A 23-year effort created California’s largest “land back” return of territory, doubling the Yurok tribe’s holdings
The Western Rivers Conservancy raised $56 million to buy from a timber company 73 square miles along Blue Creek and the eastern side of the lower Klamath River in Northern California.
In managing the land and waterways, the tribe hopes to reintroduce tools of Indigenous management such as “good fire” to restore historic prairies and remove invasive species. In this important fish habitat, Blue Creek aids the survival of Chinook salmon by cooling down their body temperature with an influx of cold water before they reach the upper Klamath to spawn.
Why We Wrote This
In our progress roundup, two changes give people more agency at home: California’s Yurok tribe doubled its land holdings, and in Poland, councillors repealed a municipal resolution on families and children that courts said violated the dignity of LGBTQ+ people.
While 90% of the Yurok tribe’s territory was taken by settlers during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, research has found that the healthiest, most biodiverse, and most resilient forests are on protected lands where Indigenous people are stewards. Nearly 4,700 square miles of land were returned to tribes in 15 states over 10 years through the U.S. Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, which ended in 2022.
Sources: The Associated Press, Cell, Western Rivers Conservancy
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP/File
A nonprofit of young sustainability leaders in Honduras is turning used cooking oil into soap
Latin America uses several million metric tons of cooking oil each year, and incorrectly disposing of oil can damage water pipes and natural environments.
The group Sustenta Honduras, meaning “sustain Honduras,” buys used cooking oil from small businesses. Last year, the group contracted with Walmart Central America to scale up production with a Walmart-related supply of used oil. The group then transports the oil to a processing plant in Comayagua. The group hopes to create “a circular ecological system in which we reuse everything,” according to founder Ricardo Pineda.
Selling the soap for 15 lempiras ($0.58) a bar, the nonprofit makes about 106,000 lempiras a month. Sustenta Honduras runs other sustainability programs: In 2023, its rural school electrification project was a winner of the Youth4Climate Energy Challenge, led by the Italian government and the United Nations Development Programme.
Source: BBC
Poland fully aligned with a court ruling that affirmed the “dignity, honor, [and] good name” of LGBTQ+ people
Between 2019 and 2024, a third of the predominantly Catholic country enacted local resolutions declaring communities free of “LGBT ideology.” Many of the resolutions referenced marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Though the zones were largely symbolic, LGBTQ+ people and human rights groups denounced them as stigmatizing and discriminatory.
Attila Husejnow/Sopa Images/Sipa Usa/AP/File
This spring Łańcut County became the last place to repeal its resolution after the European Commission withheld 749,502 Polish złoty ($201,463) in funding. Most localities began rescinding “LGBT-free” resolutions after the Supreme Administrative Court three years ago ruled against such policies. The ruling did not change the country’s policy on same-sex marriage, which it does not legally recognize. Nationally, 67% of Poles support same-sex marriage or other legal recognition of same-sex relationships, according to 2024 polling by Ipsos.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, Notes from Poland, TVP World, CNN, Ipsos
Africa’s only high-speed railway – in Morocco – is expanding
Morocco is adding 267 miles of track, linking Marrakech as the southernmost stop to important destinations northward on the west coast, from Casablanca to Rabat (the capital) and Tangier. Trains reach a speed of 217 mph, and the trip between Tangier and Marrakech will be shortened by two hours, to a duration of two hours, 40 minutes.
The expansion will cost at least $5 billion to double the existing railway, and an additional $5 billion to purchase 168 next-generation trains and improve local transit systems.
Wilfrid Estève/Hans Lucas/Reuters/File
The project reflects Morocco’s goal to reduce traffic congestion, while boosting the tourism industry with shorter journey times and increased connectivity between cities. The completion date coincides with Morocco’s plan to co-host the World Cup in 2030.
Sources: Nice News, Reuters, Business Insider Africa
A new initiative allows Shanghai bus riders to design their own routes
On the city’s online platform called DZ, for dingzhi – meaning “customized” in Chinese – riders choose start and end points, preferred times, and trip frequency. Residents can then vote on a route, which becomes official if it reaches a threshold of 15 to 20 riders per trip.
The program has created some 220 routes since launching in May. To study a pilot route in the north part of the city, transit staff looked at foot traffic, spoke with commuters, and ran test drives to work out kinks in the schedule. About 250 people use the route each day, many to reach the subway and continue their commutes.
Shanghai’s bus network, used for 4.1 million passenger trips a day in 2021, has lost riders in recent years, as it has struggled to recover from the pandemic. Still, the city is often praised for its robust system, which includes 800 kilometers (497 miles) of metro tracks.
Sources: Sixth Tone, City of Shanghai, ThePaper.cn
