Conservation and indigenous people
News, comment and features on how development projects affect indigenous people and their environment, and what can be done to achieve greater harmony between the two
The Guardian picture essay
In the footsteps of tigers: the all-women patrol team protecting Sumatra’s rainforestThe Leuser ecosystem is the only place in the world where tigers, elephants, orangutans and rhinos coexist in the wild, and Indigenous female rangers are at the heart of its protection
Seascape: the state of our oceans
‘It was like the wild west’: meet the First Nations guardians protecting Canada’s pristine shoresFrom crab monitoring and bear patrols to rescue operations, the watchmen are the official eyes and ears of indigenous communities
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
‘Without them, the city would be lost’: the art of preserving Mexico City’s ancient floating gardensThe Mexican capital’s Unesco-listed wetlands are being brought back to life by the Indigenous chinamperos, who are striving to overcome the effects of urbanisation and the climate crisis
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
‘Moai designs are getting lost’: extreme weather chips away at Easter Island statuesExperts call for conservation action as the features on Rapa Nui’s famous monoliths are eroded by fire and rain
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
‘We can’t hunt or fish’: the villages in Ecuador’s Amazon surrounded by abandoned explosivesIn 2002, high explosives were laid in oil wells across 20 sq km of forest. The firm has gone but the pentolite remains, despite a court ruling, putting lives and the ecosystem at risk
The age of extinction
‘We don’t know where the money is going’: the ‘carbon cowboys’ making millions from credit schemesCarbon schemes are touted as a way to transfer billions in climate finance to the developing world – but people at the Kariba project in Zimbabwe say most of the profits never arrive
India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe
Exclusive: $9bn port, airport and military base on Great Nicobar Island will cause ‘genocide’ of isolated Shompen, academics warn
The age of extinction
‘We said, there must be ladies’: the pioneering Maasai women ending all-male leadership of the landIn one Kenyan reserve, women are taking up roles that give them a say in community life and protecting the land they depend on – inspiring a new generation to follow in their footsteps
Rights and freedom
‘They violated our rights’: Chile’s draft constitution fails women, say activistsLast year, a liberal constitution to replace the Pinochet-era one was rejected. Now a referendum will be held on a new draft that curbs abortion rights and enshrines Catholic morality. Here, five women reflect on 2019’s protests and the struggle for equality
‘We are powerless’: Indian villagers live in fear of torture in fight against bauxite mine
‘We are living in absolute fear’: call to stop Indigenous evictions in Rift Valley
‘I am afraid I will kill myself, like my husband’: spotlight on loan firms in Cambodia after Indigenous suicides
Microfinance was meant to reduce poverty, but borrowers allege they have been victims of ‘predatory’ loans and repayment tactics, which have led to desperation and deaths
Investigation launched into killings and evictions on World Bank tourism project
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean
Introducing Southern Frontlines – news on the climate crisis from Latin America and the Caribbean
The age of extinction
Destruction of world’s pristine rainforests soared in 2022 despite Cop26 pledgeAn area of primary rainforest the size of Switzerland was felled last year suggesting world leaders’ commitment to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 is failing
The Bruno and Dom project
The multinational companies that industrialised the Amazon rainforestAnalysis shows handful of corporations extract tens of billions of dollars of raw materials a year – and their commitments to restoration vary greatly
The Bruno and Dom project
Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were killed in the Amazon: A year later their Indigenous allies risk death to carry on the work The Brazilian Amazon and its Indigenous people remain under siege but a patrol group the killed activist helped form is fighting back
The age of extinction
Uganda’s first wildlife vet on breaking the mould – and why gorilla and human health are linkedThe age of extinction
Great pretender: the bird with an Elvis-like quiff that can’t stop mimicking
‘It’s becoming a war zone’: Tanzania’s Maasai speak out on ‘forced’ removals
Communities in Ngorongoro say government is shutting down vital services to remove them from ancestral lands to expand lucrative game reserves
About 115 results for Conservation and indigenous people 
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean‘Without them, the city would be lost’: the art of preserving Mexico City’s ancient floating gardensThe Mexican capital’s Unesco-listed wetlands are being brought back to life by the Indigenous chinamperos, who are striving to overcome the effects of urbanisation and the climate crisis
Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean‘We can’t hunt or fish’: the villages in Ecuador’s Amazon surrounded by abandoned explosivesIn 2002, high explosives were laid in oil wells across 20 sq km of forest. The firm has gone but the pentolite remains, despite a court ruling, putting lives and the ecosystem at risk
The age of extinction‘We don’t know where the money is going’: the ‘carbon cowboys’ making millions from credit schemesCarbon schemes are touted as a way to transfer billions in climate finance to the developing world – but people at the Kariba project in Zimbabwe say most of the profits never arrive
The age of extinction‘We said, there must be ladies’: the pioneering Maasai women ending all-male leadership of the landIn one Kenyan reserve, women are taking up roles that give them a say in community life and protecting the land they depend on – inspiring a new generation to follow in their footsteps
Rights and freedom‘They violated our rights’: Chile’s draft constitution fails women, say activistsLast year, a liberal constitution to replace the Pinochet-era one was rejected. Now a referendum will be held on a new draft that curbs abortion rights and enshrines Catholic morality. Here, five women reflect on 2019’s protests and the struggle for equality
