News of Note 12/19/25: Congo’s Community-led Biodiversity Corridor, Brazil Upholds Indigenous Land Rights, Lumbee Tribe Federally Recognized
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Congo’s communities are creating a 1-million-hectare biodiversity corridor (Mongabay)
“The NGO Strong Roots Congo is securing lands for communities and wildlife to create a 1-million-hectare (2.5-million-acre) corridor that spans the space between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Itombwe Nature Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The effort requires multiple communities to register their customary lands as community forestry concessions under an environmental management plan, which, piece by piece, form the sweeping corridor. To date, Strong Roots has secured 23 community forest concessions in the area, covering nearly 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land.”
Brazil Supreme Court strikes down Indigenous land time-limit doctrine for second time (Courthouse News Service)
“Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld the traditional land rights of the country’s Indigenous people on Thursday, ruling for the second time to eliminate a doctrine intended to restrict their rights to land demarcation beyond the date the current Constitution was enacted. [...] Brazil currently has 823 demarcated Indigenous territories, covering just over 13% of the country’s land area, according to Terras Indígenas do Brasil.”
Lumbee Tribe becomes 575th federally recognized tribe (ICT News and Associated Press)
“The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina achieved a goal more than a century in the making on Wednesday, securing full federal recognition after Congress approved the measure as part of the passage of a national defense bill. ‘It means a lot because we have been figuring out how to get here for so long,’ Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery told the AP just moments after celebrating the victory in the office of North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. ‘We have been second-class Natives and we will never be that again, and no one can take it away from us.’ The tribe became the 575th federally recognized tribe.”
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