A victory for Indigenous environmental activism in Ecuador
To be successful, páramo protection will need to be led by the Indigenous and campesino communities who share the richest histories and everyday entanglements with these unique lands.
To be successful, páramo protection will need to be led by the Indigenous and campesino communities who share the richest histories and everyday entanglements with these unique lands.
In a remote corner of Nevada is a wildflower that grows nowhere else on earth. Named “Tiehm’s Buckwheat” (Eriogonum tiehmii), it has been found on only ten acres of public land in the Silver Peak Range of Esmerelda County, and is virtually unknown except to a handful of botanists. Tragically, it is at risk of extinction due to mining activities that have just started in its habitat.
From Britain to the Czech Republic, European nations have been restoring rivers to their natural state — taking down dams, removing levees, and reviving floodplains. For a continent that long viewed rivers as little more than shipping canals and sewers, it is a striking change.
New research shows that humans have been transforming the earth and its ecosystems for millenniums — far longer than previously believed. These findings call into question our notions about what is unspoiled nature and what should be preserved.