Articles by Karla Mendes

In a city known for the color grey because of skyscrapers and high pollution levels, the green of Jaraguá State Park’s famed Jaraguá Peak provides a welcome respite. Situated in…

One year after a tailings dam collapsed in Brazil’s southwestern state of Minas Gerais, killing 259 people and unleashing a tsunami of toxic mud, affected indigenous inhabitants are still struggling to relocate away from the polluted waters of the Paraopeba River.

Once used for leisure, navigation and fishing, almost all of the 150 small waterways, or igarapés, in the Amazonian city of Manaus are totally polluted. Experts say it could take up 30 years for them to recover, while others are considered “dead.”

Three indigenous Guajajara were killed in the last six days in the Amazonian state of Maranhão, making 2019 the country’s deadliest years for indigenous leaders in two decades. In total, 10 indigenous people were murdered so far this year; seven of them were leaders.

An area of primary forest in the Brazilian Amazon the size of Hawaii’s Big Island was cleared in the past year. Experts warn the deforestation rate could be even higher in the coming months amid lack of enforcement and deforestation preceding fires in August and September 2019.

An indigenous Guajajara leader was reported murdered by loggers Friday, adding to rising violence occurring against forest protectors under the Jair Bolsonaro government.

Soybeans from a Belgium-sized swath of unregistered farms across Brazil are being exported to China and Europe via U.S. traders, according to a newly released report that raises concerns about environmental regulations being dodged.

President Jair Bolsonaro has fired the head the country's land reform agency (INCRA), a move critics say derives from pressure from the powerful farm lobby to entitle cleared land, which should trigger further increase deforestation in the Amazon.

At least 125,000 hectares (310,000 acres) of Amazon rainforest in Brazil were cleared in 2019 and then burned this August to prepare the land for conversion to agriculture — Mongabay exclusive.

Record devastating Amazon fires trigger protests worldwide demanding Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro take action to save the rainforest or resign.

Beekeepers fear an even greater die-off from 2020 onward, as Bolsonaro government approves a swath of pesticides, including those known to be toxic to bees.

Forest fires in Brazil jumped 85 percent this year in the wake of soaring deforestation rates, environmentalists say. In the afternoon of August 19, São Paulo’s skies suddenly turned black, spurring discussion about the linkage between the fires and the phenomenon.

Displeased with rising deforestation rates and the anti-environmental policies of Pres. Jair Bolsonaro, Germany has cut funding for projects in the Brazilian Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro government, angered over rising Amazon deforestation statistics, has fired the head of INPE, Brazil’s highly regarded satellite monitoring program.

Documentary offers a glimpse of the uncontacted Awá Guajá indigenous group, who live in the highly threatened Araribóia reserve in Brazil’s Maranhão state.

Satellite imaging detects 9.3 percent decline in deforestation, a reduction totaling 1,163 hectares in the Mata Atlântica biome between 2017 and 2018.

Federal and state investigators are looking into the knifing death of Emyra Wajãpi and the alleged invasion of Wajãpi territory by heavily armed miners.