Research Reports

In 2001, Native Lands published this detailed case study/manual of the participatory mapping it jointly organized in Honduras, Panama, and Bolivia.

This is a detailed account and analysis of the road Native Lands followed to devise and fine-tune the methodology it has been using since 1992. The narrative takes the reader from imperfect, sometimes confused beginnings to a much surer sense of what works and what does not, how community participation can be maximized, what to eliminate, and what to add, strengthen, and bring into focus.

In January of this year Native Lands’ new map, Indigenous Peoples and Natural Ecosystems in Central America and Southern Mexico, was completed. It is an update of an earlier map, The Coexistence of Indigenous Peoples and the Natural Environment in Central America, published in 1992. Both maps were collaborative efforts between Native Lands and the National Geographic Society. The original map put on display forest cover and areas of indigenous use and occupation.

At sites throughout the country the Department of Energy (DOE) is cleaning up the radioactive and chemical contamination legacy of nuclear weapons production.

Land uses directly and indirectly affect the quality of our nation`s waters. Various patterns of urban, suburban, exurban, and rural development can contribute either to improving water quality or to impairing it. At the same time, state and federal programs directed at controlling water pollution can influence development. The relationship between land use and water quality has been studied on a watershed scale in a number of settings, but there has never been a study of the relationship between the programs of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and state and local land uses.

Environmental justice embodies a goal of achieving healthy, sustainable communities for all people. As part of this goal, environmental justice calls for equal protection for all people under the nation’s environmental laws.