Amazon
Habitat loss, climate change send hyacinth macaw reeling back into endangered status
Less than a decade since conservation actions helped pull the hyacinth macaw out of Brazil’s endangered species list, the iconic cobalt-blue bird is back in the red, driven there by the loss of its habitat and a changing climate. Brazil’s National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds (Cemave) updated the bird’s category, from […]
Amazon rainforest activist under threat in Brazil plans to flee his home
On May 16, Natalha Theofilo rushed her 1-year-old son to the public hospital on the Trans-Amazonian Highway in the Brazilian state of Pará. Erasmo Alves Theofilo, her husband, waited outside in his wheelchair, accompanied by his father and two neighbors. It was the first time in months that the family had left their home since […]
Indigenous communities in Colombia’s Amazon move closer to self-governance
RINCON VITINA, Colombia — In this small Indigenous reserve, or resguardo, in the Colombian department of Guainía, people tend to their cassava, plantain and pineapple crops, raise ornamental fish, and weave objects from the chiqui chiqui palm. Agriculture makes up the core of their livelihood, and for centuries the Indigenous community here has governed and […]
Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
In-person Indigenous plea leads to key Swiss gold refiners promising to stop import of gold illegally mined inside Brazilian Amazon Indigenous reserves — a pledge, if fulfilled, that may be a game changer. (Video)
In Brazil, an Indigenous land defender’s unsolved killing is the deadly norm
Tangãi Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau recalls the evening of April 17, 2020, when his brother left their village deep in the Amazon rainforest to go out for a routine motorbike ride. It was the last time Tangãi saw him alive. Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau’s body was found the next morning on the side of a dirt track in the Tarilândia […]
Deaths of Phillips and Pereira shine light on a region of the Amazon beset by violence
Authorities in Brazil have uncovered the bodies believed to be those of Dom Phillips, a British journalist, and Bruno Pereira, a prominent Indigenous rights defender. The discovery, on June 15 in the Vale do Javari region of western Brazil, comes 10 days after the pair were reported missing in the Amazon. The Vale do Javari […]
For Ecuador’s A’i Cofán leaders, Goldman Prize validates Indigenous struggle
Alexandra Narváez and Alex Lucitante, two young Indigenous leaders from the A’i Cofán community of Sinangoe, located in the Ecuadoran Amazon, have been awarded the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize for their fight against gold mining on their territory. This marks the second time that this internationally renowned prize has been awarded to Ecuadoran Indigenous leaders. In […]
For companies shopping for quality carbon credits, a new guide offers help
A new guide published in May is helping companies make smarter decisions about purchasing tropical forest credits, a strategy for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions, slowing deforestation and mitigating climate change. The Tropical Forest Credit Integrity (TFCI) guide provides support for companies seeking to purchase high-quality carbon credits, which will bring them closer to decarbonizing their […]
At 30, Brazil’s Yanomami reserve is beset by mining, malaria and mercury
Thirty years ago, Brazil issued a decree officially recognizing the ancestral land of the Yanomami people as an Indigenous territory. The new designation made the area, located deep in the Amazon, on the border with Venezuela, a protected land: it can’t be sold or exploited and may only serve as the source of livelihood for […]
Government inaction sees 98% of deforestation alerts go unpunished in Brazil
The Jair Bolsonaro presidency in Brazil has been marked by loosening regulations and budget cuts for environmental agencies, leading to soaring rates of Amazon destruction since he took office in 2019. Now, a new study quantifies what researchers call the “political negligence” of these policies, finding that nearly 98% of deforestation alerts were not investigated. […]