The concluding part of the UN’s COP16 biodiversity summit, held in February, saw indigenous peoples given an official voice in global decision-making on conservation. The agreement of a new permanent committee enshrined this right, replacing indigenous peoples’ previously informal and symbolic status at the talks with something lasting and formal.
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Emphasis on the importance of ancestral knowledge carried forward to the COP30 climate conference in Brazil. Here, indigenous voices were represented by their largest delegation in COP history, with an estimated 2,500 indigenous people attending.
Wins during the climate summit included the adoption of new funding pledges and commitments to recognise indigenous land rights. In Brazil alone, 10 new indigenous territories were created. But concerns remain that promises won’t translate into real change. Meanwhile, threats to many indigenous communities are still ongoing. During the conference, Survival International reported the violent death of a Guarani Kaiowá leader in the south of Brazil.
Klamath restoration
Just one year after the historic removal of four dams along California’s Klamath river, salmon have returned to their traditional spawning grounds.
Getty ImagesSalmon have been rebounding in the Klamath region since the removal of four major dams (Credit: Getty Images)
“There are salmon everywhere on the landscape right now,” Michael Harris, the environmental manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Klamath Watershed Program, told local news. “The speed of their return is remarkable.”
Salmon had been absent from the upstream areas of the river for generations. But a tribal-led campaign saw four hydroelectric dams – that had severely polluted the river for decades – pulled down in 2024, allowing the mighty Klamath to flow freely once more.
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