location: Amazon

location: Amazon

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Brazil’s illegal gold miners carve out new Amazon hotspots in conservation units
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration reduced the expansion of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon, but miners keep finding new sites.
- In 15 conservation units, illegal gold miners destroyed 330 hectares (815 acres) in only two months.
- According to experts, gold miners expelled from Indigenous territories may be migrating to conservation units.
- Alliances with narco mafias and the rise in gold prices are obstacles to fighting illegal mining.

Amazon’s Boiling River gives scientists a window into the rainforest’s future
- Scientists studying Peru’s Boiling River found 11% fewer tree species for every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, offering insights into how climate change might affect the Amazon Rainforest.
- The research team discovered that hotter areas not only had fewer species overall but were dominated by heat-tolerant trees that typically grow in the warmest parts of South America.
- The study site is protected by Indigenous Asháninka people as sacred land, but the forest still faces threats from nearby deforestation and fires, reflecting broader challenges across the Amazon.
- The Amazon is experiencing climate pressures, with fire-affected areas in the Brazilian Amazon increasing 18-fold in September 2024, covering a combined area nearly the size of the Netherlands.

Most large banks failing to consider Indigenous rights
- A new report by finance watchdog BankTrack evaluated the policies and practices of 50 major banks and found that most are failing to fully implement adequate safeguards in line with U.N. human rights principles.
- The 2024 report included three new criteria centered around the rights of human rights defenders and Indigenous peoples and the right to a healthy environment; the majority of banks did not explicitly acknowledge environmental rights are human rights and all failed in due diligence around Indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.
- The report found that small progress has been made in the last two years as banks improve policies and processes for managing human rights.
- The authors say stronger human rights due diligence laws could be a game changer in driving corporate respect for human rights.

New frog species show how geology shapes Amazon’s biodiversity
- DNA testing of two new-to-science frog species has shown they share a common ancestor — a species that lived 55 million years ago in the mountains of what is today Brazil’s Amazonas state.
- The multidisciplinary study drew together biologists and geologists to map how geological changes in the mountain range shaped not just its geography but also the diversity of species in the region.
- The two endemic species were collected on two separate peaks — Neblina and Imeri — and their discovery has led to further understanding of the origins and evolution of biodiversity in the Amazon.
- Another expedition to the Tulu-Tuloi Range, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Imeri, is scheduled for 2025.

High-flying concessions: Clandestine airstrips, coca crops invade Ucayali’s forests
- An investigation by Mongabay Latam and Earth Genome identified 45 clandestine airstrips in the rainforest in Peru’s Ucayali department.
- Ten of these airstrips, most likely built for narcotrafficking activity, are located inside nine forest logging concessions.
- Peru’s forest and wildlife monitoring agency, OSINFOR, says only four of these logging concessions are still active.
- Complaints made by concession holders to environmental authorities about the airstrips, as well as associated deforestation and coca cultivation, have been shelved.

Illegal timber from Amazon carbon credit projects reached Europe, U.S.
- Amazon timber from carbon credit projects targeted by the Brazilian Federal Police was sold to companies in Europe and the United States.
- The group is suspected of land-grabbing and laundering timber from Indigenous territories and protected areas.
- Most of the exported timber belongs to the almost-extinct ipê species and was sent to a company in Portugal.
- The group is also suspected of using fake documents to launder cattle raised in illegally deforested areas.

Recycling gold can tackle illegal mining in the Amazon, but is no silver bullet
- Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Brazil’s Tapajós River Basin emits 16 metric tons of CO2 per kilo of gold produced, and 2.5 metric tons of mercury annually, a study has found.
- Researchers suggest that recycling gold could dramatically reduce harmful emissions, along with other solutions such as formalizing mining, adopting clean technologies, and improving gold supply chain transparency.
- Economic dependence, mercury accessibility, and a demand for gold sustain small-scale gold mining, while enforcement risks pushing miners into ecologically sensitive areas.
- In November, Brazil launched a federal operation in the Tapajós Basin to expel illegal gold miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, imposing millions of reais in fines to curb the damage caused by gold mining.

Andes glacier melt threatens Amazon’s rivers & intensifies droughts
- A new study found that Andean tropical glaciers have reached their lowest levels in 11,700 years, with drastic consequences for the Amazon due to the overlap of the two ecosystems.
- The findings come to light as record droughts in the Amazon in 2023 and 2024, exacerbated by climate change, have severely impacted local communities, including food insecurity and lack of access to drinking water.
- The ice loss in the Andes could reduce the water flow to the Amazon rivers by up to 20%.
- Venezuela is on the verge of becoming the first country in modern history to lose all its glaciers.

Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- An investigation by Mongabay Latam and Earth Genome identified 45 clandestine airstrips in the rainforest in Peru’s Ucayali department.
- Thirty-one of these airstrips are located in Atalaya province, and of these, 26 are in or near Indigenous communities and reserves.
- These airstrips and the associated expansion of illicit coca cultivation began to increase in Atalaya 10 years ago, mirroring a rise in violence against Ucayali’s Indigenous communities and their leaders.
- Mongabay Latam spent five days exploring the areas most affected by drug trafficking in Atalaya, including the airstrips, and documenting the critical and alarming situation currently faced by communities in the region.

Loggers and carbon projects forge odd partnerships in the Brazilian Amazon
- Mongabay examined four REDD+ projects in Pará state and found that all were developed in partnership with sawmill owners with a long history of environmental fines.
- The projects were developed by Brazil’s largest carbon credit generator, Carbonext, a company linked to a major fraud involving REDD+ projects and illegal loggers in Amazonas state.
- According to experts, REDD+ projects may have become a new business opportunity for individuals who have profited from deforestation for decades.

‘Bear’s-eye camera’ reveals elusive Andean bear cannibalism and treetop mating
- Scientists captured the first-ever camera collar footage of wild Andean bears, revealing unprecedented behaviors, including canopy mating and cannibalism.
- The research team, led by Indigenous researcher Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, successfully tracked a male bear for four months in Peru’s challenging cloud forest terrain.
- The footage challenges previous assumptions about Andean bears being solitary vegetarians and shows them behaving more like other bear species.
- While the bears face mounting threats from climate change and human conflict, researchers are combining scientific study with community education to protect them.

15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- With the help of an artificial intelligence visual search algorithm, Mongabay Latam has identified 15 illegal airstrips.
- These airstrips are being used by drug traffickers to transport narcotics produced in the central rainforests of Peru, which are mostly bound for Bolivia.
- A team of journalists visited these areas and saw firsthand the fear gripping local Indigenous residents. Here, people avoid discussing the issue openly, as they struggle to survive amid an economy overshadowed by drug trafficking.

Climate financing should come from oil and gas ‘super’ profits, study says
- Oil and gas companies have the ability to become a significant source of climate financing, a new study in Climate Policy argues.
- The study looked at oil and gas profits from 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine spiked energy prices across the globe, boosting realized companies’ earnings by 65%, or around $495 billion.
- If governments had imposed an additional 30% tax on the profits of private oil and gas companies, it would have raised $147 billion, the study said.
- Climate financing was the focus of the COP 29 climate conference, which only managed to come up with $300 billion in annual support for developing countries.

‘Trump is a disease’, says Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa
- In addition to being a shaman, Davi Kopenawa is a shaman and a political leader active in denouncing the gold miners who illegally invaded the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The Yanomami, who inhabit Brazil’s largest Indigenous Land, still face a humanitarian and health crisis, worsened by the invasion of 70,000 illegal miners. Increased under the Jair Bolsonaro government, the invasion brought diseases and contaminated rivers with mercury.
- In this interview, Kopenawa criticizes the environmental and social impacts of administrations led by politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump.

Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
- Xingu Indigenous Park and Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory in Brazil cover an area larger than Belgium.
- The Indigenous territories are still largely covered in primary forest, and a haven for wildlife in a region considered an agricultural powerhouse.
- Satellite data show Xingu Indigenous Park lost 15% of its primary forest cover, and Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory lost 8.3% of its forest cover, between 2002 and 2023.
- Indigenous groups fear proposed transportation projects will bring a fresh wave of deforestation and open up their territories to invaders.

The illegal runways exposing the Kakataibo people to drug violence in Peru
- Mongabay Latam has identified six secret runways in and around Indigenous reserves in the regions of Ucayali, Huánuco and Pasco in the Peruvian Amazon. One was found inside the Kakataibo reserve and one in its surroundings.
- These findings came from an algorithm created with artificial intelligence, which was jointly developed by Mongabay Latam and Earth Genome. It uses satellite images to detect traces of runways hidden in forests.
- Official and local sources confirmed that the runways are used to unload drug shipments.
- The territory has become extremely dangerous due to drug trafficking, which has changed the social dynamic of some Indigenous communities. Since the pandemic in 2020, six Kakataibo leaders have been murdered for protecting their communities.

Brazil plans new reserves to curb deforestation near contested Amazon roads
- Unallocated public areas account for 28% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and the destruction of these lands keeps rising even as rates plummet across other parts of the rainforest.
- To tackle the problem, Brazil’s federal government plans to convert lands around controversial Amazonian highways into protected areas.
- One of the priority areas is along the BR-319 highway, where experts warn deforestation may increase fourfold under another government plan to pave the highway.
- Despite the advances in comparison with former President Jair Bolsonaro, Indigenous and land reform movements are unhappy with the pace of land designation under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Researchers find high levels of mercury in Amazon’s Madeira River water & fish
- In a groundbreaking expedition, researchers from Harvard and Amazonas State University began monitoring water quality and mercury contamination in the Amazon Basin’s largest tributary.
- The Madeira River Basin has been heavily impacted by human actions, such as hydropower plants, deforestation and illegal gold mining, which degrade its ecosystems.
- Initial results from Harvard reveal high levels of mercury in the Madeira, although still below the limit recommended by Brazil’s authorities.
- Predatory fish species showed mercury levels above the recommended limit, while scalefish traditionally consumed by riverine populations were below.

Reserve in Brazilian Amazon struggles as ‘aggressive’ deforestation spreads
- Triunfo Do Xingu Environmental Protected Area was created to protect rich Amazonian forest and shield adjacent reserves.
- But deforestation has been rampant within the reserve and is spreading to nearby areas
- From 2006 to 2023, the reserve lost 41% of its primary forest cover.
- Preliminary satellite data for 2024 from show deforestation picking up even further, and spreading into nearby areas including Terra do Meio Ecological Station and Serra do Pardo National Park

Brazil beef industry still struggling with deforestation from indirect suppliers, survey finds
- Surveys of Brazil’s beef industry found there is still a serious lack of transparency throughout the supply chain, including from slaughterhouses and retailers. If better regulations aren’t implemented, they could be exposed to 109 million hectares (270 million acres) of deforestation by 2025.
- The survey was conducted by Radar Verde, a cattle monitoring initiative made up of several climate groups. It reviewed the regulations and exposure to deforestation of dozens of companies in Brazil.
- Indirect suppliers of beef are the most difficult to track, the survey found, with none of the 132 companies or 67 retailers competently able to demonstrate whether cattle had been raised on illegally deforested land.
- Struggles to monitor indirect suppliers could pose a challenge for companies trying to meet the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), which will require suppliers to prove beef and other commodities exported to the EU aren’t sourced to illegally deforested land.

Researcher discovers new role played by manatees, ‘the gardeners of the Amazon’
- According to a new study, the Amazonian manatee is a seed disperser; a researcher found germinating grasses in its feces.
- The discovery was made in Lake Amanã, in the Amazon, where 96 samples of manatee feces were collected; surprisingly, they contained 556 intact seeds.
- Manatees eat 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of aquatic plants a day and migrate long distances. This finding shows that the manatee is a crucial vector for dispersing seeds between fertile areas such as floodplains and nutrient-poor areas such as the swamp forests known as igapós; this activity enhances biodiversity in Amazonian environments, especially in times of climate change and environmental degradation.
- Despite its vital ecological function, the manatee is listed as vulnerable to extinction; Illegal hunting, facilitated by periods of extreme drought, is one of the main threats, along with climate change, which affects both their diet and their migratory routes.

Hopes and fears for the Amazon: Interview with botanist Hans ter Steege
- Dutch researcher and tree expert Hans ter Steege is the founder of the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, which brings together hundreds of scientists studying the rainforest to map and understand the region’s biodiversity.
- Ter Steege says the rainforest is in danger of collapse: If the deforestation in Brazil’s Pará state continues at the rate of the year 2000, he warns, “then our models show there will be hardly anything left by 2050.”
- Large trees are dying faster in the Amazon, he said, as they face a greater evaporation demand, which they can no longer meet with the water they extract from the soil, as there are more droughts and less rainfall.
- If the forest collapses, Brazil’s aerial water supply system — and its agriculture — will collapse, Ter Steege says.

‘Five years and no justice’ as trial over Indigenous forest guardian’s killing faces delays
- Nov. 1 marked the five-year anniversary of the killing of Indigenous forest guardian Paulo Paulino Guajajara and the attempted killing of fellow guardian Laércio Guajajara in an alleged ambush by loggers in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon; the suspects haven’t been tried yet.
- Between 1991 and 2023, 38 Indigenous Guajajara were killed in Arariboia; none of the perpetrators have been brought to trial.
- Paulo’s case will be a legal landmark as the first killing of an Indigenous leader to go before a federal jury; as Mongabay reported a year ago, the start of the trial was contingent on an anthropological report of the collective damages to the Indigenous community as a result of the crimes.
- However, the report has yet to be made, given several issues that delayed the trial, including the change of judge, the long time to choose the expert to prepare the report and get the expert’s quote, and the reluctance from the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to pay for the report.

Amazon deforestation in Brazil plunges 31% to lowest level in 9 years
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 30.6% over the past year, reaching its lowest level since 2015, with 6,288 square kilometers cleared by July 31, 2024.
- Despite the drop in deforestation, fires surged nearly 18-fold in September due to severe drought, with fire hotspots up 70% from the previous year.
- Fires impacted ecosystems across South America, especially in Brazil’s Pantanal and Cerrado. But deforestation also dropped in the Cerrado, falling 25.7%.
- The Amazon faces increasing threats from climate change, deforestation, and degradation, raising concerns about destabilizing rainfall patterns and biodiversity loss.

Brazil calls for ambition at COP but struggles over its own climate policy
- Brazil is trying to resume its role as a protagonist in the environmental arena by hosting COP30 in 2025 and urging other countries to present ambitious targets to cut emissions.
- However, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration failed to openly discuss the country’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) and allocated small budgets for climate transition.
- Experts state that zeroing out deforestation, recovering thousands of hectares of native vegetation and stepping back from oil expansion plans are crucial to meeting Brazil’s commitments.
- UPDATE (11/11/2024): The Brazilian government released its NDC on the evening of Nov. 8, hours after the publication of this story.

New Canadian-backed potash mine under fire from Amazon Indigenous groups
- For more than a decade, Potássio do Brasil, a Canadian-backed mining company, has tried to exploit the Brazilian Amazon’s potash reserves, despite legal challenges.
- In April, the Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute (IPAAM) granted the company several installation licenses, which authorized the project’s implementation as well as the construction of a road and shipping port.
- According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) and Funai, the issuance of these licenses by the Amazonas government was illegal, as the project overlaps with Indigenous lands and many communities were not consulted.
- Many Mura residents, most of whom are concerned about the impact the project will have on the environment and their livelihoods, say the company did not consult them and instead co-opted leaders and falsified documents.

Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- There’s a planned start date to remove illegal gold miners from the Munduruku Indigenous territory, where they have long decimated the Munduruku people’s health and the Amazon ecosystem with mercury contamination, prosecutors share with Mongabay.
- The date and removal operation remains confidential, with government sources gathering data on the areas most affected in the region. The government may share more information during a press briefing in early November, while some news sites suggest the operation will begin in a few days and involve the defense ministry.
- The Supreme Court and Indigenous peoples have called for the removal of the miners from the region for years, to little avail. Meanwhile, other sources say the government had to prioritize crises in other Indigenous lands like the Yanomami territory.
- According to a researcher, the expulsion of gold miners from another Munduruku territory, the Sawré Muybu Indigenous land, cannot begin until the president recognizes the territory.

Report reveals how environmental crime profits in the Amazon are laundered
- A recent report from the FACT Coalition analyzed 230 cases of environmental crime in Amazon countries over the past decade to better understand how crimes are committed and how the associated profits are laundered.
- It found that the U.S. is the most common foreign destination for the products and proceeds of environmental crimes committed in the Amazon region.
- The most popular way to launder money involves the use of shell and front companies, and corruption was the single most prevalent convergent crime mentioned.
- Of the cases analyzed, only one in three appears to have included a parallel financial investigation.

Brazil researchers boost timber traceability with new chemical analysis
- Brazilian researchers have opened a new front in the search for a reliable timber tracking system by using chemical analysis to determine where a tree was grown.
- The technique relies on identifying a wood sample’s chemical signature, which can then be matched against various known soil profiles to narrow down its origin.
- As the technology evolves, the researchers say they hope to combine it with stable isotope analysis to increase the precision of timber tracking.
- Most timber provenance inspections in Brazil rely on public documents whose information can easily be faked by illegal loggers.

JBS broke its own rules while buying cattle from deforested areas in Pantanal
- JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, has over the last five years been buying cattle from farms that were caught illegally deforesting Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands despite the company’s claims of environmental responsibility.
- An Unearthed investigation found that JBS suppliers cleared vast areas of the Pantanal wetlands in the past five years, with Fazenda Querência being the largest deforester, having cleared an area half the size of Paris.
- JBS has repeatedly violated its own zero-deforestation policies by continuing to purchase cattle from farms under embargo for illegal deforestation.
- The expansion of agribusiness, especially the demand for cattle and the introduction of invasive species like brachiaria grass, is threatening the Pantanal’s unique biodiversity and its ability to recover naturally from drought and wildfires.

Inclusive tracking and recognition of area-based conservation helps people & planet (commentary)
- The world needs to embrace an inclusive approach to recognizing and tracking area-based conservation, a new op-ed by a group of researchers argues.
- Momentum has been growing around establishing and tracking protected areas (PAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to achieve 30×30 conservation goals, but a wide variety of such efforts occur beyond these, and are underrepresented in global databases: the authors found >40% of the land in Amazon countries is governed with conservation potential or intention, a significantly larger percentage than is reported in the official database.
- “We advise researchers, donors, and decision-makers to consider and inventory a broader scope of area-based conservation and more diverse actors than they currently do. This approach can enhance research, conservation planning, funding allocation, and program strategies to achieve national conservation targets,” the researchers write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Deforestation plunges but environmental threats remain as Colombia hosts COP16
- As global leaders, experts, activists and Indigenous voices meet this October in the Colombian city of Cali at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, COP16, missteps and successes within President Gustavo Petro’s environment agenda are watched closely.
- COP16 occurs two years after the country’s first-ever left-wing president was sworn in, pledging to turn Colombia into “a leader in the protection of life,” as his four-year plan centers on energy transition, Indigenous causes and tackling climate change.
- But while praised internationally for his efforts to promote conservation, shift away from fossil fuels and surround himself with green-abiding authorities, Petro remains under pressure, as many of his environmental proposals are still on paper, upholding Colombia’s long-lasting socioenvironmental struggles.
- Experts attribute a lack of sufficient environmental resolutions to various factors, including a Congress resistant to government initiatives, challenges in curbing deforestation and Colombia’s status as the most dangerous country for environmental defenders, as highlighted by recent reports.

Extreme drought wrecks rivers and daily life in Amazon’s most burnt Indigenous land
- Almost 20% of the Kayapó Indigenous Territory has burned in this year’s Amazon drought, the worst ever recorded in Brazil.
- The land has for years been subjected to illegal mining, cattle ranching and burning of forests, degrading both the soil and rivers and significantly disrupting the way of life for the Mebêngôkre-Kayapó people.
- The Indigenous inhabitants now confront a growing crisis as wildfires and drought threaten their lands, particularly along the Riozinho River.
- According to ecologist Rodolfo Salm, who has worked with the Kayapó since 1996, fire has now surpassed illegal logging as the greatest danger to the region.

Amazon voters elect environmental offenders and climate denialists in Brazil
- The Amazonian population elected climate change deniers and politicians with a history of environmental fines to govern some of the region’s major cities.
- Pará’s state capital, Belém, which will host COP30 in 2025, may elect a mayor unconcerned about climate change.
- According to experts, opposing illegal activities is political suicide in municipalities whose economies rely on deforestation, illegal mining and illegal logging.

Climate change and agrochemicals pose lethal combo for Amazonian fish
- A recent study evaluates the impacts on the Amazonian tambaqui fish from simultaneous exposure to a mix of pesticides and an extreme climate change scenario.
- Researchers subjected the fish to higher temperatures and higher atmospheric CO2 levels, as well as a cocktail of two pesticides, a herbicide and a fungicide, all of which are commonly used in farms throughout the Brazilian Amazon.
- The tambaqui’s capacity to metabolize the agrochemicals was found to be compromised in warmer water, and they suffered damage to their liver, nervous system and DNA.
- The study also points to the risks to food safety in the region, where fish are the main protein source: some 400 metric tons of tambaqui are eaten every year in the city of Manaus alone.

Delays in land titling threaten the conservation success of quilombos in Brazil
- Titled quilombo territories — traditional Brazilian communities originally formed by runaway enslaved people — have significantly lower deforestation rates, making them crucial for conserving Brazil’s natural biomes.
- However, only 4.33% of all Quilombolas in Brazil have been granted proper land rights.
- Quilombola communities in Alcântara have fought for their land rights since the 1970s, facing displacement and government neglect, but the Brazilian Air Force is pushing for an expansion of the local space center, delaying the recognition of Quilombola land claims.
- Brazil has admitted to human rights violations against the Alcântara Quilombolas, but progress on land titling remains slow and uncertain.

Deforestation remains low, but fires surge in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon remains near a six-year low, with 561 square kilometers cleared in September, a 30% decline from the previous year.
- Fires in the Amazon have surged dramatically, with an 18-fold increase in the area affected by fires, from 4,700 to 39,983 square kilometers, driven by a historic drought.
- Fire hotspots detected by satellite in the Amazon increased by 70%, rising to 145,357 compared to 85,670 the previous year.
- Scientists warn that deforestation, forest degradation, and climate change could destabilize the Amazon, affecting rainfall patterns and biodiversity across South America.

The life and legacy of Ryan Killackey, the filmmaker who rallied international support for Yasuni (Obituary)
- Ryan Killackey, who passed away at 46 on October 4th, was a dedicated advocate for the natural world, with a particular focus on the Amazon rainforest and its Indigenous communities.
- His passion for nature led him from wildlife biology in North America to the Ecuadorian Amazon, where he became captivated by Yasuni National Park’s extraordinary biodiversity.
- In 2005, he moved to Ecuador and began documenting the Waorani people’s struggle against oil extraction in Yasuni, eventually resulting in his acclaimed documentary, Yasuni Man.
- Despite the limits of his advocacy, his film helped raise awareness, contributing to Ecuador’s 2023 decision to end oil drilling in Yasuni, a bittersweet victory during his final days.

‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- The Brazilian state of Pará has agreed to sell millions of carbon credits to multinational corporations, including Amazon, Bayer and Walmart Foundation, but many challenges loom.
- Experts are concerned the deal is overly ambitious and worry about the state’s long history of carbon credit project scams.
- Although Indigenous, Quilombola and extractive community entities support the arrangement, other community members state they have not been consulted about the project on their lands.

‘Indigenous women in the Amazon must be empowered’: Interview with Nemonte Nenquimo
- The new book Seremos Jaguares (We Will Be Jaguars) by Indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo is the memoir of a woman who fought against large oil companies to preserve her people’s land and thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest.
- The book, written with her husband and executive director of the organization Amazon Frontlines, Mitch Anderson, is a story of hope and resistance from the Amazon in the fight against climate change and the protection of nature.
- In this interview, Mongabay speaks with Nemonte Nenquimo about her work to defend the Amazon and what her new book symbolizes for Indigenous women around the world.

New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Across the Amazon, archaeological remains indicate that the human presence in the rainforest is much older, larger and more widespread than previously thought.
- Researchers in Brazil are lobbying to register archaeological sites as national monuments, which would confer a new layer of protection status to parts of the rainforest.
- Earthen mounds known as geoglyphs, for instance, have been revealed to stretch from Acre state north into neighboring Amazonas; formally recognizing them under Brazil’s heritage law could protect this vast swath of rainforest.
- “Today we know it’s highly likely that part of the forest has been changed by people,” said Dutch biologist Hans ter Steege, co-author of research that has shown there may be up to 24,000 earthworks hidden throughout the rainforest that could qualify for protection.

EU considers postponing anti-deforestation law as pressure from agribusiness mounts
- The EU parliament and council is considering a 12-month delay to its deforestation-free products regulation, which will require exporters to prove that beef, soy, rubber and other harmful commodities aren’t sourced to deforested land.
- The law was supposed to go into effect January 1, 2025, but faced mounting pressure from exporting countries and the industrial agricultural sector.
- The 12-month delay could result in around 2,300 square kilometers (888 square miles) of deforestation and 49 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to EU studies.

Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- Brazil has committed to dredge major Amazon rivers in response to record drought that has lowered water levels and made ship passage, a key transportation lifeline, difficult or impossible.
- The dredging is aimed at supporting local communities, who rely on river navigation to get supplies in from outside, and producers, who need to ship their commodities out.
- But experts question whether dredging is a sustainable solution, raising concerns about long-term ecological impacts and advocating for community involvement and innovative technology for better outcomes.
- The environmental risks of dredging include ecosystem disruption, increased erosion, water contamination, and harm to aquatic species such as manatees and river dolphins.

The Amazon is ablaze again. What it means for us (commentary)
- The Amazon rainforest, devastated by over 70,000 wildfires in 2019, is once again ablaze, threatening even greater destruction of wildlife, human health, and ecosystems.
- Climate change is now a tangible global threat, with rising sea levels and extreme heat affecting entire regions, while indigenous communities, like the Kogi in Colombia, have long warned of these environmental dangers, argues Mark J. Plotkin, an ethnobotanist who co-founded the Amazon Conservation Team.
- The Amazon, which stores one-fifth of the world’s terrestrial carbon, plays a crucial role in regulating global climate, but continued deforestation risks releasing this carbon and disrupting weather patterns far beyond the region.
- This text is a commentary and does not necessarily represent the views of Mongabay.

Brazil’s race to approve the end of the Amazon: The BR-319 highway needs a new environmental impact assessment (commentary)
- Brazil’s race to approve “reconstruction” of Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) is gaining ever more momentum, with President Lula declaring his support for the project on the 10th September, a moment that could not be more ironic amid the country’s dramatic fire crisis, argues researcher Philip M. Fearnside in this commentary.
- The impact of BR-319 extends far beyond the roadside strip to which the EIA and licensing discussion is limited. Planned side roads such as AM-366 would open the vast rainforest area west of the highway to the entry of deforesters, loggers and others. The rainforest in this area is also at risk of collapse from climate change, and this risk would be further increased by the deforestation and forest degradation provoked by the planned roads linked to BR-319. Loss of this forest would be catastrophic both for global climate and for water supply to other parts of Brazil, including São Paulo.
- The area at risk is both the most critical and the easiest to avoid deforesting. All that needs to be done is to not build the highways that would provide access, while in other parts of Amazonia stopping deforestation requires changing the behavior of hundreds of thousands of individual actors. A new EIA is needed that includes all areas receiving impacts from BR-319 in the northern and western parts of Brazilian Amazonia. The EIA cannot be a mere bureaucratic step after which the project is automatically approved – the rational decision is to reject the project, writes Fearnside.
- This text is a commentary and does not necessarily represent the views of Mongabay.

‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
- Indigenous leaders gathered at New York Climate Week to call on global leaders to address the unprecedented drought and wildfire crisis in the Amazon Rainforest.
- Chief Raoni Metuktire, a historic Indigenous leader of Brazil, asked non-Indigenous communities to reflect on their responsibility — mainly the introduction of illegal mining, logging and cattle ranching that are accelerating the impacts of climate change.
- Many Indigenous communities are in the path of wildfires, and isolated Indigenous peoples (PIA) are the most vulnerable.

Brazil’s BR-319 highway disaster: Yet another maneuver (commentary)
- Brazil’s “reconstruction” project for the BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) highway and associated side roads would open vast areas of Amazon forest to the entry of deforesters and loggers, writes Philip M. Fearnside in this commentary.
- A “preliminary license” for the project that was granted in 2022 by the anti-environmental Bolsonaro presidential administration was suspended in July 2024 by judicial order but is being appealed by the highway department.
- The highway department has submitted to the courts a consultant report it contracted claiming that the highway project is “environmentally viable” and the department’s press release claiming this as “proof” of viability is being touted by pro-BR-319 media and politicians. The highway project continues as a major threat to the Amazon forest, and pressure is mounting to force its approval, writes Fearnside.
- This text is a commentary and does not necessarily represent the views of Mongabay.

Report exposes meatpackers’ role in recent chemical deforestation in Brazil
- A new report links Brazil’s top meatpackers — JBS, Marfrig and Minerva — to widespread deforestation across the Pantanal, Amazon and Cerrado; of five farms investigated between October 2023 and February 2024, 86% of the destruction occurred in the Pantanal.
- Fazenda Soberana ranch is at the center of environmental controversy and is under investigation for using toxic herbicides to destroy tens of thousands of hectares of native vegetation, marking the largest environmental crime in Mato Grosso state history.
- Major meatpackers are criticized for failing to fully monitor indirect suppliers and for not ensuring that their supply chains are free from socioenvironmental violations.
- The report calls for supermarkets to cut ties with meatpackers linked to deforestation and for full transparency regarding the origin and supply chains of beef products.

How the Brazilian military sabotaged protection of Indigenous people in the Amazon
- The Brazilian military has been involved in a series of controversial episodes that have undermined emergency efforts to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory.
- Reports show it failed (or sabotaged) airspace control and food deliveries to the Indigenous people, who suffer from malnutrition as a result of mercury contamination from illegal mining.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has spent millions trying to evict the illegal miners and provide care to the Yanomami, but some 7,000 miners remain in the territory, while malnutrition, malaria and other diseases continue to afflict the Yanomami.
- Experts blame the military’s inaction of action against the illegal miners on a colonial ideology that was prevalent under Brazil’s former military dictatorship, and which was revived under the administration of Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

Report links killings to environmental crimes in Peru’s Amazon
- A new report from the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) says the Peruvian Amazon is experiencing a rise in murders against environmental defenders, most of which are related to illegal activities such as mining, logging and coca cultivation.
- Between 2010 and 2022, an estimated 29 environmental defenders were killed in the region.
- The frequency of killings has increased in recent years, with almost half taking place after 2020.
- Indigenous leaders and researchers said many of these killings remain unsolved while the state remains largely absent in protecting communities in these remote regions.

Clearest picture yet of Amazon carbon density could help guide conservation
- A combination of machine-learning models and satellite readings show that the Amazon Rainforest contains 56.8 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon, or more than one and a half times what humanity emitted in 2023.
- The map is the result of an analysis of data measuring tree cover, tree height and the carbon storage of trees, and yields one of the most precise estimates to date.
- The highest carbon levels are located in the southwest Amazon — specifically southern Peru and western Brazil — and in the northeast Amazon, in countries like French Guiana and Suriname. The findings could help conservationists and policymakers choose more effective conservation strategies in the future.
- The report concluded that, as a whole, the Amazon Rainforest is still acting as a carbon sink rather than a carbon emitter, a key to keeping global temperatures below 1.5°C (2.7°F) and preventing climate change.

Extreme drought pushes Amazon’s main rivers to lowest-ever levels
- Amid an extreme, unprecedented drought, almost all major Amazon rivers have registered their lowest levels in history.
- Experts say the outlook for the next months is even worse, putting researchers on alert for the possibility of Amazon’s worst drought ever.
- The low river level in Manaus, Amazonas’ state capital, may increase prices of products shipped through the city’s harbor.
- The drought has isolated some Indigenous communities, while others have to walk long distances through dry riverbeds carrying groceries and equipment.

Resilient and resourceful, Brazil’s illegal gold capital resists government crackdown
- Following regulatory changes and heavier enforcement of the gold trade, the Amazonian municipality of Itaituba, notorious as Brazil’s illegal gold capital, is struggling to deal with the new restrictions.
- Yet a series of raids and destruction of mining equipment hasn’t fazed the illegal miners, known as garimpeiros, who have simply picked themselves back up again and started working to resume their operations.
- The crackdown on illegal gold and its environmental destruction has outraged the garimpeiros, who accuse the government of preventing them from working in a region historically dedicated to gold extraction.

Record number of Indigenous land titles granted in Peru via innovative process (commentary)
- Land titles have proven to be the most effective way to protect Indigenous peoples’ land from deforestation, with such territories experiencing a 66% decrease in deforestation, and therefore protecting these forests for generations to come.
- Recently, 37 land titles were secured in the Peruvian Amazon in record time, between June 2023 to May 2024, via a partnership between two NGOs and the Peruvian government, using an innovative, low-cost, high-impact model to expedite the process.
- “We believe this model can be replicated in other regions of the Amazon and perhaps even beyond,” the authors of a new op-ed write.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Drought forces Amazon Indigenous communities to drink mercury-tainted water
- River levels in parts of the Brazilian Amazon are even lower than in 2023, when the region experienced its worst drought.
- In the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, in Pará state, low river levels are forcing communities to drink water contaminated by mercury.
- Indigenous leaders call for immediate help while children suffer from diarrhea and stomachaches.

Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has suspended the certification of Maderera Canales Tahuamanu (MCT), a logging company whose concession borders Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon.
- The company is accused of encroaching on the traditional territory of the Mashco Piro, an Indigenous group that lives in voluntary isolation and went viral after video captured the tribe on a beach.
- The suspension follows an incident in which at least two loggers were shot dead with arrows, one injured and several others are missing during a confrontation with the Mashco Piro.
- The FSC suspension takes effect Sept. 13 and will last eight months — a move Indigenous rights advocates say is welcome but short of the full cancelation they deem necessary to protect the isolated tribe.

Nearly all Brazilian gold imported by EU is likely illegal, report says
- A new study concludes that nearly all of the gold imported into the European Union from Brazil comes from Amazonian areas with a high risk of illegality.
- That amounts to 1.5 metric tons of the precious metal in 2023, sourced from wildcat mines known as garimpos, which have a long history of illegality and opaqueness.
- The Brazilian government implemented a series of measures in 2023 to increase oversight of the gold trade, but experts say much of the trade continued underground.

Brazil launches ‘war’ on widespread fire outbreaks & criminal arsonists
- Fire outbreaks are setting records all over Brazil, with flames burning the Amazon, the Cerrado, the Pantanal and the São Paulo state.
- Federal authorities say most fires are criminal and they are launching investigations.
- Smoke from fires spread through 10 Brazilian states, impacting air quality and air traffic.

In the Brazilian Amazon, seedlings offer hope for drying rivers
- In Brazil’s Maranhão state, the advance of monoculture and decades of forest destruction have driven a shift in precipitation patterns, diminishing rains and drying out springs that feed important rivers.
- This represents a major threat for the Guajajara Indigenous people, for whom these springs hold spiritual significance and guarantee the health of the rivers they depend on for fishing, bathing, drinking and cultural rituals.
- In an effort to restore drying springs, Indigenous people in the Rio Pindaré reserve are mapping headwaters and planting species native to the Amazon rainforest – like buriti, pupunha and açaí palms – along their margins.
- Scientists say this type of reforestation could help restore balance to water cycles in the region, mitigating the broader impacts of drought and climate change.

Could the ‘rights of nature’ save Yasuní and keep its oil in the ground? (commentary)
- Nearly 60% of Ecuador’s voters supported a referendum last year to stop oil drilling in the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil field, which would protect the nature of Yasuní National Park and its Indigenous communities, while keeping a billion barrels of oil in the ground.
- People worked for a decade to bring this to a popular vote, but the nation’s current crises have shaken the government’s resolve to enforce the rule. Now, advocates are turning to a relatively new legal instrument, the ‘rights of nature,’ to cement the decision.
- “The vote to protect the Yasuní was not based on the rights of nature, but on the right of people to participate in decisions on matters of public interest. The rights of nature, however, provides a path forward to protect the Yasuní,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

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