Mongabay seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics,and finance on conservation and development.
Deforestation in West Papua, Indonesia, in 2014 (Flickr/EU FLEGT and REDD+ facilities)
The threats facing Indigenous people opposing industrial operations on their lands discrimination, harassment and assassination all disproportionately affect women. And the coronavirus pandemic has done little to reduce the danger, say Indigenous and faith leaders. Indigenous women human rights defenders are at the forefront of the resistance against the effects of extractive industries and, more generally, the model relying on the exploitation of natural resources, including through mining, logging, [agricultural] monocultures and dams, Sandra Epal-Ratjen, international advocacy director for Franciscans International, said at a virtual event April 26.
The webinar sponsored by Franciscans International, which brought together United Nations officials with Indigenous leaders from Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Guatemala, coincided with the 20th session of the U.N. Perma
Landmark decision: Brazil Supreme Court sides with Indigenous land rights
by Ana Ionova on 13 April 2021
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) has unanimously accepted an appeal by the Guarani Kaiowá Indigenous people and agreed to review the process around a past case that cancelled the demarcation of their Indigenous territory.
The Guarani Kaiowá’s decades-long fight for land rights to their ancestral territory, the Guyraroká land in Mato Grosso do Sul state, had been suspended by a 2014 ruling halting the territory’s demarcation process.
The STF’s decision to review the process in the 2014 case, which hadn’t allowed for Indigenous consultation, is seen by analysts as a victory for Indigenous groups in Brazil, and as a setback for President Jair Bolsonaro who has declared his opposition to any Indigenous demarcation occurring during his administration.