Top 10 notable Indigenous stories of 2022
This year ended with a big bang for many Indigenous leaders, communities and activists around the world. During the U.N. biodiversity conference, known as COP15, Indigenous traditional lands and rights…
Articles by Latoya Abulu
Latoya Abulu is an editor at Mongabay covering Indigenous news, nature-based solutions to climate change and stories about high conservation value ecosystems. As a field reporter, she has covered environmental issues impacting Indigenous peoples and local communities in Ecuador, Nicaragua, South Korea, Japan, China and UN conferences. Her work has been featured in The Diplomat, Asia Times, Japan Times, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist and others.
You can reach her on Twitter @LatoyaAbulu
Nations adopt Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
COP15, MONTREAL, Canada — After marathon negotiations and a clutch of protests (including a “die-in” by global youth, and a walk-out by developing countries over a funding stalemate) nearly 200…
Indigenous lands hold the world’s healthiest forests – but only when their rights are protected
The world’s healthiest tropical forests are located in protected Indigenous areas (PIAs), according to a new study. “After accounting for location biases […], protected-Indigenous areas had the highest protective effect…
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, five inspirational conservation stories in the U.S.
The second Monday of October marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day in multiple cities and states across the U.S. Originally juxtaposed against Columbus Day, celebrated at the same time, the day is…
Maasai protesters shot, beaten as Tanzania moves forward with wildlife game reserve
When 700 members of Tanzania’s anti-riot Field Force Unit (FFU) arrived in the Loliondo division of Ngorongoro on June 6, no one told local Maasai pastoralists about the purpose of…
Mongabay’s Top 10 Indigenous News Stories of 2021
To date, 2021 has proved to be one of the most consequential years for Indigenous rights and participation in global climate and conservation efforts. As biodiversity loss mounted and urgency…
Indigenous groups unveil plan to protect 80% of the Amazon in Peru and Ecuador
Pledges and solutions proposed by world leaders to address the climate and biodiversity crisis at the United Nations climate summit, COP26, and biodiversity conference, COP15, are not going to be…
Questions over who gets the billions pledged to Indigenous causes at COP26
State, private and philanthropic organizations pledged billions of dollars for Indigenous land tenure and forest management during the COP26 climate summit earlier this month. And while the commitments have been…
WWF distances itself from rights abuses at U.S. congressional hearing
WWF has come under fire at a U.S. congressional hearing over its funding of rangers who allegedly carried out rights abuses against Indigenous peoples and local communities in Africa and…
‘Pristine wilderness’ without human presence is a flawed construct, study says
The idea of a “pristine wilderness” in conservation efforts — a natural zone free of people — is an erroneous construct that doesn’t reflect the reality of how many high-value…
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, celebrating Earth’s unsung environmental stewards
The second Monday of October marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day in multiple cities and states across the U.S. Originally juxtaposed against Columbus Day, celebrated at the same time, the day was…
Oil pipeline on Native lands ramps up as Canada honors its Indigenous people
Canadian oil company Enbridge is just hours away from completing its thousand-mile pipeline from Alberta through north Minnesota to Wisconsin, with oil set to flow the day after Canada’s first…
In South Korea, centuries of farming point to the future for sustainable agriculture
South Korea has been held up as a model by other nations around the world for its current handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the country also leads the way…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Mennonite colonies linked to deforestation of Indigenous territories and protected areas in Paraguay
- Deforestation on the rise in Quintana Roo, Mexico, as Mennonite communities move in
- Logged and loaded: Cambodian prison official suspected in massive legalized logging operation
- Bolivian national park hit hard by forest fires in 2022, satellite data show
Oceans
- ‘Manta grid’ provides a ray of hope against industrial bycatch threat
- As oceans warm, temperate reef species edge closer to extinction, study shows
- Can we control marine invaders by eating them?
- Sea level rise looms, even for the best-prepared country on Earth
Amazon Conservation
- RSPO suspension of Brazil palm oil exporter tied to Mongabay land-grabbing report
- Tropical forest regeneration offsets 26% of carbon emissions from deforestation
- Plan to mine ‘clean energy’ metals in Colombian Amazon splits communities
- Peru congress debates stripping isolated Indigenous people of land and protections
Land rights and extractives
- Will clean-energy minerals provoke a shift in how mining is done in Africa?
- Plan to mine ‘clean energy’ metals in Colombian Amazon splits communities
- Peru congress debates stripping isolated Indigenous people of land and protections
- Brazil tackles illegal miners, but finds their mercury legacy harder to erase
Endangered Environmentalists
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
- Murders of 2 Pataxó leaders prompt Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to launch crisis office
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- For key Bangladesh wetland, bid for Ramsar status is no guarantee of protection
- Biodiversity, human rights safeguards crucial to nature-based solutions: Critics
- Protecting canids from planet-wide threats offers ecological opportunities
- Mangrove forest loss is slowing toward a halt, new report shows
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
- As hydropower dams quell the Mekong’s life force, what are the costs?
- As Indonesia’s new capital takes shape, risks to wider Borneo come into focus
- Tunnel collapse at dam project in orangutan habitat claims yet another life
