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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Indigenous Rights
GUATEMALA: Forgotten Promises Leave Indigenous Peoples Poorer and Hungrier
Nearly three years into President Álvaro Colom's four-year term, Guatemala's indigenous people have seen little improvement in their lives -- and they represent approximately half the country's population.
CLIMATE CHANGE: See the Green in REDD+, Say Top Leaders in Cancun
An entire body of leaders, spearheaded by U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, is now looking at REDD+ as a panacea to global warming with multiple benefits thrown in.
BOLIVIA: Madidi National Park and the Curse of Petroleum
Environmental organisations in Bolivia are waging a crusade to protect Madidi National Park against bids to tap into its petroleum reserves, build hydroelectric dams and promote human settlement in the country's largest nature preserve.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Cancun Summit Gives Fossil Fuels a Free Pass
The main cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, so why are billions of dollars being invested to find and produce more oil, coal and natural gas?
CLIMATE CHANGE: REDD at Cancun Causes Angst in India
Forest rights advocates and indigenous community organisations from India are adding their voices to what promises to become the newest division in the climate talks here: the inclusion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation + in developing countries, or REDD+, as an agreement.COLOMBIA: Climate Science Reaching Out for Traditional Farmers’ Wisdom
The wide-ranging knowledge about climate variation possessed by native people and other small farmers, such as the people in one region of Colombia, is almost a perfect match to scientific measurements recorded on high-tech instruments.
MEXICO: Oaxaca Voters Hope for Change
"A dark chapter has come to a close in the history of Oaxaca. A chapter that must never again be repeated," said lawmaker Flavio Sosa, the head of the social movement that brought this southern Mexican state to its knees for several months in 2006 and was brutally repressed.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Will Year of Extremes End with a Whimper?
This year will likely be the warmest ever recorded, with soaring ocean temperatures resulting in a near record die-off of tropical corals, extreme heat and drought in Russia and massive flooding in Pakistan - all signs that climate change has taken hold.
Genetic Flight of Chile’s Natural Jewels
Cactus, bushes, flowers and countless other plants are taken out of Chile daily to be studied, improved, marketed and patented. Due to the lack of regulations, the country can only stand by and watch them go.
ECUADOR: Native People Stand Up to Be Counted in Census
The office is chaotic. Huge piles of T-shirts and boxes of ballpoint pens are piled high on desks where indigenous men and women are busy packing these articles, together with placards, leaflets and fliers, at the headquarters of their National Commission on Statistics.Forests Rescue Plan Riddled with Uncertainties
Deforestation rates have slowed in Brazil and elsewhere in expectation of a windfall of green gold from billions of dollars of carbon credits being mobilised for climate protection, some experts believe.US-MEXICO: Award Honours Rights Defenders in “War Against the Poor”
Ines Fernandez and Valentina Rosendo, two indigenous Me'phaa women from the Mexican state of Guerrero, were raped and tortured by members of the Mexican Army in 2002. Since then, they have been subject to a constant stream of threats to keep them from speaking about the incidents.Canada’s Parliament Buckles under Weight of Mining Industry
The corporate clout of the mining industry trumped political ideology in Canada when members of all political parties helped to narrowly defeat a bill late last month that would have imposed standards on Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries.Group Says Botswana Bushmen Evicted over Diamonds
An international boycott of Botswana diamonds aims to draw greater attention to the government's mistreatment of native Kalahari Bushmen.
Safeguard Issues Shadow Forests Rescue Plan
As national policies are developed to implement REDD, the U.N. effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, a key question has been how to ensure social and environmental standards are upheld in REDD projects, both at the national and international level.Biodiversity Pact Begins With the Genes
The delegates to the 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity ended up with a relatively weak plan for the Herculean task of halting the disappearance of species. The exception was a pact on the use of genetic resources.ECUADOR: Diversity in Remembering the Dead
Tens of thousands of Ecuadorians are set to visit cemeteries on Tuesday, the traditional "Día de Finados" (Day of the Deceased). But while city residents tend to spend the day in mourning, for many indigenous peoples it is a day of celebration, of reunion with their ancestors.MEXICO: Native Tourism Businesses Need to Sell Themselves Better
Native tourism companies dedicated to the preservation and promotion of indigenous culture and to sustainable development face a number of hurdles, especially in terms of marketing and commercialising their services.
VENEZUELA: Hunger Strike Off as Gov’t Agrees to Talks on Native Demands
An 81-year-old Jesuit missionary in Venezuela ended a week-long hunger strike Monday after the government agreed to high-level talks to negotiate the release of three indigenous prisoners facing murder charges and to discuss land claims by Yukpa communities.Argentine Census to Count Blacks for First Time in a Century
Wednesday is census day in Argentina, and an army of census-takers will be knocking on doors to collect data on, among other things, the number of blacks and indigenous people, and same-sex couples, in the country. But it is happening under a cloud of controversy and distrust.CHILE: Documentary Reveals Injustices Endured by Mapuches – and Filmmaker
Finally, her documentary film about the indigenous Mapuche people has reached theatres in Chile and in other countries. Elena Varela was in the midst of making the film when she was imprisoned on charges for which she has now been completely cleared.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The planet's roughly 350 million indigenous peoples took notable steps on the international stage in the last decade. They got the world's governments to agree to create a body to represent them at the United Nations, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and to appoint a special rapporteur responsible for their human rights. In 2007 a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was approved by the UN. Yet the living conditions of most "tribal", "aboriginal", "native" or "first" peoples remain precarious. IPS, with its network of contributors at the UN and linked to indigenous communities worldwide, is committed to tracking the world community's efforts to do justice to the rights and aspirations of these peoples, with a special current focus on Latin America's 40 million rural indigenous peoples.
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