Mongabay Newscast

Indigenous activist and filmmaker Kynan Tegar joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to discuss the impacts of the fires devastating Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Some 48,000 hectares (about 119,000 acres) of land have burned so far this year; Kynan says these fires are intentional on the part of agricultural corporations.
"The process that has gotten us to this point right now, where fires are raging through the island, it's a process that started maybe you can draw the line up to the 1970s, which was around the time where the Indonesian New Order period regime of Suharto was leasing out a lot of lands as concessions to companies," she says.
"A lot of times it's logging, it's palm oil concessions, it's also gold mines."
Corporations have drained more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of peatland, she says. But the impact, she says, that isn't receiving as much attention is the decreased access to freshwater for Indigenous and local communities, which both climate change and El Niño are making worse.
"It's quite an ironic thing. Like, it's one of the world's biggest rainforest[s], and a lot of the people there are struggling for water. So that, on top of the conditions created by the massive wildfires that has been happening since July … has put a lot of the people there in strain," she says.
Kynan released a spoken-word music video in 2024 to dramatize and tell the story of her community, Sungai Utik, and the people who have defended the land for more than 100 years. She explains the filmmaking process behind the video, Earth Defender, and how she created the narrative, which states that  every 48 hours, an Earth defender loses their life protecting their land, protecting their forests, protecting their ecosystems, their families
Kynan is also a transgender woman. In light of the Indonesian president's decision to designate the "dissemination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) culture" as a nonmilitary state threat, she explains how this impacts her advocacy.
"How free we can really be in this country? It made me second-guess on how much I … can actually speak up on the kinds of issues that I have always spoken up for."
She further reflects on what she feels is a lack of solidarity.
"Being queer and being Indigenous, it's not that far removed. It's a lot of the same, layers of oppression culturally, economically, socially. And I suppose that's where I really had hoped for there to be more solidarity between these movements because of all of those similarities. But I think that's still something that we collectively need to work on."
Kynan also shares her thoughts on the long-delayed Indigenous People's Bill, which promises to grant legal recognition to customary lands, but has hung in parliamentary limbo for 16 years.
"I don't see elements within it that will redress the historic inequality that we have faced. I think that's still a massive problem that needs more than just a legal solution."
When asked what she hopes to see for the future of Indonesia's Indigenous population, she says, "I don't think I can accurately represent all Indigenous youths of Indonesia. But for me personally, the kind of future that I want to imagine is a future that exists."
Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.
Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Basten Gokkon is a Jakarta-based staff writer for Mongabay with interests in wildlife conservation, renewable energy, and Indigenous communities. Follow him on Twitter to see his latest thoughts via @bgokkon.
Image: A customary longhouse in Sungai Utik. The community elders make sure everyone complies strictly with the law, as this serves as a model for the young generation to follow in their footsteps and lead the path to community conservation. Image by Indai Apai Darah, Kynan Tegar / Wayfinders Circle.
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Timestamps
(00:00) Opening
(03:26) Fires in Kalimantan
(10:13) Sungai Utik and Imagined Futures
(18:10) Earth Defenders
(22:49) Indigenous Peoples Bill & Identity
(28:34) Gender, Environment & 'A Day on Earth'

For the first time in 150 years, kiwi once again live in the hills surrounding Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. More than 250 manu ("birds" in the Māori language) were successfully translocated back to the region, thanks to the efforts of the iwi (nations of Aotearoa), community members, and landowners behind the Capital Kiwi Project.
Paul Ward, the project lead and founder, joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to explain the yearslong effort to make this possible.
"This is a relational project as much as it is what you might traditionally call a conservation project. And I think at a fundamental level that if we lose our relationship with these animals, with these manu … they risk becoming a museum species," he says.
Rāwiri Walsh (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) is the project's Kaimanaaki Kiwi (kiwi guardian) and iwi liaison. He also joins the podcast to explain the process from the perspective of Te ao Māori (the Māori world). For the Capital Kiwi project to receive kiwi, they must be gifted the birds by iwi through a tono, a gifting process. The project then bestows the bird on a community through a pōwhiri, a traditional Māori welcoming ceremony.
And then the tono, as Walsh explains, is a request to the iwi for the birds.
"From a Māori perspective, we just had to agree with the iwi that we were receiving from, and they had to agree with us that they wanted to give us kiwi," Walsh says.
"What we were able to do when moving kiwi is … welcome the people, both the sanctuary workers as well as the iwi, onto the lands that they were bringing the birds. And then … the responsibility and the onus to the birds would switch … we would do the pōwhiri or the ceremony, and then there would be a process where they would be handed over," Walsh says.
The project is far from over, Ward says, as communities now share responsibility for caring for the birds. He adds that this model is a proof of concept for reintroducing other species. In total, including newly hatched chicks that made it to fighting weight (more than 90% of them), Ward estimates there are over 300 kiwi in the hills surrounding Wellington.
"Ten years ago, [the] challenge probably would've [been] 'Are we being too ambitious?'" he says. "I think now that challenge is one of complacency.
"We're leaning into those relationships with our partners, with our iwi, our landowners, and our communities to explore what other taonga [property] species might be returned to these environments."
Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.
Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Cover image: Walsh performing a health check on a kiwi chick. This photo was one of National Geographic's 2023 images of the year. Image courtesy of Robin Hammond/Capital Kiwi Project.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Kiwi return to Wellington
(04:28) The Cultural Significance of Kiwi
(08:49) Threats & Conservation History
(19:00) Building the Capital Kiwi Project
(27:46) Relationship with iwi and the tono
(31:54) Remarkable Results
(50:05) What Comes Next

This week on the Newscast, we're joined by Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, the founder of the Home Planet Fund, an independent, Indigenous-led nonprofit that provides funding for local and Indigenous communities and conservation projects around the world.
Khonikboyeva, who is also the organization's executive director, speaks about the ethos of the Home Planet Fund and how it works. But I must emphasize that in my conversation with Khonikboyeva, what stands out most to me isn't just the fund's focus on Indigenous-led conversation and investing in local knowledge. It's the well of experience Khonikboyeva brings to it that, growing up in Tajikistan under Soviet occupation and having firsthand experience of a community making do under extremely difficult circumstances, I believe, is rare among philanthropic efforts.
In a sector that runs on reports, restrictions, and guarantees, Khonikboyeva encourages funders to work differently, which often might come in an answer they don't want to hear.
"If you're getting a satisfying answer in this space, something isn't right," she says.
She explains: "I think sometimes people wanna hear, 'Yes, we'll take your money. Yes, we'll do what you want in the timeline that you want. Yes, everything is possible." And it's just not true, right? That is actually not how life works, and anybody who tells you otherwise is certainly selling you something."
The Home Planet Fund chooses to focus on four distinct ecologies that "researchers have pinpointed around the world [as] critical from a climate and biodiversity angle," Khonikboyeva says.
These are the Tongass Rainforest of Alaska; the glaciers around Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India — sometimes referred to as "the third pole"; the grasslands of East Africa; and the South Pacific. Through trusted networks, Khoniboyeva and her team identify and build relationships with local communities in these areas who are already engaged in conservation efforts and provide them with funding.
"Making sure we have elders, making sure we have whole communities, making sure we have women's groups, making sure we have youth groups involved and co-building with them is really, really important," she says.
Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.
Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Banner image: Faye Saemala, whose family has lived in the village of Lilisiana, in the Solomon Islands, for generations. Image courtesy of Jason Gagame.
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Timecodes
(00:00) "The Hardest of Humanity That I've Seen"
(03:41) Dilafruz Khonikboyeva Explains the Home Planet Fund
(08:39) Growing Up in Tajikistan
(12:00) Community Works Over Monetary Incentive
(16:58) How the Fund Built Relationships
(19:45) Identifying the Four Ecologies
(24:10) Support Mongabay on Patreon
(24:48) 'We Don't Accept Grant Proposals'
(27:56) Women's Collectives in the South Pacific
(31:58) The Case for Unrestricted Funding
(35:02) Towards a Collaborative Fund
(38:33) "If You're Getting a Satisfying Answer, Something Isn't Right"
(40:51) Working in Conflict Zones
(45:10) Mindset Shifts for Philanthropists
(46:55) 'Investing in Healing Ourselves'
(50:49) Closing

Jeff Sikich, the biologist for the National Park Service in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, thought that Steve Winter "was crazy" for wanting to capture a photograph of a mountain lion in front of the Hollywood sign.
"He looked at me like I was crazy because he said, 'There are no mountain lions in Griffith Park.' But I knew in the past that there had been," Winter says.
It took him 15 months, but Winter managed to do it. He captured the famous mountain lion, named P-22 by scientists, sauntering down a hill at night wearing his tracking collar, with the Hollywood sign shimmering in the background. This helped spark a conservation movement in L.A. and eventually inspired funding for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over U.S. Route 101, which will be the world's largest wildlife crossing when it opens on Dec. 2.
Winter and Mongabay contributing editor Sharon Guynup join the Mongabay Newscast this week to detail this story and others that are featured in her and Winter's upcoming book of impactful photojournalism, Big Cats from Nat Geo Books. Each of the nine stories in this book was selected specifically for the conservation outcomes these stories helped inspire.
"We really wanted to emphasize that storytelling and photography can change the world. And beyond that, we all can have impact, so we all need to contribute our skills, whatever they are," Guynup says.
After reading all 25,000 words, this book stands out to me as more than a collection of top-tier wildlife photography. These are stories of honest hope for big cats on the brink. The impacts tell a larger story to me.
People do care, and will take action to protect charismatic species and the ecosystems that depend on them when they're given the right information. The book releases worldwide on Oct. 6. You can find it here.
Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.
Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Cover image: This photo of P-22 the mountain lion took Steve Winter 15 months to shoot. After its publication, the cat became a worldwide icon. Image courtesy of Steve Winter. 
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Timecodes
(00:00) Stories with impact
(10:36) A mountain lion in Hollywood
(19:47) On top of the world with snow leopards
(28:57) Shutting down the Thai Tiger Temple
(34:28) Asiatic lions back from the brink
(41:19) Towards a future of co-existence

Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have been asking the Peruvian government to help address.
"The story itself was a surprise … every question directed to them about environmental changes would immediately become an issue about health," Gabay says.
The current epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B they face is being exacerbated by climate change, drought, and state neglect. Prolonged dry weather allows for favorable conditions for malaria-bearing mosquitoes to breed, and at the same time cuts off the river transit that the Matsés depend on for access to health care.
Community members have travelled to the nearest major city to plead with the Peruvian government, but they say they're still not receiving the proper health care that they need — sometimes dying after they reach the city, according to Matsés chief Leo Chuma Teca Beso.
The Peruvian government has had guidelines for addressing health risks for Indigenous communities for nearly two decades. Still, authorities say they struggle to implement the measures outlined in them, Gabay says.
"On paper, they do have the protocols. They have got plans, but it's the implementation that we're not seeing."
Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.
Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Cover image: San Mateo village, one of 29 Matsés communities in Peru, on the banks of the Gálvez River. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.
Read the full story from Aimee Gabay here.
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Time codes
(00:00) Why the Matsés chose to make contact
(10:04) A health crisis
(16:21) "Where is the government's support?"
(22:06) Risks to the Yavarí-Tapiche Corridor
(30:41) Getting help to the communities
(33:31) An indicator of Planetary Health