Indigenous rights & well-being

Aerial view of river

The Yurok Tribe reclaims 17,000 acres of stolen land in California’s largest-ever landback deal

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The Yurok people have lived along the Klamath River in Northern California for millennia. But when the California gold rush began, the tribe lost 90% of its territory. For the last two decades, the tribe has worked with the nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy to get its land back. The 17,000 acres compose the final parcel of a $56 million, 47,097-acre land transfer that effectively doubles the tribe’s land holdings. The tribe has already designated the land as a salmon sanctuary and community forest and plans to put it into a trust.

Amazon rainforest burning

Brazilian judge orders seizure of illegally cleared lands in the Amazon

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Justice Flávio Dino of the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed. By one estimate, more than half of the forest lost in the Brazilian Amazon has been on private lands. The ruling also calls for halting the process known as regularization, by which land grabbers are granted title to stolen lands, even when they have illegally destroyed forest on those lands. The decision, which may be appealed, further requires the government to seek compensation from landowners who have destroyed forest.

Morning fog over the brazilian rainforest in Brazil

Colombia creates landmark territory to protect uncontacted Indigenous groups

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Colombia has created a first-of-its-kind territory meant to protect a group of Indigenous people living between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers in the Amazon Rainforest. The 2.7-million-acre territory is the first in the country specifically designed for people living in isolation. The Yuri-Passé people have faced increasing pressure from illegal mining and organized crime groups, forcing neighboring Indigenous communities to reach out to the government on their behalf. The creation of the territory follows years of advocacy by human rights and conservation groups.

Prairie Land Potawatomi Nation's Chief Shab-eh-nay

Illinois returns stolen land to Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation

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The Prairie Land Potawatomi Nation has reclaimed land in Illinois that was promised to the tribe’s leader 175 years ago but stolen by the federal government 20 years later. A law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last week transferred Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, 1,500 acres in north-central Illinois. “We are proud to once again call this land home,” said Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation based in Mayetta, Kansas.

Amazon

Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku Indigenous land sees success

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Since November 2024, government agents have carried out 523 actions, destroying 90 camps, 15 vessels, 27 heavy machinery, and 224 engines. The coordinated government effort caused losses of $1.9 million USD to criminals. The 5.9-million-acre Munduruku Indigenous Territory, home to 6,500 people, is one of the lands that has been hardest hit by illegal mining in the country. During Bolsonaro’s administration, there was a 363% increase in the area degraded by mining which brought diseases, mercury contamination, attacks, and deaths to communities.

Haida Gwaii cove

Haida celebrate title agreement that enshrines right to control their own destiny

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The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the Haida Gwaii islands’ lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark. It will transition the Crown-title land owned by Canada to the Haida people, granting them an inherent legal right to the land. Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, said the agreement was the culmination of “well over 100 years of political mobilization by the Haida Nation.”

Brazilian Indigenous protest victory

Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools

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After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. According to Indigenous leaders and the local teachers’ union, the law eliminated the existing education framework, cut teachers’ incomes, including a transportation allowance for teachers to reach remote communities.

A Aerial Photo Of Fredericksburg Va on a clear fall day

Rappahannock Tribe first in U.S. to enshrine rights of nature into constitution

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The Rappahannock Tribe in Virginia has become the first tribal nation in the U.S. to adopt a tribal constitution that grants legal rights to a river, specifically protecting the Rappahannock River’s rights to exist, flourish, and maintain clean water. The provisions allows legal cases on behalf of the river itself, with a tribal court system planned for 2025 to enforce these rights. The Rappahannock’s actions are part of a rights-of-nature movement that includes Ecuador’s constitutional recognition of these rights in 2008 and New Zealand granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River in 2017.

Teepees under the northern lights

Indigenous governments in the Canada’s Northwest Territories sign $375M deal to protect their land

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Canada’s federal government contributed $300 million to the initiative, while private donors contributed $75 million. Funds are expected to be received starting in mid-2025 and flow for 10 years after that. The funds can be used to establish new protected and conservation areas as identified by Indigenous governments and to support guardian and stewardship programs. The money can also be used for things like eco-tourism and traditional economic activities, climate research, and on-the-land language and culture programs . It’s one of the largest Indigenous-led conservation efforts in the world, according to a news release.

Biden delivers “long overdue” formal apology in Arizona for Indian boarding school atrocities

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President Biden has issued a formal presidential apology to Native American communities for the atrocities committed against Indigenous children and their families during a 150-year era of forced federal Indian boarding schools. “After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program,” the president said. “But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened — until today. I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did.”

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