santi 9 Feb 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

What’s next for the major pledge to halt & reverse Congo Basin deforestation?

Latoya Abulu 5 Feb 2026
Canada Jay in Sax-Zim Bog. Canada Jays are a quintessential northwoods bird that utilize Black Spruce and Tamarack Bogs for foraging and nesting. Image by Friends of Sax-Zim Bog (FOSZB).

Communities join global push to protect European, Arctic & US peatlands

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 5 Feb 2026
An artisanal miner holds up a fragment of copper-bearing ore at the Lukuzi.

What’s happening with the global treaty to trace critical minerals?

Aimee Gabay 3 Feb 2026
Rainim Purba gives a speech and attempts to climb a fence during a protest urging the ministry of environment to revoke PT DPM’s environmental permit in Jakarta, May 2025.

The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra

Tonggo Simangunsong 26 Jan 2026
A mine in Likasi on November 26, 2025. Image by Glody MURHABAZI / AFP).

In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline

Didier Makal, Latoya Abulu 16 Jan 2026
Aécio Luiz poses for a portrait at his home in the Quilombola community of Córrego Narciso. Image by Amanda Magnani.

Beekeepers in Brazil worry lithium mining puts their bees in jeopardy

Amanda Magnani, Rebeca Binda 8 Jan 2026
The Indigenous Macaquiño community on the banks of the Vaupés River in Colombia’s Vaupés region. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier

Aimee Gabay 6 Jan 2026
A woman from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés pushes her boat across the Vaupés River towards her traditional forest garden, or chagra. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Cultural changes shift an Indigenous community’s relationship with the Amazon forest

Aimee Gabay 5 Jan 2026
Demetrio carrying out monitoring tasks. Image courtesy of Richar Antonio Demetrio.

‘I’m proud to be the first published Asháninka researcher’: Richar Antonio Demetrio on bees

Xilena Pinedo 2 Jan 2026
Mida Creek, Watamu, Kenya. Image by Delphinidaesy via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

A nuclear power plan exposes Kenya’s deeper land rights issues

Elodie Toto 29 Dec 2025
Indigenous people attend the People's Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30.

Top 10 Indigenous news stories that marked 2025

Aimee Gabay 29 Dec 2025

Africa mulls gap in climate adaptation finance for agriculture

Aimable Twahirwa 26 Dec 2025
Unusual weather patterns in Sweden’s arctic region seem to be jeopardizing the migrating reindeer’s traditional grazing grounds, as rainfall during the winter has led to thick layers of snowy ice that block access to food.

Sámi reindeer herders protest EU-backed graphite mine, fearing lost grazing ground

Aimee Gabay 22 Dec 2025
Journey by pirogue for members of the Baliga

Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor

Elodie Toto 18 Dec 2025
A cordycep dealer.

The vanishing pharmacy: How climate change is reshaping traditional medicine

Liz Kimbrough 15 Dec 2025
Maasai people in the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy. Image © Marianne Nord, courtesy of Nashulai Maasai Conservancy.

In Kenya, Maasai private landowners come together to protect wildlife corridors

Elodie Toto 1 Dec 2025

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A leafy sea dragon among seagrass in South Australia. Image by Jayne Jenkins / Ocean Image Bank
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Bay near Pulai Rayo, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Butler.
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