Héctor Manuel Choc Cuz, the nephew of prominent land rights activists, dreamed of becoming a professional mechanic when he got older. But the 18-year-old Maya Q’eqchi’ youth’s aspirations were cut…
UBATUBA, Brazil - A strip of land in southeast Brazil that straddles the space between the mountain range of Serra do Mar and the Atlantic Ocean is arguably one of…
Indigenous and environmental activist Saw O Moo was reportedly killed in Myanmar’s Karen State on April 5. According to the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN), Saw O Moo,…
Suspected members of an armed militia ambushed and killed five rangers and a driver in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, park authorities said, in…
There are two versions of the story, and both of them are true. In one version, Conservation International (CI) is an idealistic, energetic and challenging place to work and grow…
QUITO, Ecuador - Nearly 100 indigenous women of the Ecuadorian Amazon spent five days protesting outside the country’s Presidential Palace last week. They were demanding a meeting with President Lenin…
After Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights, was included on a list of some 600 people the government of her native Philippines wants declared as terrorists,…
The struggle to protect the land and the environment in Latin America often costs lives. In 2017 alone, 116 environmental defenders were killed in the region, most of them for…
A photograph of Berta Cáceres, a Honduran national who was murdered two years ago for fighting against a controversial hydroelectric project, stood out at the negotiating table in Escazú, Costa…
PUYO, Ecuador – About 350 Indigenous women from across the Ecuadorian Amazon gathered here yesterday to celebrate International Women’s Day, and, they say, to fight back against a system that…
CARMEN DEL DARIEN, Colombia - Community leaders in Colombia’s western Chocó are calling on the government to provide security after receiving ongoing threats from individuals they accuse of working for local…
On March 2 Honduran authorities arrested a hydroelectric company executive they say orchestrated the murder of indigenous activist Berta Cáceres two years earlier to the day. David Castillo Mejía is…
Kavous Seyed Emami, a professor of sociology and a director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, died in Tehran’s Evin Prison earlier this month. Iranian authorities said he committed suicide after…
Land defenders around the world are increasingly being targeted for murder, according to an annual data analysis by The Guardian and Global Witness. According to the 2017 data, released in…
MONTES DE MARIA, Colombia - Under a cloudless sky and a baking sun in late January, Argemiros Capela, 76, pointed to a patch of scrubland on his lot that had…
On Tuesday, a Vietnamese court sentenced Hoang Duc Binh to 14 years in prison for activism related to a chemical spill that resulted in a massive fish kill in 2016.…
Esmond Bradley Martin, a well-known elephant and rhino conservationist, has been found dead, apparently of a stab wound to his neck, according to multiple media reports. His wife, Chryssee, found…
Far away from the red carpets of Hollywood, an aspiring scientist in Guyana, South America, is being discouraged by her parents from going on a field trip because of worries…
Three people have been shot and killed by soldiers in northeastern Cambodia, according to officials as reported by The Associated Press. Those killed were a conservation worker, a military policy…
KAMPOT, Cambodia — As the Trapeang Sangke estuary opens up into the Gulf of Thailand, the dense green mangroves that line its edges taper off in stages, from thick, full-grown…
Prominent government glacier researcher and four former Argentine environment secretaries charged with negligence in glacier studies that allegedly resulted in mine toxic spills.
QUITO, Ecuador – Indigenous communities in Ecuador celebrated this week after President Lenin Moreno announced Monday that the government would come down harder on oil and mining companies that don’t…
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – A Vietnamese court has sentenced 22-year-old Nguyen Van Hoa, an independent journalist and blogger, to seven years in prison on November 27. His imprisonment will…
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Last week, an environmental activist in southeast Madagascar was convicted, sentenced to two years in prison — and immediately released on parole. This follows a recent pattern…
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar -- In Madagascar, speaking out against corporate wrongdoing or government corruption can be dangerous business. So it took some courage for Raleva, a 61-year-old farmer, to stand up…
A brief legal battle related to the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project in western Panama concluded late last month in a rare triumph for the impacted indigenous communities who have opposed…
The 2017 finalists for the biannual Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival competition have been announced. Drawn from a pool of over 1,000 entries competing for only 25 awards, finalists include…
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - One of Africa’s top ivory trade investigators has been shot dead by gunmen in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Wayne Lotter was the co-founder and President…
Last year, London-based NGO Global Witness published a report that showed 2015 was the deadliest year for defenders of the environment since the group started tracking killings of activists in…
MUNICIPALITY OF ALTAMIRA , Brazil – Brazil has made headlines recently for almost entirely negative reasons — whether it is the on-going corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash, which has…