Keynote speaker Kate R. Finn, founder of the Tallgrass Institute, delivered a clear message on the second day of the conference: Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) is not a bureaucratic checkbox—it is a fundamental human right. “FPIC is not a buffet,” Finn told attendees. “You don’t get to pick one. It’s all of it together.” That means providing full and culturally appropriate information, engaging Indigenous communities before any planning begins, and—most importantly—honoring their right to say no.

California visit by Indigenous leaders from Ecuador leads state to examine its crude oil impacts in Amazon, Nepal Supreme Court requires alignment with UNDRIP, a 2023 Kenya court decision paved way for Indigenous land justice today, and more.

Indigenous authorities of the Amazon basin affirm priorities for COP30, Indigenous community of Hugua Po’i in Paraguay receives tenuous reprieve of expulsion, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia calls for a national action plan to safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and more.

Asian Development Bank withdrew a $434.25 million loan for an Assam solar farm after opposition from Karbi, Naga, Kachari and Adivasi communities; Bolivian court paused Chinese and Russian lithium projects after a complaint was filed by Indigenous groups; Xinka representatives visited British Columbia to reinforce lack of consent for Pan American Silver project in Guatemala; and more.

Ngäbe-Buglé and Emberá communities experiencing violent repression from Panama government, correlation between nickel mining and child deaths for Bajo people in Indonesia, Indigenous Peoples in West Papua boycott palm oil products after ancestry land deforestation, and more.

UN warns that five Indigenous groups in Columbia are facing extinction, special commission in Chile delivers a report to address land disputes and Indigenous rights, two Tribes sue the U.S. to account for boarding school tragedies and estimated $23.3 billion costs, and more.

Items excerpted from the May 2025 Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG) Newsletter.

Updates to the global Transition Minerals Tracker shows disproportionate impacts to Indigenous communities, Waorani communities advocate in decision making rights in Ecuador after reactivation of the Southeast Oil Round, new report looks at deforestation and illegal evictions of Malaysia’s Indigenous peoples, and more.

A U.S. federal court halted land transfer of Western Apache Oak Flat sacred site, a Pará federal court ordered clean water supply to Indigenous communities facing drought and contamination, Lithium Americas sues Indigenous land defenders at Thacker Pass, and more.

Aboriginal group raises concern that Rio Tinto hasn’t fulfilled its promises five years after destruction of the Juukan Gorge sacred site, a step forward for the Brazil tropical forest fund, Indigenous representatives push for integration into the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) ‘High Seas Treaty’, and more.

Native CDFIs center economic sovereignty amidst policy and budgetary rollbacks in the U.S., Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan see threats and opportunity in AI use, reports from the first week of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and more.

Information on investors’ withdrawal of the proposal at JPMorgan Chase, public consultation summary and an investor brief for the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative, and more.

JPMorgan Chase will now consider FPIC in general as well as project-specific financing; the US approved a land swap to allow Rio Tinto to mine sacred Native land in Arizona and re-opened  Ruby Mountains–ancestral homelands of the Te-Moak Tribe of the Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada–to oil, gas and geothermal leasing.

Analysis raises concerns about the proposed Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI).

A mass demonstration helped secure formal recognition of land tenure rights for forest communities in Thailand, the World Bank is spearheading a multimillion dollar redress fund for pastoralists harmed by tourism projects in Tanzania, Māori rights were upheld with defeat of a treaty-denying bill in New Zealand, and more.

The Achuar and Sapara nations in Ecuador assembled and agreed they do not consent to oil development on ancestral lands, Brazil’s Supreme Court withdrew its proposal to allow mining in Indigenous territories, rights violations against the Pataxó people in Brazil escalate without demarcation of their ancestral territories, and more.