Mangroves in the Philippine city of Tacloban, the area hit hardest by one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, have recovered and even expanded beyond their pre-disaster extent, thanks…
In the cool highlands of Indonesia’s Flores Island, where mist settles over rice fields and coffee gardens, the Manggarai people have cultivated a close relationship with the forest. Their land…
After two weeks of negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the COP30 U.N. climate summit delivered mixed outcomes, Indigenous delegates say. The event saw the largest Indigenous participation in COP history and…
BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — A growing coalition of Indigenous communities, students and civil society organizations from Borneo is rallying against fast-moving plans to establish a new national park in the remote…
As the Brazilian city of Belém prepares for this year’s U.N. climate conference, COP30, Indigenous leaders worldwide say they’re getting ready to have their demands addressed. Dubbed the “nature COP”…
HUAY EE KHANG, Thailand — “Do you hear the birds calling?” asks Noraeri Thungmueangthong, as the vibrant trill of a blue-throated barbet rings through the pine trees looming up ahead.…
KATHMANDU — When the monsoon arrives in Jhumlabang village in Nepal’s far west, 35-year-old Til Kumari B.K. spends hours in the community forest harvesting mushrooms. The rest of the year,…
Four years after several governments and private funders pledged $1.7 billion at the COP26 U.N. climate summit to support the land tenure rights of Indigenous and local communities, funders have…
A new report, published ahead of the International Day of Indigenous Women on Sept. 5, analyzed structural barriers faced by Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other local community women’s organizations in accessing…
Rainforests have long played a central role in Liberia. Home to hundreds of thousands of people, they’re a source of sustenance, a site for cultural practice and habitat for forest…
Around half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in the small coastal nation of Liberia. They’re home to species like western chimpanzees and pygmy hippos, valuable stands of hardwood —…
CHIANG MAI, Thailand — During the second half of the 20th century, Thailand’s forest cover plummeted from around 50% to 25% due to urbanization and rapid economic development. Although legislation…
KATHMANDU — A decade ago, people from Salija village in western Nepal traveled several hours into the uphill forests to gather firewood and feed for their livestock, Shakhamani Khorja recalls.…
MARERENI, Kenya — The scorching afternoon sun stretches across the semiarid landscape of Marereni, in Kenya’s Kilifi county, where salt and sea shape both the land and the lives that…
At the world’s first global congress of Indigenous peoples and local communities from forest basins, representatives began preparations to increase direct finance to community forest conservation — especially in the…
The vital role forests play in providing habitat for biodiversity, storing carbon and supporting cultures also buttresses global society economically and socially, according to a new report by authors at…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Supreme Court has refused to extend the suspension of a controversial cable car project at a pilgrimage site in the country’s eastern hills, sparking concerns of confrontation…
ÑÜRÜM, Panama — Isidrio Hernandez-Ruiz has a soft spot for the bright yellow flowers of the guayacan trumpet tree (Handroanthus guayacan), a native species that blooms across Panama each spring.…
SOUTH SIBERUT, Indonesia — As night falls over the Siberut jungle, a fire crackles inside the Tateburuk clan’s wooden home, or uma. The walls are covered in traditional Mentawai carvings…
BANGKOK — Ouk Mao, a Cambodian environmental journalist, was reporting on the continued logging of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when he was attacked on March 24 by a group of men…
An absence of government legal and policy reforms is impacting the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant peoples and local communities associated with carbon programs in 33 countries in Asia, Africa and…
KATHMANDU — The environmental impact assessment for a controversial cable car project in an area of Nepal held sacred by Indigenous communities has been found to be riddled with errors…
The women of Chelem, a fishing community on the northern coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán, hadn’t planned to work in mangrove restoration. At first, it was simply an…
BASRA, Iraq — The air in Basra carries a strange weight: part saline mist from the nearby Persian Gulf and part acrid smoke from the towering oil refineries that loom…
MEKAR RAYA, Indonesia — Yulius Yogi kneels under the forest canopy here on the island of Borneo, surveying land he plans to reclaim for his Dayak Simpan Indigenous community. “Our…
For Indigenous peoples and local communities across Central and South America, financial opportunities from voluntary carbon markets come with both benefits and risks. Working with the Rainforest Foundation Norway and…
KASESE DISTRICT, Uganda — In western Uganda’s Kasese district, where the Rwenzori Mountains meet the sprawling plains of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Janet Nyakairu Abwoli is on a mission to…
A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people…
Indigenous and local knowledge systems’ ability to nurture human-nature interconnection can play an important role in creating the type of transformative change needed to address the underlying causes of biodiversity…
When David Borbón first arrived in the village of El Delgadito in 1980, it was a paradise with seemingly unlimited natural resources. He continued to return seasonally to fish for…
KATHMANDU — In October 2019, Nepal’s government introduced a new Forest Act. The law laid the basis for the establishment of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) with an extensive mandate…
Amid Myanmar’s ongoing civil war, Karen and other ethnic minority communities have officially launched the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park, a new community-led conservation area in the northern Kayin state. The…
