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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Indigenous Rights
More Than 200 Ways of Becoming a Mother
"You can only have one mother," as the saying goes, but in Brazil there are 215 ways of becoming a mother, one for each of the ethnic groups in this South American country. Promoting maternal health while respecting cultural traditions is a major health challenge.Controversy Dogs Brazil’s Racial Equality Law
The Statute of Racial Equality, soon to be signed into law in Brazil, is at the centre of a controversy between those who consider it a historical achievement, like the abolition of slavery in 1888, and those who see it as failing to satisfy the demands of the black movement.
Bolivian Lowlands Get Life-Saving Flood Warning System
An early warning system to alert people living in the lowlands of the northern Bolivian department of Beni about imminent flooding of the mighty Mamoré and Ibare rivers is saving lives, food and goods, and overcoming the uncertainty that led to enormous losses in the past.
Afro-Brazilian Communities in the Shadow of Space Facility
A space launch centre built in their territory has altered the way of life that members of "quilombos" - village communities originally founded by runaway slaves - have maintained for a century and a half in this municipality in the Brazilian state of Maranhao.
COLOMBIA: Palm Planters and Displaced People Wait for New Government
Twenty-three African palm plantation owners, who invested 34 million dollars in Colombia up to 2003 and have spent another 15 million dollars on a palm oil refinery, are soon to be sentenced by a court.MEXICO: Autonomous Triqui Community Wary of New State Government
The autonomous indigenous Triqui community of San Juan Copala, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, is maintaining a cautious attitude towards the state government to take power after winning Sunday's elections.
PERU: ‘Don’t Minimise’ Impacts of Amazon Oil Spill
Pluspetrol's Jun. 19 petroleum spill has left the Marañón River, in the Peruvian Amazon, with oil and grease levels thousands of times greater than the maximum allowed for human consumption, affecting more than 4,000 local residents.
PARAGUAY: Clean Water Out of Reach for Native Peoples
Of the many things that are not within the reach of everyone in Paraguay, safe drinking water is the one the indigenous population longs for most.
BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Will Change Way of Life on Xingu River
At dawn, the "captain" fired on the village leader and the shooting began. "The forest trembled," says one survivor: the local indigenous people fled, leaving their dead behind. Only one young girl remained. But she sank her teeth into the chest of one of the assailants with such force that they slit her throat to pull her off him.BOLIVIA: 69-Year-Old Native Leader Heads 1,500-Km March
Indigenous elder Ernesto Noé, 69, is once again leading his people on a long march from Bolivia's Amazon jungle, to protest environmental damages caused by the oil industry and demand respect for native land rights.HONDURAS: Miskito Women Fight on Nature’s Side
Seven years ago, in the isolated Honduran region of Mosquitia, on the Caribbean coast, a group of women, mostly single mothers, elderly or widowed, overcame their fear and timidity -- thanks in part to a waste recycling project.
ENERGY: Brazilian Dams in Peru’s Jungle, to Supply Brazil
An energy deal that Peru and Brazil signed this week in the Amazon city of Manaus in Brazil is opposed by environmentalists and local indigenous communities in Peru where the planned hydroelectric dams will be built. What is at stake?
PARAGUAY: “Pause” Farming Expansion in Gran Chaco, Say Activists
Extensive cattle farming in northwestern Paraguay is the leading cause of deforestation in the Gran Chaco, one of the world's leading regions in biodiversity and South America's second largest forested area, after the Amazon.BOLIVIA-US: Drugs, USAID Complicate Relations
Relations between Bolivia and the United States are still on a roller-coaster, two years after Bolivia expelled the U.S. ambassador, with Bolivian President Evo Morales now threatening to kick out the main U.S. government aid agency.BOLIVIA: Complex Challenge of Making Decentralisation a Reality
Putting together the complex puzzle of the different kinds of provincial, municipal and indigenous autonomy in Bolivia will be a delicate task that will have to overcome struggles over funds, jurisdiction and ideology, said analysts consulted by IPS.MEXICO: Humanitarian Convoy Braves Risk of Attack
Despite the threat of armed attack, a second humanitarian convoy is attempting to break through a paramilitary blockade of the Triqui indigenous village of San Juan Copala in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.ECUADOR: The Great Indigenous Uprising, 20 Years On
Friday, Jun. 4, marks 20 years since the first great indigenous uprising in modern Ecuador, an event that forever changed the country. After that day of massive actions in cities across the nation, Ecuador's native peoples could no longer be ignored.
ENVIRONMENT: Market-Based Conservation Brewing in Nairobi
The private sector could mobilise billions of dollars to halt the loss of biodiversity, just as it does through the Clean Development Mechanism for mitigating climate change. But the proposal presented at a recent forum in the Kenyan capital has sparked debate among environmentalists.BOLIVIA: Guarani, Tapiete Peoples Fight Gas Exploration
The explosive charges utilised in fossil fuel exploration in Bolivia's Chaco region divert underground water flows, scare off wildlife and harm the environment, charge the leaders of local indigenous Guaraní communities, which have been blocking access routes to keep oil company employees from entering the area.PERU: Native Peoples’ Right to Consultation on Land Use Enshrined in Law
Indigenous peoples in Peru finally have a law that obliges the state to consult them about any project or provision that affects their territory or communities. But it will be difficult to implement, as the body charged with this task is in need of reforms, and additional legislation is needed before it can be fully enforced.MEXICO: Optimism and Unease as Census Begins
The 100,000 pollsters who will begin knocking on doors throughout Mexico Sunday for the national census will likely face a population hesitant to provide personal information. They may also run into the drug violence that plagues some areas of the country.« 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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