News of Note 6/20/25: California Examines Ties to Amazon Oil Impacts, Nepal Mandates Indigenous Rights, Landmark Land Decision in Kenya Today
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California to examine its Amazon oil ties following pleas from Indigenous leaders from Ecuador (Associated Press/NBC News)
[Indigenous leaders from Ecuador's Amazon]visit to California helped prompt the state Senate to introduce a landmark resolution urging officials to examine the state's role in importing crude from the Amazon. The move comes as Ecuador's government prepares to auction off 14 new oil blocks — covering more than 2 million hectares of rainforest, much of it Indigenous territory — in a 2026 bidding round known as "Sur Oriente."
Historic Victory: Nepal's Supreme Court Mandates Nationwide Implementation of Treaties for Indigenous Peoples' Rights (Cultural Survival)
“On June 6, 2025, in a significant move for Nepal’s Indigenous Peoples, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a directive requiring all levels of government—federal, provincial, and local—to create laws, policies, and programs that align with International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This landmark decision resulted from a persistent legal challenge by a group of lawyers from the Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP).”
Riamit’s Blueprint for Indigenous Justice in Kenya (Cultural Survival)
“A Kenyan court canceled the illegal titles and returned the land to its rightful owners. It was the first time in Narok that titles had been canceled and reissued to an Indigenous group, a case now studied by land justice advocates across East Africa. [...] The case was about more than land. It was about identity, belonging, and the collective rights of a community to determine its future. ‘Land rights are intergenerational struggles. We fight not just for ourselves, but for those yet to be born,’ Ole Riamit [a Maasai scholar, land rights defender, and founding Director, ILEPA] says.”
More News
In Peru, Yine women show how defending the Amazon supports local livelihoods (Mongabay)
Inside the Indigenous ‘land back’ movement in Colombia (Waging Nonviolence)
Brazil auctions off several Amazon oil sites despite environmentalists and Indigenous protests (Associated Press)
After crackdown on illegal miners, Indigenous Munduruku still grapple with health aftermath (Mongabay)
The Cost of Conservation—How Tanzania Is Erasing the Maasai Identity (Global Issues)
Canadian-owned mine in Guatemala needs Indigenous consent (Canadian Dimension)
First Nations leaders raise concerns over Indigenous participation rules exemptions for majority of federal contracts [Australia] (National Indigenous Times)
Finnish MPs Agree More Rights For Indigenous Sami Parliament (Agence FrancePress/Barron's)
National chief slams House committee for limiting witnesses on major projects bill (The Canadian Free Press)
Canada’s wildfire crisis is displacing First Nations at alarming rates (Grist)
Tribal leaders denounce Trump’s decision to cut funding to protect salmon (ICT News)
As massive Oak Flat copper mine clears legal hurdles, Apache see religious freedom being trampled (Cronkite News)
Official US Records Underestimate Native American Deaths and Life Expectancy (Boston University School of Public Health)
Native American tribe [Miccosukee Tribe] steps up to protect Florida lands for wildlife (The Guardian)
Indigenous women, collective rights and global resistance: a conversation with Joan Carling (Right to Livelihood)