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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/public-lands/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on public lands</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/public-lands/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Andy Mahler, advocate for public forests in America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/andy-mahler-advocate-for-public-forests-in-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/andy-mahler-advocate-for-public-forests-in-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 11:28:56 +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/20/2025/12/29141452/Andy-Mahler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Forests, Green, Obituary, public lands, and Temperate Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the late 20th century, forest conservation in the eastern United States was rarely a matter of sweeping victories or clean resolutions. It was a practice shaped by hearings that dragged on, injunctions that arrived too late, and landscapes divided among agencies with overlapping mandates and uneven resolve. The work tended to fall to people [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the late 20th century, forest conservation in the eastern United States was rarely a matter of sweeping victories or clean resolutions. It was a practice shaped by hearings that dragged on, injunctions that arrived too late, and landscapes divided among agencies with overlapping mandates and uneven resolve. The work tended to fall to people willing to read environmental-impact statements closely, show up repeatedly, and keep doing so after public attention moved elsewhere. Out of that terrain emerged a form of activism that was neither professionalized nor episodic. It relied on local knowledge, personal trust, and a refusal to accept that extractive outcomes were inevitable simply because they were customary. It was also suspicious of hierarchy. Movements rose and fell, coalitions shifted, and leadership often came from those most able to hold people together through disagreement. One of the figures most closely associated with that approach was Andy Mahler, who died on August 30th 2025. He spent more than five decades working to protect forests in the Midwest and Appalachia, bringing to the work the instincts of an organizer and a belief that politics began with place. Mahler was best known as a central force behind Heartwood, a loose yet persistent network of grassroots forest defenders active across several states. Heartwood was never designed to scale efficiently. It functioned through gatherings, shared meals, and long discussions that made room for conflict and resisted easy resolution. Mahler believed that alliances built too quickly were brittle. What mattered was whether people stayed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/andy-mahler-advocate-for-public-forests-in-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/andy-mahler-advocate-for-public-forests-in-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Cameroon stadium spurs one community’s fight over ancestral lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-cameroon-stadium-spurs-one-communitys-fight-over-ancestral-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-cameroon-stadium-spurs-one-communitys-fight-over-ancestral-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2025 17:24:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fanta Mabo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/14100123/Cameroun-Burkinafasso_6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295812</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Development, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, public lands, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[OLEMBÉ, Cameroon — About 10 kilometers (6.3 miles) north of the Cameroon capital of Yaoundé, local members of the Yanda community say the construction of a stadium has resulted in the clearing of their ancestral forest, depriving roughly 600 people — 52 families — of their land and their means of livelihood. Announced as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[OLEMBÉ, Cameroon — About 10 kilometers (6.3 miles) north of the Cameroon capital of Yaoundé, local members of the Yanda community say the construction of a stadium has resulted in the clearing of their ancestral forest, depriving roughly 600 people — 52 families — of their land and their means of livelihood. Announced as a major project to modernize Cameroon&#8217;s sports infrastructure, the Yanda say the construction quickly turned into a tragedy for their community. The forest, once a source of food for the Yanda people, was razed to the ground, locals say, wiping out their cultural and economic landmarks. A decade later, the people are still awaiting payment from the government, which they say should total 3 billion CAF francs (nearly $5 million today) in compensation for the loss of almost 150 hectares (370 acres). Now, as the Paul Biya Omnisports Stadium struggles to fulfill its economic promises and runs on empty, members of the Yanda community continue to clamor for what they view is long overdue justice. The Yanda are among more than 250 traditional ethnic groups and subgroups in Cameroon. The community had been settled in Olembé for generations, living in harmony with their environment. Their forest, which was not known by any formal name, provided them with most everything they needed: food, natural remedies and a culturally significant living space. Among the plant species essential to their daily lives were the iroko (Milicia excelsa), moabi (Baillonella toxisperma Pierre) and sapele (Meliaceae), trees precious for their medicinal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-cameroon-stadium-spurs-one-communitys-fight-over-ancestral-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/a-cameroon-stadium-spurs-one-communitys-fight-over-ancestral-lands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295812</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal created a forest fund to do everything; five years on it’s done nothing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2024 05:46:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/08032511/women-agro-forestry-Nepal2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291947</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fires, Forests, Funding, Governance, Infrastructure, and public lands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate ranging from running afforestation programs to facilitating research and addressing human-wildlife conflict. Yet, five years later, the FDF has not spent a single rupee, even [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate ranging from running afforestation programs to facilitating research and addressing human-wildlife conflict. Yet, five years later, the FDF has not spent a single rupee, even as the forest-managing communities it aims to assist struggle with financial challenges in preserving the country’s forests. “We have around 6.4 billion rupees [$47 million] in the forest department’s accounts set aside for the Forest Development Fund,” said Bijay Dhakal, an officer at the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation. “As of now, the fund itself doesn’t have a separate bank account,” he told Mongabay. The Forest Regulation, prepared by the Ministry of Forests and Environment to implement the act’s provisions, contains a long list of mandates for the fund. The FDF has been authorized to support forest development and conservation by promoting and managing forests, establishing nurseries, preventing encroachment and planting trees in public and degraded lands. Hills and mountains visible on a clear sunny day from Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park in Kathmandu. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi Similarly, it has been assigned to restore degraded ecosystems and manage environmentally sensitive areas, address human-wildlife conflict and climate change and control forest fires and the spread of invasive species. The fund is authorized to facilitate research, relocate vulnerable settlements and foster collaboration between provincial and local governments, forest user groups and organizations. “The government is working&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291947</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/an-ocean-grab-for-a-property-megaproject-leaves-jakarta-fishers-grounded/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/an-ocean-grab-for-a-property-megaproject-leaves-jakarta-fishers-grounded/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2024 05:43:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Irfan Maulana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/07083529/Jakarta-fishers-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289788</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Oceans, public lands, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TANGERANG, Indonesia — Joy sat by the seashore on the outskirts of Jakarta patching up his fishing nets, repairing each tear with practiced stitches while a clutch of women shelled green mussels as the afternoon wore on. “Later on, at 4, we’ll head out to sea,” said Joy, who usually earns up to 500,000 rupiah [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TANGERANG, Indonesia — Joy sat by the seashore on the outskirts of Jakarta patching up his fishing nets, repairing each tear with practiced stitches while a clutch of women shelled green mussels as the afternoon wore on. “Later on, at 4, we’ll head out to sea,” said Joy, who usually earns up to 500,000 rupiah ($32) from a single catch. However, like many here on the shoreline of Indonesia’s capital city, Joy worries that a dearth of fish, and the changes unfolding near his home, suggest this livelihood exists on borrowed time. As each year passes, fishers throughout the northern coast of Indonesia’s main central island of Java must venture farther out to sea for a viable catch to sustain their families. Fishing communities around the world face an incoming tide of ocean acidification and sea temperature rises, which threaten fish stocks, a crucial source of protein and income in these villages. Yet the fishing community here in Ketapang, a village in the Tangerang district that makes up part of the Greater Jakarta area, also has to contend with a crude bamboo fence hindering access to the Java Sea. When the bamboo barrier first appeared, obstructing fishers from leaving the harbor, a flotilla of fishing boats coalesced in its removal. Local fishers said people working on behalf of a developer replaced the barricade soon enough, this time brandishing a letter of authorization from the village government. “You can’t see it at night and the boat can hit it,” Joy explained.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/an-ocean-grab-for-a-property-megaproject-leaves-jakarta-fishers-grounded/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289788</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rio Tinto-linked mine still not fulfilling promises to Mongolian herders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2024 15:09:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/28143855/B-Battsengel-Lkhamdoorov-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286609</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralists in a Changing World]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, and Mongolia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Copper, Degraded Lands, Deserts, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, public lands, Rivers, Social Justice, Traditional People, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2004, nomadic herders in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert faced a daunting prospect. One of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, Oyu Tolgoi, was settling in, and herder communities were being forced to resettle without consultation. For many of them, everything fell apart that year when they faced the prospect of losing access to water and lush [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2004, nomadic herders in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert faced a daunting prospect. One of the world’s largest copper-gold mines, Oyu Tolgoi, was settling in, and herder communities were being forced to resettle without consultation. For many of them, everything fell apart that year when they faced the prospect of losing access to water and lush pasturelands. But they turned to an accountability group for help, filed two complaints against Oyu Tolgoi — and, in a rare success story, reached a deal with the mining company in 2017. Herders, local government officials and company representatives met, formed a three-party council to resolve disputes, and reached an agreement on 60 separate commitments. “It was the least we could do. The water wells and springs that the herders and animals survived on were drying right in front of our eyes after the mining operated,” says Battsengel Lkhamdoorov, one of the herders who lost his occupation and initiated the complaint. “We were not consulted before the mining operation and impacts, so we had to speak up.” But years later, experts say important commitments remain unmet. A report by the three-party council, Accountability Counsel (an NGO that advocates for communities affected by internationally funded projects) and the NGO Oyu Tolgoi Watch found that two-thirds of the commitments were either complete or in progress as of June 2020. Four years on, little has changed, they tell Mongabay. Some of the most significant commitments — on ensuring herders’ access to water, pasture and markets — are making&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/rio-tinto-linked-mine-still-not-fulfilling-promises-to-mongolian-herders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286609</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2024 22:31:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ BelseranEdison Waas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/03184510/Farid-Samalehu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280596</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Disasters, Environment, Erosion, Governance, Industry, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Oceans, public lands, and Sea Levels]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to pick up a bone before it was snatched by the tide here in Indonesia’s Maluku province. “There are probably around 20 graves that have been damaged,” Samadin, a caretaker at the Tutuni public cemetery, told Mongabay Indonesia. “Some are also missing.” Like many seaside communities in the world’s largest archipelagic country, Haya village faces an uncertain future owing to erosion of its coastline. In Haya, the combined forces of currents, tide, wind and impact from storm surges have pushed back the coastline here by about 20 meters (66 feet). A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 found that approximately 28,000 square kilometers (11,000 square miles) of land had been eroded by coastal abrasion globally, an area 10 times the size of Hong Kong. Further research in the same journal in 2020 projected that losses from extreme coastal flooding would soon accelerate, and that sea level rises would “radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century.” However, residents of Haya village worry that the gradual forces causing their coastline to crumble have been stimulated by new demand for sand. The South Seram highway has collapsed due to abrasion and sea waves. Image by Edison&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280596</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Calls grow to repurpose land squandered in Cambodia’s concession policy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2023 02:34:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/08001532/RESIZED-Economic-Land-Concessions_Cambodia_Mongabay_Oct-2023-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Corruption, Culture, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Farming, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforests, Reforestation, Regenerative production landscapes, Restoration, Rewilding, Subsistence Agriculture, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — “Make the bosses rich in Cambodia,” then-prime minister Hun Sen said at the 2012 inauguration of a sugar refinery in Kampong Speu province. “If a country has no millionaires, where can the poor get their money from?” This underscored the ideology at the heart of the policy of economic land concessions, or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — “Make the bosses rich in Cambodia,” then-prime minister Hun Sen said at the 2012 inauguration of a sugar refinery in Kampong Speu province. “If a country has no millionaires, where can the poor get their money from?” This underscored the ideology at the heart of the policy of economic land concessions, or ELCs, which promised benefits for all by handing vast swaths of the country to a handful of elites to develop, mostly for agroindustry. The sugar refinery where Hun Sen gave this speech belonged to one his closest advisers, Ly Yong Phat — a ruling party senator with a sprawling business empire and a well-documented history of environmental vandalism. The senator’s sugar refineries and the ELCs he was granted for the development of plantations now sit dormant and fallow. The irreplaceable ecosystems that once occupied Ly Yong Phat’s ELCs are long gone. So are the thousands of families who were evicted to make way for the plantations. While many of the evictees temporarily found day-laborer work on the plantations, there was no compensation for the family farms that were lost. Then, when Cambodia’s sugar business became embroiled in the so-called Blood Sugar scandal — an advocacy campaign that targeted European buyers and Australian financiers of Cambodian sugar due to rights abuses linked to tycoons like Ly Yong Phat — the refineries unceremoniously fell silent, leaving former residents with no land and no work. In December 2022, a fire burned through a forest within the 9,059-hectare Chinese-owned&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Professional services abound for Amazon land grabbers seeking legitimacy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/professional-services-abound-for-amazon-land-grabbers-seeking-legitimacy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/professional-services-abound-for-amazon-land-grabbers-seeking-legitimacy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2023 18:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/25165416/amazonia-grilagem-terra-publica-header-1-2048x115-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267842</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Organized Crime, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Engineers and realtors from southern Pará take advantage of their knowledge to abet land grabbers.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil — It’s Aug. 15, 2022, a public holiday in Brazil’s Pará state, and the day has just begun in the southern municipality of Novo Progresso. But this town of 25,000, located by the BR-163 federal highway, isn’t in a holiday lull. While the first wave of customers arrives at the gold stores, half a dozen men try to recover from a busy night in the red-light district, ahead of another day of work burning, mining or clearing land. At their offices, realtors and chartered engineers file the paperwork to round out this grab of public land. Novo Progresso is Brazil’s “agribusiness&#8211;mining hub,” where “every inch is disputed by investors,” boasts one of several Facebook profiles selling rural plots of land. Clients have a varied menu to choose from: land with or without forests, inside or outside conservation areas, subjected to environmental sanctions or not, with or without gold in the ground. The catch? Title deeds aren’t included. “Documented farms are very rare in this area,” says Roberto (not his real name), one of several realtors profiting from rising land prices in southwestern Pará after BR-163 was fully paved in late 2019. With so much demand, those asleep at the wheel risk losing business. “There are few options left, eh? Especially if you’re looking for land to plant,” Roberto says, referring to soy, the crop of choice in this part of Brazil. “Things around here are such that after three or four days, the owner is already selling.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/professional-services-abound-for-amazon-land-grabbers-seeking-legitimacy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267842</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The $20m flip: The story of the largest land grab in the Brazilian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/the-20m-flip-the-story-of-the-largest-land-grab-in-the-brazilian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/the-20m-flip-the-story-of-the-largest-land-grab-in-the-brazilian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Feb 2023 15:16:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/14123127/land-grab-in-the-Brazilian-Amazon-13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265561</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Investigation, and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ALTAMIRA, Brazil — The warehouse donated to house the Castelo dos Sonhos farmers’ market for local growers has stood empty for nearly 15 years. Opened in 2008 and spanning 480 square meters (5,170 square feet), the farmers’ market on the outskirts of the city of Altamira in Brazil’s Pará state operated for just seven months; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ALTAMIRA, Brazil — The warehouse donated to house the Castelo dos Sonhos farmers’ market for local growers has stood empty for nearly 15 years. Opened in 2008 and spanning 480 square meters (5,170 square feet), the farmers’ market on the outskirts of the city of Altamira in Brazil’s Pará state operated for just seven months; there simply wasn’t enough açaí berries, honey, fruits or vegetables to fill its tables. Since then, the building has sat empty, in stark contrast to the bustling pace of the lumber dealers, beef wagons and soybean trucks plying the BR-163 highway, and the constant buzz of chainsaws, whose wary operators emerged from the rainforest when we drove along the dirt roads that run parallel to the highway. “There’s nothing to sell because nobody wants to be farmers anymore,” says a local who asks to remain anonymous. “Some of the people who used to farm or gather food are cutting planks in lumber mills; others are working for miners or cutting down trees.” In this part of Brazil, the fear of speaking out against the big landowners is founded on a very real danger; a common threat here goes: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t want to sell the land, fine. The widow sells it cheaper.” It was here, alongside the stretch of BR-163 running between the districts of Castelo dos Sonhos and Vila Isol in southeastern Pará, that the destruction of the largest continuous swath of Amazon Rainforest to date in Brazil took place. An area larger than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/the-20m-flip-the-story-of-the-largest-land-grab-in-the-brazilian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265561</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous communities in Latin America decry the Mennonites&#8217; expanding land occupation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/indigenous-communities-in-latin-america-decry-the-mennonites-expanding-land-occupation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/indigenous-communities-in-latin-america-decry-the-mennonites-expanding-land-occupation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2023 11:30:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexa Eunoé Vélez Zuazo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/26095119/menonites-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265000</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Forests, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, public lands, Rainforests, Religions, Resource Conflict, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“They bought new land and they are cutting wood where our ancestors were,” says a source in Meta, Colombia. “Us Mbya live from the forest, but here there’s barely anything left,” says an Indigenous local from Paraguay. “They cut thousands of hectares,” says a member of Kabi Habin, a beekeeping cooperative in Mexico. These testimonials [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They bought new land and they are cutting wood where our ancestors were,” says a source in Meta, Colombia. “Us Mbya live from the forest, but here there’s barely anything left,” says an Indigenous local from Paraguay. “They cut thousands of hectares,” says a member of Kabi Habin, a beekeeping cooperative in Mexico. These testimonials have something in common. They all point to Mennonite communities as responsible for the deforestation in their territories or municipalities. Many of the people who talked to Mongabay Latam were afraid of talking publicly for fear of retaliation. Indigenous and other local populations report that extensive areas have been deforested to introduce soy, corn and sorghum in five Latin American countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. Mongabay Latam, Rutas del Conflicto, from Colombia, and El Deber, from Bolivia, teamed up and investigated these cases, first with satellite images to detect recent deforestation alerts, and then through field reporting. More than 500 thousand deforestation alerts generated between January and October 2022 took the team of journalists to five critical points where they found forests logged without authorization, occupation of native community territories, land trafficking, threats and denounces that were filed years ago. The Mennonite colonies advance in ecosystems like medium semi-deciduous rainforests, floodplain forests, savannas and others that are connected to each other. By using heavy machinery, they make changes to the soil to convert the land into intensive agriculture territory. Image by Robin Canul. Different Latin American authorities have inspected the expansion of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/indigenous-communities-in-latin-america-decry-the-mennonites-expanding-land-occupation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265000</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Vietnam, a forest grown from the ashes of war falls to a resort project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/in-vietnam-a-forest-grown-from-the-ashes-of-war-falls-to-a-resort-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/in-vietnam-a-forest-grown-from-the-ashes-of-war-falls-to-a-resort-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2022 11:56:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Le Quynh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/19101935/Dak-Doa-forest-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263818</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Land Use Change, public lands, Reforestation, Tourism, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DAK DOA, Vietnam — At the end of the rainy season, the hillsides in Dak Doa district, in central Vietnam&#8217;s Gia Lai province, turn pink as the Cỏ Hồng grass blushes in the basaltic soil of a 50-year-old pine forest. This scenic forest was planted under the national reforestation program initiated in 1976 following the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DAK DOA, Vietnam — At the end of the rainy season, the hillsides in Dak Doa district, in central Vietnam&#8217;s Gia Lai province, turn pink as the Cỏ Hồng grass blushes in the basaltic soil of a 50-year-old pine forest. This scenic forest was planted under the national reforestation program initiated in 1976 following the U.S.-led war, and has since become both a burgeoning tourist attraction and a lifeline for local people, most of them members of ethnic minority groups, including the Bahnar and Jrai. In a province that has been largely deforested due to logging and agriculture, the Dak Doa forest stands apart. Even as a &#8220;planted forest,&#8221; it plays a significant role in protecting the local ecosystem, says Truong Van Vinh, vice dean of the forestry school at Nong Lam University, who was born and raised in the area. The forest, he says, helps conserve soil and underground water, combats erosion, and plays an important role in the region&#8217;s ecosystem. The Dak Doa pine forest, planted 50 years ago as part of post-war reforestation efforts. At the end of the rainy season, forest floor takes on a pink hue. Image by Le Quynh. But despite these benefits, and a massive state-led reforestation program that aims to plant a billion trees by 2025, Dak Doa&#8217;s forest is under threat due to a planned tourism and housing project that will cover 517 of the forest&#8217;s 601 hectares (1,278 of 1,485 acres). Owned by the FLC Group, one of Vietnam&#8217;s largest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/in-vietnam-a-forest-grown-from-the-ashes-of-war-falls-to-a-resort-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263818</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia’s elites swallow up Phnom Penh’s lakes, leaving the poor marooned</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/cambodias-elites-swallow-up-phnom-penhs-lakes-leaving-the-poor-marooned/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/cambodias-elites-swallow-up-phnom-penhs-lakes-leaving-the-poor-marooned/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2022 08:30:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnVutha Srey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/07023706/Sand-Mining-Article-2_Mongabay-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261245</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Cities, Climate Change, Conservation, Dredging, Environment, Fish, Flooding, Freshwater, Governance, Human Rights, Impact Of Climate Change, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Public Health, public lands, Research, Social Conflict, urban ecology, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — On the edges of Boeung Tamok, Phnom Penh’s largest lake, 25-year-old Kong Khun sheltered from the late June heat in a bamboo hut. Despite clear skies, Khun wasn’t out on the water fishing with his family. There is little point, he said. An almost endless convoy of trucks carrying sand, rocks and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — On the edges of Boeung Tamok, Phnom Penh’s largest lake, 25-year-old Kong Khun sheltered from the late June heat in a bamboo hut. Despite clear skies, Khun wasn’t out on the water fishing with his family. There is little point, he said. An almost endless convoy of trucks carrying sand, rocks and soil paraded around what remains of the lake as part of a land reclamation project that Khun said has decimated the fish population and his income. “The lakes around this city are almost gone,” Khun said. “This is the last great lake of Phnom Penh, and when it goes, the city will be flooded up to the waist and poor people will have to work in construction or factories, that’s all that’ll be left.” Long a source of fish and aquaculture, along with providing natural flood defenses and wastewater treatment, lakes across Cambodia’s capital are being filled in by powerful tycoons and government agencies. Khun is one of the few people still remaining in Boeung Tamok, where the government has been evicting the roughly 300 families living off the lake to make way for commercial developments. Data shows how Boeung Tamok has been privatized, leaving little lake left. Sources: Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT Cambodia), Planet Labs Inc. Image by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay. These families have relied on the lake for fish and aquaculture farming for generations, but urban land rights NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) warned in April 2021 that as many as 25 of those&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/cambodias-elites-swallow-up-phnom-penhs-lakes-leaving-the-poor-marooned/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261245</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As their land and water turns saline, Kenyan communities take on salt firms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/as-their-land-and-water-turns-saline-kenyan-communities-take-on-salt-firms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/as-their-land-and-water-turns-saline-kenyan-communities-take-on-salt-firms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2022 11:39:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anthony Langat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/16105553/10-Hafidh-Wanje-stands-near-a-creek-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259266</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Degraded Lands, Drinking Water, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Mining, Pollution, Poverty, public lands, Resource Conflict, Violence, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MARERENI, Kenya — It’s mid-morning in April, and Ngombo Tsuma is seated under a lone neem tree by one of his two grass-thatched huts. His wife sits by the door sill of the second hut, plaiting a rope as their daughter and grandchildren watch, chatting. Thirsty and hot, his goats lie in the shade near [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MARERENI, Kenya — It’s mid-morning in April, and Ngombo Tsuma is seated under a lone neem tree by one of his two grass-thatched huts. His wife sits by the door sill of the second hut, plaiting a rope as their daughter and grandchildren watch, chatting. Thirsty and hot, his goats lie in the shade near his feet. Near his chair are empty yellow jerrycans for storing water. He doesn’t have money on this particular day to buy clean drinking water from the shopping center nearby. A small-scale farmer, Tsuma grows maize, beans and peas and keeps goats and chicken on his 1.6-hectare (4-acre) piece of land. In the past, these crops grew well and he had enough for his family and to sell. But the land has grown saline, Tsuma said, and unfavorable for agriculture; the water from the last borehole he dug near his homestead was too salty to drink. Then this year, the rains arrived late and drought devastated whatever crops and vegetation had survived. The land now lay bare and dry. To the east of Tsuma’s homestead huge heaps of raw salt rise higher than trees, resembling small snow-covered hills. His neighbor is a salt mining company, Kurawa Industries Limited. The company dug out huge dikes along their common boundary to concentrate seawater behind, and their shoulder serves as a road connecting to villages further north. Tsuma said some of the land Kurawa Industries occupies, including the stretch of dike near his home, used to be his,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/as-their-land-and-water-turns-saline-kenyan-communities-take-on-salt-firms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259266</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NGOs alert U.N. to furtive 2-million-hectare carbon deal in Malaysian Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/ngos-alert-u-n-to-furtive-2-million-hectare-carbon-deal-in-malaysian-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/ngos-alert-u-n-to-furtive-2-million-hectare-carbon-deal-in-malaysian-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2022 04:28:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/17041352/orangutan-sabah-borneo-malaysia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253861</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Kalimantan, Malaysia, North Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, climate finance, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Culture, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Speculation, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Mining, Nature-based climate solutions, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Politics, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, Sustainable Forest Management, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Organizations in the Malaysian state of Sabah have filed a complaint with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples about a once-secretive deal aimed at locking up the rights to credits for carbon and other “natural capital” from the state’s forests. Several leaders in Sabah signed the nature conservation agreement, or NCA, with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Organizations in the Malaysian state of Sabah have filed a complaint with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples about a once-secretive deal aimed at locking up the rights to credits for carbon and other “natural capital” from the state’s forests. Several leaders in Sabah signed the nature conservation agreement, or NCA, with representatives from a Singaporean firm called Hoch Standard Pte. Ltd. on Oct. 28, 2021. The NCA laid out a revenue-sharing plan that covered the right to sell credits from the ecosystem services provided by 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest for at least the next 100 years. Proponents of the deal said it would provide funding for economic development to the state and ensure the covered area is protected from logging and other destructive impacts. But the terms were finalized by and large without the knowledge of Indigenous and forest-dependent communities living in Sabah, said Peter Burgess, an Australian businessman who said he was involved in negotiating the agreement, in a November 2021 interview with Mongabay. Since Mongabay published an article on Nov. 9 that first made the details of the NCA public, attacks on the legality and ethical rigor of the arrangement have beleaguered the deal and its proponents. Many skeptics argue that the lack of transparency calls into question whether the deal is binding or enforceable. A rope bridge connected to a community in the Crocker Range. Image by John C. Cannon/Mongabay. “We are taking this issue to the United Nations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/ngos-alert-u-n-to-furtive-2-million-hectare-carbon-deal-in-malaysian-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/ngos-alert-u-n-to-furtive-2-million-hectare-carbon-deal-in-malaysian-borneo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253861</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil Congress fast-tracks ‘death package’ bill to mine on Indigenous lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/brazil-congress-fast-tracks-death-package-bill-to-mine-on-indigenous-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/brazil-congress-fast-tracks-death-package-bill-to-mine-on-indigenous-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Mar 2022 14:35:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/15135308/Indigenous_Man_Funai_Protests_Brasilia-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253802</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Protests, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As thousands of people protested in Brazil’s capital against a “death package” of bills deemed anti-environmental and anti-Indigenous, the lower house of Congress agreed to fast-track one of those bills, which would allow mining inside Indigenous lands. The move by the Chamber of Deputies triggered a public outcry, with more than 15,000 people turning out [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As thousands of people protested in Brazil’s capital against a “death package” of bills deemed anti-environmental and anti-Indigenous, the lower house of Congress agreed to fast-track one of those bills, which would allow mining inside Indigenous lands. The move by the Chamber of Deputies triggered a public outcry, with more than 15,000 people turning out in the biggest environmental protest ever held in Brasília. Critics say these bills encourage irreversible environmental degradation, violate the rights of Indigenous people, and fail to meet other social rights protected in the Constitution. https://twitter.com/apiboficial/status/1501918599274975238 Among the demonstrators were around 150 Indigenous children, women and men from eight ethnic groups, who had traveled from the northeastern state of Bahia to Brasília. The rest of the protest was made up by a demonstration called “Ato Pela Terra” (Stand for the Earth) led by celebrated Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso. Renowned for his past political persecution as well as his music, Veloso was joined by thousands of fellow celebrities, activists and supporters united against the anti-environmental agenda in Congress’s docket of priority legislation this year. In a speech to Rodrigo Pacheco, the president of Brazil’s Congress, Veloso said “deforestation in the Amazon is out of control. Violence against Indigenous and other traditional peoples has increased. A series of bills now on the agenda in the National Congress could make the situation even more serious.” Forest loss from deforestation and deliberate fires in the Amazon has been trending upward since 2012, with deforestation rates at the start of this&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/brazil-congress-fast-tracks-death-package-bill-to-mine-on-indigenous-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/brazil-congress-fast-tracks-death-package-bill-to-mine-on-indigenous-lands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253802</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To fight invaders, Munduruku women wield drone cameras and cellphones</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/to-fight-invaders-munduruku-women-wield-drone-cameras-and-cellphones/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/to-fight-invaders-munduruku-women-wield-drone-cameras-and-cellphones/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Mar 2022 14:27:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elpida Nikoufrom Repórter BrasilJoana Moncau]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/14193433/Rilcelia-Akai-in-Brasi%CC%81lia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253740</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three young women from the Munduruku Indigenous group in the Brazilian Amazon run an audiovisual collective that uses social media to raise awareness about illegal invasions of their territory. “Many people no longer believe what we say, they only believe what they see,” says Aldira Akai, who, at 30, is the oldest member of the collective.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seen from above, the small village is almost lost in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. But it’s there, in a hut in the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory, in Brazil’s Pará state, that three Munduruku women review the video they recorded of the actions of their people to defend the territory from invaders, especially illegal loggers and miners. Expelling the invaders has always been risky, but it’s become even more so under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. A camera, a drone, cellphones and social media are the weapons wielded by 30-year-old Aldira Akai, Beka Saw Munduruku, 19, and Rilcelia Akai, 23, in taking on these growing threats. The women are members of the Daje Kapap Eypi Munduruku Audiovisual Collective, which works to relay the Indigenous people’s complaints beyond the banks of the Tapajós River that mark the territory’s boundary. “[Video] is a very important tool, which strengthens the struggle of the Munduruku,” Aldira says. “Many people no longer believe what we say, they only believe what they see.” Repórter Brasil followed the young women for a week in the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory, in November 2021, as they produced videos for Facebook and Instagram that reached activists and world leaders participating in the COP26 climate summit. These images illustrate what the data from platforms such as Global Forest Watch (GFW) already show, including the prevalence of mining activity inside the Indigenous territory — an act that violates Brazil’s Constitution. One of the starkest examples of this violation is the number&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/to-fight-invaders-munduruku-women-wield-drone-cameras-and-cellphones/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/to-fight-invaders-munduruku-women-wield-drone-cameras-and-cellphones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253740</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, Indigenous Ka’apor take their territory’s defense into their own hands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-indigenous-kaapor-take-their-territorys-defense-into-their-own-hands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-indigenous-kaapor-take-their-territorys-defense-into-their-own-hands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2022 19:17:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew Johnson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/07184726/ACJ-Kaapor-Mongabay-19-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253455</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since 2013, the Ka'apor expelled the Federal Brazilian Indigenous Agency from their territory in the state of Maranhão, creating a new government council, adopting their own education system and establishing permanent settlements along their borders to contain the illegal advance of loggers, land grabbers and miners.
]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Brazilian Amazon, the Indigenous peoples are as diverse as they are numerous. But one thing they all have in common is that they face relentless pressure from outsiders driven by a desire to exploit the natural resources on their lands. Amid government inaction, the Ka’apor have taken matters into their own hands, creating an autonomous Indigenous territory that doesn’t require the presence of the state. Pioneers in the strategy of self-defense, they’ve inspired other Indigenous groups in the region. But while the Ka’apor people have succeeded in repelling the “aggressors,” they continue to live under the constant threat of violence while the authorities charged with protecting them do nothing. The name Ka’apor means “people of the forest” in their language, so the rainforest is core to their very identity. Without one, the other simply wouldn’t exist. For decades, the region’s environment and its original inhabitants have suffered the consequences of illegal logging, mining, and agricultural expansion, often orchestrated by well-financed and politically connected criminal organizations. To the Ka’apor, the forest is like a life-giving relative; to the invaders, it’s money. Now, simply leaving their home means risking their life. After leaving their ancestral lands some 150 years ago, the Ka’apor embarked on a journey of hundreds of kilometers on foot in an attempt to distance themselves from an expanding settler society pushing deeper into the interior of the former Portuguese colony. They eventually settled in what is now one of the last remaining tracts of rainforest in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-indigenous-kaapor-take-their-territorys-defense-into-their-own-hands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-indigenous-kaapor-take-their-territorys-defense-into-their-own-hands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253455</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, evicted Indigenous residents fight to reclaim their community</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-evicted-indigenous-residents-fight-to-reclaim-their-community/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-evicted-indigenous-residents-fight-to-reclaim-their-community/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Mar 2022 14:53:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Ionova]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/28130137/6-Yawaratsuni-Kokama-an-Indigenous-chief-Manaus-Amazonas-state-Brazil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253199</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, public lands, Rainforests, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Brazil — As she walks through the rubble, Yawaratsuni Kokama steps over loose bricks and piles of broken tiles, her eyes welling up. From time to time, she stops to pluck a ripened mango from a tree or yank a cassava root from the ground. “This is where our community garden used to be. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Brazil — As she walks through the rubble, Yawaratsuni Kokama steps over loose bricks and piles of broken tiles, her eyes welling up. From time to time, she stops to pluck a ripened mango from a tree or yank a cassava root from the ground. “This is where our community garden used to be. And, over there, that was the school,” Yawaratsuni, the cacique, or Indigenous chief, of her community, said as she pointed to a nearby plot of land being swallowed up by the Amazon rainforest surrounding it. “Now all that’s left is bush.” Until recently, this vast stretch of land was the site of Monte Horebe, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Manaus, the sprawling capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state. The makeshift community was once home to 2,260 families, including hundreds of Indigenous people from more than 30 different ethnicities, according to data from the Amazonas state government. Yawaratsuni Kokama, an Indigenous chief, or cacique, points to the patch of land where a community garden used to stand, in the Monte Horebe informal settlement on the outskirts of Manaus, Amazonas state. The community, which was home to some 2,260 families, was dismantled by authorities in March 2020. Image by Ana Ionova for Mongabay. Monte Horebe emerged in 2015 when squatters cleared and occupied a patch of rainforest about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the center of Manaus, according to Indigenous leaders. Like other informal settlements scattered at the margins of the city, it offered much-needed housing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-evicted-indigenous-residents-fight-to-reclaim-their-community/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/in-brazil-evicted-indigenous-residents-fight-to-reclaim-their-community/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253199</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC’s cacao boom leaves a bitter aftertaste for Congo Basin forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/drcs-cacao-boom-leaves-a-bitter-aftertaste-for-congo-basin-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/drcs-cacao-boom-leaves-a-bitter-aftertaste-for-congo-basin-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2022 13:23:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/18125925/Banana-teak-and-cacao-plantation-in-Yanonge-DRC.-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252863</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cacao, Conflict, Crime, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Forests, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Plantations, Politics, public lands, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Social Conflict, Social Justice, Subsistence Agriculture, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2021, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest province, Tshopo, lost 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of intact forests to fires. Researchers based in the provincial capital, Kisangani, suspect the record-breaking forest loss is linked to expanding cultivation of cacao by recent migrants from neighboring North Kivu province. These unbroken forest landscapes are some of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2021, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest province, Tshopo, lost 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of intact forests to fires. Researchers based in the provincial capital, Kisangani, suspect the record-breaking forest loss is linked to expanding cultivation of cacao by recent migrants from neighboring North Kivu province. These unbroken forest landscapes are some of the most biodiversity-rich areas on the planet. The burnt area in 2021 was about three times the average for the preceding 10 years, according to researchers at Global Forest Watch. Satellite data from the University of Maryland show the damage is concentrated around Kisangani, a city of more than 1.2 million people sitting amid dense woodland. The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, 100 km (60 miles) to the west, was not spared either. Threatened tree species Entandrophragma utile in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Image by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Disruptions Thousands of people were displaced by armed conflict in the border provinces of North and South Kivu in 2019 and 2020, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The frontier region, on the DRC’s eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda, has witnessed persistent ethnic conflict since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. More than 100 armed groups are active in the region, and the security situation has deteriorated in recent years. There are no official data on the number of internally displaced people, but news reports show an increase in violence in North and South Kivu that coincides with an influx of migrants west into Tshopo. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/drcs-cacao-boom-leaves-a-bitter-aftertaste-for-congo-basin-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/drcs-cacao-boom-leaves-a-bitter-aftertaste-for-congo-basin-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252863</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Urban ecology that saved Argentina’s Rosario held up as a model for others</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/urban-ecology-that-saved-argentinas-rosario-held-up-as-a-model-for-others/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/urban-ecology-that-saved-argentinas-rosario-held-up-as-a-model-for-others/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2021 10:57:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christa Avampato]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/30144824/3-rosario-urban-farming-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Climate Change, Climate Science, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Land Use Change, public lands, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Argentine city of Rosario, an award-winning urban agriculture program is marking nearly two decades as a model for how to put local farming and agroecology at the heart of a system of equitable and sustainable development. Throughout this period, the program has manifested many of the benefits of such a system: improved public [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Argentine city of Rosario, an award-winning urban agriculture program is marking nearly two decades as a model for how to put local farming and agroecology at the heart of a system of equitable and sustainable development. Throughout this period, the program has manifested many of the benefits of such a system: improved public health outcomes, job creation, efficient repurposing of underused real estate, and mitigation of greenhouse gases caused by food transport. But proponents say local farming and agroecology — agricultural systems crafted to enhance yields and benefit the natural environment — remain largely overlooked by policymakers, urban planners and activists seeking to build a better world. In the case of Rosario, it took desperate times to spark this shift. “A perfect storm of financial factors coalesced in the early 2000s to trigger an economic collapse in Argentina,” says Anne Maassen, the global lead for the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Ross Center Prize for Cities. The Argentine Great Depression, as it’s known, saw income for more than 50% of the country fall below the poverty line. The city of Rosario, long an agricultural hub, saw 25% of its workforce lose their jobs. With inflation rising and food supplies declining, people looted grocery stores out of hunger. Compounding the economic woes, Rosario faced a vicious cycle of wildfires in the nearby delta that eroded the soil and vegetation, leading to flooding. Rosario suffers from floods and the urban heat island effect, both of which climate change has exacerbated. Photo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/urban-ecology-that-saved-argentinas-rosario-held-up-as-a-model-for-others/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, an agribusiness haven’s green pivot leaves many skeptical</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-brazil-an-agribusiness-havens-green-pivot-leaves-many-skeptical/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-brazil-an-agribusiness-havens-green-pivot-leaves-many-skeptical/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2021 12:57:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/24140218/1-Resex-Chico-Mendes-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249849</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Agribusiness]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Marketing, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A project originally aimed to fuel agribusiness in one of the most heavily deforested parts of the Brazilian Amazon is now being touted by the government as a “green” and “sustainable” initiative that will help protect the forest and may be replicated in other parts of the biome. The switch in the narrative around Amacro, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A project originally aimed to fuel agribusiness in one of the most heavily deforested parts of the Brazilian Amazon is now being touted by the government as a “green” and “sustainable” initiative that will help protect the forest and may be replicated in other parts of the biome. The switch in the narrative around Amacro, as the project was initially named, happened in a matter of a year, following strong criticism from authorities and environmentalists. But despite its ostensibly good intentions, it has been received with caution by prosecutors, researchers and nonprofits working with traditional communities. The Amacro project came to life in March 2020, named after the border region between the Amazonian states of Amazonas (AM), Acre (AC) and Rondônia (RO). It encompasses 32 municipalities and 465,800 square kilometers (180,000 square miles), more than three times the size of New York state, in one of the parts of the Amazon Rainforest under the greatest deforestation pressure. These municipalities’ contribution to the total deforestation in the nine states that make up the Brazilian Amazon has increased consistently over the past 12 years, from 8% in 2008 to 30% in 2018, before dipping to 24% in 2020, according to a Mongabay survey based on data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Amacro comprises the region of southern Amazonas, east of Acre and northwest of Rondônia. Image by Fábio Alencar/Suframa. Championed by Assuero Veronez, the head of Acre&#8217;s Agriculture Federation, who said &#8220;deforestation is a synonym for progress,” Amacro was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-brazil-an-agribusiness-havens-green-pivot-leaves-many-skeptical/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-brazil-an-agribusiness-havens-green-pivot-leaves-many-skeptical/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249849</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vale told Brazil communities they were in danger. They say Vale wants their land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/vale-told-brazil-communities-they-were-in-danger-they-say-vale-wants-their-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/vale-told-brazil-communities-they-were-in-danger-they-say-vale-wants-their-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2021 08:40:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isis Medeiros]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/03082745/1-Brazil-communities-Minas-Gerais-state-Vale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246718</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Refugees, Governance, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mining, Nutrient Pollution, Politics, Pollution, public lands, Resource Conflict, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 8, 2019, two weeks after the collapse of a dam holding mining waste killed 272 people and left a trail of destruction in Brumadinho, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, 458 people were evicted from their land in the nearby town of Barão de Cocais. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant responsible for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 8, 2019, two weeks after the collapse of a dam holding mining waste killed 272 people and left a trail of destruction in Brumadinho, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, 458 people were evicted from their land in the nearby town of Barão de Cocais. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant responsible for that disaster, had warned of the risk of collapse of yet another of its tailings dams, Sul Superior. The dam held firm, but in the two and a half years since then, the company has continued to violate basic rights and move families from new areas, they allege. In that fateful week of Vale’s announcement, the international press was all over the story, and Sul Superior went from risk alert 2 to 3, the highest level. A judge, Carlos Pereira Gomes Júnior, ordered all the families in Barão de Cocais’s rural subdistricts of Socorro, Vila do Gongo, Piteiras and Tabuleiro to be immediately removed from their homes to avoid a repeat of the Brumadinho tragedy. Similar steps were taken in other towns where there is at least one dam on highest alert. Thousands of people have been evacuated, becoming refugees from their own territories. Area of ​​the Sul Superior dam at level 3 alert since 2019. The collapse alert prompted the company to evacuate 458 residents from nearby communities. Image by Vale. In November 2020, the risk level for Vale’s Norte Laranjeiras dam was raised to 2 by the National Mining Agency’s (ANM) Integrated Safety&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/vale-told-brazil-communities-they-were-in-danger-they-say-vale-wants-their-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/vale-told-brazil-communities-they-were-in-danger-they-say-vale-wants-their-land/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246718</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists, communities battle against Philippine land reclamation project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/scientists-communities-battle-against-philippine-land-reclamation-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/scientists-communities-battle-against-philippine-land-reclamation-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2021 11:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aprille Roselle Vince Juanillo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/17103550/Philippines-fish-dried-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245975</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Cities, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Politics, and public lands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Local authorities in the central Philippines pushing ahead with a land reclamation project that will bury four marine reserves face strong opposition from scientists, fishers and others. The Dumaguete City Council on July 7 granted Mayor Felipe Remollo the authority to enter into an agreement with E.M. Cuerpo, Inc. (EMC), the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Local authorities in the central Philippines pushing ahead with a land reclamation project that will bury four marine reserves face strong opposition from scientists, fishers and others. The Dumaguete City Council on July 7 granted Mayor Felipe Remollo the authority to enter into an agreement with E.M. Cuerpo, Inc. (EMC), the contractor for the 23 billion peso ($456 million) “smart city” complex, which will cover 174 hectares (430 acres). Experts say any economic benefits from the project will pale in comparison to the “monumental ecological disaster” it poses. The reclamation bid is set to cover 85% of the city’s shoreline, approximately the size of 4,000 basketball courts, said marine scientist Rene Abesamis, adding it will be a death knell for the local coastal ecosystems. Community opposition to the project has resulted in three petitions calling for it to be scrapped; one of them has gathered 20,000 electronic signatures and been submitted to the mayor’s office. Various groups, including the Catholic and Presbyterian churches, educational institutions, national environmental organizations, and scientists have come forward to oppose the project for environmental, economical, and legal reasons. The Dumaguete city shores. Experts say a planned land reclamation project covering 85% of the city’s shoreline would be a “monumental ecological disaster.&#8221; Image by Marion Paul Baylado via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). “These nearshore environment are habitats of the different life stages of snapper, bream, and grunt fishes,” Annadel Cabanban and Aileen Maypa, both from the IUCN’s specialist group for these three commercially&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/scientists-communities-battle-against-philippine-land-reclamation-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/scientists-communities-battle-against-philippine-land-reclamation-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245975</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After two collapses, a third Vale dam at ‘imminent risk of rupture’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/after-two-collapses-a-third-vale-dam-at-imminent-risk-of-rupture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/after-two-collapses-a-third-vale-dam-at-imminent-risk-of-rupture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2021 14:58:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliana Ennes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/14111806/Brumadinho_MP2-banner1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243627</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Dams, Disasters, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Land Rights, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, public lands, Rivers, Waste, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A dam holding back mining waste from Brazilian miner Vale is at risk of collapsing, a government audit says. The same company was responsible for two tailings dam collapses since 2015 that unleashed millions of gallons of toxic sludge and killed hundreds of people in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The retired Xingu dam [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A dam holding back mining waste from Brazilian miner Vale is at risk of collapsing, a government audit says. The same company was responsible for two tailings dam collapses since 2015 that unleashed millions of gallons of toxic sludge and killed hundreds of people in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The retired Xingu dam at Vale’s Alegria iron ore mine in Mariana — the same municipality where a Vale tailings dam collapsed in November 2015 in what’s considered Brazil’s worst environmental disaster to date — is at “serious and imminent risk of rupture by liquefaction,” according to an audit report from the Minas Gerais state labor department (SRT), cited by government news agency Agência Brasil. The SRT did not immediately reply to Mongabay’s emailed requests for comment; it also did not answer any phone calls. In the May 20 audit report, only released last week, the SRT said the Xingu dam “does not present stability conditions.” “It is, therefore, an extremely serious situation that puts at risk workers who perform activities, access or remain on the crest, on the downstream slopes, in the flood area and in the area on the tailings upstream of the dam,” the document says. The Minas Gerais Fire Department’s search and rescue team look for bodies following the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. Image courtesy of the Minas Gerais Fire Department. In a statement, Vale denied the imminent risk, saying the dam “is monitored and inspected daily.” It said the structure’s conditions and safety&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/after-two-collapses-a-third-vale-dam-at-imminent-risk-of-rupture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/after-two-collapses-a-third-vale-dam-at-imminent-risk-of-rupture/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243627</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil ‘Adopt-a-Park’ program may negatively impact traditional peoples</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/brazil-adopt-a-park-program-may-negatively-impact-traditional-peoples/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/brazil-adopt-a-park-program-may-negatively-impact-traditional-peoples/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2021 13:21:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mauricio TorresSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/09151743/BANNER-Image-768x456.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243414</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Private Reserves, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[132 Amazon protected areas have been offered for adoption, with three transnational companies signing on so far (French Carrefour, Dutch Heineken, and U.S. Coca Cola). Activists say traditional peoples are not being consulted. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In February 2021, the administration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced the first stage of its “Adopt-a-Park” program, in which 132 of the federal government’s protected areas, all in the Amazon, are being offered up for private companies to “adopt.” The plan is to eventually extend the program to all federally protected areas across the country. The total area currently up for adoption covers 644,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles), an eighth of the Amazon Basin (a region known officially as Amazônia Legal). The largest preserve offered up for adoption is Montanhas Tumucumaque in Amapá state, encompassing 38,000 km2 (14,670 mi2), but to date no company has shown interest in that park. So far, the program is off to a lackluster start, with only eight protected areas attracting interest from private companies, including five from Brazil and three transnationals — French grocery chain Carrefour, and beverage companies Coca-Cola of the U.S. and Heineken of the Netherlands — with their predicted outlay totaling just over $1million. If all the protected areas in the Amazon are adopted, the program could result in the private sector providing goods and services equivalent to 3.2 billion reais ($600 million) annually to conservation coffers. That’s a sizeable contribution, but the success of the program depends on how the resources are used and where, say environmentalists who have little trust in the Bolsonaro administration due to its record of extreme anti-environmental policies. Conservationists say they fear the program will lead to the further dismantling of environmental safeguards&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/brazil-adopt-a-park-program-may-negatively-impact-traditional-peoples/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/brazil-adopt-a-park-program-may-negatively-impact-traditional-peoples/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Zero illegal deforestation’ – One more Bolsonaro distortion (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/zero-illegal-deforestation-one-more-bolsonaro-distortion-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/zero-illegal-deforestation-one-more-bolsonaro-distortion-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 May 2021 21:49:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip M. Fearnside]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/03201955/banner-image-1210-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242248</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Climate Change, Commentary, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Logging, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Logging, Pasture, Politics, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Brazilian president is making big promises to reduce Amazon deforestation, even as he moves to legalize large scale land theft with potentially catastrophic results for Earth’s climate and the Amazon.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The text of this commentary is updated from an earlier Portuguese-language version of the author’s column at Amazônia Real. On 22 April 2021, exactly one year after the infamous ministerial meeting in which Brazil’s environment minister proposed seizing the “opportunity” presented by media attention being focused on COVID-19 to dismantle even more of the country’s environmental protections, President Bolsonaro addressed the virtual climate summit convened by U.S. President Joe Biden. The multiple falsehoods and distortions in Bolsonaro’s address have been well documented (see here and here). There is one more important distortion: Bolsonaro’s promise of “zero illegal deforestation” by 2030. There are two ways that “zero illegal deforestation” can be achieved: by truly stopping deforestation and by simply declaring as “legal” the deforestation that is taking place. But the area of forest that is actually cut down — and the sequestered carbon it releases to the atmosphere — is all that matters for Earth’s climate, not the legality of the deforestation. A land grabber (grileiro) in the “Terra do Meio” in Pará state, Brazil. Image by P.M. Fearnside. Legalization of illegal deforestation has accelerated since President Bolsonaro took office on 1 January 2019. A first step in this process is the legalization of illegal land claims, after which past deforestation on the new “properties” can be legalized and future deforestation can be allowed through the existing permitting system. Legalizing illegal land claims in Brazilian Amazonia has been shown to stimulate deforestation. Proposals for other forms of legalizing deforestation are also&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/zero-illegal-deforestation-one-more-bolsonaro-distortion-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242248</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans&#8217; largest mountain pasture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/protesters-hold-back-military-takeover-of-balkans-largest-mountain-pasture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/protesters-hold-back-military-takeover-of-balkans-largest-mountain-pasture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jan 2021 06:40:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/15125521/Durmitor_canyon_Tara_-_Montenegro-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238713</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe and Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Culture, Drinking Water, Ecology, Environment, Forests, Grasslands, Green, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Medicinal Plants, Military, Parks, Pasture, Plants, Politics, Protected Areas, public lands, Sustainability, Traditional People, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mileva &#8220;Gara&#8221; Jovanović&#8217;s family has been taking cattle up to graze in Montenegro’s Sinjajevina Highlands for more than 140 summers. The mountain pastures of the Sinjajevina-Durmitor Massif are the largest on Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, and they’ve provided her family not only with milk, cheese, and meat, but with an enduring livelihood and the means to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mileva &#8220;Gara&#8221; Jovanović&#8217;s family has been taking cattle up to graze in Montenegro’s Sinjajevina Highlands for more than 140 summers. The mountain pastures of the Sinjajevina-Durmitor Massif are the largest on Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, and they’ve provided her family not only with milk, cheese, and meat, but with an enduring livelihood and the means to send five of her six children to university. &#8220;It gives us life,&#8221; said Gara, an elected spokesperson for the eight self-described tribes who share the summer pasture. But, Gara says, this alpine pasture — “the Mountain,” she calls it — is under serious threat, and with it the tribes’ way of life. Two years ago, Montenegro’s military moved ahead with plans to develop a training ground where soldiers would carry out maneuvers and artillery practice in these grasslands. No stranger to the daunting challenges of life as an alpine herder, Gara said that when she first heard of the military’s plans, it brought her to tears. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to destroy the Mountain because it&#8217;s impossible to have both the military polygon there and cattle,&#8221; she told Mongabay. A map showing the approximate location of the proposed military polygon in the Sinjajevina pasturelands. Image courtesy of Pablo Domínguez (inset courtesy of Google Earth Engine). Anthropologists who have studied the region say that pastoralists have been bringing their herds to the Sinjajevina grasslands for around 3,000 years. Now, Gara fears that the military’s use of the land will utterly disrupt the current natural balance that 250 local&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/protesters-hold-back-military-takeover-of-balkans-largest-mountain-pasture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/protesters-hold-back-military-takeover-of-balkans-largest-mountain-pasture/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238713</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite COVID, political divides, conservation can advance: Hansjörg Wyss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/despite-covid-political-divides-conservation-can-advance-hansjorg-wyss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/despite-covid-political-divides-conservation-can-advance-hansjorg-wyss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2020 10:26:57 +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/20/2020/10/25192301/galapagos_akb_17405-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236127</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Finding Common Ground and Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, philanthropy, and public lands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[2020 was supposed to be the year that the world assessed progress on a decade&#8217;s worth of effort to stave off the sixth mass extinction — the first extinction driven by the activities of a single species — and set ambitious new targets for conservation. But the COVID-19 pandemic intervened, leading to postponement of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[2020 was supposed to be the year that the world assessed progress on a decade&#8217;s worth of effort to stave off the sixth mass extinction — the first extinction driven by the activities of a single species — and set ambitious new targets for conservation. But the COVID-19 pandemic intervened, leading to postponement of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the IUCN World Conservation Congress, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, among other high-level meetings. Nonetheless, conservationists have continued to press forward with initiatives aiming to preserve habitat for wildlife, including the &#8220;30&#215;30&#8221; target, which aims to conserve 30% of the planet&#8217;s land and oceans by 2030. One of the biggest champions for the 30&#215;30 goal is the Wyss Campaign for Nature, which launched two years ago thanks to a billion dollar commitment from Hansjörg Wyss, a medical device entrepreneur who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into conservation globally over the past 20 years. Since its inception, the Wyss Campaign for Nature has put more that $350 million into projects that have protected nearly 18 million acres of land and over 160,000 square kilometers of the ocean. Wyss, who in a 2017 interview with Mongabay said that his love of nature was born out of experiences he had in the wilds of the American West in the 1950s, says the current campaign is focusing support for &#8220;locally-driven, place-based conservation efforts&#8221; in geographies where there is the greatest opportunity for impact as well as building political consensus for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/despite-covid-political-divides-conservation-can-advance-hansjorg-wyss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236127</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Public lands and parks are our common heritage: Bruce Babbitt</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/public-lands-and-parks-are-our-common-heritage-an-interview-with-bruce-babbitt/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/public-lands-and-parks-are-our-common-heritage-an-interview-with-bruce-babbitt/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2020 07:28:51 +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/20/2020/10/21123202/Jacob_Hamblin_Arch_Escalante_Utah_1280-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235833</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Finding Common Ground and Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Green, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, National Parks, Politics, Protected Areas, and public lands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Until recently, protecting the environment was a bipartisan issue for Americans. But in an era marked by bitter divides, this is no longer the case. Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona and Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton Administration, believes that environmental protection can again be a unifying issue for Americans. But to get [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Until recently, protecting the environment was a bipartisan issue for Americans. But in an era marked by bitter divides, this is no longer the case. Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona and Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton Administration, believes that environmental protection can again be a unifying issue for Americans. But to get there, advocates will need to rebuild consensus around issues that have wide support, like public lands and the benefits afforded by a healthy environment, and engage stakeholders who have often been ignored. &#8220;To broaden support for public lands we can begin by reminding all Americans that the public lands, parks, wildlife refuges, rivers, and national forests are our common heritage, a unique historical legacy meant not for private exploitation, but rather for the preservation of open spaces, wildlife habitat and for use and enjoyment of all,&#8221; Babbitt told Mongabay. &#8220;Whatever the outcome of the November election we have a large task to rebuild the national consensus that produced the great environmental laws of the 60s and 70s under both Democrats and Republicans.&#8221; Coal Mine Canyon. Photo © John Fowler Babbitt&#8217;s views are grounded in his long career in public office where he had to consistently navigate political divides: first as a Democratic governor in a traditionally conservative state with a Republican legislature, then as a member of the cabinet in the Clinton Administration when Republicans controlled Congress from 1994 through 2000. He sees the environmental justice movement, public health experts, and farmers as three logical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/public-lands-and-parks-are-our-common-heritage-an-interview-with-bruce-babbitt/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/public-lands-and-parks-are-our-common-heritage-an-interview-with-bruce-babbitt/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235833</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can public lands unify divided Americans? An interview with John Leshy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/can-public-lands-unify-divided-americans-an-interview-with-john-leshy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/can-public-lands-unify-divided-americans-an-interview-with-john-leshy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2020 08:33:27 +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/20/2020/09/12120022/STE_BLM_Grand_Staircase_Escalante_Adam_Haggerty-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234770</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Finding Common Ground and Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Green, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, National Parks, Parks, Politics, Protected Areas, and public lands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It might be hard to believe in the current political climate, but public lands were a unifying issue for Americans until quite recently. Most Americans have supported the idea of the government owning and managing large areas of land for public use, and that bipartisan consensus has culminated in the creation of vast network of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It might be hard to believe in the current political climate, but public lands were a unifying issue for Americans until quite recently. Most Americans have supported the idea of the government owning and managing large areas of land for public use, and that bipartisan consensus has culminated in the creation of vast network of national parks, forests and monuments which are collectively visited by tens of millions of people annually. Does that mean public lands could serve as an opportunity to bridge gaps in a polarized America? John Leshy, an emeritus professor of law at the University of California Hastings and general counsel at the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration, thinks it&#8217;s possible. John Leshy in the Eastern Sierras of California. Photo courtesy of John Leshy. Leshy, who began his career litigating civil rights cases for the U.S. Department of Justice, has spent much of the past five decades working on public lands issues. He&#8217;s co-authored the standard casebook on federal public lands and resources, served as an administrator and advisor on public lands issues for governments and NGOs, written books on the Mining Law of 1872 and the Arizona Constitution, and penned influential thought pieces, including a recent commentary in the New York Times on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In recognition of these achievements, in 2013 Leshy received the Defenders of Wildlife Legacy Award for lifetime contributions to wildlife conservation. Leshy is now working on &#8220;Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/can-public-lands-unify-divided-americans-an-interview-with-john-leshy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234770</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Life among the turtles: Traditional people struggle inside an Amazon reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/life-among-the-turtles-traditional-people-struggle-inside-an-amazon-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/life-among-the-turtles-traditional-people-struggle-inside-an-amazon-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Aug 2020 08:43:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue BranfordThais Borges]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/07115243/7-1210-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Controversial, Environment, Fishing, Freshwater, Green, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Mining, Parks, Pollution, Poverty, public lands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Traditional People, Turtles, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While MRN, a mining firm makes big profits working within, and harming, a Brazilian conservation unit, traditional people can be fined for collecting Brazil nuts and fishing sustainably in a nearby protected area.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is the third in a series reporting on the legacy, current status and likely future of bauxite mining in the Trombetas river basin and Amazon delta. Journalist Sue Branford and filmmaker Thaís Borges journeyed there in February, 2020. Their investigation of aluminum production is especially relevant now, as Brazil’s Bolsonaro administration pushes to open the Amazon’s indigenous reserves and other protected areas to large-scale industrial mining. ORIXIMINÁ, Pará state, Brazil — As the dry season gets underway in July, the water levels in most Amazon basin rivers fall. As river beaches are exposed, millions of river turtles begin creeping ashore in an eons-old ritual to lay their eggs, burying them in sand dunes flooded half the year. Among these far traveling chelonians are the Giant South American turtle (Podocnemis expansa). One of the world’s largest freshwater turtles; it can grow to 90 centimeters (nearly three feet) in length, and weigh up to 65 kilograms (145 pounds). “Amazon turtles cover long distances between the basins of the big rivers in the Amazon basin. They migrate in groups and, guided by the adult females, they tend to follow the same route each year between the feeding areas and the spawning areas,” biologist Virginia Bernardes of the Institute of Ecological Research (IPÊ) told Mongabay. One place they particularly thrive, and a prime spawning spot, is found on the flat dunes along the Trombetas River. Many mating turtles head for Erepecu, an immense lagoon that opens along the left-hand river bank. Between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/life-among-the-turtles-traditional-people-struggle-inside-an-amazon-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Our life is plasticized’: New research shows microplastics in our food, water, air</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/our-life-is-plasticized-new-research-shows-microplastics-in-our-food-water-air/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/our-life-is-plasticized-new-research-shows-microplastics-in-our-food-water-air/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2020 04:38:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/14053427/26356574503_1b0b886e88_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232442</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Citizen Science, Ecosystems, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Marine, Microplastics, Oceans, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, public lands, Research, Science, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1997, Charles Moore was sailing a catamaran from Hawaii to California when he and his crew got stuck in windless waters in the North Pacific Ocean. As they motored along, searching for a breeze to fill their sails, Moore noticed that the ocean was speckled with “odd bits and flakes,” as he describes it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1997, Charles Moore was sailing a catamaran from Hawaii to California when he and his crew got stuck in windless waters in the North Pacific Ocean. As they motored along, searching for a breeze to fill their sails, Moore noticed that the ocean was speckled with “odd bits and flakes,” as he describes it in his book, Plastic Ocean. It was plastic: drinking bottles, fishing nets, and countless pieces of broken-down objects. “It wasn&#8217;t an eureka moment &#8230; I didn&#8217;t come across a mountain of trash,” Moore told Mongabay. “But there was this feeling of unease that this material had got [as] far from human civilization as it possibly could.” Captain Charles Moore looking at a piece of floating plastic in the ocean. Image by Algalita Marine Research and Education. Moore, credited as the person who discovered what’s now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, returned to the same spot two years later on a citizen science mission. When he and his crew collected water samples, they found that, along with larger “macroplastics,” the seawater was swirling with tiny plastic particles: microplastics, which are defined as anything smaller than 5 millimeters but bigger than 1 micron, which is 1/1000th of a millimeter. Microplastics can form when larger pieces of plastics break down into small particles, or when tiny, microscopic fibers detach from polyester clothing or synthetic fishing gear. Other microplastics are deliberately manufactured, such as the tiny plastic beads in exfoliating cleaners. “That&#8217;s when we really had the eureka&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/our-life-is-plasticized-new-research-shows-microplastics-in-our-food-water-air/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232442</doi>				</item>
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