'Most countries don’t want to recognise indigenous people as people'

Mohammed Taghi Farvar, former director of Avicenna University in Iran, is a well-known ecologist and social scientist. At present, he is the …

Japan’s new policy on the Ainu is misleading

Though Japan recognised them as an indigenous people in 2008, the New Ainu Policy Bill represents a continuation of the nation’s …

Great Expectations: What will tribal India’s ask be from President Droupadi Murmu

The tribal communities of India hope that as president, Murmu will be able to ameliorate their suffering caused due to a host of factors

'Belgium does owe reparations to the Congo'

Down To Earth talks to American historian, Adam Hochschild about his book on King Leopold of Belgium whose reign is responsible for the deaths of …

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2023: Festivals are the life and soul of India’s tribal communities

Sarhul and Karam are two major festivals celebrated by the indigenous peoples of Jharkhand. There is considerable folklore related with these two …

Mining push continues despite water crisis in Neskantaga First Nation and Ontario’s Ring of Fire

It is exactly the foundation that Canada is built on. It is one of the ways that colonialism not only survives, but thrives

Portrait of Hemi Pomara as a young man: how we uncovered the oldest surviving photograph of a Māori

With the recent urgent debates about how we remember our colonial past, and moves to reclaim indigenous histories, stories such as Hemi Pomara&…

How our ancestors viewed the sky: new film explores both indigenous and modern cosmology

!Aitsa explores the intellectual background and science of the soon-to-be world’s largest radio telescope alongside indigenous conceptions …

Davi Kopenawa wins Alternate Nobel Prize for protecting the Amazon rainforest

Davi has frequently been threatened by the gold miners and politicians who target the resources inside the Yanomami territory

Experts call for greater attention to indigenous people to preserve forests, fight climate change

A third of global forests are under some form of management by families, smallholders, local communities and indigenous people

That gadget of yours may have illegally mined gold from the Amazon

The supply chains of the planet’s most valuable electronics and electric car companies are being supplied by two refineries under …

Will President Murmu protect tribal and women’s interests? Only time will tell

If the already prevalent impression of a PM being authoritarian increases and gains wider currency, a tribal woman as President may come across …

Amrabad Tiger Reserve: An Eden under threat

The recent in-principle clearance granted for uranium exploration in Telangana’s Amrabad Tiger Reserve, will destroy a landscape rich in …

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2023: The Orang Asli use traditional knowledge to save Malayan tigers

Down To Earth spoke to Phung Chee Chean, Kenyir Project Problem Analyst for Panthera, on the Orang Asli protectors of Malaysia’s last tigers

Wet’suewet’en protests have exposed Canada’s racist underbelly: Ruth Hopkins

Protests against proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline through First Nations land in British Columbia, has crippled rail travel 

Commitments fall short: Amazonian indigenous people slam CoP26

Rather than taking meaningful action, CoP26 has provided powerful political and corporate actors the opportunity to cement false solutions, …

IPCC Report: Joining forces and using indigenous knowledge could avert disaster

In its first major climate report since 2013, the IPCC offers its starkest warning yet: Serious impacts of global warming are now unavoidable

‘The Yanomami need the world’s support to bring pressure on Bolsonaro’

Down To Earth talks to Davi Kopenawa, the ‘Dalai Lama of the Amazon Rainforest’

UN takes note of global indigenous fire practices to control wildfires

Indigenous and traditional fire management techniques must be incorporated into policy, UN report says

Canada apologises to First Nations band after 154 years

Premier Justin Trudeau delivered an apology in the Canadian Lower House of Parliament to chiefs of the Tsilhqot’in Nation for atrocities …

Native Hawaiian sacred sites have been damaged in the Lahaina wildfires – but their stories will live on

Lahaina is considered the earthly home of Kihawahine, a Native Hawaiian goddess; it was also the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kamehameha …

Tiger reserved: Fiftieth anniversary of Project Tiger means little to forest-dwelling communities

The fact is that despite amendments, our policies still follow the fortress conservation approach where the strategy is to “exclude and …

Lahbera: How the last Santhal settlement of Dhanbad is fighting for survival

The Santhals of Lahbera are fighting for their identity, ancestral land and survival amid the dust-laden air of coal mines in what used to be …

Should Jharkhand’s tribals be allowed to sell land to non-tribals? Petition urges change

Petitioner Shyam Praad Sinha demands changes in Chota Nagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, 1908 and Santhal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary provisions) …

This is no apology: Congo activists on King Philippe’s words

‘Regret’ is not the right choice of word; and yes, Belgium should pay reparations to the Congo, they say