location: Amazon

location: Amazon

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New report maps widespread criminal presence across six Amazonian countries
New mapping by Amazon Underworld finds that criminal networks or armed groups operate in nearly three-fifths of Amazon municipalities across the six countries surveyed, which include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Of the 1,310 municipalities examined, researchers found illicit actors in 768 of them, or 59%. Colombia had the highest proportion of affected […]
Organized crime is growing along highway in a pristine section of the Amazon: Study
Criminal organizations linked to illegal logging, illegal gold mining, land grabbing and cattle ranching now dominate large sections of land around the BR-319 highway in one of the Brazilian Amazon’s largest stretches of forest, according to a new study. The finding comes as Brazil is moving forward with further improvements to the controversial highway. The […]
Canadian-backed potash mine in Brazil has dried up sacred Amazon springs, say residents
- Construction of an access road for the controversial Potássio Autazes potash project in Brazil’s northwestern Amazonas state has caused springs used by the Mura Indigenous people to dry up, threatening a fish spawning ground and access to food and water, residents say.
- The company says it carried out an inspection on Oct. 8 but found no signs of the springs drying up or of road construction affecting its water flow.
- Residents say the springs’ disappearance threatens the Mura’s spiritual connection to their territory, as the waterway is home to ancestral spirits that flee when disrupted.
- Expert assessments commissioned by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office found the project’s environmental studies to be “incomplete and flawed”, while federal prosecutors told Mongabay that lawsuits challenging the project’s environmental licenses are still pending.

Amazon fires trap Manaus in smoke as authorities target arsonists
- Smoke from fires reaching up to 30 times the World Health Organization’s safe daily limit hits Manaus, Brazil’s largest Amazon city, prompting school closures and worsening respiratory crises.
- With the giant El Niño looming, environmental agencies and police authorities are investigating possible deliberately set fires in Amazonas, with 11 suspects arrested.
- Between Oct. 1 and 19, Brazil recorded 1,921 hotspots in the Amazonas state, up 202% from 2025.
- In the Manaus metropolitan area, a Mongabay analysis found hotspots in landscapes where forests and agriculture coexist.

At Yerevan’s COP17 biodiversity summit, a steep climb ahead for ‘30 by 30’ target
- At October’s COP17 summit in Yerevan, Armenia, delegates will assess progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 3 — better known as “30 by 30.”
- According to the Protected Planet database, 18.7% of the world’s land and inland waters, along with 10% of its oceans, are currently being protected.
- While more than a million square kilometers of land was added to the database since 2022, the figures fall well short of the framework’s goals.
- Some advocates want Indigenous and traditional territories to be the priority for reaching the goal.

Environmental officials fear new wave of harassment if Flavio Bolsonaro wins in Brazil
- Federal employees in the environmental and Indigenous affairs sectors fear a return to the institutional harassment and dismantling of institutions they faced during the Jair Bolsonaro administration if his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, wins the runoff election Sunday, Oct. 25.
- Complaints of harassment and violence filed with the Federal District Labor Prosecutor’s Office nearly tripled during Jair Bolsonaro’s four-year term.
- The weakening of regulatory agencies has led to record levels of deforestation in the Amazon and intensified violence against Indigenous groups that protect the forest.
- Environmental officials and Indigenous experts have launched campaigns and open letters to mobilize the public to vote for incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and defend them and regulatory agencies.

Amazon communities lose water as mining and deforestation reshape rivers
- An investigation analyzed 722 micro watersheds that feed the Beni River in Bolivia, the Caquetá River in Colombia, the Madre de Dios River in Peru, and the Caroní River in Venezuela. These areas are home to 74 Indigenous groups spread across 202 territories.
- In all four river basins, natural water resources are under pressure. Mining activity has left behind large pools of artificial or anthropogenic (human-made) water, and where livestock ranching has taken hold, the water has disappeared.
- Over the 25 years analyzed, the four catchment areas lost nearly 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) of natural water, an area more than double the size of Colombia’s Tayrona National Park. The greatest loss occurred in the Colombian Caquetá catchment area, which crosses a department where extensive livestock ranching has long been the main economic activity.
- In the three basins with mining activity — the Madre de Dios, Beni, and Caroní — artificial water sources appeared: four in every five hectares of these water sources are on Indigenous territory.

What if Flávio Bolsonaro wins? High stakes for the environment in Brazil’s 2026 elections (commentary)
- If Flávio Bolonaro wins Brazil’s 25 October runoff election the consequences for the environment will be enormous, especially in the Amazon but also for the world, argues Philip Fearnside, a researcher who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon for 50 years.
- Flávio, son of Brazil’s anti-environmental former president Jair Bolsonaro, is slightly ahead of incumbent President Lula in the polls, but the difference is within the margin of error. Flávio, who denies anthropogenic climate change and has supported a series of anti-environmental bills as senator, plans to follow in his father’s footsteps.
- The Amazon rainforest is near a series of tipping points, beyond which risk of the forest collapsing rises sharply. If the forest collapses, the emission of greenhouse gases would push global climate past the point where warming escapes from human control. Flávio’s policies would increase this risk.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Two Indigenous Brazilians denied their language interpreter at election voting booth
Two Indigenous women who do not speak Portuguese were denied assistance from their interpreter while voting in Brazil’s Oct. 4 election. The translator who accompanied them to the polls, community leader Mitore Tiriyó Kaxuyana, is a relative of the women and spoke to Mongabay about what happened. Racela Tiriyó, 23, and Mirami Tiriyó, 33, are […]
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado savanna at lowest rate ever recorded
As Brazilians head to the polls to vote in a runoff election, Amazon deforestation is also on the ballot. New data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) find that incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presided over the lowest deforestation levels ever recorded in both the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna. Between […]
Brazil election puts unprecedented Indigenous ministry at risk if Flávio Bolsonaro wins
- Indigenous People Minister Eloy Terena warned that all achievements and historical reparation agreements for native peoples since 2023 could be undone if far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro is elected Brazil’s president.
- In almost four years, the ministry has celebrated the full demarcation of 20 Indigenous lands, the eviction of intruders from 12 territories and a 98.77% drop in illegal gold mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, in addition to “historical agreements” for the reparation of Indigenous peoples and the creation of the country’s first Indigenous Federal University.
- Philosopher and Indigenous leader Ailton Krenak told Mongabay that Bolsonaro’s policy could corrupt the management of federal bodies that defend Indigenous interests, even if they are not abolished.

A Belgium-sized area of Amazon wetland has been converted, and losses are climbing
Every year, Amazonian rivers spill over their banks and flood the forests around them for months. These wetlands cover around 30% of the Brazilian Amazon and are often home to riverine families, who live in adapted homes built on stilts. They fish and plant crops with the natural ebb and flow of the rivers. But […]
Amazon deforestation falls 42% to a record low
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to the lowest level on record. Data released today by Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE, shows that forest clearing in Earth’s largest rainforest over the 12 months ended July 31, 2026, amounted to 3,335 square kilometers (1,288 square miles), an area smaller than the Spanish island of […]
New tool reveals siege on Indigenous lands in Bolivia’s Amazon
- Nine out of every 10 hectares (22 of every 25 acres) of forest lost in Amazonian Indigenous territories in Bolivia were cleared illegally, new data analysis suggests.
- Between 2003 and 2023, more than 186,500 hectares (460,900 acres) of forest disappeared — an area nearly three times the size of Madrid — with illegal clearing accounting for more than 90% of that total.
- Land invasions to expand the agricultural frontier pose a constant threat to Amazonian Indigenous peoples in Bolivia: of 30 territories surveyed, 28 reported occupations by outsiders, as most of these conflicts remain unresolved.
- The yearlong investigation led to the launch of VISTA, a platform presented by the Pulitzer Center, Mongabay and Bolivian organizations RAI Bolivia and Asuntos Centrales, that tracks and analyzes key data on deforestation, fires, land clearing, soy expansion and settlements across the 48 Indigenous territories of the Bolivian Amazon.

Researchers uncover hidden routes and patterns of Amazon wildlife trade
- Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of scientific studies to provide an overview of wildlife trafficking in the Brazilian Amazon and help close the information gap about animal abuse in the region.
- Amazon birds are the main targets of wildlife traffickers, followed by mammals, reptiles and fish, the researchers found.
- Feeding and using animals in religious rituals or for medicinal purposes are main drivers of violations.
- Brazil’s neighboring countries act as export hubs for Brazilian wildlife, such as zebra pleco fish sent to Asia through Colombia.

Governors allied with Flávio Bolsonaro set to lead majority of Brazilian Amazon states
Seven of Brazil’s nine Amazonian states are set to be governed by politicians aligned with far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, Karla Mendes and Lucas Berti reported for Mongabay Brasil. On Oct. 25, Brazil will have an electoral face-off between the top two candidates for several races that were not able to secure more than 50% of […]
In Ecuador, Indigenous youth turn to rap music to defend the Amazon
- In the Ecuadorian Amazon, young people from several Indigenous nationalities are turning to rap to speak out against the toll extractive industries take on their home territories.
- Each track is performed in the artist’s native language (some of which are on the verge of disappearing), with some incorporating Spanish verses to connect with listeners from other cultures.
- Indigenous rappers include Willan Gualinga (Taki Supay) of the Kichwa nationality of Sarayaku; Misael Elías Criollo Grefa (Misa17), from the A’i Cofán community; Raúl Vargas (Robenban), Kichwa from Pastaza; and Tzitzanu, from Sapara.
- Their music is reaching national and international audiences, with Misa17’s track “Ingi Tsampi” drawing more than 400,000 views on TikTok just a month after its release.

Undiscovered Amazon drugs could be valued at $215 billion, analysis finds
- Tropical forests hold up to $714 billion in potential drug value, with the Amazon accounting for $215 billion of the total, according to a new analysis.
- Ongoing deforestation threatens to permanently erase undiscovered plant species and lifesaving medicinal compounds before scientists can study them.
- While pricing nature highlights its economic value to counter clearing, experts warn it risks repeating past extraction and resource grabs unless paired with strict benefit-sharing and local scientific leadership.

To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)
- The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature, yet the criminal economy has been putting a price on it for much longer.
- Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are extremely lucrative and have become a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action, a new op-ed argues, and its drivers must be addressed from where extraction begins all the way to corporate offices.
- “The world is still working out how much a standing forest is worth. Criminal markets settled on a price for a felled one long ago,” the authors write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Brazil’s tropical forest fund races to raise $2.7 billion before deadline
- The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to reach $10 billion in sponsor capital by the end of 2026, a step toward a larger $25 billion fundraising goal.
- If the target is not reached, the initiative could lose a $3 billion pledge made by Norway.
- Reports state that some countries are waiting for the results of the Brazilian presidential elections in October before pledging funds.

Brazil creates four Amazon reserves as plans to pave rainforest highway advance
The Brazilian government has created four new sustainable development reserves in the Amazon as part of an effort to mitigate environmental damage from the controversial plan to fully pave the BR-319 highway. The road will pass through one of the most intact parts of the rainforest, which conservationists warn will lead to increased deforestation. President […]
Tight Brazil election challenges fragile gains for Amazon conservation
- Under President Lula, Amazon deforestation dropped to a 10-year low, but experts say a victory by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro could reinstate policies favoring agribusiness and mining.
- Enforcement rollbacks could have tangible effects on deforestation spikes, Indigenous land invasions, new illegal roads in reclaimed forests, and expanded river dredging that spreads mercury contamination.
- As neighboring right-wing governments reshape regional dynamics, the election will also determine Brazil’s stance in international climate diplomacy and its adherence to global environmental targets.

Brazil election could put 95% of the Amazon under right-wing governments
- After a cycle of left-wing administrations, four out of nine Amazonian nations are currently under right-wing leadership that favors exploitation of natural resources over conservation.
- Brazil could be next after October’s elections, which could put up to 95% of the Amazon under mining- and agribusiness-friendly administrations.
- According to experts, the Amazon Rainforest’s already challenging environmental situation could reach a dangerous tipping point if regional leaders abandon environmental cooperation.

Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say
- In January, U.S. armed forces removed Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro from office and began opening the mining sector to foreign investment.
- Over the last eight months, officials have passed mining reforms, taken down leaders of criminal groups, and raided illegal mine sites. Nevertheless, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better.
- Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, experts say.

The push for a sustainable artisanal mining in the Peruvian Amazon
MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — In Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon, thousands of people depend on gold mining, while the spread of mercury and deforestation are transforming the country’s most biodiverse tropical forest. In La Pampa, one of the region’s main gold mining hubs, a formalized artisanal mining operation is trying to prove […]
Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey
- Conservationists are collaborating with Indigenous communities in Ecuador to look for the world’s smallest monkey.
- Pygmy marmosets live high up in trees and are hard to monitor visually; they’re also a key indicator of how forests are faring in the face of deforestation and degradation.
- Conservationists are using passive acoustic monitoring to find the monkeys; they’re also training the communities on using the technology for the future.

Amazon Fund grantees fear a new funding freeze after Brazil’s election
- As Brazil approaches a pivotal presidential election, grantees of the Amazon Fund warn that a radical change in administration could derail its recent momentum, which saw annual financing quadruple.
- While the fund helped drive Amazonian deforestation to its lowest level in a decade, experts warn a new disruption would have greater impacts amid the growing climate crisis.
- International donors are already signaling caution, as widespread anxiety reflects the trauma of 2019, when the previous government dismantled Brazil’s environmental frameworks.

Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish
- A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.
- Mongabay Latam investigated the impact of mercury contamination on the health of the most affected communities: Lake Puruzinho in the state of Amazonas, and the riverside community of Calama and the Karipuna Indigenous Territory, in Rondônia state.
- Studies show that mercury concentrations among residents of Lake Puruzinho are among the highest recorded in the Madeira River Basin and well above what the World Health Organization considers safe, prompting residents to change their eating habits.
- High levels of mercury in Amazonian communities are related to fish consumption, their main source of protein; the accumulation of mercury in humans can cause serious health damage, such as motor and neurological problems, researchers say.

In Peru, mercury leaves a toxic footprint on those who depend on a river
- Mongabay reviewed nearly three decades of scientific research on the impact of heavy metals and traveled to several Amazonian communities to track the course of mercury contamination.
- Previous studies reviewed found that one-third of the children evaluated in the Amarakaeri Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon grew up with mercury levels in their hair that exceed the limit established by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- The pollution does not remain within mining enclaves: Mercury travels through the river and reaches Indigenous peoples who are unrelated to the mining practice, while pregnant women and newborns show exposure to mercury and lead, with impacts on infant development and birth weight.
- Meanwhile, the state budget for caring for those affected is minimal, and Peru lacks laboratories to measure methylmercury levels — the most toxic form of this metal, associated with fish consumption.

Mercury threatens over 160 communities in Bolivia’s Beni River basin
- Mongabay found that 39 communities in Bolivia are suffering from mercury poisoning and that 125 more face a similar risk.
- The findings were part of a scientific and geographic analysis covering 42 investigations published over 27 years. Seven were conducted in Bolivia.
- The Indigenous and riverside communities affected consume fish daily. Mongabay’s database showed that the protein is contaminated with mercury in at least 17 communities.
- Mongabay reached five Indigenous communities located on the banks of the Beni River (northern Bolivia). In some of them, such as Santa Rosita, mercury levels are nine times higher than the limit permitted by the World Health Organization.

New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries
For the first time, Mongabay Latam analyzed 39 scientific studies published between 1997 and 2024 that confirm that 249 Indigenous and riverside communities in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil have been exposed to mercury contamination. Nearly all of them exceed the limits considered safe by the World Health Organization. The stories reported by three journalistic teams […]
New-to-science Amazon frog stands out for its slow ‘lazy’ song
Scientists recently described a new species of a tiny brown frog found in the Amazonian floodplain forests of Ecuador and northwestern Brazil. It looks nearly identical to related species but its slow, widely spaced out call sets it apart, researchers note in a study. “I’ve had to get into arguments because people said the frog […]
Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market?
- The sheer numbers and vast array of Latin American wildlife species offered for sale in one of Southeast Asia’s largest wildlife markets, in Thailand, has been steadily rising over the past two years, observers say, alongside animals from across the globe.
- The trend points to a broader shift in the global wildlife trade, with more species coming out of the imperiled Amazon and many of them sold as pets.
- Trafficked animals are often laundered from other South American countries through Peru, where regulations make it easier to export species abroad.
- Many of these species are threatened, plucked from the wild, and then face abhorrent conditions during the journey from the Amazon to Asia, raising further animal welfare concerns; many perish during transit.

Key tree species boost Amazon forest restoration, new study shows
- A study in Global Change Biology shows that just 15 to 25 tree species make up nearly half of the trees and carbon stocks in regrowing Amazon forests.
- While pioneer species grow quickly, experts warn that forests need a robust succession of stronger trees to avoid ecological decline over time.
- Understanding these forest dynamics may help Brazil meet its international pledge to restore 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of forest by 2030.

Planned Bolivia-Brazil highway threatens Chiquitania dry forest
- Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco in the Chiquitania region with the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.
- Brazilian businesspeople looking to buy land in the Chiquitano forest for cattle ranching and soy farming are driving the project.
- Brazilian businessman Eraí Maggi, known as the “soy king,” is a central figure behind this agricultural expansion into Bolivia.
- Experts warn the road will accelerate deforestation in the Chiquitania, the largest tropical dry forest in the Americas, in a country that already ranks second globally in tropical forest loss.

Drought is deepening a health crisis among Peru’s recently contacted Indigenous Matsés
- Since initiating contact with the outside world in 1969, the Matsés Indigenous people of the northeastern Peruvian Amazon have faced a barrage of epidemics.
- During a recent visit to the Matsés reserve, Mongabay found a population still suffering from outbreaks of deadly malaria and hepatitis B, exacerbated by state neglect and environmental threats like drought.
- Matsés leaders, anthropologists, and health experts warn that exposure could be fatal for isolated groups neighboring Matsés land, as well as those in nearby reserves across the wider Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor.
- Drought and an intensifying El Niño could further compound these health pressures by disrupting rainfall patterns, creating conditions that allow malaria-bearing mosquitoes to proliferate and affecting river transport for medical care.

Scientists use mining data to build malaria alert system in the Amazon
- Researchers have found a direct link between illegal mining, miners’ routes, and malaria cases in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil.
- Now, they’re working on an alert system that will rely on mining data to warn local health agents about the risk of a malaria outbreak.
- The number of malaria cases dropped sharply after authorities expelled illegal miners from the Yanomami land, but Indigenous people worry the potential return of a right-wing government after October’s election could revive the humanitarian crisis.

For 50 years, Philip Fearnside has calculated the costs of losing the Amazon
- Philip Fearnside has spent 50 years studying the practical limits of Amazon development, beginning with the agricultural settlements built along Brazil’s Trans-Amazonian Highway. His work repeatedly asked who benefits from projects and who bears their longer-term costs.
- He produced influential research on deforestation, forest carbon, tropical dams, and the wider effects of roads, often challenging official assumptions about emissions and economic viability. He later contributed to the IPCC’s work on climate change.
- Fearnside has paired research with public engagement, publishing in Portuguese, writing for Amazônia Real and Mongabay, speaking to journalists, and testifying on projects including the BR-319 highway. That role has also made him a target of hostility, including at a 2021 public hearing where his microphone was cut.
- Former students and colleagues credit him with generous, exacting mentorship and an unusual command of the scientific literature. At a recent tribute at Brazil’s National Institute for Amazonian Research, he rejected any suggestion of a farewell: he intends to keep working.

Brazil relaxes Belo Monte water rule amid El Niño-fueled Amazon drought risk
Brazilian authorities have temporarily relaxed an environmental rule for the Belo Monte hydropower plant on the Xingu River in the northeastern Amazon. The change comes in anticipation of another potentially severe, El-Niño-fueled dry season. Under the temporary measure, Belo Monte’s operator Norte Energia can cut the flow of the dam’s 119 square-kilometer (46 square-mile) intermediate […]
Ashéninka leader reportedly killed while patrolling Indigenous territory is found alive
- Ashéninka leader Américo Pascuala Tumisha was reportedly shot and killed Aug. 23 while patrolling the territory of the Onconashari Indigenous community in Peru’s Ucayali region. He was subsequently found to be alive.
- Onconashari residents have reported incursions linked to unauthorized copaiba extraction since at least 2020, including threats against community members who objected.
- The community has a long history of territorial monitoring and in 2025 received formal government recognition for its Forest Surveillance and Control Committee, which Pascuala later coordinated.
- Global Witness has documented more than 60 killings and disappearances of environmental and land defenders in Peru since 2012; AIDESEP says at least 38 Indigenous defenders were killed in the Peruvian Amazon between 2014 and 2026.

Drugs are becoming institutionalized: Interview with Ticuna leader in Peru’s Amazon
- Mongabay interviewed Francisco Hernández Cayetano, president of the Federation of Ticuna and Yagua Communities of the Lower Amazon, about substance abuse problems affecting Ticuna youth.
- He says many youth are addicted to drugs and alcohol, which they picked up while working as coca harvesters for drug traffickers due to a lack of alternative employment options.
- The arrival of narcotraffickers, as well as illegal miners, has also led to deforestation and water pollution in Peru.
- In this interview with Mongabay, Hernández describes efforts to bring Ticuna leaders from the Amazon’s tri-border area together to discuss solutions to their shared problems.

Brazil marks borders for isolated Indigenous group in the Amazon after decades
Agents of Brazil’s Indigenous agency, FUNAI, spent 60 days in June and July 2026 physically marking the borders of the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. The 411,000-hectare (1 million-acre) area in the Amazon biome of Mato Grosso state is home to the Kawahiva, an isolated Indigenous group. The government agency confirmed the presence of the […]
Tapirs, bats and nests: How plastic infiltrates Amazonian wildlife
- Studies have found microplastics in various species of Amazonian wildlife, including fish, tapirs, crabs and bats, even within protected areas far from major urban centers.
- Contamination spreads through multiple routes, traveling from small forest streams known as igarapés to the mouth of the Amazon River, where birds are building “blue nests” out of plastic debris.
- Although the toxic effects on animals remain poorly understood, data show that microplastics cross between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, potentially impacting the entire food chain.

Fatal barge crashes fuel fear over Madeira River waterway expansion in Brazil
- Brazil is planning to dredge the Madeira River to boost grain exports despite recent fatal barge collisions and poor dialogue with local communities.
- In addition to accidents, expanded traffic and dredging pose risks of erosion, water pollution, harm to aquatic species and fishing.
- As national elections approach, communities worry that politicians will prioritize agribusiness over the safety of those who rely on the river to access doctors, schools, work, trade and daily routines.

Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía
I had been struck by photographs of the Cerros de Mavicure rising above the forest and the Inírida River in eastern Colombia. The dark rock, exposed against an almost unbroken expanse of green, seemed unlike anywhere else I had visited in the Amazon. Last month, ahead of Mongabay Latam’s PUMA FEST in Bogotá, I finally […]
New studies portray Amazon as surprisingly resilient, but tipping point looms
- Three 2026 studies reveal that the Amazon can regrow quickly, but deforestation and warming could trigger a system-wide tipping point in the next 15 years.
- Research also shows that repeated wildfires are replacing fire-resistant specialist trees with generalist species, halving biodiversity at forest edges despite a closing canopy.
- According to research, extreme conditions have increased tree mortality due to hydraulic failure, which is key to understanding the forest’s shrinking carbon sinks.
- Ending deforestation is necessary and achievable, but must be combined with global actions to curb climate change, say experts.

In Amazon rivers, fish breathe and ingest plastics
- Following proof of the presence of microplastics in Amazonian rivers, streams and lakes, researchers are investigating how these particles affect fish health and physiology.
- A study highlights the risks associated with microplastics in the air-breathing organs of the pirarucu, a giant fish that must rise to the surface to breathe.
- Studies conducted with Amazonian fish show microplastics in their gills and digestive tracts, and experiments with the tamoatá point to increased stress and weight loss.
- Scientists warn of risks to human health in a region where fish is a dietary staple; in Brazil’s Amazonas state, average annual consumption is 14 kilos per person, five times the national average.

Mariano Cenamo, advocate for a sustainable Amazon bioeconomy, has died, aged 46
- Mariano Cenamo spent more than two decades trying to make standing forests economically competitive with cattle ranching and other activities driving Amazon deforestation, helping establish Idesam and later backing a new generation of sustainable businesses.
- His work evolved from early efforts on forest carbon and REDD+ to agroforestry, bioeconomy ventures, investment, and entrepreneurship, always centered on creating practical sources of income for people living in the Amazon.
- Drawing on Cenamo’s own writings and interviews, as well as Vanessa Adachi’s posthumous portrait in Reset, this obituary explores the ideas, motivations, and personal style behind one of the Amazon’s most influential environmental entrepreneurs.
- Cenamo died on July 10 after several years with cancer. He was 46.

Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest level since 2013, Brazilian data show
- INPE’s DETER system recorded 2,874 sq km of Amazon deforestation alerts from August 2025 through July 2026, down 36% from the previous year and 55.6% below the preceding 10-year average.
- The total is the lowest since 2013 when earlier DETER data are included. If the trend is confirmed by the higher-resolution PRODES system, Brazil could record its lowest official Amazon deforestation rate since monitoring began in 1988.
- The decline has coincided with stronger environmental enforcement under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Alerts also fell in the Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa, with the Cerrado reaching a five-year low.
- Despite the decline in clear-cutting, the Amazon remains vulnerable to logging, drought, forest degradation, and fire, which can cause substantial ecological damage without immediately appearing in deforestation statistics.

Suriname moves to evict Mennonites and illegal Amazon settlers
- The government in Suriname has created a task force to crack down on land developers who illegally clear the Amazon Rainforest for agriculture and cattle ranching.
- Many areas under development are connected to Mennonites who migrated to the country from other parts of the region to help meet a domestic demand for food production.
- Conservationists warn that the group’s history of industrial-scale clearing and unauthorized ranching in other nations puts the rainforest at risk.
- Some Mennonites have received a deurwaardersexploot, a written notice delivered by a bailiff to appear in court, according to Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons.

Amazon canopy bridges enable 15,000 wildlife crossings without a single roadkill
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Roads through Brazil’s forests divide primate habitat and sometimes force animals that normally remain in the canopy onto the ground. Researchers in the Amazon are testing rope bridges that allow them to cross above traffic. Eight bridges were […]
Doña Oscarina, master ceramicist, documented Indigenous knowledge along the Tiquié River
- Doña Oscarina Caldas Azevedo was a Desana master ceramicist, farmer, teacher, and Indigenous environmental researcher from Brazil’s upper Rio Negro region.
- As the first woman to serve as an Indigenous Environmental Management Agent on the Tiquié River, she helped bring women’s agricultural knowledge into environmental monitoring.
- She documented crop cycles, rainfall, river levels, and community life, while cultivating 18 varieties of cassava and preserving knowledge of ceramics, medicinal plants, and ritual practice.
- Through teaching, research, publications, and international forums, she worked to ensure that younger generations could continue applying and expanding this knowledge.

Brazil’s mining agency under fire over corruption and omission probes
- Federal prosecutors are suing the Brazilian mining agency for failing to monitor wildcat gold mines in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Illegal miners take advantage of the agency’s lack of oversight and name small areas as the origins of tons of gold that have actually been taken from protected areas.
- Measures implemented in the past few years have contributed to a sharp decrease in gold laundering in Brazil, but illegal metal is now being smuggled out of the country.
- ANM’s top officials are also under investigation for receiving bribes to favor mining companies.

The global gold rush consuming the Amazon (commentary)
- Record gold prices and rising global demand are increasing the incentives for illegal mining across the Amazon, including in protected areas and Indigenous territories.
- Illicit gold can be laundered into legal markets through false documentation, shell companies, traders, and refiners, while mining damages rivers, forests, and communities through deforestation, sediment, mercury contamination, and diesel emissions.
- Central banks and other major buyers should impose stronger sourcing, traceability, audit, and due-diligence requirements to make illegal gold harder to sell, argues Robert Muggah, co-founder and research director of the Igarapé Institute.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous Parakanã fear election U-turn may spark new invasions in Brazil
- The Parakanã Indigenous people are reoccupying their territory in Pará state after the eviction of around 3,000 invaders by federal forces.
- The intruders, however, are ready to come back if Brazil’s next administration carries a new anti-environmental agenda in 2027.
- Experts compare illegal activities such as gold mining to powerful bacteria that may return even stronger if you don’t use the proper antibiotic.
- Also in Pará, the state administration has the challenge of keeping deforestation under control after a successful operation in the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area.

Brazil court orders recognition of Indigenous land and apology for historic atrocities
A federal judge in Brazil has given the country’s government 24 months to recognize the traditional territory of the Kajkwakratxi-Tapayuna Indigenous people in the northwestern state of Mato Grosso. The court accepted evidence from federal prosecutors that detailed decades of government inaction following massacres, forced displacement and other human rights violations against the Kajkwakratxi-Tapayuna people. […]
Fishers fight for solutions as Brazil lists tambaqui as threatened
- One of the most cooked fish in the Brazilian Amazon, the tambaqui was included in the official national list of threatened species, triggering fear of losses from Amazon small-scale fishers who depend on the species for their livelihood.
- The tambaqui was classified as vulnerable due to projections of a 43.4% overall population decline over three generations as it’s targeted by intense fishing.
- Starting at the end of October, its fishing could be prohibited in Brazil if a recovery plan isn’t implemented, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
- The gray triggerfish was also included in the list of 490 fish and invertebrate threatened fauna, triggering reactions from artisanal fishers and the fishing industry.

End of Brazil’s Soy Moratorium risks millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest: Study
Millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest are newly at risk of being legally deforested, a new study estimates. The potential increase in deforestation comes as soy companies have terminated their voluntary participation in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a private-sector agreement that barred signatories from buying soy grown on land deforested after 2008. Researchers found 9.1 […]
Khuiusi Khisêtjê helped his people recover their land and future in the Xingu
- Khuiusi Khisêtjê assumed leadership after disease and violence reduced his people to around 50 and killed many of their elders.
- He helped recover the Wawi Indigenous Territory, which contained ancestral villages, sacred places, and the graves of Khisêtjê relatives.
- He worked to preserve Khisêtjê songs, language, oral history, and cultural knowledge while preparing younger leaders to navigate Brazilian institutions.
- As soy farms and pesticide use expanded around the territory, he continued defending the land and, in 2018, led his community deeper into the forest.

An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader
- Mongabay interviewed Marino Peña, a prominent Indigenous leader from Colombia’s Putumayo region, to hear his take on the incoming government’s plans and how it might affect Indigenous communities and forests in Colombia.
- Abelardo de la Espriella, from the far-right Defenders of the Homeland party, won Colombia’s runoff election on June 11 and will be inaugurated on Aug. 7.
- De la Espriella says he will expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country and has promised to tackle violence using greater force and militarization.
- In this interview with Mongabay, Peña explains that the atmosphere on the ground is tense, in part because de la Espriella’s policies might exacerbate existing conflicts linked to a controversial copper mine in the region.

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