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Lula pushes oil drilling at mouth of Amazon despite climate risks
- Despite his climate leadership stance ahead of COP30, Brazilian President Lula da Silva is pushing to approve oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon.
- Lula argues that oil revenues will fund Brazil’s energy transition. Critics say this is a flawed justification for expanding oil extraction under the guise of financing climate solutions.
- If projects get the green light, activists highlight the potential for significant environmental damage, including threats to biodiversity and Indigenous communities.
- Critics fear that approving this project will set a precedent for further oil exploration in the Amazon region, worsening environmental risks. In June, Brazil’s petroleum agency will auction more than 300 oil blocks across the country, including 47 at the mouth of the Amazon and 21 onshore in central Brazil.
‘Silent killing machines’: How water canals threaten wildlife across the globe
- Water canals worldwide are causing widespread wildlife drownings, with significant losses recorded in Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the U.S., particularly impacting threatened species.
- Scientists emphasize the lack of awareness and research on this issue, warning that canals act as “wildlife traps,” exacerbating biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation.
- Proposed solutions include covering canals, installing escape ramps, redesigning structures, and implementing country-specific mitigation strategies to balance irrigation needs with wildlife conservation.
As the rainforest gets drier, Amazon Indigenous groups thirst for clean water
- The 2024 extreme and historical drought that hit the Amazon exposed a chronic problem: access to drinking water and sanitation in Indigenous lands, where only a third of households have proper water supply systems.
- In some Amazon rivers in Brazil, cases of diseases related to inadequate basic sanitation, such as malaria and acute diarrhea, have been increasing amid climate change and population growth.
- Indigenous organizations have been demanding the implementation of adapted infrastructures in the villages, such as water tanks, wells, cesspools and septic tanks.
- The Brazilian federal government already has resources and plans to begin addressing these issues.
Getting rewilding right with the reintroduction of small wildcats
- Four lynx were illegally released in Scotland earlier this year by an unknown party, sparking condemnation. One of the cats died shortly after capture. That release comes amid long-running discussions of a possible reintroduction of this wildcat to the United Kingdom.
- Conservationists are working to reintroduce small cats across the globe. There are about 40 recognized species of wildcats, including a handful of charismatic big cats and at least 33 small wildcat species — with some of the most threatened felid species numbering among them.
- Mongabay spoke to experts working on small cat recovery projects in various stages of progress to understand what can make small cat reintroductions successful.
- Small wildcat reintroductions are presently underway or under consideration on the Iberian Peninsula, in Scotland, Argentina, Taiwan, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and elsewhere.
Wild Targets
The illicit wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative black-market industries in the world, behind only drug trafficking, counterfeit goods, and human trafficking. Wild Targets is a Mongabay video series that explores the cultural beliefs behind the pervasiveness of poaching, as well as the innovative and inspiring solutions that aim to combat the trade. […]
Cargill weakens Amazon no-deforestation vow, raising concerns about wider backslide
Commodity-trading giant Cargill recently signaled that it will weaken its no-deforestation commitments in the Amazon Rainforest, an investigation by Repórter Brasil has revealed. In its latest sustainability report, released in December 2024, Cargill changed how it measures deforestation in its soy supply chain. It had initially committed to following the guidelines of the Amazon Soy […]
‘I’m Still Here’ Eunice Paiva’s pivotal role in Brazil’s Indigenous & environmental rights
- The critically acclaimed film ‘I’m Still Here’ focuses on the personal and political history of Eunice Paiva but offers glimpses of her Indigenous rights work as a lawyer — a rarity in Brazil’s 1980s.
- Paiva is a famed lawyer who went into the field in her 40s after the kidnapping and killing of her husband by Brazil’s military dictatorship.
- Eunice Paiva’s role was critical to the acknowledgement of Indigenous rights in the Constitution of 1988 and the demarcation of Yanomami land in the Amazon Rainforest.
- Mongabay speaks to sources who were close to Eunice Paiva, including a family friend, Indigenous leaders and lawyers, to document her impact on Indigenous rights and the environmental movement in Brazil’s history.
Brazil has seen a 460% increase in climate-related disasters since the 1990s
- An unprecedented study analyzed data from 1991 to 2023 and found that each 0.1°C increase in average global air temperature led to 360 new climate disaster events and damages in Brazil amounting to R$ 5.6 billion ($970 million).
- The global warming process has accelerated over the current decade, resulting in an average of 4,077 recorded climate-related disasters per year in Brazil, compared to 725 per year during the 1990s — an increase of 460%.
- The extreme events recorded over the period — totaling 64,280 — include droughts, floods and storms in 5,117 Brazilian municipalities; over 219 million people were affected, 78 million of whom during the last four years.
- Despite the increased number of disasters and the damage they caused, Brazil’s federal budget for risk and disaster management has been cut every year between 2012 and 2023 by an average of R$ 200 million ($34.6 million) per year.
Mining dredges return to Amazon River’s main tributary, months after crackdown
- Five months after a major operation by federal forces, illegal mining dredges are back on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon.
- The return of the floating structures shows the resilience of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, which destroys the riverbeds and contaminates the water with mercury.
- As the federal administration closes miners’ siege of Indigenous territories, the illegal miners are migrating to less-monitored areas, experts says.
In Brazil, free-flight lessons help teach macaws to survive in the wild
- In an unprecedented project in the municipality of São Simão, blue-and-yellow macaws born in captivity were trained in free-flight techniques before being introduced into the wild.
- Traditionally, in psittacine reintroduction projects, captive chicks are only released into the wild at 2 or 3 years of age; with no experience in finding food or defending themselves against predators, many end up dying.
- According to the project’s coordinators, the initiative could signal a new method to be used in parrot and macaw reintroduction programs, offering lower costs and higher chances of success.
Mongabay series on illegal timber and cattle wins honorable mention in Brazil journalism prize
Blood Timber, a Mongabay series on illegal logging and cattle ranching in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, has received an honorable mention at the recent Banrisul ARI Journalism Award, a prize recognizing excellence in journalism in Brazil. The three-part series by journalist Karla Mendes revealed a correlation between environmental crimes and killings of Indigenous Guajajara people, […]
Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools
After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. The protests erupted in the state capital Belém, host city of the next U.N. climate summit, […]
Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time
- A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.
- Household utensils, furniture, miniature trees and jewelry made with forest seeds are some items being produced by women and youth in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve.
- The woodshop sits in a region where rubber tappers have fought for environmental and labor rights for ago, and which still faces deforestation pressure.
A cattle ranch is the unlikely scene for saving a fox found only in Brazil
- The hoary fox is the only canine endemic to both the Cerrado biome and Brazil; it’s now trying to survive among cattle pastures and soy plantations.
- Other threats resulting from human contact include road accidents, conflicts with domestic dogs, and various diseases.
- Seeking to protect the species, the Raposinha do Pontal Project combines research, conservation and community engagement on a cattle farm in Goiás state, southern Brazil.
Brazilian soy farms and cattle pastures close in on a land where the grass is golden
- Deforestation, wildfires, illegal land use and climate changes are sources of concern for the traditional Afro-Brazilian quilombola communities in Brazil’s Jalapão region.
- Communities here rely on the sustainable harvest of the region’s native “golden grass” to craft traditional items that provide their main source of income.
- Jalapão is home to the largest mosaic of protected areas in the Cerrado, the savanna biome where the most the deforestation in Brazil occurs today: 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) of native vegetation have been lost over the last six years.
- Jalapão’s golden grass has earned a Geographical Indication seal, giving the communities bragging rights and exclusivity for the product; but local craftspeople say there’s less of the grass to be found in the humid areas where it grows.
Amazon states lead rebellion on environmental enforcement
- Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond.
- The movement gained momentum in October when Brazil’s granary, Mato Grosso state, approved a bill undermining a voluntary agreement to protect the Amazon from soy expansion.
- Before Mato Grosso, other Amazon states like Acre and Rondônia had already approved bills reducing protected areas and weakening the fight against illegal mining.
- With its economy highly reliant on agribusiness, Mato Grosso is considered a successful model for other parts of the Amazon.
On a São Paulo eco-farm, Brazil’s landless movement makes its case for occupation
- Founded by peasants and progressive members of the Catholic Church, the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) advocates for a fair distribution of land ownership, agrarian reform and agroecological practices in Brazil.
- To achieve its goals, MST occupies rural lands lying idle to force the Brazilian state to implement its constitutional duty to expropriate and redistribute such lands if they aren’t serving the public good.
- On May 21, 2024, Brazil’s lower House of Congress passed a bill that would penalize people occupying public or private land by excluding them from receiving any public benefits, including those related to agrarian reform programs.
Yanomami sees success two years into Amazon miner evictions, but fears remain
- Brazil’s federal government celebrated a decrease in deaths and the decline in gold mining two years after agents started to evict invaders on the Yanomami Indigenous territory in the Amazon.
- The Yanomami report that rivers are cleaner, and people are finally healthy enough to work in fields and resume rituals.
- Once estimated as 20,000 in the territory, hundreds of illegal miners still remain and may expand business at the slightest sign of the security forces withdrawing.
Drop in Amazon deforestation confirmed, but degradation soars 497% in 2024
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 7% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to an analysis by Imazon, a Brazil-based organization that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes in the world’s largest rainforest. However, the news was not entirely positive for conservation efforts: forest degradation skyrocketed by 497%, driven primarily by fires that scorched […]
Calls for protection as new images emerge of uncontacted Amazonian tribe
- Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency, Funai, recently released unprecedented images of a group of nine men from an uncontacted tribe in the Massaco Indigenous Territory, in the Amazon region.
- Funai’s monitoring activities also confirmed the presence of uncontacted groups in the Kawahiva do Rio Pardo Indigenous Territory, also in the Amazon; in the latter case, however, agents also found a campsite set up by outsiders inside the territory, in an area where the isolated tribe had previously been recorded.
- Indigenous rights groups say they’re concerned about the situation of isolated and uncontacted Indigenous groups in Brazil, particularly the Kawahiva, whose presence was only officially confirmed 26 years ago.
- A Supreme Federal Court decision from late 2024 ordered Funai to set up a time frame for completing the demarcation process of the Kawahiva do Rio Pardo territory, which it hasn’t yet published.
EUDR divides Brazil’s environmental and agribusiness authorities
- The Brazilian authorities in charge of environmental protection and agribusiness have taken opposing positions on the EUDR, the European Union’s new antideforestation regulation.
- Once it comes into effect in December 2025, the EUDR will require that products imported into the EU containing one of seven key commodities aren’t sourced from areas that were deforested after December 2020.
- These products include soy, cattle, rubber, coffee and timber, of which Brazil is a major global producer and exporter.
- While the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has criticized the EUDR and pushed for its implementation to be postponed, the federal environmental agency, IBAMA, has welcomed the regulation as an important instrument to help tackle deforestation and an opportunity for agribusiness to become more transparent and sustainable.
‘We’re getting back on track’: Interview with IBAMA head Rodrigo Agostinho
- Rodrigo Agostinho, head of IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for two years now, spoke with Mongabay about the progress of his agency and the challenges it faces in protecting the country’s biomes after four years of regression under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
- Agostinho revealed plans to strengthen the agency and try to reach the 2030 zero-deforestation goal before the deadline, with investments in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence: “IBAMA went four years without using satellite images for embargoes. We’ve taken that up again with full force”.
- Agostinho also detailed IBAMA’s restructuring plans, with the opening of offices in the Amazon and support from financial authorities to cut off funding for embargoed areas: “We embargo them due to deforestation, and then that person can’t get agricultural financing anymore.”
This rescue center saves Rio’s wildlife from poachers | Wild Targets
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – In September 2024, Vida Livre Institute, a wildlife rescue center, received an unusual call from the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden staff. They were sending over two monkeys who were behaving strangely and had to be assessed by the Institute’s veterinarian. After running a few tests, the vet confirmed that […]
Study shows degradation changes a forest’s tree profile and its carbon storage
- In highly deforested landscapes and degraded forests, large-seeded big trees are losing out to opportunistic, fast-growing species, a recent study has found.
- Having examined 1,207 tree species across 271 forest plots in six Brazilian regions in the Amazon Rainforest and Atlantic Forest, the study shows that tree species normally dominating landscapes with a high forest cover seem to be in decline.
- The researchers suggest this is because the relatively large wildlife needed to disperse large seeds disappear early on from human-modified landscapes, allowing trees with smaller seeds, and thus smaller dispersers like birds, to dominate the forestscape.
- As forests become increasingly degraded, they lose their functional characteristics, as soft-wood, fast-growing trees have less ability to store carbon, are less resistant to fire and drought, and generally die younger.
Brazil’s ‘innovative’ reforestation agenda discussed in Davos (commentary)
- At the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos this week, a coalition of leaders from across Brazilian sectors will discuss the integrated, pre-competitive agenda needed to scale forest restoration.
- Forest restoration is a key part of successful climate action, providing carbon removal, biodiversity protection and sustainable economic growth, but it requires immediate investment and action, the authors of a new op-ed write.
- Brazil’s coordinated approach across business, finance, and conservation sectors has resulted in approximately $528 million in restoration investments in the past 18 months, setting a global example for impactful forest restoration and climate action.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Probe details the playbook of one of Amazon’s top land grabbers
- Professional land grabbers operating in the Brazilian Amazon have sophisticated strategies to steal and deforest public lands and get away with it.
- According to the Federal Police, Bruno Heller is one of Amazon’s largest deforesters and relied on legal and technical advice, including a fake contract, bribing police officers, and near-real-time monitoring of deforestation work through satellite imagery, investigators said.
- Low penalties and hurdles faced by federal bodies in seizing back stolen lands from criminals have spurred the land-grabbing industry in Brazil.
Vested interests and social tribes in the Pan Amazon
- Local and regional actors, particularly commercial and landowner elites in mid-sized cities, play an important role in the expansion and improvement of road networks. In Brazil, lobbying by private interests played a big role in the development of Rodovia Transamazônica and BR-319.
- In Brazil, agribusinesses exert political power via the Frente Parlamentar da Agropecuária (FPA), often referred to as the Bancada Ruralista, a multi-party congressional voting bloc.
- One of the most significant accomplishment of the ruralistas was their 2012 campaign to modify Brazil’s the Forest Code. Changes included amnesty for property owners who had illegally deforested land before 2008 and adjusted requirements to reforest portions of landholdings that had exceeded legal deforestation limits.
Brazil’s Amazon shipping plan faces criticism for environmental and social impact
Brazil is set to approve a controversial expansion of 2,000 kilometers, or more than 1,200 miles, of new shipping channels in the Amazon. With a price tag in the billions of reais, the expansion is needed to ensure cheaper, more efficient transportation of agricultural commodities out of the Amazon, the government says. But an investigation by […]
Krahô women lead Indigenous guard to protect territory in Brazil
- Indigenous women from Krahô communities in Brazil’s Tocantins state have formed a surveillance group to protect their ancestral territory from invaders.
- The thirteen Krahô Warriors received training in surveillance and carry out operations for 15 days each month.
- They plan and implement territorial protection actions based on Krahô traditions and ways of life.
- The Kraolândia Indigenous Land (TI) is under pressure from loggers, hunters, charcoal factories, and agribusinesses that surround the territory.
World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South
- 2024 was the hottest year on record, producing intense, long-lasting heat waves. Climate change-intensified extreme events last year included the formation of vast heat domes — areas of high pressure that stalled and persisted above continental land masses in Asia, Africa, South and North America, and Europe.
- Heat domes intensify unhealthy air pollution from vehicles, industry, wildfires and dust storms. When a heat wave gripped New Delhi, India, last summer, temperatures soared, resulting in unhealthy concentrations of ground-level ozone — pollutants especially unhealthy for outdoor workers.
- When climate change-driven heat, drought and record wildfires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon last year, the fires produced massive amounts of wood smoke containing dangerous levels of toxic particulates that cause respiratory disease. Indigenous people living in remote areas had little defense against the smoke.
- Intense heat also impacted Nigeria in 2024, where major dust storms and rising temperatures created conditions that helped increased cases of meningitis — a sometimes deadly disease, especially in poor areas. Escalating climate change is expected to exacerbate pollution and worsen public health in the future.
After a searing Amazon fire season, experts warn of more in 2025
- South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.
- In the Amazon, fire outbreaks grew out of control even amid a sharp reduction in deforestation rates, indicating deforesters are relying on fire as a new technique to clear land.
- Experts are urging more investment in fire prevention since the rainforest may face another intense fire season in 2025.
Conservation and the rise of corporations in the Pan Amazon
- Despite agreement on the importance of protecting the Amazon’s biodiversity, most people in the Pan Amazon depend directly or indirectly on conventional development and extractive production models.
- Investments by the extractive sector in the mid-nineteenth century were more successful because they were organized by multinational corporations with experience in managing operations in remote geographies (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname) or by state-owned corporations with practical knowledge of their own country (Brazil, Venezuela).
- In Brazil, some family enterprises evolved into complex holding companies that now finance expansion via joint ventures and international credit markets. A select few have chosen to raise capital by selling equity shares on domestic or international stock markets, although they typically retain majority control to maintain the family legacy.
Amazon communities reap the smallest share of bioeconomy profits
- Recently praised by environmentalists, governments and companies as a solution for rainforest conservation, bioeconomy has been practiced for centuries by Amazon’s traditional communities.
- Despite their key role in generating income from the standing forest, these communities continue to reap the smallest share of the profits, according to a new book.
- Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.
A deadly parasite turns jaguar conservation into a human health priority
- Analysis of jaguar droppings in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands have uncovered the presence of Spirometra tapeworms, a parasite with significant ecological and public health implications that can be dangerous to people in its larval form.
- Pantanal ranchers typically see jaguars as pests because they prey on livestock; however, conservationists aim to reframe these big cats as allies in ecological balance, as they control parasite-carrying prey and serve as vital bioindicators of the biome’s health.
- The underreporting of parasitical infections in humans caused by Spirometra reveals a gap in public health awareness in Brazil, making the discovery of the parasite in jaguars a key breakthrough toward protecting communities.
- Educational workshops and practical measures, such as electric fencing, have significantly reduced jaguar-livestock conflicts while improving community practices and promoting coexistence between humans and the big cats.
The Amazon in 2025: Challenges and hopes as the rainforest takes center stage
- The Amazon Rainforest, where next year’s COP30 climate summit will be hosted, is reeling from two consecutive years of severe drought, with major rivers at record lows, leading to water shortages and transportation disruptions for local communities.
- While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon plunged during that period, the rainforest remains under threat from land grabbing, illegal gold mining, diminishing rainfall, and outbreaks of fire, many of them ignited by criminals.
- The world’s greatest tropical rainforest has also drawn the interest of carbon traders, but evidence of fraud within some carbon credit projects unearthed by Mongabay highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in the carbon market.
- Amid all these threats, reforestation and restoration projects led by Indigenous communities and conservation organizations offer hope for a sustainable future for the Amazon.
Sea change for soy champion Brazil as it wrestles with EUDR compliance
- A dry run of a shipment of soy by commodities trader Cargill from Brazil to Europe, replicating the requirements to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), found that although the company met several requirements, it still faced other challenges.
- The EUDR, initially planned to come into effect this month and recently postponed for another year, will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas.
- To comply with the EUDR requirements, companies from the soy industry are setting up new business structures to provide 100% traceability point by point from the producer to the port, until it enters the ship, in addition to tackling logistics challenges, says the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove).
- California-based nonprofit CTrees says it’s uncertain whether the EUDR will result in a significant reduction in deforestation, and raised concerns on the potential exclusion of smallholders and local communities from the supply chain because of the difficulty of getting them to meet compliance requirements.
Rainforest Outlook 2025: Storylines to watch as the year unfolds
- As 2025 begins, the future of the world’s tropical forests hangs in the balance, shaped by a confluence of political, economic, and environmental forces.
- From the Amazon to Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin, these ecosystems play a critical role in stabilizing the planet’s climate, preserving biodiversity, and supporting millions of livelihoods. Yet, they face unrelenting threats from deforestation, climate change, and resource exploitation.
- This year promises pivotal developments that could redefine their trajectory, testing the resilience of conservation mechanisms and the resolve of global actors to prioritize sustainability.
- The stakes have never been higher for the survival of these irreplaceable landscapes.
Pioneer expedition: new findings reveal the state of the Amazonian Rivers
AMAZON RIVER, Brazil – Those who have visited the Amazon know the importance that the rivers have to the local communities, whose livelihoods depend on them. They provide drinking and cooking water, abundant fishing opportunities, and vital transportation routes for people and goods. Simply put, the rivers are the heart of life in the Amazon. […]
Brazil’s Kadiwéu force international debate about authorship of Indigenous art
- A French publisher has pushed back plans to publish a book containing drawings made by Indigenous Kadiwéu women in Brazil and gifted to French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss in 1935.
- The move followed widespread criticism that the Kadiwéu people were never consulted about the project, given the importance of drawings in their culture.
- While negotiations are now underway to ensure their participation, the incident has revived the long-running debate about copyright and the erasure of Indigenous artistic expressions.
- The Kadiwéu’s graphics, used in body painting and ceramics, are one of the most representative traditions of their culture; their main guardians are women, who now use this art as to both earn income and keep traditions alive.
Coffee agroforestry promises a path to EUDR compliance, but challenges remain
- Companies in the coffee sector have begun preparing for compliance with the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR); among them are Nespresso and commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC).
- For both companies, the pathway to regulatory alignment involves previous commitments to eliminating deforestation from their supply chains and sourcing coffee from farms employing agroforestry and regenerative agriculture methods.
- International NGOs such as the Rainforest Alliance are supporting companies and farmers in implementing best practices and meeting EUDR requirements.
- Despite considerable progress in the coffee sector, challenges remain, particularly in enforcing deforestation-free practices within supply chains, overcoming financial constraints, and distinguishing “forest” from “agroforest” through satellite imagery.
Science brings the bloom of farming to a Brazilian desert
The red landscape and enormous canyons of Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piaui state, are like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional oasis of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise, contributor Rafael Martins writes for Mongabay. In his early days in Gilbués, farmer José Rodrigues do Santos had to […]
The year in tropical rainforests: 2024
- The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems.
- Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications that this year’s loss will be markedly higher. A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon—partially offset by widespread forest fires—suggests the overall rate of loss may be lower.
- This analysis explores key storylines, examining the political, environmental, and economic dynamics shaping tropical rainforests in 2024.
Brazil’s shipping channel plans in Amazonian rivers will worsen climate change, experts warn
- Dredging and rock-blasting ever-drier rivers for new channels in Brazil might not achieve agribusiness’s goal of cheaper, year-round transport, experts warned, suggesting existing railways as price-comparable and more climate-resilient.
- Though waterway transport is promoted as lowering emissions, in fact proposed new shipping channels on the Tocantins and Madeira rivers increase carbon emissions and deforestation, experts told Mongabay.
- New shipping channel plans used old water data, stopping in 2017 for the Tocantins channel, and didn’t do climate risk projections or climate impact studies. Experts urge these studies must be done, or risk tens of billions of investments in rock-blasting and dredging river beds, leaving “ruins” and “abandoned projects.”
- An August lawsuit by federal prosecutors charges that licensing of rock-blasting and dredging in a 500-km stretch of the Tocantins River in Brazil is an illegal “trick” to circumvent legally required full environmental review of the whole Araguaia-Tocantins channel, for which an economic-technical feasibility study was never done. In March 2022, Ibama’s licensing director determined it was “unviable.”
Brazil’s Lula approves 13 Indigenous lands after much delay, promises more to come
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took almost two years to formalize the demarcation of 13 new Indigenous territories, a goal he was expected to complete within his first 100 days, much to the frustration of traditional communities who also await the promised demarcation of the Xukuru-Kariri Indigenous Territory.
- Demarcation processes in Brazil depend on the willingness of the federal administration and often take more than 30 years to complete; none were completed under Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
- For traditional communities, this long wait is often marked by violence and prejudice, as outsiders coveting their land and resources mount invasions and land grabs.
- Lula blamed the delay on a controversial bill passed by pro-agribusiness legislators, designed to make it harder for Indigenous communities to claim territory, but has promised to speed up demarcations over the next two years.
Brazil’s big push for tropical forest funding gets support for 2025 debut
- As host of 2025’s COP30 climate summit, Brazil is working on two complementary finance mechanisms, hoping to reward tropical forest conservation worldwide.
Both rely on the concept of investing money and using profits for forest protection.
- Twelve countries, including Brazil, are currently discussing the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) framework, which is expected to be concluded by next January.
- Its sister initiative, the Tropical Forest Mechanism (TFM), proposes that highly polluting industries donate a minimum fraction of their annual earnings to forest conservation.
Across continents, Mongabay fellows share insights from reporting in the field
- Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows spend six months diving into climate, science and environment reporting — and gaining insights that shape the way they approach their work as environmental journalists.
- In this essay, three recent fellows share some of the biggest lessons they learned through the reporting they published during the fellowship.
- As these reflections from India, Brazil and Nigeria show, there are many areas of overlap experienced among communities across regions and continents.
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.
Unlike: Brazil Facebook groups give poachers safe space to flex their kills
- A new study shows how openly poachers in Brazil are sharing content of dead wildlife, including threatened and protected species, on Facebook.
- It found 2,000 records of poaching on Brazilian Facebook groups between 2018 and 2020, amounting to 4,658 animals from 157 species from all over the country.
- Data suggest there were trophy hunts, meant only to show off hunting hauls rather than being done for subsistence or a consequence of human-wildlife conflict.
- The study highlights the impunity for environmental crimes and the easy dissemination of content related to illegal practices on social media networks in Brazil.
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.
Brazil passes law to cap emissions and regulate carbon market
Brazil has passed a law to cap greenhouse gas emissions from companies and set up a nationwide system to trade carbon credits. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the landmark bill Dec. 12. “The main goal of the law is to position Brazil as a leader in protecting the climate system for the benefit […]
Brazil paper and pulp industry invests in blockchain to comply with EUDR
- Brazil’s paper and pulp industry says the European Union’s deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), which will come into effect in late 2025, won’t affect the sector’s operations, which has already traced its supply chains “from farm to factory” for more than two decades and doesn’t source from illegal deforested areas.
- The EUDR will require suppliers to prove that their products exported to the EU aren’t sourced from illegally deforested areas; in Brazil, experts say it will help halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
- To fulfill some specific EUDR requirements, companies need to invest in blockchain and other technologies, which could increase the cost per ton of pulp by up to $230, according to the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá).
- The EUDR postponement was received differently by the industry and experts: While Ibá says it would allow “a smoother and more effective implementation,” given some aspects that need improvement from the EU Commission, deforestation experts say there is no time to wait, as deforestation continues and the climate crisis gets worse.
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.
Water returns to Amazon rivers amid historic drought
The Amazon River and its tributaries, which make up the largest freshwater basin in the world, are showing signs of recovery after dropping to record-low levels between September and November 2024. Abnormally low rainfall and high temperatures across the Amazon caused water levels to plummet, shutting down river transport, isolating communities and leaving industries without […]
Communities warn of threat to ecosystems from Brazil bridge project
- Islanders and experts have warned of widespread environmental and social impacts from the construction of a bridge linking the Brazilian city of Salvador with the island of Itaparica in Todos os Santos Bay.
- Critics say the project will devastate mangrove forests and coral reefs, leading to environmental imbalance, compromising fishing communities and threatening the survival of many marine species including humpback whales and sea turtles.
- Proponents say the bridge will boost development in the region, in particular transporting agricultural produce, but islanders say the anticipated population surge on Itaparica will create unsustainable pressure on public services as well as drastically change the dynamics of the community living there.
- Experts say the best solution for improving transportation links between Salvador and Itaparica is to invest in the existing ferry system, but this option wasn’t considered by planners.
Brazil natural landscape degradation drives toxic metal buildup in bats
- Bats play a crucial role in tropical regions as pollinators, seed dispersers and agricultural pest controllers. But they are exposed to a wide range of threats, pollution among them.
- Two recent papers show how natural landscape transformation and degradation, due to pasture and crop monoculture creation and mining in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, can increase bioaccumulation of toxins and heavy metals in bat populations, leading to potential health impacts.
- Over time, this toxic accumulation could increase the likelihood of local bat extinctions and the loss of vital ecosystem services. The toxic contamination of these landscapes also poses a concern for human health, researchers say.
- These findings are likely applicable to bats living in other highly disturbed tropical habitats around the world, researchers say.
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.
The uncertain future of Amazon river dolphins amid historic drought
- This year, the drought in Amazon rivers is already worse than in 2023, when 209 pink and grey river dolphins were found dead in Lake Tefé, in Amazonas state, largely due to overheating of the waters.
- To avoid a new tragedy, local organizations have taken action in advance, establishing emergency operations with stronger monitoring, staff training and equipment acquisition.
- However, no dolphin deaths due to heat stress have been recorded this year; instead, dozens of carcasses of aquatic mammals have appeared in Amazon lakes as a result of another sinister effect of drought: increased interactions with humans.
Pesticide exposure drives up rural women’s cancer risk in Brazil farming belt
- A study has found that women exposed to pesticides during farm work in Brazil’s Paraná state have a 60% higher risk of developing breast cancer, and a 220% higher risk of metastasis.
- While they don’t typically spray the pesticides, these women are responsible for cleaning the equipment and clothing used to do it, during which they rarely wear personal protective equipment.
- The study found glyphosate, atrazine and 2,4-D in urine samples from rural women; health and regulatory agencies consider these three pesticides as possibly or probably carcinogenic.
- Brazil has one of the most permissive pesticide markets in the world, where levels of exposure to chemicals like glyphosate are several times higher than in more strictly regulated jurisdictions such as the European Union.
Certified ethanol produced in Brazil for global airlines linked to slave labor
- Fuel produced from sugarcane in Brazil has become a strategic option for decarbonizing the aviation sector.
- But companies operating in this business have been linked to recent reports of labor abuses on sugarcane farms, a new report from Repórter Brasil shows. The rise in reports of labor abuses is partly attributed to the growing outsourcing of labor for planting.
- Workers hired via subcontractors lived in poor conditions without basic amenities, traveled long hours to reach the sugarcarne fields, and paid for their safety equipment.
- While certifications needed to access the fuel market are meant to protect workers, experts says certifiers are not doing enough to ensure fair working conditions and pay.
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