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The extreme heat, high winds, and severe dry conditions that produce towering, fast-moving flames that advance by the acre are not just becoming more common; new research shows that these factors are increasingly arising in multiple regions at the same time, creating the conditions for simultaneous wildfires around the world.

In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did nearly 50 years ago. Climate change is a major driver, accounting for about half of this increase. It’s the latest example of how humans are reshaping the nature of wildfires.

These changes have led to periods of inescapable smoke from blazes and more stress on firefighters, expanding the public health, economic, and social costs of infernos. As the climate continues to warm, these trends are likely to continue to worsen.

Wildfire smoke is already linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths in the US, and recent years have shown how this smoke can cross continents and oceans, polluting the air for people far away from the flames. East Coasters might remember how Canadian wildfires a few years ago bathed cities like New York and Philadelphia in an amber haze, triggering air quality warnings. One study found that the smoke from those fires contributed to 82,000 deaths.

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Meanwhile, the efforts to contain these devastating blazes are devouring money, time, engines, tankers, and firefighters, often beyond what local fire departments can muster on their own.

But with more wildfires burning in different parts of the world at the same time, countries will have their own blazes to deal with, and less outside help will be available.

The result is that we may see more years with multiple major blazes at the same time, and you might find it harder to find clear air to breathe for growing swaths of the year.

How more of the world is getting primed to burn at the same time

Cong Yin, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the University of California Merced, explained that research has been piling up showing that the weather conditions that favor major wildfires are becoming more common in different regions. Yin wanted to take a step back to see if there was a pattern that would emerge when he looked at the world as a whole.

Yin and his colleagues analyzed global climate and fire data between 1979 and 2024 and traced the fire weather index, a measure of fire dangers based on meteorological traits like temperature, wind, and moisture. The higher the index reaches, the greater the chances of a dangerous wildfire. The team drew on fire activity records from the Global Fire Emissions Database, which uses satellite data and ground-based measurements to track burned areas around the world. The team then counted the number of days where the fire weather index was in the 90th percentile in more than one region.

The results showed that over the study period, days with extreme fire weather conditions were increasing in places inside regions like North America, but also seeing severe fire weather line up across far-flung areas like North America and Europe. That makes it harder to coordinate firefighting efforts across borders.

We’ve seen in recent years that countries with major fires have received needed help from neighbors, and from farther away. Teams from Canada and Mexico joined the fight against the Los Angeles wildfires last year, even bringing equipment like tanker aircraft. During the wildfires in Spain last summer, the Netherlands, France, and Italy also sent firefighting aircraft. In past fire seasons, South Africa has sent firefighters to Canada. The U.S., Australia, and New Zealand have a standing firefighting cooperation agreement to share personnel and equipment between the countries.

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However, worldwide, the number of days where severe fire weather has occurred in multiple places at the same time has more than doubled over the majority of fire-prone landscapes. With more fire weather occurring at the same time, countries may not be able to lend out tools and personnel as much because they’ll need everyone on deck at home.

When Yin and his team looked closer at regions like North America, climate variability drivers like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the periodic warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean, tended to create fire weather conditions across the continent. The planet’s boreal regions — forested areas in northern latitudes — showed the highest levels of synchronized fire weather. They tend to experience extreme heat, little rain, and high winds at the same time more often. At the same time, the research identified areas where fire conditions are becoming less aligned, like Southeast Asia. The researchers think this is likely due to increasing humidity in tropical regions as temperatures rise. That can make it harder to achieve the ideal conditions for a major fire.

To figure out the role of climate change, the researchers constructed a model of a world where the climate hasn’t changed and compared it to the observed results of the world we’re currently in. They also calculated the role of natural climate drivers like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. When they looked at the difference between the scenarios with and without warming, they found that climate change driven by humans has led to about half of the observed increase in synchronized fire weather since 1979.

Yin cautioned that there are some caveats to consider. Even when weather conditions are favorable to fire, they aren’t a guarantee that one will ignite. Fires also need fuel and a source of ignition. Without these two ingredients, even the most severe hot, dry, and windy conditions won’t lead to a blaze. “They are more difficult to predict or measure,” Yin said. “If we want to do a better job, we need to measure all these three dimensions.”

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

You may have already experienced how wildfires have become impossible to ignore, even when they’re far away, whether you’re breathing their smoke or paying for their damages. These results show that millions more people will likely be breathing dirty air with you when a major fire season gets underway.

Robert Field, a fire researcher at Columbia University, observed that when so many fires burn at the same time, the smoke can pose an even bigger public danger than the flames. Thousands of homes may burn, but millions of people end up breathing dirty air that takes years off their lives. And when these blazes ignite, the resources for containing wildfires may end up spread thin. That could lead to longer stretches of dirty air as well as more costly damages to property, which end up getting passed onto you through higher taxes and insurance rates.

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The increasing threat from wildfires is also taxing for firefighters, who are not just facing more dangers to their lives and limbs, but also to their mental health. Field said the study shows that everyone should start preparing for the threat of simultaneous severe fires. “I really haven’t seen a paper like this on a global scale,” said Field, who was not involved in the study. “I think it’s a prelude to what’s coming.”

It’s clear then that we can’t simply rely on firefighting to cope with this problem.

Many of the ways we measure fire risk today systematically underrate the actual threats that you might face, especially as average temperatures continue to rise and as communities sprawl into fire-prone landscapes.

Getting an accurate assessment of wildfire risk is critical, even if it is inconvenient for your property values. We also need to invest more in managing the landscape through measures like controlled burns, which can worsen air quality but prevent even worse breathing problems down the line.

And of course, we need to reduce our impact on the global climate by curbing our emissions of greenhouse gases. But until then, keep an eye on the forecast and the air-quality index, and keep an N95 mask close.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Scientists have found another alarming pattern in wildfires on Feb 22, 2026.

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This story was originally published by Grist.

Anita Hofschneider
Grist

A Russian court is continuing to hold an international advocate for Indigenous peoples on terrorism charges despite international calls to release her immediately.

Daria Egereva, who is Indigenous Selkup from Russia, is co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, which represents Indigenous peoples’ perspectives at United Nations gatherings. She was arrested by Russian authorities on Dec. 17, just weeks after returning from the COP30 climate conference in Belém, where she advocated for greater participation of Indigenous women in climate negotiations.

Last week, the Basmanny court, a district court in Moscow, held a hearing where it decided to continue holding Egereva until at least March 15. Egereva is one of two Indigenous advocates jailed and could face up to 20 years in prison. The name of the second Indigenous advocate jailed has not yet been made public, according to one of Egereva’s attorneys. Egereva’s court hearing was also closed to the public, and court documents with details about the charges are sealed. The Basmanny District Court of Moscow did not respond to an email seeking comment.

“The detention of Daria Egereva raises concerns about arbitrary detention and the application of counterterrorism legislation against those exercising their fundamental freedoms,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. He declined to say whether the U.N. is working diplomatically to release her.

“People must never face criminal prosecution for engaging in advocacy or exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression,” Al-Kheetan said. “Egereva and all those detained for exercising their human rights must be released immediately.”

In addition to her leadership of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change since 2023 and participation in multiple climate change conference gatherings, Egereva worked on climate policy as a member of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, and participated in the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Arrest and persecution of U.N. advocates are common across the globe. Every year, Al-Kheetan’s office publishes a report of alleged intimidation and reprisals against people who participate in the U.N. system. The report covering incidents from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025 described dozens of examples across 32 different countries, including China, Israel, and Thailand. The report emphasizes that its data is not comprehensive; some incidents were excluded because of concern that those named might face further persecution.

Russia, in particular, has been criticized by the U.N. for its treatment of Indigenous advocates. “We are concerned by reports that Indigenous activists in Russia have faced detention for their human rights work,” Al-Kheetan said.

In October 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Council urged the country to uphold international human rights law, calling out its designation of 55 Indigenous organizations and other groups as “extremist.” Among the groups considered extremist by the Russian government are the Aborigen Forum network and the Centre for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, both groups of Indigenous rights advocates that Egereva was involved with before they were shut down by Russian authorities.

Prior to last week’s hearing, nearly three dozen Indigenous organizations and U.N. forums signed a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting her release. “Her work contributed to constructive, respectful, and peaceful dialogue between Indigenous peoples and state delegations,” the letter said. “Her role was strictly coordinative and facilitative in nature, supporting orderly engagement within official negotiation processes.”

The letter’s signatories included groups like the Indigenous Peoples Rights International, which recently spoke out on Indigenous peoples facing arbitrary arrests as they defend their territories and called for better monitoring and reporting on their detentions and criminalizations. “We monitor carbon and restored forests — but not the Indigenous defenders who are killed, jailed, or criminalized,” said the organization’s executive director, Joan Carling, at the U.N. Environment Assembly in December. One tally by the organization Global Witness estimated more than 700 Indigenous environmental defenders “were killed or disappeared” according to data collected between 2012 and 2024.

Under Putin, Russia has outwardly supported Indigenous peoples by creating an official Day of Indigenous Minorities. But according to the International Working Group of Indigenous Affairs, Putin’s government has also eroded Indigenous rights by eliminating official recognition of some Indigenous territories, shutting down Indigenous organizations, and driving activists to seek asylum abroad.

“Ms. Egereva’s activities were exclusively professional, nonviolent, and institutional in nature, firmly grounded in dialogue and cooperation, and conducted in full accordance with officially recognized procedures,” the letter from Indigenous groups to Putin continued. “Her detention undermines confidence that Indigenous Peoples are able to fully participate in recognized international and United Nations processes without fear of retribution.”

The post Two months after being arrested, this Indigenous climate leader remains imprisoned in Russia appeared first on ICT.

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Proteins long known to be essential for hearing have been hiding a talent: they also act as gatekeepers that shuffle fatty molecules across cell membranes. When this newly discovered function goes haywire—due to genetic mutations, noise-induced damage, or certain medications—it may be what kills the delicate sensory cells in our ears, causing permanent hearing loss.

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This story was originally published by Mother Jones.

Bianca Sonnenberg as told to Artis Curiskis
Mother Jones

Bianca Sonnenberg’s uniform has become her security blanket. Before ICE arrived in Minneapolis, she would change when she finished her route. Recently, she’s hoped her identity as a US Postal Service worker would protect her from getting targeted by ICE operations. She’s Native American, and over the last few months, she’s heard about ICE detaining Indigenous people in Minneapolis and around the country. It terrifies her.

White House border czar Tom Homanannounced Feb. 12that the Department of Homeland Security will end Operation Metro Surge after months of chaos resulting in DHS claims of more than 4,000 arrests, the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, and immense community resistance.

Sonnenberg spoke toReveal about the big and small changes she and her colleagues witnessed along their routes in South Minneapolis during the disruptive operation. She spoke from her personal perspective and not as a representative of the USPS.

Her story has been edited and condensed for clarity.

As mail carriers**,** when we’re on our route for a long time, you start to know your community, so you memorize names. And a co-worker was like, “Alex Pretti’s on my route.”

And so I was like, “Oh my gosh.” He was like, “Yeah, they got a little memorial out there. I feel so bad. He has packages today.”

That almost made tears come to my eyes. It’s so sad how you’re here one second and you’re just gone the next. And you don’t think about that when you are ordering a package. You don’t think, “Oh, I’m not gonna be here to get my package.”

It’s really sad that he was taken and he did nothing wrong. I’ve seen the videos, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t reach for any gun and all the stuff that they’re trying to make him seem like. First of all, they were calling him an assassin…but then it’s, “We gotta go through a full investigation.” How can you say that?

 I feel grateful that I got this privilege of being a federal employee. In the daytime, I can go to the store; I can move about my community and not feel like they’re gonna bother me, per se. But I wear my uniform home because I’m too scared not to. I could be targeted.

My mindset is let me get what I need from the store or whatnot before I come home. Because God forbid somebody pulls the Uber driver over and I don’t have my uniform on. I run into the store before I get home, and there’s an operation on the block that I wasn’t paying attention to. I get caught up and they slam me around a little. I’m fragile. I’m 49 years old. I can get bruised. I bruise easily. I don’t want to go through that.

It’s crazy, because I always say I only fear God, but they have definitely triggered something in me to be more protective of myself and of my surroundings and the people that I care about, including other people on my route.

I’ve been around them for over a decade. Most of them have all been on my route the whole time. So we’re a big village.

Our supervisor let us know (on January 24) that ICE had killed somebody close to the route. She said it happened in front of Glam Doll Donuts. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s my block.”

You could see the yellow tape and the community coming from every direction. I’m hearing the flash-bangs and I’m seeing the smoke.

As I’m delivering, I got a few people saying: “You shouldn’t be at work! You shouldn’t be here! You know that they’re shooting tear gas on the other side of the block.” And I’m like: “Yeah, I know, but I gotta keep doing my job. I may have medicine. I don’t know what I have in my packages.” But that’s my job.

So I go into an apartment building. There are a lot of customers in the hallway, and they’re watching through the windows. I’m like: “You guys gotta stay in here and be safe. That’s tear gas. You don’t wanna breathe that in.” So everybody stayed in the apartment building. I said, “I’m gonna keep going and get this next building done.”

As I went outside, going from one building to the next is about 50 feet, that tear gas got into me. And I’m breathing in and it kind of felt like glass shards in my nose and my throat. I didn’t want to cough right away to breathe it in more, so I just hurried up and got into the next building.

And then  just kind of breathed a little bit and I was like, “Oh, man, is this what I’m gonna do?” I was just in shock that this was really happening. There’s some people who probably would say: “Oh, this is a dangerous environment. Let me get off the street. Let me just take care of myself.”

I didn’t feel like that. I felt like a medic in the war. I just gotta make sure all my people are okay. I had to make sure everybody on my route was okay.

In my head, I’m always thinking, this is somebody’s medicine or something that they need. If I don’t get it to ’em today, they’re gonna have to wait till Monday. And that’s just me doing my part that I could at that moment.

The post I’m a Minneapolis postal worker. This is what I saw. appeared first on ICT.

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When most people think about natural selection, they imagine individuals competing with one another: The fastest animal escapes predators, the strongest plant produces more seeds, and the most resistant bacteria better survive antibiotics. Natural selection is often described as acting primarily at the level of the individual organism, the classic "survival of the fittest." This picture is not wrong, but it is incomplete.

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Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for declining water levels in a drier climate. In recent summers, the growth of aquatic plants in the lower part of the Spree has led to an increase in water levels compared to previous years, thus compensating for the declining discharge.

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Join Mongabay’s reporters as we unpack some of the most urgent and intriguing issues in climate, the environment and biodiversity today. In this multimedia Special Issue, we go beyond the headlines to examine how science, policy and human activity intersect with Nature. We try to answer questions you might not have known to ask, with episodes ranging from how memes influence conservation and ducks improve rice farming, to how corruption fuels Amazon deforestation and why protecting wildlife is critical for preventing the next pandemic.This article was originally published on Mongabay

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New York ordered drivers off the road and shut down schools on Monday, while residents braced for a massive snowstorm hitting the United States northeast.

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A new study suggests that babies are able to distinguish between the different objects they see around them at 2 months old, which is earlier than scientists previously thought.

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A study led by the University of Barcelona and published in the journal Nature Communications shows that climate change has profoundly altered extreme episodes of melting in the Greenland ice sheet by making them more frequent, more extensive and more intense. Since 1990, the area affected by extreme melting episodes has increased at a rate of 2.8 million km² per decade. Additionally, the production of water from ice melt has increased more than sixfold, rising from 12.7 gigatons per decade to 82.4 gigatons per decade.

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A study by the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University of Bonn has shown that pH value is crucial for sperm motility in sea urchins and salmon. An increase in pH activates the enzyme adenylyl cyclase (sAC), which produces the messenger substance cAMP, thereby regulating sperm motility. This mechanism may be widespread among many marine invertebrates and fish. The researchers' findings have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Minnesota is struggling to achieve its climate goals despite decades of falling greenhouse gas emissions, newly released state data shows. State law requires Minnesota's electric utilities to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2040.

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Around 250 million years ago, what is today scorching desert in remote northwestern Australia was the shore of a shallow bay bordering a vast prehistoric ocean. Fossils recovered from this region over 60 years ago, and almost forgotten in museum collections, have now shed new light on the earliest global radiations of land-living animals adapting to life in the sea.

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The production of food continues to eat its way into the world’s tropical forests. Agricultural expansion drives nearly 90% of global deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).  The sector therefore represents a critical climate challenge: forest loss and degradation account for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, by estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One primary strategy to slow deforestation over the past two decades involves food and agri-commodity companies pledging “zero deforestation supply chains”, under pressure from consumers and environmental groups. These commitments have helped reduce deforestation from land uses like soybean production in the Brazilian Amazon through initiatives such as the now-suspended “Brazilian Soy Moratorium”. Tropical deforestation globally has remained persistently high, however. We argue here that the long-term impact of “zero deforestation supply chains” will be limited by the costs of implementing and operating these pledges; companies striving to do their part to reduce deforestation are less price-competitive than those that do not. Adjustments are urgently needed to translate corporate engagement into more collaborative and effective approaches to deforestation. With the goal of mitigating deforestation, the European Union has adopted a “zero deforestation supply chain” approach as the basis of its Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). When and if it is eventually implemented, the EUDR is set to exclude from the EU market those agri-commodities produced on land deforested after 2020. Implementation, originally scheduled for January 2025, has been postponed twice, however, and its future is unclear. EU countries…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A state legislator’s former chief of staff faces charges of child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking. FEMA announced last week that it has extended the deadline for people affected by the October 2025 west coast storms

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For the first time in nearly two centuries, giant tortoises are once again roaming Floreana Island in the Galápagos, a conservation milestone more than a decade in the making. Early settlers on Floreana Island altered the landscape and hunted the Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger) into extinction about 180 years ago. But while working on Wolf Volcano, roughly 180 kilometers (112 miles) away on Isabela Island, researchers with the Galápagos Conservancy noticed something unexpected. “The tortoises seemed different,” Penny Becker, CEO of Island Conservation told Mongabay in a video call. “They looked different and they were behaving differently.” So, the researchers took DNA samples from those tortoises and compared them with DNA from tortoise bones found in caves on Floreana. “Indeed, there were some pretty strong genetics left in the Wolf [Volcano] population from tortoises that were here on Floreana,” Becker said. How the heavy terrestrial reptiles got to Wolf Volcano remains uncertain. They could have floated on ocean currents or been transported by whaling ships that kept tortoises for food. In any case, scientists launched a breeding program using the Wolf Volcano tortoises to establish a new hybrid population for reintroduction to Floreana. On Feb. 20, with support from local residents and a consortium of partners, 156 endangered tortoises were released. Each of them is between 10 and 13 years old. They will reach sexual maturity at roughly 25 years old, so building a self-sustaining population will take time. Becker is confident in the project’s long-term success. The tortoises’…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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When you step outside on a winter morning or pop a mint into your mouth, a tiny molecular sensor in your body springs into action, alerting your brain to the sensation of cold. Scientists have now captured the first detailed images of this sensor at work, revealing exactly how it detects both actual cold and the perceived cool of menthol, a compound derived from mint plants.

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This story was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.

Frank Zufall
Wisconsin Examiner

Local officials from Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin spoke to the crowd gathered for the 11th annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) on Valentine’s Day in Duluth.

The movement to address the scourge of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls started in Canada 35 years ago on Valentine’s Day. Later, missing and murdered men and relatives were added.

Held at the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO), the event featured proclamations from both the cities.

Duluth’s proclamation noted that Native American women face murder rates 10 times the national average and that the “Minnesota MMIWR Task force reports that Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people are more likely to experience violence, be murdered or go missing compared to other demographic groups in Minnesota.”

Superior Mayor Jim Paine said because his wife and daughters are Alaskan Natives, he is personally  invested in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

He described attending the State of The Tribes address by Nicole Boyd, chair of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Feb. 10.

“The only time she broke down in that speech, the only time she wavered at all, was talking about Native women and girls and the fact that too many of them are missing, too many of them have been murdered, and the mission to save them, to protect them, to remember them,” he said.

Paine added,  “We’re doing a lot more this year than last, but that work continues today, and every single day of the year, obviously, like you, the Native women in my life are the most important part of my life, I am deeply grateful for everything that they do for me, and I would do anything to protect them, like all of you, and that means on days like today, we have to speak as loudly and as clearly that the Native women that are in our lives, that are here. We love you. We will protect you. We will do anything for you. To the Native women that are missing, we will never stop looking for you, and to those that have truly been lost or have walked on, we will remember and protect and treat your legacy and memory with the safety that you didn’t have in life.”

Jana Williams, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota, talked about the alleged failure of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) to investigate the death of her niece, Allison Lussier, a member of the Red Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota, whose body was discovered in February 2024 in her apartment. No death investigation was conducted, Williams said, even though Lussier had contacted the police to report abuse by her boyfriend.

“If you know Allison’s story, you know this, MPD saw an Indigenous woman,” said Williams. “They saw drug paraphernalia in her apartment and around her body, a staged scene. And instead of following their own protocol, a supervisor intentionally called off the crime scene. … That one decision destroyed every piece of evidence that could have brought justice to her name.” According to Williams, community members reported that her niece’s killer bragged about her murder. Because of Williams’ activism, the Minneapolis City Council has requested an independent investigation of the case.

“Who is going to fight for you if we do not stand together?” Williams  asked the crowd. “We are less than 2 percent of the population. We cannot afford to be divided. We must stand as one.”

Rene Goodrich, organizer of the event, noted the official Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) office in Minnesota, founded in 2019,  the only state office in America officially focused on the issue, served 25 families in 2025 and was involved in eight new cases, including four that were resolved in the Duluth area with three being safely found.

Goodrich also noted the state’s MMIR office has a reward fund, up to $10,000 per person, that was inspired by a city of Duluth reward fund, the first in the nation, called Gaagige Mikwendaagoziwag or “They will be remembered forever.”

Late in the meeting, relatives and friends held posters and said the names of missing or murdered people, including Sheila St. Clair, missing since 2015, Nevah Kingbird, missing since 2021 and Peter Martin, missing since 2024. Others held symbolic red dresses.

After a drum dance, about 100 people gathered on the street with posters, banners and dresses and marched to the Building for Women where the marchers released tobacco they were carrying into a sacred fire, a tradition for seeking a blessing.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Jana Williams’ name. We regret the error.

The post Wisconsin, Minnesota officials join march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives appeared first on ICT.

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Last Updated on February 21, 2026 Two Federal Court decisions delivered in December were a watershed moment. The rulings arose from two class actions, one led by St. Theresa Point First Nation in Manitoba and Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario, and a companion case led by Shamattawa First Nation in Manitoba. In the decisions, […]

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As the Atlantic warms, many fish along the east coast of North America have moved northward to keep within their preferred temperature range. Black sea bass, for instance, have shifted hundreds of miles up the coast.

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Te Aniwaniwa Paterson. (Photo supplied)

Behind the marae gates, there’s a deeply uncomfortable conversation going on, writes rangatahi Te Aniwaniwa Paterson, who’s part of a group working to end sexual violence within Māori communities.

At Waitangi, sovereignty is often spoken about. But what does sovereignty mean if we can’t openly speak about harm within our own communities?

I’m the rangatahi representative on Ngā Kaitiaki Mauri, the Māori caucus of a national network to end sexual violence. In this role, I serve alongside kaumātua Russell Smith and Joy Te Wiata. When I ran into them at Waitangi this year, it was a chance to catch up on our kaupapa.

Matua Russell Smith told me that the first time he stood at Waitangi to speak about sexual violence, in the early 2000s, he was unsure whether his kōrero would belong in a space dominated by discussions of whenua.

It was Rangimārie Naida Glavish who steadied his nerves. “She turned to me and said: ‘They’re talking about the rape of our land, and you’re talking about the rape of our people. Your kaupapa absolutely belongs here at Waitangi.'”

The conversation reminded him that while the Crown has obligations under Te Tiriti, which might dominate the kōrero at Waitangi, Māori also have responsibilities to each other.

“We have He Whakaputanga and Te Wakaminenga, which guide the kōrero that happens inside the marae gates of our hapū,” he explains.

And within the marae gates, one conversation comes up time and time again: What should we do about sexual abusers, including paedophiles and intimate partner abusers, who want to speak on the paepae tapu?

Joy Te Wiata and Russell Smith with Dame Rangimārie Naida Galvish (centre) at Waitangi this year. (Photo supplied)

Joy Te Wiata says this can be a deeply uncomfortable conversation. But a good way to approach it is to think about “sexual violence” through the kupu Maōri “mahi tūkino”. That wording, she says, makes the abuser’s breach of mana and tapu quite visible.

“Cultural platforms like the paepae are not places to support people who have perpetrated harm. If our marae really want to be places of safety, then they need to uphold tikanga by ensuring that mana and tapu are upheld,” says Joy.

“We’ve got to be careful we aren’t colonised in our own sacred spaces. If we’re saying that it’s okay to allow these things without going through our processes, without hohourongo, that’s not tikanga Maori.”

Russell puts it like this — when people come forward saying their kaumātua abused them, he says: “Kaumātua do not sexually abuse. If someone has done that, we need to remove that status from them. They are not practising kaumātua tikanga.”

This does not mean those who cause harm are cast out entirely or disowned.

Through their clinical and kaupapa Māori work, Russell and Joy have worked alongside many whānau as they navigate the long and difficult process of healing. They have seen that restoration is possible.

While restoration means someone may remain part of their whānau and community, it doesn’t always involve a return to positions of cultural authority. In some cases, the paepae may no longer be an appropriate place for them, Joy says.

And that applies too, she says, to numerous positions across the marae, not just the paepae: “Are we remembering, there’s as much mana in picking pipi, washing dishes, and digging the hāngi pit?”

The pair’s kaupapa Māori approach to healing differs from clinical models that focus on the individual. Instead, their work considers the wider environment in which the harm occurred — the whānau, hapū, and the spaces and systems around that person. It then addresses the conditions that allowed the harm to occur, with supervision, boundaries, and restrictions on alcohol use.

“Our tūpuna left us tikanga for a reason, for safety,” says Joy. “We’re not calling our people to something different — we’re calling them back to their own tikanga.”

“Whakamua whakamuri,” adds Russell. “The way back is forward.”

But kaupapa Māori services like this remain under-resourced.

Late last year, the government moved to redirect $1.7 million from sexual violence support services. Some contracts were extended for six months, but that came with clear warnings not to expect more.

Joy says such funding cuts affect kaupapa Māori services more deeply, because their available resources must support entire whānau.

“We’re whānau-centred, which means that each dollar must expand to cover the whānau approach,” she says. “If we discontinue services, there is a breakdown in trust with whānau, and it takes years to build trust in the first instance. So, it’s not just the end of programmes, it’s a discontinuation of that trust and reliability.”

For Russell, the ability of Māori to sustain our own healing systems is an issue of tino rangatiratanga. “The problem we have today is we don’t have full autonomy over our own resources, and that includes our own mātauranga,” he says.

He describes this as part of a longer pattern: “The Tohunga Suppression Act is still active by the way they prevent our people from accessing us, through not giving us the resources that belong to us, and that’s the biggest Tiriti issue.”

For both, Te Tiriti affirms not only a partnership but also the Crown’s responsibility to ensure Māori can exercise their own pathways to healing. Without that support, Joys says, the obligation remains unmet.

They’ve seen some tauiwi services decline to work with whānau whose needs are complex, leaving kaupapa Māori providers to carry the responsibility. But there are very few kaupapa Māori services across Aotearoa that feel equipped to work directly with people who’ve experienced sexual harm.

“We’re in dire straits, and that has a knock-on effect for our people who are wanting and needing support,” says Russell.

Still, there’s work happening at a national level to strengthen Māori capability.

Ngā Kaitiaki Mauri of Te Ohaaki a Hine is developing tools and resources to support other Māori social services to build confidence and competence in dealing with sexual violence. Rather than centralising a single national model, the focus is on strengthening local Māori providers who already have relationships with their communities.

Over time, they hope to help Māori services expand their own capacity, so whānau don’t have to seek help in systems that are not designed for them.

“Our tūpuna gave us these tools. They are breathed quite deeply into us,” says Russell. “We are basically giving back to our people what belongs rightfully to them.”

Joy and Russell at Te Tii marae, Waitangi. (Photo supplied)

Te Aniwaniwa Paterson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngā Paerangi, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a journalist and digital producer for Te Ao Māori News based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She represents rangatahi on Ngā Kaitiaki Mauri, the Māori caucus of TOAH-NNEST (the National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together), which operates as a Tiriti o Waitangi-based partnership. She serves alongside Russell Smith and Joy Te Wiata.

E-Tangata, 2026

The post A deeply uncomfortable conversation appeared first on E-Tangata.

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Aroha at Little Huia next to Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa (Manukau Harbour). Photo supplied.

Aroha Gilling has had enough of being the only brown face in the room. Here, she offers some advice to Pākehā employers who want to hire more Māori.

There’s a popular saying in military and IT circles: “Two is one, one is none.” It means that if you have one solution and it fails, you’re in trouble. But if you have two, at least there’s a backup.

A Māori colleague of mine uses this saying to explain the challenges faced by Māori in a predominantly Pākehā workplace: Two Māori combined may just get their point across, but one Māori alone often goes unheard.

Recently, I realised that I’ve been the “one is none” voice for too long now.

My work as a Māori specialist in a government department has always been lonely. But it’s become even more so now that my Māori mentor, and buffer against the white world, has retired. I’ve been left as the lone Māori voice in a wilderness of Pākehā perspectives.

I come to my job knowing that I’m going to regularly disagree with my colleagues, because I see the world through a completely different lens — an Indigenous lens, where Te Tiriti o Waitangi and tikanga are the paramount guides to behaviour and action. So I make no apology if some of my white colleagues feel uncomfortable when I refuse to share their colonial fantasies.

But I’m at risk of being characterised as the “angry Māori” when I continually disagree with the dominant narrative. Writing me off as “angry” is a simplistic and easy way to dismiss what I’m saying and avoid any deep thinking or analysis that might lead to discomfort.

As I’ve pointed out, we will never think exactly the same way, and I’m glad that we don’t. How do we foster diversity in the workplace, and avoid repeating the same mistakes, if we all think the same?

But I’ve reached my limit of trying to carry this kaupapa alone. I’ve taken a secondment, and I’m moving to the other end of the country. I’m leaving everything and everyone I know and love to join a Māori team led by a staunch ally.

Even though I love where I live and have fantastic whānau and friends, being “one is none” has become too hard.

So what needs to change?

Over the years, the question of how to make workplaces, projects and programmes “attractive” to more Māori has come up in multiple discussions. I’m frequently asked how departments can “appeal” to Māori.

A good place to start is with workplace and project policies. Do they reflect Māori aspirations as expressed in Te Tiriti o Waitangi? Doing this requires explicit documentation, and any gaps should be easy to spot.

The next obvious question is whether there are Māori and iwi at all levels of the organisation. Are Māori represented on the governance board, in upper management, and as key decision-makers? Or are Māori siloed into low-paying, low-status roles that lack real influence?

Another important area to consider is whether Māori, and particularly the iwi of a place, have been included from the outset, so they are instrumental in the conception of policies, procedures or projects. The “just add Māori and stir” approach, usually midway through a project, is so 1980s.

Then it’s worth asking whether the organisation embraces tikanga-based practices. How are new staff welcomed and farewelled? Are Māori staff supported culturally, or are they only used, once hired, to brown up the white world? Does leadership understand the importance of tangi and either attend themselves or make it easy for staff representatives to be present with a respectable koha? Are Māori staff rewarded and acknowledged when they go outside their job descriptions to perform cultural roles such as kaikōrero or kaikaranga?

One way to assess if the organisation’s interactions with whānau, hapū, iwi are merely transactional, or if there is relational depth, genuine feeling and connectivity, is to ask: What do iwi say about the relationship?

Another good litmus test of whether your organisation is welcoming to Māori is the atmosphere at morning tea in the staffroom. What happens when a Pākehā colleague deliberately mispronounces te reo or speaks in a faux Māori accent? Do non-Māori colleagues stand up and object? Or do they leave it to the Māori staff to call out privilege, prejudice and racism, and only mumble behind the scenes that they agree with what you said?

I think some of the most obvious clues to the health of the relationship come during the hiring process. Is there iwi representation on candidate selection and interview panels, and how does the organisation cope with whānau support for a candidate? My colleague who has just retired tells the story of his original interview where 120 of his whānau, hapū, iwi came to support his application. If today’s HR are discombobulated by two or three whānau, imagine the panic at that many.

Consider the interview questions too. Do they allow Māori candidates to demonstrate real depth and knowledge from their cultural world? It’s time for organisations to start getting their collective heads around the everyday parts of te ao Māori that showcase skills and achievements.

For example, if someone has experience as a ringawera, or a marae cook, it shows their ability to work under pressure, manage resources and time, and be part of a team. If you are the head ringawera, then those skills are amped up tenfold, to include managing a team, financial responsibility, and delivering food to a consistently high standard to show manaakitanga to guests. The mana of an iwi rests on its manaakitanga, and kai is critical in the process.

If someone has “kaihoe” (waka ama paddler) on their CV, then you’re getting someone who is mentally and physically strong, works effectively as part of a team, turns up for training, and understands commitment. Ask them about their racing experience. If they’re a steerer, then they’re in a position of responsibility and have developed specialist technical skills to make decisions under pressure. Maybe they’re a social paddler. Ask them what attracts them to the sport. Do they paddle because they enjoy the camaraderie, the cultural aspects, or because it makes them happy? A robust and thoughtful discussion along these lines will give you plenty of insights into their character and abilities.

I believe the standard, surface-level Treaty of Waitangi interview question — “Tell us about the Treaty of Waitangi” — also offers insight into your organisation’s cultural awareness.

My initial response is to ask the interview panel which Treaty text they mean. Are they asking me about the principles of the Treaty, or my understanding of Treaty history? This approach either kicks off a lively discussion or results in astonished silence. Both responses display where an organisation is in its Treaty journey.

Finally, if you want to hire (and retain) more Māori, look around. Does the building reflect Māori realities? Are posters, pamphlets and signage in te reo Māori as well as English? This is easy to do, and while signage can often be used to dress up a predominantly colonial organisation, it is one of the simplest ways to flag the cultural diversity and openness of an organisation.

In a recent office upgrade, the place I worked for acquired new furniture for the tearooms. The new additions were a sort of low table, but with chair cushions and seat backs fixed on top. I couldn’t decide whether they were chairs or tables. Rather than risk tikanga by inadvertently sitting on an eating surface, I avoided them at all costs and perched on a stool instead. It might sound minor, or even picky, but such decisions tell me that even very basic cultural considerations weren’t factored into the redecoration plans.

Making your workplace, project or programme more attractive to Māori requires mental, emotional, physical, and financial commitment to change and continual growth.

Yes, it will push your organisation out of its familiar white colonial world. But you might just end up with an amazing organisation or project with increased Māori participation that creates enduring and positive change.

And who knows? If you do away with the surface-level sham and go for a real Tiriti o Waitangi and tikanga-based approach, the Māori participants may even consider sticking around for a while. Then you’ll realise that two is one, one is none, but many is fun!

Aroha Gilling (Te Whānau a Apanui) is an adviser to government departments on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and mātauranga Māori. She has a Master of Indigenous Studies from the University of Otago and a background in adult education and social work. She recently relocated from Nelson to Auckland.

E-Tangata, 2026

The post One Māori in the room isn’t enough appeared first on E-Tangata.

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This story was originally published by Maine Morning Star.

Emma Davis
Maine Morning Star

The movement to return more sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations continues as lawmakers and members of the public convene Thursday, Feb. 19, to reignite debate, even as the prospect of full restoration under the current administration remains slim.

But the idea is to continue building engagement and momentum around the issue — “that keeps that fire burning even if we don’t have big legislative wins right now,” as Maulian Bryant, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, put it to Maine Morning Star in the fall.

With Gov. Janet Mills termed out after this year, that goal also extends to getting commitments from gubernatorial candidates, many of whom have already vowed to back the type of sweeping reform Mills has rejected.

Two bills are slated for public hearings in Augusta. One is an omnibus proposal to restore full sovereignty, while the other would reinstate the Wabanaki Nations’ access to beneficial federal laws. Both are nearly identical to past proposals, which were blocked either by the governor or through the Legislature’s opaque funding process.

The Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Mi’kmaq Nation — collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations — are treated differently than other federally recognized tribes, more akin to municipalities than sovereign nations because of a 1980 land settlement agreement.

Wabanaki leaders have said that their Tribes signed the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act to get fair compensation for stolen lands, not to give up the level of sovereignty that has been interpreted by the state and courts to date. Remaining barriers to self-governance have left persistent disparities between tribal citizens and other Mainers, such as health inequalities and limited economic mobility.

Mills, a Democrat, has rejected sweeping attempts to overhaul the act, instead approaching changes on a case-by-case basis, such as expanding Wabanaki authority over prosecuting crimes, permitting the Tribes to handle and reap profits from sports betting, and aligning the tax code with the rules that apply to other tribal nations throughout the country.

Those changes are not naught.

“Almost eight years ago, we sat in front of a crowded audience at Gov. Janet Mills’ first State of the State address in the Augusta Civic Center. In her address, one of her promises to the state of Maine and the Wabanaki Nations was to improve the relationship between the tribes and the state,” wrote the Chiefs of the Passamaquoddy Tribes  Amkuwiposohehs “Pos” Bassett and William Nicholas Sr. in an op-ed published Wednesday. “We can tell you from our standpoint, she is leaving this relationship in a much, much better place than when she inherited it.”

Still, many Wabanaki leaders and allies to the cause are skeptical that the pending bills will ultimately be successful this year. But with Mills soon termed out (and running for U.S. Senate), the proposals could have more luck under the next administration, as several gubernatorial candidates have already made day one pledges to restore full sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations.

With an eye toward the next executive, the Wabanaki Alliance, a coalition formed in 2020 to push for state recognition of tribal sovereignty, is hosting a series of gubernatorial candidate forums to discuss policy affecting the Wabanaki Nations ahead of the November election, with the first slated for March 19 in Houlton.

The Maine Legislature formally recognized a need to alter the Settlement Act in 2019 by tasking a bipartisan group of state legislators and tribal chiefs to recommend changes. Those 22 recommended changes have been taken up in several proposals with varying success and are again a focus of the legislation now being considered.

Repeat proposals

LD 785 is omnibus legislation that would implement the remaining task force recommendations, serving as the means to overhaul the rest of the act. LD 395 focuses on just one of the recommendations, restoring the Wabanaki Nations’ access to beneficial federal laws. Both are sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland).

The omnibus legislation is essentially the proposal that the Legislature initially passed in 2022, but lawmakers on the budget committee did not fund the bill, essentially killing it, despite its relatively small fiscal note.

The proposal regarding federal laws mirrors a bill that the Legislature passed in 2023 but Mills vetoed, writing in her veto letter that she doesn’t “want to see the Wabanaki Nations unfairly excluded from benefits that are generally available to federally recognized tribes” but she fears the way the legislation sought to do so would “result in years, if not decades, of new, painful litigation that would exacerbate our government-to-government relationship and only further divide the state.”

The Settlement Act made it so the Tribes are unable to benefit from any federal law passed after 1980 that interferes with state law, unless they are specifically mentioned in the law. LD 395 would flip this paradigm by allowing the Wabanaki Nations to access federal laws unless they are expressly excluded.

Other legislation passed, pending and rejected

Among the many federal laws that do not apply to the Wabanaki Nations is one that offers federally recognized tribes the right to exclusively regulate and take in revenue from gambling on tribal lands.

In 2022, the Legislature amended the Settlement Act to permit Tribes to handle sports betting. Last year, they expanded that authority further, giving the Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate internet gaming in the state. Mills delayed her decision on the bill until this year, ultimately deciding to allow it to become lawwithout her signature, though it won’t take effect until the summer.

Meanwhile, another gambling bill related to the Tribes is still in limbo. The Legislature carried over into this year a proposal that would afford the Tribes more revenue from gambling at private casinos.

There are also two other bills backed by the Wabanaki Alliance from last year that lawmakers have yet to issue final decisions on, though those proposals currently sit on what’s known as the “appropriations table” awaiting funding. Few proposals that make it onto this table ultimately make it off.

One bill would ensure the already required teaching of Wabanaki studies is effectively implemented in Maine schools. Lawmakers attempted to do the same during the prior Legislature — after a 2022 report found school districts have failed to consistently and appropriately include the curricula — though were unsuccessful.

“I have experienced first hand what little has been taught to Maine’s youth about Wabanaki people,” Mi’kmaq Nation citizen Mak Thompson said during a press conference in Augusta earlier this month, advocating for the bill. “This weighs on Wabanaki students to teach their peers about the existence of our people that have occupied this land for centuries.”

The other bill on the table would provide Indigenous people free access to state parks.

Another proposal the Wabanaki Nations advocated for has already seen a definitive decision against them. Mills vetoed legislation last year that sought to prevent the state from being able to seize tribal land for public use.

The post Maine Lawmakers again consider returning more sovereignty to Wabanaki Nations appeared first on ICT.

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When Paul Reillo learned the endangered mountain bongo antelopes that he had cared for since birth were stranded in a cargo plane on an airport tarmac ahead of their journey to a new home in Kenya, he took matters into his own hands.

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The Baltic Sea is one of the world's most oxygen-depleted major bodies of water. The reason is excessive concentrations of phosphorus, an element essential for life—and an important ingredient in fertilizer. New research shows a way to possibly convert this problem into a resource that reduces Europe's dependency on phosphate mining while revitalizing the Baltic ecosystem.

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