Articles by Genevieve Belmaker

A recent publication confirmed that inhabitants of the indigenous Nahua population, located in the Santa Rosa de Serjali community in the Ucayali Region of Peru, have high levels of mercury…

The consequences of today’s destruction of nature will mainly affect future generations. This is the premise behind the Colombian supreme court’s recent historic environmental decision: to accept the ideas presented…

ANCHIETA ISLAND, Brazil - From a distance, Anchieta Island is a mosaic of different shades of green. The lighter ones correspond to areas where ferns and a handful of broad-range…

UBATUBA, Brazil - A strip of land in southeast Brazil that straddles the space between the mountain range of Serra do Mar and the Atlantic Ocean  is arguably one of…

CAQUETÁ DEPARTMENT, Colombia — The Amazon is one of the first victims of peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). As predicted, the process of disarmament has caused…

In the Tambopata Region of the Peruvian Amazon, Manuel Huinga collects bright red seeds from the ground below a massive wild cinnamon tree, known locally as canelón. As Camino Verde’s…

Brazil's Atlantic Forest is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. However, over the last 500 years its extension has been dramatically decreasing, and today it occupies roughly 15 percent of…

There are two versions of the story, and both of them are true. In one version, Conservation International (CI) is an idealistic, energetic and challenging place to work and grow…

On April 1 the first specialized court on environmental issues was launched in Madre de Dios, Peru. The region currently has the highest number of complaints of environmental crimes in…

QUITO, Ecuador - Nearly 100 indigenous women of the Ecuadorian Amazon spent five days protesting outside the country’s Presidential Palace last week. They were demanding a meeting with President Lenin…

When evaluating a business proposition, we often consider two economic variables: revenue versus investment. If you earn 40 times what you put in, that’s quite clearly a profitable venture. This…

The struggle to protect the land and the environment in Latin America often costs lives. In 2017 alone, 116 environmental defenders were killed in the region, most of them for…

Longtime environmental activist Carol Van Strum is now also the recipient of a prestigious environmental protection award for her decades of work. Strum was awarded the international David Brower Lifetime…

A photograph of Berta Cáceres, a Honduran national who was murdered two years ago for fighting against a controversial hydroelectric project, stood out at the negotiating table in Escazú, Costa…

GAZA CITY – Red-faced and with his hair still wet, Hani Abu Amirah's grandson sobbed as he shuffled over to where she sat, looking out on the Mediterranean Sea from…

PUYO, Ecuador – About 350 Indigenous women from across the Ecuadorian Amazon gathered here yesterday to celebrate International Women’s Day, and, they say, to fight back against a system that…

CARMEN DEL DARIEN, Colombia - Community leaders in Colombia’s western Chocó are calling on the government to provide security after receiving ongoing threats from individuals they accuse of working for local…

On March 3, one community in Brazil descended from African slaves celebrated a victory they’ve waited generations for: the government entitled them with 220,000 hectares of Amazonian rainforest. The land…

BOGOTA, Colombia – "I ordered Minister Murillo to return to Guaviare tomorrow with Mindefensa (Ministry of Defense) and Prosecutor's Office to control deforestation outbreaks," President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on…

MEXICO CITY – Strolling through the forest under a canopy of pine trees along a path lined with shaggy native grass, Agustín Martínez Villarreal pauses to point out signs that…