indigenous rights

A new study has affirmed the growing and long overdue awareness among scientists and conservationists that Indigenous societies are the best caretakers of biodiversity. The new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month, looked at maps of human habitation over the last 12,000 years and found that almost three-quarters […]

By Michel Penke More than every second person in the world now has a cellphone, and manufacturers are rolling out bigger, better, slicker models all the time. Many, however, have a bloody history. Though made in large part of plastic, glass, ceramics, gold and copper, they also contain critical resources. The gallium used for LEDs […]

By Jessica Corbett Indigenous leaders and climate campaigners on Friday blasted President Joe Biden’s refusal to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline during a court-ordered environmental review, which critics framed as a betrayal of his campaign promises to improve tribal relations and transition the country to clean energy. “Biden’s inaction to protect our fragile ecosystems, […]

By Brett Wilkins A pair of Indigenous land defenders locked themselves to equipment at a fossil fuel pumping station in British Columbia on Saturday, vowing to continue resisting a government-owned oil pipeline that is harming the climate, the environment, and First Nations peoples whose unceded lands it traverses. The pipeline protesters — self-described on social […]

By Brett Wilkins In what Indigenous and environmental activists hailed as a testament to the power of grassroots organizing, a leading U.S. fossil fuel company on Monday announced the cancellation of a planned fracked natural gas terminal in southern Texas. Reuters reports liquefied natural gas developer Annova LNG said it will immediately discontinue work on […]

By Jessica Corbett A diverse coalition of progressive and Indigenous figures and organizations on Monday celebrated the Senate’s confirmation of Deb Haaland to head the Department of the Interior — making the New Mexico Democrat and Green New Deal supporter the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history. She was confirmed by a 51-40 […]

By Tara Lohan One of President Joe Biden’s first acts in office put an end to a decade-long fight over the Keystone XL — a pipeline that would have carried climate-polluting tar sands from Alberta, Canada into the United States. Biden’s Executive Order said the Keystone XL’s approval “would undermine U.S. climate leadership” and that […]

Aiming to preserve 30 percent of the world’s land and water by 2030, dozens of countries will take part in a UN biodiversity conference later this year – but Indigenous people won’t have a seat at the table. Indigenous communities have repeatedly mobilized to block logging, mining and overfishing, with great success. More than a […]