Indigenous groups held protests Nov. 14 in Belém, blocking the main entrance to the restricted area at the UN Climate Summit (COP30) to demand that the Brazilian government halt extractive projects that jeopardize their cultures and livelihoods.

A comprehensive global report on "uncontacted" indigenous peoples, published Oct. 27 by UK-based Survival International estimates that the world still holds at least 196 uncontacted or isolated peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Nine out of 10 of these groups face the threat of unwanted contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling. It's estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups. After contact, indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International found that unless governments and private companies act to protect them, half of these groups could be wiped out within 10 years.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Oct. 23 announced that he will open the entire 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas leasing. These lands are sacred to the Gwich'in Nation, home to irreplaceable wildlife, and have never seen industrialization.

In an action taken during a government shutdown, the Department of Interior (DoI) held a press conference to announce a series of resource development decisions aimed at opening up Alaska for the benefit of corporate interests. A key announcement was the rescission of the Biden administration's restrictive drilling program for the refuge. The DoI is now essentially replacing that program with the previous Trump-era plan to fully open the Coastal Plain of the ANWR to oil and gas development.

Peru's Congress voted on Oct. 9 to remove President Dina Boluarte from office for "moral incapacity" after a late-night session to debate her impeachment. Lawmakers ultimately voted 122-0 to remove Boluarte. She was replaced by congressional leader José Jerí. The impeachment proceedings were initiated after various lawmakers brought allegations of corruption and excessive use of force against protesters. Boluarte's lawyer claimed to have received only 50 minutes between notification and the hearing. Boluarte chose not to attend Congress to present her defense, citing procedural violations. (Jurist)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Zambian authorities Sept. 11 to investigate the consequences of acid released into a river following the rupture of a dam holding mining waste, which has polluted local soils and affected the livelihoods of citizens.  

The New York chapter of Students for a Free Tibet held a rally outside the Chinese consulate in Manhattan Sept. 4 to demand freedom for A-Nya Sengdra, an imprisoned Tibetan nomad leader and ecologist. Sengdra, who had long campaigned against corruption, illegal mining and wildlife poaching, was arrested in September 2018 by the Gade County Public Security Bureau in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province (part of the Tibetan region of Amdo), and charged with the usual offenses of "gathering people to disturb public order" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." Convictions follow as a matter of course in such cases, and Sengdra spent the next seven years in near-total isolation, suffering severe deterioration of his health. He had initially been scheduled for release the day before the rally, but weeks earlier authorities brought new charges against him while he was still imprisoned, extending his sentence through February 2026.

Escalating violence in Indonesia's West Papua region is threatening the security of the largely indigenous population amid intensified clashes between Indonesian security forces and separatist rebels, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned May 29. Military operations in the densely forested Central Highlands have resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians due to drone strikes and the indiscriminate use of explosive munitions, forcing thousands of indigenous Papuans to flee their homes.

Global forest loss surged to record highs in 2024, driven by a catastrophic rise in fires, according to new data from the University of Maryland's Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) Lab, made available May 20 on the World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch platform. Loss of tropical primary forests alone reached 6.7 million hectares—nearly twice as much as in 2023 and an area nearly the size of Panama, at a rate of 18 soccer fields each minute. For the first time on record, fires—not agriculture—were the leading cause of tropical primary forest loss, accounting for nearly 50% of all destruction. This marks a dramatic shift from recent years, when fires averaged just 20%. Yet, tropical primary forest loss driven by other causes also jumped by 14%, the sharpest increase since 2016. (WRI)