News of Note 9/5/25: Peru Rejects Uncontacted Tribes Protection, Alaska Natives Fight to Manage Yukon River, Khasis Forest-based Livelihoods Strained
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Peru rejects creation of Amazon reserve to protect uncontacted tribes, drawing Indigenous outcry (Associated Press)
“Peru’s Congress rejected Friday a proposal to create a long-delayed Amazon reserve meant to protect uncontacted Indigenous tribes living in voluntary isolation along the border with Brazil. Advocates for the reserve say the decision leaves the remote forest vulnerable to logging, mining and other incursions, and deals a setback to a plan that has languished for more than two decades despite legal obligations to establish it.”
Alaska Natives, barred from king salmon fishing, fight for their right to manage the Yukon River (Prism)
“Englishoe’s village of Gwichyaa Zhee is home to about 500 people, the second-largest along the Yukon. Part of the Yukon Flats, the region about the size of Maryland extends to the Canadian border. Residents throughout the Yukon Flats depend on salmon to make up the vast majority of their food supply [...] But ‘the salmon can’t provide for us right now, so we have to let them go by,’ Englishoe said.”
Indigenous Khasis struggle to sustain forest-based livelihoods in Bangladesh (Mongabay)
“The Khasis live on betel leaf-based agroforestry, now strained by drought and erratic rainfall. To sustain, they seek incentives as they protect carbon-absorbing forests. Gidison Pradhan Suchiang, president of Khasi Social Council—representing myntris or heads of 65 Khasi punjees in Sylhet region, tells Mongabay, ‘If we fail to continue with our livelihood, we will no longer protect the forests.’”
More News
‘We need to arrive empowered’: Indigenous women demand a seat at the COP30 table (Dialogue Earth)
The Indigenous people with no name (SUMAÚMA)
Where do Indigenous peoples belong in the new Bangladesh? (The Daily Star)
Defending the Defenders: Indigenous Peoples vs. Organized Crime in the Amazon (Amazon Watch)
The G9: Indigenous Leadership Uniting Nine Nations for the Amazon’s Future (Global Citizen)
OECD recognises Pluspetrol’s responsibility for environmental damage and Indigenous rights violations in the Peruvian Amazon (International Federation for Human Rights)
Carney’s Major Projects Office ‘Sidelines Indigenous Rights’, Leaders Say, as Ex-Trans Mountain CEO Takes Charge (The Energy Mix)
American Samoa says no to deep-sea mining. The Trump administration might do it anyway. (Grist)
Line 5 Pipeline Permits Challenged Over Threats to 200+ Waterways, Wetlands (Native News Online)
Understanding the Native CDFI landscape (Center for Indian Country Development)
Can Non-Native Funders Embrace a Native Worldview? (Nonprofit Quarterly)