Indigenous Brazilians demand justice as 4 killed in escalating violence
Indigenous groups in Brazil are demanding justice after a spate of killings allegedly linked to land disputes left four people dead and two injured in the space of just 10…
Articles by Karla Mendes
Karla Mendes is an award-winning Brazilian journalist working as a Rio de
Janeiro-based Contributing Editor for Mongabay. She has been working as a correspondent for international outlets since 2015 and she specialized in covering environmental, land and property rights issues since 2017. She worked as a land and property rights correspondent for the Thomson Reuters Foundation between August 2017 and December 2018. Prior to that, Karla was a business reporter for over 10 years in Rio, Madrid, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte, including with newspapers O Globo, O Estado de S. Paulo, Expansión and news agency S&P Global Market Intelligence. Karla has a Master in Investigative and Data Journalism from the University of King’s College, Canada, and an MBA in finance from São Paulo’s Fundação Instituto de Administração (FIA). She is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Image by Fábio Nascimento.
Indigenous advocates sense a legal landmark as a guardian’s killing heads to trial
Three years ago, Indigenous leader Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed in an alleged ambush by loggers in the Brazilian Amazon. He was a member of the “Guardians of the Forest,”…
The war on journalists and environmental defenders in the Amazon continues (commentary)
Since I became an environmental journalist six years ago, my family, friends and acquaintances all labeled me “crazy”. Why? Because they were extremely scared after reading my articles and hearing…
‘I am Indigenous, not pardo’: Push for self-declaration in Brazil’s census
RIO DE JANEIRO — When the Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in Brazil in 1500, Pero Vaz de Caminha, a knight serving as the secretary to the…
In Rio de Janeiro, Indigenous people fight to undo centuries of erasure
RIO DE JANEIRO — Maracanã, Ipanema, the Lapa Arches, the Church of Our Lady of Glory of Outeiro … Millions of the visitors who flock to Brazil’s most famous city…
‘We are made invisible’: Brazil’s Indigenous on prejudice in the city
Mongabay starts publishing today a series of data-driven multimedia stories on Brazil’s Indigenous people living in urban areas, including the metropolitan centers of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília, showing that Indigenous people are much closer to most Brazilians than they realize
Brazil prosecutors cite Mongabay probe in new legal battle against palm oil firms
A recent Mongabay investigation into Brazil’s palm oil supply chain will be included in up to two legal actions targeting Biopalma, whose use of pesticides led to water contamination in an Indigenous reserve in the Amazon.
Déjà vu as palm oil industry brings deforestation, pollution to Amazon
A Portuguese language version of this report is published on Mongabay Brasil TOMÉ-AÇU, Brazil — Guided by an Indigenous leader, we drove down dusty roads in the Turé-Mariquita Indigenous Reserve, a…
‘Guardian of the Forest’ ambushed and murdered in Brazilian Amazon
An indigenous Guajajara leader was reported murdered by loggers Friday, adding to rising violence occurring against forest protectors under the Jair Bolsonaro government.
Brazilian Amazon fires scientifically linked to 2019 deforestation: report
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.
Germany cuts $39.5 million in environmental funding to Brazil
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.
Future of Amazon deforestation data in doubt as research head sacked
Brazil’s Bolsonaro government, angered over rising Amazon deforestation statistics, has fired the head of INPE, Brazil’s highly regarded satellite monitoring program.
New film reveals at-risk ‘uncontacted’ Awá tribe in Brazilian Amazon
Documentary offers a glimpse of the uncontacted Awá Guajá indigenous group, who live in the highly threatened Araribóia reserve in Brazil’s Maranhão state.
Deforestation drops in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, but risks remain: experts
Satellite imaging detects 9.3 percent decline in deforestation, a reduction totaling 1,163 hectares in the Mata Atlântica biome between 2017 and 2018.
Experts deny alleged manipulation of Amazon satellite deforestation data
Bolsonaro officials say Brazilian Amazon deforestation data is being manipulated, but offer no evidence. Early data, though not definitive, shows a 2019 increase in deforestation.
Brazil’s Congress reverses Bolsonaro, restores Funai’s land demarcation powers
Brazil’s National Congress has overturned changes set by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro that transferred the decision-making power of indigenous reserves demarcation to the Ministry of Agriculture. The move gives that…
‘Resisting to exist’: Indigenous women unite against Brazil’s far-right president
Indigenous women have a long leadership tradition in the Amazon and across Brazil, but perhaps never more so than since the election of Jair Bolsonaro, whose policies they oppose.
China, EU, US trading with Brazilian firms fined for Amazon deforestation: report
Soy, cattle and timber producers charged with illegal Amazon deforestation continue to trade actively with international markets and to be financed by global investors.
Brazil Supreme Court land demarcation decision sparks indigenous protest
Top court rules against request to stop Agriculture Ministry from taking over indigenous land demarcation, prompting indigenous people to hold major march on Supreme Court.
Special series
Forest Trackers
- New oil refinery ‘a huge disaster’ for Nigerian forest reserve
- The Western Indian Ocean lost 4% of its mangroves in 24 years, report finds
- Poverty-fueled deforestation threatens Kenya’s largest water catchment
- Niger Delta mangroves in ‘grave danger’ from oil spills, poverty, invasive species
Oceans
- Indonesia’s sustainable fisheries push sails into storm in Java Sea
- Java fishers struggle with seine net ban amid rising costs, falling profits
- Agulhas Current enigma: An oceanic gap in our climate understanding
- U.S. charts course for adopting ropeless fishing to reduce whale deaths
Amazon Conservation
- In the Amazon, Bolsonaro’s far right may retain power even if Lula wins
- How close is the Amazon tipping point? Forest loss in the east changes the equation
- More droughts are coming, and the Amazon can’t keep up: Study
- European bill passes to ban imports of deforestation-linked commodities
Land rights and extractives
- Activists welcome decision to revoke permit for controversial Philippine gold mine
- Can Two New Bills Reshape Indigenous Rights and Illegal Gold Mining in Suriname?
- Venezuelan Amazon deforestation expands due to lawlessness, mining, fires: Reports
- Brazil miner sees Indigenous land as ripe for exploration if protections expire
Endangered Environmentalists
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Scientists call for end to violence against Amazon communities, environmental defenders
- Indigenous advocates sense a legal landmark as a guardian’s killing heads to trial
- In Brazil, an Indigenous land defender’s unsolved killing is the deadly norm
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- ‘South Asia needs its own tiger plan’: Q&A with Nepal’s Maheshwar Dhakal
- Nepal was supposed to double its tiger population since 2010. It tripled it
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Java communities rally as clock ticks on cleanup of ‘world’s dirtiest river’
- ‘Cursed’ dam project in orangutan habitat claims 16th life in less than 2 years
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
