Report links meat giant JBS to massive destruction of jaguar habitat
Agricultural expansion in two Brazilian states has cleared a U.K -sized area of jaguar habitat, nearly a fifth of which occurred in the last decade alone, a new report shows.…
Latin America News
Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America
Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery…
Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel
Macaúba palm, also known as macaw palm, grows all over the Americas. Now, a drive by the Brazilian government to incentivize the decarbonization of the transportation and aviation sectors has…
Chile draws road map for peace in Mapuche land conflict, but concerns remain
A special commission tasked with addressing land disputes and Indigenous rights in Chile delivered a historic final report to the president earlier this month, making a series of recommendations meant…
Delay in land reform fuels new wave of settlers and violence in the Amazon
Grassroots organizations are settling new areas in the Brazilian Amazon amid disappointment that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been slow to jump-start the stalled land reform agenda.
New forest loss data beef up Amazon deforestation case against Casino Group
A recent report by the nonprofit Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) found that the operations of French retailer Casino Group in Brazil could be linked to more than half a…
German supermarket palm oil linked to Indigenous rights abuses in Guatemala
A German supermarket and its supplier are under fire for alleged human right violations against Indigenous communities in Guatemala, where much of their palm oil is sourced. Since 2019, human…
Protection is only the beginning: Creating connection through Belize’s Maya Forest Corridor
BERMUDA LANDING, Belize – “About a week ago we lost a jaguar in a car collision, just over here,” says Celso Poot, director of the nonprofit Belize Zoo and Tropical…
How extreme droughts could redefine the future of Amazonian fish
MANAUS, Brazil — In September 2024, the landscape in the Middle Solimões region of the Brazilian Amazon lay in stark contrast to its usual exuberance of lush greenery. “When we…
Bolivia expels members of fake nation Kailasa over Indigenous land lease scandal
The United States of Kailasa maintains that it is a real nation. With this title, over the last three years, they have traveled to different countries in South America to…
Study unveils mystery of monkey yodeling — and why humans can’t compete
Deep in the rainforest, the monkeys are yodeling. Their wild calls echo across the foliage, sending signals of sex and survival. For decades, scientists have studied why they make these…
Profit imbalance in palm oil industry risks environmental compliance, report says
Multinational palm oil-buying companies could be doing more to address financial inequities in their global supply chains that perpetuate challenges for smallholder farmers, according to a new report from sustainable…
Brazil’s offshore wind farms could sacrifice small-scale fishing in Ceará
A symbol of Brazil’s Ceará state and present on its official coat of arms since 1897, sail rafts known as jangadas are 80% of the fishing vessels in the state,…
Rectifying the damage: environmental fines in the Brazilian Amazon
Regulatory agencies use fines as a key mechanism for enforcing administrative law. Fines act as a deterrent, because they discourage individuals and organizations from ignoring regulations; they also serve as…
Even in intact Amazon forests, climate change affects bird populations: Study
Scientists have known for some time now that tropical birds are falling in number. In general, the cause has been attributed to forest degradation and fragmentation. But a 2020 study…
Traditional bug oil finds modern value through new research in the Amazon
Researchers are analyzing the bug oil’s bioactive properties, aiming to validate its safety and expand its promising applications in medicine, cosmetics and biotechnology.
Cruise ships and intensified tourism in Mexico threaten whale shark habitat
In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a dozen mega cruise ships were stationed in Bahía de La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, due to the tourism shutdown.…
‘We can’t talk solutions without understanding complexities: Kari Guajajara on Brazil’s Amazon
This is the last of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country's Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon…
A rare jaguar rewilding story highlights obstacles to the big cat’s conservation in Brazil
In the space of six months, Xamã the jaguar had crisscrossed more than 14,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest, or about 35,000 acres — an area a tenth the size…
Report urges stricter mining standards to manage climate and social impacts
A new report by the Mining Observatory finds key mining states in Brazil, including Pará, the host state of the upcoming 2025 U.N. climate summit (COP30), are highly exposed to…
What does bioeconomy truly mean? Indigenous groups seek answer to dodge capitalist traps
Across the Pan-Amazon region, communities who developed the bioeconomy concept centuries ago and practice it today still have a hard time accessing its benefits.
Report shows policy gaps in safeguarding the carbon rights of forest communities
An absence of government legal and policy reforms is impacting the rights of Indigenous, Afro-descendant peoples and local communities associated with carbon programs in 33 countries in Asia, Africa and…
Illegal wood from Colombia’s rainforests enters US and EU supply chains
BOGOTÁ — Logs float downstream in long lines on the murky waters of the Atrato River in the depths of the Pacific rainforests of Colombia’s Chocó department. With few roads,…
‘Puma detectives’ highlight wildlife where Brazil’s Cerrado meets the Atlantic Forest
Named after a river in the state of Goiás, Corumbá the puma was named after a river in the central Brazilian state of Goiás. Between 2022 and 2023, as much…
Amazon people brace for a drier future along the endangered Madeira River
The Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon, has been losing water flow over the last 20 years while facing severe droughts.
In the Pan Amazon, regulators struggle to punish environmental crimes
Administrative law is based on legislation that creates, organizes and defines the responsibilities of government agencies. As such, the regulatory apparatus of the modern state is the product of laws…
‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
This is the second of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country's Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon…
The latest issues in Peru’s Amazon: Interview with Indigenous leader Julio Cusurichi
This is the first of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country's Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Colombian Amazon…
New report reinforces critical role of Amazonian protected areas in climate fight
A new report adds to the already overwhelming case that protected areas and Indigenous territories in the Amazon Rainforest serve as a critical carbon sink. The report, based on satellite…
In Brazil’s Jequitinhonha valley, communities share how to reduce lithium mining impacts
ARAÇUAÍ, Brazil — It’s a sunny, cloudless morning in the Poço Dantas when a sudden loud blow shakes the ground of Maria Aparecida’s* house. A few kilometers away, a cloud…
Eucalyptus for Brazil’s steelmaking dries out communities in Minas Gerais
Alto Jequitinhonha, Brazil — No photographs remain of João Gomes de Azevedo's village before eucalyptus plantations radically transformed it. Instead, fragments of its past live on in a song that…
Oil companies have downplayed extent of spills in Gulf of Mexico, investigation finds
One morning in early April 2024, Elías Naal Hernández set out with his fishing net to try his luck in the waters of Isla Aguada, off the coast of southeastern…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- 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
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- First-ever assessment highlights threats to Atlantic cold-water corals
- Major coral loss in Vietnam’s first marine protected area: Study
- When heat waves hit, clownfish shrink to survive, study finds
- Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean
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
- Indigenous Amazonians win landmark ruling against mercury pollution in Colombia
- Indigenous Bajo suffer child deaths & toxic sludge amid green energy push
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
Endangered Environmentalists
- 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
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
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
