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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/social-conflict/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:22:34 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Social Conflict</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/social-conflict/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Palm oil expansion reignites decade-old Indigenous land conflict in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 03:49:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongNiken D. Sitoningrum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31032649/image-32-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325017</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Crops, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two palm oil companies embroiled in a long-running land dispute with an Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo have resumed the clearing of rainforest and other land to expand their plantations for the first time in more than a decade. In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two palm oil companies embroiled in a long-running land dispute with an Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo have resumed the clearing of rainforest and other land to expand their plantations for the first time in more than a decade. In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the two companies — PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya (BSMJ), owned by Singapore-listed First Resources, and PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa (MWJP), a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned TSH Resources — had restarted land clearing and evictions in what the community says is its ancestral territory. The latest activities mark a new chapter in one of Indonesia&#8217;s highest-profile land conflicts involving the palm oil industry, which Mongabay covered in an in-depth report in 2015. Eviction activity using heavy equipment by PT BSMJ as of 2 June 2026 (c) Kaoem Telapak The dispute dates back to 2011-2012, when BSMJ and MWJP began bulldozing rainforest in an area claimed by Muara Tae, a village in West Kutai district, East Kalimantan province. The companies say they bought leasehold rights from residents of Muara Ponak, a village next to Muara Tae. But Muara Tae has contended the companies colluded with individuals in Muara Ponak who fraudulently signed away hundreds of hectares of Muara Tae’s communally held land, in exchange for hundreds of millions of rupiah in compensation. The district government facilitated the transactions by redrawing the Tae-Ponak border, increasing the latter’s territory at the expense of the former. The district chief at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325017</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers seek rights probe into Indigenous conflict at Indonesian timber firm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 10:23:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/27180141/Screenshot-2024-03-28-010118-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322966</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Products, Forestry, Great Apes, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian lawmakers have called for a government fact-finding probe into a long-running conflict between an Indigenous community in Borneo and an industrial timber company linked to one of Indonesia&#8217;s largest recent deforestation cases. The call came at the end of a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on June 30, where lawmakers said testimony presented during the session strengthened indications of alleged structural and systematic human rights violations in the conflict. Responding to the hearing, Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Human Rights said it would conduct a more comprehensive review of the case, including field monitoring and coordination with other government agencies, as it prepares to investigate allegations of human rights violations linked to the conflict between PT Mayawana Persada and the Dayak Kualan community in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. The Dayak Kualan community alleges the company&#8217;s concession overlaps with its customary lands and forests, and that Mayawana proceeded to clear the area without obtaining its meaningful consent. Despite the community&#8217;s longstanding objections, Mayawana razed lands and forests that the Dayak Kualan community says form part of its customary territory, according to Tarsisius Fendy Sesupi, the customary chief of Lelayang, one of the Indigenous hamlets overlapped by the concession. &#8220;The company never sought the community&#8217;s agreement. It simply moved in and cleared everything,&#8221; he said at a recent press conference in Jakarta. In cases where community members agreed to relinquish their land, they did so under pressure and received only 1.5 million rupiah (about $83) per hectare, or $34 per acre,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/lawmakers-seek-rights-probe-into-indigenous-conflict-at-indonesian-timber-firm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Second progress report shows little action on World Bank redress plan at Liberian plantation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 10:07:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/04104621/woman-sex-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317077</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conflict, Corporate Social Responsibility, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A year after the World Bank approved a plan to redress community grievances over inadequate compensation and sexual harassment at Liberia’s Salala Rubber Corporation, a progress report provides little evidence that any of its key commitments have been implemented. In February, the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, published a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A year after the World Bank approved a plan to redress community grievances over inadequate compensation and sexual harassment at Liberia’s Salala Rubber Corporation, a progress report provides little evidence that any of its key commitments have been implemented. In February, the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, published a second report on progress with the action plan. “IFC will continue to engage with key stakeholders over the coming months to explore the feasibility of MAP implementation.” But Windor Smith, from the Liberian civil society organization Alliance for Rural Democracy, which works with affected communities around the Salala plantation, told Mongabay she does not know which stakeholders the IFC is engaging with. “The situation is still the same. There is no engagement, no consultation with the communities and supporting organizations.” Luxembourg-based multinational Socfin took over the rubber plantation in 2007 and received an IFC loan of $10 million to rehabilitate and expand it. Community members started voicing grievances soon thereafter. Dissatisfied with the company’s response, they filed a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, IFC’s independent watchdog, in 2019, alleging sexual harassment, inadequate compensation for their rubber trees and food crops lost and a flawed land acquisition process. Read more about Socfin&#8217;s plantations in Africa. Four years later, the CAO completed its investigation, concluding that many of the complaints were valid. The IFC developed an action plan, which it committed to implementing along with Socfin. In contrast to what followed many previous CAO investigations, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/second-progress-report-shows-little-action-on-world-bank-redress-plan-at-liberian-plantation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317077</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A human rights center opens a path to justice for Indigenous Peoples in the Central African Republic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 04:12:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/07035947/PXL_20260315_160605119-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317061</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, Social Conflict, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Across the Congo Basin, conservation has long been fraught with a difficult contradiction. Protected areas, meant to preserve wildlife, have at times also been the scene of allegations of human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. Over the past decade, Mongabay has documented allegations of beatings, intimidation and other abuses linked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BAYANGA, Central African Republic — Across the Congo Basin, conservation has long been fraught with a difficult contradiction. Protected areas, meant to preserve wildlife, have at times also been the scene of allegations of human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. Over the past decade, Mongabay has documented allegations of beatings, intimidation and other abuses linked to park rangers and conservation operations in countries such as Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several conservation actors have been implicated, including organizations such as WWF and African Parks. These organizations have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, even as audits, investigations and testimonies have kept these concerns at the center of the debate. See Also: WWF’s top leader acknowledges reforms in wake of abuse allegations It is against this backdrop that a quieter, lesser-known story is emerging in the southwest of the Central African Republic. The Bayanga Human Rights Center receives funding from several conservation actors, including the WWF. For the WWF, the center also serves as a mediation mechanism, allowing individuals affected by conservation activities in Dzanga-Sangha National Park to express their concerns and grievances. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. In Bayanga, a forest town on the edge of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA) complex, a small human rights center has become an unexpected source of trust for the Ba’aka, one of the most widely-known Indigenous forest peoples of the Congo Basin, as well as for the Bilo, non-Indigenous communities living alongside the Ba’aka. The center does&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-human-rights-center-opens-a-path-to-justice-for-indigenous-peoples-in-the-central-african-republic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317061</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Sharing is off the table’ as drought reshapes the culture of Ethiopia’s pastoralists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 07:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kaleab Girma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31210152/a.-BANNER-UF146DY-00262634-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316668</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Climate, Climate Change, Culture, Drinking Water, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Livestock, Pasture, Social Conflict, Subsistence Agriculture, Water, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the landscape. The arrival of seasonal winds, the timing of the rains, and the alignment of stars all carried meaning. Mohamoud Sulub, a 50-year-old livestock herder, grew up relying on these signs in Guuyow village. They told him when to move his herd and when to stay. He knew his neighbors would, in hard times, understand them, too — and help when needed. That knowledge is now failing him. This year, Mohamoud says, there is simply nowhere to go. “The land is all drought,” he tells Mongabay. The father of six has spent his entire life herding animals across this arid landscape, as his father did before him. Today he keeps 40 goats and sheep, five cows and six camels. “When the rains are good, the land is fine and there is no need to move,” he says. “But during drought, we migrate.” In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, dust clouds blow across the parched landscape in the Danan district of the Somali region of Ethiopia, which hasn&#8217;t seen significant amounts of rain in the past three years. Image by AP Photo/Elias Meseret. For generations, pastoralists like Mohamoud relied on mobility and strong social&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316668</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community complaints in limbo as Socfin cuts ties with Earthworm Foundation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/community-complaints-in-limbo-as-socfin-cuts-ties-with-earthworm-foundation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/community-complaints-in-limbo-as-socfin-cuts-ties-with-earthworm-foundation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2026 10:15:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka MukpoVictoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/16124503/Salala4-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313982</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When agribusiness giant Socfin found itself embroiled in allegations of human rights and environmental violations at its plantations in Africa and Southeast Asia in 2017, it called on the Switzerland-based sustainability consultant Earthworm Foundation for help. Earthworm’s investigations eventually substantiated many of the grievances filed by communities across Socfin’s operations, notably including complaints of sexual [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When agribusiness giant Socfin found itself embroiled in allegations of human rights and environmental violations at its plantations in Africa and Southeast Asia in 2017, it called on the Switzerland-based sustainability consultant Earthworm Foundation for help. Earthworm’s investigations eventually substantiated many of the grievances filed by communities across Socfin’s operations, notably including complaints of sexual harassment and pollution of water sources raised at Liberia’s Salala Rubber Corporation. Earthworm’s findings largely mirrored those of a four-year investigation into Socfin’s practices in Liberia by the International Finance Corporation’s independent watchdog in 2023, which Socfin had rejected. Late in 2025, Socfin and Earthworm discreetly announced that they had cut ties. In a November press release posted to its website, the Earthworm Foundation called the decision “mutual.” “We did see Socfin genuinely engaging with and implementing the recommendations,” Jotica Sehgal, a spokesperson for Earthworm, said via email. “They made a strong commitment by allowing the investigation to proceed and by agreeing to have the results shared publicly.” The Earthworm Foundation counts global agriculture commodity giants like Nestlé and Pepsi as members. These companies pay an annual fee, and Earthworm offers support in addressing their supply chain practices. Responding to Mongabay by email in January, Socfin spokesperson Ludovic Saint-Pol said, “Both organisations recognise that the collaboration has reached its natural conclusion, with the main objectives initially defined having been largely achieved.” According to Earthworm&#8217;s website, the relationship with Socfin was intended to help the company develop and implement its Responsible Management Policy, set up grievance&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/community-complaints-in-limbo-as-socfin-cuts-ties-with-earthworm-foundation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313982</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Guatemala’s eco defenders reel from surge in killings and persecution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/guatemalas-eco-defenders-reel-from-surge-in-killings-and-persecution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/guatemalas-eco-defenders-reel-from-surge-in-killings-and-persecution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jan 2026 07:57:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gonzalo Ortuño López]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/02075043/portada-gt-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312504</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Guatemala, Latin America, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, Social Conflict, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental and territorial defenders in Guatemala face a critical moment as violence targeting them increases across the country. In 2024, at least 20 such defenders were killed for their work, up from four in 2023, according to a report by advocacy NGO Global Witness. The country was second only to Colombia in the number of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental and territorial defenders in Guatemala face a critical moment as violence targeting them increases across the country. In 2024, at least 20 such defenders were killed for their work, up from four in 2023, according to a report by advocacy NGO Global Witness. The country was second only to Colombia in the number of defenders killed or disappeared, accounting for 13% of the total cases identified worldwide by Global Witness. As a proportion of the country’s population, the number also leaves Guatemala with the highest rate of killings of environmental defenders in the world. The report says that at least 10 of those killed were Indigenous or campesino individuals. Since 2012, Global Witness has documented 106 killings and disappearances of environmental defenders in Guatemala, half of them Indigenous people and a fifth campesinos, who were engaged in defending their rights to land or opposing the extraction of natural resources. Mongabay Latam interviewed the report authors, along with activists and defenders, who agreed that the main factors behind the increase in violence are a land distribution system that has historically benefited the elite, the continued violation of Indigenous peoples’ rights, and the spread of organized crime. The Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) has reported killings and criminalization of its members. Image courtesy of CCDA. The new political landscape When Bernardo Arévalo took office as president in January 2024, he and his party, Movimiento Semilla, had the broad backing of Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples. But this hasn’t translated into a reduction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/guatemalas-eco-defenders-reel-from-surge-in-killings-and-persecution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312504</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agroforestry grows in popularity among central Colombia&#8217;s coffee farmers (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 18:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliana Cajiao Raigosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23171032/coffee-lady-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Analysis, Coffee, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Community Development, Conflict, Deforestation, Education, Forests, Social Conflict, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in the country dedicated to coffee production, most of them small scale and accounting for 15% of total production. Coffee in Colombia has become part of the national identity and is also considered part of its cultural heritage. Besides this, it has been of vital importance for the economy, representing up to 80% of total exports, and is undoubtedly partly responsible for the changes that took place between 1870 and 1930, which allowed for the integration of the country&#8217;s economy and generated positive political and social effects. However, only 5% of smallholder farmers are technically efficient (TE), reflecting poor agronomic management strategies such as inadequate uses of inputs, irrational uses of fertilizers and pesticides, low phytosanitary control and monitoring strategies, lack of labor and substandard production conditions, among other factors. Mr. Arlisson Neussa, an agricultural engineer, assisting with coffee berry borer monitoring on a coffee plantation. The agroforestry coffee system, in which the coffee is interplanted within a native forest, can be clearly seen. Image courtesy of Juliana Cajiao Raigosa. The main coffee-producing departments of the “cafetal zone” are Risalda, Caldas, Antioquia and Quindío. Coffee in these areas is considered a cultural heritage and is mainly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311971</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Empire of Nature: African Parks and Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 11:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/04201035/Nyungwe-8-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310435</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, National Parks, Parks, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Tourism, Violence, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda — It’s a cool morning in the montane rainforest of western Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Sunbeams stream down from the canopy, glowing in the mist. Birdsong pierces the still air. Jacques Habimana, a baby-faced 23-year-old trail guide, stops abruptly, pressing a finger to his lips. He points toward the treetops. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the fifth story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda — It’s a cool morning in the montane rainforest of western Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park. Sunbeams stream down from the canopy, glowing in the mist. Birdsong pierces the still air. Jacques Habimana, a baby-faced 23-year-old trail guide, stops abruptly, pressing a finger to his lips. He points toward the treetops. A troop of a dozen or so blue monkeys rustles in the leaves, jumping from branch to branch and peering down with eerie orange eyes ringed with gray fur. They skitter back into the shadows. A few meters down, the trail opens into a panoramic view of the hills beyond — dark, undulating waves that roll into the horizon. A blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) in Rwanda&#8217;s Nyungwe National Park. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay. To walk through Nyungwe’s emerald tangles is to be bathe in nature&#8217;s quiet majesty. One of the largest montane rainforests in Africa, its treetops host eastern chimpanzees, colobus monkeys, and 11 other primate species. Two hundred different kinds of orchids grow here, upon which one of 300 varieties of butterfly might land. A bird-watcher’s paradise, 30 of its 350 or so avian species are only found here in East Africa’s Albertine Rift. In 2023, the 1,019-square-kilometer (393-square-mile) park was bestowed with World Heritage status by UNESCO. By any measure, it is a special place. Habimana’s shirtsleeve displays a circular patch with two letters in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/an-empire-of-nature-african-parks-and-rwandas-nyungwe-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310435</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Respecting uncontacted peoples can protect biodiversity and our humanity (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/respecting-uncontacted-peoples-can-protect-biodiversity-and-our-humanity-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/respecting-uncontacted-peoples-can-protect-biodiversity-and-our-humanity-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 21:17:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kerry Bowman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/16200510/Pueblos-en-aislamiento-en-la-frontera-Peru-Brasil-768x478.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310537</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Ethics, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Social Conflict, Social Justice, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep within the remaining tropical forests of the world, the last uncontacted peoples live in near-total isolation. Their very presence carries unintended yet powerful implications for all of us. Studies show that Indigenous territories — especially those of uncontacted groups — are among the least disturbed ecosystems on Earth. Protecting regions inhabited by uncontacted Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep within the remaining tropical forests of the world, the last uncontacted peoples live in near-total isolation. Their very presence carries unintended yet powerful implications for all of us. Studies show that Indigenous territories — especially those of uncontacted groups — are among the least disturbed ecosystems on Earth. Protecting regions inhabited by uncontacted Indigenous peoples is vital from both a human rights and environmental perspective; these territories represent some of the planet’s last intact ecosystems. The human dimension of respecting their isolation is a moral imperative, grounded in the fundamental rights to existence and self-determination. Equally significant are the longer-term environmental implications. Protected Indigenous lands function as natural sanctuaries of biodiversity, safeguarding countless plant and animal species, many of which remain undocumented by science. By preserving these untouched forests, the world also protects vast carbon sinks that regulate the planet’s climate and slow global warming. Malocas, or longhouses, of an Indigenous community living in isolation in the Loreto region of the Peruvian Amazon. Image courtesy of ORPIO. In essence, ensuring the survival of uncontacted territories not only defends the autonomy of their inhabitants, it also sustains the living systems that uphold the Earth’s atmosphere, biodiversity and climate. In the western Amazon, the region holding the uncontacted peoples I know best, dense Indigenous territories rank among the most biodiverse places on Earth. They also hold the planet’s highest concentration of uncontacted peoples, and they are under increasing siege. While Peru and Brazil have designated large swaths as protected Indigenous land,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/respecting-uncontacted-peoples-can-protect-biodiversity-and-our-humanity-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310537</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2025 18:29:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kimberley Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/02134730/Forest-Guardians_-Photo-Jeronimo-Zuniga-2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309507</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Environment, Finance, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since September 2025, dozens of Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have reportedly been unable to access their funds, after a state institution blocked their bank accounts. Judges have recently ordered the government to lift the freeze on a few accounts, but most remain in place. The bank account freezes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since September 2025, dozens of Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have reportedly been unable to access their funds, after a state institution blocked their bank accounts. Judges have recently ordered the government to lift the freeze on a few accounts, but most remain in place. The bank account freezes come at a time of protests, rising social tensions, and President Daniel Noboa’s repeated warnings against organizations he says seek to topple the government. Just weeks before, the National Assembly passed a new law, advertised as a tool against organized crime, that monitors and regulates the finances of NGOs, nonprofits, foundations and social movements operating in the country. Sources say their accounts were frozen without warning or explanation. While some account freezes have been lifted, many have remained in place for over six weeks. Indigenous leaders say this has created a hazard for their assemblies, environmental efforts and other social organizing. The Ministry of Interior denied Mongabay’s various requests for comment, stating via WhatsApp that “this topic is with the UAFE [Financial and Economic Analysis Unit, the body in charge of investigating suspected money laundering cases].” Neither the UAFE, Ecuador’s superintendency of banks, nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for an interview. Protest in Ecuador, September 24, 2025. Image by to La Raiz / Lanceros Digitales. The national Indigenous federation CONAIE was the first to denounce bank account freezes on Sept. 19, the day after they announced a national strike to protest President&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309507</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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309071</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Egyptian activists rally to halt hotel project at pristine protected beach</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/egyptian-activists-rally-to-halt-hotel-project-at-pristine-protected-beach/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/egyptian-activists-rally-to-halt-hotel-project-at-pristine-protected-beach/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2025 07:16:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26100620/IMG_4889-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Development, Environment, Environmental Policy, Infrastructure, Protected Areas, Social Conflict, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MARSA ALAM, Egypt — Ras Hankorab is a stretch of Red Sea coastline in Egypt renowned for its pristine beaches, coral reefs, and nesting grounds for endangered green turtles. Located in the north of the Wadi El Gemal protected area, Ras Hankorab has become the site of a prolonged battle between local civil society organizations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MARSA ALAM, Egypt — Ras Hankorab is a stretch of Red Sea coastline in Egypt renowned for its pristine beaches, coral reefs, and nesting grounds for endangered green turtles. Located in the north of the Wadi El Gemal protected area, Ras Hankorab has become the site of a prolonged battle between local civil society organizations and the Egyptian government ever since the latter granted a private company the rights to develop tourism facilities here. Bulldozers appeared on the beach this February, sparking an outcry from civil society organizations and environmentalists. In March, civil society groups launched the &#8220;Save Ras Hankorab” campaign, protesting the development. They launched a petition that gathered more than 7,000 signatures. The action eventually resulted in a temporary halt to development activities and prompted the government to review plans for the site. That same month, the nonprofit Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) filed a formal complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Environment, and the Red Sea Governorate, pointing out that any construction activities and the use of heavy machinery in the area are in breach of Egypt’s protected area laws. Beach umbrellas recently put up at Ras Hankorab Beach. Image by Mongabay. “Wadi El Gemal is one of the most important national parks in Egypt. It’s still virgin, there are no interventions from investors there, there is no industry, it’s a clean area,” ECESR lawyer Malek Adly told Mongabay. Campaigners say that allowing a private company to develop Ras Hankorab and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/egyptian-activists-rally-to-halt-hotel-project-at-pristine-protected-beach/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2025 15:51:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya AbuluSonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/16075624/drone-shot-of-mining-site-in-Myanmar-EARTH-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305968</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Land Use Change, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Rivers, Satellite Imagery, Social Conflict, Tropical Deforestation, War, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar’s Kachin state, near the border with China, is a global hub for rare earth minerals. But the dearth of regulations over mining these resources has come at a steep cost to the area’s subtropical and moist forests, according to researchers and satellite imagery collected by Mongabay. Civil society sources in the region, who requested [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar’s Kachin state, near the border with China, is a global hub for rare earth minerals. But the dearth of regulations over mining these resources has come at a steep cost to the area’s subtropical and moist forests, according to researchers and satellite imagery collected by Mongabay. Civil society sources in the region, who requested anonymity due to security concerns in the warring country, say mining activities are also causing alarming impacts on human health, women, soil and rivers. A spokesperson from a local organization in Myanmar told Mongabay that mining in Chipwi and Momauk townships, where much of the state’s rare earth mining is concentrated, increased rapidly in late 2021, the year the coup d’état and civil war began. This was “especially in areas under informal control or lacking proper environmental oversight,” the spokesperson said. Bhamo is another township where rare earth mining is taking place. “There has [also] been a noticeable rise in deforestation since around 2018, with sharp increases particularly around mining zones due to road construction, land clearing for extraction activities, and widespread tree cutting for fuelwood or to dry the rare earth sludge,” the spokesperson told Mongabay by text message. From 2018 to 2024, Chipwi, Momauk and Bhamo lost about 32,720 hectares (80,850 acres) of tree cover, according to data from Global Forest Watch. Momauk saw the highest loss, with 12,100 hectares (about 30,000 acres). Mining has since slowed down or been suspended in some places after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), whose armed wing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/satellite-data-show-burst-of-deforestation-in-myanmar-rare-earth-mining-hotspots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s Siona Indigenous guard faces landmines, violence around territory</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/colombias-siona-indigenous-guard-faces-landmines-violence-around-territory/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/colombias-siona-indigenous-guard-faces-landmines-violence-around-territory/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 11:51:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jose Guarnizo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/05171228/2_Ilustracion_Minas-y-confinamiento_2-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305511</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Rainforests, Social Conflict, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Alberto Franco* has long lost count of how many times he has had to hide in the forest until the gunfire dies down. The southern Colombian forest where he grew up has been a battlefield for decades. Over the last few years, armed groups have robbed his people of their freedom. Franco was born in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Alberto Franco* has long lost count of how many times he has had to hide in the forest until the gunfire dies down. The southern Colombian forest where he grew up has been a battlefield for decades. Over the last few years, armed groups have robbed his people of their freedom. Franco was born in the upper part of Buenavista, in Putumayo, an Indigenous reserve that was formalized in 1983 and is referred to as the ‘ancient root.’ It is a community founded by seven families led by Arsenio Yaiguaje, a visionary taita (elder). Franco is the son of a Mestizo father and a Siona mother and found himself growing up between two worlds, though he ultimately chose his mother’s. His true schooling, however, was from his grandparents and the use of yagé (ayahuasca). In 2008, he became a governor and later went on to coordinate the Indigenous guard. The Siona have ancestrally been the guardians of their territory. They have protected the river with the boa, the earth with the tiger, and the sky with the eagle, according to their spiritual history. However, in 2014, when the Colombian oil company Amerisur attempted to enter their communities, they discovered that spiritual defense alone was insufficient. That was when they decided to formalize the Indigenous guard, the same group they had tried to organize seven or eight years prior, despite many setbacks. The Buenavista Indigenous Guard employs spiritual, political, and educational approaches that involve men, women and children. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/colombias-siona-indigenous-guard-faces-landmines-violence-around-territory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/colombias-siona-indigenous-guard-faces-landmines-violence-around-territory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305511</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Development banks under fire for backing disputed Nepal hydropower project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/development-banks-under-fire-for-backing-disputed-nepal-hydropower-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/development-banks-under-fire-for-backing-disputed-nepal-hydropower-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2025 00:14:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/21145224/III-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Banking, Biodiversity, Conflict, Culture, Dams, Development, Environment, Forest Destruction, FPIC, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Rivers, Social Conflict, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nepal has long relied on hydropower projects to meet most of its energy needs, but recent complaints from Indigenous and local communities have cast a shadow over the development of some projects — particularly the Tanahu project. The project is being developed by Tanahu Hydropower Limited (THL), a subsidiary of the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nepal has long relied on hydropower projects to meet most of its energy needs, but recent complaints from Indigenous and local communities have cast a shadow over the development of some projects — particularly the Tanahu project. The project is being developed by Tanahu Hydropower Limited (THL), a subsidiary of the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). It’s expected to be completed next year in Gandaki province. But for many members of communities in the affected area, “none of our demands have been fulfilled to this day,” says Til Bahadur Thapa Magar, chair of local campaign group the Tanahu Hydropower Project’s Struggle Committee. Local communities and Indigenous peoples say the project was implemented without proper consultation and failed to respect their rights to land, territory, and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). In 2023, U.S.-based human rights watchdog Accountability Counsel documented a series of 16 complaints against hydropower projects in Nepal, many with funding from international institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank (EIB) and World Bank. These projects, including the Tanahu project, which is funded by the ADB and EIB, have been accused of failing to meet their due diligence requirements during the approval process. “Even though these projects have records of not fully adhering to environmental and social compliance and respecting Indigenous and community people’s rights and decisions, they [international development banks] keep supporting more and more projects,” said Sutharee Wannasiri, communities associate at the Accountability Counsel. A Magar local affected by the Tanahu Hydropower&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/development-banks-under-fire-for-backing-disputed-nepal-hydropower-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/development-banks-under-fire-for-backing-disputed-nepal-hydropower-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pulp and paper giant APP moves closer to regaining FSC stamp despite pending review</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/pulp-and-paper-giant-app-moves-closer-to-regaining-fsc-stamp-despite-pending-review/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/pulp-and-paper-giant-app-moves-closer-to-regaining-fsc-stamp-despite-pending-review/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2025 10:19:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/31045148/GP04KSQ_Web_size-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Plantations, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Asia Pulp &#38; Paper, one of the world’s biggest forestry groups, has effectively been given the green light to seek ethical certification from the Forest Stewardship Council — a stamp of approval that it was stripped of 18 years ago for deforestation and other violations. In a decision announced in July, the FSC, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Asia Pulp &amp; Paper, one of the world’s biggest forestry groups, has effectively been given the green light to seek ethical certification from the Forest Stewardship Council — a stamp of approval that it was stripped of 18 years ago for deforestation and other violations. In a decision announced in July, the FSC, the world’s leading certifier of sustainable forestry practices, lifted a suspension to allow APP to resume its remedy process — a series of remedial and restorative measures for past violations that would eventually make the company eligible for FSC certification. Watchdog groups say the move caught them by surprise, especially given that a key legal review into the company’s web of corporate holdings remains unfinished. They warn this lets one of the world’s most notorious forestry firms fast-track its return to the ethical timber trade, and also exposes communities in conflict with APP-linked companies to further harm. “We were led to believe that the outcome of the legal review would inform whether APP was eligible to re-enter the remedy process,” the Forest Peoples Programme, a U.K.-based campaign group, told Mongabay. “Proceeding in advance undermines trust in the process and diminishes the credibility of the review itself.” Log yard of Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp and Paper&#8217;s Indah Kiat pulp&#8217;s paper mill in Riau Province, Sumatra. In 2003, a lot of the logs used by the mill was obtained by large scale clearance of natural forest. Tangled corporate web APP is the main pulp and paper arm&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/pulp-and-paper-giant-app-moves-closer-to-regaining-fsc-stamp-despite-pending-review/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Indonesia reclaims forests from palm oil, smallholders bear brunt of enforcement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-indonesia-reclaims-forests-from-palm-oil-smallholders-bear-brunt-of-enforcement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-indonesia-reclaims-forests-from-palm-oil-smallholders-bear-brunt-of-enforcement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2025 10:05:08 +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/20/2025/07/30093053/ac37d07e0ed471387f81e726cd66eba9-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303403</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, Riau, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Social Conflict, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has launched a sweeping and militarized crackdown on illegal forest use, reclaiming millions of hectares of land — but civil society groups warn the campaign is displacing Indigenous peoples while sparing corporate offenders and entrenching land inequality. Under a regulation issued in January, President Prabowo Subianto established a task force to crack down on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has launched a sweeping and militarized crackdown on illegal forest use, reclaiming millions of hectares of land — but civil society groups warn the campaign is displacing Indigenous peoples while sparing corporate offenders and entrenching land inequality. Under a regulation issued in January, President Prabowo Subianto established a task force to crack down on illegal activities inside forest areas, such as oil palm cultivation and mining. Illegal oil palm plantations alone occupy a combined 3.37 million hectares (8.33 million acres) of forests, or an area larger than Belgium, and account for a significant portion of palm oil output in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of the commodity. Since its launch in February 2025, the task force has reclaimed 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) and handed over nearly half that land to a state-owned plantation company, PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara. This potentially creates what could be the world’s largest state-owned palm oil company by land area, and risks replacing private land monopolies with a state-owned one, critics say. Critics say the regulation makes no distinction between large-scale corporate activities and those of local communities, including Indigenous peoples who have historically faced tenure conflicts due to unilateral forest area designations. As a result, the crackdown has displaced Indigenous and local communities, while shielding large corporations, and transferred land to Agrinas without due process, according to an analysis by the country’s largest environmental NGO, Walhi. Illegal road leading to an oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. ‘Exploitative&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-indonesia-reclaims-forests-from-palm-oil-smallholders-bear-brunt-of-enforcement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303403</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Civil society challenges Indonesian deregulation law over rights and environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/civil-society-challenges-indonesian-deregulation-law-over-rights-and-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/civil-society-challenges-indonesian-deregulation-law-over-rights-and-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2025 10:42:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/21161207/IMG-20230907-WA0029-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303265</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Environmental Law, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Pollution, Social Conflict, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian civil society groups are challenging a controversial law they say enables forced evictions, weakens environmental protections, and encourages elite-driven megaprojects at the expense of ordinary citizens. Two major coalitions of NGOs and affected individuals have filed separate lawsuits with the Constitutional Court. Both suits, known as judicial reviews, tale aim at Indonesia’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian civil society groups are challenging a controversial law they say enables forced evictions, weakens environmental protections, and encourages elite-driven megaprojects at the expense of ordinary citizens. Two major coalitions of NGOs and affected individuals have filed separate lawsuits with the Constitutional Court. Both suits, known as judicial reviews, tale aim at Indonesia’s sweeping 2020 “omnibus law,” which critics say facilitates environmentally harmful and socially unjust megaprojects across the country. The omnibus law, formally the Job Creation Law, was introduced by then-President Joko Widodo as a deregulation package intended to attract investment. Passed in October 2020, it amended more than 70 existing laws covering sectors such as labor, environment, and business licensing. Despite near-universal opposition from environmental groups, labor unions, academics and students, the government pushed the law through parliament in just 167 days, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics warn it rolled back protections for workers and the environment in favor or business interests. In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled the law “procedurally unconstitutional” because of the way it was rushed through, citing a lack transparency and public consultation. Instead of scrapping the law, however, Widodo issued a regulation to reintroduce it. Parliament ratified this version in March 2023 — effectively relegitimizing a law previously deemed unconstitutional, and reigniting legal and civil society opposition, including the two new judicial reviews. Former Indonesian President Joko Widodo started his second day of visit in the Nusantara capital city by directly reviewing the Presidential Palace area, on Monday morning,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/civil-society-challenges-indonesian-deregulation-law-over-rights-and-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303265</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Batang coal plant’s seawater permit imperils marine life, fishing communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2025 03:39:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/25085441/ba9-IMG_8776.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303177</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian coal and Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Infrastructure, Land Grabbing, Marine, Ocean Warming, Politics, Sea Levels, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s marine ministry has approved one of Java’s largest coal plants to use vast amounts of seawater for cooling, prompting concerns from marine experts over the impact of heated discharge on coastal ecosystems and fisheries. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries on July 22 issued a permit for the utilization of seawater for non-energy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s marine ministry has approved one of Java’s largest coal plants to use vast amounts of seawater for cooling, prompting concerns from marine experts over the impact of heated discharge on coastal ecosystems and fisheries. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries on July 22 issued a permit for the utilization of seawater for non-energy purposes (ALSE) to PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI), the operator of the Batang coal-fired power plant in Central Java. The permit makes the Batang facility the first power plant in Java and the second in Indonesia to be legally authorized to manage seawater for industrial activities, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said the Batang plant utilized approximately 3 billion cubic meters (106 billion cubic feet) of seawater annually, primarily for cooling purposes, and such large-scale seawater use requires accountable management in accordance with government regulations. The ALSE permit regulates the use of seawater for non-energy industrial purposes, such as cooling, potable water production or other uses, according to the ministry. “This effort also supports transparency and accountability in sustainable marine industries,” Frista Yorhanita, the ministry’s director of marine resources, said in the statement. Unfavorable coastal conditions in Batang, Central Java, have made it increasingly difficult for fishers to operate. Image by Wulan Yanuarwati/Mongabay Indonesia. The Batang thermal coal plant began full operations in 2022 with a 2,000-megawatt capacity. As one of Java’s main power sources, it was built to boost Indonesia’s energy supply and support local economic growth. However, instead of improving&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Across Southeast Asia, Indigenous women challenge extraction and erasure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/across-southeast-asia-indigenous-women-challenge-extraction-and-erasure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/across-southeast-asia-indigenous-women-challenge-extraction-and-erasure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jul 2025 21:04:50 +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/20/2025/07/25170629/Lumads-hold-slogans-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303181</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Environment, Environmental Law, Gender, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Protests, Social Conflict, Social Justice, Violence, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A few years ago, Maria Suryanti Jun had idea little idea of what an environmental defender was. Nor did she have any intention of becoming one. But since December 2022, when a geothermal project was approved for her community in Poco Leok — which sits on an active volcano in the Indonesian province of East [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A few years ago, Maria Suryanti Jun had idea little idea of what an environmental defender was. Nor did she have any intention of becoming one. But since December 2022, when a geothermal project was approved for her community in Poco Leok — which sits on an active volcano in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara — Maria, now 46 years old, stepped up to advocate for her hometown. In a series of demonstrations against the project, funded by German development bank KfW, Maria and other Indigenous residents have protested what they feel is a lack of transparency from the project developers. This includes scant consultation with the community about the project and its environmental and cultural impacts. Today, Maria is one of the most prominent faces of the Poco Leok movement. But, as a woman and an Indigenous person, she has encountered numerous obstacles in her journey as an activist. Indigenous communities face disproportionately high levels of poverty and are also likely to be disproportionately affected by extractive projects, due to poverty, social marginalization and cultural and economic links to nature. In Southeast Asia, the rights and status of Indigenous communities are often not fully recognized by national governments. Women, meanwhile, are often doubly disadvantaged within and outside of their communities, due to traditional gender roles and limited opportunities for education or self-development. Maria and other women from Poco Leoka are at the forefront of opposing is an expansion of the controversial Ulumbu geothermal plant. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/across-southeast-asia-indigenous-women-challenge-extraction-and-erasure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303181</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hope and frustration as Indonesia pilots FSC’s logging remedy framework</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2025 10:34:20 +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/20/2020/03/04053319/Hutan-adat-Sihaporas-yang-hancur-dan-berubah-menjadi-pohon-eukaliptus-dalam-jumlah-banyak-yang-dikuasai-PT.-TPL-mengantongi-izin-konsesi-dari-pemerintah-Ayat-S-Karokaro-768x506.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302935</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Certification, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging. At stake is the credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) first-of-its-kind “remedy framework,” an ambitious mechanism that allows logging companies stripped of certification to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging. At stake is the credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) first-of-its-kind “remedy framework,” an ambitious mechanism that allows logging companies stripped of certification to regain it — but only if they repair the environmental and social damage they’ve caused. But early implementation has exposed cracks — particularly in how past harms are assessed. The FSC is the world’s most recognizable ethical wood certifier, whose logo of a green checkmark and tree is widely used to assure consumers of sustainable sourcing and appears on forestry products — from furniture to paper — worldwide. Under the remedy framework that was adopted in 2023, forestry companies can obtain or regain sustainability certificates if they remedy past environmental and social harms. Two of Indonesia’s largest forestry firms have entered this process, making the country a global testing ground for what could become a new model of corporate accountability, opening the door to restoring millions of hectares of forests, and bringing restitution to thousands of affected communities. FSC director-general Subhra Bhattacharjee told Mongabay that the Indonesian context will highlight the framework’s limitations and the need to customize it to local conditions, “because what works in Indonesia won&#8217;t necessarily work in another country — but the processes will.” Area of natural forest near a river cleared by PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL). Toba Pulp Lestari&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302935</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Strengthening global forest certification and delivering remedy: Interview with FSC’s Subhra Bhattacharjee</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/strengthening-global-forest-certification-and-delivering-remedy-interview-with-fscs-subhra-bhattacharjee/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/strengthening-global-forest-certification-and-delivering-remedy-interview-with-fscs-subhra-bhattacharjee/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2025 13:09:18 +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/20/2025/07/21130451/Subhra-B-Headshot-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302603</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Plantations, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forestry companies, including pulp and paper producers, have a long history of deforestation and social conflict in tropical countries like Indonesia. In Indonesia, millions of hectares of rainforest and peatland have been cleared to make way for industrial forest plantations, displacing thousands of communities from their customary lands in the process. To help ensure sustainable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forestry companies, including pulp and paper producers, have a long history of deforestation and social conflict in tropical countries like Indonesia. In Indonesia, millions of hectares of rainforest and peatland have been cleared to make way for industrial forest plantations, displacing thousands of communities from their customary lands in the process. To help ensure sustainable forestry practices, a voluntary global certification organization, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), was established in 1993 by a coalition of environmentalists, Indigenous groups, human rights advocates and timber industry players. Since then, FSC has grown into the world’s most recognizable ethical wood certifier. Its logo — a green checkmark and stylized tree — is widely used to assure consumers that forestry products are sourced sustainably. In 2022, Mongabay spoke with then-FSC director-general Kim Carstensen, who emphasized the need to strengthen the credibility and accountability of forest certification. Two years later, his successor, Subhra Bhattacharjee, is leading the FSC through one of its most ambitious reforms to date: the remedy framework. Adopted in 2023, the framework allows companies previously disassociated from FSC, including some responsible for major deforestation, to regain certification if they undertake credible efforts to redress past environmental and social harms. Indonesia, home to some of the most protracted and complex forestry conflicts in the tropics, is now the testing ground for this framework. Two of the world’s largest pulp and paper producers, including APRIL, are currently undergoing the remedy process. But a recent report by a coalition of NGOs — including Forest Peoples&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/strengthening-global-forest-certification-and-delivering-remedy-interview-with-fscs-subhra-bhattacharjee/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/strengthening-global-forest-certification-and-delivering-remedy-interview-with-fscs-subhra-bhattacharjee/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302603</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>UN calls out Indonesia’s Merauke food estate for displacing Indigenous communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/un-calls-out-indonesias-merauke-food-estate-for-displacing-indigenous-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/un-calls-out-indonesias-merauke-food-estate-for-displacing-indigenous-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2025 14:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/26040457/2-Aksi-Menolak-PSN-Merauke-Jkt-161024-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301288</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Food, food security, Forests, FPIC, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Plantations, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — United Nations rights officials have raised the alarm over alleged human rights abuses and environmental destruction linked to a massive plantation project in the Indonesian district of Merauke. Special rapporteurs to the U.N. human rights commission sent separate letters to the Indonesian government and a key project developer, PT Global Papua Abadi (GPA), [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — United Nations rights officials have raised the alarm over alleged human rights abuses and environmental destruction linked to a massive plantation project in the Indonesian district of Merauke. Special rapporteurs to the U.N. human rights commission sent separate letters to the Indonesian government and a key project developer, PT Global Papua Abadi (GPA), dated March 7, 2025, over allegations that they had displaced Indigenous communities, cleared forests without consent, and deployed military forces to quash dissent. Under the so-called Merauke food estate project, agribusiness giants have secured vast concessions to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land in Merauke, two-thirds of it for sugarcane plantations and the rest for rice fields. That amounts to an area 45 times the size of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. The current project builds on the earlier Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) program launched in 2010, which has been revived and expanded as a project of strategic national importance, or PSN. Crucially, PSN designation gives the government and approved developers eminent domain rights to evict communities from their land under the pretext of national interests. According to the letters, co-signed by nine U.N. special rapporteurs, the project has allegedly violated Indigenous peoples’ rights by not properly consulting them and thus failing to obtain their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). The rapporteurs warn that “more than 50,000 Indigenous people living in 40 villages around and within the project area will be directly affected by its implementation.” Vincent Kwipalo is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/un-calls-out-indonesias-merauke-food-estate-for-displacing-indigenous-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301288</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After terror attacks, Mozambique nature reserve faces ‘new reality’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/after-terror-attacks-mozambique-nature-reserve-faces-new-reality/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/after-terror-attacks-mozambique-nature-reserve-faces-new-reality/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2025 15:21:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/02125138/lions-mozambique-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300053</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Mozambique]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Organized Crime, Protected Areas, Social Conflict, Terrorism, Violence, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BERLIN — Islamist fighters affiliated with ISIS have left a Mozambican wildlife reserve following a series of deadly attacks that claimed the lives of at least 10 people, including two wildlife rangers, according to the head of the country’s National Administration of Conservation Areas. “We still have a challenging environment, but we have clear indications [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BERLIN — Islamist fighters affiliated with ISIS have left a Mozambican wildlife reserve following a series of deadly attacks that claimed the lives of at least 10 people, including two wildlife rangers, according to the head of the country’s National Administration of Conservation Areas. “We still have a challenging environment, but we have clear indications that the insurgents are moving out of the reserve,” Pejulo Calenga told local press last week. The attacks on April 29 targeted tourism and conservation facilities in northern Mozambique’s Niassa Special Reserve, forcing their closure as units of the Mozambican army deployed. Two rangers working with the Niassa Carnivore Project (NCP) remain missing. More than 30 Islamist fighters attacked the Mariri Environmental and Skills Training Centre, which houses the NCP, a conservation group that’s worked inside the reserve for more than 20 years. Most of the group’s staff had already been evacuated following a separate attack on a hunting safari camp 10 days earlier, but a contingent of rangers and Mozambican soldiers were still there when the rebels arrived. In an email to Mongabay, Colleen Begg, the NCP director, said she wasn’t sure when project staff would be able to return to work. “It seems like the insurgents have withdrawn from the Niassa Province portion of Niassa Reserve, but it is not known whether they are still in the eastern sections of Niassa Reserve across the Lugenda River in Cabo Delgado [province], or whether they intend to return,” she wrote. The fighters are members of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/after-terror-attacks-mozambique-nature-reserve-faces-new-reality/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>13 years after deadly attack, an okapi returns to Epulu in DRC reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/13-years-after-deadly-attack-an-okapi-returns-to-epulu-in-drc-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/13-years-after-deadly-attack-an-okapi-returns-to-epulu-in-drc-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 15:03:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Saïbe Kabila]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/14145502/Okapi_Bronx_Zoo-e1747235288139-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299090</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Social Conflict, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In February 2025, rangers at Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Okapi Conservation Project, successfully brought an okapi to Epulu, site of the reserve’s headquarters. It’s the first okapi (Okapia johnstoni) there in more than 10 years, after an armed attack killed killed seven people and the Epulu [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In February 2025, rangers at Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Okapi Conservation Project, successfully brought an okapi to Epulu, site of the reserve’s headquarters. It’s the first okapi (Okapia johnstoni) there in more than 10 years, after an armed attack killed killed seven people and the Epulu wildlife facility’s population of 14 captive okapis. The endangered okapi was captured near the city of Bunia and is now under the watch of the reserve’s rangers as it roams freely in Epulu. Park visitors may be lucky enough to see it again a decade later, if security conditions permit, sources say. &#8220;We welcome the return of the okapi with great joy after the tragedy in Epulu,&#8221; said Andy Kambale Matuku, coordinator of the environmental organization Journalist Friends of Nature in the DRC’s Ituri province, where the reserve is located. &#8220;The okapi is the pride of Mambasa [territory] and put us on the map. If it were to disappear, the Mambasa territory would be consigned to oblivion,&#8221; he said. An okapi at Bronx Zoo in the United States. Image by Ryan Schwark via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Okapis are popular in Ituri’s Mambasa region due to their reputation as clean animals, which makes them &#8220;a symbol of pride,&#8221; Dieudonné Lossa, a member of the local community and provincial coordinator of the REDD+ climate working group, told Mongabay. &#8220;The okapi is an animal of great cultural importance in Ituri; if you come across one in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/13-years-after-deadly-attack-an-okapi-returns-to-epulu-in-drc-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299090</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Military-backed plantation project in Indonesian Papua triggers rights concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/military-backed-plantation-project-in-indonesian-papua-triggers-rights-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/military-backed-plantation-project-in-indonesian-papua-triggers-rights-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2025 03:29:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/03084212/IMG-20240815-WA0068-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298369</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, agribusiness, Agriculture, Conflict, Deforestation, Environment, Food, food security, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Military, Rainforests, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s national human rights commission has found a slew of legal and rights violations in a government-backed project to establish large-scale plantations in the eastern region of Papua. The so-called food estate project, categorized by the government as being of strategic national importance, or PSN, aims to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s national human rights commission has found a slew of legal and rights violations in a government-backed project to establish large-scale plantations in the eastern region of Papua. The so-called food estate project, categorized by the government as being of strategic national importance, or PSN, aims to clear 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land in Merauke district, two-thirds of it for sugarcane plantations and the rest for rice fields — an area 45 times the size of Jakarta. The rights commission, known as Komnas HAM, launched an investigation after receiving complaints last year from four Indigenous tribes whose ancestral lands overlap with the food estate. The tribes — the Malind, Maklew, Khimaima and Yei — alleged that the project violated their land rights and impacted their livelihoods. Komnas HAM, which is funded by the government but operates independently, quizzed officials involved in the project from the local and national governments. Based on these inquiries, it said it had found indications of land grabbing, environmental degradation, militarization and intimidation. For one, Komnas HAM said the Indigenous communities hadn’t given consent to transfer or use their customary lands for the project. When the government zoned their areas for the food estate project, it never properly consulted them, the inquiry found. However, these communities lack strong legal standing to defend their territories, as their land rights aren’t formally recognized by the government. The only basis for their Indigenous territorial claims is participatory mapping — carried out by themselves — of their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/military-backed-plantation-project-in-indonesian-papua-triggers-rights-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298369</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Through colonization, conflicts and conservation: 100 years of Virunga National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/through-colonization-conflicts-and-conservation-100-years-of-virunga-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/through-colonization-conflicts-and-conservation-100-years-of-virunga-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2025 15:16:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/27204439/51722016148_654f8b73b2_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298237</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, National Parks, Resource Conflict, Social Conflict, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“For me, the 100th anniversary of Virunga National Park is the fruit of resistance. A peaceful resistance led by local activists [and] environmentalists,” says François Kamaté, environmental activist and founder of the local branch of Extinction Rebellion located in Rutshuru, on the edges of the park in Central Africa. Originally called Parc National Albert, Virunga [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“For me, the 100th anniversary of Virunga National Park is the fruit of resistance. A peaceful resistance led by local activists [and] environmentalists,” says François Kamaté, environmental activist and founder of the local branch of Extinction Rebellion located in Rutshuru, on the edges of the park in Central Africa. Originally called Parc National Albert, Virunga National Park (PNVi in French) was created on April 21, 1925, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the royal decree from Belgium, its then-colonizing nation. Virunga was the first national park in Africa. It was initially created to protect wildlife and the environment from human encroachment. “The idea, at the time, was to keep nature under wraps and avoid any form of human intervention. In other words, no fire, no logging, no intervention on animals, we let nature evolve,” says Jean-Pierre d’Huart, former scientific curator of the Virunga Park and co-editor of a book dedicated to the park’s centenary. More than just a place for research, the park became — during times of peace — a major tourist attraction in the region, especially due to its population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). Located in the Albertine Rift, on the border with Rwanda and Uganda, Virunga has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Covering an area of 790,000 hectares (1.95 million acres), the park is renowned for its rich fauna: In addition to mountain gorillas, it is home to endangered wildlife like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and the extremely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/through-colonization-conflicts-and-conservation-100-years-of-virunga-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/through-colonization-conflicts-and-conservation-100-years-of-virunga-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298237</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous communities in Indonesia demand halt to land-grabbing government projects</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-communities-in-indonesia-demand-halt-to-land-grabbing-government-projects/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-communities-in-indonesia-demand-halt-to-land-grabbing-government-projects/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2025 05:37:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/26052636/WhatsApp-Image-2025-03-18-at-12.10.12-r30zi6yx64lxuopi3pgd0070hlbk6ypvsgjv6ll8y0-768x500.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296480</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Environment, Food, Food Industry, food security, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Military, Plantations, Protests, Rainforests, Social Conflict, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Hundreds of Indigenous people and civil society groups in Indonesia are demanding an end to government projects that have seized their lands, fueled violence, and stripped them of their rights. In the second week of March, more than 250 members of Indigenous and local communities affected by projects classified as being of strategic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Hundreds of Indigenous people and civil society groups in Indonesia are demanding an end to government projects that have seized their lands, fueled violence, and stripped them of their rights. In the second week of March, more than 250 members of Indigenous and local communities affected by projects classified as being of strategic national importance, or PSN, gathered in Merauke, a district in Indonesia’s Papua region bordering Papua New Guinea. Over four days, attendees shared their experiences of displacement and suffering caused by PSN projects, which include roads, dams, power plants, industrial estates and plantations. The communities represented at the dialogue included those impacted by food estate projects in the provinces of North Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Papua and South Papua; the Rempang Eco City project in the Riau Islands province; the Nusantara capital city (IKN) project in East Kalimantan; the Poco Leok geothermal project in East Nusa Tenggara; extractive industries related to biofuel in Jambi; various projects in West Papua; and the expansion of oil palm plantations across the wider Papua region. Some community members have been displaced from their ancestral lands. Others, who continue fighting for their land rights, face violence at the hands of the military and police. According to the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), there were 154 PSN-related conflicts from 2020 to 2024, affecting 103,000 families and 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) received 114 complaints related to PSN between 2020 and 2023, including allegations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-communities-in-indonesia-demand-halt-to-land-grabbing-government-projects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296480</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More Indigenous peoples request consultation as controversial road paves through Peru’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-peoples-demand-consultation-as-controversial-road-paves-through-perus-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-peoples-demand-consultation-as-controversial-road-paves-through-perus-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2025 15:03:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/13114945/Peru-highway-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Crime, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, Roads, Social Conflict, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An ongoing federal highway project that will cross through protected areas and Indigenous lands in Peru’s Amazon is facing mounting concerns by Indigenous leaders and legal experts. Meant to help transport goods and people in the remote region, they say the highway will also help traffickers transport drugs, increase land invasions and put endangered wildlife [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An ongoing federal highway project that will cross through protected areas and Indigenous lands in Peru’s Amazon is facing mounting concerns by Indigenous leaders and legal experts. Meant to help transport goods and people in the remote region, they say the highway will also help traffickers transport drugs, increase land invasions and put endangered wildlife habitats in jeopardy. So far, impacts from the first stages of road construction have proven this to be the case. The 188-kilometer (117-mile) Bellavista-Mazán-Salvador-El Estrecho highway aims to connect the provinces of Maynas and Putumayo in Loreto with the district of El Estrecho in Colombia. Some residents say the road will allow them greater access to markets and health centers. However, Maijuna, Kichwa, Bora, Huitoto and other communities are concerned about the lack of consultation by the government, which will give them greater say on the road’s outcomes. Only one community has been approached so far, and more consultations may be to come. But the fact that some communities indirectly impacted by the road were not consulted leaves many doubtful, sources say. The first section of the road, which is now complete, runs from Peru’s Bellavista district to a town called Santo Tomás. Image by Vico Mendez / SPDA. “[The road] not only threatens the territory but also the customs, living beings and the natural resources within these boundaries,” José Murayari, the vice president of the Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Eastern Amazon (ORPIO), told Mongabay in a phone call. “We are not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-peoples-demand-consultation-as-controversial-road-paves-through-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-295733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>UN accuses Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil firm of rights &#038; environmental abuses</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/un-accuses-indonesias-no-2-palm-oil-firm-of-rights-environmental-abuses/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/un-accuses-indonesias-no-2-palm-oil-firm-of-rights-environmental-abuses/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Mar 2025 06:00:49 +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/20/2025/03/03053623/Screenshot-2025-03-03-123428-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295216</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, FPIC, Human Rights, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Social Conflict, Supply Chain, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The United Nations has called out Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil company for alleged human rights and environmental abuses, the first time it has singled out a company rather than the industry. Various U.N. agencies and officials have long highlighted issues within the palm oil industry in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The United Nations has called out Indonesia’s No. 2 palm oil company for alleged human rights and environmental abuses, the first time it has singled out a company rather than the industry. Various U.N. agencies and officials have long highlighted issues within the palm oil industry in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of the commodity, but this time the specific allegations are against PT Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), the second-largest palm oil company in the country. The allegations are laid out in letters sent in October 2024 by a group of U.N. special rapporteurs to AAL; its parent company, Astra International, one of Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates; Jardine Matheson, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate that’s Astra’s parent company; and representatives of the governments of Indonesia and China. The letters raise concerns about systemic human rights and environmental abuses linked to AAL’s palm oil production on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. For one, AAL and its subsidiaries allegedly operate without necessary permits on Indigenous ancestral lands and farming communities’ land, without the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the Indigenous residents and without meaningful consultation with the farming communities, the rapporteurs said. As a result, communities affected by AAL’s operations have repeatedly called on the company to return land taken without their consent over the past several years. But when affected communities peacefully protest against AAL, they’re often met with violence on the part of local police, military or private security forces hired by the company, the rapporteurs wrote. In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/un-accuses-indonesias-no-2-palm-oil-firm-of-rights-environmental-abuses/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lake Chad isn’t shrinking — but climate change is causing other problems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Feb 2025 22:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/28223327/woman-flood-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295179</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Conflict, Desertification, Deserts, Drought, Environment, Fishing, Flooding, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Gender, Global Warming, Grasslands, Green, Lakes, Land Conflict, Reforestation, Social Conflict, Trees, Tropical Forests, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The communities around Lake Chad have always lived by its water rhythms. Now, as climate change impacts intensify, they must find new ways to adapt. The Lake Chad Basin lies in the Sahel, on the southern edge of the Sahara. The basin is enormous, covering 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles), or 8% of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The communities around Lake Chad have always lived by its water rhythms. Now, as climate change impacts intensify, they must find new ways to adapt. The Lake Chad Basin lies in the Sahel, on the southern edge of the Sahara. The basin is enormous, covering 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles), or 8% of the African continent, straddling eight countries. Lake Chad sits at the end point of this drainage basin, an unexpected bounty of water in a dry land. An estimated 3 million people live near the lake, and 49 million more live in the basin and depend on its resources. The amount of water in Lake Chad is closely linked to climate as it’s in a closed drainage system, with rivers leading into, but not out of, the lake. The volume of water going into the lake — via the Chari, Logone and other rivers — largely depends on the amount of rain in the catchment area. As the lake is wide and shallow, currently averaging less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) in depth, changes in rainfall have a dramatic effect on its size. The lake swells and recedes seasonally and between years. But the most dramatic changes happen over decades. Lake Chad straddles four countries: Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. Image captured Dec. 2024 by Planet Labs. In the 1960s, Lake Chad’s waters covered 25,000 km2 (9,653 mi2), making it the sixth-largest lake in the world. Then, in the 1970s and ‘80s, as drought gripped the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lake-chad-isnt-shrinking-but-climate-change-is-causing-other-problems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295179</doi>				</item>
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