Indigenous
ASEAN FMs pledge support on Rakhine
An unprecedented meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers called to discuss the ongoing military campaign in Rakhine State ended on December 19 with Myanmar expressing its appreciation for the other member states’ understanding. This was the first such meeting Myanmar has initiated on the subject, having previously ...
Remote Myanmar gets ready for tourism boom
After a decades-long blanket ban on tourists, Kayah State in eastern Myanmar has opened up to the outside world. Travellers are pouring in to get a glimpse of its untouched beauty. As Pichayada Promchertchoo reports, the remote state is hoping to develop a tourist industry without losing ...
R’kiri tribe gets emotional
A remote tribe in northeast Cambodia were crucial participants in a new study that concludes the way our bodies express emotions is universal, rather than dictated by the cultures in which we are raised. The work of four American psychologists, the finding is soon to ...
Indigenous lands are even more critical to preserving the Earth than we thought
Nearly one quarter of the carbon stored above ground in tropical forests is currently in the care of indigenous and traditional communities. A new report suggests that keeping those populations on the land and guaranteeing their right to it could be the key to keeping ...
Ethnic minority families claim violent evictions in Preah Vihear
Six ethnic Kuoy families were violently evicted from their homes in Preah Vihear over the weekend, according to eyewitnesses, with further evictions threatened for another 13 families this morning. Boeng Choen, 44, was ploughing her rice field in Tbeng Meanchey district’s Brame commune on October 15 when ...
170 Vietnamese asylum seekers given two weeks to leave
Almost two years since the latest wave of Montagnard asylum seekers began crossing into Ratanakkiri province claiming to be fleeing persecution in Vietnam, an immigration official said on October 12 that the 170 remaining in Phnom Penh had two weeks to return home or face forcible ...
Indonesian environment ministry shoots down geothermal plan in Mount Leuser National Park
The Indonesian environment ministry has denied the Aceh provincial government’s proposal to rezone part of Mount Leuser National Park for geothermal development, reacting to opposition from conservationists who argued the project would threaten key orangutan and rhino populations. The ministry’s director for protected areas told Mongabay ...
How to increase REDD+ benefits to indigenous peoples and other traditional forest communities
To meet the target of limiting global warming to 2-degrees-Celsius established in the Paris Climate Agreement, it is crucial to curb tropical deforestation and encourage the reforestation of tropical forests that have already been cut down. Not only is tropical deforestation and forest degradation the source ...
Rakhine advisory commission gets to work with IDP camp visits
Torrential rain did not deter a crowd of well over 100 people turning out to witness Kofi Annan’s arrival in the Muslim ghetto of Aung Mingalar on September 7. In contrast to the protests that had greeted Mr Annan’s arrival in the Rakhine State capital of ...
Dams inevitably result in species decline, losses on reservoir islands
Hydropower development is booming, with controversial projects unfolding across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Though often presented as a green renewable energy option, dams can cause a litany of negative impacts: disrupting the downstream flow of nutrients, interrupting aquatic migration routes and harming fisheries. They ...
