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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.
New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon
- A new study of Colombia’s lowland forests and savannas finds that the nation may have extensive peatlands — organic wetland soils formed over thousands of years — holding as much as 70 years’ worth of Colombia’s carbon emissions. Protecting them from agricultural development is essential to preventing greenhouse gas releases.
- Researchers made peatland estimates by taking sediment cores in 100 wetlands, quantifying peat content, then building a model to predict locales for other peat-forming wetlands using satellite imaging. Peat was found in unexpected ecosystems, such as nutrient-poor white-sand forests, widespread in northern South America.
- Sampling in many locations was only possible due to the ongoing but fragile peace process between the Colombian government and armed rebel groups. In some places, security has already deteriorated and further sampling is unsafe, making this study’s scientific estimate a unique snapshot for now.
- Most Colombian peatlands are remote, but deforestation is intensifying along the base of the Andes, putting some wetlands at risk. Colombia’s existing REDD+ projects have been controversial, but opportunities may exist to combine payments for ecosystem services with peacebuilding if governance and security can be improved.
Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela
- Criminal groups are operating to smuggle illegal gold from the Brazilian Amazon into Venezuela, where the metal is laundered and exported overseas.
- Illegal gold traders adopted this new strategy after Brazil’s administration increased control over the metal’s commerce.
- Mongabay followed the steps of Adriano Aguiar de Castro, who, according to authorities, jumped from one gold laundering scheme to another and now is also involved with gold smuggling into Venezuela.
- The need to cross national borders brings gold trading groups closer to organized crime and poses new challenges to authorities.
In the shadow of Angel Falls: How Auyán-Tepuí sparked my reverence for nature
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing beneath Auyán-Tepuí, that towering table mountain in southern Venezuela, except to say that something in me changed. In the mid-1990s, I visited Auyán-Tepuí, part of Canaima National Park, drawn by […]
Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024
- Colombia lost 1,070 km² (413 mi²) of forest in 2024, according to data from the country’s environment ministry, representing a 35% increase from 2023.
- Illegal agriculture is thought to be the main driver behind this increase, with cattle ranching spreading inside national parks.
- The environment ministry notes that despite the increase in deforestation last year, the 2024 figure is still one of the lowest in the past 23 years.
- However, experts fear that the increase will continue in 2025 and that armed groups will continue to strengthen their hold over the Colombian Amazon, hindering the progress of conservation strategies with communities.
New refuge helps protect Amazon’s most endangered monkey, but gaps remain
Brazil designated a refuge twice the size of Manhattan near the Amazonian city of Manaus in June 2024 to protect the pied tamarin, South America’s most endangered monkey. But almost one year later, the 15,000-hectare (37,000-acre) reserve is still being implemented institutionally, and conservationists say it falls short of what the species needs to survive. […]
Ecuador communities resist Canada-backed gold mine in sacred highlands
- Indigenous and local communities in southern Ecuador are struggling to stop a Canadian gold-and-copper mining project that many community members say will largely impact the Quimsacocha páramo ecosystem while violating their rights to self-determination.
- Despite legal rulings to suspend mining operations, and referendums in which communities voted overwhelmingly against the mining project, critics say Dundee Precious Metals Inc. continues to initiate consultation with a limited number of people in favor of mining.
- According to its technical report, the Loma Large mining project approved by the Ecuadorian government will provide jobs for locals and ensure the protection of water sources and the environment. The company also says the environmental consultation process was completed, with local communities voting overall in favor of the development of the project.
- Although community leaders seek to uphold their rights defending their land and waters, they say plans to sign free-trade agreement between Canada and Ecuador is yet another blow to their hopes.
Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects
- In 2024, Bolivia’s state-owned lithium company, signed contracts worth a combined $2 billion with Russian and Chinese companies to mine lithium from Salar de Uyuni in the country’s southwest.
- Local communities already experiencing water shortages say they’re concerned the projects will divert large amounts of freshwater from agricultural lands.
- Experts have pointed out inconsistencies with the contracts, including the lack of environmental impact assessments required under Bolivian law, and the lack of community consultation.
- Bolivia holds an estimated 23 million metric tons of lithium reserves, or about a fifth of the global total, which is in growing demand for production of electric vehicle batteries.
Most frogs in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands to lose habitat by 2100: Study
Amphibians in Brazil’s Pantanal, one of the world’s largest and most biodiverse wetlands, could lose huge swaths of their habitat as the region dries out from climate change, a new study has found. Researchers studied the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB), which stretches into parts of Paraguay and Bolivia and fully contains the Pantanal. Of […]
Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged
- In 2018, Argentina charged the former director of the country’s glacier research institute and three former environment secretaries with abuse of authority that allegedly led to a toxic cyanide spill at a gold mine in the country’s San Juan province.
- Seven years later, the four officials have not yet been tried and officials have not provided an explanation for the delay.
- Fellow scientists came to the director’s defense at the time, saying he followed international standards in his work and was being scapegoated even as the mine owner, Canadian company Barrick Gold, evaded responsibility.
- Meanwhile, affected community members still live with the effects of the spill that contaminated their water sources and affected biodiversity, livestock and agricultural production.
Fake documents, real deforestation drive global trade in illegal Amazon timber
- A report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) tracked the equivalent of 1,828 shipping containers of illegal wood sourced in the state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Nearly 3% of this timber was exported to U.S. and European companies, violating commercial rules forbidding illegal timber imports into those markets.
- One of the most coveted species by international markets is ipê, a tropical hardwood whose price increases twentyfold along the supply chain.
- Exports point to flaws in the Brazilian tracking system and impunity for offenders as the main reasons for the persistent widespread illegality of logging.
Sheinbaum’s energy agenda under fire as Mexican activists slam LNG megaproject
- A controversial project bringing U.S. liquefied natural gas through the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the Gulf of California continues to face strong resistance from environmental activists.
- Critics of the Saguaro energy project say the pipeline, associated infrastructure and increased industrialization will harm the biodiversity of the gulf, which hosts 85% of Mexico’s marine mammal species and one-third of the world’s dolphin and whale species.
- Energy analysts say the pipeline will increase Mexico’s dependence on U.S. fossil fuels and further delay energy transition goals, despite President Claudia Sheinbaum’s electoral promises to boost investments in clean energy.
- Environmentalists say they’re worried about the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, with methane being especially problematic due to its high global warming potential.
Illegal gold mining creeps within a kilometer of Amazon’s second-tallest tree
- Prosecutors in Brazil’s Amapá state have warned of an illegal gold mine operating just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from second-highest known tree in the Brazilian Amazon — an 85-meter (279-foot) red angelim.
- Illegal gold miners have been moving into Amapá in the wake of federal raids on mining hotspots in other parts of the Brazilian Amazon, including the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous territories.
- A surge in the gold price has fueled the miners’ destructive potential and their capacity to open new areas in highly isolated places.
Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory
- An ongoing Brazilian government operation launched in February has removed between 1,000 and 2,000 illegal head of cattle from the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in the Amazon Rainforest.
- In June 2024, Mongabay published the results of a yearlong investigation, revealing that large portions of the Arariboia territory have been taken over for commercial cattle ranching, in violation of the Constitution; the project received funding and editorial support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.
- “Your report is very similar to what we’re actually finding in the field. It showed an accurate reality and this helped us a lot in practical terms,” Marcos Kaingang, national secretary for Indigenous territorial rights at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, told Mongabay in a video interview.
- The investigation also revealed details that authorities said they hadn’t been aware of, including the illegal shifting of the territory’s border markers, Kaingang said: “We brought it up as an important point in our discussions and we verified that the [markers] had in fact been changed.”
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.
For scandal-ridden carbon credit industry, Amazon restoration offers redemption
- As REDD projects around the world face setbacks, restoration projects in the Amazon are flourishing as a means of reviving market confidence in forest-based carbon credits.
- In Brazil, the golden goose for restoration, this business model has attracted companies from the mining and beef industries, banks, startups, and big tech.
- Federal and state governments are granting public lands to restoration companies to recover degraded areas.
- Restoration projects require substantial investments and long-term commitment, face challenges such as increasingly severe fire seasons, and deal with uncertainty over the future of the carbon market.
Jaguar tourism in Brazil’s Pantanal needs new rules to avoid collapse: Study
Jaguar tourism in Porto Jofre, a remote outpost in the Pantanal wetlands of western Brazil, has become so successful that researchers now say it needs new rules to survive. Brazil’s Pantanal is home to the second-largest population of jaguars (Panthera onca) in the world (after the Brazilian Amazon). An estimated 4,000-6,000 of the big cats […]
What pushes Indigenous Munduruku people to mine their land in Brazil’s Amazon?
- The involvement of Munduruku people in illegal mining inside the Munduruku Indigenous Territory made Brazil’s efforts to stop it more complicated, federal officials said.
- Munduruku sources told Mongabay that deception, abandonment by the state and a lack of alternative income sources are what push some Munduruku people to mine.
- The recruitment of Indigenous peoples is an important mechanism used by miners to secure access to lands and gain support against government crackdowns, researchers said.
- Sources said the government should invest in public policies and alternative income projects to strengthen food security, improve health and the sustainable development of communities.
Colombia’s green transition should be inclusive: Interview with Susana Muhamad, former environment minister
- Colombia’s first leftist government “has been successful in some aspects” of its environmental agenda, but needs more economic diversification and cohesion between economic actors and the government, former environment minister and COP16 president Susana Muhamad tells Mongabay.
- In an interview shortly after her resignation in March, Muhamad calls for legalizing coca, ending some harmful subsidies for fossil fuels and agriculture, and applying a stricter regime for approving environmental licenses.
- She also celebrates the establishment of the Cali Fund and the empowerment of Indigenous peoples at COP16, saying the next steps should be to launch a global campaign to encourage private companies to contribute more toward biodiversity goals.
- Muhamad also praises the 22-year record-low deforestation rate in 2022, which was followed by a subsequent increase as armed groups continue to drive forest loss; she says the Amazon should be a key focus for the new environment minister and that Colombia “should have zero deforestation.”
Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon (commentary)
- In this commentary, Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo of the Igarapé Institute examine Brazil’s escalating forest fire crisis, highlighting a record 237,000 fires in 2024 that devastated over 30 million hectares of vegetation—most of it in the Amazon—and triggered a national environmental emergency.
- Muggah and Szabo underscore the alarming interplay between human-driven deforestation, climate change, and increasingly severe El Niño and La Niña events, warning that parts of the Amazon may tip into savanna if trends continue.
- While Brazil is pursuing a range of responses—including new technologies, indigenous fire brigades, and international cooperation—Muggah and Szabo stress the need for systemic solutions backed by smart policy, inclusive governance, and innovative financing to truly curb the crisis.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.
Lithium Triangle mining may strain water sources more than expected, study says
- Measuring water availability for lithium extraction can still be unpredictable, especially in the high-altitude Lithium Triangle in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.
- Current models can overestimate how much water is available, potentially exacerbating scarcity for local communities, according to a new study in Communications Earth and Environment.
- The study suggests using a more accurate model as well as improving transparency and resources for gathering observational data where lithium is being extracted.
Colombian farmers switch from coffee to cacao as temperature and prices soar
- Due to rising temperatures and climate change, small-scale coffee farmers in Colombia are increasingly planting cacao.
- Cacao faces fewer immediate challenges compared to coffee, which is prone to pests and diseases, and can integrate well into agroforestry systems. However, agronomists warn that the switch to cacao can lead to clearing forests and increasing chemical inputs in order to expand existing plantations.
- Higher profits, the high prices of cacao in the market, and the increasing expenses needed to manage coffee crops are also factors pushing small-scale farmers towards the switch.
- Although coffee remains Colombia’s most important agricultural product, cacao is emerging not just as an alternative, but as a defining crop in Colombia’s evolving agricultural future, say agronomists.
After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands
- Brazil’s Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.
- On the same day, the Federal Attorney General’s Office presented a draft presidential decree also excluding mining activities on Indigenous territories but allowing tourism and other activities led by Indigenous communities.
- Both drafts would keep contentious articles regarding compensation for non-Indigenous settlers, which could make the land demarcation process unfeasible, critics say.
- The proposals are the outcome of a yearslong legal battle centered in the highly controversial time frame thesis, aiming to nullify any Indigenous land demarcation claims to areas that weren’t physically occupied before the 1988 Constitution.
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.
Groundwater overuse puts Brazil’s river flow at risk, study finds
- A recent study reveals the potential risk of river water flowing underground in Brazil due to high groundwater extraction, which could lead to losses in streamflow.
- Researchers found a correlation between groundwater use and river flow reductions, particularly in dryland areas.
- Overexploitation of groundwater could severely affect Brazil’s agriculture, energy production, and ecosystems, with illegal and unregistered wells likely contributing to the problem.
- Experts stress the importance of improving water resource management, with calls for better hydrogeological monitoring and more localized studies to better understand the potential harms facing Brazil’s water sources.
Photos: Colombia’s Indigenous Nasa push back against cultural loss to reconnect with nature
- Ofelia Opocué, a Nasa elder, was forced to leave her community in southwestern Colombia 23 years ago, and is now reviving her culture by creating an Indigenous governing body and bringing back the Saakhelu ritual.
- The ritual celebrates life and Mother Earth, uniting Nasa people displaced by Colombia’s decades-long violent conflict through dance, music and planting seeds.
- Ofelia and her family are among the more than 5 million internally displaced people in the country, many of whom are Indigenous people.
- Indigenous communities are particularly vulnerable to cultural loss following displacement, as their cultural and spiritual practices are intricately tied to their ancestral lands, researchers say.
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.
Longer periods of drought threaten Brazilian amphibians
- According to a study, global warming will increase droughts in up to 33% of the habitats of frogs, toads and treefrogs; in Brazil, the strongest impacts will be felt on the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest — precisely those with the greatest diversity of amphibians.
- Drought and amphibians are not a viable combination: These animals depend on water and humidity to survive; without that, they may dehydrate in a few hours and die.
- The Atlantic Forest is home to more than 700 species of anuran amphibians, more than 50% of which are endemic; in the Amazon, the greatest focus of potential extinction is the Arc of Deforestation.
- In a warmer and drier climate, the question is whether there will be time for these animals to adapt or evolve over generations to survive these new conditions.
Brazilian rescue center returns trafficked animals to the wild
A wildlife rescue center in Rio de Janeiro is giving animals a second chance after they’ve been torn from the Atlantic Forest by poachers, a Mongabay short documentary showed. At the Vida Livre (Free Life) Institute, the team of volunteer veterinarians and biologists rehabilitate thousands of wild animals — from parrots with broken beaks to […]
Colombia’s coffee farmers try to balance innovation and tradition to adapt to climate change
- Researchers and coffee farmers in Colombia are trying to find strategies to adapt to unpredictable weather, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, which are disrupting Colombia’s coffee industry by fueling pests and diseases like the coffee berry borer and coffee leaf rust.
- Cenicafé, the national coffee research center, is continuously developing new hybrid coffee varieties that are resistant to diseases and climate change for farmers, but pests are evolving, requiring more research and genetic diversification.
- Some farmers are restoring the much slower traditional shade-grown coffee practices through reforestation and agroforestry, which help them access premium high-end coffee markets while tackling and adapting to climate change.
- With the limited options presented, some researchers say coffee growers must at times choose between high-yield hybrids or eco-friendly organic farming, weighing sustainability against economic survival.
A Kichwa women’s collective uses ecotourism to safeguard Ecuador’s Amazon
- Sani Warmi is a women’s collective that runs ecotourism activities and practices agroecology to generate income and conserve the Ecuadorian Amazon.
- Its members guide tourists around the traditional chacra — a diversified agroecological system — and introduce them to their traditional foods and practices.
- The group produces organic chocolate with cacao grown on a community plot and on their smallholdings and has a fish-farming project.
- These initiatives reduce the need to extract resources from the forest, protecting this area which is home to approximately 600 bird species.
Colombia’s women clam collectors protect Pacific mangroves and mollusks
- Along Colombia’s Pacific coast, women belonging to the Afro-Colombian community who harvest piangüa mollusks have united in efforts to conserve these small, black-shelled clams.
- For generations, piangüa collecting has been their livelihood, a nutrient-rich food source and important symbol of cultural heritage.
- But piangüa populations have diminished in recent years, due to commercialization and overharvesting as well as exports to Ecuador.
- The women piangüeras monitor the local mangroves, crucial to piangüa conservation, and when they observe signs of human disturbance or logging, they encourage people to leave the area alone during “rest periods” so the mangroves can recover.
Leaked data reveals decades of unreported pollution by Colombia oil giant
Colombia’s state-led oil company Ecopetrol caused more than 600 instances of major environmental damage between 2010 and 2016, according to internal data leaked by one of their former employees. Mongabay contributor Mie Hoejris Dahl reports that the leaked information suggests the company kept track of spills internally but did not adequately report them to the […]
Brazil plans new Amazon routes linking the Pacific & China’s New Silk Road
- New roads and riverways integrating the Brazilian Amazon and ports on the Pacific coast of South America are expected to be announced in 2025, reducing shipment costs to supply China.
- Brazil’s plans to build ports and roads to help move grains, beef and iron ore from the rainforest echo a development vision that dates back to the military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Environmentalists warn the new routes boost deforestation and encourage land-grabbers and ranchers to keep exploring the Amazon as a commodity hub.
Colombia creates landmark territory to protect uncontacted Indigenous groups
- Colombia has created a first-of-its-kind territory meant to protect a group of Indigenous people living between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers in the Amazon Rainforest.
- The 2.7-million-acre (1,092,849-hectare) territory is the first in the country specifically designed for people living in isolation.
- The Yuri-Passé people have faced increasing pressure from illegal mining and organized crime groups, forcing neighboring Indigenous communities to reach out to the government on their behalf.
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.
Expedition links Antarctic glacial melting to climate catastrophe in Brazil
- A team led by Brazilian researchers carried out a 70-day expedition around Antarctica to understand the melting rate of glacial ice and to see how the region is reacting to global warming.
- The changes in the landscape that the researchers encountered were shocking, leading them to predict that Brazil’s climate will be increasingly affected by warming in Antarctica.
- In the shadow of the 2024 floods, the greatest climate tragedy it has seen in history, the state of Rio Grande do Sul should prepare itself for the same sort of event to happen again within the next 30 years, they warn.
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.
Ambitious conservation projects pave the way for Argentina’s jaguar recovery
- A young jaguar that conservationists have named Tañhi Wuk has become the third male to be collared and released into Argentina’s El Impenetrable National Park as part of efforts to protect the species.
- Collaring jaguars provides vital tracking data that help in conserving their populations and preventing poaching, while also promoting coexistence with local communities through education.
- Mini, a female jaguar from Iberá National Park, will soon be translocated to El Impenetrable to boost genetic diversity and reproduction, making her the first jaguar to ever be moved between wild populations, and the first wild-to-wild translocation of any animal in Argentina.
- Conservationists are exploring ways of connecting jaguar populations across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia, aiming to enhance genetic diversity and improve survival rates for jaguars and other species 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.
Pressure bears down around uncontacted tribes at the edge of Brazil’s arc of deforestation
- A family of three isolated Indigenous people got separated from their group and ended up contacting non-Indigenous society in one of the best-preserved areas of the Brazilian Amazon.
- For more than a month, agents with Funai, Brazil’s federal agency for Indigenous affairs, have been camping near the family, helping them hunt and fish.
- The group lives on the edge of the so-called arc of deforestation, in a mosaic of conservation areas and Indigenous territories that form a green barrier to oncoming pressure from land grabbers and cattle ranchers who want the land to increase their wealth.
- Besides the impact on isolated Indigenous communities, the destruction of this part of the Amazon would affect Brazil’s rain cycle and potentially unleash new viruses and bacteria, researchers warn.
Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn
- The International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Indigenous Ayoreo communities living in isolation.
- The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, where they’re threatened by deforestation from the expanding agricultural frontier.
- GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to develop more thorough measures to protect the groups and stop deforestation.
Brazil declares environmental emergency ahead of 2025 fire season
Brazil has declared a nationwide environmental emergency to prevent another devastating fire season in 2025. In 2024, record-breaking blazes scorched millions of hectares of native vegetation in the Amazon Rainforest and other biodiversity-rich biomes. The measure, decreed by environment minister Marina Silva on Feb. 27, gives authorities extra powers and resources to nip wildfires in […]
Colombia’s top oil company concealed environmental damages: Investigation
- A newly released investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Earthworks into the workings of Colombia’s largest company, oil and gas giant Ecopetrol, reveals a pattern of environmental negligence and corporate misconduct.
- The investigation relies on the Iguana Papers, a collection of leaked documents and databases that show more than 600 instances of major environmental damages caused by Ecopetrol between 2010 and 2016. The company concealed about a fifth of these cases from the authorities, according to the report.
- The investigation also reveals that Ecopetrol maintained a database to map and monitor 1,200 individuals in areas where the company operates. Mongabay talked to environmental defenders who have felt threatened by Ecopetrol.
- Despite these findings, Colombian authorities have not responded to complaints about Ecopetrol, which continues to operate unhindered.
Ecuador must improve conditions for uncontacted Indigenous communities, human rights court rules
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that Ecuador violated numerous rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples and failed to protect them from violent attacks.
- The nomadic Tagaeri and Taromenane rely on hunting and gathering in the Amazon Rainforest, but the area has also been an attractive location for oil development and logging.
- The court ruled that Ecuador must expand protection zones where the uncontacted Indigenous communities live and improve monitoring of threats in those areas.
‘Unprecedented’ Supreme Court bill threatens Indigenous rights in Brazil
- Presented in February by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, a draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities on their ancestral lands and adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process.
- Critics say the Supreme Federal Court’s act is “unprecedented” in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect Indigenous and minorities’ rights — as dictated by the Constitution.
- The move comes months after the same court decided those Indigenous rights couldn’t be stripped by a legislative bill, with the support of Mendes.
- Critics say the bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples” and “directly contradicts the Brazilian Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court itself and international human rights law.”
Esmeraldas oil spill in Ecuador devastates rivers and wildlife refuge
A massive oil spill in Ecuador, in the northwestern Esmeraldas province, has covered multiple rivers and a key wildlife refuge in thick, black sludge, impacting more than half a million residents. A rupture appeared in a 500-kilometer (310-mile) pipeline operated by the state-owned oil company Petroecuador on Mar. 13, according to a statement by the […]
Planned port project threatens protected Amazonian mangrove biodiversity and local livelihoods
- The proposed Alcântara Port Terminal in Brazil’s northeastern state of Maranhão is set to be constructed within the Reentrâncias Maranhenses, a protected mangrove area and Ramsar site on the Amazonian coast.
- Researchers and local Quilombola residents fear the port will impact the area’s protected wetlands and cause a disturbance to breeding bird colonies and marine species.
- The construction of the port will destroy several freshwater lagoons found within the island, sea turtle nesting grounds, and the fishing areas of the local communities.
Officials share strategies to stop spread of illegal miners from Munduruku land
- An eviction operation to remove illegal miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory has been underway since November 2024.
- While the actions so far have led to a reduction in illegal mining, Munduruku organizations and officials have raised concerns that miners will return or migrate to conservation units once security forces withdraw — as is common.
- Researchers and federal officials said the government should maintain a long-term presence in territories, as well as carry out actions to target high-level criminals and implement a recovery plan to ensure Indigenous peoples involved in mining have other options.
- A leader of the federal task force told Mongabay the National Public Security Force and Funai will remain in the region with patrol actions and the other agencies will carry out inspection and control actions to prevent the miners from trying to return.
The rough road to sustainable farming in an Amazon deforestation hotspot
- Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.
- Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.
- Despite the bioeconomy buzz, people working on the ground say they miss support from banks and public administrations.
Scientists study plant restoration in Argentina’s deserts
- In Argentina’s Neuquén province, local laws require that when oil companies decommission a drilling site in the Monte Desert, they dig furrows across the site to promote plant growth, a form of assisted natural regeneration (ANR). However, research has never tested its effectiveness until now.
- A study that compared 16 of these sites with undisturbed desert found that after five years, restored sites still had much lower plant density, diversity and plant coverage. However, the researchers were surprised by the relatively high number of species at the sites and by the unexpected success of certain plant species.
- Experts say that future research should focus on the microbiome in these soils, which plays an important role in desert plant communities, and more active efforts that complement passive techniques like ANR.
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 […]
A closer look at the unknown Brazilian fox
CORUMBAÍBA, Brazil — The hoary fox (Lycalopex vetulus) is a small canid found only in Brazil. Although commonly seen running across the open grasslands of the Brazilian Cerrado, surprisingly little is known about the species. Researchers Fernanda Cavalcanti and Frederico Lemos have spent the past two decades working to change that. Their shared passion for […]
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 crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku Indigenous land sees success, but fears remain
- Government efforts to evict illegal miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon so far have led to a reduction in illegal mining, according to government officials and Munduruku organizations.
- Since the operation began in November 2024, agents have destroyed 90 camps, 15 vessels and 27 heavy machinery, in addition to handing out 24.2 million Brazilian reais ($4.2 million) in fines.
- While there has been some interruption to mining in the region, Munduruku organizations said the operation has not been completely effective, as there are still some invaders and machinery in certain areas of the territory.
- A Munduruku source told Mongabay they are worried that miners will return once security forces withdraw and also, without alternative income sources, Indigenous people involved in mining will have no option but to continue.
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