"Panama’s Indigenous Groups Wage High-Tech Fight for Their Lands", 05 May 2022

... Wounaan technicians had used mapping software on their smartphones to pinpoint the site of the illegal land clearing they were now investigating. With this data, the Wounaan of Majé submitted a complaint to the Wounaan National Congress, which then filed a complaint with Panama’s environment ministry, known as MiAmbiente...

... Indigenous leaders say that in Panama, for example, the national government frequently sides with businesses, ranchers, loggers, and colonizers, despite ample evidence that they are illegally clearing Indigenous land...

... Most Indigenous Panamanians live in one of six special Indigenous territories, or comarcas, which are recognized by federal law and based on the Indigenous peoples’ constitutional rights...

...[T]he Wounaan’s land-based culture has increasingly been threatened by the outside colonizers, known as colonos, who have illegally logged, mined, and grazed cattle on Indigenous land. Indigenous territories, such as Majé, that fall outside the comarcas are especially vulnerable.

Recently, however, with the support of U.S.-based volunteers and the creative use of satellite data and smartphone technology, the Wounaan have pushed back, mapping and documenting illegal incursions. “The technology has helped us a lot,” says the Majé community leader. “It gives us evidence that we are able to present to the government”...

Wounaan volunteers also download data on forest canopy change and fire alerts from the Global Forest Watch website, an online tool used to monitor forests worldwide. All this data is then verified by Wounaan technicians, who collect additional evidence, such as photos, for complaints to the environment ministry...