News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

News

Indigenous Peoples' Right To Land Can Help In Achieving Conservation Goals

August 17, 2018
By Palash Sanyal
Science Trends

Indigenous people make up about five percent of the world’s population, residing in 70 countries with minimum or no management control over their land, resources, and lives. Even though the actual number is unknown for native populations, about 70% of the world’s population does not have a registered title to their land.

Clergy divided as Kenya moves to save forest, evict 40,000 settlers

August 16, 2018
By Frederick Nzwili, Religion News Service
National Catholic Reporter

NAIROBI, Kenya — When forest rangers arrived at Mau Forest Complex in June to evict thousands of illegal settlers, frightened villagers started moving out.

Villagers sought refuge at churches, schools and trading centers as smoke billowed from their homes, which were...

Should Rivers Have Rights? A Growing Movement Says It's About Time

August 14, 2018
By Jens Benöhr and Patrick J. Lynch
Yale Environment 360

Chile is a land of rivers. Along its narrow 3,000-mile length, thousands of rivers and wetlands bring freshwater and nutrients down from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Together, these river systems drain 101 major watersheds that support both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, ranging from arid...

Ecology monks in Thailand seek to end environmental suffering

August 13, 2018
By Kiley Price
Mongabay

Ecological Justice Tour in North Carolina

By Peggy Whalen-Levitt, Director of the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World
August 12-13, 2018

Just over a year ago, the Reverend William Barber II stepped down from his post as President of the North Carolina NAACP to lead a National Moral Revival in the spirit of Martin Luther King.  Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign brings together those with a longstanding...

This man powers his whole house, plus two cars, with the sun

August 8, 2018
By Samantha Harrington
Yale Climate Connections

His faith motivated him to go solar.

Listen to the audio recording of this story here:
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/08/man-powers-house-two-cars-with-solar/

Cardinal shares message of 'Laudato Si'' at Ghana World Youth Day event

August 8, 2018
By Damian Avevor, Catholic News Service
National Catholic Reporter

Accra, Ghana — A top Vatican official urged young people at a local World Youth Day gathering to protect the planet and actively live the teachings of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.

Expressing concern for the accelerating degradation of Earth, Cardinal Peter...

New 'Church of the Wild' explores God through barefoot exploration of the outdoors

August 6, 2018
By Hannah Natanson
Washington Post

The sound of drumming filtered through the trees and called the people from their cars.

Toting folding chairs and slathered in bug spray, they came from the parking lot — some young, some old; some in pairs, some alone; many in Tevas, a few barefoot. Without speaking, they set their chairs in a circle in a leafy clearing...

Myanmar's indigenous people fight 'fortress' conservation

August 5, 2018
By Rina Chandran
Reuters

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Saw Ma Bu’s family has lived in the mountainous forests of Myanmar’s Kayin state for generations, farming and fishing in the Salween river, even as a decades-long armed conflict raged in the region.

Now, he says, they fear their way of life is under threat as the government declares swathes...

Caritas Philippines lights up poor communities with renewable energy

August 3, 2018
By Catholic News Service
National Catholic Reporter

Manila, Philippines — The social action arm of the Philippine Catholic bishops’ conference is doubling efforts to promote the use of renewable energy to light up poor communities around the country.

Caritas Philippines has partnered with a local solar power system provider to...

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