Microfinance loans were meant to offer a pathway out of poverty in countries like Nigeria, particularly for women. But as climate change makes weather patterns more unpredictable, the risk of falling into further debt falls onto the shoulders of women farmers who face not just erratic farming conditions but social stigma from default.
Arrests of high-profile campaigns suggest that even those working on government-approved green initiatives with international backing aren’t safe from Vietnam’s crackdown on environmental activism. But some warn that staying below the radar can be even more dangerous.
After a Canadian mining company challenged a Zapotec community’s Indigenous identity, recalling the ancestral names of sacred landmarks helped reinvigorate their connection to the land – and defend it from extractive industries.
In a remote community enveloped in cloudforest, a whistled form of the Indigenous Chinantec language is perfectly adapted to the land and its weather. But who needs whistles when you can use WhatsApp?
“I saw that the children were malnourished, blackened teeth and gum issues were common and women frequently reported miscarriages and still births. All of these issues quickly made me realize that this area probably had lead.”
Over two days of travelling across Rivers State with Junior, he will tell us in bits that revealing anything that can lead back to him will put him at risk of arrest, harassment, or even death from either state or non-state actors.
Port Maria, a town with a rich and sprawling history, is a case study of how devastating even a small rise in sea level can be for small islands in the tropical regions of the world.
Anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros has asserted a very striking phrase: “The indigenous people are specialists in the end of the world, since theirs ended in 1500,” referring to the year the Portuguese landed in Brazil.
“The president of Ukraine gives his people hope, ours says ‘grit your teeth to endure the crisis,’” said one protest organizer.
An undercovered aspect of wars is how they destroy the landscape of countries, from uprooting trees and destroying irrigation systems to polluting the soil with heavy metals from weapons. The effects can last for decades, causing ongoing pain to the ecosystem and its inhabitants.
