Collapses of Amazon riverbanks threaten communities and shipping routes
Erosion is natural along Amazonian rivers, but increasing boat traffic can raise the risk of bank collapse.
Amazon News
Hope, solidarity & disappointment: A familiar mix for Indigenous delegates at COP30
BELÉM, Brazil — Brazil promoted COP30 as both the “Indigenous COP” and the “Amazonian COP,” a summit that would finally center the peoples who have protected the rainforest for millennia.…
Stricter rules adopted to protect sloths from pet trade and selfie tourism
Known for their peaceful appearance and the impression that they're always smiling, sloths now have extra protection to prevent their exploitation by a cruel and illegal pet trade. CITES, the…
New financial tools boost traditional bioeconomy projects in the Amazon
When rigid loans fail to reach forest communities, they work in favor of invaders.
Respecting uncontacted peoples can protect biodiversity and our humanity (commentary)
Deep within the remaining tropical forests of the world, the last uncontacted peoples live in near-total isolation. Their very presence carries unintended yet powerful implications for all of us. Studies…
The valuable peatlands of Peru’s Pastaza River Fan: one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs
On the banks of the Pastaza River, in Peru’s northern Datem del Marañón province, Kietre Gonzales remembers just how close his childhood home was to the aguajales, the swampy palm…
Amazon’s stingless bee propolis shows potent healing power, studies show
Fueled by açaí flowers, a bee's resin once used for war wounds is now evolving as a new ingredient for cosmetics.
New agreement aims to streamline Amazon Rainforest protection efforts
A new agreement that aims to streamline the monitoring and protection of the Amazon Rainforest was announced at the COP30 climate summit that wrapped up this week in Belém, Brazil.…
What was achieved for Indigenous peoples at COP30?
After two weeks of negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the COP30 U.N. climate summit delivered mixed outcomes, Indigenous delegates say. The event saw the largest Indigenous participation in COP history and…
Brazil nut hauling effort gets easier with zip lines and ‘Amazon Waze’
Lugging 50-kilo bags through the rainforest’s rough terrain is a vital piece of the nut trade, but could soon change.
Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure
Phaseout plan gained unexpected momentum at the summit, only to vanish from the final deal and unlock a new stage.
Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support
Operational rifts and budget constraints choked ambitious funding from rich nations for TFFF at Belém’s summit.
Why are Amazonian trees getting ‘fatter’?
How have the trees in Amazonia reacted to the rise in CO2 emissions in recent centuries? It is common knowledge that, of all greenhouse gases, CO2 is the most responsible…
Brazil’s governance style leads to controversial impacts
The Federal Republic of Brazil has a constitutional system with an exceptionally strong executive branch where the president controls the budget process, wields a line-item veto and can initiate legislation…
A forest worth more standing: Virgilio Viana on what it will take to protect the Amazon
The first time Virgilio Viana saw the Amazon up close, he was a 16-year-old with a backpack, two school friends and very little sense of what he was walking into.…
Amazon Indigenous groups fight soy waterway as Brazil fast-tracks dredging
The Tapajós supported Indigenous people for millennia, but now vessels, pollution and waves may disrupt their lives.
Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin’s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis)
Having studied the healing plants and peoples of tropical South America for well over four decades, I am often asked, “What is the conservation status of the Amazon Rainforest? Is…
Sloth selfies are feeding a booming wildlife trafficking trade
It’s not easy to find a sloth in the middle of the forest. They spend most of their time in the tree canopy and are masters of camouflage, thanks to…
Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary)
We all know that “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” but in daily life, ignorance of the consequences of one’s actions is, indeed, an excuse that shields us from…
Peru Indigenous patrols see success & struggles in combating illegal miners
For several years, illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders have impacted the territory of the Indigenous Wampís people (or Huambisa) of the northern Peruvian Amazon. To combat these threats…
How a ‘green gold rush’ in the Amazon led to dubious carbon deals on Indigenous lands
BARCELONA — In December 2022, one of Brazil’s largest Indigenous territories and one of the smallest would each sign a 118-page, 10-year contract they would soon come to regret —as…
After 6 years, trial in Indigenous forest guardian killing pushed to 2026
Six years after the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in the Brazilian Amazon, the trial of the two…
Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop
As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves…
Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú’s Renata Piazzon
Brazil’s climate conversation has a habit of returning to the same question: how can a country that depends so much on its natural riches also protect them? Renata Piazzon, who…
These banks fund oil & gas in the Amazon amid climate crisis: Report
Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a sprawling industrial facility has been carved out of the rainforest. This is the Camisea Gas Complex, a natural gas mega-field operated by a consortium…
Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands
Lawmakers in Brazil can scrap a 30-year-old protection to meet global demand for gold and other minerals.
Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)
Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth looking today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. Part…
What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)
Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth attempting a thought experiment: to trace today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine…
Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?
As the world’s attention turns toward COP30 in Belém next month, the story of Brazil’s Amazon is shifting—though not quite in a straightforward way. According to the government’s satellite-based monitoring…
Belém faces its social and natural demons as host to COP30
Once a major river city, Belém turned its back on the water, leaving 40% of its urban area vulnerable to floods.
Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples
“My children died. My mother died. My husband died. My brothers, my sisters, my aunts and uncles. I saw the bones sticking out of their rotting corpses inside the longhouse.…
Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira ‘would be killed again,’ Indigenous leader says
SÃO PAULO AND RIO DE JANEIRO — Despite government efforts to halt violence in the Amazon region where British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were killed three…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
Oceans
- Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
- Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate on MPAs & krill fishing rules
- Norway’s proposal to double krill harvests raises tension at Antarctic conservation summit
- Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities & conservation: Report
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
- Amid Venezuela’s illegal gold heist are armed groups, gangs & elites, report says
- Indigenous women in Peru use technology to protect Amazon forests
Endangered Environmentalists
- A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
