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Indigenous delegates at the U.N. raise alarm for isolated peoples in the Amazon
- Indigenous delegates at the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called attention to the threats faced by Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact, or PIACI.
- Isolated peoples are affected by the exploitation of natural resources in their territories, drug trafficking, logging, and other illegal economies.
- Indigenous peoples and organizations at the forum urged states to adopt a territorial corridors initiative and to implement policies, standards and cross-border mechanisms to secure their territories and rights.
- There are 188 records of isolated Indigenous peoples in South America, however national governments officially recognize 60.
Indigenous women in Peru lead wildcat conservation initiative
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The queuña forests in Peru, once covering vast stretches of the mountains, have dwindled to a mere fraction of their former glory, leaving behind a landscape where biodiversity and water security hang in the balance. This ecological collapse […]
Meet the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
- Each year, the Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots activists from each of the six inhabited continental regions.
- The 2025 prize winners are Semia Gharbi from Tunisia, Batmunkh Luvsandash from Mongolia, Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika from Albania, Carlos Mallo Molina from the Canary Islands, Laurene Allen from the United States and Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari from Peru.
Nature protection is part of fundamental law in Amazon countries
- The constitutions of Pan Amazon countries contain at least one article on the state’s obligation to protect the environment.
- Brazil’s 1988 Constitution was the first in the Pan Amazon to include access to a healthy environment as a basic human right.
- Ecuador constitutionally recognizes the rights of nature or of Mother Earth (Pachamama).
Indigenous aguaje tree climbers bring down profits in Peru’s Amazon — sustainably
- The aguaje, a tropical palm tree that grows in peatlands and other wetland areas in tropical South America, produces oval-shaped fruits that can be consumed raw or processed to make beverages, soap, oils and other products.
- The discovery of its market potential in the 1990s led to destructive harvesting and genetic degradation as people filed to palm swamps in the Peruvian Amazon to collect the fruits.
- Sustainable harvesting techniques, such as climbing the aguaje tree to collect the fruit instead of cutting it down, have taken hold in local communities that previously cut down the trees.
- Transportation, the lack of phone and internet connections, the impact of climate change on ecological processes and the lack of a secure market to sell aguaje fruits remain a challenge for communities.
Tree rings reveal mercury pollution from illegal gold mining: Study
New research has found that some tropical trees in the Peruvian Amazon can be used to monitor mercury pollution from gold mining, offering an alternative to expensive air monitors. Roughly 16 million people worldwide engage in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, much of which is illegal due to environmental and human health concerns. In many […]
Despite improvements, governance in the Pan Amazon falls short
- Despite major progress in the last 50 years, nations in the Pan Amazon are still struggling to forge positive social and economic change and tackle corruption, which has negative impacts on the environment.
- While countries in the Pan Amazon are working to slash deforestation and protect biodiversity, the fragmentation and degradation of the region’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems continues.
- Many NGOs in the region support Amazon conservation and research, but their fragmented efforts cannot replace the work of government agencies.
Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- On Dec. 22, 2024, a pipeline leak at the New Talara Refinery in northern Peru spilled oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating 10 kilometers (6 miles) of coastline in black.
- Three days later, the Peruvian environment ministry declared a 90-day environmental emergency, paralyzing tourism and work for more than 4,000 artisanal fishers.
- Now, more than three months later, the fishers have returned to work on a sea dominated by the oil industry. They say the compensation they received from the refinery owner, state-owned oil company Petroperú, is insufficient and they are seeking more.
- For its part, the company says it has met its commitments.
Locals debunk myths linking endangered pink river dolphins to ‘love perfumes’
A colonial-era myth about endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon has led to a false belief that perfumes or pusangas made from their body parts are potent love potions. According to a recent Mongabay documentary, the myth has created a market for the perfumes, further endangering the dolphins. The film, released in February, follows […]
Peru’s rare peatland swamps at risk as illegal gold mining expands
- Gold mining in Madre de Dios, Peru, is destroying rare peatland swamps that serve as critical carbon sinks, a new study found.
- The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, used 35 years of NASA Landsat satellite data to track the spread of gold mining.
- It found that more than 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of peatland have been destroyed by mining over the last 35 years, with over half of it occurring in the last two years.
- At least 63 out of 219 peatland areas have been affected by mining, putting more than 10,000 hectares (about 25,000 acres) at immediate risk, with the possibility that as much as 14.5 million metric tons of carbon could be released into the atmosphere, the study said.
Pirates of the Pacific terrorize artisanal fishers on the Peruvian coast
- For more than 15 years, artisanal fishers in the Tumbes region of northwestern Peru have been plagued by an evil that seems straight out of an adventure book: pirate attacks.
- But this is no fiction: more than 20 fishers have been killed in the past 21 years during pirate attacks.
- To date, no one has been tried or even arrested for these crimes.
- Although the police dismantled a pirate gang in 2018, the situation hasn’t improved significantly, and fishers are forced to pay protection fees to the pirates.
Drowned lands and poisoned waters threaten Peru’s campesinos and their livestock
- Peru’s Lake Chinchaycocha, also known as Lake Junín, and its endemic species are under threat in part due to environmental problems caused by mining activities, hydroelectric power operations, the discharge of urban wastewater and the overexploitation of resources.
- Campesino communities nearby have lived for decades with this contamination, which they blame for killing so much livestock that one community had to open a cemetery specifically for animals.
- For several months a year, due to the flooding by the nearby dam, homes and pastures are inundated with contaminated water, forcing residents to migrate to higher ground.
- Studies have confirmed the presence of heavy metals in the water exceeding environmental quality standards, but there haven’t been any studies yet linking this to human and livestock health impacts in the region.
How Peruvian cockfighters could tip the scales for endangered sawfish
- In Peru, where cockfighting is not only legal but regarded as an important cultural practice, cockfighters have long brought their roosters to fight wearing sharp spurs fashioned from the “teeth” of sawfish.
- The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), the only sawfish that lives in Peru, is incredibly rare and considered critically endangered.
- Advocates for the species both within and outside the sport have increasingly realized that cockfighting plays a role in preventing or hastening its demise in Peru and are working to eliminate sawfish spurs from the sport.
- Although trade in sawfish parts is now illegal in Peru, times are tough for the country’s artisanal fishers. Experts worry that demand for sawfish spurs could drive more sawfish killings than the species can support.
5 takeaways from the 2022 Repsol oil spill in Peru
- On Jan. 15, 2022, the largest oil spill in Peruvian history occurred when a pipeline broke during the offloading of oil from a tanker to a refinery owned by the Spanish company Repsol.
- 11,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the ocean off the coast of Callao, near Lima. It sullied miles of beaches, killed untold marine animals and upended the livelihoods of thousands of fishers.
- Three years later, the consequences of the tragedy persist, even as the oil industry’s activities along the coast of Peru continue to cause environmental disasters.
- These are the latest details of the case, which has continued to affect Peru’s marine ecosystem and the fishers who depend on it to survive.
Plastic pollution cuts into fishers’ livelihoods in Ecuador and Peru
- A new study in Peru and Ecuador has found that artisanal fishers are losing revenue due to prolific plastic pollution in the ocean.
- Researchers surveyed 1,349 artisanal fishers in Ecuador and Peru and found that the more waste generated locally, the greater the financial losses.
- This is reflected in the national economy, with losses in Ecuador and Peru’s domestic product from fisheries.
- The study is part of the Pacific Plastic: Science to Solutions initiative, which is represented on an intergovernmental committee currently negotiating a treaty on plastic pollution.
Chinese business in the Amazon generates controversy
- In recent years, several corruption scandals emerged, involving Chinese companies and businessmen in the Pan Amazon region.
- In countries like Bolivia, they were found to have bribed authorities to obtain benevolent licenses, including the sale of shares in the state-owned YPFB. In Peru and Ecuador, manipulation of the contracting system to benefit the Chinese company was reported.
- Countries that have been more successful in tackling corruption have in place better governance systems, stronger institutions and judicial systems.
World Water Day: 3 stories of resistance and restoration from around the globe
More than 2 billion people around the world live without access to safe drinkable water, as rivers, groundwater, lakes and glaciers face continued threats of pollution and overexploitation due to urbanization, environmental destruction, and climate change. This World Water Day, Mongabay looks back at some of its coverage from 2024 on how local communities are […]
Future for Nature Award 2025 winners conserve frogs, pangolins, dwarf deer
Three young conservationists were recently named winners of the 2025 Future For Nature (FFN) Awards for their initiatives to conserve amphibians, pangolins and Andean wildlife. The winners will each receive 50,000 euros ($54,000), FFN said in a statement. “Working in conservation can be tough,” Anthony Waddle, the winner from Australia, told Mongabay by email. “We […]
More Indigenous peoples request consultation as controversial road paves through Peru’s Amazon
- An ongoing federal highway construction project in Peru threatens Maijuna, Kichwa, Bora and Huitoto peoples’ lands and two protected areas, according to Indigenous residents, local organizations and legal experts.
- Many fear the highway will bring invasions, social conflicts, increased crime and environmental damage to the Peruvian Amazon.
- Not all communities oppose the project, but they agree that the government must carry out prior consultation processes that it has failed to do in all but one community so far.
- Legal experts have also called into question the government’s decision to divide the project into four parts, which they say is a mechanism used to obscure impacts and fast-track approvals.
Brazil’s Lava Jato investigation: the biggest corruption scandal of the last decade
- The federal investigation Lava Jato destabilized Brazil’s governments and political class, as it revealed that private interests mixed with government corruption worked to defraud Petrobras, the country’s largest enterprise.
- Although a vast majority of those arrested were convicted of fraud, bribery and money laundering, the losses were in the millions for both the state-owned Petrobras and the 13 companies involved in the scheme.
- At the same time, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht actively participated in developing infrastructure in Peru, overcharging the government by at least US$283 million on contracts between 1998 and 2015. The deals into question include high-profile infrastructure projects in the Peruvian Amazon.
Brazil’s SUDAM scandal, a case of government-backed deforestation
- Crimes against the Amazon can also be perpetrated from government offices. In the case of Brazil, a sophisticated mechanism allowed in the late 1990s the embezzlement of millions of dollars and contributed to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Phantom companies, technical assistance for theft, fictitious loans and fraudulent reports supported the legality of the operations and consultancies of those agricultural or plantation ‘ventures’ in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The investigation, focused on activities carried out between 1997 and 1999, identified more than 150 high-value, fictitious investments. Civil lawsuits were filed against involved businessmen, public officials and legal entities, demanding compensation for damages to the public treasury.
Yaku Raymi: The Quechua Ritual to Save a Glacier
SANTA FE, Peru — What happens when a glacier dies? In the community of Santa Fe, in Peru, water is disappearing, animals are dying due to a lack of pasture and rainfall has become sporadic. The community members know that climate change is affecting the apu, or mountain god, but they say that transforming a […]
New setbacks for Peruvian Amazon reserve put uncontacted tribes at risk
- Since 2003, Indigenous organizations have been calling for the establishment of Yavarí Mirim, an extensive reserve for hundreds of isolated Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon.
- The reserve is heavily disputed by extractive industries for its logging and oil and gas drilling potential.
- Experts are concerned that a recent delay will endanger Indigenous groups, as their territory is increasingly encroached on by loggers and illegal drug traffickers.
World Wildlife Day 2025: What I learned speaking spider monkey
- Paul Rosolie is an American conservationist and author. His 2014 memoir, Mother of God, detailed his efforts to protect a tract of forest in Peru through his organization, Junglekeepers.
- In this commentary, Rosolie writes about a recent experience rescuing a spider monkey, which was struggling to stay afloat in a river.
- Rosolie describes the moment as one of profound communication. Through these encounters, he highlights the intelligence, emotion, and vulnerability of wildlife, urging us to recognize our role as stewards of the natural world before it is lost.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Pause to USAID already having impacts on community conservation in the Amazon
- U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid funding during his first day in office, affecting hundreds of sustainability, health and environmental programs worldwide.
- The funding pause will impact environmental projects in the Amazon Rainforest, including community-led conservation projects that halt deforestation, and may put the safety of environmental defenders who depend on security assistance from USAID in jeopardy, say sources.
- Indigenous leaders told Mongabay that programs in their territories were frozen immediately and they are yet to receive any information about what happened and if the projects will ever resume.
- Some conservationists and Indigenous leaders said USAID funding has also led to issues within communities and countries, like political interference, and that the funding pause highlights the dangers of dependency on foreign aid.
Vicuña poop creates biodiversity hotspots as glaciers retreat rapidly
- The vicuña, a wild relative of the llama, could help reestablish plants in barren areas where glaciers have melted, according to a recent study in the high Andes of Peru.
- As vicuñas tend to poop in the same places, they establish communal latrines where soils have much higher moisture, organic matter, nutrients and microorganisms than surrounding areas formerly covered by ice.
- Researchers say they believe these more nutrient-rich soil patches can speed up plant colonization by as much as a century and provide refuge for plant species moving uphill as temperatures increase.
- Peru is losing its glaciers at a worrying speed, with research pointing out that in the Central Andes, between 84% and 98% of their glaciers might disappear by 2050.
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. […]
In the high Andes, a dream to restore a special forest takes root
- In 2024, the United Nations recognized seven landmark projects worldwide as outstanding examples of success under its ongoing Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).
- One of them was Acción Andina (Andean Action), an initiative that has launched 25 restoration and conservation projects focused on the high-altitude Polylepis forests of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia.
- More than 25,000 people from 200 communities have restored nearly 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of these forest and protected more than 11,250 hectares (27,800 acres) of existing woodland.
- The initiative next aims to expand into Colombia and Venezuela.
Why is this endangered dolphin being killed to make “love perfumes”? | Wild Targets
IQUITOS, Peru – The Plight of the Pink River Dolphin is a short documentary investigating the illegal exploitation of endangered pink river dolphins in the Amazon, driven by a myth about their magical properties. The film reveals how pusangas—perfumes made from dolphin oil and body parts—are sold in markets and online, despite the species being protected […]
Blob-headed fish and four mammals among 27 newly described species in Peru’s Alto Mayo
- Researchers, along with Indigenous Awajún community members have described 27 new-to-science species including a squirrel representing an entirely new genus, a semiaquatic mouse with webbed toes, a spiny mouse, short-tailed fruit bat, three new amphibians, eight new fish, a land-walking swamp eel, 10 new butterflies, and two new dung beetles.
- The 38-day expedition in Peru’s Alto Mayo region used traditional survey methods and modern technology to document more than 2,000 species in an area home to many people.
- The partnership highlighted how Indigenous knowledge complemented scientific research, with Awajún community members helping locate rare species while learning scientific methods, though many “discoveries” were species their people had known about for generations.
- The Alto Mayo region faces significant deforestation pressure from farming expansion, prompting Conservation International to pursue various protection strategies including ecological restoration zones and sustainable enterprises like agroforestry.
Early results suggest communities stop logging during basic income pilot project
- An unconditional cash-transfer pilot project for Indigenous peoples in Peru’s Amazon is underway to help support families who turn to unsustainable or illegal forest activities due to economic stress and food insecurity.
- According to the latest internal assessment of the project, three communities are no longer engaging in illegal forest activities, like logging, to make ends meet.
- There are not yet any independent assessments on the conservation impacts of the two-year pilot project, which ends in November 2025.
- The impacts of a ‘conservation basic income’ for communities living near sensitive biodiversity-rich areas is under debate, and the scant available evidence can both point in favor or against it depending on the context.
Traditional ecological knowledge isn’t dying — it’s adapting and transforming (Commentary)
- Traditional ecological knowledge in the central Peruvian Amazon is not simply being lost to time, but is rather adapting and evolving to a new modern context.
- Ecotourism is providing important job opportunities for Peruvian Amazonian young adults.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily Mongabay.
Mongabay documentary spotlights Indigenous alliance to protect Amazon headwaters
Mongabay’s new short documentary The Time of Water premiered Dec. 16 at the Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture, in Spain. Directed by Pablo Albarenga and produced with support from the Pulitzer Center and OpenDemocracy, the 18-minute documentary explores the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance and its fight to protect one of the world’s most vital sources […]
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.
Photos: Top new species from 2024
- Scientists described numerous new species this past year, from the world’s smallest otter in India to a fanged hedgehog from Southeast Asia, tree-dwelling frogs in Madagascar, and a new family of African plants.
- Experts estimate that fewer than 20% of Earth’s species have been documented by Western science, with potentially millions more awaiting discovery.
- Although such species may be new to science, many are already known to — and used by — local and Indigenous peoples, who often have given them traditional names.
- Upon discovery, many new species are assessed as threatened with extinction, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts.
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.
The Time Of Water: An Alliance To Protect The Amazon Rainforest
YURIMAGUAS, Peru – The Sacred Headwaters Alliance brings together thirty Indigenous nations of the upper Amazon in Ecuador and Peru, who are self-organizing to defend a forest devastated by unchecked extraction that is rapidly consuming their territory. Their leaders are on high alert due to the devastating effects of climate change on nature, which they […]
‘Time is water’: A cross-border Indigenous alliance works to save the Amazon
- A transboundary Indigenous peoples’ alliance has been working in Ecuador and Peru to protect the Amazon Basin in the face of climate change impacts.
- Indigenous people, who have sacred connections with the Amazon River, are suffering the consequences of wildfires, extreme heat and drought, which have deeply affected water levels across the basin.
- The Sacred Headwaters Alliance is focusing on climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as on teaching younger generations to resist against the destruction of the Amazon.
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.
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.
Peru’s modern history of migration and settlement
- Four roads with an enormous impact on rural Peru were built starting in the 1970s, incentivizing migration in the second half of the 20th century to the Amazonian lowlands from the Andean foothills.
- The largest single migratory destination in the Peruvian Amazon is landlocked Iquitos; immigrants arrived there in search of jobs in the oil industry. Currently counting more than 500,000 inhabitants, Iquitos is now the largest city in the Western Amazon.
- The cultivation of coca has had major impacts on the development of Peru’s Amazonian regions. Violent clashes between armed groups searching to dominate the activity have pushed as many as 450,000 people out of their homes.
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.
‘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.
Gaps in Peru’s peatland policies harm conservation and Indigenous Shipibo: Study
- Significant inconsistencies and gaps in science and policies for peatland protection in Peru’s Imiría Regional Conservation Area have led to long-standing conflicts with Indigenous Shipibo residents who argue the regulations restrict their livelihoods.
- According to researchers, the current local conservation policies inadvertently impose adverse effects on Indigenous livelihoods and negatively impact Indigenous sovereignty, therefore exacerbating existing tensions and mistrust between conservation authorities and communities.
- The absence of scientific data and lack of mention of peatlands in the area’s master plan means locals and policymakers are unaware of the importance of the critical ecosystem and policies aren’t well-informed, the researchers warn.
- Researchers and the conservation area’s management underline the importance of scientific support and the creation of participatory and effective governance frameworks that incorporate Indigenous perspectives and a more strategic approach to conservation.
Severe drought in Peruvian Amazon isolated more than 130 Indigenous communities
- A severe drought that spread over recent months in Peru’s Loreto and Ucayali regions led to the isolation of more than 130 communities.
- Record low river levels affected the navigation of boats that deliver food and supplies as well as the health and livelihoods of communities that rely on fish for food and trade.
- Indigenous leaders from isolated communities have criticized the state for failing to deliver emergency assistance, such as drinking water and medical supplies.
- The frequency and intensity of extreme drought in the Amazon will continue to increase substantially due to climate change, experts warn.
Traditional fishers in Peru guard the coast from illegal fishing
- In Chimbote, north of Lima in Peru, fishers have been working for years to protect the Peruvian grunt (Anisotremus scapularis), a fish species in high demand for its meat, along a 1.5-kilometer (almost 1-mile) stretch of coast.
- Illegal fishing methods such as explosives have become common in this area, and the authorities have failed to deter them.
- The fishers, who use traditional methods to catch the grunt from shore, keep watch for illegal activities in the area in hopes that the species will not disappear.
Amazon Airstrips
Mongabay and Earth Genome detected 67 clandestine airstrips used for drug transport in the Peruvian regions of Ucayali, Huánuco and Pasco. The analysis used artificial intelligence to visually search through satellite information and cross-reference the results with official sources and field reports. Most of these illegal airstrips are located in and around Indigenous communities, reserves […]
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.
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.
Indigenous leaders killed as narco airstrips cut into their Amazon territories
Mongabay and Earth Genome detected 67 clandestine airstrips used for transporting drugs in the Peruvian regions of Ucayali, Huánuco and Pasco. The analysis used artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite imagery cross-referenced with official sources and on-the-ground observation to verify that each airstrip is associated with narco activity. Thirty-one airstrips are concentrated in Atalaya, which has […]
Deforestation around Mennonite colonies continues in Peruvian Amazon: Report
Satellite data and imagery confirm ongoing deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon around colonies of Mennonites, a group of highly conservative Christian communities. Mennonites, whose early history can be traced to Europe in the 16th century, are known for their large-scale industrialized agriculture. By the late 19th century, they migrated to Canada, from where they have […]
The calm before the storm: The first half of the 20th century in the Pan Amazon
- The progressive decline of the rubber boom gave way to new extractivist interests. In the case of Brazil, a new boom was led by the Brazilian nut commerce. However, rubber became again essential for tire manufacturing during World War II.
- While in 1941, the Vargas administration maintained neutrality, selling Amazon rubber to Nazi Germany, once it became a US ally in 1942, Brazil guaranteed Americans the provision of rubber, in part by subsidizing the recruitment of rubber tappers and financing infrastructure, including both airfields and road networks.
- After Peru’s rubber boom had passed, successive governments promoted European migration. In Pasco, European settlers from Germany and Austria established the first coffee production landscapes in the country.
Peruvian fishers help red sea urchins recover from overfishing
- For 20 years, fishers from the district of Marcona, on Peru’s southern coast, have been recovering populations of red sea urchin, thanks to an alliance with the government.
- According to a monitoring study by the Peruvian Institute of the Sea, there are more urchins in the area where Marcona fishers work than in other areas.
- Part of the success is rooted in the spatial management of coastal areas that the artisanal fishers’ associations are applying; they are pioneers of this practice in the country.
The rubber boom and its legacy in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia
- In the Amazon, the rubber boom was facilitated by new technological developments, industrialization and political change.
- While in Brazil the rubber barons used a form of debt slavery with their workers, in Bolivia the rubber boom was dominated by pioneers from Santa Cruz who had established cattle ranches in the Beni during the nineteenth century.
- In Peru, the boom was based on the exploitation of Castilla species rather than Hevea, resulting into a much more destructive process, which developed a particularly cruel and exploitive slave-labor system.
Mining drove 1.4m hectares of forest loss in last 2 decades: Report
Global mining activity is increasingly destroying forests, including protected areas, according to a recent analysis. Between 2001 and 2020, nearly 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of tree cover, an area a third the size of Denmark, was lost from mining-related activity, the analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI) found. The associated greenhouse gas […]
$100k prize awarded in honor of ‘father of biodiversity’ Thomas Lovejoy
Two champions of Amazon Rainforest conservation have been awarded the inaugural Thomas E. Lovejoy Prize at the United Nations biodiversity summit, COP16, currently underway in Cali, Colombia. The cash prize of $100,000 each was awarded Oct. 29 to agronomy and forest engineer Marc Dourojeanni from Peru and Indigenous advocate Belén Páez from Ecuador. The prize […]
Evolution of the Pan Amazon in the post-Jesuit era
- Once the economy fostered by the Jesuits withered away, the population, now much diminished, reverted to the subsistence livelihoods that had always been a mainstay of the region.
- The pace of colonization in the Portuguese Amazon accelerated following the Jesuits’ expulsion. The Companhia de Comércio do Grão-Pará e Maranhão’s primary business model was to accelerate the African slave trade in the coastal provinces of Maranhão, but it also radically changed the economics and demographics of the Amazon floodplain.
- In the case of Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana, after the abolition of slavery, the countries imported labor from India (under the rule of the British Empire) and from the Dutch East Indies. Their shared history is more similar to that of the Caribbean than that of the Amazon.
Carbon markets must recognize Indigenous ‘high forest, low deforestation’ areas (commentary)
- “We have lived in and safeguarded our forests for generations, helping maintain biodiverse ecosystems designated as high forest, low deforestation (HFLD) areas, which are regions with historically low deforestation,” two Indigenous leaders write in a new op-ed.
- Carbon markets have mostly focused on areas with pre-existing deforestation, but communities like these with historically low deforestation need financing to support their conservation work, too, so shouldn’t HFLD regions get better access to the voluntary carbon market?
- “For too long, Indigenous and local communities who have preserved forests without compensation have been excluded from financial benefits linked to forest conservation. This is not just an environmental issue, but a matter of climate justice,” they argue.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Impacts and legacies of migration across the Pan Amazon
- Although represented by only a few thousand people across 150 years, the Jesuits left a major social and cultural impact on native communities across the Pan Amazon. Their aim was to create autonomous communities based on early Renaissance concepts of equality and a spiritual vision based on the Christian Gospels. But in practice, they worked closely for the political and military interests of the colonies.
- Jesuits settled in remote places and border areas after being invited by colonial authorities interested in taking advantage of the native population’s labor force. But their arrival triggered the collapse of the Indigenous populations of the Western Amazon. Only in the late 17th century, more than 140,000 people died because of diseases brought by the outsiders.
- The success of the Jesuits and the religious colonialism that characterized the Catholic Church in the 17th century motivated other religious orders to follow similar missionary programs.
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