Latoya Abulu

Latoya Abulu

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Latoya Abulu is senior editor at Mongabay covering Indigenous news, nature-based solutions to climate change and stories about high conservation value ecosystems.

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36 stories
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
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

Whose Amazon is it?

Latoya Abulu, John Cannon 7 Oct 2025
Drone shot of a mining site in Myanmar.

Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots

Latoya Abulu, Sonam Lama Hyolmo 16 Sep 2025

Uncovering forest loss in gorilla park six months after M23 offensive in the DRC

Elodie Toto, Latoya Abulu 31 Jul 2025
Lena Estrada, Colombia's minister of environment. Image by Eduardo Santamaría.

Oil ‘does not guarantee stability’: Colombia’s environment minister on energy transition

Latoya Abulu 24 Jul 2025
Butterflies in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador’s Amazon.

Landmark Indigenous land title in Ecuador protected area still in limbo

Latoya Abulu, John Cannon 16 Jul 2025
Boat in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador's Amazon. Image by Ranil Wijeyratne via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Landmark Indigenous land title in Ecuadorian Amazon reserve mired in controversy

Latoya Abulu, John Cannon 15 Jul 2025
Community members review a map of Pë’këya.

Indigenous groups debate use of land agreements in Ecuador’s protected areas

Latoya Abulu, John Cannon 15 Jul 2025
“Pëkëya” is the name of the ancestral heartland of the Siekopai people in their native language, Paicoca and is located along the Lagartococha River.

Ecuador’s government promised same land in the Amazon to two Indigenous peoples

Latoya Abulu, John Cannon 14 Jul 2025
Brazilian Indigenous lawyer Kari Guajajara. Image by USAID via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

‘We can’t talk solutions without understanding complexities: Kari Guajajara on Brazil’s Amazon

Latoya Abulu 12 May 2025
An Inga leader from the Yunguillo reserve, José Homero Mutumbajoy is the human rights and peace coordinator for OPIAC. Image courtesy of José Homero Mutumbajoy.

‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy

Latoya Abulu 1 May 2025
A Shipibo leader from Madre de Dios, Cusurichi Palacios serves on the national board of AIDESEP, a large organization representing more than 2,400 Indigenous communities in Peru.

The latest issues in Peru’s Amazon: Interview with Indigenous leader Julio Cusurichi

Latoya Abulu 1 May 2025
Two rangers in Kasigau Wildlife Sanctuary, Kenya.

What does an NGO do when its funds are tied to human rights abuses? Interview with John Knox

Latoya Abulu 27 Jan 2025
An elephant with her mahout at the project

The 10 Indigenous news stories that marked 2024

Latoya Abulu 23 Dec 2024

Armed conflict, not Batwa people, at heart of Grauer’s gorillas’ past decline in DRC park

Aimable Twahirwa, Latoya Abulu 16 Dec 2024

‘Historic’ decision for the Batwa & DRC gorilla park faces hurdles — and hope

Latoya Abulu, Aimable Twahirwa, Didier Makal 19 Nov 2024
Belen Perugachi, 16, is an Indigenous Kichwa adolescent from Paquiestancia

Do Indigenous peoples really conserve 80% of the world’s biodiversity?

Latoya Abulu, Aimee Gabay, Sonam Lama Hyolmo 26 Sep 2024
A yak pasture in the Lungbasamba landscape.

Reporting confirms alleged Indigenous rights violations in Nepal hydropower project

Sonam Lama Hyolmo, Latoya Abulu 12 Aug 2024
A lemur leaf frog in Costa Rica.

Are carbon credits another resource-for-cash grab? Interview with Alondra Cerdes Morales & Samuel Nguiffo

Latoya Abulu, Sonam Lama Hyolmo 22 May 2024
A camp in Banamwesi forest for the community monitoring team. Image courtesy of a local source.

Under the shadow of war in the DRC, a mining company acts with impunity

Didier Makal, Latoya Abulu 25 Mar 2024
A lemur leaf frog in Costa Rica.

New global biodiversity fund to restore nature worldwide by 2030 officially launches

Latoya Abulu 25 Aug 2023
Volunteers clearing plastic trash gathered from river barriers. Image courtesy of Sam Benchegjib.

For International Youth Day, three youth conservation success stories

Latoya Abulu, Laurel Sutherland 12 Aug 2023
Acampamento Terra Livre Indigenous protest in Brazil, April 6, 2022. Image by Mídia NINJA Via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Top 10 notable Indigenous stories of 2022

Latoya Abulu 28 Dec 2022
From center left to right: David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary; COP 15 President Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, China; Xia Yingxian, China; and Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary. Image by UN biodiversity via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Nations adopt Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Latoya Abulu, Sahana Ghosh 20 Dec 2022
A few meters from the monocultures of the multinational, an inhabitant keeps a small natural forest on his property. The fertility of the land has allowed diverse flora to grow and produce a prosperous biodiverse landscape. Residents say this is very different from monoculture pine and eucalyptus plantations where no plant diversity can be found.

Indigenous lands hold the world’s healthiest forests – but only when their rights are protected

Latoya Abulu, Laurel Sutherland 7 Nov 2022
Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo Robbins, leaders of the Cultural Fire Management Council, have been helping Yurok Tribal members burn their land to improve the growth of basket materials and other traditional plants. Photo by Jane Braxton Little for Mongabay

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, five inspirational conservation stories in the U.S.

Latoya Abulu 10 Oct 2022
Maasai walking in rain in Kenya. Image courtesy of David via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Maasai protesters shot, beaten as Tanzania moves forward with wildlife game reserve

Latoya Abulu, Laurel Sutherland 14 Jun 2022
Indigenous protest

Mongabay’s Top 10 Indigenous News Stories of 2021

Latoya Abulu 30 Dec 2021

Indigenous groups unveil plan to protect 80% of the Amazon in Peru and Ecuador

Latoya Abulu, Laurel Sutherland 3 Dec 2021

Questions over who gets the billions pledged to Indigenous causes at COP26

Latoya Abulu 23 Nov 2021

WWF distances itself from rights abuses at U.S. congressional hearing

Latoya Abulu, Laurel Sutherland 2 Nov 2021

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage, Jahëna Louisin, Mongabay reporter, and a Vodun ritual
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Rice paddies, forest, and agroforest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler
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