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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/murdered-activists/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2026 06:48:46 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Murdered Activists</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/murdered-activists/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>&#8216;Stringing me along&#8217;: After 7 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing delayed again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/stringing-me-along-after-7-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-delayed-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/stringing-me-along-after-7-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-delayed-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2026 15:41:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/11/06154106/Paulo-2_Screenshot-2026-11-06-123923-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=335132</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Murdered Activists, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Why hasn&#8217;t the trial for the 2019 killing of forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Láercio Guajajara, in the Brazilian Amazon, taken place yet? &#8220;[T]here are no available slots on the court’s hearing calendar,&#8221; the advisory staff to the judge in the case told Mongabay in an emailed statement, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Why hasn&#8217;t the trial for the 2019 killing of forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Láercio Guajajara, in the Brazilian Amazon, taken place yet? &#8220;[T]here are no available slots on the court’s hearing calendar,&#8221; the advisory staff to the judge in the case told Mongabay in an emailed statement, one year after claiming lack of time for it to be held in 2025, sparking outrage among Guajajara Indigenous, activists and authorities. &#8220;They’re just stringing me along. Because if they actually intended to resolve this, they would have done it by now,&#8221; Paulo Guajajara’s father, José Maria Paulino Guajajara, told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;This is taking way too long — it’s been seven years already! That’s exactly why I’m here, feeling pretty fed up, to say the least.&#8221; &#8220;It’s as if we aren’t seen as human beings, right? When someone kills an Indigenous person, it’s as if it’s nothing at all — just the same as killing any animal,&#8221; Laércio Guajajara told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;We have a lot of negative thoughts about the justice system regarding this case.&#8221; On Nov. 1, 2019, Paulo Guajajara and Laércio Guajajara were fired upon in an alleged ambush by illegal loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in northeastern Maranhão state. In August 2025, a long-awaited anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes was concluded and attached to the court case, bringing hope to the Guajajara people, activists and the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/stringing-me-along-after-7-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-delayed-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/stringing-me-along-after-7-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-delayed-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-335132</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mona Khalil, who left safety in Europe to protect sea turtles in Lebanon, was killed by an Israeli airstrike</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mona-khalil-left-safety-in-europe-to-protect-sea-turtles-in-southern-lebanon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mona-khalil-left-safety-in-europe-to-protect-sea-turtles-in-southern-lebanon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2026 07:59:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/21074513/Mona-Khalil-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321527</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Lebanon and Middle East]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Herps, In-situ Conservation, Murdered Activists, Obituary, Reptiles, and Sea Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At night on Mansouri beach, the first evidence was often a track in the sand. The beach lies south of Tyre, near the border with Israel, where checkpoints, shelling, and evacuation orders have long shaped daily life. It is also one of Lebanon’s important nesting grounds for loggerhead and green sea turtles. The turtles come [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At night on Mansouri beach, the first evidence was often a track in the sand. The beach lies south of Tyre, near the border with Israel, where checkpoints, shelling, and evacuation orders have long shaped daily life. It is also one of Lebanon’s important nesting grounds for loggerhead and green sea turtles. The turtles come ashore after dark. They dig, lay, cover, and return to the water. For the hatchlings, the distance from nest to sea is only a few yards. It is still dangerous. Dogs and foxes dig up eggs. Crabs and birds take the young. Lights from roads and resorts pull them away from the water. Plastic drifts offshore. Fishing nets catch adults that have survived for decades. Even a footprint can trap a turtle no bigger than a child’s palm. Mona Khalil gave much of her life to that narrow strip of beach. She was 76 when she died on June 19 from wounds sustained after an Israeli airstrike struck her home at Mansouri beach earlier that month. Her assistant was also injured, suffering severe burns. The house, known to visitors and volunteers as the Orange House, had been the base of her conservation work for more than 25 years. Mona Khalil in 2004 in Lebanon. Photo by Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images She had not set out to become a conservationist. Born in Lagos to Lebanese parents, she later left Lebanon during the civil war. In the Netherlands she worked as a porcelain restorer, a trade that required&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mona-khalil-left-safety-in-europe-to-protect-sea-turtles-in-southern-lebanon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/mona-khalil-left-safety-in-europe-to-protect-sea-turtles-in-southern-lebanon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321527</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous territories, aged 44</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2026 21:46:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/20214228/Jose-Albino-Canas-Ramirez-636721909_26491799580412673_5408253252520863944_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314593</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Murdered Activists, Nonviolence, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the landscape where he lived. He was shot at his home in the community of Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, on the evening of February 16. Two men came to the shop he ran from his house, opened fire, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the landscape where he lived. He was shot at his home in the community of Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, on the evening of February 16. Two men came to the shop he ran from his house, opened fire, and fled along the footpaths that lace the Indigenous reserve. He was 44. His killing was treated not merely as a private tragedy, but as a public matter of governance. Cañas Ramírez was a cabildante—a member of the governing council—of the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory of more than 23,000 people spread across dozens of communities. His death, leaders said, struck at the very structure of Indigenous self-government. The community of Portachuelo, where Cañas Ramírez lived, lies at the base of a sacred hill called Carbunco. Photo by Héctor Jaime Vinasco, member of the Governing Council of the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Reserve of Colonial Origin. The Emberá Chamí, whose name means “people of the mountains,” inhabit the central and western Andes. Their lands are biodiverse, steep, and contested. For decades, they have lived at the intersection of armed conflict and extractive ambition. Guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, criminal networks, miners, and state interests have all sought to control territory that the Emberá consider ancestral. The result has been what activists call a form of “double victimization”: pressure from illegal armed actors on one side, and development projects and resource exploitation on the other.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314593</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental defenders &#038; conservationists who died in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 02:14:45 +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/20/2025/12/21212401/obituaries-2025-2560px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311798</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Welfare, Conservation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Murdered Activists, Violence, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are accurate, but incomplete. What unites them is not a profession so much as a posture: they stood between something living and the forces wearing it down. They did so for decades, usually without much recognition and often at personal cost. Some of the names will be widely recognized. Others will mean little to most readers. That imbalance is part of the point. Public memory tends to favor visibility over impact, and charisma over endurance. Yet many of the most consequential figures in environmental protection work far from cameras and conferences. They negotiate land boundaries, calm conflicts, train rangers, translate science, or stay when leaving would be easier. Their influence is cumulative, and it rarely lends itself to headlines. Writing about death has a clarifying effect. Obituaries strip away what is temporary. What remains is a record of choices. Again and again, the lives I wrote about this year followed a similar arc: an encounter with a place or species, a long commitment to its survival, and years of persistence within systems that were often indifferent or hostile. Success, where it came, was partial. Failure was common. Quitting was always an option, and usually declined. These&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311798</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 12:36:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Weekes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11115322/Sukumani2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309267</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Coal, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Industry, Just Transition, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Pollution, Protests, Renewable Energy, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the coal towns of northern KwaZulu-Natal, the promise of South Africa’s “just transition” feels like a distant dream. While government plans speak of a fair shift to clean energy and justice for those harmed by coal, in places like Dannhauser and Mtubatuba, families are still choking on coal dust, activists say they’re being threatened [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the coal towns of northern KwaZulu-Natal, the promise of South Africa’s “just transition” feels like a distant dream. While government plans speak of a fair shift to clean energy and justice for those harmed by coal, in places like Dannhauser and Mtubatuba, families are still choking on coal dust, activists say they’re being threatened for speaking out, and new mining applications keep arriving. Communities say the country’s transition is happening everywhere except where coal is dug from the earth. In a country where 74% of the electricity is made from burning coal, the transition to renewable energy has created a fraught environment where workers who rely on coal jobs are pitted against community members whose health and livelihoods have been damaged by coal dust, blasting and water contamination from mines and power stations. People living near the Tendele mine in KwaZulu-Natal say dust from the mine coats everything in their homes. Image by Victoria Schneider for Mongabay. In 2022, the South African government defined a just transition as one that would simultaneously address health impacts and local environmental harm caused by coal mining and generation, and the job losses and economic disruption that shutting down a vital industry would cause, with particular attention to how poor communities, women, youth and people with disabilities might be affected. The framework explained how communities affected by mining were to benefit from compensation for health and land damage, and how both workers and residents would be involved in planning and decision-making. In 2024,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After 6 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing pushed to 2026</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/after-6-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-pushed-to-2026/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/after-6-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-pushed-to-2026/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2025 16:37:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/07142318/20251106-Paulo-Paulino-Guajajara-Collage-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309071</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Blood Timber]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Murdered Activists, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Six years after the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon, the trial of the two suspects charged in the crimes still will not take place this year, triggering outrage among the Guajajara people and Indigenous rights advocates. &#8220;I am concerned [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Six years after the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon, the trial of the two suspects charged in the crimes still will not take place this year, triggering outrage among the Guajajara people and Indigenous rights advocates. &#8220;I am concerned because this trial never happened. … The criminals who killed my son were never convicted, they were never arrested,&#8221; Paulo Guajajara&#8217;s father, José Maria Paulino Guajajara, told Mongabay by phone. He said he is very frustrated because the trial should have happened a long time ago. &#8220;This year will pass again. Then next year will; they keep fooling me — are these authorities just fooling us?&#8221; On Nov. 1, 2019, Paulo Guajajara and Laércio Guajajara were attacked in an alleged ambush by illegal loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in northeastern Maranhão state. A long-awaited anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes was concluded and attached to the court case in August. But the trial is very likely to only happen in early 2026, &#8220;given that there is not enough time for it to be held by the end of this year,&#8221; the advisory staff to the judge in the case told Mongabay in an emailed statement. &#8220;Until now, I never believed that the trial of the defendants would happen. With each passing day, I become more disappointed with Brazilian laws, especially with crimes against the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/after-6-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-pushed-to-2026/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/after-6-years-trial-in-indigenous-forest-guardian-killing-pushed-to-2026/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309071</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru court upholds 28 years in prison for loggers in Indigenous murders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/peru-court-upholds-28-years-in-prison-for-loggers-in-indigenous-murders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/peru-court-upholds-28-years-in-prison-for-loggers-in-indigenous-murders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Sep 2025 19:59:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Geraldine Santos]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/22162208/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-26-at-3.43.08-AM-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306379</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, Murdered Activists, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After 11 years, the Alto Tamaya Saweto community has finally received confirmation of convictions in the 2014 murders of Indigenous Ashéninka leaders Edwin Chota, Jorge Ríos, Leoncio Quintanísima and Francisco Pinedo. The killings occurred along the Peru-Brazil border, where the leaders had been actively campaigning against illegal logging in their territory since 2008. On Aug. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[After 11 years, the Alto Tamaya Saweto community has finally received confirmation of convictions in the 2014 murders of Indigenous Ashéninka leaders Edwin Chota, Jorge Ríos, Leoncio Quintanísima and Francisco Pinedo. The killings occurred along the Peru-Brazil border, where the leaders had been actively campaigning against illegal logging in their territory since 2008. On Aug. 25, the appeals chamber of the Superior Court of Ucayali, the department where the killings occurred, ratified the ruling of the first trial, which sentenced timber contractors José Estrada and Hugo Soria, as well as two timber workers, brothers Josimar and Segundo Atachi, to 28 years and three months of prison. “This is a historic ruling for Peru because it’s the first time the judiciary has recognized the work of Indigenous peoples in the defense of human rights and their relationship with nature,” Maritza Quispe, a constitutional lawyer of the Legal Defense Institute (IDL), told Mongabay Latam. Edwin Chota had led the committee of Ashéninka leaders who were going to Brazil to organize the defense of the Saweto forest. He was killed during the journey. Image courtesy of Anouk García. The loggers did not attend the sentencing hearing, which lasted approximately eight hours; therefore, the judiciary issued an immediate arrest warrant. “We ask the police to arrest those sentenced. If they are not in prison, there is no justice,” said Ergilia Rengifo, Ríos’ widow, after learning of the decision of the bench composed of senior judges Robin Barreda, Jonatan Basagoitia, and Marco Santa Cruz. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/peru-court-upholds-28-years-in-prison-for-loggers-in-indigenous-murders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/peru-court-upholds-28-years-in-prison-for-loggers-in-indigenous-murders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306379</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death of activist critical of geothermal project raises alarm in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 11:51:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/28171554/9682828898_68bd00a76c_h-e1667320220111-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Nusa Tenggara, Flores, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Alternative Energy, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Energy, Environment, Geothermal Energy, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Murdered Activists, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The mysterious death of Vian Ruma, a 30-year-old activist opposing a geothermal project on Flores Island, has intensified calls for stronger protection of environmental defenders in Indonesia, where attacks against them have more than doubled this year. Vian was found dead in Nagekeo district on Sept. 5, hanging from a rafter inside a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The mysterious death of Vian Ruma, a 30-year-old activist opposing a geothermal project on Flores Island, has intensified calls for stronger protection of environmental defenders in Indonesia, where attacks against them have more than doubled this year. Vian was found dead in Nagekeo district on Sept. 5, hanging from a rafter inside a bamboo hut. His family allege foul play, noting that his body was reportedly hanging from a shoelace, and his feet were in contact with the floor. They say this undermines the notion that he died from hanging. Eda Tukan, a close friend, said Vian was one of the local youths courageous enough to fight against the geothermal project on Flores Island. The project has been widely opposed, including by the local Catholic archdiocese. “This week we had planned another action to continue voicing opposition to the geothermal project. Vian was one of the driving forces,” Eda said as quoted by Indonesian daily Kompas. “Sadly, he is no longer with us.” The Nagekeo district police chief, Rachmad Muchamad Salili, said police are currently investigating the cause of Vian Ruma’s death. “We are still conducting a deeper investigation, we still cannot confirm [the cause of death],” he said as quoted by local news outlet. The government designated Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, a “geothermal island” in 2017, with the potential to generate nearly 1,000 megawatts of clean electricity thanks to the high level of seismic activity in the region. But communities have resisted the developments, citing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Borneo killing linked to coal industry stays unsolved as Indonesia VP visits Dayak village</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2025 02:22:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhibar Sobary Ardan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/12110946/2dfdddc1-3bd4-4e37-bd5c-61c8a2a444c6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Coal, Conflict, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MUARA KATE, Indonesia — More than eight months after the bloody killing of an Indigenous elder in eastern Borneo, police in Indonesia have yet to name a suspect, while community leaders in the country’s coal heartland continue to demand justice. “Our concern is that the problem hasn’t been resolved,” Yusuf, a community leader, told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MUARA KATE, Indonesia — More than eight months after the bloody killing of an Indigenous elder in eastern Borneo, police in Indonesia have yet to name a suspect, while community leaders in the country’s coal heartland continue to demand justice. “Our concern is that the problem hasn’t been resolved,” Yusuf, a community leader, told Mongabay in the hamlet of Muara Kate, in East Kalimantan province, following a visit by Indonesia’s vice president in June. Dayak elder Khahirnawati and Yusuf, her husband, explained the troubling chronology to Gibran Rakabuming Raka as Indonesia’s vice president sat cross-legged on the veranda of their home during the visit on June 14. Tensions in the community are running high because of the heavy coal trucks passing through from a nearby mine. In October last year, a coal truck failed to power its way up Mount Merangit, a short walk from the home of Khahirnawati and Yusuf. The truck stalled, rolled backward, and crushed a young motorcyclist behind it. The victim, named Veronika, was a trainee pastor with the Protestant Church of Western Indonesia (GPIB in Indonesian). She died at the scene. She had ordained in the church less than a year earlier. Yusuf recalled that none of the dozens of other coal trucks in the convoy had stopped at the scene. Instead, they drove past Veronika’s body, inflaming tensions further with the population in Muara Kate. Prosecutors in Paser district have filed criminal charges against the coal hauler. However, the local community took matters further&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We can’t talk solutions without understanding complexities: Kari Guajajara on Brazil’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 16:39:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12162154/53316205106_9e7a3d989b_k-e1747067057880-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cattle, Deforestation, Forests, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Rainforests, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the last of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country&#8217;s Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon here and Colombian Amazon here. NEW YORK CITY — In the bustling concrete jungle of New York City, representatives from the Amazon rainforest arrived at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the last of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country&#8217;s Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon here and Colombian Amazon here. NEW YORK CITY — In the bustling concrete jungle of New York City, representatives from the Amazon rainforest arrived at the 2025 U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, one of the world&#8217;s largest gatherings of Indigenous peoples, to spotlight issues they face in their countries. Among them was Kari Guajajara, a lawyer and the first Indigenous person to obtain a law degree in Brazil’s state of Maranhão. She spoke with Mongabay about her views on some of the latest and biggest events affecting Indigenous communities and forests in Brazilian Amazon, as well as the solutions she believes are needed. Our conversation touched on the ongoing operation to evict illegal miners in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in the state of Pará and illegal cattle ranching that may be tied to the killings of Indigenous land defenders. We also discussed the influence of the country’s agribusiness lobby in policies and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s drop in popularity. Most of the Amazon is held within Brazil’s borders and the three states with the biggest share of the rainforest — also home to many isolated Indigenous peoples — lost about 23 million hectares (56 million acres) of primary forest since 2001. “The state often tries to tackle the protection of Indigenous territories from a single vision, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon&#8217;s Arariboia territory</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mongabay-investigation-spurs-brazil-crackdown-on-illegal-cattle-in-amazons-arariboia-territory/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mongabay-investigation-spurs-brazil-crackdown-on-illegal-cattle-in-amazons-arariboia-territory/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2025 14:23:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/15143218/paulo-poster-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297480</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Blood Timber]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Justice, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay investigation that revealed an illegal cattle boom amid a record-high number of killings of Indigenous Guajajara has been cited by Brazilian authorities to remove thousands of head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay investigation that revealed an illegal cattle boom amid a record-high number of killings of Indigenous Guajajara has been cited by Brazilian authorities to remove thousands of head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest. “Your report is very similar to what we’re actually finding in the field. It showed an accurate reality and this helped us a lot in practical terms,” Marcos Kaingang, national secretary for Indigenous territorial rights at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, told Mongabay in a video interview. In June 2024, Mongabay published a yearlong investigation, with funding and editorial support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network, revealing that large portions of the Arariboia territory, in northeastern Maranhão state, had been taken over by commercial cattle ranching, in violation of the Constitution. “There was a large presence of cattle that shouldn’t be on the Indigenous land, thousands of head of cattle,” Kaingang said. The investigation also revealed details that authorities said they hadn’t been aware of, including the physical alteration of Arariboia’s boundaries by moving border markers. “It was a topic that I would say had gone a bit unnoticed,” Kaingang said, adding he only found out about this through the investigation. “I remember you mentioned it in one of our conversations and this also came up in the publication of your report,” he told this reporter. “We brought it up as an important point in our discussions and we verified that the milestones had in fact been changed.” Launched&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mongabay-investigation-spurs-brazil-crackdown-on-illegal-cattle-in-amazons-arariboia-territory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/mongabay-investigation-spurs-brazil-crackdown-on-illegal-cattle-in-amazons-arariboia-territory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297480</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Five years and no justice’ as trial over Indigenous forest guardian’s killing faces delays</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/five-years-and-no-justice-as-trial-over-indigenous-forest-guardians-killing-faces-delays/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/five-years-and-no-justice-as-trial-over-indigenous-forest-guardians-killing-faces-delays/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2024 10:40:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/12172225/Guardians-tribute-to-Paulo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290012</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Blood Timber]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nov. 1 marked the five-year anniversary of the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in an alleged ambush by loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon; the suspects haven’t been tried yet.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“They’re free and I’m still here. They might be planning to execute me too. I’m very worried about that,” says Indigenous leader Laércio Guajajara, a survivor of an alleged ambush by illegal loggers that killed fellow forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara in November 2019 in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, in the Brazilian Amazon. Laércio says he’s outraged about the delay to put on trial the two suspects charged over the incident that occurred half a decade ago, on Nov. 1, 2019. “I never believed that justice would help us in terms of territorial self-protection and the life of human beings,” he tells Mongabay in an audio message. “And today [it’s confirming] that there’s no justice for Indigenous peoples. It’s been five years and no justice has been made.” Like Laércio, Paulo was a member of the “Guardians of the Forest,” a group of Indigenous Guajajara in Arariboia who risk their lives to protect their ancestral land against illegal logging, hunting and other environmental crimes. The group, formed a decade ago, also protects the Awá people, hunter-gatherers who live in voluntary isolation in the depths of Arariboia’s forests and are considered the most threatened Indigenous group on the planet. Between 1991 and 2023, 81 Indigenous Guajajara were killed in northeastern Maranhão state, more than two-thirds of total killings of Indigenous people in the entire state. Almost half of these killings, 38, happened in the Arariboia territory, according to data from the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI), an advocacy group affiliated with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/five-years-and-no-justice-as-trial-over-indigenous-forest-guardians-killing-faces-delays/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/five-years-and-no-justice-as-trial-over-indigenous-forest-guardians-killing-faces-delays/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290012</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The underreported killing of Colombia’s Indigenous land guardian, ‘The Wolf’ (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-underreported-killing-of-colombias-indigenous-land-guardian-the-wolf-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-underreported-killing-of-colombias-indigenous-land-guardian-the-wolf-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2024 16:27:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna AbrahamCesar QuirozTony Kirby]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/06162247/3-His-fellow-guardians-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289737</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Media, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ, Colombia — While music played in Bogotá&#8217;s streets and a sense of victory filled the air after a long protest, Ana Graciela received a new appointment on her calendar: the funeral of Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo. Nicknamed Lobo (meaning “wolf” in Spanish), the esteemed Indigenous guardian and educational coordinator was killed Aug. 29, while his [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ, Colombia — While music played in Bogotá&#8217;s streets and a sense of victory filled the air after a long protest, Ana Graciela received a new appointment on her calendar: the funeral of Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo. Nicknamed Lobo (meaning “wolf” in Spanish), the esteemed Indigenous guardian and educational coordinator was killed Aug. 29, while his fellow guardians, the Kiwe Thegnas (or Indigenous Guard of Cauca) were protesting for better security in Cauca, Colombia. The region has increasingly become dangerous with incursions by illegal armed groups. “The situation is tough. Women and children are being killed [almost] every day,” said Ana Graciela Tombé, coordinator of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca. The Bogotá protest gathered more than 4,000 people, in what is known as a minga in the Andean tradition, against escalating violence in the region. After eight days, on Aug. 28, the Indigenous communities succeeded in getting President Gustavo Petro to sign a new decree, the Economic and Environmental Territorial Authority, which grants Indigenous territories greater autonomy to take judicial action against violence within their lands. But the sentiment is bittersweet for the Indigenous Nasa and Misak activists in Ana’s homeland of Cauca, particularly in Pueblo Nuevo, a nationally recognized Indigenous territory (resguardo). They’ve lost a dear leader and role model, impassioned with protecting their ancestral territory, forests and youth from illegal armed groups. Labeled the deadliest country for environmental defenders in 2023, Carlos, 30, was the 115th social leader killed in Colombia this year, according to the Development and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-underreported-killing-of-colombias-indigenous-land-guardian-the-wolf-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-underreported-killing-of-colombias-indigenous-land-guardian-the-wolf-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289737</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report links killings to environmental crimes in Peru’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/report-links-killings-to-environmental-crimes-in-perus-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/report-links-killings-to-environmental-crimes-in-perus-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2024 14:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/12113216/people-boat-peru-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287329</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ten years ago, four Indigenous Asháninka environmental defenders were murdered in the forests near their community of Saweto in Peru’s Amazon Ucayali region. In 2023, a court in Pucallpa found three loggers guilty of aggravated homicide against the leaders, sentencing them to 28 years and three months in prison. However, this case has since been [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ten years ago, four Indigenous Asháninka environmental defenders were murdered in the forests near their community of Saweto in Peru’s Amazon Ucayali region. In 2023, a court in Pucallpa found three loggers guilty of aggravated homicide against the leaders, sentencing them to 28 years and three months in prison. However, this case has since been appealed. Today, members of the Asháninka community say they continue to fear for their lives. “The problem is still there,” said the wife of one of the four leaders, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons. “I am in trouble and so is the community. For the loggers, this work is not finished. They keep cutting down the trees in the village, and they say if you come to bother us, you will be killed.” According to a new report by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), the estimated 29 environmental defenders killed in the Peruvian Amazon between 2010 and 2022 may be connected to environment-related crimes, such as illegal mining, logging and coca cultivation. This is because many of the killings disproportionately occurred in geographic clusters that coincide with these activities. This violence has increased in recent years with almost half of the killings occurring since 2020. The wife of one of the Indigenous leaders killed in 2014 told Mongabay that she had to leave the community to seek safety in a nearby city. This has been a huge challenge, as she previously relied on the forest to sustain herself and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/report-links-killings-to-environmental-crimes-in-perus-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-287329</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Revealed: Illegal cattle ranching booms in Arariboia territory during deadly year for Indigenous Guajajara</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/revealed-illegal-cattle-boom-in-arariboia-territory-in-deadliest-year-for-indigenous-guajajara/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/revealed-illegal-cattle-boom-in-arariboia-territory-in-deadliest-year-for-indigenous-guajajara/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2024 21:14:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/12110119/2024_54_Brazil_Aririboa-04_June17_Banner_Alternative_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283346</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Blood Timber]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Justice, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A year-long Mongabay investigation tracked several dozen illegal or suspicious activities in and around Araroibia in the last few years, including logging, deforestation and cattle ranching, and found a clear rise in environmental crimes in the region in mid-2023, the deadliest year for Indigenous people in Arariboia since 2016.
]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This investigation won the 2025 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism and was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. ARARIBOIA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Cattle are being illegally raised in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon, amid a record-high number of killings of the region’s Indigenous Guajajara inhabitants, a yearlong Mongabay investigation can reveal. Commercial cattle ranching is banned on Indigenous territories in Brazil, but our investigation found that large plots in Arariboia&#8217;s southwestern region have been used for ranching. Mongabay visited Arariboia in late 2023, where we witnessed cattle being raised on Indigenous land. We then analyzed satellite images, conducted spatial analysis to investigate the ranches, and built a database of land leases, reports of illegal cattle ranching and logging, and incidents of violence against Indigenous people in the area. Our investigation found a clear rise in environmental crimes in the region in mid-2023, the deadliest year for Indigenous people in Arariboia since 2016. With four Guajajara people killed and three others surviving attempts on their lives, last year equaled the number of killings in 2007, 2008 and 2016, when four Guajajara Indigenous from Arariboia were also killed, the highest number since the first killing in Arariboia was recorded in 1992. The spike in killings runs contrary to the overall data for Brazil, which recorded in 2023 its lowest number of murders since 2010, according to government data. Maranhão, the state where the Arariboia territory is located,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/revealed-illegal-cattle-boom-in-arariboia-territory-in-deadliest-year-for-indigenous-guajajara/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/revealed-illegal-cattle-boom-in-arariboia-territory-in-deadliest-year-for-indigenous-guajajara/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/18173414/river-video.mp4" length="3721705" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283346</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay video screening at Chile&#8217;s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/mongabay-video-screening-at-chiles-supreme-court-expected-to-help-landmark-verdict-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/mongabay-video-screening-at-chiles-supreme-court-expected-to-help-landmark-verdict-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2024 16:38:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/31110147/paulo-guajajara-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282778</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Blood Timber, Endangered Environmentalists, and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Regulations, Social Justice, Videos, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SANTIAGO — The recent screening of a Mongabay video before Chile’s Supreme Court has intensified international scrutiny of the killing of 26-year-old Indigenous leader Paulo Paulino Guajajara in Brazil 2019 — a case for which no one has yet gone on trial in Brazil.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. SANTIAGO — The screening of a Mongabay video at Chile&#8217;s Supreme Court this month is expected to help prosecutors in a landmark case against impunity against the killings of Indigenous people in Brazil. The video centers on the killing of 26-year-old Indigenous leader Paulo Paulino Guajajara in an alleged ambush by illegal loggers in the Brazilian Amazon. Four and a half years since the incident, the case still hasn’t gone to trial in Brazil, even as clamors for justice continue to get louder. In Chile, the video was in the spotlight as a key case for the workshop &#8220;Environmental crisis: The role of the judicial system to ensure safety of the critical voice&#8221; at the Supreme Court on May 2 as part of UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day Conference in Santiago. Paulo was a member of the “Guardians of the Forest,” a group of Indigenous Guajajara in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory who risk their lives protecting their ancestral land against illegal logging, hunting and other environmental crimes amid the lack of government enforcement in the region. In the past 20 years, 53 Guajajara individuals have been killed in Maranhão state, with none of the perpetrators ever being tried, according to the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI), an advocacy group affiliated with the Catholic Church. Of this total, 24 were killed in the Arariboia territory, according to data from CIMI; six were guardians like Paulo,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/mongabay-video-screening-at-chiles-supreme-court-expected-to-help-landmark-verdict-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/mongabay-video-screening-at-chiles-supreme-court-expected-to-help-landmark-verdict-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282778</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental defenders paid the price during Panama’s historic mining protests &#8211; report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/environmental-defenders-paid-the-price-during-panamas-historic-mining-protests-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/environmental-defenders-paid-the-price-during-panamas-historic-mining-protests-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2024 21:40:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/14212338/015-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282094</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Conservation, Copper, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Freshwater, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Pollution, Rainforests, Social Justice, Threats To Rainforests, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Panama is still trying to understand the extent of the violence that took place during the massive, nationwide protests last year. Groups from all corners of the country, from teacher unions to hospital workers to Indigenous communities, were targeted by law enforcement while speaking out against pollution, deforestation and water shortages allegedly caused by the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Panama is still trying to understand the extent of the violence that took place during the massive, nationwide protests last year. Groups from all corners of the country, from teacher unions to hospital workers to Indigenous communities, were targeted by law enforcement while speaking out against pollution, deforestation and water shortages allegedly caused by the Cobre Panamá copper mine. The Supreme Court eventually ruled Minera Panamá’s contract as unconstitutional, forcing the operation to close. But not before countless protesters were injured, lost their eyesight or were arrested on questionable grounds, according to a new report on the violence. “The Panamanian people have repeatedly and firmly said that they do not approve of metallic mining because of the negative impacts on biodiversity and for the quality of water for hundreds of communities,” said Damaris Sanchez Samudio of FUNDICCEP, one of the organizations that commissioned the report. “We denounce and reject all forms of aggression against environmental defenders who are protecting life, forests, rivers, coasts and mangroves.” Panama’s Ombudsman office estimated that more than 100 people were injured during the protests. But the report — which was also supported by Earthworks, MiningWatch Canada and Panama is Worth More Without Mining — said that that number is likely much higher. Injuries included burns and respiratory distress from tear gas as well as partial or total vision loss from pellets and “pepper balls” fired by law enforcement. Two of the victims with vision loss were minors, according to the Ombudsman office. Two protesters were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/environmental-defenders-paid-the-price-during-panamas-historic-mining-protests-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282094</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Grassroots efforts and an Emmy-winning film help Indigenous fight in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/grassroot-efforts-and-an-emmy-winning-film-help-indigenous-fight-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/grassroot-efforts-and-an-emmy-winning-film-help-indigenous-fight-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2024 14:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/27123852/10-Ari-Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278125</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Crime, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Law, Film, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Murdered Activists, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The 2022 documentary “The Territory” won an Emmy award this January, shining a light on the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous people and the invasions, conflicts and threats from land grabbers in their territory in the Brazilian Amazon from 2018 to 2021.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Indigenous peoples have come under systemic attacks for five centuries, a crisis that worsened from 2019 to 2022 under the government of Jair Bolsonaro. These hostilities were encapsulated in the Emmy-winning documentary The Territory (O Território), which unveiled the challenges one Indigenous land and its population faced from land grabbers from 2018 to 2021. The film, which won the award for “exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking” this January, documents an Indigenous group’s fight against conflicts and threats from invaders in the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Territory, an area covering more than 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of the Amazon Rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. The territory is home to nine Indigenous groups, including the Jupaú (also known as the Uru-eu-wau-wau), the Oro Win, the Amondawa, and the Cabixi, as well as five communities that have not had contact with non-Indigenous people. Today, the situation in the region has improved, experts say, adding that although threats still exist, the territory has become safer and deforestation has dropped thanks to increasing visibility, local action, and a change in the federal government. The security improvements in the territory are the result of relentless grassroots efforts to defend the land and bring visibility to the issues playing out there. The film helped amplify these efforts before an international audience, bringing attention not just to the Uru-eu-wau-wau land but to Indigenous territories in general across Brazil. “The Territory” (“O Território”) won the Emmy for “exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking” in January. From left:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/grassroot-efforts-and-an-emmy-winning-film-help-indigenous-fight-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/grassroot-efforts-and-an-emmy-winning-film-help-indigenous-fight-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278125</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shrinking civil space and persistent logging: 2023 in review in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2023 14:40:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn CowanGerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/12064247/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-3-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277151</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Law, Logging, Military, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Surveillance, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Violence, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species and millions of people depend. There have been both losses and gains for the environment and conservation across the region in 2023. The year was marked by ever-increasing repression against environmental activists, unabated logging pressure even within protected areas, and regional haze crises generated by El Niño-driven forest fires and agricultural burning. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts are coming to the forefront of conservation planning at local, national and regional scales, and mechanisms to make farming practices more sustainable, efficient and profitable are being widely explored throughout the region. Here’s a closer look at some of the conservation trends and developments across Southeast Asia that Mongabay covered during 2023. Repression ramps up across the region Southeast Asia has never been an easy place for activists, but a worrying trend emerged over the course of 2023 that saw environmental and Indigenous activists increasingly placed in the crosshairs of authoritarian governments as a result of their activism. In Cambodia, the transition of power from former prime minister Hun Sen to his eldest son, Hun Manet, has done little to open up the rapidly shrinking civil space. The ongoing crackdown on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘The police are watching’: In Mekong countries, eco defenders face rising risks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2023 18:14:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hướng Thiện]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/06114122/Greater-Mekong-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276749</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Mekong Forest Trade and Mekong Illegal Logging]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Journalism, Law, Logging, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Surveillance, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While attending a recent United Nations forum, Toto, a Lao environmental activist, had an opportunity to meet with a U.N. special rapporteur in person. In the end, he decided not to do so. &#8220;It would be great to meet him, but it would be dangerous for me,&#8221; says Toto, who like all Mekong-based activists interviewed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While attending a recent United Nations forum, Toto, a Lao environmental activist, had an opportunity to meet with a U.N. special rapporteur in person. In the end, he decided not to do so. &#8220;It would be great to meet him, but it would be dangerous for me,&#8221; says Toto, who like all Mekong-based activists interviewed for this story asked for a pseudonym to avoid government reprisals. “I was afraid meeting him would make it even harder to do what I am doing now,&#8221; Toto says. Souk, another Lao environmental activist, found herself in the same boat as Toto: They were both scared when they were asked to introduce themselves while participating in various activities at the U.N. forum. “Being seen as attending human rights events would put us at risk,” Souk says. On paper, U.N. protocols protect participants in U.N. human rights forums from reprisals, but this doesn’t necessarily provide activists with solace. Their concerns stem from harsh realities. In May, a well-known young Lao activist, Anousa Luangsuphom, was shot in the face and chest, sending shockwaves to the public at home and abroad. “We all know that our government is involved in it,&#8221; Toto says. Security concerns Across the Lower Mekong countries, the voices of civil society actors have been progressively more curtailed and controlled. Activists, journalists, environmental lawyers and others who raise attention for environmental issues tell Mongabay they feel threatened by increasingly authoritarian governments. In Laos, Toto and Souk have been struggling to strike a balance between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/the-police-are-watching-in-mekong-countries-eco-defenders-face-rising-risks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Safety of Peru’s land defenders in question after killing of Indigenous leader in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/safety-of-perus-land-defenders-in-question-after-killing-of-indigenous-leader-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/safety-of-perus-land-defenders-in-question-after-killing-of-indigenous-leader-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Dec 2023 16:19:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Geraldine SantosGloria Alvitres]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/07160237/Foto1_Asesinato-lider-indigena-Quinto-Inuma-foto-personal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276407</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Kichwa leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, president the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu community, was murdered last Wednesday, November 29, in the San Martín region of the Peruvian Amazon. The crime took place around five p.m. when the activist was traveling with several relatives on the Yanayacu River. When his boat hit a tree and got stuck, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Kichwa leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, president the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu community, was murdered last Wednesday, November 29, in the San Martín region of the Peruvian Amazon. The crime took place around five p.m. when the activist was traveling with several relatives on the Yanayacu River. When his boat hit a tree and got stuck, a group of masked men ambushed him, shooting him several times. Days before, in the city of Pucallpa, in the region of Ucayali, Inuma informed other environmental defenders and activists of what was happening in his community: invasions, land trafficking, drug trafficking and illegal logging. It wasn’t the first time that he’d spoken out. But no one in attendance knew it would be the last time he would. “They murdered him for defending the community from loggers,” his nephew Víctor Inuma told Mongabay Latam. “My uncle had been demanding police intervention since the pandemic. No one listened to him…We ask that this be investigated. We’re unprotected without him now.” Quinto Inuma carried out patrols in the forest with other members of the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu community. Image courtesy of Quinto Inuma. Community vice president Meister Inuma Pérez and Inuma’s niece Axceldina Tapullima were also on the boat during the ambush. Inuma Pérez had to hide in the forest to avoid being killed and Tapullima was shot in the leg. Seven other Indigenous leaders have requested protection from the Ministry of Justice because of similar threats, according to Marisol García, the Kichwa leader of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/safety-of-perus-land-defenders-in-question-after-killing-of-indigenous-leader-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/safety-of-perus-land-defenders-in-question-after-killing-of-indigenous-leader-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>End of impunity for Indigenous killings in sight for Brazil’s Guajajara</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/end-of-impunity-for-indigenous-killings-in-sight-for-brazils-guajajara/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/end-of-impunity-for-indigenous-killings-in-sight-for-brazils-guajajara/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2023 08:54:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/16160313/Thumbnail-13-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275456</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Blood Timber, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Murdered Activists, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed in November 2019 in the Brazilian Amazon. Mongabay’s Karla Mendes, who interviewed Paulo nine months before his death, returned to the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in August 2023 to talk with his family and the other guardian who survived the attack, Laércio Guajajara, and shine a light on a case that still hasn’t gone to trial after four years.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. ARARIBOIA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — &#8220;I still remember it a lot. Every day. I&#8217;ve never forgotten what happened there,” says Laércio Guajajara. “When I looked at my side, I&#8217;ll never forget it. My companion was already on the ground. I don&#8217;t think he even had time to fire a single shot &#8230; That&#8217;s why we consider it an ambush indeed.” Laércio was a witness to, and survivor of, the killing of fellow Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara — an attack that took place four years ago this month in their ancestral land in Brazil&#8217;s northeastern Maranhão state. None of the alleged perpetrators, suspected illegal loggers encroaching in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory, have yet stood trial for the killing of the 26-year-old. &#8220;There was a lot of shooting. Five firearms against one,” Laércio tells Mongabay. He was shot four times, but during a lull in the shooting he managed to flee, running some 11 kilometers, or nearly 7 miles. &#8220;I was so thirsty that I wanted to eat dirt. There were times when I would fall to the ground, it was very difficult to get up again. The  blood coming out like a tap,&#8221; Laércio says. “I was thinking along the way, ‘I have to get to the village alive,’ because I thought I was going to [die] too. Because I thought, ‘If those invaders had managed to kill us both, me and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/end-of-impunity-for-indigenous-killings-in-sight-for-brazils-guajajara/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/end-of-impunity-for-indigenous-killings-in-sight-for-brazils-guajajara/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275456</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Who were the 11 Philippines environmental defenders killed in 2022?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/who-were-the-11-philippines-environmental-defenders-killed-in-2022/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/who-were-the-11-philippines-environmental-defenders-killed-in-2022/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2023 13:34:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/25134216/21728728_10210439725090456_1071347794764139314_o-e1695649488535-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273497</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Philippines has gained the grim distinction of being Asia&#8217;s deadliest country for land and environmental defenders, with 281 deaths over the past decade, roughly one-third of which were linked to mining, according to the nonprofit Global Witness. This figure is a part of a larger global tally of at least 1,910 defenders killed between [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Philippines has gained the grim distinction of being Asia&#8217;s deadliest country for land and environmental defenders, with 281 deaths over the past decade, roughly one-third of which were linked to mining, according to the nonprofit Global Witness. This figure is a part of a larger global tally of at least 1,910 defenders killed between 2012 and 2022, a new Global Witness report shows. In 2022, an average of one defender was killed every other day globally, totalling 177 fatal attacks. According to the organization’s findings, the Philippines has consistently ranked as the top Asian country each year, though it observed a decline in fatal attacks against defenders in recent years, dropping from 29 in 2020 to 19 in 2021 and further down to 11 in 2022. Despite the decrease in murder counts, Global Witness and its Philippine-based environmental advocacy partners believe that Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who assumed the presidency in June 2022, &#8220;has so far failed to address human rights violations.” “Impunity continues and there is a concerted effort to undermine our work by continually branding us as bad people,” says Rodne Galicha, Executive Director of Living Laudato Si’ Philippines. “The involvement of politicians and their families who hold business interests creates a more dangerous environment for defenders speaking out in the Philippines. Real-estate, mining, large-scale agriculture and many of the reclamation projects we see across the country are connected to decision-makers with a vested interest to turn a profit, leading them to cut corners and importantly to prioritize&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/who-were-the-11-philippines-environmental-defenders-killed-in-2022/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/who-were-the-11-philippines-environmental-defenders-killed-in-2022/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273497</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community&#8217;s rights</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/son-of-slain-quilombola-leader-will-still-push-for-communitys-rights/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/son-of-slain-quilombola-leader-will-still-push-for-communitys-rights/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2023 18:20:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/05145856/Maria-Bernadete-Pacifico-2-scaled-e1693937007738-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272957</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Forests, Human Rights, Interviews, Land Rights, and Murdered Activists]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO PAULO — On Aug. 17, Maria Bernadete Pacífico, a 72-year-old Quilombola leader in Brazil, was brutally killed when two men wearing helmets entered her home and unloaded more than a dozen bullets in her direction. A respected name in social movements across the country, she headed the Pitanga dos Palmares quilombo in Bahia state, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO PAULO — On Aug. 17, Maria Bernadete Pacífico, a 72-year-old Quilombola leader in Brazil, was brutally killed when two men wearing helmets entered her home and unloaded more than a dozen bullets in her direction. A respected name in social movements across the country, she headed the Pitanga dos Palmares quilombo in Bahia state, an environmental protection area where the Quilombola community — Afro-Brazilian descendants of escaped slaves — reside. Bernadete and her son, Flávio Gabriel Pacífico, also killed six years ago, wanted their community, the land of their ancestors, to be titled. They both spoke of the death threats they received in the process. The delay in Brazil’s land regularization process has contributed to the increase of conflicts in the Quilombola communities, which has resulted in the killings of at least 30 leaders in the last 10 years, according to the National Coordination for Articulation of Rural Black Quilombola Communities (CONAQ). The federal Constitution guarantees the descendants of quilombos the right to own their lands. However, according to the 2022 Population Census, which identified this group for the first time in history, only about 4.3% of the Quilombola population (1,327,802 inhabitants) lives in territories already titled. Jurandir Wellington Pacífico, Bernadete&#8217;s remaining second son, who used to draft the initiatives idealized by her mother for the quilombo, has now taken his whole family to a secret location. He tells Mongabay that out of fear for him and his family’s life, they will avoid leaving their hideout until the federal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/son-of-slain-quilombola-leader-will-still-push-for-communitys-rights/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/son-of-slain-quilombola-leader-will-still-push-for-communitys-rights/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272957</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/video-five-tembe-indigenous-activists-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/video-five-tembe-indigenous-activists-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2023 20:31:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/11192937/5646c558-7e2c-40f9-9929-892476c7a729-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272117</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Murdered Activists, Palm Oil, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In just 72 hours this month, five Indigenous people were wounded by gunfire in violent attacks in a part of the Brazilian Amazon dubbed the “palm oil war” region, sparking outrage and claims for justice.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. In just 72 hours this month, five Indigenous people were wounded by gunfire in violent attacks in a part of the Brazilian Amazon dubbed the “palm oil war” region, sparking outrage and claims for justice. On Aug. 4, private security guards from palm oil company Brasil BioFuels S.A. (BBF) allegedly shot 19-year-old Kauã Tembé in the Bananal Indigenous village, in Tomé-Açu municipality, in northern Pará state. On Aug. 7, Felipe Tembé, Dayane Tembé, Erlany Portilho Ferreira Tembé and Pylikape Tembé were also allegedly shot by BBF&#8217;s guards, Indigenous leaders say. Dayane Tembé was shot in the neck and she underwent surgery in a hospital in the state capital, Belém. Her situation is stable but she still cannot eat, Urutaw Turiwar Tembé, chief of the Yriwar Indigenous village, told Mongabay in a voice message. Following the shootings, Indigenous peoples held a demonstration outside the police station in the town of Quatro Bocas, where Felipe Tembé was jailed on Aug. 7 for what they say were unclear reasons. “Have you arrested the security guard who shot my son?” Urutaw Tembé demanded, as seen in the video below, claiming justice for his son Kauã Tembé and all Indigenous people shot in the weekend&#8217;s attacks. This was the latest episode in a wave of escalating violence tied to land disputes between Indigenous communities and palm oil companies in the region, which Mongabay has consistently reported on over&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/video-five-tembe-indigenous-activists-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/video-five-tembe-indigenous-activists-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272117</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous activists demand justice after 5 shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indigenous-activists-demand-justice-after-5-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indigenous-activists-demand-justice-after-5-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Aug 2023 17:28:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/09161025/protest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271914</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Palm Oil War]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Murdered Activists, Palm Oil, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7, security guards for a palm oil company allegedly shot and wounded five Tembé Indigenous people, in the latest flareup linked to a long-running land dispute. The incidents occurred in a part of the Amazonian state of Pará that’s been dubbed the “palm oil war” region, where Mongabay has over the past year documented the escalating tensions.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. “Guys, Dayane [Tembé] is very bad, because she bled a lot from her mouth. She is going to the hospital, we are going there. I was shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the thigh.” That was the audio message from Felipe Tembé that Indigenous leaders shared with Mongabay, describing a violent attack on his Indigenous community on Aug. 7 in a part of the Brazilian Amazon dubbed the “palm oil war” region. That Monday morning, private security guards from palm oil company Brasil BioFuels S.A. (BBF) allegedly also shot an Indigenous woman, Erlany Portilho Ferreira Tembé, and Indigenous man, Pylikape Tembé, in Tomé-Açu municipality, in the state of Pará, according to Indigenous leaders. Three days earlier, on Aug. 4, “heavily armed” BBF guards and military police deployed from the state capital, Belém, allegedly shot 19-year-old Kauã Tembé in what leaders have called an “arbitrary action” in the Bananal Indigenous village. In all, five Indigenous people were wounded in just 72 hours, activists say. Dayane Tembé was shot in the neck and her situation is very serious; she’s at a hospital in Belém and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Aug. 8, Urutaw Turiwar Tembé, chief of the Yriwar Indigenous village, told Mongabay in a voice message. “The attack on Friday last week was [against] my son, who was also shot by one of the security guards of the company BBF.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indigenous-activists-demand-justice-after-5-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indigenous-activists-demand-justice-after-5-shot-in-amazonian-palm-oil-war/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271914</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Killing of U.S. biologist adds to rising violence against scientists in Mexico</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/killing-of-u-s-biologist-adds-to-rising-violence-against-scientists-in-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/killing-of-u-s-biologist-adds-to-rising-violence-against-scientists-in-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2023 08:40:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/04083701/Captura-de-Pantalla-2023-07-12-a-las-18.42.10-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271808</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and Mexico]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Murdered Activists, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gabriel Trujillo was unstoppable when it came to studying nature. Botany, his passion, led him to explore lots of places while cataloging plants and their behaviors. In June 2023, that research took him from California to the mountains of Sonora in northeastern Mexico in hopes of finding Cephalanthus occidentalis, a shrub that was crucial to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gabriel Trujillo was unstoppable when it came to studying nature. Botany, his passion, led him to explore lots of places while cataloging plants and their behaviors. In June 2023, that research took him from California to the mountains of Sonora in northeastern Mexico in hopes of finding Cephalanthus occidentalis, a shrub that was crucial to his work. That trip would also end with his violent death. Trujillo’s body was found with several bullet wounds on Thursday, June 22, on the side of a road connecting San Nicolás to Tepoca, in the municipality of Yécora. The 31-year-old scientist had been killed three days prior, on June 19, the same day his family had reported him missing. After losing communication with Trujillo, other biologists in Sonora and California started to look for him. They called around, organized a WhatsApp group, traveled to the area where he was last seen, and interviewed people who knew about his stay in Sonora. Even though they started receiving death threats, they didn’t stop until he was found. Trujillo was hoping to reconnect with his Ópata Indigenous roots. Image by Roxy Cruz via GoFundMe. One Mexican biologist who helped in the search for Trujillo and who is not being named here for his safety, said death threats started coming in after he and other scientists filed a complaint about the disappearance. Eight days after Trujillo’s body was found, on June 30, the Sonoran prosecutor’s office released a statement that it was in the process of gathering evidence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/killing-of-u-s-biologist-adds-to-rising-violence-against-scientists-in-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271808</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate of fear persists among Nepal’s eco defenders as threats rise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/climate-of-fear-persists-among-nepals-eco-defenders-as-threats-rise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/climate-of-fear-persists-among-nepals-eco-defenders-as-threats-rise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2023 13:06:28 +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/20/2023/06/23125454/mining-nepal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270167</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Industry, Law, Murdered Activists, Politics, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — On Jan. 10, 2020, 24-year-old Dilip Mahato died after being stabbed multiple times and then run over with a truck. Mahato was an outspoken critic of illegal sand mining taking place in a river in Dhanusha district, in Nepal’s southern Madhesh province. According to investigators, Mahato had been trying to obstruct the mining [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — On Jan. 10, 2020, 24-year-old Dilip Mahato died after being stabbed multiple times and then run over with a truck. Mahato was an outspoken critic of illegal sand mining taking place in a river in Dhanusha district, in Nepal’s southern Madhesh province. According to investigators, Mahato had been trying to obstruct the mining when he was attacked. Reports said the miners had previously issued death threats against him. The incident drew widespread coverage and sent chills through the community of environmental human rights defenders across Nepal, who were already facing a host of challenges, including similar threats to their own lives and those of their families. In January 2020, 24-year-old Dilip Mahato, an outspoken critic of illegal sand mining, was killed when trying to obstruct the mining. Environmental human rights defenders, especially women, in Nepal continue to fear for their safety and lives. In the years since Mahato’s death, little has changed, a new study shows. Published by the Informal Sector Service Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (INSEC), an NGO, the study says Nepalis working for the protection of the environment continue to feel unsafe due to lack of government security mechanisms. “During the course of the study, it was found that discussions haven’t even begun to frame policies to protect people defending the environment,” Prapoosa K.C., the lawyer who led the study, said at an event to share the findings. K.C.’s team interviewed 51 respondents in the provinces of Sudurpaschim, Lumbini and Madhesh, and study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/climate-of-fear-persists-among-nepals-eco-defenders-as-threats-rise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/indigenous-chief-shot-in-head-brazils-palm-oil-war-region-crisis-group-launched/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/indigenous-chief-shot-in-head-brazils-palm-oil-war-region-crisis-group-launched/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2023 19:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/16114619/Tembe-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268674</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Palm Oil War]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Murdered Activists, Palm Oil, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. &#160; A prominent Indigenous leader was shot in the head on May 14 in the Brazilian Amazon, intensifying the cry for justice in a dubbed “palm oil war” region where violence against land activists keeps systematically soaring without [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Karla Mendes is a fellow. &nbsp; A prominent Indigenous leader was shot in the head on May 14 in the Brazilian Amazon, intensifying the cry for justice in a dubbed “palm oil war” region where violence against land activists keeps systematically soaring without punishment, and prompting the launch of a crisis committee to investigate the crime. In the early hours of Sunday, Indigenous chief Lúcio Tembé was shot by two gunmen when he and another Indigenous man were trying to dig out a car that was stuck in the mud of an unpaved road on their way back from the town of Quatro Bocas to the Turé-Mariquita Indigenous Territory, in northern Pará state, Indigenous leaders say. Lúcio Tembé’s niece, Queila Tembé, related to Mongabay the details of the crime that the Indigenous person accompanying her uncle shared with the Tembé people. “At that moment when he [Lúcio Tembé] was standing still, these two hooded thugs arrived, shone a flashlight on him and shot him in the head,” she said in an audio message. “Then the Indigenous accompanying him jumped out in front of him to try to save him. You can imagine that they [the thugs] thought that since they hit him on the head, that he was dead. So they got on their motorcycles and headed toward the village.” She said she knew about the crime through phone calls from relatives and they went together to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/indigenous-chief-shot-in-head-brazils-palm-oil-war-region-crisis-group-launched/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268674</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Latin America had the most attacks on environmental defenders in 2022, says report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/latin-america-had-the-most-attacks-on-environmental-defenders-in-2022-says-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/latin-america-had-the-most-attacks-on-environmental-defenders-in-2022-says-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2023 15:07:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juan Carlos GranadosPilar Puentes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/05142513/defensores-asesinados-2022-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Saving Rainforests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The human rights organization Front Line Defenders has published its Global Analysis 2022, a report on the state of people who have dedicated their lives to defending the environment, Indigenous peoples, women and the LGBTIQ community. According to the report, 401 environmental and human rights defenders were killed in 26 countries around the world last [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The human rights organization Front Line Defenders has published its Global Analysis 2022, a report on the state of people who have dedicated their lives to defending the environment, Indigenous peoples, women and the LGBTIQ community. According to the report, 401 environmental and human rights defenders were killed in 26 countries around the world last year. The report also analyzes the scope and severity of violence against human rights defenders. Latin America continues to be the region with the highest number of murders of human rights defenders, according to the organization’s interim director, Olive Moore. It is also “the most dangerous context for human rights defenders, in addition to the war between Ukraine and Russia,” she said. Of the five countries that accounted for more than 80% of murders of human rights defenders, four are in Latin America: Colombia with 186 murders, Mexico with 45 murders, Brazil with 26 murders and Honduras with 17 murders. Meanwhile, Ukraine had 50 cases. The report states that almost half, exactly 48%, of the total number of murders last year targeted defenders of land rights, the environment, and Indigenous rights. Nemonte Nenquimo and the Waorani community at a march. Image by Mateo Barriga, Amazon Frontlines. Colombia has the highest number of murders of rights defenders In 2022, 46% of the total recorded murders of rights defenders worldwide took place in Colombia. The organization Somos Defensores documented 186 murders. For example, on February 22nd, 2022, in the department of Cesar, Colombia, Jorge Tafur and Teófilo&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/latin-america-had-the-most-attacks-on-environmental-defenders-in-2022-says-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodian activists commemorate 11th anniversary of Chut Wutty’s murder</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/cambodian-activists-commemorate-11th-anniversary-of-chut-wuttys-murder/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/cambodian-activists-commemorate-11th-anniversary-of-chut-wuttys-murder/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2023 12:28:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/28121136/Cambodian-activists-Chut-Wutty-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268050</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Logging, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — On the morning of April 26, a handful of activists took to the streets of the Cambodian capital to commemorate the 11th anniversary of environmentalist Chut Wutty’s assassination. Fifteen activists, some adorned in leaves, other sporting masks of Wutty’s face, gathered at Wat Botum Park in Phnom Penh at 9:30 a.m. holding [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — On the morning of April 26, a handful of activists took to the streets of the Cambodian capital to commemorate the 11th anniversary of environmentalist Chut Wutty’s assassination. Fifteen activists, some adorned in leaves, other sporting masks of Wutty’s face, gathered at Wat Botum Park in Phnom Penh at 9:30 a.m. holding photos of Wutty to demand the government more thoroughly investigate the murder that place in Koh Kong province on April 26, 2012. Wutty, a prominent environmental activist who remained defiantly outspoken against deforestation and the politically connected companies that fueled it, was gunned down while investigating illegal logging that he had linked to the development of two Chinese-built hydropower dams, the Stung Russei Chrum and Stung Tatay. Both are situated in the southwestern province of Koh Kong, which sits at the heart of the Cardamom Mountains where deforestation rates have soared in tandem with infrastructure projects. Activists took to the streets of Phnom Penh on the morning of April 26 to commemorate the anniversary of famed environmentalist Chut Wutty&#8217;s murder. Photo by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay. Trained by Russia, Wutty served in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) until 2000, but the corruption that was driving the ecological destruction that he saw as a soldier drove him to join Conservation International. He worked there for two years before going on to form his own NGO, the National Resources Protection Group. His investigations into illegal logging and its perpetrators earned him many enemies within both the RCAF and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/cambodian-activists-commemorate-11th-anniversary-of-chut-wuttys-murder/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268050</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report warns of rising violence against environmental defenders in Mexico</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-warns-of-rising-violence-against-environmental-defenders-in-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-warns-of-rising-violence-against-environmental-defenders-in-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2023 15:45:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/21154407/FEATURE-15-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267739</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Logging, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Protecting the environment is no easy task. But in Mexico, it can often be deadly. The country is seeing a rise in violence against environmental defenders, who suffer everything from intimidation to kidnapping to murder while trying to prevent encroaching deforestation, pollution and other threats to local habitats, according to a report [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Protecting the environment is no easy task. But in Mexico, it can often be deadly. The country is seeing a rise in violence against environmental defenders, who suffer everything from intimidation to kidnapping to murder while trying to prevent encroaching deforestation, pollution and other threats to local habitats, according to a report from the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA). “Different interested actors in our territories look for ways to weaken us on our own land,” said Samir Flores Soberanes, an activist from the state of Morelos. “That includes engineering conflicts, dividing the community from within and polarizing the situation, or even creating shock groups and using coercive state forces.” The violence isn’t limited to one region or industry in Mexico. Across the country and in numerous economic sectors, people who decide to speak out are subjected to abuse. In Oaxaca state last year, a resident was shot down for opposing a hydroelectric dam. Another in Hidalgo state was murdered for speaking out against contamination from a landfill. Activists in states like Puebla, Chihuahua and Campeche received threats for resisting urban expansion, infrastructure development and agriculture, the report said. Extractive industries, most notably mining and logging, have led to some of the worst violence. Earlier this year, a community leader in San Juan Huitzontla, in the state of Michoacán, was kidnapped and murdered, reportedly for defending the area from iron ore mining. The community had managed to cancel a concession because Indigenous Nahua residents hadn’t been properly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-warns-of-rising-violence-against-environmental-defenders-in-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267739</doi>				</item>
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