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World s tropical forests and people imperiled by legal rollbacks under COVID-19 Reuters 2/18/2021
By Christine Murray
MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Threats against indigenous people and rainforests have risen during the coronavirus pandemic as governments have rolled back social and environmental safeguards to boost economic growth, land rights activists said on Thursday.
Governments in five countries with tropical forests have weakened legal safeguards to aid economic recovery, while expanding projects near native land, said a study by Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and two universities. It is wrong to prioritize economic development over the protection of Indigenous Peoples rights and tropical forests, especially during a pandemic, James Whitehead, director of FPP, a human rights group, said in a statement.