Green & indigenous News

The European Union’s antideforestation law, known as EUDR, has officially been delayed for a second year. The amendment was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Dec. 23, 2025. The EUDR bans the import of commodities, including cocoa, coffee, soy, beef, timber, palm oil and rubber, that come from areas deforested after December 2020. Producers need to provide geolocalized data to prove that their commodities aren’t from land with recent deforestation. The law was first approved in 2023 and originally set to apply from the beginning of 2024. But following pressure from producers, lobbyists and governments, the law was delayed for a year. Now, it has been pushed back another year. The latest amendment approved by the EU notes that large operators will need to comply with the law from Dec. 31, 2026, and smaller operators from mid-2027. But European politicians also included a revision period in April 2026, opening space for further delays and rollbacks. The following timeline details how the latest delay came about: September 2025 The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, says its IT system is not yet ready to handle the demands of the EUDR and proposes postponing it for another year. October 2025 The European Council, comprised of EU leaders who set general political direction, proposes a soft delay of the law, rather than a postponement, proposing a six-month grace period. The proposal includes amendments that water down the law, such as an exemption for micro and small operators from low-risk…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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JAKARTA — Best known as the home of the world’s rarest great ape, the mountainous Batang Toru forest landscape on the island of Sumatra has become a test case for whether Indonesia can enforce environmental law in a region where mining, energy and plantation projects overlap with fragile ecosystems. In late November 2025, a rare tropical cyclone, Senyar, swept across this part of northern Sumatra, bringing extreme rainfall that triggered flash floods and landslides in the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. The disaster killed at least 1,178 people and displaced around 1 million others, according to government figures, making it one of Indonesia’s deadliest natural disasters in recent history. While the storm provided the immediate trigger, climatologists and environmental researchers say the scale of the destruction can’t be attributed to extreme weather alone. They point also to decades of deforestation, land clearing and landscape alteration that have weakened natural buffers across Sumatra’s upland watersheds. “Extreme weather was only the initial trigger,” Erma Yulihastin, a climate researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said at a recent public discussion in Jakarta on disaster risk. “The destructive impact was shaped by weakened environmental buffers upstream.” The government appears to have acknowledged this, with Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq announcing on Dec. 23, 2025, an investigation into eight companies operating in the Batang Toru watershed, to assess whether their activities may have contributed to the floods and landslides. The ministry also ordered all eight companies to cease operations…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

On a late afternoon in early November, Xochitl Bervera launches The Roxie Girl from St. George Island into the gentle waters of Florida’s Apalachicola Bay. Almost as soon as the boat gets up to speed, she kills the motor and drifts the final feet toward her destination: a 2.5-acre grid of buoys and bags floating in Rattlesnake Cove. This is her farm, Water Is Life Oysters.

Bervera and her partner, Kung Li, launched the business in 2022, not long after the state implemented a five-year ban on harvesting the bay’s beloved but imperiled wild oysters, leaving the surrounding community without its economic engine and sense of identity.

As the sun sinks toward the horizon, Kung Li hauls in a bag of oysters and samples a mollusk to be sure it meets muster. They pop it open with a twist of an oyster knife and find everything that has made Apalachicola oysters famous for generations: briny liquor surrounding firm, sweet meat. “That,” Kung Li exclaims, “is a good oyster.” They put five bags on ice.

Freshly shucked Apalachicola oysters from Water Is Life Oysters. (Photo credit: Xochitl Bervera)

Oysters have been eaten for millennia from this estuary, where freshwater from the Apalachicola River meets the salty Gulf of Mexico to form an ideal breeding ground. In its heyday, the bay supplied 90 percent of Florida’s oysters and 10 percent of the country’s. But after a 2013 fishery failure all but wiped out a $9 million annual harvest that once supported 2,500 jobs, the state officially closed the bay in 2020 for five years.

Since the closure, locally farmed oysters—Crassostrea virginica, the same species as their wild predecessors—are the closest thing anyone’s had to that old familiar flavor. Water Is Life is among a few dozen farms that have attempted to fill the void, hoping to preserve the bay’s oyster culture while the state embarks on a costly reef restoration. Bervera, a former criminal justice organizer, and Kung Li, a former civil rights lawyer, harbor a vision for a revived Apalachicola Bay. They believe a vibrant local food system can once again feed this community and restore dignified jobs that protect the bay’s health rather than diminish it.

“I look around the country and maybe that’s not possible in many places any more,” Bervera says, “but it’s very possible here.”

Apalachicola, Florida, calls itself the Oyster Capital of the World, but for many years, oysters have been trucked in from out of state. (Photo credit: Ben Seal)

In a controversial decision, the state reopened the commercial oyster fishery on Jan. 1, leaving this small community on the Forgotten Coast—named for its relative quiet and lack of development—anxious about its economic future. If the oysters come back, so will the industry. If they don’t, roughly 5,000 residents in Apalachicola and its neighbor Eastpoint fear their towns will be overtaken by resort-style development like so much of Florida’s coastline, pushing out both their culture and their communities.

It’s a heavy weight to rest on a 3-inch mollusk.

‘The Heartbeat of Apalachicola’

Apalachicola Fish and Oyster Company workers shucking oysters in 1946. (Photo credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

Charles Wilson can trace his lineage in Apalachicola back to 1860, right around when oysters overtook timber as the area’s chief economic resource. At the turn of the 20th century, his grandfather ran one of the many oyster houses that lined these shores, where shucked shells piled into mountains.

Like so many tongers—as oystermen are called here, after the long wood-and-metal tongs used for plucking the mollusks off the reef—he started going out on his father’s boat when he was just 7, heading into the bay every evening after school to fill buckets. Even at 78, he still has forearms like Popeye and thickly muscled hands from decades spent gripping his tongs.

When Wilson was young, trucks left the bay in droves, packed full with thousands of gallons of oyster meat headed far and wide. The abundance seemed inevitable. “It was there and it was never gonna run out,” he says.

For most of Wilson’s lifetime, the bay’s oysters were the center of an economic constellation—not just tongers, shuckers, restaurants, and distributors, but also boat builders, welders, mechanics, and more. In the water, too, the oysters were foundational. Blue crab, shrimp, redfish, flounder, and black drum flourished in the clean water they filtered and the nooks and crannies of their reefs, providing both sustenance and steady work for fishermen around the bay.

Apalachicola Fish and Oyster Company workers tonging for oysters in 1947. (Photo credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

“The oyster was the heartbeat of Apalachicola,” one local told Betsy Mansfield, a postdoctoral researcher at Florida State University who has studied the ripple effect of the fishery closure. Mansfield calls oysters a “multidimensional foundation species” for their economic, cultural, social, and nutritional importance.

Oysters served as the community’s hub for generations. When someone fell on hard times, their neighbors organized a fish fry to rally support or took them tonging and passed on the day’s pay. Oystering was more than a job.

“It meant independence,” Wilson says. “It was an income. And it was a lifestyle.”

Apalachicola’s oysters held on longer than most. By the time the fishery failed, 85 percent of the world’s beds had disappeared. Locals attribute the longevity to the pristine waters of the Apalachicola River, the shelter from predators offered by the barrier islands, and an ethic that insisted on taking only what the bay could give. Even after Hurricane Elena in 1985 reduced oyster populations in Apalachicola by as much as 95 percent, the bay rapidly recovered.

But the state responded to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill by encouraging harvesters to grab what they could before the slick reached the bay. (It never did.) Coupled with a drought that limited freshwater flow into the bay and welcomed in saltwater predators, the rush to harvest led to quick collapse. Almost immediately, landings of 3 million pounds dropped below 1 million; they kept falling until the state Fish and Wildlife Commission pulled the plug in 2020.

A father shows his son how to shuck oysters in 1972 on Apalachicola Bay. (Photo credit: Holland, Karl E., State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

With the oysters went the work, including much of the supplementary shrimping, crabbing, and fishing. Oyster houses closed or pivoted to become restaurants. Boats were left to rot and tongs to rust. Poverty and drug use increased, residents say. Today, many former oystermen get by mowing lawns or cleaning houses for eco-tourists who visit the bay without realizing the seafood they came for is mostly trucked in from elsewhere in the Gulf. Until aquaculture picked up, the only oyster available in a place that calls itself “The Oyster Capital of the World” came from Texas or Louisiana.

The collapse sparked dread around the bay that tourism will fully replace seafood as the local industry. About 100 miles northwest of the bay, Destin serves as a cautionary tale. It’s a miles-long amusement park of monolithic beachfront resorts and chain restaurants. In Apalachicola and Eastpoint, the prized seafood and a two-story building limit have kept unchecked development at bay. Nearby, though, St. George Island is already filling in with pastel-painted vacation homes skirting the zoning laws. Residents fear a sudden influx of development if the oysters don’t rebound.

“It’s like a wounded animal with a bunch of hyenas,” says Wayne Williams, a longtime tonger and president of the Seafood Work and Waterman’s Association, which has advocated for the bay’s reopening. “Or a plate full of French fries left out for the seagulls.”

Residents ‘Kill the Drill’

For a beleaguered bay community, the past year showed what is still possible. In April 2024, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) prepared to hand out a permit for exploratory oil and gas drilling in the Apalachicola River floodplain. The river snakes through more than 100 miles of Florida’s panhandle, passing through marshes and floodplain forests that serve as habitat for dozens of endangered species, on its way to the bay. The ecosystem has historically been protected on both sides of the river. Its clean waters are vital to the bay’s marine life. A drilling mishap could have threatened any hope for the future.

The response was swift. The Apalachicola Riverkeeper filed a legal challenge and organized a “Kill the Drill” coalition of seafood workers, boat captains, and residents, including Bervera and Kung Li. The legislature eventually passed a bill prohibiting the DEP from issuing permits within 10 miles of a National Estuarine Research Reserve, ensuring the run of the river would stay protected; Governor Ron DeSantis signed it in June. A judge also urged the state to reject the permit, leading the DEP to reverse course.

The whole affair “was a blockbuster movie in terms of twists and turns,” says Adrianne Johnson, executive director of the Florida Shellfish Aquaculture Association, which was part of the coalition. It was also a reminder that although opinions are divided about the bay’s health and the potential for wild-caught oysters to return, its disparate communities share something unmistakable.

“People here have a relationship to the bay that is deep and real,” Kung Li says. “That relationship is what will turn despair into hope when the bay starts to come back.”

In 2024, “Kill the Drill,” a coalition of Apalachicola seafood workers, boat captains, and residents, joined together to prevent the state from allowing exploratory oil and gas drilling in the Apalachicola River floodplain. (Photo credit: Ben Seal)

For it to come back, though, restoration will need to succeed, providing habitat that allows oysters to accumulate and cling to one another as they grow into massive reefs. Diminished by overharvesting, the bay’s depleted reefs couldn’t withstand erosion from tides, currents, and storms. The degradation was so vast that in most of the bay “there were literally no reefs left” to build upon, says Sandra Brooke, a Florida State University marine scientist.

Restorationists have made headway in other bereft waters that once teemed with oysters, including the Chesapeake Bay and New York Harbor, but human mimicry of a natural process can be slow. Multiple projects have attempted to rebuild Apalachicola’s reefs with different materials, including Kentucky limestone, oyster shells, and concrete. Over and over, the bay buried or washed away inadequate substrates.

Since 2019, the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative, led by Brooke, has convened scientists, public officials, seafood industry members, and environmentalists behind an effort to understand the root causes of the decline and restore the bay’s health. The massive undertaking is still underway.

Shannon Hartsfield, a tonger subcontracted by the initiative, says he expected better results by this point—enough to support a meaningful harvest with economic value for oystermen. “We’ve only made small steps,” he says.

Despite more than $38 million of research and restoration that’s been poured into the bay since 2019, Brooke doesn’t believe it’s ready.

“From a scientific perspective,” she says, “I would have liked to have seen it closed for another five years or so.” From a cultural perspective, though, she understands the meaning of reopening the bay, even at a modest scale. “It’s one of the last vestiges of the way old Florida used to be,” she says.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) confirmed in November that it won’t extend the bay’s closure, despite a recent analysis that found its historic 10,000 acres of oyster habitat had dwindled to just 500. In 2026, the state will open four oyster reefs to harvest, allowing just under 5,000 total bags to be split evenly among all harvesters—about 0.1 percent of the historic harvest.

The first season will span January and February—provided the oyster limit isn’t immediately triggered—and future seasons will extend from October through February. Securing a license requires a history of commercial oystering in the bay. A small amount of recreational harvest will also be allowed, all of it to be monitored by FWC officials. The FWC’s goals are twofold: restore 2,000 acres of reefs by 2032 and re-establish an oyster fishery.

Oyster shells piled high outside Leavins Seafood, an Apalachicola distributor that hasn’t offered locally caught oysters since the bay’s collapse in 2020. (Photo credit: Ben Seal)

“We understand that people are frustrated by the current state of the resource, and that there is a desire to return to the days when oysters were abundant and provided an important source of income for Franklin County residents and businesses,” the commission said in a written statement in November. “However, the bay is still in recovery.”

That recovery is aided by how quickly oysters grow here, Brooke says. It might take three years for an oyster to reach market size in New England, but in Apalachicola it happens within a year or so, thanks to the bay’s warm, nutrient-rich waters. Still, skepticism abounds about the FWC’s ability to enforce bag limits and protect the reefs enough to avoid a prompt relapse.

“The bay is going to provide. It’s a delicious bay,” Bervera says. “But if we don’t take care of it then it can’t really take care of us.”

The Promise of a Path Forward

For generations, oystering in Apalachicola was handed down from father to son, a promise that led many to drop out of school with their career laid out before them. There was nothing to replace it when the fishery declined—not just for the current seafood workers, but also for those to come. The health of the bay will determine their future.

Retired Apalachicola oysterman Charles Wilson with his long wood-and-metal tongs, used to pluck oysters from their reefs. (Photo credit: Ben Seal)

As soon as the fishery fell apart, Joe Taylor recognized the need for alternatives. As executive director of the nonprofit Franklin’s Promise Coalition, he pivoted his organization from anti-poverty work to youth workforce development. Today, his Oyster Corps—a subset of Americorps—trains residents between 18 and 25 in coastal resilience measures and habitat restoration, focused on oyster reefs, marsh grasses, sea grasses, and dunes. Workers receive a stipend for protecting local ecosystems, and many stay employed in related work after the program, often with the FWC and state parks. Oyster Corps teaches them skills that can offer a path forward, whether or not the seafood industry returns.

“People see the oysters and think about eating,” Taylor says. “But we also see oysters as the foundation for the healthy world that we want to live in.”

Taylor helped 450 seafood workers navigate the fishery collapse as part of a broader retraining and job placement initiative, helping fishermen find work in transportation, welding, and other trades.

Among them was Tony Foley, whose son, Holden, an Oyster Corps graduate, is now the organization’s director of restoration. Holden Foley started going out on boats with his father and grandfather when he was small, filling 5-gallon buckets of oysters for $5 a pop. He’s applying for an oyster harvesting license to make some extra money on weekends, but he knows his community needs more opportunity. Only a few of his classmates remain. Still, Foley believes the harvest can return and the community can rebuild.

“The area’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s quiet,” he says. “When I travel and come back, I know why I stay here.”

Food and Freedom

In Rattlesnake Cove, the sun continues its descent as Bervera navigates The Roxie Girl around the buoys to check on her oyster gear. As she and Kung Li hoist up sinking bags and repair broken parts, they check on a clutch of juvenile oysters placed in the bay a few months ago. Dozens have died, inexplicably. It’s a reminder that farming is hard work—physically, financially, and sometimes emotionally. They toss the shells overboard and lament the loss. “Sadness,” Bervera says.

Bervera is fond of quoting the food sovereignty activist Leah Penniman’s refrain that “we have to feed ourselves to free ourselves.” For generations, the bay has made that possible. People here still trade—eggs for fish, oysters for shrimp, gator for boar—and they still host fish fries as a way to care for their community.

Kung Li on an old oyster boat that Li and business partner Xochitl Bervera repurposed to sell oysters directly to the community. (Photo credit: Xochitl Bervera)

Farmed oysters have served as a bridge to their wild cousins for the past five years. A former oysterman even shed a tear when he tried one from Water Is Life. “This is the oyster,” he told Bervera.

If wild oysters can thrive once again, it could sustain a local food system and way of life so many here desire.

“We’ll know we’re doing it right because we won’t see the Sysco trucks bringing seafood to a seafood town,” Kung Li says.

A week later, Kung Li and Bervera head down the coast a few hours to Cedar Key and come back with baby oysters to replace those they’ve harvested. The new seedlings are smaller than a fingernail. Kung Li and Bervera tuck them into fine-mesh bags to begin the year-long journey to harvest size.

They lean over the side of the boat and slide the babies, thousands at a time, into the waters where so many oysters have thrived before.

The post A Florida Oyster Fishery and Its Community Fight for Their Future appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Once in a while, an animal shows up where it’s least expected, including places from where it was thought to have gone extinct. These rare sightings bring hope — but also fresh concerns. These are some of the wildlife sightings Mongabay reported on in 2025. Colossal squid recorded for the first time in its deep-sea home Researchers made the first confirmed recordings of a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), the world’s heaviest invertebrate, while exploring the deep sea near Antarctica. Until then, everything scientists knew about the species came from the bits of them that turned up in the bellies of other animals. (Read story) Eurasian otter reappears in Malaysia after a decade In Malaysia, camera traps in Tangkulap Forest Reserve photographed a Eurasian otter near a waterbody. This is the first confirmed sighting of the species in Malaysia in more than a decade and makes Tangkulap Forest Reserve the only place in the country where all four East Asian otter species coexist. (Read story) First elephant sighting in a Senegal park since 2019 Camera traps in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park captured video of a large bull elephant named Ousmane, thought to be a hybrid of the critically endangered African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana). Researchers say this is the first elephant to be seen in the park in six years. (Read story) Screenshot of an elephant captured by a camera trap in Senegal, courtesy of Panthera & Senegal’s National Parks Directorate. Rare Javan leopard sighting Camera…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Combating climate change can feel particularly difficult these days. Countries, states and municipalities across the globe are missing greenhouse emission reduction targets and, in the United States, President Donald J. Trump has rolled back key elements of his predecessor’s climate agenda.

Given the trajectory, it might be tempting for pro-climate policy makers to turn to more aggressive measures of getting people to take action, such as mandates, bans or restrictions. People would then have to save the planet.

But a study published last week in the journal Nature Sustainability suggests that approach can carry real risks. It found that climate policies aimed at forcing lifestyle changes — such as bans on driving in urban centers — can backfire by weakening people’s existing pro-environmental values and triggering political backlash, even among those who already care about climate change. The findings suggest that how climate policy is designed may matter as much as how aggressive it is.

“Mandates can sometimes get you over a hump and tipping point, but they come with costs,” said Sam Bowles, an author of the paper and an economist at the nonprofit Santa Fe Institute. “There could be negative impacts that people don’t anticipate.”

Researchers surveyed more than 3,000 Germans and found that even people who care about climate change had a notably negative response to mandates or bans that did things like limit thermostat temperatures or meat consumption, which they saw as restricting their freedoms. The paper also compared that to people’s reaction to COVID-related requirements, such as vaccine and mask mandates. While researchers found a backlash effect, or “cost of control,” in both instances, it was 52 percent greater for climate than COVID policies.

“I didn’t expect that people’s opposition to climate-mandated lifestyle would be so extreme,” said Katrin Schmelz, the other author of the study, who is also at Santa Fe Institute. She said that people’s trust in their leaders can mitigate the adverse impact and, compared to the United States, Germans have fairly high trust in the government. That, she said, means she would “expect mandates to be less accepted and provoke more opposition here.”

Ben Ho wasn’t involved in the study and wasn’t surprised by its findings. “This is fundamentally about how a society values individual values of liberty and expression against communal values like safety,” he said, pointing to a sizable body of similar research on the potential for backlash to climate policies. “What is novel about their work is to show that these backfire effects are still true today, and what is especially interesting is to connect their data to how people felt about COVID.”

The political consequences of climate-related mandates can be dramatic. In Germany, a 2023 law passed by the country’s then center-left government sought to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels by effectively banning new gas heating systems and promoting heat pumps. Though the policy allowed for exemptions and subsidies, opponents quickly framed it as a ban, dubbing it the heizhammer, or “heating hammer.”

The measure became a potent symbol of government overreach, seized on by far-right parties and contributing to a broader public backlash against the governing coalition. “The last German government basically fell because they were seen to be instituting a ban on gas,” said Gernot Wagner, climate economist at Columbia Business School. The current government is attempting to rollback the legislation.

Germany’s experience underscores the risks the study identifies. Policies that are perceived as restricting personal choice can trigger resistance that extends beyond the measure itself, weakening public support for climate action more broadly. So far, policies in the U.S. have largely avoided such opposition. That’s largely because American climate policies have historically been much less aggressive, with even progressives rarely turning to outright bans. But there is both precedent for a potential backlash and inklings of potential fights to come.

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, for example, laid out the path to gradually phase out incandescent light bulbs. That led to the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice and Better Use of Light Bulbs acts, two 2011 bills that the then-burgeoning tea party movement pushed, without success. Today, methane, also known as natural gas, is at the center of similar cultural fights as cities attempt to ban new hookups and take other steps to curtail its use.

Opponents of climate action seem to have become aware of the power of bans to spark backlash, too. President Trump regularly refers to fuel efficiency benchmarks as an electric vehicle “mandate.” The natural gas industry has also framed efficiency standards for gas appliances as bans and used the backlash effect to help successfully delay other explicit bans on gas in new construction, such as in New York state.

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One word sums up climate politics in 2025: Greenlash

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On its face, research like this can put lawmakers in a difficult position: If a policy isn’t aggressive enough, it won’t do much to combat climate change. But if it’s too aggressive, people could turn against it, or even the entire political movement behind it, as in Germany, and progress can stall.

“This doesn’t mean we should give up on climate policies,” said Ho.“It just means we should be more mindful in how policies are designed, and that trust could be a key component.”

Schmelz and Bowles both point to a similar conclusion, and say that any policy should at least consider the plasticity of citizens’ beliefs and values. “Ethical commitments and social norms are very fragile and they’re easily destroyed,” said Bowles. Schmelz added that people in power “can upset and reduce willingness to cooperate by designing poor policies.”

One way that policies can avoid backlash is by focusing less on banning a particular action and instead on making the other options more abundant, and more attractive (by adding tax incentives or rebates, for example). “Offering alternatives is helping in enforcing green values,” said Schmelz. Another option could be aiming to make climate-unfriendly activities more expensive rather than restricting them. As Bowles put it, “people don’t feel like they are being controlled by a higher price.”

The closer a policy gets to people’s personal lives, they say, the more important it is to be mindful of potential missteps. The authors also emphasize that they aren’t claiming mandates or bans never work — seatbelt laws and smoking restrictions have become commonplace, for instance. But those were enacted in a different era and there was little public dissent about their benefits to personal health.

“The was always somebody in that person’s family saying ‘No, look, sweetheart, I really wish you would be wearing your seatbelt’,” said Bowles. “We don’t have that in the case of the environment, so it’s a much greater challenge to shift the rhetoric.”

But, ultimately, Bowles says the broader message that he wants to convey is that people are generally generous and want their actions to align with their values. This new research underscores the need for policies that help them embrace that inclination, rather than temper it, which mandates or bans can do.

“People have a lot of good values,” he said. “When we look at our citizens and are designing policies, don’t take them to be jerks.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Why forcing people to go green can backfire on Jan 6, 2026.

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Alessandra Moreira worked as an administrative assistant in Altamira, an oversized municipality in the Brazilian Amazon — larger than Portugal or Greece. Burned out and facing anxiety and depression, she left her job, but was unsure of what would come next. “I was having panic attacks and couldn’t identify what was happening to me,” she told Mongabay. Then, a suggestion from her brother changed everything: Why not try making seed paper? Altamira, in the state of Pará, is the most deforested municipality in the Brazilian Amazon. There, “development” is often a synonym for deforestation, environmental degradation, and sometimes violence, erupting from clashes between conservationists, loggers and land grabbers. Despite the local culture, Moreira founded Ecoplante, a company that makes plantable seed paper — recycled sheets embedded with seeds that can typically grow into vegetables, herbs, flowers and, in Ecoplante’s specific case, native Amazonian vegetation, too. What began as a personal healing project has grown into an example of how creativity, entrepreneurship and sustainability can coexist in one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. Plantable seed paper is made by transforming discarded paper into new sheets infused with plant seeds. The process starts with recycled pulp mixed with water, then spread over a fine-mesh screen and layered with seeds, from herbs like basil and arugula, to flowers like daisies. Once dried, the paper can be written on, used, and later planted. When it decomposes, the seeds germinate, turning what would have been waste into greenery. In 2023, Moreira and her brother…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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January 5, 2026 – Residents in five states are now restricted from using federal food assistance for soda, candy and other foods, after waivers signed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began Jan. 1. 

Food restrictions on purchases made through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) started last week in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia. So far, 13 additional states have similar restrictions set to take effect later this year. 

The variability of each state’s new restrictions are creating concerns and complexity for the retailers and grocers administering these shifts. That’s because each state varies slightly in its restrictions and definitions. 

For example, West Virginia’s waiver restricts soda, which it describes as a carbonated drink that contains water, a sweetener, and flavoring. In Iowa, which is considered to have the most restrictive waiver, SNAP recipients can now only use benefits for foods and beverages not subject to the state sales tax. 

Under the Iowa waiver, SNAP users can buy a Twix bar because it contains flour – which is not taxable – but not a Snickers bar, according to the Food Research and Action Center. Other non-taxable foods include whole foods like fresh produce. This restriction also includes new rules on prepared foods to determine whether those are eligible for SNAP. For example, fruit that is cut and packaged in store and sold out of the produce case is eligible, while a fruit cup served with a spoon attached is not, according to the state’s policies on taxable prepared food.  

Since the waivers were initially signed, groups representing retailers and convenience stores have asked states and the USDA for more clarity, like a set list of products that fall under a state restriction. 

So far, Oklahoma is the only state to provide such a list, which included about 18,000 items, according to a source in the retail industry. 

On Dec. 30, the USDA did issue additional guidance to retailers on compliance and penalties related to these state restrictions. The agency set a 90-day grace period after the state implementation date before the agency begins enforcing the policies. After that point, if a retailer is found incorrectly allowing SNAP benefits for a restricted item, they will receive a warning letter after the first offense. With a second error, the retailer could be involuntarily removed from SNAP. 

The National Association of Convenience Stores said the USDA’s release of guidance on such short notice raises “serious concerns” for SNAP retailers still updating their systems and training employees. 

“This strict, two-strike penalty framework creates a real risk of driving retailers out of the program, which ultimately will limit food access for SNAP customers in the communities the convenience industry is proud to serve,” NACS said in a statement. (Link to this post).

The post SNAP Restrictions Take Effect in Five States appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Jake Goldstein-Street*Washington State Standard*

Washington state troopers stop and search drivers of color more often than white Washingtonians, new data shows.

Washington State Patrol’s total traffic stops statewide dropped slightly in 2024, but remained well ahead of 2022 figures. Infractions issued climbed significantly in that period. The findings come as police accountability advocates have pressed state lawmakers unsuccessfully for new restrictions on when police in Washington can pull drivers over.

“Traffic stops really remain one of the most common forms of police-civilian contact, and it’s also one of the riskiest,” said Jazmyn Clark, the Smart Justice policy program director at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington chapter. “For many people of color, a traffic stop is often the most dangerous moment of police interaction.”

Black and Hispanic drivers were much more likely to be stopped last year than white drivers, according to state patrol data presented to lawmakers this month, with the rate of stops for Black drivers nearly double the rate for white motorists.

Black drivers were pulled over 154.6 times per 1,000; Hispanic drivers 102.8 per 1,000; and white drivers 82.5 per 1,000, according to the data. Two years ago, those numbers were 146.7, 89.3 and 73.2, respectively.

Vancouver police killed Nickeia Hunter’s brother, Carlos, during a traffic stop in 2019. Hunter, an advocate from the Coalition for Police Accountability, called the state patrol data “beyond troublesome.”

Speaking to the Joint Transportation Committee this month, state patrol Capt. Deion Glover told lawmakers that the agency “remains committed to fair, unbiased and professional policing statewide. That’s our goal.”

Analyzing traffic stop data from 2015 to 2019, a Washington State University study in 2021 found “no evidence of systemic bias in the decision to stop” drivers.

Disparities with searches, too

Disparities carry over to searches, as well. While Native Americans are less likely to be stopped, they are much more likely to be searched by troopers.

Native Americans were four times more likely than whites to be subjected to a high-discretion search in 2024. These searches refer to when troopers use their judgment to search a person or their car while remaining within constitutional bounds. They’re rare. Last year, there were only 320 statewide, but that’s up from 246 two years prior. About half of them over the past three years turned up contraband, Glover said.

“We really have to have some reasonable suspicion or high level of thought that this person is involved in some type of criminal activity,” Glover said.

Black and Hispanic drivers were also more likely to be searched than their white counterparts, but not to the same degree as Native Americans.

The use of low-discretion searches, used in the case of arrest warrants, vehicle impounds and arrests, also indicated disparities. Black drivers were nearly four times as likely as white drivers last year to face these types of searches, which are also on the rise, with more than 9,000 in 2024.

Push for new restrictions falters

This racial data isn’t perfect, as troopers track the demographics of people they pull over based on their own perception, Glover noted. He said the agency recognizes it has work to do.

“Those are definitely some numbers that we need to work on and dig into and learn why are these disparities happening,” Glover said.

For years, police accountability advocates have pushed legislation to limit when police can stop motorists. Under the proposed Traffic Safety for All Act, law enforcement in Washington would have been barred from stopping drivers solely for nonmoving violations, like expired tabs or a broken headlight, that advocates say disproportionately affect people of color.

Clark, with the ACLU, said “there is likely no other reform that would be more effective” at reducing racial disparities in traffic stops.

“The biggest driver of disparities is what officers are legally allowed to stop for, and when the law allows for broad discretion, bias is going to show up,” Clark said.

But the measure hasn’t made progress in the Legislature. Police officials have opposed the idea amid a dramatic increase in traffic deaths on Washington’s roads. And supporters say they are setting the idea aside for 2026.

Training and other efforts

In the wake of mass racial justice protests in 2020, state lawmakers passed a suite of police accountability measures.

More recently, they’ve shied away from the issue, especially after their move to restrict when police can pursue drivers drew such staunch pushback they had to roll the law back.

Glover noted cadets and troopers are required to take ethics and bias training. The state patrol has also recently done a four-hour “tribal liaison training” on working with tribal governments.

“This training supports better decision making by our troopers and helps reduce disparities amongst traffic stops and other issues as they’re out there working,” Glover told lawmakers.

The agency also has outreach programs to strengthen relationships with the state’s Latino and Indigenous communities.

In 2021, consultants found the state patrol had failed to diversify its ranks, with one key reason being that the department’s psychologist was failing more job candidates of color than white applicants. Glover said “95 percent” of the recommendations from that report have been implemented.

A proviso in the state’s transportation budget passed earlier this year required the state patrol to report the data to the Legislature in hopes of finding ways to address the longstanding demographic disparities.

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This story was published with The 74, a nonprofit education news site.

Chabeli Carrazana*The 19th*

Tucked in New Mexico’s new universal child care program is a less-talked-about provision that could expand access to free child care for some of the state’s most vulnerable caregivers: grandparents.

In most cities and states, child care is designed to help support working parents, and so caregivers need to prove they are working or going to school to access subsidized care. That’s the way it had been in New Mexico until government officials started asking families across the state about their child care needs.

Again and again for the past two years, they heard from grandparents who are raising grandchildren. Because most were retired, they didn’t meet the work or school qualifications to receive any of the government assistance the state was offering. Grandparents who were finding themselves once again in the role of parent lacked the financial support or even the physical ability to provide that caregiving.

New Mexico has the highest share of children in kinship care of any state. Between 2021 and 2023, 8 percent of kids in New Mexico were being raised by grandparents or other kin, more than double the national average of 3 percent. And that percentage has been going up, according to a report from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Foundation, which supports public education and community development in seven counties and 18 tribal nations.

The state has been roiled by a substance abuse epidemic that affects about 16 percent of the adult, non-senior population. In 2021, New Mexico ranked first in alcohol deaths and sixth in drug overdose deaths, according to LANL’s report. That is a large part of the reason many grandparents are stepping in to take over children’s care. But those grandparents are also struggling financially. According to LANL, 1 in 3 are living at or below the poverty level. That’s a rate that is also almost twice the national average in a state where the average annual cost of child care is $13,500 for center-based care and $11,500 for home-based care.

The substantial share of grandparents caring for grandkids was a problem that the state was uniquely positioned to address as it formulated its new universal child care program, which launched last month with the aim of making child care free for all kids.

The way the new regulations are written, grandparents with legal custody or kinship guardianship are specifically exempt from work and school requirements, making them now newly eligible for free child care.

“We wanted grandparents to see that we see them and that we recognize they are doing hero’s work by taking care of their grandchildren,” said Elizabeth Groginsky, New Mexico’s cabinet secretary for early childhood education.

New Mexico is not the first state to give grandparents an exemption from work restrictions so they can access child care assistance — 21 states have some variation of an exemption for kinship caregivers, said Grace Reef, the president of the Early Learning Policy Group and an expert in child care policy who has analyzed all of the state exemptions.

But those exemptions are often tucked in a complicated part of the law that may make it difficult for families to understand that they even qualify. And no other state is offering anything as robust as universal care.

“New Mexico’s approach is simpler and more universally applicable to grandparents, helping reduce confusion and barriers for grandparents seeking child care access for their family,” said Anne Hedgepeth, the senior vice president of policy and research at Child Care Aware of America, a national child care advocacy organization.

Groginsky said the popularity of New Mexico’s universal program has also helped more residents become aware of the options available to them.

New Mexico became the first state to offer free child care this year, one of the most high-profile child care launches in the United States. The state had been preparing for the step over the course of years, establishing a fund in 2020 with money earmarked for early childhood education. Thanks to tax collections from the oil and gas industries, the fund has grown from $320 million to $10 billion. Latinas in New Mexico helped pass a constitutional amendment in 2022 that ensured a portion of a second state fund went specifically to universal child care.

What happens now in the state is expected to become a model for others to follow. Already, proposals for universal child care are being considered in New York and Georgia. Following New Mexico’s example, states could choose to include grandparents — nationwide, the share of grandparents caring for grandkids has been growing for the past 25 years, driven in part by the opioid epidemic.

About 916 children from grandparent-lead households received child care assistance in fiscal year 2025. In the three weeks since universal child care launched in New Mexico, 61 new grandparent-headed households have applied and been approved to receive funds.

Jovanna Archuleta, the early childhood program director at LANL, said what grandparents repeatedly expressed to them was the need for options.

In LANL’s report, one grandparent described her day like this: “My day consist[s] of jumping out of bed, starting breakfast, getting kids up and dressed. Kids are then fed, hair and teeth brushed. Jump in the car, drop one at school at 8 and the twins at 9. Hurry home, start laundry and wash dishes and pick up. At 1:30 p.m. return to school to pick up the 5-year-olds. Get home, make lunch and do any required school work and more household chores. At 3:30 pick up 7-year-old, fix snacks, do homework, start dinner. A short bit of playtime then dinner and dishes. Then it is bath, and bedtime… By the way I am 70 and a disabled vet, and a widow.”

Caring for young children is physically and mentally demanding for anyone, and especially for older people who were not expecting to take on that caregiving responsibility again later in life, Archuleta said.

“They don’t always need every day, full-day child care because a lot of grandparents are retired, but they need respite care. They need drop-in spots and times where they can just have time for themselves. That has carried into this universal child care conversation,” she said.

Before universal child care was opened up to grandparents, some providers like Barbara Tedrow, who owns five centers in Farmington, would have grandparents come in who had just taken custody of their young grandchildren asking for a spot at the center that they typically could not afford.

“I felt so bad, so I just gave them free tuition. … They were older, and they weren’t working — they were in their 70s taking care of a 2-year-old. There was no way they could afford the tuition. So we as providers, we’re normally just letting them come for free,” Tedrow said.

The change in the law was something providers had also been advocating for as a way to give those children, many of whom had experienced trauma, more consistency of care.

“Let this child at least stay during their core hours of their waking hours getting fed, getting nurtured, educated, playing with other children their age, and that’s what they say: ‘I’m 70. I don’t know where to go find 2-year-olds for my granddaughter to play with,’” Tedrow said.

Still, changing the regulation is a first step. For New Mexico’s program to be truly universal and accessible for grandparents — and caregivers more broadly — there needs to be child care slots for children.

Archuleta said groups like hers are working with the state to figure out how to build up that capacity, whether it’s in a center-based home-based child care program, so that every family that needs free child care and is eligible for it can actually access it.

Before New Mexico went fully universal, it had already reduced some of the eligibility criteria so that 80 percent of children were eligible for free child care. But still only about 35 percent of children under 5 who were eligible for child care assistance were actually receiving it. That could be because there were either not enough slots for those kids or because some programs chose not to accept state assistance.

The state reimburses programs for the cost of caring for each child, but because some charge more than the state reimburses, or they prefer to be paid upfront by parents, they choose not to take government assistance.

Now, families have to not only find a program that has a slot at a time when waitlists in New Mexico and across the country can be months-long, but find that slot at a program that takes government payment.

Part of the universal child care roll-out involves raising the state’s reimbursement rate and speeding up the payment process so more providers will be incentivized to participate.

But more centers and providers are still needed for families to really have ample choice — and that’s going to take time.

Already, slots in home-based child care have been falling for more than a decade nationwide. In New Mexico, from 2010 to 2025, the number of registered home-based providers fell from 4,840 to 821, according to the state. Now, New Mexico is projecting it will need to build 55 new centers and add 1,120 home-based child care options to meet the demand of its universal system. To do that, the state is offering low-interest loans from a $13 million fund to providers who want to build or expand centers, and it’s already reduced some barriers for those registering as home-based providers.

Easing the registration process for home-based providers may be the key to helping families find slots quickly, said Kate Noble, the president and CEO of Growing Up New Mexico, a state child care advocacy organization. In rural communities where there are already very few centers, home-based providers set up shop much faster. Many of those providers are also Latinx, which could be an attractive option for families looking for care that reflects their culture in a state where Latinx people make up half the population.

But that process is riddled with barriers for providers who need to obtain a fingerprint and background check and a home inspection. Those who are Spanish-speaking may be wary of going to a police station for a fingerprint or allowing inspectors into their home, said Lucy Leon, a former home-based provider in New Mexico. And the background check requirement applies not only to the provider but to every adult living in the home.

“The majority of those families, if not half, live with an uncle, a grandfather or a coworker because that’s how we support each other,” Leon said. “From the jump it’s like ‘There’s no way I’m going to do a background check for my husband, my son, and much less a coworker.’ That’s another great barrier — they don’t take that step.”

The whole process can take six months, she said.

If the state can build up the number of providers, it will then need the staff to run the expanded system. In addition to maintaining its current staffing levels, the state is projecting having to recruit at least 5,000 more educators. Part of the universal program includes higher reimbursement rates for providers that commit to paying staff at least $16 an hour.

To achieve the ramp-up to universal care, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is expected to request an additional $120 million from the state legislature next year for the program, a tall ask as states face budget shortfalls next year due to cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Already, states across the country have been cutting their child care budgets because of those budget pressures.

It’s an ambitious plan, but if it’s designed in a way that is responsive to the true needs families have — with expansive definitions of family that considers the role grandparents play — then it can be a model that’s worth perfecting, said Natalie Renew, the executive director of Home Grown, a national group working to expand home-based care access.

“If we are going to invest a huge amount of money into a universal child care system, let’s hold an ambitious goal for what it delivers to families,” Renew said. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but I think it is possible, and I really want the sector to be in this problem solving mode with them — what do you need to figure this out?”

This story was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. Meet Chabeli and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

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Shortly after launching a dramatic raid in which U.S. forces abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, President Donald Trump justified the action with a promise to revive Venezuela’s moribund oil industry. The country has by far the largest claimed reserves of crude oil in the world, accounting for almost a fifth of the world’s remaining known crude oil, but its production has plummeted under Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in which he announced Maduro’s capture.

This intervention comes at a pivotal movement for the global oil industry, which continues to stare down the prospect of a broad transition to renewable energy. For this reason, it’s not obvious that future markets can justify a surge of investment in Venezuela. On one hand, the country’s extra-heavy crude oil is perfect for diesel and jet fuel, which are helpful in hard-to-decarbonize industries. This makes it less threatened by the meteoric rise of electric vehicles displacing gasoline-powered cars. On the other hand, the world is already experiencing an overall glut of oil, and analysts expect demand to peak in the next decade. While there are buyers for additional oil that could be pumped in Venezuela — some of them on the U.S. Gulf Coast — experts say a total revival on the order that Trump is promising may not be in the cards.

“There’s a guaranteed market for it, but a market that has its limitations in size,” said Antoine Halff, the founder of the climate and data analysis firm Kayrros and a non-resident fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

As electric vehicles and renewable energy continue to expand, the world appears to be approaching a peak in oil demand. While the exact timing of that peak is disputed — it could happen within four years or in more than 15 years — almost all analysts agree that it is coming. At that point, there may no longer be sufficient demand to keep exploiting new oil fields, no matter how large. And given that it will take many years just to update the infrastructure that will allow for increased oil production in Venezuela in the first place, investors may decide that the juice is not worth the squeeze.

Then there’s the matter of predicting future prices in a notoriously volatile industry. Oil companies only make a profit when global oil prices stay above a certain level. For the American companies that produce oil from Texas shale, for example, that number is around $60 a barrel, which is close to the current benchmark price. For Saudi Arabia, it’s closer to $90 a barrel, because oil revenues back almost all the kingdom’s government spending. In the newest oil fields, such as those offshore of Guyana, it’s as low as $30. There are already concerns that an oversupply of oil worldwide could send prices tumbling over the next year, making new fields less palatable to investors. If demand plateaus, a surge of Venezuelan crude would push prices even further down. Since Venezuela is a member of OPEC, it would have to coordinate production along with Saudi and other major producers, who would likely prevent Venezuela from flooding the market.

Even so, there will likely be long-term demand for the specific kind of oil that Venezuela produces. That’s because any energy transition will not happen at equal speed across all parts of the transportation sector. The expansion of electric vehicles will first replace passenger cars and mopeds, which rely on lighter oil from fields like those of the Texas shale. Larger vehicles like airplanes and heavy-duty trucks are harder to replace — they need more power than EV batteries can feasibly provide at present — and they rely on heavy oil like Venezuela’s. A report from the oil trading firm Vitol found that “the initial pace of decline [for diesel] is expected to be slow compared to gasoline, but begins to gather pace from 2035 onwards.” Few other countries boast the same kind of extra-heavy reserves that Venezuela has, and those that do, like Canada, have much higher production costs.

“These are the hard-to-abate segments,” said Halff. “It’s the part of oil demand that looks like it’s not going to shrink quickly.

Venezuela pumped more than 3 million barrels of oil per day at the turn of the century, but production totals have plummeted since then. After the government of Hugo Chávez nationalized major oil infrastructure in 2007, the United States imposed financial sanctions that forced Venezuela to sell its oil at steep discounts. Under the Maduro government, the state-owned oil company racked up debts and saw an exodus of skilled workers. Pumps and pipelines decayed out of service, storage tanks collapsed, and production bottomed out at around 500,000 barrels per day during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Trump has promised that his aggressive raid on Venezuela will lead to a revival of this industry, and he has reportedly urged American oil producers to aid him in the effort. In remarks following the Maduro raid, he promised that American companies would return to Venezuela and help export oil to other countries. Given how inefficient the state-run oil sector has become, analysts believe it would be easy to restore some production in the short term with outside investment and sanctions relief.

“Our assumption is that there are a lot of wells that just need a workover,” said Adrian Lara, the lead analyst for the Latin American oil industry at the research firm Wood Mackenzie, in a brief published last month before Maduro’s capture. “You can boost production through opex [operational expenditure], without needing much new capex [capital expenditure]” — in other words, a tune-up rather than a full surge of new investment.

In the short term, there is ample demand. The oil in the country’s vast Orinoco Belt is very heavy and viscous, like molasses, in contrast to U.S. shale oil which is about as thin as vinegar. This makes it more expensive and more carbon-intensive to produce, but also makes it well-suited for conversion into diesel fuel in trucks, and for other uses like asphalt. There are several refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast that were built to process this kind of heavy crude, and these refineries are operating below capacity. Right now, Venezuela exports most of its oil to China, which would also likely purchase more for its own refineries. An industry expert who spoke to the Wall Street Journal said access to those reserves could be a “game changer” in terms of increasing Gulf Coast refiners’ profits.

“Right now there’s plenty of appetite for heavy crude globally,” said Robert Auers, a refined fuels market analyst at the energy consultancy RBN Energy. “Even if Venezuelan production were to come back real strong, the global market could easily absorb that.”

But a grand revival like the one Trump has promised would be a much taller order, given that it would take decades to unfold. The energy analysis firm Rystad Energy projects that a return to pre-Maduro levels would require an investment of $110 billion, and these investments would not bear fruit for a decade or more. Even Chevron, the only American oil producer that operates in the country, would need to invest an estimated $7 billion in order to add another 500,000 barrels, according to a former executive who spoke with The New York Times.

The climate pollution stemming from this crude might also play a factor in its market appeal. Right now, the heavy oil extraction in the Orinoco Belt is some of the most carbon-intensive in the world, in part because enormous amounts of methane are flared during the process. As governments continue to pursue Paris Agreement targets, however fitfully, they might shy away from such fields wherever possible and instead import lower-carbon barrels. (The European Union has already committed to do this.) Many experts believe that oil majors will hesitate before taking the plunge on a resource that is far tougher to handle than the crude in U.S. shale fields or the Middle East.

That’s all in addition to the political uncertainty that has followed Trump’s attempt to depose Maduro. It remains unclear what shape the new government of Venezuela will take. Given that other producers like Exxon lost billions of dollars when the Chávez government nationalized their assets, it’s far from obvious that these oil companies would want to invest under continued political instability. Past U.S. interventions have demonstrated similar dynamics: Oil production in Libya has still not recovered since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and it took almost a decade for Iraqi oil production to rebound after the U.S. invaded in 2003.

“I do not believe in a significant increase in the short term,” said Rudolf Elias, chair of the supervisory board of Staatsolie, the state oil company of Suriname, which is pursuing an offshore oil project in the waters east of Venezuela. “It will take years before the industry is revived … then it is dirty oil, and heavy, so it will not be first in the row.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Trump says he’ll unleash Venezuela’s oil. But who wants it? on Jan 5, 2026.

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James Brooks*Alaska Beacon*

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is proposing to divert money from a program intended to compensate North Slope communities for the side effects of oil and gas drilling on federal land near them.

As Dunleavy prepares to unveil a long-term fiscal plan, the state is proposing to use at least some of that money across Alaska instead.

“Definitely a big deal,” said Alexei Painter, director of the Legislative Finance Division, which analyzes the budget on behalf of legislators.

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Impact Mitigation Grant Program sends millions of dollars from the federal government to North Slope communities each year.

It’s funded through revenue generated by oil production on federal land in the North Slope, and it is expected to grow significantly in coming years as more oil is produced from projects like Willow, which is located in the vast petroleum reserve between Utqiagvik and the Prudhoe Bay oil field.

The Willow project alone, for example, is expected to generate $3.1 billion for the grant program between 2029 and 2053, a boon for the borough’s 10,583 residents.

But in documents published recently, the Department of Revenue has reclassified money for the program as “unrestricted,” meaning it could be spent in a variety of ways.

During a Wednesday, Dec. 17 meeting of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board of trustees, CEO Deven Mitchell told the board that he had just heard “that there’s been a federal law change” that could see more money end up in the Permanent Fund.

Mitchell couldn’t recall where he had read about that change, but it appears in the state’s newly published revenue forecast, which covers the fiscal year that starts July 1.

In several footnotes, the Department of Revenue describes a shift in policy. Currently, revenue from the leasing of federal land in the petroleum reserve is deposited in “a special revenue fund” dedicated to a particular purpose.

That changes with the new fiscal year, when “these payments will be divided between unrestricted revenue (74.5 percent), the Permanent Fund (25 percent) and Public School Trust Fund (0.5 percent).”

That would mean money from NPR-A would end up in the state’s general-purpose accounts, usable for services statewide or the Permanent Fund dividend.

Last year, the department wrote, “The federal government dictates that shared NPR-A revenue must be used for specific purposes, and therefore it is considered restricted revenue in this forecast.”

This year, that sentence doesn’t appear.

Comparing the two forecasts shows the difference. Last year, the department labeled NPR-A revenue as “restricted,” or locked in to a particular purpose. In the new fall forecast, it’s “unrestricted,” or available for general use.

While only $9.6 million in NPR-A revenue is expected in the next fiscal year, the state forecasts that amount will rise significantly after the end of the decade — to more than $200 million per year by 2033.

Speaking to reporters last week, an official with the Office of Management and Budget said the Alaska Department of Law was evaluating how changes to federal law in the Big Beautiful Bill Act will change the distribution of revenue to the state and local communities.

That act, passed with the enthusiastic endorsement of Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump, calls for the state to receive 70 percent of revenue from oil and gas leases on federal land in the National Petroleum Reserve, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Cook Inlet, starting in fiscal year 2034.

The Department of Revenue concluded that clause will ultimately have little effect.

“Since all current and forecasted production in the NPR-A is located on leases issued before 2025, only a small portion of revenue within the current forecast period is expected to receive the 70 percent share,” the department wrote in its new forecast.

The Act also contains a clause stating that “for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2033, 50 percent (of federal-land oil revenue) shall be paid to the State of Alaska,” but that applies to revenue from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, not NPR-A. No oil and gas drilling or production has yet taken place in the refuge.

Thus, the legal basis for the state’s policy change isn’t clear.

Staff for Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said they’re not sure why the state believes it can spend NPR-A impact aid outside the federally designated program.

“The law is clear: the North Slope priority applies to all NPR-A revenues through FY 2034,” said Joe Plesha, a spokesman for Murkowski. “At that point, the North Slope priority continues to apply to all existing leases—including for Willow, West Willow, and the rest of the [2.3] million acres currently under lease in the reserve. Only lands leased pursuant to the reconciliation bill lack the North Slope priority, and only in FY 2034 and beyond. As of today, that acreage total is zero.”

The Alaska Department of Law is determining whether the state may choose to keep NPR-A money for direct uses instead of sending it to communities, the OMB official said.

As a precondition for that interview, reporters agreed to allow the official to speak on background and not be quoted directly.

The Alaska Department of Law did not respond to an emailed inquiry about the effort. The governor’s office, when asked for a quote about the topic, referred the issue to a spokesperson for the Department of Revenue, who did not provide a comment beyond the department’s written forecast.

The North Slope Borough was unable to comment before deadline Wednesday.

Officials from VOICE of the Arctic Inupiat, an organization that advocates Iñupiaq self-determination and has acted as a booster for oil production, said in a statement, “While VOICE’s board does not have a formal position on this matter, we would note that responsible resource development on the North Slope supports essential services, like schools, health clinics, modern water and sewer systems, and world-class wildlife management and research supporting Indigenous subsistence traditions. The proliferation of these services is directly connected to significant increases in average lifespan for the North Slope Iñupiat from just 34 years in 1969 to 77 years today – the largest increase of its kind in the United States over that period.”

Correction: This article has been updated to correct a reference to a 50-50 split in the Big Beautiful Bill Act. That split applies only to oil and gas revenue from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, not from the petroleum reserve as previously stated.

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Nuria Martinez-Keel*Oklahoma Voice*

WARNER —  The banners stretch along the top of Warner Public Schools’ Event Center wall, each with the letter A as the centerpiece.

Every banner celebrates the 16 overall A grades that schools in the rural eastern Oklahoma district have received since 2013 on state report cards. A fresh one printed in 2025 signifies Warner’s high school and K-8 school were again among the top 5 percent highest-performing public schools in the state.

The A grades, though a heavy focus in the 800-student district, aren’t the point, Warner Superintendent David Vinson said. They’re a byproduct of students’ and teachers’ hard work. And if Warner can do it, he said, any district can.

“You have to make sure your students understand the why,” Vinson said. “It’s about their education. It’s about bettering their lives. It’s not about getting an A on the report card or about getting high marks as a school district. That’s a result or a fallout of them being high achievers individually.”

Public schools across Oklahoma are now implementing strategies Warner has been employing for years — a cellphone ban throughout the school day, frequent benchmark testing and tracking of students’ individual scores. The district changed its culture and policies more than a decade ago after receiving disappointing results on state report cards.

The town of Warner, home to 1,500 residents and Connors State College, doesn’t have a wealth of industry to keep its school district flush with local tax revenue, Vinson said. State funding and community support for bond issues fill in the gap.

About 60 percent of Warner students come from households at or near the federal poverty line, state records show. Many district students — 42 percent of whom are Native American, 31 percent White and 20 percent two or more races — have parents who work in farming and ranching in the area or drive 20 minutes north to Muskogee for industry jobs, Vinson said.

Not that he particularly pays attention to demographics. Those details, Vinson said, “tend to be used as excuses.”

High academic expectations and strict discipline are core to the district’s success, he said. Principals are quick to handle behavioral issues, leaving teachers free to teach and students better able to learn without disruptions.

The principal’s office is not a “revolving door,” he said. Any student sent in must leave with a consequence.

“I think education in general across the board has lost sight of that mentality, has lost sight of that philosophy,” Vinson said. “And that’s why you have schools that are in chaos, and you have entire schools scoring 0 percent proficient on assessments because the school has become so chaotic that teachers can’t teach and kids can’t learn. And there are just as smart of kids in those schools as there are in my school. They’re just not being afforded that opportunity to learn like our kids are.”

Small behavioral problems are addressed consistently, and big incidents are punished “severely,” he said.

In Warner, that includes the rare use of corporal punishment, a method of discipline that more than 100 Oklahoma districts still permit. Simply having it on the table as an option, Vinson said, usually is enough to discourage most students from bad behavior.

While administrators handle discipline, teachers are expected to maximize every minute of their class time, a concept known in Warner as “bell-to-bell teaching.” That means no movies and no downtime, said Charla Jackson, the district’s curriculum director and elementary counselor.

Middle and high school students are discouraged from mingling in the hallways during passing periods. Instead they’re expected to hustle to their lockers and then to their next class, where a bellringer assignment is usually waiting. They’re expected to read a book if they finish their classwork early.

Literacy is a major emphasis in Warner, Jackson said. Several Warner Elementary teachers have completed in-depth training on the science of reading, and the school provides reading interventionists and tutoring for students who need extra help.

“They are the experts,” Jackson said of Warner’s teachers. “They are the ones making the difference. We just try to support them and allow them to do their job. So, that’s first and foremost.”

High morale keeps teacher turnover low, Jackson said. Class sizes, though increasing with Warner’s enrollment growth, max out at about 24 students per classroom.

But, Warner isn’t immune from the teacher shortage impacting public schools across Oklahoma.

About half of the teachers at Warner High School entered the classroom through non-traditional means, like adjunct teaching and alternative or emergency certification, Vinson said. The district tries to support those educators with training, pre-written curriculum plans and co-teaching hours with a veteran teacher.

Having fewer classroom disruptions, too, “just makes everybody a better teacher,” he said.

Several district teachers told Oklahoma Voice that behavioral issues are rarely a problem in their classrooms, but when they do occur, school administrators readily step in.

When asked what sets Warner apart, kindergarten teacher Lisa Lee pointed to elementary Principal Alan Gordon’s desk.

“This man right here, he’s great,” Lee said. “The administration here, it just makes you feel good. You know what I mean? Like they’re backing us. They believe in us. They push us, and that makes a huge difference.”

Fourth-grade math teacher Pam White said she was ready to quit teaching before she came to Warner Elementary five years ago. White, 65, is eligible to retire but has chosen not to “because I love this school so much.”

She said the supportive administration has been “huge.”

“They’re in our classrooms,” she said. “They’ll take care of problems immediately.”

During a visit to White’s classroom, students in her afternoon math class were equally enthusiastic about their school, complimenting the quality of their teachers, school staff and principal.

But, Warner didn’t always have this culture of success. The turning point was 2012. That year, the district scored straight C’s on state report cards.

Vinson, then in his first year as superintendent, sent an email to Warner families to inform them “we are not pleased with the overall grade on these report cards for our schools.” The district’s administrators and teachers were already implementing changes, he wrote in the email. He still keeps a copy.

That’s when Warner adopted a more structured and disciplined culture, banned cellphones, started adhering to bell-to-bell teaching and aimed to have 90% of students make a proficient score on state tests.

The following year, the district met or exceeded the statewide average on nearly every state exam.

That trajectory continued over the following decade, despite state test scoring becoming more rigorous in 2017 and COVID-19 interrupting schooling in 2020. In 2025, Warner students scored above the state average in every tested grade level, the district’s report card shows.

Families in the area have taken notice. While the town of Warner has experienced little population change, its school district has grown from 600 students at the start of the turnaround to more than 800 today. Student transfers are a major source of the spike.

“I think a big thing is we established a culture here where kids want to succeed,” middle and high school counselor Misty Durrett said. “It’s something they take pride in.

“They know our ranking. They know where we stand. They want to maintain that.”

It’s not all structure and discipline, Vinson said. School still needs to be fun.

That’s why Warner has expanded extracurricular activities, electives and class options available to students. It’s added a competition choir, an art program, boys and girls wrestling, and a high school construction class, where students are building a house that should be ready to sell this spring.

Students on the high school racing team design and build a dirt-track racing car that Vinson drives in competitions on the team’s behalf.

School spirit events, like Homecoming, consume entire school days. With the winter holidays approaching, the interior of every Warner school is decorated for Christmas with lights, trees and door decals.

“You have to create those opportunities for kids to enjoy school,” Vinson said. “It can’t be structure, discipline, learning, structure, discipline, learning 170 days a year.”

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Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.

The post How this small Oklahoma school district became one the state’s top performers appeared first on ICT.

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Last Updated on January 5, 2026 The last remaining uranium mill in the United States is located in White Mesa, Utah. The White Mesa Uranium Mill, owned and operated by Energy Fuels, processes uranium-bearing materials into yellowcake, a key component of nuclear reactor fuel. Mill tailings are the liquid radioactive byproduct of this process, and […]

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As lawmakers wrapped up 2025 and agriculture leaders signaled they intend to move forward on a five-year farm bill early this year, many introduced bills that would typically be included in that larger legislative package.

Called marker bills, the proposals cover a wide range of farm group priorities, from access to credit to forever-chemical contamination to investment in organic agriculture.

House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) told Politico in December that he would restart the farm bill process this month. In an interview with Agri-Pulse, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) said his chamber would work on it “right after the first of the year.”

But most experts say there’s no clear path forward for a new farm bill. The last five-year farm bill expired in September 2023. Because Congress had not completed a new one, they extended the previous bill, then extended it again in 2024. In 2025, Republicans included in their One Big Beautiful Bill the biggest-ever cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and a boost in commodity crop subsidies, and later extended other farm programs in the bill package that ended the government shutdown.

The SNAP actions torpedoed Democrats’ willingness to compromise (some have signaled they won’t support a farm bill unless it rolls back some of the cuts), while the extension of the big farm programs took pressure off both parties.

Still, that didn’t stop lawmakers from introducing and reintroducing over the last month many marker bills they hope to get in an actual farm bill package if things change. Here are 10 recent proposals important to farmers, most of which have bipartisan support.

Fair Credit for Farmers Act: Makes changes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to make it easier for farmers to get loans. Introduced by Representative Alma Adams (D-North Carolina) in the House and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) in the Senate. Key supporters: National Family Farm Coalition, RAFI.

FARM Home Loans Act: Increases rural homebuyers’ access to Farm Credit loans by expanding the definition of “rural area” to include areas with larger populations. Introduced by Representatives Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Michigan) and Bill Huizeng (R-Michigan). Key supporters: Farm Credit Council.

USDA Loan Modernization Act: Updates USDA loan requirements to allow farmers with at least a 50 percent operational interest to qualify. Introduced by Representatives Mike Bost (R-Illinois) and Nikki Budzinski (D-Illinois). Key supporters: Illinois Corn Growers Association, Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Relief for Farmers Hit With PFAS Act: Sets up a USDA grant program for states to help farmers affected by forever-chemical contamination in their fields, test soil, monitor farmer health impacts, and conduct research on farms. Introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) in the Senate and Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Mike Lawler (R-New York) in the House. Key supporters: Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act: Requires the USDA to weigh factors including environmental sustainability, social and racial equity, worker well-being, and animal welfare in federal food purchasing, and helps smaller farms and food companies meet requirements to become USDA vendors. Introduced by Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and several co-sponsors in the Senate, and Representative Alma Adams (D-North Carolina) and several co-sponsors in the House. Key supporters: National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

AGRITOURISM Act: Designates an Agritourism Advisor at the USDA to support the economic viability of family farms. Introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and several co-sponsors in the Senate, and Representatives Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) and Dan Newhouse (R-Washington) in the House. Key supporters: Brewers Association, WineAmerica.

Domestic Organic Investment Act: Creates a USDA grant program to fund expansion of the domestic certified-organic food supply chain, including expanding storage, processing, and distribution. Introduced by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the Senate, and Representatives Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon) and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin) in the House. Key supporters: Organic Trade Association.

Zero Food Waste Act: Creates a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program to fund projects that prevent, divert, or recycle food waste. Introduced by Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Julia Brownley (D-California) in the House, and Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) in the Senate. Key supporters: Natural Resources Defense Council, ReFed.

LOCAL Foods Act: Allows farmers to process animals on their farms without meeting certain regulations if the meat will not be sold. Introduced by Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and several co-sponsors in the Senate, and Representative Eugene Vindman (D-Virginia) and several co-sponsors in the House. Key supporters: Rural Vermont, National Family Farm Coalition.

PROTEIN Act: Directs more than $500 million in federal support over the next five years toward research and development for “alternative proteins.” Introduced by Senator Adam Schiff (D-California) in the Senate, and Representative Julia Brownley (D-California) in the House. Key supporters: Good Food Institute, Plant-Based Foods Institute.

The post 10 Farm Bill Proposals to Watch in 2026 appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Amelia Schafer
ICT

As 2025 came to a close, economic uncertainty and the potential for another government shutdown carried into the new year. On a brighter note, the new year will bring historic Indigenous representation to the FIFA 2026 World Cup and a potential for Indigenous athletes to shine at the 2026 Winter Olympics and the 150th anniversary of a historic Indigenous victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Economic uncertainty, unemployment rates double for Natives in rural areas

Above all else, the United States is headed toward continued economic uncertainty in 2026. Over half of all states have declared a recession following stagnant economic growth in 2025.

There’s a lot of conflicting information at the moment, said Matthew Gregg, a senior economist at the Center for Indian Country Development.

Despite strong nationwide figures, with 3.8 percent GDP growth but a 4.3 percent unemployment rate, a majority of states are either in a recession or at high risk of being in one. For tribal communities and Indigenous workers, any hit to the economy is going to be felt harder and more deeply.

“Historically, when the economy or when the unemployment rate is creeping up and it increases, it increases by more for communities and people that have historically high unemployment rates,” Gregg said. “When the economy worsens and unemployment grows, those groups are disproportionately worse off.”

For Indian Country, things are a bit more bleak, as indicated by data from the Center for Indian Country Development. Part of the Federal Reserve System, the center studies how tribal economies and Indigenous employees are fairing and provides data on Indian Country’s economy.

Volunteers with the Rapid City-based nonprofit COUP Council serve meals at the Pejuta Waste Day Center. Credit: Courtesy of COUP Council

Unemployment among American Indian/Alaska Native people in urban areas sits at 5.7 percent and unemployment among American Indian/Alaska Native people in rural areas sits at a stark 8.8 percent, double that of the nationwide average.

Currently, the unemployment rate among AI/NA individuals in non-urban areas has declined throughout the year, peaking at 12.3 percent unemployment in June 2025 and dipping back down to 8.8 percent in December.

“Most experts call the present-day economy a low-hire, low-fire economy,” Gregg said. “What that means is that the hiring rate has been really low for a while, but the layoff rate has been really low for a while. It’s basically really hard to enter the labor market now and look for a job.”

Labor force participation among AI/NA individuals in urban areas has steadily grown throughout 2025, as shown by Center for Indian Country Development data, with 63.9 percent currently employed or seeking employment. For those in non-urban/rural areas, participation has declined since June, with only 54.5 percent of AI/NA individuals seeking employment or currently employed.

Compared to non-Native individuals, labor force participation among AI/NA individuals in urban areas is higher than that of non-Native individuals but lower among those in rural areas.

This phenomenon is not uncommon among those in rural areas, said Gregg. Living in a rural area is typically associated with increased difficulty finding employment, something further exasperated by how extremely rural reservation and tribal communities can be.

“We’re in a situation where we don’t have a ton of job growth,” Gregg said. “So there’s not a lot of job creation. The demand for workers is relatively low right now, but so is the supply of workers. We’ve seen a low labor supply growth rate.”

If the economy continues to stay stagnant or even dip into a full-blown recession, there will likely be a decrease in consumer spending. For Indigenous small business owners, this could mean a further decline in sales, which many reported over the holiday shopping season.

For tribal economies that thrive on gaming and tourism, those areas could also see a decline in revenue.

“The Federal Reserve right now is looking at interest rates to try to encourage spending in this kind of weird economy,” Gregg said. “This is a little different, but during the COVID recession we know a lot more about what happened in those service industries that rely on casino gaming,  they took a big hit. It is something to look out for.”

A potential government shutdown

President Donald Trump signs the funding bill to reopen the government, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The clock is ticking for lawmakers who vowed to vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies following the longest government shutdown in American history. Lawmakers have until Jan. 30 to pass legislation. If they fail to do so, the government will once again shut down.

As of Dec. 30, lawmakers have passed only three of the 12 appropriated bills needed to fund the government in 2026. If the remaining nine bills aren’t funded, another shutdown is on the table.

The end of Gathering of Nations

Miss Indian World 2022-23 Tashina Red Hawk, Sicangu Lakota. (Photo courtesy of Gathering of Nations website)

April 24 will mark the beginning of Gathering of Nations’s “Last Dance,” the final time “North America’s largest powwow” will take over Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Powwow organizers, the Matthews family, have not said why the powwow is ending.

The past several years have been marked with controversy for Gathering of Nations.

In 2024, lead organizer Derek Matthews went viral after he gave a 12-minute speech at the powwow in which he held a mirror up to the audience and responded to criticism leveled against him regarding costs of attendance, dancer registration fees, and the fact that Matthews is non-Native, saying Native people should look at themselves and solve their own problems.

Expo New Mexico, where the powwow is held, is also undergoing a costly redevelopment plan that could increase usage fees and drive out events.

Organizers did not respond to ICT’s requests for comment.

150th anniversary of ‘Greasy Grass’

Red Horse pictographic account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1881.

June 25 will mark 150 years since as many as 1,800 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, led by Lakota chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defeated Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his Seventh Cavalry in Montana on the Crow Reservation in 1876.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, marked a significant victory for Native American people against the US military and is celebrated in many Lakota communities every year.

The nine Oceti Sakowin tribes of South Dakota, Northern Cheyenne Nation and Northern Arapahoe Nation are currently planning a celebratory event to be held June 25, 2026. Event details will be made available as soon as they are made public.

America’s 250th

The United States will celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. Several events are planned across the country to celebrate. The Great American State Fair will travel across the country and visit various state fairs, before landing on the National Mall in July 2026 to honor the “most patriotic” state fair.

Milano Olympic Winter Games

The 2026 Winter Olympics will kick off in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 6 and end on Feb. 22. The United States’s roster is not yet finalized, so it’s unclear what, if any, Indigenous athletes will be competing.

Ice hockey, a sport popular among Indigenous athletes, will be a featured sport at the 2026 Olympics.

For Canada’s team, snowboarder Liam Gill, Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ (Dene) First Nation, could return to the roster. Gill participated in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Notably, Gill modeled Team Canada’s 2026 Olympic gear for the team in November, hinting that the Dene snowboarder could be on the roster.

Alex Loutitt, Metis, will not be joining Canada’s ski team following a knee injury in September. Loutitt was part of Canada’s 2022 Winter Olympics team and was the first Canadian to win a medal in ski jumping.

World Cup and historic Indigenous partnerships

The FIFA World Cup will begin June 11 in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. Games will be held at various locations worldwide until the tournament ends on July 19, 2026.

A historic first, the World Cup will partner with the Puyallup Tribe for the game in Seattle, marking the first time an Indigenous nation is highlighted in the tournament.

FIFA has pledged that the 2026 tournament will highlight and honor Indigenous peoples following criticism regarding a lack of Indigenous athletes in previous tournaments.

In Canada, FIFA will partner with three additional Indigenous host nations – the Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation for its games in British Columbia.

In Mexico, FIFA said, it will work to honor the nation’s 68 federally recognized Indigenous groups as part of its work with the host city of Guadalajara.

Officials are also working on plans to translate information on rights, safety, protocols and public awareness campaigns into various different Indigenous languages.

It is unclear what Indigenous athletes will be participating in the tournament, as team rosters are not yet available.

Movies and TV

Jessican Matten as Bernadette Manuelito and Zahn McClarnon as detective Joe Leaphorn will reprise their roles in Season Four of AMC’s “Dark Winds.”

Season 4 of AMC’s southwestern noir mystery series “Dark Winds,” starring Zahn McClarnon, Hunkpapa Lakota, Jessica Matten, Red River Metis-Cree, and Kiowa Gordon, Hualapi, will premier on Feb. 15.

Inuit comedy show “North of North” was a hit among Native viewers in 2025, and 2026 will bring the show’s second season. The release date is yet to be announced, but is expected to be sometime in 2026. Filming for Season 2 is ongoing.

The post A glimpse into what 2026 could bring to Indian Country appeared first on ICT.

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Premier David Eby speaks at a press conference about the province’s economic security on Nov. 17, 2025. Photo courtesy Government of B.C./Flickr

This story was originally published in The Narwhal and appears here with minor style edits.

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In 2019, “British Columbia” unanimously passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

It was celebrated as a major step toward working with First Nations in a better, more equal way.

But a court ruling last month seems to be contributing to a change of heart for Premier David Eby.

On Dec. 5, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled the government’s obligations under the Declaration Act are legally enforceable.

Eby is now arguing judges shouldn’t be setting the province’s reconciliation agenda. And he says he is willing to change the law to make sure they can’t.

“The work we do in reconciliation is to empower people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, not to empower the courts,” Eby told attendees at a B.C. Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Dec. 10.

“Last week’s court of appeal decision invites further and endless litigation,” he added.

“It is the exact opposite of the direction we need to go: less certainty, not more; more conflict, not less.”

When the legislature resumes in the spring, Eby said the government will introduce amendments to the act to make things clear.

Merle Alexander, a lawyer who helped draft the Declaration Act, called the premier’s pledge to swiftly amend the province’s first law co-developed with First Nations — one that passed into law with the full support of the legislature — troubling.

“[The Declaration Act] was a tacit agreement between the B.C. government and B.C. First Nations that the status quo wasn’t working and an agreement that we were going to change things together,” said Alexander, a lawyer with Miller Titerle and Co. who specializes in Indigenous law.

“The idea that you could go back and unilaterally change some of its core purposes by yourself, with or without First Nations, to me, on the face of it, is extremely offensive.”

Cynthia Callison, a partner with Callison & Hannah Law who has advocated for First Nations in the province for 29 years, called Eby’s vow to alter the Declaration Act a knee-jerk reaction.

“Every time a court has acknowledged Indigenous Peoples’ rights or tried to encourage reconciliation between the Crown and First Nations, there’s always a backlash,” Callison, who is a member of the Tahltan Nation, said in an interview.

“It’s something to be expected.”

In 2019, members of the First Nations Leadership Council (centre) and MLAs applaud the introduction of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) in the B.C. Legislature, which would make ‘B.C.’ the first province to enact the United Nation’s Indigenous rights declaration into law. Photo courtesy Government of B.C./Flickr

What is UNDRIP and why does it matter?

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) affirms the inherent human rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide.

It acknowledges those who have suffered and continue to suffer persecution, genocide, cultural erasure, marginalization and disproportionate impacts from resource extraction and climate change.

In 46 articles, the declaration covers a range of basic rights that represent the “minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being” of Indigenous Peoples.

In other words, UNDRIP and “B.C.’s” equivalent legislation, are an acknowledgement of the basic rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to “free, prior and informed consent” about decisions that affect their lives and well-being.

When the province introduced the Declaration Act, the government stressed this did not amount to a veto for First Nations on issues like resource development.

Instead, the government described the act as “a path forward” for relations between First Nations and the province.

The idea was the legislation would hold the government accountable, in law, to its stated commitments on reconciliation.

In 2021, it was Eby, in his former role as attorney general, who put forward a change to the province’s Interpretation Act, which gives courts guidance on how to apply provincial laws and statutes.

At the time, Eby said the changes would make it “explicit that the province’s preferred approach” is to have laws and regulations interpreted in ways that align with the United Nations declaration.

That same year, the federal government passed its own law to use the declaration “as an international human rights instrument that can help interpret and apply Canadian law.”

Callison believes it will be difficult for the province to insulate its laws from being held to a widely recognized international standard, especially one that the federal government upholds.

“Whether or not it’s legislated, it’s still something that courts are able to use in decisions. Maybe they’re not bound to it, but they still can recognize those principles,” Callison said.

“The reason why Indigenous people wanted it to be legislated, I think, was because then it was clear that the court could use that standard.”

The recent appeal court ruling concluded the Declaration Act has “immediate legal effect” on provincial laws — not just the ones the province has decided to bring into alignment with the principles of UNDRIP.

“What the court did in the decision, unfortunately, is to say that at any time, any nation can come to court and apply to find a law invalid [under the United Nations declaration],” Eby said on Dec. 10. “And that was never the intention.”

But how a government hopes its legislation will be applied by the courts — as conveyed by ministers speaking in the legislature, for example — can only be secondary to the letter of the law, Alexander explained.

“The most important part of the interpretation is the literal words of the statute itself,” he said.

Those laws lay out a process for legal reforms to be co-developed with First Nations, Alexander added, but don’t contain any language barring the courts from interpreting them.

Linda Innes, Gitxaala’s elected chief councillor, speaks to supporters and media on the steps of the B.C. Court of Appeal in Vancouver alongside Gitxaała hereditary chiefs and members. Photo by Amy Romer

What’s happened to date in the Gitxaała case?

The appeal court’s Dec. 5 decision was the result of a challenge to part of a 2023 B.C. Supreme Court ruling launched by the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations.

That ruling agreed with the nations’ claim that “B.C.’s” mineral claim-staking regime did not fulfill the government’s obligations to consult with First Nations.

It also concluded that the province’s Declaration Act was not legally enforceable, which is what the nations just successfully appealed.

Gitxaała hailed the appeal court’s ruling as “precedent-setting.”

“Aligning all B.C. laws with the [United Nations] declaration and upholding the standard of free, prior and informed consent is the only pathway to the investor ‘certainty’ the mining sector seeks,” Gitxaała Chief Councillor Linda Innes said in a statement.

The case was brought forward by Gitxaała in 2021.

Like many court cases that centre on infringement of Indigenous rights, its scope was wide-reaching — but its origins stemmed from environmental damages that occurred on Lax k’naga dzol (Banks Island) in 2015 and subsequent mineral claims staked there between 2018 and 2020.

Banks Island, which Gitxaała refer to as their “bread basket,” is on the province’s northwest coast, south of the Skeena River estuary.

The provincial Mineral Tenure Act is “colonial legislation” that dates back to the mid-1800s gold rush, the ruling stated.

While the law, often called the free-entry system, has been updated and amended over the years, it still allowed for anyone to stake a claim on lands in “B.C.” without first asking permission from the landowner or First Nations.

Callison described the appeal court’s ruling as a logical next step to address a legal infringement on Indigenous rights that the province has been aware of for a long time.

“In this case, it’s quite obvious that this mineral tenure system, the free miner system, is inconsistent with Indigenous Peoples’ rights,” Callison said.

And fulfilling the requirements of the Gitxaała decision will create more certainty for First Nations and the mining industry, Callison argued.

“They can’t complain that they don’t know what is culturally important to First Nations if it’s identified and if it’s been declared as a non-staking area.”

Naxginkw Tara Marsden, who works with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, called the recent decision “pivotal.”

“A lot of our problems in resource management centre around these fundamental legislation like [the Mineral Tenure Act], where industry effectively gets unfettered access to the rights to resources,” she told The Narwhal.

“But undoing the free-entry system, bolstered by the legal effect of UNDRIP, moves us away from that. It’s a paradigm shift, and can spill over into others.”

Leaders from Quw’utsun Nation and their lawyer stand after an Aug. 11 press conference about their Supreme Court of B.C. victory. From right to left: Chief Shana Thomas (Lyackson First Nation), Chief Cindy Daniels (Cowichan Tribes), Chief Pam Jack (Penelakut Tribe), and Chief John Elliott (Stz’uminus First Nation), and lawyer David Robbins (Woodward & Company). Photo courtesy Cowichan Tribes/Youtube

How is the political world reacting to the Gitxaała decision?

The appeal court decision on the Gitxaała case isn’t the only one troubling the premier.

During his address at the luncheon, Eby called the appeal court ruling and the B.C. Supreme Court’s decision in the Cowichan Tribes case “deeply troubling.”

Eby, the one-time head of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, slammed provincial judges for issuing “dramatic, overreaching and unhelpful” decisions he claimed could destabilize the provincial economy.

“It’s hard to understate the damage that could be done or has already been done to public support for the delicate, critical and necessary work we have to do with First Nations in a province that was almost entirely settled without treaties, and in a country that has Section 35 of the Constitution,” Eby warned.

“While this work is essential to our success, it could also be the undoing of our province as a place to do business.”

Amending the Declaration Act and the Interpretation Act will make the government’s intentions clear, Eby told the audience, and prevent future court decisions from potentially destabilizing economic development.

Alexander believes the premier’s plan could have the opposite effect, potentially triggering more court cases from First Nations and thereby creating more uncertainty for resource extraction and other industries in the long run, while also damaging the province’s relationship with First Nations.

“People have very fragile trust in the government of the day,” he said, “but when they so intentionally change legislation to ensure that there’s no objective party reviewing how they perform reconciliation, it seems very insidious.”

This year, “B.C.” passed legislation to fast-track the North Coast transmission line, renewable energy projects and yet-to-be-defined “provincially significant projects.”

The provincial government admitted it had not fulfilled its consultation obligations before introducing the legislation, which many First Nations forcefully criticized.

Eby’s vow to amend the Declaration Act could even stiffer opposition from First Nations leaders, Alexander warned.

“It’s hard to know how damaging it will be to reconciliation,” he said. “Because, in truth, Premier Eby himself has damaged reconciliation in the province so tremendously in the last year, it’s hard to measure.

“There’s a lot of burning bridges already.”

The post Frustration grows over premier’s plan to alter ‘B.C.’ Indigenous rights legislation appeared first on Indiginews.

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VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA – As a baby, Elisa Fernández Sánchez’ mother would place her into the bow of the canoe and glide across the murky waters of the Vaupés River in the thick Amazon rainforest. Their journey towards the traditional forest gardens was not easy, but they did it almost every day. Her mom would plunge the canoe into a series of small river channels, ducking to protect herself from the violent blizzard of branches, vines and leaves that threatened to gouge her eyes if she was not careful. Like most members of the mostly Cubeo Macaquiño community at the time, her mother respected nature and the spiritual beings that guard its sacred sites. It was dangerous to enter the forest unprotected. To enter sacred sites, the payé (an Indigenous authority responsible for maintaining the community’s cultural and spiritual well-being) had to pray to the spirits for permission. Failure to respect this rule could result in severe illness, they believed. Through rituals, prayers and their careful relationship with nature, the Macaquiño community has maintained a healthy territory. It is one of four Indigenous communities that form part of the Association of Traditional Indigenous Authorities Surrounding Mitú (AATIAM), a public entity with a state-recognized right to govern autonomously. Manuel Claudio Fernández, the captain of Macaquiño, said that the community does not care for the land; they co-exist with it. “How do we co-exist? By respecting the forest, the articulation of spirits, the water, the forest and us humans. We, the people, depend…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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More than 145,000 African forest elephants roam the rainforests of Africa, according to a recent population assessment. Published in December by the African Elephant Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, the survey relies on improved DNA-based techniques to provide the first estimate for these critically endangered pachyderms since they were recognized as a distinct species in 2021. African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are found primarily in the dense rainforests of Central Africa, with significant but dwindling numbers remaining in West Africa, and small populations in East and Southern Africa. Hybrids with their close cousins, savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), also occur infrequently where both forest and savanna elephants are found. Counting these shy and elusive giants is a challenge for researchers as they blend into their surroundings or vanish into the dense understory of their forest habitat. A forest elephant with calf in Gabon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Some 153 population surveys, carried out between 2016 and 2024 across roughly three-quarters of L. cyclotis’s known range, counted 135,690 forest elephants. The IUCN’s assessment included 22 elephant populations, mostly in Central Africa, that had not previously been surveyed. The researchers estimate there are as many as 11,000 more elephants in the remaining parts of the species’ range, pushing the total to just over 145,000 individuals. “This report is the first one that shows forest elephant numbers,” report author Fiona Maisels, a conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), told Mongabay by email. “In previous iterations, the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The federal government gave up its claim to ownership of the North Fork of the Fortymile River in Alaska’s eastern Interior.

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A new study of the impact of the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires has found that even after fires are extinguished, residents who return to their homes may remain at risk of exposure to known carcinogens because of smoke damage.

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In the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon, locals tap rubber and extract Brazil nuts from the rainforest for a living. It’s a way of life dependent on the forest that goes back generations — and which rubber tapper Chico Mendes, who gave the area its name, was murdered trying to defend in 1988. The reserve has been strengthened in recent years thanks to a massive conservation program known as ARPA, the Amazon Region Protected Areas. First established in 2002 by the Brazilian government, and later expanded with the support of WWF and private donors, ARPA helps protect 120 conservation areas spanning more than 27 million hectares (67 million acres) — about the size of Aotearoa New Zealand — of the Brazilian Amazon. The program initially worked on creating new protected areas and then on designing a durable financial mechanism to support their protection. A new phase, called ARPA Comunidades (Communities), is now shifting the focus to the traditional communities who live within the forest and help protect it. Half of the conservation areas covered by ARPA are sustainable-use conservation units like the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, inhabited by local communities who live sustainably off the forest’s resources. “We were missing closer attention to the communities living in these sustainable-use conservation units, who were contributing to conservation,” said Fernanda Marques, project development consultant at FUNBIO, the Brazilian organization responsible for managing the $120 million fund that underpins ARPA Comunidades. Brazil nuts in the hand of Raimundão. Image © Tessel in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The devastating Los Angeles fires in the very heart of a built-up urban interface sparked global interest, including in Australia, as communities, media and governments asked how the fires happened and could such a catastrophe happen here.

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At the end of 2024, the Azores stood as a beacon of hope and a global leader in ocean conservation, having created the largest network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the North Atlantic. The Azores safeguarded 30% of its waters — an expanse more than three times larger than Portugal’s landmass — years ahead of the global commitment to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030 (30×30). This decisive action was praised both at home and internationally, with other countries and regions seeking advice from the Azores on how to follow suit. But in a world where major powers are retreating from crucial environmental commitments, the Azores now faces a pivotal test of its own. Early in 2025, a proposal to allow pole-and-line tuna fishing within areas designated as no-take was submitted to the Regional Assembly and is currently under discussion. This maneuver, if successful, risks undoing a monumental achievement. Crucially, half of this network is fully protected, banning all extractive and damaging activities, meaning it far exceeds the European Union’s mandate to fully protect at least 10% of its waters. Allowing industrial tuna fishing within the Azores’ fully protected areas would turn these areas into “paper parks” and defy their very purpose. Rays in the Azores. Image courtesy of Emanuel Goncalves / Oceano Azul Foundation. In other words, these areas would fail to meet the definition of “fully protected” set out in the strict standards established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The Cardamom Mountains sprawl across southwestern Cambodia and are among the best-preserved rainforests in the country. Protected by rugged terrain, heavy rains and a low population density, the Cardamoms remain a biodiversity hotspot, providing habitat for threatened elephants, pangolins and the region’s last viable fishing cat population. This Special Issues documents the myriad threats facing one of Cambodia’s last, best rainforests. Since 2021, Mongabay has uncovered illegal loggers operating out of prisons, revealed how dam building gives cover to timber traffickers, and investigated where conservationists clash with Indigenous communities while land grabbers rush in, carving up the Cardamoms.This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new study reveals that microplastics are impairing the oceans' ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a process scientists find crucial for regulating Earth's temperature.

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