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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?s=&#038;type=post&#038;topic=indigenous-rights" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/indigenous-rights/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:25:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Indigenous Rights</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/indigenous-rights/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Indigenous women bring leadership, creativity &#038; joy to clean water action (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Oct 2026 16:23:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justine Apodaca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/12160042/Indigenous-woman-and-daughter-with-water-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332259</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Culture, Drinking Water, Environment, Freshwater, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Natural Resources, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the leadership and contributions of Indigenous women in water. Women – and particularly Indigenous women – are underrepresented in the water workforce and make up less than one in three voices in water governance. Yet, the water sector has much to learn from women&#8217;s leadership. Women have always led, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the leadership and contributions of Indigenous women in water. Women – and particularly Indigenous women – are underrepresented in the water workforce and make up less than one in three voices in water governance. Yet, the water sector has much to learn from women&#8217;s leadership. Women have always led, and women get things done. Across the water community, women bring people together, build partnerships, solve problems, and move important work forward every day. Their leadership takes many forms. Some lead through community engagement and relationship building. Others advance technical solutions, policy, research, infrastructure, public health, or education. Many do all of these things at once. Different perspectives help turn vision into action. Women lead in complementary ways, and that collaboration often drives meaningful progress. Indigenous women and girls gather stones to make water filters to provide their community with safe water in Ecuador. Image courtesy of Yachana Foundation. In working alongside Indigenous leaders such as Emma Robbins and Crystal Tulley-Cordova, I have seen how community knowledge, technical expertise, and relationship-building complement one another. Throughout this work, women continue to champion Indigenous knowledge, environmental stewardship, water justice, and community resilience. They advance conversations about water rights, water hauling, universal access to clean water, public health, policy, research, and infrastructure. They also recognize that solving water challenges requires more than technical expertise: Real progress happens when communities, researchers, educators, advocates, and decision-makers come together around shared goals. Women play a leading role in creating and sustaining&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia says it no longer needs forests for rice. What happens to projects underway?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-says-it-no-longer-needs-forests-for-rice-what-happens-to-projects-underway/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-says-it-no-longer-needs-forests-for-rice-what-happens-to-projects-underway/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Oct 2026 12:12:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/12120446/Tractors-and-Excavators-of-PT-Global-Papua-Abadi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332229</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Avoided Deforestation, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Food, Food Industry, Food Vs Forests Debate, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Grasslands, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Savannas, Tropical Deforestation, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia says it no longer needs to expand rice cultivation into forest areas, but it has yet to explain what the announcement means for large-scale food and energy projects already underway in Papua and Kalimantan. Presidential Special Envoy for Climate and Energy Hashim Djojohadikusumo said Oct. 6 that Indonesia had achieved rice self-sufficiency [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia says it no longer needs to expand rice cultivation into forest areas, but it has yet to explain what the announcement means for large-scale food and energy projects already underway in Papua and Kalimantan. Presidential Special Envoy for Climate and Energy Hashim Djojohadikusumo said Oct. 6 that Indonesia had achieved rice self-sufficiency three years ahead of schedule and no longer needed the previously announced 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) for food production. “The government sees no further need for expanding rice cultivation areas in the so-called forest areas and forest zones that were announced a few years ago,” Hashim said in Jakarta. At the same event, President’s Special Envoy for Multilateralism and International Trade Mari Pangestu said future food and biofuel production would instead be directed toward degraded land. The announcement appears to mark a shift from a government push that environmentalists have described as one of the world’s largest deforestation projects, involving vast rice and sugarcane plantations in southern Papua. But less than two weeks before Hashim’s announcement, the Ministry of Forestry designated about 5.67 million hectares (14 million acres) of forest through its 2026 Forest Utilization Direction Map, or PAPH, as areas that could be proposed for forest-utilization permits, including for food security and energy, as well as forest rehabilitation. “This means there is an inconsistency between the statements issued by public officials,” Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) campaigner for essential ecosystems Musdalifah Jamal told Mongabay by phone. “This contradiction shows us that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-says-it-no-longer-needs-forests-for-rice-what-happens-to-projects-underway/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesia-says-it-no-longer-needs-forests-for-rice-what-happens-to-projects-underway/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332229</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Ecuador, Indigenous youth turn to rap music to defend the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 16:32:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Alarcón]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09141132/Raperos-1-Willan-Gualinga-Taki-Supay-Ecuador-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arts, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Willan Gualinga first stepped onto a stage in his home community of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the province of Pastaza. He recalls his hands sweating, his body trembling, and his mouth freezing up as words crowded his mind. Three years after that debut, he performed the same song at the Rizoma 2026 Festival [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Willan Gualinga first stepped onto a stage in his home community of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the province of Pastaza. He recalls his hands sweating, his body trembling, and his mouth freezing up as words crowded his mind. Three years after that debut, he performed the same song at the Rizoma 2026 Festival in the Amazonian city of Puyo. This time, he was no longer in front of dozens of people. He was seeing thousands chanting his lyrics in his Indigenous Kichwa language. On this occasion, his body moved with the rhythm and with the strength his message demanded: “Allpamanda kawsay manda jatarishun,” or “Let us rise up for the land and for life.” That was the title of his first track and the phrase he shouted at the top of his lungs throughout his performance. The song draws on elders’ stories about the origins of Sarayaku (his traditional territory) and, like his other compositions, spotlights the threats facing his people. “Through music we can transmit the knowledge of our ancestors and, above all, defend the territory,” said Gualinga, a 23-year-old artist known on stage as “Taki Supay.” Like him, a new generation of Amazonian artists is using rap to bring attention to the threats facing Indigenous peoples and nationalities across the Ecuadorian Amazon — and to show why the rainforest must be protected. “Rap is talking about what you feel, what is happening, and our struggle,” Misael Elías Criollo Grefa, better known as Misa17, said. He is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>International pledge to fund forest rights exceeds target, but direct funding remains low</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 17:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07154220/AP24302739182917-Jayapura-Papua-province-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331812</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Justice, Community Development, Community Forests, Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Funding, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Politics, Protected Areas, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Funders of the $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights, announced at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, say they have exceeded the target by 35%, delivering $2.35 billion between 2021 and 2025. According to the final report of the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), in 2025 alone, donors [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Funders of the $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ land rights, announced at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, say they have exceeded the target by 35%, delivering $2.35 billion between 2021 and 2025. According to the final report of the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), in 2025 alone, donors provided about $486 million. Sources say the five-year pledge was a major accomplishment, but problems around direct access, regional inequality, funding for women and youth and aid sustainability persist. In 2025, only 7.2% went directly to Indigenous and local community organizations, the latest report found, while the vast majority still flowed through intermediaries, such as NGOs, consultancies and development banks. According to recently updated data in the report, the share of direct funding has increased over the five-year period, from 2.9% of the $351 million provided by donors in 2021, decreasing to 2.1% of the $514 million in 2022. By 2023, this number had risen to 10.6% of the $533 million provided that year, and in 2024, 7.6% of the $467 million provided went directly to these groups. “The pledge was good news, but the figure of the result doesn&#8217;t tell us how much actually reached the territories,” Myrna Cunningham Kain, of the Indigenous Miskito community of Waspam and chair of the Guiding Committee at the Pawanka Fund, told Mongabay over email. The Pawanka Fund is a global organization led by Indigenous people that channels financial and technical resources directly to Indigenous peoples and other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/international-pledge-to-fund-forest-rights-exceeds-target-but-direct-funding-remains-low/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331812</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gabon, home to the medicinal plant behind ibogaine, wants a fairer share of its global boom</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/gabon-home-to-the-medicinal-plant-behind-ibogaine-wants-a-fairer-share-of-its-global-boom/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/gabon-home-to-the-medicinal-plant-behind-ibogaine-wants-a-fairer-share-of-its-global-boom/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 15:21:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Molly Helfend]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/01131032/DSC01601-djeje-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331394</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Gabon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Education, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Law, Medicinal Plants, Medicine, Natural Resources, Planetary Health, Plants, Research, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Medicine, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LIBREVILLE — In the traditional-medicine corner of La Peyrie Market in Libreville, iboga comes in a repurposed clear rum bottle packed to the neck with pale bark powder, set among tinctures in old plastic bottles. Two men appeared within a minute on this day in July, and once they heard they were talking to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LIBREVILLE — In the traditional-medicine corner of La Peyrie Market in Libreville, iboga comes in a repurposed clear rum bottle packed to the neck with pale bark powder, set among tinctures in old plastic bottles. Two men appeared within a minute on this day in July, and once they heard they were talking to a journalist, went half-giddy. They were happy to say where the root goes: overseas, to clinics, some of it ground into capsules. “Do the buyers pay well?” “They pay well,” one said. And all of it, he insisted, was legal. Iboga, Tabernanthe iboga, is a plant native to the wet forests of West-Central Africa. And here in Gabon, its root bark plays a central role in several Bwiti (or Bwété) traditions. It is also the original source of ibogaine, an alkaloid extracted from the root, now drawing intense interest as an experimental treatment for addiction and other mental-health conditions. The sellers at the market called the money good. But, further down the value chain, ibogaine treatment can cost thousands of dollars per patient. That gap, Gabonese practitioners and officials say, is at the heart of the dispute: the plant and the knowledge are theirs — and are threatened with overexploitation — while a lot of the money is made abroad. A 2023 Interpol analysis also found much of the trade was illicit, identifying that online resellers nearly quadrupled between 2021 and 2023. And the market for the plant may only get bigger, officials speculate. An unidentified&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/gabon-home-to-the-medicinal-plant-behind-ibogaine-wants-a-fairer-share-of-its-global-boom/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/gabon-home-to-the-medicinal-plant-behind-ibogaine-wants-a-fairer-share-of-its-global-boom/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331394</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia passes agrarian reform law amid concerns over land protections</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesia-passes-agrarian-reform-law-amid-concerns-over-land-protections/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesia-passes-agrarian-reform-law-amid-concerns-over-land-protections/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2026 13:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/21161207/IMG-20230907-WA0029-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331043</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law, Resource Conflict, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s parliament has passed a law intended to resolve long-running land conflicts and curb land concentration, but civil society groups say provisions in the final draft could limit redistribution, leave state-controlled land difficult to challenge and expose some land occupants to criminal charges. The House of Representatives, known as the DPR, approved the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s parliament has passed a law intended to resolve long-running land conflicts and curb land concentration, but civil society groups say provisions in the final draft could limit redistribution, leave state-controlled land difficult to challenge and expose some land occupants to criminal charges. The House of Representatives, known as the DPR, approved the Agrarian Reform Regulation Law on Sept. 22, after lawmakers and the government agreed on the bill the previous day. The law establishes a framework for resolving structural conflicts over agrarian land ownership, restoring land rights and redistributing land, among other aims. The final enacted text has not yet been made publicly available, leaving some details of how the law will operate unclear. The debate over the efficacy and the implementation of the law comes amid a long-standing pattern of land disputes in Indonesia. The Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), an advocacy group, reportedly recorded 3,234 agrarian conflicts affecting 7.4 million hectares (18.3 million acres) and 1.8 million households between 2015 and 2024. KPA and other advocates have argued that many conflicts arise from overlapping government authority, land allocations and competing claims involving communities, companies and state institutions. Indigenous communities, farmers and fisherfolk can be affected when their customary or livelihood areas overlap with concessions, state-designated land or infrastructure projects. The new law is intended to address what lawmakers describe as fragmented authority and regulations that have complicated conflict resolution. The parliament said the bill’s provisions include land-use planning and controls, mechanisms for resolving conflicts and restoring&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesia-passes-agrarian-reform-law-amid-concerns-over-land-protections/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331043</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Singapore&#8217;s plan to merge several islands could wipe out coral reefs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singapores-plan-to-merge-several-islands-could-wipe-out-coral-reefs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singapores-plan-to-merge-several-islands-could-wipe-out-coral-reefs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2026 08:49:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robin Hicks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/28012336/aa.-Bluespotted-ribbontail-ray-Pulau-Hantu-2017-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Culture, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Islands, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — “For seven thousand years, Singapore has changed around these reefs,” says Debby Ng, a Singaporean biologist who studies the city-state’s shrinking coastal and marine habitats. “They are still here.” Despite colonization, war, shipping and industrialization, reefs a few kilometers south of Singapore’s gleaming shoreline have endured. “It would be a tragedy if we [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — “For seven thousand years, Singapore has changed around these reefs,” says Debby Ng, a Singaporean biologist who studies the city-state’s shrinking coastal and marine habitats. “They are still here.” Despite colonization, war, shipping and industrialization, reefs a few kilometers south of Singapore’s gleaming shoreline have endured. “It would be a tragedy if we were to lose them now — in peacetime, at the height of our prosperity, when we possess more knowledge and capacity to protect them than any generation before us,” Ng tells Mongabay. At a National Day rally on Aug. 23, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced plans to merge a cluster of islands sprawled across a few thousand hectares of seascape into a new “western island” for advanced manufacturing, energy and defense. No timeline for the western island project was given. Wong said reclamation would take place “over the coming decades” and that plans were being studied carefully. But the announcement has alarmed Singapore’s marine conservation community, which says the project could affect some of the country’s most biodiverse waters. The islands include Pulau Semakau, which houses Singapore’s offshore landfill, and Pulau Bukom, home to an oil refinery, as well as Pulau Sudong and smaller islands including Pulau Hantu, Pulau Jong and Pulau Sebarok. The area is estimated to contain some 590 hectares (1,460 acres) of coral reefs — about 60% of the total in Singapore — along with 22% of the city-state’s seagrass meadows and 5% of its mangroves. Black sun coral (Tubastraea micranthus), Singapore.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singapores-plan-to-merge-several-islands-could-wipe-out-coral-reefs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/singapores-plan-to-merge-several-islands-could-wipe-out-coral-reefs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned US tech hub in Philippines hit over environmental and Indigenous land concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 22:04:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Beltran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23152143/Protest-at-grand-hyatt-and-clashes-with-police-21-of-25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330602</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Conflict, Law, Protests, and Resource Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious plans to ride the artificial intelligence wave, and deep ambivalence in civil society. Police confronted the crowd, shoving them with riot shields and batons on the street outside the hotel lobby. Activists say police injured at least 27 protesters and arrested five. Police, meanwhile, reported minor cuts and injuries to 16 personnel. Protester Jona Yang, from the activist-scientist group AGHAM, said she was negotiating with the police to cool tensions when they arrested her. “We want the Marcos government and investors to see the outrage all of this has caused,” Yang told Mongabay. “They’re taking away our resources and our lands.” Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) investors’ forum on Sept. 10. Image by Michael Beltran for Mongabay. Pax Silica The Luzon Economic Corridor, or LEC, is an economic initiative focused on the Philippines’ biggest island, begun in 2024. Pax Silica, the U.S.-led global pact for an AI and semiconductor supply chain not reliant on China, includes the LEC. In April 2026, Washington and Manila announced plans to build a 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) high-tech manufacturing hub in the Central Luzon region. Pax Silica has become a lightning rod for political and environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging still threatens Bornean forest once envisioned as an Indigenous-led peace park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 16:52:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Danielle Keeton-Olsen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/26192853/20230826_085717-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330551</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, Sarawak, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Conservation, Forest Products, Forestry, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Logging, Protected Areas, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A conservation park that Indigenous communities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak believed they could co-manage and self-govern has been transformed into a timber concession and stripped of critical tree cover, according to a recently published report. A group of civil society organizations based in Malaysia and abroad launched the report, “Plundering the Baram Peace [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A conservation park that Indigenous communities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak believed they could co-manage and self-govern has been transformed into a timber concession and stripped of critical tree cover, according to a recently published report. A group of civil society organizations based in Malaysia and abroad launched the report, “Plundering the Baram Peace Park,” with a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 27, calling on other NGOs and the Malaysian government to recognize the logging of primary forest as well as alleged irregularities in the process of granting the concession and informing affected communities. The report, led by Swiss-based nonprofit Bruno Manser Fonds with participation from other NGOs, also raises concern that the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an international organization that aims to promote sustainable use of forests, has continued funding projects in the region, even after the 2024 collapse of a coalition between Indigenous community members, the Sarawak government, and civil society. A fragile coalition The Upper Baram Forest Area was initially proposed as a community-led conservation project, an idea going back more than 15 years. From 2009 to 2024, the area was proposed to be conserved as the Baram Peace Park, with Indigenous villages and the Sarawak forest department working together to protect the forest. The project gained steam in 2021 after the forest department submitted a project proposal to the ITTO and raised a total of $1.4 million to develop a park program in cooperation with 32 Indigenous Penan, Kenyah, Kelabit, and Saban&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/logging-still-threatens-bornean-forest-once-envisioned-as-an-indigenous-led-peace-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330551</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 17:13:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14212951/AP26023620981888-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, could be worth billions. Burgum’s trip came just a few months after a U.S. military operation removed then-President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to a detention center in the U.S. state of New York. Since then, officials have heralded a new era for Venezuela, and tried to make the mining sector more attractive to foreign investment: Passing mining reform laws, taking down leaders of criminal groups involved in mining, and raiding illegal mining sites. The U.S. is also considering an executive order aimed at improving access to critical minerals, Reuters reported. Yet at the same time, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better. Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, according to sources contacted by Mongabay. “[Since Maduro’s capture], nothing has changed in the criminal and legal ecosystem,” Cristina Burelli, founder of SOSOrinoco, an advocacy group studying the social and environmental impacts of mining in Venezuela, told Mongabay. “If anything, we have seen an increase in certain areas.” Vendors weigh and trade gold at gold-buying shops in El Callao, Venezuela.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘They should choose their own destinies’: Manish Chandi on India’s isolated tribes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 07:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14173823/p.-Shompen-man-2-at-35km-EW-rd-GNI-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329679</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indian Ocean, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Oceans, Poaching, Tropical Forests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From above, the North Sentinel Island tribal reserve in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is a thick, unbroken patch of dark green — starkly surrounded by the shimmering coastal blue waters of its buffer zone. On these shores, Sentinelese people, who live in voluntary isolation protected by a strict government no-contact policy, spear fish, hunt turtles and collect mollusks in shallow reefs surrounded by mangroves. The coastal reefs are intact ecosystems rich in fish life, say biologists. “I have seen them [groups of men, women and children] foraging and collecting these food resources during low tide on several occasions,” says Manish Chandi, a tribal expert who has watched the island from afar. “The Sentinelese are aware of these as nutritious and sparsely available resources in such [mangrove] habitats, which are very few on and around the island.” The giant trees of the North Sentinel Island coastline are its first natural defense against storms and which hold its coastal soil together. The shore is lined with sandy beaches and rocky shores, while the foreshore is dotted with coral reefs and mangroves — excellent nurseries for marine biodiversity. Image by Manish Chandi. Like other tribal reserves on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the southeast of mainland India, North Sentinel Island is a biodiversity hotspot; and, like other tribal reserves, the isolated people who live there have attracted influencers and misunderstandings, says Chandi. “Curiosity and ignorance regarding the islanders is quite high and understandably so amongst outsiders and [government] bureaucrats who have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s Indigenous guardians adapt as pressures mount on the ‘Heart of the World’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 07:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Roberto Maccariello]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08210725/0002-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329184</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mining, Religions, Social Conflict, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RIOHACHA, Colombia — Amid the low slopes of a tropical dry forest, families from the Wiwa community of Gomke are building a new home. Their ancestral settlement lies higher on a lush mountain in the town of Dibulla, overlooking the Caribbean coast in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Across this region, many Indigenous communities [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RIOHACHA, Colombia — Amid the low slopes of a tropical dry forest, families from the Wiwa community of Gomke are building a new home. Their ancestral settlement lies higher on a lush mountain in the town of Dibulla, overlooking the Caribbean coast in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Across this region, many Indigenous communities have been forcibly displaced by climate-related disasters or uprooted by armed actors. Gomke’s move to lower terrain, however, is described by community representatives as voluntary: a collectively led adaptation strategy to protect social, educational and spiritual cohesion amid intensifying climate pressures and the presence of paramilitary groups. They call their new settlement Shegunamke. Shegunnamke is a recently rebuilt Wiwa village. Severe weather events and the spread of paramilitary violence have made their home village increasingly isolated and dangerous. In response, the community is building a new settlement in a safer and more accessible location in order to preserve its social and spiritual structures. Image by Roberto Maccariello. The Wiwa have also acquired other parcels of land elsewhere in the Sierra, including at higher elevations. “We have left [those] untouched so that rivers, springs and bodies of water do not die,” said Roberto Carlos Coronado Calvo, rector of Shenzhawimaku, the Wiwa educational institution that combines conventional learning with the community’s language, culture, knowledge systems and relationship to the territory. “If we begin clearing and cutting into the páramo [ecosystem], how can we guarantee life for those living below?” Across the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, known&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous peoples near Congo parks propose diverse solutions for the future of conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 20:50:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Blaise Kasereka MakutaLatoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08204653/image1__20648409894_e4b04e9e1b_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329161</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Sustainable Forest Management, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — High above the lush forests of protected areas in the Congo Basin in eastern Congo, the calls of endemic birds and monkeys echo through the trees. Beneath the canopy, the Maiko, Salonga, Kahuzi-Biega, and Virunga National Parks sprawl across millions of hectares. For millennia, long before these protected areas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — High above the lush forests of protected areas in the Congo Basin in eastern Congo, the calls of endemic birds and monkeys echo through the trees. Beneath the canopy, the Maiko, Salonga, Kahuzi-Biega, and Virunga National Parks sprawl across millions of hectares. For millennia, long before these protected areas were established, Indigenous peoples lived in, roamed and shaped these lands, only to be expelled during the 20th century. “We lived in harmony with the forest,” says Julien Basimika, a young Mutwa man, one of the Indigenous Twa people in Congo. “We protected everything that needed protecting, because our lives depended on it. If we had started destroying the forest, we would have suffered the consequences.” Today, many descendants of those who were displaced live in extreme poverty owing to lack of land, armed conflicts and discrimination. Discussions on how to better involve these communities in conservation fuel passionate debates among protected area managers, environmentalists, lawyers and human rights advocates: Should they return to their ancestral lands or not? Should they be part of environmental projects? If so, which ones? How can we mitigate armed conflicts and the involvement of Indigenous peoples in illegal logging, which complicate the situation? Among the communities living near these four national parks, views vary on how to address these issues. Meanwhile, policymakers are discussing how best to involve communities in the Belém Call to Action, announced in November 2025, which aims to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-peoples-near-congo-parks-propose-diverse-solutions-for-the-future-of-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329161</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On renewable energy, it’s time to debunk the ‘transition minerals’ narrative (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/on-renewable-energy-its-time-to-debunk-the-transition-minerals-narrative-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/on-renewable-energy-its-time-to-debunk-the-transition-minerals-narrative-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 15:18:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shaan Sood]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/18094245/copper-bearing-ore-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328582</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Business, Clean Energy, Commentary, Critical Minerals, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Natural Resources, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There is an insidious lie that has taken root in the energy transition narrative pushed by the world’s most powerful financial, political, and environmental institutions: we need to massively scale up “critical mineral” mining to secure a green future. The World Bank claims that production of key minerals will need to increase by 500% by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There is an insidious lie that has taken root in the energy transition narrative pushed by the world’s most powerful financial, political, and environmental institutions: we need to massively scale up “critical mineral” mining to secure a green future. The World Bank claims that production of key minerals will need to increase by 500% by 2050 for the energy transition. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 250 new mines are needed to meet emissions targets (80 new copper mines, 70 new lithium mines, 70 new nickel mines, and 30 new cobalt mines). WWF says we need to dramatically increase the supply chain for a wide range of materials, including “transition minerals” as they’re also sometimes called. We are told that mineral extraction’s countless environmental harms — the streams contaminated by toxic runoff, the razed forests, the degraded air quality, the dying wildlife — are the necessary costs of the transition to renewable energy. Lithium pools in Salinas Grandes, Argentina. Image by Pedro J Pacheco via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED) But as we at the Oakland Institute show in a new report, “transition minerals” are misnamed. The vast majority are used in industries that are either unrelated — or in direct opposition — to the clean energy transition. This trend shows no signs of changing: artificial intelligence and heightened military spending are, in fact, increasing the demand for these minerals in industries driving ecological destruction. Scaling up mining as recommended by international organizations would&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/on-renewable-energy-its-time-to-debunk-the-transition-minerals-narrative-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/on-renewable-energy-its-time-to-debunk-the-transition-minerals-narrative-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328582</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Michael Painter put Indigenous land rights at the center of conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/michael-painter-put-indigenous-land-rights-at-the-center-of-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/michael-painter-put-indigenous-land-rights-at-the-center-of-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 22:12:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/03014353/mike-painter-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328252</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Chaco, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Dry Forests, Ethics, Forests, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Obituary, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Bolivian Chaco, the Isoceño Guaraní did not need conservationists to tell them that their land was under pressure. Agricultural settlement was pushing into the region, and their organization, the Capitanía de Alto y Bajo Izozog (CABI), had its own territorial aims. What outsiders could provide was scientific expertise, legal support, money, and access [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Bolivian Chaco, the Isoceño Guaraní did not need conservationists to tell them that their land was under pressure. Agricultural settlement was pushing into the region, and their organization, the Capitanía de Alto y Bajo Izozog (CABI), had its own territorial aims. What outsiders could provide was scientific expertise, legal support, money, and access to institutions that could help turn those claims into recognized rights. Working with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), CABI developed the proposal for Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, which Bolivia created in 1995. At 3.4 million hectares, it was enormous even by the standards of South American protected areas. CABI became its co-administrator. The partnership also helped develop a mechanism for securing Indigenous land under Bolivia’s agrarian reform law. It was used to title 273,000 hectares for the Ayoreode and 560,000 hectares for the Isoceño Guaraní, as well as land for 43 Chiquitano communities. WCS says the process helped establish precedents for Indigenous land titling elsewhere in Bolivia. Michael Painter arrived at WCS in 1997 to direct the Kaa-Iya project. For an ecological anthropologist, its implications were hard to miss. Conservation did not have to mean setting land aside and then persuading the people living around it to cooperate. Indigenous organizations could be conservation partners in their own right, with territorial goals, political interests, and knowledge of their own. A useful role for an organization such as WCS was sometimes to strengthen their ability to deal with governments, companies, donors, and conservationists themselves. Painter,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/michael-painter-put-indigenous-land-rights-at-the-center-of-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/michael-painter-put-indigenous-land-rights-at-the-center-of-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328252</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Invaders storm Indigenous Amazon land, threatening isolated people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/invaders-storm-indigenous-amazon-land-threatening-isolated-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/invaders-storm-indigenous-amazon-land-threatening-isolated-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 17:05:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee GabayElisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04162433/Ituna_Itata-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328402</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Cattle, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly 200 people have invaded the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state since mid‑August, smashing through the Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai)&#8217;s gates, tearing down warning signs and setting up camps inside a territory reserved for uncontacted Indigenous peoples. The surge followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area (APA Bacajaí) under a new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly 200 people have invaded the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state since mid‑August, smashing through the Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai)&#8217;s gates, tearing down warning signs and setting up camps inside a territory reserved for uncontacted Indigenous peoples. The surge followed the creation of the Bacajaí Environmental Protection Area (APA Bacajaí) under a new state law that completely overlaps the federally protected Indigenous land, creating legal confusion that authorities say has been weaponized by land‑grabbers to justify occupation for cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. Federal prosecutors and the Public Defender’s Office have warned of an imminent risk of violent confrontation and possible genocide against the isolated Igarapé Ipiaçava people. Since 2011, a series of temporary land-use restriction orders, which prohibit unauthorized individuals from entering Ituna/Itatá, protected the vulnerable population. Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency, Funai, renewed the precautionary measure in 2025. The first reported invasions occurred a day after Pará published the new state law in the Official Gazette on August 12, 2026, announcing the creation of the APA Bacajaí in the municipalities of Altamira and Senador José Porfírio. The APA covers about 142,400 hectares (351,880 acres) of land in the Brazilian Amazon, which overlaps “100% with the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Land”. The bill, which was introduced in June by Pará state representative (state deputy) Francisco Torres de Paula Filho, also known as Torrinho Torres, was unanimously approved and made law one month later. “What was on August 13th limited to indications of opening access routes and destruction of territorial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/invaders-storm-indigenous-amazon-land-threatening-isolated-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/invaders-storm-indigenous-amazon-land-threatening-isolated-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328402</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippines fast-tracks critical minerals, raising Indigenous, environmental concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/philippines-fast-tracks-critical-minerals-raising-indigenous-environmental-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/philippines-fast-tracks-critical-minerals-raising-indigenous-environmental-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 16:01:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/02140321/8166319417_53fda9a02a_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328354</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Philippines is moving to accelerate critical-mineral development across millions of hectares of land, raising concerns that expanded mining and faster permitting could put pressure on forests, ancestral domains, and Indigenous communities’ ability to give or withhold consent. In an executive order signed on Aug. 18, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. established a national framework for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Philippines is moving to accelerate critical-mineral development across millions of hectares of land, raising concerns that expanded mining and faster permitting could put pressure on forests, ancestral domains, and Indigenous communities’ ability to give or withhold consent. In an executive order signed on Aug. 18, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. established a national framework for developing the country’s critical-minerals industry. The order identifies at least 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of prospective areas that could host mineral resources, and calls for policies that promote downstream processing, investment, and “responsible and sustainable mining practices.” Executive Order No. 122 directs the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its Mines and Geosciences Bureau, to implement a national exploration and mineral reservation program. It also orders mining applications streamlined through a virtual one-stop shop that will allow national and local permits and clearances to be processed simultaneously rather than sequentially. The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), an environmental and Indigenous rights legal group, says the policy could expose a much larger area to mineral exploration and development. The 9-million-hectare figure represents about 30% of the country’s land area, and is more than 11 times the 813,575 hectares (2.01 million acres) currently covered by approved mining projects, according to the LRC. EO 122, however, describes the 9 million hectares as prospective areas with potential mineral resources, rather than as approved mining projects. Rogelio Andrada II, a forestry professor and director of the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources at the University&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/philippines-fast-tracks-critical-minerals-raising-indigenous-environmental-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/philippines-fast-tracks-critical-minerals-raising-indigenous-environmental-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drought is deepening a health crisis among Peru’s recently contacted Indigenous Matsés</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/drought-is-deepening-a-health-crisis-among-perus-recently-contacted-indigenous-matses/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/drought-is-deepening-a-health-crisis-among-perus-recently-contacted-indigenous-matses/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 15:50:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/02152641/contacted-Indigenous-Matses-8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328366</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Diseases, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[REQUENA, Peru — Until a century ago, few Matsés had ever been in contact with a white person before. The Indigenous people lived in a remote area of the Amazon Rainforest, along the border of Peru and Brazil, in seminomadic forest settlements between the Javari, Yaquerana and Gálvez rivers. There, wild meat was abundant — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[REQUENA, Peru — Until a century ago, few Matsés had ever been in contact with a white person before. The Indigenous people lived in a remote area of the Amazon Rainforest, along the border of Peru and Brazil, in seminomadic forest settlements between the Javari, Yaquerana and Gálvez rivers. There, wild meat was abundant — and they could hide from outsiders and rival groups. Roberto Necca Tumi Unan had just returned from a swim in the river when Mongabay arrived at his rectangular wooden stilt house for an interview. He’s one of the community&#8217;s last surviving elders, born before first voluntary contact with the outside world in the 1960s. Necca recalled how, on a few rare occasions, while cutting hunting trails through the dense jungle undergrowth alongside older men from his family, they would hear the alien sounds of outsiders. The men would quickly vanish into the undergrowth, covering themselves with damp leaves so the outsiders wouldn’t find them. “That had been a great fear for us because confrontation between mestizos and the Matsés before contact was dangerous,” he said. The Matsés, tired of conflict and displacement, said they chose to make contact with missionaries from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), an evangelical nonprofit, in 1969. While this initial contact brought some peace, it also marked the beginning of a decades-long struggle against deadly diseases. By 1981, the Matsés population, who had settled in Yaquerana district, in Peru’s Loreto department, was plagued by severe epidemics of influenza and pneumonia.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/drought-is-deepening-a-health-crisis-among-perus-recently-contacted-indigenous-matses/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/drought-is-deepening-a-health-crisis-among-perus-recently-contacted-indigenous-matses/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328366</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Displaced by a typhoon, Taiwan’s Bunun people fear for the future of their culture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/displaced-by-a-typhoon-taiwans-bunun-people-fear-for-the-future-of-their-culture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/displaced-by-a-typhoon-taiwans-bunun-people-fear-for-the-future-of-their-culture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 11:46:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aylin Ho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/02093853/35083d2b-2651-4f46-b379-9b094f1504e0-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Global, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Culture, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Human Rights, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TENGJHIH HAMLET, Taiwan — Nestled high on a mountain slope in southern Taiwan, Tengjhih was a key settlement of the Bunun Indigenous people. Today, however, little remains but memories of the hamlet.  Wild grass sprouts around abandoned houses. Stray dogs have made the empty streets their territory. The children’s toys and chairs scattered across the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TENGJHIH HAMLET, Taiwan — Nestled high on a mountain slope in southern Taiwan, Tengjhih was a key settlement of the Bunun Indigenous people. Today, however, little remains but memories of the hamlet.  Wild grass sprouts around abandoned houses. Stray dogs have made the empty streets their territory. The children’s toys and chairs scattered across the ground hint at a hurried departure. Bunun leader Dahu Ismahasan is visibly moved as he looks at what is left of his village.  “When we were children, we played here. We were happy, innocent,” he says.  But “now the village is destroyed,” says Dahu, who is president of the Bunun tribal council.  Dahu and fellow villagers had to leave Tengjhih in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, which killed 755 people in 2009 across Taiwan. The deadliest storm in the island’s recorded history brought torrential rainfall, causing floods and landslides primarily in mountainous Indigenous territories. At the time, Indigenous peoples accounted for only 2.1% of Taiwan’s total population; yet in the aftermath of Morakot, around 70% of areas deemed unsafe by the government were located in Indigenous territories.  View from the mountain road that leads to Tengjhih, a Bunun Indigenous settlement, in southern Taiwan on Aug. 6, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay. Nobody in Tengjhih died during Morakot, but the typhoon destroyed the only road leading to the hamlet.  With Tengjhih declared a &#8220;high-risk zone&#8221;, authorities in 2009 began permanently resettling its 150 residents, mostly in surrounding lower-elevation areas like Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s third-largest city,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/displaced-by-a-typhoon-taiwans-bunun-people-fear-for-the-future-of-their-culture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Siraya language, deemed ‘extinct’ over a century ago, finds its voice again in Taiwan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2026 12:52:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aylin Ho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28161645/image00003a-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327805</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Global, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Culture, Education, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Language, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TAINAN, Taiwan — Since she was old enough to understand it, Uma Talavan has known she belongs to the Indigenous Siraya people.  She knew almost nothing of her ethnicity, however, the identity of which was dissolved by centuries of forced assimilation, save for a handful of words her parents used to speak. In search of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TAINAN, Taiwan — Since she was old enough to understand it, Uma Talavan has known she belongs to the Indigenous Siraya people.  She knew almost nothing of her ethnicity, however, the identity of which was dissolved by centuries of forced assimilation, save for a handful of words her parents used to speak. In search of &#8220;who she is,&#8221; as she puts it, the Siraya activist decided to bring her language back to life nearly 200 years after it died out. “Language is an extremely important part of a people&#8217;s soul,” she says. “It lets us know the past and connect it to the present.&#8221;  Her work to revitalize the Siraya language, which began more than 20 years ago, helped secure the community’s legal recognition as Taiwan&#8217;s 17th Indigenous group. Uma Talavan, her activist father Wan Cheng-hsiung, also known as Cheng-hiong Talavan, and other members of the community traveled from Tainan to Taipei to attend a ceremony announcing the recognition on July 30.  Siraya activist Uma Talavan at Koupi Experimental Elementary School, the first school where learning Siraya is mandatory, in Sinhua district, Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 21, 2026. Image by Aylin Ho for Mongabay. The Siraya, one of Taiwan’s Austronesian-speaking Indigenous peoples, are the largest of the Pingpu groups, the peoples who have traditionally inhabited the island’s lowland plains and coastal areas. When the Dutch arrived in southern Taiwan in the 17th century, the Siraya were the first people they came into contact with.  The story of the Siraya language&#8217;s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-language-deemed-extinct-over-a-century-ago-finds-its-voice-again-in-taiwan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327805</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s 30&#215;30 conservation promise matters a lot, but how it’s achieved is key (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 19:12:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tim Nicol]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27184114/RS5375_Goss-Govt-gazetted-in-1992-136288-56-Minerval-Hills-National-Park-Credit_-Tourism-and-Events-Queensland-lpr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine Protected Areas, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Australia has just four years to meet a global biodiversity promise: Protect 30% of its land and seas by 2030. What happens here in one of the planet’s megadiverse nations, which is also an extinction hotspot, will signal whether the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment can succeed. Australia is a wealthy country with abundant resources, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Australia has just four years to meet a global biodiversity promise: Protect 30% of its land and seas by 2030. What happens here in one of the planet’s megadiverse nations, which is also an extinction hotspot, will signal whether the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment can succeed. Australia is a wealthy country with abundant resources, so the question is not only if it can meet its target goal, but whether it’s protecting the right places. Global example In 2022, nearly 200 countries agreed to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, known as 30 by 30. The pact calls for at least 30% of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments to be effectively conserved and managed to help reverse biodiversity loss. In addition, the conserved areas need to be biodiverse, ecologically representative, well connected, well managed, and equitably governed, while the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities are recognized and respected. Australia’s biodiversity crisis is already severe. The country is home to globally distinctive species and ecosystems, yet it has one of the world’s worst records for mammal extinctions driven by land clearing, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, changed fire regimes, water extraction, climate change, and poorly-controlled development. Lyndal Scobell of Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd and Roderick Doughboy, an Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger, discuss land management issues at the Split Rock Escarpment overlooking the Kennedy Valley near Laura in Outback Queensland. Image courtesy of Kerry Trapnell. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ashéninka leader reportedly killed while patrolling Indigenous territory is found alive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 03:24:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26032038/Americo_Pascuala_Tumisha-Photo-RFN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327333</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UPDATE (Aug. 27, 2026): The Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU) has clarified that Américo Pascual Tumisha is alive and with his family. ORAU said the initial report of his killing originated with a community member who told Tumisha’s son that he had been killed. Because communications and access are limited in this remote part of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UPDATE (Aug. 27, 2026): The Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU) has clarified that Américo Pascual Tumisha is alive and with his family. ORAU said the initial report of his killing originated with a community member who told Tumisha’s son that he had been killed. Because communications and access are limited in this remote part of Yurúa, a commission from ACONADIYSH’s Border Indigenous Guard traveled by river to verify the report and confirmed that Tumisha was alive. ORAU said Indigenous leaders in the region continue to face threats linked to illegal activities and organized crime. We have amended the title and text of this piece accordingly. ORAU aclara que líder indígena Américo Pascual Tumisha se encuentra con vida y alerta sobre amenazas en Yurúa Amended story: The Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tumisha who was reportedly was shot and killed on Sunday while patrolling the territory of the Onconashari Indigenous community in Peru’s Ucayali region has been found alive. According to an initial report from the Regional Organization AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU), Pascuala had encountered people who were allegedly extracting copaiba oil without permission inside the community’s territory. That report said a confrontation followed, and he was fatally shot. Pascuala was serving as coordinator of Onconashari’s territorial surveillance committee at the time, and was previously chief of the community. ORAU subsequently clarified that Pascuala was found to be alive and with his family. It said the initial report of his killing originated with a community member who told Tumisha’s son that he had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/asheninka-leader-killed-while-patrolling-indigenous-territory-in-peru/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327333</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At global desertification conference, pastoralists call for greater recognition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 20:36:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joseph Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/23160710/IMG_4465-e1787690019347-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327316</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Governance, Grasslands, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Livestock, Pasture, Ranching, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but are less financially and culturally valuable. Msami says adapting to a shifting climate has been a part of Maasai life for generations, but recent conditions represent an existential threat. “We have to adapt because it&#8217;s like desertification is attacking our identity,” Msami told Grist. a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization. “If you lose your identity, it means you have lost everything.” The Maasai are pastoralists, a term that describes the roughly 500 million people around the world who tend herds of livestock including cattle, goats and sheep. They often move with the animals as they seek grass and water. Because they live and work in places with arid conditions and extreme temperatures, they are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Around the world, drought and land degradation threaten rangelands, which make up roughly half of the planet’s landmass, and the pastoralists from Tanzania and Sudan to Nepal and Mongolia that rely on them. The pace of arable land degradation is 30 to 35 times the historic average, threatening even the most resilient communities, according to the U.N. Pastoralists also face an influx of invasive species, extractive industries, tourists and other threats. To address these overlapping crises, Msami&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Raja Ampat, children learn that their knowledge can help protect their islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:31:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24232329/IMG_20260825_0810072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Animals, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play in the sea, during a reading of a children’s book about Raja Ampat and the threat of nickel mining. A coral reef and marine life in the waters off Raja Ampat in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Econusa. Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment. A 2014 study of children in 22 villages in Indonesian Borneo, for example, found that they recognized relationships among forests, rivers, wildlife and other environmental changes. So Sekar Bestari, the book’s illustrator, wasn’t surprised by the children’s answers. “Most of the time when we read the books to children, they understand them, so don’t underestimate children’s knowledge,” she said after the reading in Arborek. “We’re not surprised anymore today.” The reading was part of a three-day gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad. The gathering, organized by Greenpeace Indonesia and local NGO Institut USBA, was intended to strengthen solidarity among Indigenous communities in protecting their lands, waters and biodiversity. The children’s knowledge of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327187</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia integrates Indigenous data in bid to put customary lands on map</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 11:27:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25122554/dayak-women-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327062</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Culture, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mapping, Nature-based climate solutions, Social Conflict, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous peoples in Indonesia have long faced a basic problem: Data on their communities, cultures and customary territories are scattered across government agencies and civil society organizations, making them less visible in spatial planning and permitting. The Indonesian government is trying to address that gap by integrating data from the Ministry of Culture, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indigenous peoples in Indonesia have long faced a basic problem: Data on their communities, cultures and customary territories are scattered across government agencies and civil society organizations, making them less visible in spatial planning and permitting. The Indonesian government is trying to address that gap by integrating data from the Ministry of Culture, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA) and the country’s largest Indigenous peoples’ alliance, AMAN, in a dataset covering 3,857 Indigenous communities. The government says the integrated data will strengthen policymaking and protection of Indigenous peoples. BRWA says the bigger significance could be spatial: Customary territory maps, which can show the ancestral lands, traditional territories, languages and more of Indigenous peoples, could eventually become part of the government’s geospatial data and potentially be visible in spatial planning and permitting. BRWA was established in 2010 by Indigenous and civil society organizations, including AMAN, to document and register customary territories amid the government’s slow progress in recognizing Indigenous peoples and their lands. The new integrated dataset was launched on Aug. 19 in Jakarta. Before the launch, data on Indigenous peoples had been scattered across various ministries, institutions and civil society organizations, according to Restu Gunawan, the Ministry of Culture’s director general of cultural and traditional protection. The differences matter, he said during the launch: Even a difference of one community in the datasets could translate into thousands of hectares of difference when it comes to customary territories. Didik Darmanto, director of religion, culture, youth and sports at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-integrates-indigenous-data-in-bid-to-put-customary-lands-on-map/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327062</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Zealand opens marine reserves with groundbreaking Māori co-management model</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2026 14:48:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18170638/2-Members-of-the-Kai-Tahu-marine-ranger-team-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326516</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Polynesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — At a U.N. meeting in 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand’s then Prime Minister John Key made a major announcement that drew praise from international conservation groups: His administration would turn a swath of waters far larger than the country’s land mass into a marine protected area (MPA). The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — At a U.N. meeting in 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand’s then Prime Minister John Key made a major announcement that drew praise from international conservation groups: His administration would turn a swath of waters far larger than the country’s land mass into a marine protected area (MPA). The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, planned for New Zealand’s northern waters, would have been one of the largest fully no-take MPAs in the world, but the sanctuary violated Māori fishing rights enshrined decades earlier. Key’s government had done relatively little to consult with Māori groups about the proposal, many of whom resisted the plan, calling for more recognition of their authority and their role in ocean governance. The sanctuary plan fell through. Yet, even as Key’s top-down exercise drew criticism, a more bottom-up approach to marine governance was underway in the country’s far southeast. There, Māori leaders helped develop a network of small MPAs, five of which became official on July 1, 2026, after more than a decade of grassroots and governmental work. A key aim is to protect seabed habitats, offshore canyons, rocky reefs, tidal lagoons and kelp forests. The network, called Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia, is co-managed by the regional Māori tribe Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu in standard Māori), and the Department of Conservation. The reserves are the first in the country to be co-managed by Indigenous people and the government using shared decision-making and a joint marine ranger team. The network name refers to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326516</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New leadership initiative carries on legacy of late Indonesian environmental activist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-leadership-initiative-carries-on-legacy-of-late-indonesian-environmental-activist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-leadership-initiative-carries-on-legacy-of-late-indonesian-environmental-activist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2026 10:26:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19101300/IMG20260814192437-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326637</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Justice, Conflict, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, NGOs, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — It had been 648 days since Nur Hidayati, an Indonesian environmental activist fondly known as Yaya or Mbak Yaya, died of cancer. Rukka Sombolinggi, secretary-general of Indonesia’s largest Indigenous organization, AMAN, had counted every one of those days. “ It makes me sad,” she said at the launch of the Yaya Leadership Initiative [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — It had been 648 days since Nur Hidayati, an Indonesian environmental activist fondly known as Yaya or Mbak Yaya, died of cancer. Rukka Sombolinggi, secretary-general of Indonesia’s largest Indigenous organization, AMAN, had counted every one of those days. “ It makes me sad,” she said at the launch of the Yaya Leadership Initiative in Jakarta on Aug. 14, which would have been Yaya’s 53th birthday. But seeing the initiative launched in Yaya’s name gave Rukka another way to think about the loss. “Although she has gone, there are legacies, ideas and actions she left behind that we can still benefit from,” she said. The initiative, known as the YLI, brings together environmental, Indigenous, agrarian, fisher, human rights, and other movements to develop a new generation of community leaders — particularly from the ranks of women, young people, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots changemakers. Facilitated by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s biggest green NGO, alongside organizations including the Indigenous alliance AMAN, the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), and the Indonesian Union of Traditional Fisherfolk (KNTI), the YLI aims to build the capacity, networks, and support systems of people working for social and environmental justice. The initiative is built around four principles that Yaya championed throughout her career: solidarity, equality, environmentalism, and diversity. But its proponents say the YLI is more than just an effort to preserve the memory of one of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental leaders. They say it’s an attempt to carry forward a particular&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-leadership-initiative-carries-on-legacy-of-late-indonesian-environmental-activist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326637</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On the Great Barrier Reef, management by Traditional Owners is growing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 18:35:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cat Williams]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18180055/a.-141891-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326533</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Protected Areas, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PERTH, Australia — “There’s this beautiful underwater garden out there,” says Mercy Singleton, referring to the vast network of colorful corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia’s Queensland coast. “We’d like to see it safe and recovering.” Singleton is Yirrganydji and director of Research and Engagement Services at Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PERTH, Australia — “There’s this beautiful underwater garden out there,” says Mercy Singleton, referring to the vast network of colorful corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia’s Queensland coast. “We’d like to see it safe and recovering.” Singleton is Yirrganydji and director of Research and Engagement Services at Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation. Her people are one of 18 Traditional Owner groups helping steward the Great Barrier Reef, for them their Sea Country — with Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements (TUMRAs) in hand. These community-based plans for joint management of the Reef are part of a suite of conservation efforts at the iconic World Heritage Site that include Traditional Owners in management. While there are still gaps in the full inclusion of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their traditional waters, big strides are being made, say Indigenous governance organizations and scientists. A recent decision by the World Heritage Committee has taken notice.  “The last 30 years have seen massive changes in how the Great Barrier Reef is managed, particularly for Traditional Owners,” says Allan Dale, professor of tropical regional development at James Cook University. “There&#8217;s been this great increase in the governing capability and the ability of those Traditional Owner groups to achieve their aspirations,” he tells Mongabay. “There&#8217;s been a real huge growth in the sort of capability of land and sea reservations and there&#8217;s an increasing number of rangers and leaders and planners and workers in that space.” Dr. Mercy Singleton, director of Research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326533</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia leads global tally of abuses linked to Chinese transition-mineral investments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-leads-global-tally-of-abuses-linked-to-chinese-transition-mineral-investments/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-leads-global-tally-of-abuses-linked-to-chinese-transition-mineral-investments/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 10:59:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/01140403/image_processing20240603-2-tg8aa4-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326494</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Maluku, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Conflict, Critical Minerals, Electric Cars, Energy, Energy Transition, Health, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Social Conflict, Transportation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia recorded more allegations of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese investments in transition minerals than any other country between 2023 and 2025, a new report says. It identifies the vast majority of problems with the country’s rapidly expanding nickel industry. The report by the Business &#38; Human Rights Resource Centre [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia recorded more allegations of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese investments in transition minerals than any other country between 2023 and 2025, a new report says. It identifies the vast majority of problems with the country’s rapidly expanding nickel industry. The report by the Business &amp; Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRC) documented 323 publicly reported allegations across 24 countries during the three-year period, plus three confidential cases involving attacks on human rights defenders. That brings the total to 326 allegations for 2023-2025. The number of recorded allegations has also risen each year, from 51 in 2021 to 148 in 2025, bringing the five-year total to 434. That increase doesn’t necessarily mean the number of abuses themselves have tripled, as changes in reporting, monitoring, and the database can affect the figures. Still, the rising trend comes as investment in the minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy technologies expands rapidly, raising risks for workers, Indigenous peoples, local communities, and the environment. The report also documented 18 attacks against human rights defenders across all 24 countries between 2023 and 2025, including cases involving judicial harassment, violence, and intimidation. Indonesia Of the 323 allegations analyzed in detail, 96 were in Indonesia, the highest of any country. The Democratic Republic of Congo was second with 52, followed by Myanmar with 36, Serbia with 32, and Zimbabwe with 20. Ninety of the 96 Indonesian allegations involved nickel. Of those, 71 concerned nickel processing, 17 nickel extraction, and two&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesia-leads-global-tally-of-abuses-linked-to-chinese-transition-mineral-investments/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326494</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fatal barge crashes fuel fear over Madeira River waterway expansion in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/fatal-barge-crashes-fuel-fear-over-madeira-river-waterway-expansion-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/fatal-barge-crashes-fuel-fear-over-madeira-river-waterway-expansion-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 19:21:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17140812/DJI_0060-river-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Law, Pollution, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With an election looming, Amazon communities worry their safety will be traded for faster agribusiness growth.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CALAMA AND PARAÍSO GRANDE, Brazil — A mother and her three kids died after a barge loaded with soybeans collided with a floating structure and completely destroyed their stilt house on Jan. 17, 2025,  in the Urumatuba riverine community along the Madeira River, in the Brazilian Amazon. Four months later, another freight vessel hit three mining barges anchored in the neighboring Nova Catarina riverine community, in the Manicoré municipality, in Amazonas state. The owner of one of the mining barges was the husband of the woman and father of the three kids who died in the January accident, according to a local news outlet. Mongabay was reporting in riverine communities in the region of the city of Humaitá, 190 kilometers (118 miles) southeast and downstream from Manicoré, when the second accident happened. All those interviewed on that day and the following days said they were terrified by the event — and knew someone who suffered losses or even died in collisions involving grain barges in the Madeira River. &#8220;We are very worried here in our community about these vessels,&#8221; smallholder Maria Delci Barros de Morais, 59, told Mongabay on the balcony of her house in the riverine community of Paraíso Grande, located 30 minutes by fast boat from Humaitá. &#8220;They&#8217;ve already run over someone we know.&#8221; The barge smashed the boat used by the family as a home, she recalled. &#8220;Thank God no one died.&#8221; According to Morais, the risk increases during the Madeira River&#8217;s high-water season, between December and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/fatal-barge-crashes-fuel-fear-over-madeira-river-waterway-expansion-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Siraya gain recognition as Taiwan’s 17th official Indigenous group</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 09:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/13080028/Cho-Jung-tai-Wan-Cheng-hsiung-Alak-Akatuang--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326129</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Culture, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a significant milestone, the Siraya people of Taiwan have won legal recognition from the government as the island’s 17th officially designated Indigenous group. In late July, the Siraya were the first Indigenous people from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Status Act. The law, passed in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a significant milestone, the Siraya people of Taiwan have won legal recognition from the government as the island’s 17th officially designated Indigenous group. In late July, the Siraya were the first Indigenous people from Taiwan’s lowland plains, or pingpu, to gain official status under the Pingpu Indigenous Peoples Status Act. The law, passed in October 2025, offers pathways to redress their erasure as Indigenous peoples. The designation also encapsulates the Siraya’s decades-long fight for legal recognition after centuries of forced assimilation by various colonial powers. “I’ve officially announced in a Cabinet meeting that the Siraya are a legally recognized Indigenous group in Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai said on July 30 to cheers from Siraya community members. Wan Cheng-hsiung, activist and founder of the Tainan Siraya Cultural Association, who is also known as Cheng-hiong Talavan, shouted in Siraya, “We’ve finally come home!” President Lai Ching-te, who backed the Siraya’s fight for cultural and legal recognition during his previous tenures as mayor of the city of Tainan and later as vice president, welcomed the news. “This is a historic moment for the Siraya people and an important milestone in the pursuit of historical and transitional justice for Indigenous peoples,” he wrote on Facebook on Aug. 1, Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Jolan Hsieh, an Indigenous studies scholar at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, who’s also known by her Siraya name, Bavaragh Dagalomai, said the impact of the recognition “could be profound, but recognition itself is only the beginning.” “I see official&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/siraya-gain-recognition-as-taiwans-17th-official-indigenous-group/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326129</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous groups renew legal challenge to Indonesian conservation law</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-groups-renew-legal-challenge-to-indonesian-conservation-law/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-groups-renew-legal-challenge-to-indonesian-conservation-law/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 01:20:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/12152721/Wanaparahita-Bali-Ardana-9-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326060</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Culture, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Reform, Land Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indigenous groups in Indonesia have made a legal challenge to parts of a new conservation law. The groups say it could allow the government to designate their ancestral lands as conservation areas without their consent and threaten their land rights. The Coalition for Equitable Conservation, which comprises the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indigenous groups in Indonesia have made a legal challenge to parts of a new conservation law. The groups say it could allow the government to designate their ancestral lands as conservation areas without their consent and threaten their land rights. The Coalition for Equitable Conservation, which comprises the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), civil society groups and representatives of Indigenous and local communities, filed the lawsuit on July 8, 2026. The case seeks to overturn provisions of Indonesia’s 2024 conservation law that the groups say threaten the rights of communities living on ancestral lands, community-managed areas, coastal regions, small islands and conservation zones. The new petition follows the Constitutional Court&#8217;s rejection of a separate procedural challenge to the law in July 2025, prompting the coalition to pursue a substantive review of the disputed articles. During a hearing on Aug. 6, 2026, the Constitutional Court was due to hear arguments from the government and the House of Representatives (DPR), which drafted the 2024 law. However, Chief Justice Suhartoyo postponed the hearing until Aug. 24 after both the government and the parliament said they were not ready to present their positions. Indigenous peoples and local communities from the Coalition for Equitable Conservation file a judicial review of the 2024 conservation law at the Indonesian Constitutional Court in Jakarta on July 8, 2026. Image courtesy of AMAN. The petitioners expressed their disappointment with the delay. &#8220;The government and the DPR&#8217;s failure to present their statements before the Constitutional&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-groups-renew-legal-challenge-to-indonesian-conservation-law/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326060</doi>				</item>
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