Lula vows to win ‘war’ against illegal miners invading Indigenous lands

Brazil president hosts summit amid criticism that easing of crackdown had allowed outsiders to return to forest areas

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has insisted his government must not lose the “war” against the environmental criminals devastating Indigenous lands in the Amazon after claims that thousands of illegal miners were resisting eviction from the country’s biggest such territory.

After taking power last January, Lula made expelling an estimated 20,000 gold and tin ore prospectors from the Yanomami Indigenous territory a top priority after four years of Amazon destruction under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Environmental special forces and federal police teams were sent deep into the region’s remote jungles as part of a supposedly historic crackdown.

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Taiwan braces for ‘big deal’ presidential election as China’s shadow looms

Corruption and the cost of living have trumped concerns about a belligerent neighbour in close race for the presidency

Deep in the mountains of Hsinchu county in north Taiwan, a few dozen residents of Smangus are holding their daily morning meeting in a weatherboard hut, overlooking the towering peaks nearby.

The remote Indigenous village, home to about 200 Atayal people, is preparing for Saturday’s presidential election. They take it very seriously, running their own polling station since 2008, and discussing candidates with all the residents.

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Howard government worked with Canada to oppose UN declaration on Indigenous rights

Cabinet papers from 2003 show the government pursued talks without consulting peak Indigenous body – which it then abolished

The Howard government fought strongly against recognising the right of Indigenous peoples to “self-determination” and worked secretly with Canada to try to change a draft UN declaration, newly released cabinet papers show.

The cabinet papers from 2003, released by the National Archives on Monday, show that some Australian government departments held concerns about potential impacts of the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples, but Australia’s talks with Canada on amendments were being pursued with “no Indigenous consultation about the process or its product” as such input would be “premature”.

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Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force

‘Time marker’ legislation means Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to lands they occupied in 1988, invalidating scores of claims

A controversial law curtailing Indigenous rights in Brazil has come into force, marking a victory for the powerful agribusiness caucus in congress.

The new legislation upholds the so-called “time marker” theory (marco temporal), which establishes that Indigenous peoples can only lay claim to land they physically occupied as of October 1988, when the current constitution was promulgated.

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Illegal mining on rise again in Amazon, says Yanomami leader

Activist Davi Kopenawa says miners are returning after eviction operations were scaled back, and others never left

Thousands of illegal miners are resisting government attempts to evict them from Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory, the renowned activist and shaman Davi Kopenawa has said, nearly a year after operations to displace them began.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made expelling an estimated 20,000 illegal gold and tin ore miners from the Yanomami Indigenous territory one of his top tasks after taking power last January.

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The Crown promised riches to First Nations in Canada – over 150 years on, they could finally get billions

In northern Ontario, a dozen First Nations have been left struggling. A court’s attempt at compensation could see them getting up to C$126bn

Only 25 miles of road lie between the northern Ontario town of Terrace Bay and Pays Plat First Nation. But when Raymond Goodchild was growing up, that distance spanned entire worlds.

Terrace Bay in the 1960s was often smothered by a thick smoke billowing from pulp mills. As in much of postwar Canada, industry thrived and jobs were plentiful. Roads and sidewalks were paved, and homes glowed at night with electric lighting.

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Honduras: arrest warrant issued over murder of activist Berta Cáceres

Indigenous and environmental leader was shot in 2016 after campaigning to stop construction of an internationally financed dam

Authorities in Honduras have issued an arrest warrant for the alleged mastermind in the case of the murdered Indigenous environmental leader Berta Cáceres.

Cáceres was gunned down in her home in March 2016 in retaliation for leading a campaign to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam.

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‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now

The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions

The continued destruction of nature across the planet will result in major shocks to food supplies and safe water, the disappearance of unique species and the loss of landscapes central to human culture and leisure by the middle of this century, experts have warned.

By 2050, if humanity does not follow through on commitments to tackle the five main drivers of nature loss critical natural systems could break down just as the human population is projected to peak.

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Muscogee Nation sues Tulsa, Oklahoma, for ticketing drivers within reservation

Tribe says city has been breaking federal law by continuing to ticket Native Americans within sovereign boundaries

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, arguing that police are continuing to ticket Native American drivers within the tribe’s reservation boundaries, despite a recent federal appeals court ruling they lacked jurisdiction to do so.

The tribe filed the lawsuit in federal court in Tulsa against the city; the mayor, GT Bynum; the chief of police, Wendell Franklin; and the city attorney, Jack Blair.

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Sámi call to protect reindeer in Sweden after 10,000 road deaths in five years

Indigenous people’s parliament says action required including lower speed limits and more fences

Sweden’s Sámi parliament is calling for more protection for reindeer after more than 10,000 were killed by motorists in the last five years, turning roadsides into “animal graveyards”.

According to police, between October 2018 and October 2023 there were more than 10,000 road accidents in northern Sweden involving at least one reindeer, meaning the number killed is likely to be far higher.

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‘We are living in absolute fear’: call to stop Indigenous evictions in Rift Valley

Human rights groups demand Kenyan government halt forced evictions of Ogiek community from Mau forest

Human rights groups are calling for the Kenyan government to halt forced evictions of the Indigenous Ogiek community from their ancestral land in the Rift Valley.

“We are calling for an immediate cessation of ongoing demolitions and the evictions,” said Cyrus Maweu, deputy director of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

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Buffy Sainte-Marie Indigenous roots controversy rocks Canada First Nations

New documentary threatens to tarnish folk singer’s reputation as a cultural icon who fought tirelessly for social justice movements

Allegations in a documentary that the popular American folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie misrepresented her Indigenous roots have rattled First Nations communities in Canada, where she claims to have been born, highlighting the complex legacy of an artist whose decades-long career is defined by advocating for Indigenous rights.

Sainte-Marie describes herself as a “Cree singer-songwriter” has long traced her identity to the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, where she claims she was born in 1941. Sainte-Marie says she was taken from her biological mother when she was an infant and raised by a white family in the US.

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Buffy Sainte-Marie denies allegations she misled public about Indigenous ancestry

Singer calls allegations ‘deeply hurtful’ after documentary questions ‘shifting narrative’ surrounding her Cree roots

Folk singer and social justice advocate Buffy Sainte-Marie has denied allegations that she misled the public about her Indigenous ancestry, after a Canadian documentary questioned the “shifting narrative” surrounding her Cree roots.

On Friday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s investigative wing, the Fifth Estate, published an investigation into the singer’s ancestry, alleging her life story is part of a broader narrative “full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies”.

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Demonstration in Oslo seeks removal of windfarms in Indigenous region

Campaigners use traditional Sámi tents to block roads in Norwegian capital in protest against turbines on reindeer pastures

Hundreds of Indigenous and environmental campaigners have blocked a main thoroughfare in Oslo to demand the demolition of two windfarms that have been described by the Norwegian government as a “violation of human rights”.

The Wednesday protest traces its roots to a landmark 2021 decision by Norway’s supreme court that found 151 wind turbines in the western region of Fosen had trampled on the rights of Sámi reindeer herders by encroaching on their pastures.

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Indigenous party says it is barred from running in Nicaragua elections

Banning of Yatama party leaves ruling Sandinistas unchallenged in upcoming elections

Nicaraguan electoral authorities have barred an Indigenous party that has clashed with President Daniel Ortega in the past, leaving the ruling Sandinistas with no opposition in upcoming local elections in two regions.

The Yatama party has been disqualified from participating in all future elections, including a local vote scheduled for March, according to a Facebook post by Sammy Allen Cubero, a Yatama youth leader.

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Canada’s first First Nations premier elected in Manitoba province

Voters elect Wab Kinew, 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party and a former rapper and broadcast journalist

The Canadian province of Manitoba has elected the country’s first First Nations premier, handing the progressive leader a legislative majority following a contentious election campaign.

Wab Kinew, the 41-year-old leader of the leftwing New Democratic party, has led the province’s party since 2017. A former rapper, broadcast journalist and university administrator, Kinew said his newly-elected government will focus on re-opening three emergency rooms shuttered in recent years. He also said the province would invest in more social housing.

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Brazil expels illegal settlers from Indigenous lands in Amazon

Thousands affected as government vows to stamp out land grabs in protected areas

Brazil’s government has begun removing thousands of non-Indigenous people from two native territories in a move that will affect thousands who live in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

The Brazilian intelligence agency ABIN said in a statement that the goal was to return the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacaja lands in Para state to the original peoples. It did not say whether or not the expulsion of non-Indigenous people had been entirely peaceful.

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Brazil supreme court rules in favor of Indigenous land rights in historic win

Court voted against agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988

Brazil’s supreme court has blocked efforts to dramatically strip back Indigenous land rights in what activists called a historic victory for the South American country’s original inhabitants.

Nine of the court’s 11 members voted against what rights groups had dubbed the “time limit trick” – an agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent Indigenous communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988.

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Colorado mountain honoring governor who led Indigenous massacre renamed

Members of US Board on Geographic Names voted to change name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue sky at request of tribes

Federal US officials renamed a Colorado mountain that was previously named after a disgraced governor of the state who led a massacre against Indigenous people.

Members of the US Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky, at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

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Unesco removes ‘hurtful’ document claiming Tasmanian Aboriginal people ‘extinct’

Inaccurate statement by the International Union for Conservation of Nature made as part of the 1982 process for world heritage status for Tasmanian wilderness area

A UN agency was forced to remove a “hurtful” document that for more than 40 years publicly claimed Tasmanian Aboriginal people were extinct.

The inaccurate claim, stating that “Tasmanians are now an extinct race of humans”, was made as part of the nomination process for the declaration of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and its addition to the world heritage list in 1982.

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