n September 2019, the UN Environment Programme will honour Champions of the Earth, outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society who have had a transformative positive impact on the environment. Here we meet previous winners of this prestigious award and find out how they still are making a difference in their communities and across the globe.

Around 80 million hectare of common lands in India provide livelihood to around 350 million people, finds studies conducted by a Gujarat-based non-profit

Common lands like pasture lands or prayer sites should not be treated as wastelands and must be provided land tenurial security, according to Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), a Gujarat based non-profit. The organisation raised this matter at the ongoing United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification's Conference of Parties (CoP) 14 on September 2, 2019.

Their claims were rejected, raising concerns whether due process was followed

The recent Amazon wildfires brought everyone to a choking standstill as the world’s largest tropical rainforest and the lungs of our planet were going up in flames. Environmentalists blamed the far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who pushed for development of the protected land reserves and is against environmental fines. Speculation is rife that the fires started with a deliberate attempt by loggers and farmers to clear the forests.

Fires have been reported in protected indigenous reserves of the Brazilian Amazon, raising fears that loggers and land grabbers have targeted these remote areas during the dramatic surge in blazes across the world’s biggest rainforest.

MANILA, Aug 28 2019 (IPS) - With the record rate blaze in the Amazon that struck Indigenous communities, the world is confronted by a humanitarian crisis in the midst of an ever-worsening political-economic condition.

The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) joins the international chorus of condemnation and call for immediate actions to put an end to the unfolding crisis that jeopardizes the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon and planet’s survival.

16 August 2019: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Human Rights Office signed a cooperation agreement on protecting environmental and human rights. The agreement responds to the growing threats to individuals and communities defending their environmental and land rights in many parts of the world. While seeking to increase support for national implementation of human rights-based environmental policies, the partnership aims to also promote global recognition and acceptance of the human right to a healthy environment.

Drone data has allowed us to find solutions for a wide range of social challenges, like humanitarian aid, resource conservation, resilient urban planning and many more. But as the field has expanded, three pressing issues have emerged:

1. how to produce impactful analysis in a rapid manner;
2. how to then bring back results to beneficiaries to turn data into action; and
3. how to make ethics a main concern in each step of the process.

Tribe vows to fight encroachment of outsiders

AMAPÁ, Brazil - Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Ajareaty Waiapi performs one of her tribe's most traditional rituals. The tribal chief crushes blood red urucum seeds into a thick paste and generously applies it to her face, bare chest and torso. The mixture protects her skin from the sun and insects. It's also believed to ward off evil spirits.

Canada aims to conserve 17 per cent of its land and fresh water by the end of 2020. This noble objective will help protect water, air, food and biodiversity and improve the health of humans.

Mongabay Latam and Semana Sostenible travelled to two of their reserves. The forests of the Serranía del Perijá Regional Nature Park are being burned and indigenous peoples are living in difficult health conditions.

This month, the world’s leading climate scientists issued a report on land confirming what we already know: forests are a critical weapon in the battle against climate change. Yet as competition for land mounts, the destruction of forests for agriculture, mining, and infrastructure rages on.

Comment: The latest science shows the impacts of global warming – and solutions to it – risk worsening inequality if not coupled with support to the world’s poor

One of the fundamental truths of the climate crisis is that the countries and people who did least to create the problem are, in general, hit hardest by its effects.