Articles by Astrid Arellano

Astrid Arellano is a Mexican journalist focused on investigative and narrative journalism. She writes about Indigenous peoples, the environment and human rights. Her reporting also focuses on victims of violence and kidnappings in Sonora, in northwestern Mexico, where she was born and currently lives. She won the 2019 National Journalism Award in Reporting and, in 2021, joined the Mongabay Latam team to cover Indigenous peoples and the environment. Follow her on Twitter: @astridarellanoo

In the Colombian Amazon, Indigenous communities protect the sacred black caiman

by Astrid Arellano 24 May 2023

For the Indigenous peoples of Colombia’s lower Caquetá River, the lakes of Puerto Caimán form a huge maloca, a cultural and spiritual hub. This watery habitat is home to the…

Study shows 10 million acres of Colombian rainforest at risk without new policies

by Astrid Arellano 22 May 2023

A recent study by the Amazonian Scientific Research Institute Sinchi in Colombia built several possible scenarios for the future of the Colombian Amazon by 2040. Experts who collected information during…

The Mexican family who gave up fishing to monitor and rescue sea turtles

by Astrid Arellano 9 May 2023

BAHÍA DE KINO, Mexico — For several years, Cosme Becerra was tasked with sacrificing a sea turtle to be eaten at a festival. In the mid-1990s, the fisherman received a…

Indigenous women in Colombia protect rich Amazonian wetland from overfishing

by Astrid Arellano 20 April 2023

For Indigenous women in the Amazon, the wetland of Lake Tarapoto is a living classroom. The women consider it not just a home for the fish they rely on to…

Counting dead cats on Costa Rica’s highways: Q&A with Daniela Araya Gamboa

by Astrid Arellano 5 April 2023

The nature of her father’s work, as an aerial fumigation pilot, meant that Daniela Araya lived in many areas of Costa Rica when she was a child. She usually traveled…

Indigenous Comcaac serve up an oceanic grain to preserve seagrass meadows

by Astrid Arellano 3 March 2023

PUNTA CHUECA, Mexico — Legend has it that, many thousands of years ago, a messenger arrived in the Comcaac land on board a strange boat after sailing on the waters…

A researcher shows one of the illustrations that are part of the stingless bee project. Image courtesy of Conservation International Colombia.

Indigenous women record age-old knowledge of bees in Colombia’s Amazon

by Astrid Arellano 8 February 2023

Je’chu, a god, first created bees so that their wax would cure the world. So goes the spiritual testament of the Yucuna Indigenous peoples of Colombia. “He is our god…

‘Panic’ sets in as armed groups occupy, deforest Colombian national park

by Astrid Arellano 12 December 2022

Once covering an expanse of more than 2,140 square kilometers (826 square miles) of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, Tinigua National Natural Park has lost 29% of its forests over the…

‘We have advanced, but with much pain’: Q&A with Indigenous leader José Gregorio Díaz Mirabal

by Astrid Arellano 8 July 2022

The Atabapo River, its waters black and flanked by rainforest and mountains, used to be part of an Indigenous territory some 200 years ago, says José Gregorio Díaz Mirabal. Today,…

Portrait of Sarayaku Warmikuna, member of Mujeres Amazónicas (Amazonian Women). The women of the community were the first to be part of the collective known as Amazonian Women. Image courtesy of Esteffany Bravo.

A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries

by Astrid Arellano, Yvette Sierra Praeli 31 May 2022

For years, Ruth Alipaz has been fighting against the Chepete-El Bala hydroelectric project. The project involves the construction of two reservoirs that together would flood at least 66,200 hectares (163,500…

“Indigenous people are fighting to protect a natural equilibrium”: Q&A with Patricia Gualinga

by Astrid Arellano 6 May 2022

Patricia Gualinga takes a deep breath and pictures herself inside the rainforest in Sarayaku, Ecuador. “It’s hard to describe the smell of such pure air when you’re in the rainforest”,…

Indigenous Comcáac turtle group saves sea turtles in Mexico’s Gulf of California

by Astrid Arellano 17 February 2022

Mayra Estrella’s father always spoke to her about sea turtles. Growing up, she remembers hearing stories linking a pair of turtles to the very existence of the Comcáac people, the…

Tukupu: The women of the Kariña community, guardians of Venezuela’s forests

by Astrid Arellano 2 February 2022

Cecilia Rivas remembers Tukupu as a place to live freely. The dwellings of the Indigenous Kariña community, spread out under the shade of the trees in the Imataca Forest Reserve,…