location: Amazon

location: Amazon

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Brazil curbs Amazon deforestation in Piripkura, but ranchers’ cattle linger
- A crackdown by the Brazilian government on land-grabbers who establish cattle ranches and other agricultural activities in the Piripkura Indigenous Territory, home to the last two known isolated Piripkura people, have seen some success with tree cover loss in 2025 down.
- While there was very little deforestation from 2024-2025, authorities told Mongabay that 1,000 cattle left by the invaders still remain in the territory, and they have still not received authorization from the federal government to remove them.
- The presence of cattle encourages ranchers to enter the land to care for them, said sources, though some remain there legitimately.
- Authorities have implemented a succession of land use restriction orders since 2008 to prevent the entry of land grabbers, though a recent court decision has provisionally allowed some ranchers to remain in the Indigenous land until the conclusion of the demarcation process.

Study offers first map of Amazon’s climate-resilient upslope corridors
- Worsening climate change creates enormous challenges for ecosystems and individual species. As the world warms, plants and animals must quickly migrate to cooler places to stay resilient and survive. But today such migrations are often blocked by deforestation, human infrastructure and lack of conserved lands.
- In the tropics, vast lowlands can require species to move large distances north or south to escape warming. The most rapid path to climate-resilience is upslope migration, with plants and animals relocating shorter distances uphill to cooler places.
- A new study has mapped major elevational gradients in the Amazon that offer the best possibility for connectivity and upslope relocation in the biome — overlaying elevational gradients, amount of forest cover, fragmentation and protected areas.
- This broad-brush research could aid policymakers in identifying the most viable upslope corridors, helping nations and NGOs target best opportunities for land protection to enhance connectivity and aid species survival.

South America’s farms depend, in part, on a healthy Amazon
- The Amazon is not only a carbon store; it is also a major source of atmospheric moisture that helps sustain rainfall across much of South America.
- A new Nature study finds that deforestation lowers the warming threshold at which large parts of the Amazon could lose stability.
- Recent droughts, El Niño conditions, and fire risk show why degraded forests are less able to withstand climate stress and recover afterward.
- Protecting intact forests, restoring degraded areas, and reducing fire are increasingly important for climate resilience, biodiversity, and South America’s food system.

Death and exile: A war plagues Indigenous Jiw and Nukak in the Colombian Amazon
- By late May, at least 48 people were killed in rural areas of Colombia following clashes between the FARC guerrilla dissident groups controlled by the aliases “Calarcá” and “Iván Mordisco.”
- Conflicts have displaced 10 Indigenous Jiw families from the municipality of Mapiripán, Meta department. They had to reach the urban area of San José del Guaviare for protection.
- The clashes occurred near the Tomachipán-Cumare road, an illegal trail used by dissident armed cells as a strategic corridor to mobilize and transport drug trafficking supplies in the Guaviare department.
- Experts warn that controlling this disputed area is important for armed groups, as it means dominating strategic zones in the department and also being closer to the Venezuelan border.

Illegal miners adapt their strategies in Yanomami Amazon territory
- Illegal miners are adapting their tactics in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Amazonas and Roraima states to evade efforts in the last few years to remove them, found researchers.
- Miners are fragmenting into smaller groups instead of concentrating near airstrips, going deeper into the middle of the Amazon forest, moving to specific border areas with Venezuela and paying high prices to continue their activities.
- Illegal mining is significantly down in the territory due to the government operation, said Indigenous people and authorities, though concerns remain for the health of isolated Indigenous people.
- Brazil’s government says it is in the phase of “scavenging the territory” to remove miners deep in the forest which are unable to be detected by satellite imagery and require long walks into the Amazon.

Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest 12-month level since 2014, show Brazilian data
- INPE’s DETER alert system detected 370 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in May, down from 960 square kilometers in May 2025.
- Over the past 12 months, DETER registered 3,182 square kilometers of deforestation, the lowest total for any 12-month period in the system’s record dating back to July 2014.
- Independent monitoring by Imazon shows a similar downward trend, reinforcing evidence that forest clearing has continued to decline.
- Scientists warn that a likely strong El Niño could still increase drought, fire and forest degradation risks, even if clear-cutting remains low.

Amazon deforestation declines as Brazil reduces forest loss nationwide
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon biome fell by 23.5% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a new report from MapBiomas, a Brazil-based land-use mapping project. Reductions in deforestation were recorded across the board in all of Brazil’s biomes, culminating in a 21% nationwide decrease in forest loss. In total, nearly 985,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) […]
In Ecuador, an Indigenous community goes thirsty despite its two rivers
- On the banks of the Puní River’s middle basin, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, illegal mining has increased by 2,700% over seven years, contaminating the main water source for the ancestral Kichwa community of Capirona.
- Residents of Capirona say that, by 2021, the color of the Puní River started to change, turning brownish. Meanwhile, problems such as skin rashes, fungal infections and itching became frequent.
- In samples of mining ore collected by Ecuadorian authorities from an illegal mining camp on the banks of Puní, signs of mercury were found at levels far exceeding the permitted limit for this metal in agricultural soils.
- Industrial farming activity has also polluted the waters of the Shalkana River, another watercourse located within the community. Despite being surrounded by two rivers, residents of Capirona rely on two water tankers sent weekly by municipal authorities, which is enough for barely half of the families for just a few days.

Brazil carves an Amazon national park to make room for grain railway
- Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld a law removing 862 hectares (2,130 acres) from Jamanxim National Park, clearing a legal obstacle for the proposed Ferrogrão grain railway.
- The lower house in Congress also approved a measure reducing another Jamanxim conservation unit; although, the bill still must be voted on in the Senate.
- The project threatens Indigenous territories and key habitats for jaguars, giant otters and primates in an Amazonian region already facing extensive land grabbing and deforestation.
- Experts warn the ruling could make it easier to reduce protected areas elsewhere in Brazil for future infrastructure and development projects.

In Peru and Brazil, extractivism threatens Indigenous people in isolation: Report
- Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) in Peru and Brazil’s Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor are under threat by oil and gas expansion, proposed highways and illegal mining, a recent report says.
- Oil and gas blocks overlap with 10% of the 16-million-hectare corridor, including nearly 1.7 million hectares of intact tropical forest, and 12% of PIACI reserves pending approval are at risk from oil and gas.
- The report identifies 13 mining concessions and 500,000 hectares of logging concessions on the Peruvian side alone.
- Indigenous leaders and civil society organizations in Peru say the government must stop handing out concessions and revoke or relocate existing ones, otherwise PIACI face exposure to disease due to forced contact, conflict and the destruction of the ecosystems they depend on to survive.

Gold mining damages dung beetle communities in the Amazon, study finds
Small-scale gold mining is a major cause of deforestation in the Amazon, and researchers found that in Guyana it destroys dung beetle communities and prevents their recovery for decades. Gold mining causes 90% of the deforestation in the Guiana Shield, which contains a quarter of the Amazon rainforest as well as large gold deposits, according […]
It’s time to engage Mennonite communities in reducing deforestation across Latin America (analysis)
- Across 50 years and multiple countries, it’s clear that Mennonite colonies are systematic agents of deforestation in Latin America, yet they are seldom engaged by policymakers or NGOs seeking to reduce forest loss.
- In part this is due to the colonies’ closed nature but also because their habit of buying in frontier regions is effectively banned by law in Brazil — a nation which dominates the Amazon policy sphere — but a new analysis posits that engagement with these groups is necessary and potentially fruitful.
- “Mennonite pioneers have transformed the South American forest frontier with remarkable, and unfortunate, efficiency. The question now is whether the legal, regulatory, and civil society frameworks of the countries where they now reside can engage them as partners in a different kind of transformation,” the author argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Legal protections for Brazil’s isolated Indigenous peoples: Interview with prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto
- Across Brazil, orders known as land-use restrictions serve as temporary protective measures for the territories of recently contacted Indigenous peoples and those living in voluntary isolation.
- But while the measures are meant to allow time for the formal demarcation process to be carried out, they’ve now become an end to themselves, renewed repeatedly and failing to prevent the invasion and exploitation of these lands, says Brazilian federal public prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto.
- Dalberto told Mongabay in an interview that the measure is meant to be precautionary and accompanied by other protective measures by government agencies, such as monitoring work and operations to combat crime.
- He also raised concerns about the frequency with which issues affecting Indigenous territories are being raised to the country’s highest court, rather than being resolved at local courts and tribunals, which closes off an important front in the fight for fundamental rights.

Amazon oil drilling plan excludes unique hybrid manatees too big for rescue
- Brazil’s environmental agency approved oil drilling off the mouth of the Amazon River, even though oil company Petrobras considers it “unfeasible” to rescue large animals like manatees in the event of an oil spill.
- Potential oil spills threaten a unique hybrid manatee population perfectly suited to live in the Amazon River mouth area.
- A simulation testing Petrobras’s wildlife rescue plan showed lack of basic supplies and boat accidents.
- The project is part of a massive new oil frontier in the Equatorial Margin estimated to hold 10 billion barrels of oil.

In Brazil, a project paying farmers for forests is looking to scale up
- The CONSERV payment for ecosystem services program pays landowners in the Amazon and the Cerrado savanna to protect forests they are legally allowed to convert into plantations or pasture.
- The program’s pilot phase has avoided over 30,000 hectares (around 74,130 acres) of legal deforestation in the states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Maranhão. Across Brazil, millions of hectares of forest on private land are at risk of being legally cleared.
- The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) is now looking to scale up the project and is evaluating mechanisms that could fund the payments without relying on donations.
- One solution could be combining the sale of carbon credits, price premiums for commodities and access to cheaper credit to provide long-term incentives for landowners to conserve these forested areas.

The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability
- Amazon biodiversity protection depends on more than keeping forests standing; a forest can remain on the map while losing ecological function, governance protections, enforcement capacity, or public support.
- Six connected gaps shape Amazon conservation: finance and forest economy, governance, enforcement, forest function, Indigenous rights, and narrative.
- Progress is possible. Brazil has reduced deforestation before, satellite alerts can strengthen enforcement, Indigenous land rights can protect forests, and better finance and monitoring can make protection more durable.
- The central challenge is making the systems around the forest pull in the same direction: finance that favors protection, governance that reduces impunity, enforcement with consequences, rights that hold on the ground, monitoring that reveals what tree cover hides, and stories that show where action is possible.

Brazil Congress passes bill to bar use of Amazon deforestation satellite tool
Brazil’s Congress has passed a bill prohibiting environmental agencies from using satellite images to restrict the commercial use of illegally deforested lands. Instead, areas suspected of illegal deforestation will have to be confirmed by authorities on the ground. Supporters say satellite-only enforcement infringes upon farmers’ right to a fair defense. Its critics, which include the […]
Has Ecuador started fracking? New oil project causes confusion and concern
- State-owned oil company Petroecuador announced a new project involving “hydraulic fracturing” in an oil block in the Ecuadorian Amazon, creating confusion about the level of risk posed to the environment.
- The announcement concerned oil in Block 57, also known as the Shushufindi Libertador block, located in Sucumbíos province, which is largely covered by Amazonian rainforest.
- Conservation groups said they want more transparency from the government as it attempts to boost sagging oil production numbers.

Brazil to invest $75 million in highway through Amazon and unveils environmental protection plan
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government has announced a $75 million investment in the BR-319 highway, a move environmentalists fear could speed up Amazon deforestation. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva claims it will be the most environmentally advanced road in the world. The highway, linking Amazonas and Rondonia, remains mostly unpaved since its 1976 […]
Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it.
- Brazil has built one of the world’s most important protected-area systems, but a new study finds that most federal protected areas remain underfunded, with the largest shortfalls in the Amazon.
- The funding gap reflects more than the size of Brazil’s conservation estate: remote Amazon reserves are costly to manage, politically less visible, and often receive far less support than protected areas near cities and institutions.
- Underfunding has practical consequences, limiting staff, patrols, fire response, monitoring, community engagement, and the ability of protected areas to prevent deforestation and other threats.
- Tourism, ARPA, the Amazon Fund, and rising federal environmental budgets can help, but Brazil needs stable, transparent, long-term financing that matches the recurring cost of turning legal protection into management.

Countries push new protections for the Amazon’s iconic migratory catfish
- Around the world, migratory freshwater fish are in peril from activities including overfishing and, more recently, dams blocking their migratory routes.
- The most threatened species include two large Amazonian catfish, and an inaugural conservation plan will be implemented by the five countries where they range.
- Connected river habitat is crucial for the gilded catfish and Laulao catfish: They undertake some of the longest known river migrations in the world, traveling up to 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) over their lifetimes.
- The main challenge in saving these migratory catfish and many other aquatic species is maintaining connectivity among rivers, which in the Amazon are increasingly being affected by dams and shipping.

Will my president save the Amazon? (commentary)
- Voters in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia will soon choose presidents whose policies could shape the future of roughly 82% of the Amazon rainforest.
- Environmental issues have been largely absent from recent presidential debates, even as droughts, floods, deforestation, illegal mining, and organized crime increasingly threaten public well-being and national economies.
- Protecting the Amazon should be treated as an economic, social, and public health priority, argues Peruvian American ecologist Enrique Ortiz, because the forest helps sustain water supplies, food production, energy systems, and climate stability across South America.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Amazon resilient to fire, but diversity loss still a threat, study finds
- A two-decade study conducted in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon found that while degraded forests show high ecological resilience and no sign of transitioning to savanna, species diversity at forest edges halved.
- Repeated disturbances are replacing fire-resistant specialist trees with fast-growing, generalist species, which have repercussions for the biome’s biodiversity.
- Although researchers say the forest’s response is a sign of hope, they warn that the new ecosystems that emerge from that forest recovery process can be vulnerable to new climate disturbances.

Artisanal mines in Brazil a front for gold laundering, investigation shows
Nearly half of permitted small-scale gold mines in a corner of the Brazilian Amazon are likely fronts for laundering gold mined elsewhere, including protected areas and Indigenous territories, a new investigation suggests. Between 2022 and 2026, 263 of the 540 licensed artisanal mining operations in the Tapajós River Basin, or 49%, reported gold sales not […]
Study gathers over 4,000 photos to find Bolivia’s rarest Amazonian dog
- A study conducted for more than 20 years with camera-trap surveys in different parts of the Bolivian Amazon has recorded 594 independent events for the short-eared dog in more than 4,600 images.
- This species, popularly known in Bolivia as the ghost dog, is one of the least-known canids in the world. Its survival depends highly on the quality of its natural habitat, according to experts.
- In the Bolivian forests, it can generally be found in protected areas or Indigenous territories, which scientists say underscores the importance of these kinds of areas for biodiversity conservation.

Organized crime adds to environmental destruction in the Amazon, report finds
A new report by the International Crisis Group finds that organized crime has become a “major obstacle” to protecting the Amazon. Criminal groups often operate across borders and are expanding control over huge swathes of land, which undermines state efforts to combat environmental crimes such as drug trafficking, deforestation and illegal mining. “In Colombia, park […]
Scientists race to study the Amazon’s frogs before they disappear
- The Amazon is home to the world’s greatest amphibian diversity, with an estimated 1,525 species, of which only 810 have been formally described by science.
- This megadiversity is under pressure from climate change and human activity, threatening the risk of species going extinct before scientists even get a chance to describe them.
- Recent research indicates that the combination of increased temperature and exposure to pesticides can alter tadpoles’ growth and development in the Amazon.
- Amphibians play a central role in controlling insects, including disease-transmitting mosquitoes, while also contributing to natural control of agricultural pests — a service valued in Brazil at more than a billion dollars annually.

Ecuador failing to end Yasuní oil drilling: Interview with Waorani leader Juan Bay
- Mongabay recently interviewed Juan Bay, the president of the Waorani Nation (NAWE) in Ecuador, on the stalled efforts to shut down oil drilling in Yasuní National Park that overlaps with Indigenous territories.
- A voter referendum in 2023 required the Ecuadorian government to shut down the 43-ITT oil block by August 2024, and the decision was backed up in a 2025 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
- Since then, however, there’s been virtually no progress, Bay said, with the government having shuttered just 10 out of 247 oil wells in the block.
- Bay said communities continue to suffer from the environmental and cultural destruction caused by oil exploitation, as well as the internal divisions that formed between some Waorani communities.

Sharks and rays do not know boundaries and a new high seas treaty seeks to protect them
- A recent panel discussion at a global conference on sharks and rays explored how the newly adopted Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, or the High Seas Treaty, could transform conservation of migratory sharks known to travel across national borders into international waters.
- Speakers highlighted sharks’ vulnerability once they leave protected national waters, emphasizing how effective conservation requires international cooperation to avoid threats from industrial fishing, bycatch, and habitat degradation across geographical boundaries.
- The treaty creates a legal framework for establishing marine protected areas in the high seas, with scientists noting that Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) could help identify critical migratory routes and habitats for future protection.
- Panelists said the agreement on BBNJ marks a historic shift in ocean governance, but warned that enforcement, political cooperation and coordination with treaties such as CITES, the Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention on Biological Diversity will be essential for meaningful shark conservation.

Nearly all climate claims by meat and dairy firms amount to greenwashing: Study
Meat and dairy production are significant drivers of deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Many companies claim to be tackling this, but nearly all these claims, 98%, could be considered greenwashing, a recent study found. Researchers logged more than 1,200 environmental commitments made by 33 of the sector’s largest companies between 2021 and 2024. They found […]
What tree rings reveal about climate change in the Amazon
- Scientists analyzed tree growth rings to investigate whether the Amazon Basin is indeed drying up, as shown by extreme droughts in 2023 and 2024.
- Their study revealed that over the past four decades, rainfall has become more intense during the wet season and scarcer during the dry season, indicating unprecedented extension of climate seasonality.
- Researchers point out that such intensification of extremes results from a combination of natural environmental variability, deforestation and climate change, with direct impacts on the forest and the carbon cycle.

Crime affects 32% of Amazon Indigenous areas, says study
- The report by the NGO Amazon Watch looks at how organized crime activities and illicit economies are transforming dynamics within different Indigenous Amazonian territories.
- It also highlights the impacts from state military operations deployed in response to these criminal activities. The research was conducted in seven Indigenous territories across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela.
- Among the consequences highlighted by the report, experts cite the systematic violations of land rights, violence against young people and women, and various health impacts, among other problems.

What Indigenous youth filmmaking reveals about environmental communication (commentary)
- A recent workshop for Indigenous youth in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest employed smartphones as movie cameras to challenge what one often assumes about filmmaking, and in particular Indigenous cinema.
- There is often an expectation that Indigenous film must document struggle, denounce violence, or explain culture to outsiders, and while those forms are valid, their scope is also limited.
- Instead, workshop facilitators insisted that works of fiction, such as an Indigenous romance or a suspenseful comedy, can also be deeply impactful and meaningful.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Climate change could erase most South American cloud forests, study warns
- Climate change could eliminate up to 91% of South America’s cloud forests by 2070 under a high-emissions scenario; even the most optimistic projections show significant losses.
- Because cloud forests capture moisture from fog and release it into streams, their disappearance threatens the drinking water supply of an estimated 16 million people who live downstream.
- Only about one-third of South America’s cloud forests fall within protected areas, and those protections cannot shield the forests if the climate itself becomes too warm and dry to support them.
- Scientists say cutting greenhouse gas emissions is the most essential step, alongside stronger protections and financial incentives for landowners to conserve and restore forests in areas projected to remain climatically suitable.

Deforestation and warming could push Amazon to tipping point by 2040s: Study
- Deforestation of 22-28% of the Amazon Rainforest, coupled with 1.5-1.9°C of global warming, could trigger a widespread shift of the Amazon Rainforest to degraded forest and savanna grassland ecosystems, a new study warns.
- This looming Amazon threshold modeled by researchers could be reached as early as the 2040s. Hitting this rainforest loss/global temperature threshold, or tipping point, could ultimately impact more than 70% of the Amazon Basin within decades, resulting in release of large amounts of carbon stored in forest and soils.
- Roughly 17-18% of the Amazon has already been deforested, and global temperatures are expected to rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels annually as early as 2030.
- Experts underline that the new findings reinforce the urgent need to halt Amazon deforestation, restore significant amounts of rainforest and drastically slash carbon emissions.

Study finds microplastics in tadpoles in the Amazon for the first time
Researchers have recorded microplastics in frog tadpoles and their pond habitats in the wild in the Amazon for the first time, according to a new study. This confirms widespread microplastic contamination in the Amazon Rainforest, the researchers say. Previous studies from the region have found microplastic contamination in fish, invertebrates, soil and water samples. […]
Solar installation and deforestation in the Amazon: Photo of the week
In August 2025, photojournalist Victor Moriyama captured this scene on the outskirts of Rio Branco, the capital of Acre, a state in the far northwest of the Brazilian Amazon. As a row of trucks in the background carries piles of wood freshly logged from the rainforest, employees of Primaz Energia Solar, a local solar energy […]
New report reveals how environmental crime threatens Amazonian communities
Crime and militarization pose an existential threat to Indigenous territories across the Amazon Basin, a new report warns. Published ahead of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) taking place this week in New York, the report finds Indigenous groups are being harmed by restricted access to crucial natural resources, and are suffering […]
Brazil bill aims to ban satellite tool used to slow Amazon deforestation
- The Brazilian agribusiness caucus is accelerating a bill to ban remote embargoes, a tool that allows environmental agents to block deforested land using satellite data.
- The measure impacts IBAMA’s raids and risks reversing the system that halved Amazon deforestation under the Lula administration.
- IBAMA officials warn that banning the technology is equivalent to “going back to the fax machine,” as it makes enforcement in remote areas significantly slower and more expensive.
- The proposal is part of a broader “Destruction Package” gaining momentum in Congress ahead of October’s general elections.

A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems
- Tropical primary forest loss saw a significant drop in 2025, but the decline likely represents a temporary reprieve driven by favorable weather rather than a fundamental shift in the root causes of deforestation.
- The reduction was largely due to a decrease in fire-related losses following the extreme droughts of 2024, highlighting how forest health is increasingly dictated by climate variability and rainfall extremes.
- While policy-driven successes in Brazil and Indonesia offer a blueprint for enforcement, these gains remain fragile and vulnerable to shifting political dynamics and weakening governance.
- The resilience of recent progress faces an imminent test in 2026, as forecasts for a returning El Niño threaten to bring back the dry conditions that historically trigger catastrophic forest loss.

Brazilian state greenlights deforestation for contested open-pit gold mine
The state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon has authorized Canadian mining company Belo Sun to begin clearing nearly 600 hectares, or almost 1,500 acres, of rainforest for an open-pit gold mine. Legal experts say it’s premature to clear a forest the size of 840 soccer fields while key aspects of the project remain unresolved. […]
Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvesters
- Intensive farming of the popular açaí berry grew by 70% since 2015, while community cooperatives reported losses of 35% or more during recent heat waves and fires.
- Industrial açaí crops often rely on artificial irrigation and nonnative honeybees, adapting the Amazon to intensive methods rather than benefiting from the biome’s own systems.
- Market analysis indicates increasing international demand and rising prices, a trend that pushes for high-yield commercial monocultures over forest-based extraction.

AI tool tracks spread of illegal gold mining in Amazon protected areas
- Gold mining presumed to be illegal caused 6,000 hectares (more than 14,800 acres) of deforestation in Amazonian protected areas and Indigenous territories during the last three months of 2025, according to a new quarterly report from the Amazon Mining Watch platform.
- New mining scars were identified in all nine Amazonian countries, with Brazil, Peru and Guyana suffering the highest levels of mining-linked deforestation.
- Soaring gold prices are driving this destruction, experts say, and call for more monitoring, law enforcement and coordinated action between countries to tackle the issue.
- Using an AI algorithm that’s constantly being improved, the Amazon Mining Watch platform aims to serve as an early-warning tool for authorities and civil society to identify and address new incidences of illegal gold mining, especially in border areas.

Vaupés River contamination identified near rapidly expanding Amazonian town
- Indigenous people who live downstream from a rapidly expanding Amazonian town on the banks of the Vaupés River told Mongabay the river is contaminated by sewage and has made people sick.
- To verify this, Mongabay obtained water quality studies from the Corporation for Sustainable Development of the Northern and Eastern Amazon, which confirmed that sewage contamination and organic load are above safe limits and may impact public health and the quality of the aquatic ecosystem.
- Traditionally, the Macaquiño community downstream considers the Vaupés River to be a living being with whom they coexist and depend on it for bathing, fishing and human consumption.
- Public authorities in Mitú said the contamination stems in part from the municipality’s poorly constructed wastewater treatment plant, which was built on a flood zone and therefore frequently collapses, dumping untreated sewage into the river.

Luis Yanza, campaigner who battled big oil in the Amazon rainforest
- Oil development in Ecuador’s Amazon left widespread contamination, prompting a decades-long legal case testing whether affected communities could hold a multinational company to account.
- Luis Yanza organized plaintiffs across remote regions, sustaining a coalition of more than 80 villages while legal proceedings moved between Texaco (later Chevron) and courts in the United States and Ecuador.
- Working with Pablo Fajardo, he helped build claims around environmental damage and public health, contributing to a 2012 Ecuadorian judgment ordering billions in damages, though enforcement remains unresolved.
- Awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2008, Yanza spent his life sustaining a campaign that brought global attention to the case, even as the underlying dispute over responsibility and cleanup continued.

Brazil taps legal loophole to issue bids for Amazon ‘tipping point’ road
- The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched renewal works for the BR-319 highway, using a new legal loophole to bypass environmental licensing requirements.
- The road cuts through the heart of the Brazilian Amazon; paving it, according to scientists, would push the rainforest closer to tipping point.
- Observers suggest the move by Lula, who came to office on a pro-environmental platform, is a bid to rally regional voters ahead of this year’s elections.

A red flower found nowhere else loses ground as mining expands in Brazil’s Amazon
In Brazil’s eastern Amazon, a bright red flower found nowhere else on Earth is threatened with extinction from expanding iron ore mining, scientists warn. The flowering plant, Ipomoea cavalcantei, known locally as flor-de-Carajás, only grows in cangas, an island-like ecosystem of metal-rich rocky soils and shallow vegetation in the middle of dense rainforest. There are […]
From the Atlantic Forest to the Amazon: Alexandre de Santi on camaraderie and uncovering hidden truths in Brazil
- Alexandre de Santi is Mongabay’s managing editor for Brazil, where he leads coverage of the Amazon and other national environmental issues.
- His career spans more than two decades, from founding the investigative studio Fronteira to serving as deputy editor at The Intercept Brazil, where he helped lead landmark investigations.
- Since joining Mongabay in 2022, Santi has brought a collaborative approach to investigative reporting, including editing a 2024 story that exposed links between Amazon carbon credits and timber laundering.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

10 forces that could reshape the future of the world’s forests
- A new horizon scan identifies ten emerging forces—spanning politics, finance and technology—that are likely to shape forests over the next decade, increasing uncertainty for ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
- Traditional funding for conservation is weakening as public aid declines, while new mechanisms—from carbon markets to direct financing for Indigenous and local communities—are expanding unevenly.
- Advances in remote sensing, AI and connectivity are improving monitoring and accountability, but are also enabling illegal activities and accelerating pressures in some regions.
- Growing demand for critical minerals, shifting trade rules and tighter political control over civil society are reshaping forest governance, fragmenting authority and redistributing risks and benefits.

Brazil: Satellites expose rampant gold mining expansion on Indigenous Kayapó land
The Kayapó Indigenous Territory has emerged as a major hotspot for illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon’s Xingu River Basin, a major Amazon tributary. That’s according to a new report from the watchdog Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). At least 7,940 hectares (19,620 acres) of forest on Kayapó land were cut down […]
The Amazon’s silent crime crisis (commentary)
- The Amazon is approaching a critical tipping point, where deforestation, degradation, fire, and climate change together risk pushing large areas toward irreversible ecological collapse.
- A growing nexus between organized crime and environmental crime is accelerating forest loss, distorting economies, and undermining governance across the basin.
- Addressing the crisis requires more than conservation alone: stronger enforcement, institutional reform, and investment in a sustainable socio-bioeconomy are essential, argue Carlos Nobre, Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Brazil, unfinished water project leaves Indigenous villages without safe water
- According to Brazil’s Ministry of Health data obtained by Mongabay, of the 4,134 Indigenous villages in Brazil’s North Region, only 1,934 — about 47% — have proper infrastructure to supply drinking water to the population.
- To avoid scarcity, many communities resort to improvised solutions, using buckets and pipes to fill their reservoirs with water from rivers and waterfalls. In times of drought, shallow wells are also dug on riverbanks.
- Their emergency strategy against thirst, however, increases a series of health risks, forcing entire villages to consume ferrous, dirty, and contaminated water — all vectors for infectious diseases.
- In some areas of the North, in addition to chemical purification solutions such as Salta-Z, nanotechnology-based collective filters have helped communities cope with the water crisis — and, according to their complaints, with government neglect.

Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys
- A new study looks at genetic evidence to suggest that Colombia’s Magdalena River, and not the Andean massif, may be the true boundary separating two near-identical species of nocturnal primates.
- Night monkeys from the genus Aotus, the only nocturnal primates in the Americas, have remained largely invisible to both the public and the scientific community, says the study’s main author.
- Experts in the field say this discovery could fundamentally reshape national conservation maps and protection strategies for night monkeys.

Venezuela’s new mining law could spell disaster for the Amazon, critics warn
- Venezuela passed a law to update the country’s mining regulations and attract international investment in gold, silver, coltan and other minerals.
- While some environmental protections are included in the bill, critics say they’re not rigorous enough to stop the deforestation or human rights abuses already happening in the Venezuelan Amazon.
- The law describes a commitment to “ecological mining development” that critics call a dangerous attempt at greenwashing.

Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest
- In recent decades, the Amazon Rainforest has repeatedly and increasingly been struck by devastating drought along with record heat due to climate change. Add to this record wildfires, rapid deforestation and land conversion for agriculture.
- Numerous field studies and modeling have found that these extreme changes are pushing the Amazon toward a tipping point and collapse of the biome — an ecological disaster that would release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
- But one research team, in a recently published study, offered up some hope: They found that little-studied low water table wetland Amazon forests — constituting up to 36% of Amazon trees — have stood up well to, and even thrived, during major droughts, with an increase in aboveground biomass.
- Those findings, the research team says, put the inevitability of an Amazon tipping point and collapse in some doubt, with the possibility that low water table forests could serve as a refugia for biodiversity. They also urge that these areas become a priority for protection and conservation as a hedge against future climate change.

Giant otters, river sentinels, now listed as threatened migratory species
- The giant otter was added to the list of animals needing protection under the UN Convention on Migratory Species, paving the way for international conservation actions.
- Studies reveal that their population decreased by 50% over the past 25 years as their habitat disappears and fragments and growing pollution fouls rivers.
- The new listing should promote cooperation between countries to protect the species as well as Amazon and Pantanal aquatic ecosystems, which are the otter’s strongholds.

Mennonites from Belize spark deforestation fears with new settlement plans in Suriname
- Mennonite families in Belize could pay millions to settle on around 24,000 hectares (59,300 acres) in Para, Suriname, a district with around 90% forest cover.
- Community leaders from Shipyard and Indian Creek, Belize, have taken multiple trips to Suriname to analyze soil quality and learn about the country’s farming regulations. Members from Spanish Lookout, another Mennonite community, have also started looking into a Suriname relocation.
- The move is being facilitated by Braganza Marketing Group, run by Ruud Souverein, a Dutch national living in Suriname who was involved in a previously failed government program to bring Mennonites from Bolivia in 2023.
- Environmental groups have expressed concern about Mennonites’ tendencies to expand into forested areas, circumvent environmental regulations, and settle on land without proper titles.

Indigenous & community leaders say, ‘secure forest financing with us, not for us’ (commentary)
- With the expansion of government forest protection programs like REDD+ in recent years, Indigenous communities are increasingly asking if these initiatives boost their autonomy and benefits, or repeat old patterns of exclusion.
- These programs’ success will increasingly depend on the full participation of their peoples in the process that determines how benefits and revenues from these transactions are shared, three Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders write in a new op-ed.
- “We believe the path forward is clear: climate policy must be built with communities, not for them,” they say.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

In Brazil’s capital, Indigenous leaders rally as land disputes and mining pressures grow
BRASILIA (AP) — Indigenous people in Brazil have marched in the capital, Brasilia, to protest what they say are violations of their land rights. They accuse large corporations of advancing farming, logging and mining projects on their lands. The protest is part of the annual Free Land Indigenous Camp, Brazil’s largest Indigenous mobilization. This year’s […]
Cowboy boots can save an Amazonian river giant
Cowboy boots made from the skin of the giant Amazon pirarucu fish are a Wild West hit in the U.S. and Mexico. This sustainable leather trade helps Brazilian fishers recover the species while funding lake patrols against poachers. Still, communities get just a fraction of the $750 boot price. Progress still needs scaling.

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