November 19, 2025
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The Nova Institute for Health congratulates Media Fellow Maria Parazo Rose on the launch of an innovative new reporting initiative exploring Indigenous land return models and their outcomes for communities around the world.
Over the next 18 months, supported by a grant to Nova from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Maria will investigate land return case studies from nations including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Colombia, Finland, Ireland, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, and the Philippines to identify key findings and shared learnings. With her extensive experience as a reporter and data journalist, she will publish a series of articles about her research in top outlets worldwide, incorporating audio storytelling and other multimedia elements to engage diverse audiences.
With support from Nova’s network of Scholars and Fellows, Maria will also assemble a global cohort of land return practitioners and experts from tribal communities, nonprofits, and state organizations to identify successful strategies and exchange insights on effective models for implementation. The cohort will share its findings at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City in 2027.
“Improving health issues in Indigenous communities is tied to land: its history, its use, and its future. Centuries of land dispossession and the systematic denial of basic rights have created poorer economic, social, and health conditions for Indigenous peoples,” Rose said. “Secure land tenure drives Indigenous resilience, and planetary health as a result, making it critical to understand what effective land return initiatives look like worldwide.”
The project will expand and deepen Maria’s Nova Media Fellowship project, which has already included extensive reporting for Grist on climate and health-related inequities for Indigenous communities in the U.S. and around the world.
