The mounting pressure on Brazil’s federal environmental agency (IBAMA) to approve the disastrous project to extract oil from the mouth of the Amazon River (see here and here) should be…
A wide range of sustainability, health and environmental programs in the Amazon Rainforest are at stake after the U.S. government announced a 90-day pause on all foreign aid funding, including…
The family is a cornerstone of Latin America culture. In the prototypical family, members reside in close proximity to one another and rely on a multigenerational nuclear family for emotional…
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pushing to approve exploratory oil drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River before November’s U.N. COP30, an initiative which clashes with…
Deadly drownings of animals in water canals for irrigation and other purposes have been observed in various countries. The dry and semiarid regions of the planet are even more vulnerable…
In some Amazon rivers in Brazil, cases of diseases related to inadequate basic sanitation, such as malaria and acute diarrhea, have been increasing amid climate change and population growth.
For the briefest moment earlier this year, the Eurasian lynx — extinct in the U.K. for thousands of years — returned to the wild in Scotland. But this release wasn’t…
PORTO ALEGRE — On the set of I’m Still Here (2024), the acclaimed Brazilian film by Walter Salles Jr., supporting actress Angela Ribeiro was approached by a woman with red…
It’s a proven fact: the relationship between rising global temperatures and the number of climate-related disasters is directly proportional. From 1991 through 2023, each rise of 0.1°C in the average…
The return of the floating structures shows the resilience of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, which destroys the riverbeds and contaminates the water with mercury.
"I remember my grandfather telling me about the macaws in this region. So, it's impossible not to smile seeing them back. We know where they sleep and feed, so every…
A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
CORUMBAÍBA, Brazil — They appeared at dusk. The day was ending in a pink-and-yellow sky when a cub moved in the grass. Its mother appeared next, red as the earth,…
JALAPÃO, Brazil — The buritis, or moriche palms, are fighting for their lives in the streambed now lined with scorched earth. For two years now, drought has advanced a barrier…
Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond.
Comuna da Terra Irmã Alberta, a small oasis of green fields and trees, sits on the outskirts of São Paulo and is home to 65 small farmers who help supply…
Plans to construct a sprawling port and railway line in Brazil’s northeastern state of Maranhão is sparking concerns among some residents and civil society groups about its potential impact on…
Once estimated as 20,000 in the territory, hundreds of illegal miners still remain and may expand business at the slightest sign of the security forces withdrawing.
Unprecedented images of uncontacted Indigenous people in Brazil’s Massaco Indigenous Territory, in the Amazon region, have prompted a push for greater enforcement to protect the land of these vulnerable populations.
BRASÍLIA — The European Union’s new antideforestation law banning the import of products linked to recently deforested land has triggered opposing reactions from Brazil’s environmental and agribusiness authorities. The country’s…
Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil's federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country's biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
As forests continue to be cleared and forested landscapes degraded by human activity, their loss can significantly affect the trees left standing, potentially changing the structure of forests, a recent…
In the quiet Swiss town of Davos, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain unfolds as young Hans Castorp’s brief visit to a sanatorium turns into a seven-year exploration of ideas, intrigue,…
According to the Brazilian Federal Police, Bruno Heller is one of Amazon's largest deforesters and relied on legal and technical advice, including a fake contract, bribing police officers, and near-real-time monitoring of deforestation work through satellite imagery, investigators said.
The private sector is the largest single promoter of conventional development. Its lobbying organizations tend to be well-funded and staffed with competent individuals grounded in the analytical abilities of traditional…
Across South America, Indigenous communities have often considered territorial protection to be the main responsibility of men, while women typically assume roles as caretakers of the household, family, and community.…
Humanity achieved a fateful milestone last year. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has officially declared 2024 the hottest year on record, and the first year in history with…
South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.
The constituency for the conservation of the Pan Amazon is broad-based and diverse. Academics and civil society organizations have been successful in framing conservation of the Amazon as an issue…
Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.
In Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, Paul Raad crouched in the undergrowth, scanning the ground for signs of jaguar activity. He wasn’t looking for the big cats themselves;…
The Amazon Rainforest, where next year’s COP30 climate summit will be hosted, is reeling from two consecutive years of severe drought, with major rivers at record lows, leading to water shortages and transportation disruptions for local communities.
