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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/amazon/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Amazon environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/amazon/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New studies portray Amazon as surprisingly resilient, but tipping point looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-studies-portray-amazon-as-surprisingly-resilient-but-tipping-point-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-studies-portray-amazon-as-surprisingly-resilient-but-tipping-point-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 14:31:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amanda Magnani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22045842/amazon_203232-26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326259</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three 2026 studies reveal that the Amazon can regrow quickly, but deforestation and warming could trigger a system-wide tipping point in the next 15 years.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, scientists have been trying to answer a key question: What would the Amazon rainforest look like if deforestation, climate change and fires continue? And, a follow-up question: When would that transformation happen? While several researchers have made progress on the answers over the years, a series of studies in 2026 sheds new light on the prognoses. The three reports published earlier this year examine the health of the rainforest from different angles. In April, a study published in Nature shows the Amazon heals faster than expected, but takes longer to fully recover its biodiversity after extreme events. A PNAS study, based on research conducted over two decades and also published in April, finds that the forest is more resilient to fires than anticipated and shows no sign of transitioning to savanna — a different outcome than has long been suspected. However, the researchers warn that the new ecosystems emerging from the forest recovery process are more vulnerable to future climate disturbances. In May, another paper published in Nature examines the impacts of deforestation, notably the increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts, finding that this increase could push the biome to a tipping point by 2040. Emergent rainforest tree in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay. But according to Luciana Gatti, senior researcher at Brazil&#8217;s space agency (INPE), climate in the Amazon has already changed sufficiently that typical rainforest trees no longer find the necessary conditions for survival: abundant water and mild temperatures.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-studies-portray-amazon-as-surprisingly-resilient-but-tipping-point-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fire surge in 2025 threatened isolated peoples in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/fire-surge-threatens-indigenous-livelihoods-and-isolated-peoples-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/fire-surge-threatens-indigenous-livelihoods-and-isolated-peoples-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 13:12:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/24122348/2-Firefighters-from-the-Chico-Mendes-Institute-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321761</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, fires were responsible for a significant spike in forest loss in three territories in Brazil that are home to Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, according to Global Forest Watch data analyzed by Mongabay. Indigenous leaders from the Alto Turiaçu, Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, and Apiaká do Pontal e Isolados Indigenous territories, told Mongabay that fire [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, fires were responsible for a significant spike in forest loss in three territories in Brazil that are home to Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, according to Global Forest Watch data analyzed by Mongabay. Indigenous leaders from the Alto Turiaçu, Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, and Apiaká do Pontal e Isolados Indigenous territories, told Mongabay that fire is a growing threat to their way of life and the isolated Indigenous people who share the same lands. It affects their productive practices and destroys the biodiversity and vegetation they depend on for hunting and gathering, thereby leading to food insecurity. Damage to health, such as respiratory problems caused by the smoke, is another impact frequently mentioned by sources Mongabay spoke to. “The communities suffer from health problems caused by the smoke, difficulties in mobility, and food insecurity because several planting areas are affected,” Almir Narayamoga Suruí, a Paiter Suruí Indigenous community member from the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Territory that straddles the Amazonian states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso, told Mongabay via WhatsApp. “Culturally, the impact is also very strong because the forest for us is not just a natural resource; it is part of our spirituality, our history, and our identity. When an area of the forest is destroyed, we also lose part of our memory and the traditional knowledge transmitted by our ancestors.” Mongabay looked at forest loss and its dominant drivers across territories in Brazil with recognized isolated Indigenous peoples, using Global Forest Watch (GFW) drivers data that rely on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/fire-surge-threatens-indigenous-livelihoods-and-isolated-peoples-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321761</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South America’s farms depend, in part, on a healthy Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 08:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22052817/amazon_201362-26x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321533</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystem Services, El Nino, Environment, Environmental Policy, Environmental Services, Fires, forest degradation, Forests, Hydroelectric Power, Natural Capital, Nature-based climate solutions, Precipitation, Rainforests, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Soy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; The Amazon is often described in terms of how much carbon it stores. It also moves vast amounts of water. Its trees draw moisture from the soil and return it to the air through transpiration. Some rain caught by the canopy also evaporates back into the atmosphere. That moisture falls again, some of it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; The Amazon is often described in terms of how much carbon it stores. It also moves vast amounts of water. Its trees draw moisture from the soil and return it to the air through transpiration. Some rain caught by the canopy also evaporates back into the atmosphere. That moisture falls again, some of it inside the basin and some of it far downwind. For much of South America, the forest helps sustain rainfall, farming, hydropower, and urban water supplies. A recent paper in Nature, by Nico Wunderling and colleagues, gives this hydrological role greater weight in the climate case for the Amazon. The authors used a dynamical systems model and atmospheric moisture tracking to estimate how deforestation and warming interact across the basin. Without deforestation, their model finds a critical global warming threshold of about 3.7 to 4.0 degrees Celsius, beyond which up to a third of the Amazon forest risks losing stability. When deforestation is included, the risk becomes much larger at a lower level of warming. Under deforestation of 22% to 28% of the biome and warming of 1.5 to 1.9 degrees Celsius, the model finds a near system-wide transition affecting 62% to 77% of the forest. Rain over the Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Those numbers should be treated carefully. The Amazon is not a single ecological unit. Western forests, southern forests, flooded forests, upland forests, secondary forests, and fire-damaged edges differ in species composition, rainfall, soils, and drought tolerance. A model cannot capture every&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321533</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon resilient to fire, but diversity loss still a threat, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amazon-resilient-to-fire-but-diversity-loss-still-a-threat-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amazon-resilient-to-fire-but-diversity-loss-still-a-threat-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2026 15:38:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/21110818/tiger-striped-leaf-frog-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319900</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Experiment shows the Amazon can recover after fires, but the new forest is a “poorer” version of its former self.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2024, the Brazilian Amazon faced one of the worst fire seasons in its history: 15.6 million hectares (38.5 million acres) were burned, an area the size of Portugal, of which 43% consisted of forest vegetation. According to data from MapBiomas, a collaborative network mapping land use in Brazil, the area destroyed by flames was 117% higher than the historical average. Now, a group of scientists has found a surprising capacity for forest regeneration after fires, although biodiversity loss persisted. The results were presented in a two-decade study in the southeastern Amazon that attempts to predict the risks the world’s greatest rainforest faces as deforestation, reduced precipitation and long-term droughts become more frequent. “Our study brings a message of hope,” said lead author Leandro Maracahipes, a researcher at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) in Brazil and at Yale University in the U.S. “It demonstrates that a highly degraded forest can recover even after many disturbances.” Maracahipes emphasized, however, that this regeneration gives rise to a new type of forest. “It is a new ecosystem. Although it can recover, this forest is much poorer, with a greater number of generalist species, much more vulnerable to new disturbances,” he told Mongabay. Aerial photography of the Amazon Rainforest. Image courtesy of Leandro Maracahipes. Study authors and members of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) during field research. Image courtesy of Rafael Oliveira. A greater impact on forest edges The experiment began in 2004, during a peak of deforestation in the Amazon, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amazon-resilient-to-fire-but-diversity-loss-still-a-threat-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319900</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation and warming could push Amazon to tipping point by 2040s: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/deforestation-and-warming-could-push-amazon-to-tipping-point-by-2040s-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/deforestation-and-warming-could-push-amazon-to-tipping-point-by-2040s-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 14:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07103744/amazon-forest-fire-burning-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318926</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation coupled with climate change is rapidly pushing the Amazon Rainforest toward a perilous tipping point that could come much sooner than previously thought. That’s the warning from a new paper, published in Nature, which determined that deforestation of 22-28% of the rainforest, combined with 1.5-1.9° Celsius (2.7-3.4° Fahrenheit) of global warming, could trigger a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation coupled with climate change is rapidly pushing the Amazon Rainforest toward a perilous tipping point that could come much sooner than previously thought. That’s the warning from a new paper, published in Nature, which determined that deforestation of 22-28% of the rainforest, combined with 1.5-1.9° Celsius (2.7-3.4° Fahrenheit) of global warming, could trigger a widespread transformation of the biome as early as the 2040s. Researchers found that crossing this deforestation/global temperature threshold could lead to more than two-thirds of the rainforest becoming degraded or transitioning to a savanna ecosystem. Currently, about 17-18% of the Amazon is deforested and 1.5°C of warming over preindustrial levels is likely to be officially reached by 2030, while scientists say it is increasingly likely 2°C (3.6°F) of warming may be surpassed by 2050. In the worst-case scenario, “This critical [Amazon] threshold could be reached as early as the 2040s,” Nico Wunderling, first author on the paper and a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told Mongabay in an interview. “Although I&#8217;d be a little bit more optimistic: If current [downward] trends [for] Brazilian deforestation continue, then deforestation-wise, we might not reach [the tipping point] by mid-century.” “I think we can confidently say that the more deforestation happens, the lower this global warming threshold becomes,” said Arie Staal, study co-author and an assistant professor at Utrecht University. For Carlos Nobre, a professor at the University of São Paulo and co-chair of the Science Panel for the Amazon, who wasn’t involved in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/deforestation-and-warming-could-push-amazon-to-tipping-point-by-2040s-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318926</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 17:55:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/29175125/drc_2606697x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Congo Basin, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Analysis, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The rate of tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, reversing the record highs of the year before. On paper, it looks like progress. In reality, the dip is likely only a temporary reprieve. The decline followed an exceptional year for wildfires. In 2024, drought helped drive some of the largest fire-related losses on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The rate of tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, reversing the record highs of the year before. On paper, it looks like progress. In reality, the dip is likely only a temporary reprieve. The decline followed an exceptional year for wildfires. In 2024, drought helped drive some of the largest fire-related losses on record. In 2025, those climatic pressures eased, and the area lost to fire dropped with them. But the root causes—commodity-driven agricultural expansion, patchy enforcement, and growing climate stress—remain stubbornly in place. A single year’s improvement does not shift that fundamental footing. Tropical primary forest loss by year since 2002 What stands out is the pattern of loss. Forest loss is becoming less predictable, moving in sharper swings tied to weather as much as policy. Fire now accounts for a large share of global tree cover loss, and its behavior tracks temperature and rainfall extremes. When conditions align, losses surge. When they do not, they fall back. But the needle barely moves on the long-term trend: forest loss remains persistently high. Fire does not simply clear land; it hollows out forests in ways that make further loss more likely. Repeated burns thin canopies and dry the forest floor, eroding the processes that allow forests to recover. In parts of the Amazon, clearing has given way to a self-reinforcing cycle of decay, where degradation serves as a precursor to total forest loss. Climate is an increasingly active factor. Forecasts point to a likely El Niño in 2026,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvesters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2026 07:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/23204151/e.-GP0STPODX_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318072</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bees, Bioeconomy, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Farming, Fires, Food, Forests, Heatwave, Indigenous Peoples, Monocultures, Rainforests, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global craze for açaí is driving a plantation boom that leaves the forest’s original harvesters behind.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACARÁ, Brazil — “I’ve spent my whole life working with açaí,” said Eliseu Carvalho, 57, who cultivates the berry in a floodplain area next to his home in the municipality of Acará, in the Brazilian state of Pará. “I’ve always made a living from it.” But after a devastating wildfire near his community, Carvalho is now considering abandoning açaí harvesting altogether. Acará is one of the most productive açaí regions in the state of Pará, with thousands of small-scale producers working in forest patches and along riverbanks. In 2024, the municipality was severely affected by an intense wildfire season. More than 18 million hectares (44.5 million acres) — an area the size of Cambodia — burned in the Amazon that year, according to the Brazilian collaborative research network MapBiomas. Most of the burning occurred in forest areas, threatening frontline communities. Carvalho said he watched the flames burn for more than 20 days and consume almost 30 hectares (74 acres) of forestland. Prolonged drought conditions had left the humid vegetation unusually dry, leaving it much more susceptible to fire. “The flames spread through roots and organic matter,” he told Mongabay in Acará. “We would put them out on the surface, but they kept burning underground.” Açaí farmer Eliseu Carvalho shows his land in Acará, where a devastating wildfire burned down their açaí production in 2024. Image by Carla Ruas. When firefighters and volunteers finally managed to control the fire, about 2 hectares (5 acres) of açaí palms had burned to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318072</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 03:23:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09222759/1-Palms-along-river-in-Manu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317301</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Precipitation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Temperatures, Threats To Rainforests, Tipping points, Trees, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in 2024. And experts warn that deforestation and wildfires are tipping parts of the biome from carbon sink to source. Yet in Manaus, a city at the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, forest ecologist Flávia Costa is upbeat as she highlights what appears to be a previously underappreciated underlying Amazon reality: Her research finds that the region’s vast wetlands, or shallow water table areas, have proven to be stubbornly drought resistant through years of intensifying climate change. In fact, her long-term research reveals that palm species and other wetland trees are not just surviving drought seasons, they’re maintaining their health and even adding biomass. That could mean these areas could serve as valuable refugia, as other parts of Amazonia degrade. Significantly, these shallow water table areas compose 36% of Amazonia and have been a crucial part of the evolving rainforest ecosystem for millions of years. Sturdy, resilient palms account for one in five tree species across the Amazon, which includes parts of nine nations, and of which Brazil occupies 60%. These forested wetlands and Costa’s research represent one bright spot in the Amazon’s otherwise gloomy projected trajectory for the 21st century — forecasts built on decades&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317301</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous governance key to protecting Amazon Basin connectivity, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indigenous-governance-key-to-protecting-amazon-basin-connectivity-experts-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indigenous-governance-key-to-protecting-amazon-basin-connectivity-experts-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 09:36:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29185918/Photo-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316855</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Restoration, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the southern tip of Colombia’s Cauca department, known as the “boot” for its shoe-like shape, volunteer members of an Indigenous guard patrol their territories in the Andean foothills to protect them from invasion and deforestation. The municipality of Piamonte, which covers most of the boot, suffered the highest loss of forest cover in Cauca [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the southern tip of Colombia’s Cauca department, known as the “boot” for its shoe-like shape, volunteer members of an Indigenous guard patrol their territories in the Andean foothills to protect them from invasion and deforestation. The municipality of Piamonte, which covers most of the boot, suffered the highest loss of forest cover in Cauca between 2001 and 2024, according to data from Global Forest Watch. “There are two fronts: illegal mining by illegal armed groups, and legal mining” by companies with permits, said Edinson Ramos Usnas, a member of the Nasa people and the coordinator of Cauca’s regional guard. “Mining cuts down trees, it destroys the land, it creates pits. This is causing many species, including native tree species, to disappear,” said Gloria Rivera, a Nasa woman from Cauca. This degradation of the forest where the Andes meet the Amazon, a biodiversity hotspot, has impacts that go beyond its immediate surroundings, according to a report by the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA) looking at landscape connectivity in the Amazon Basin. Ecological connectivity between the rivers, lowlands, wetlands and Andean foothills in the Amazon is essential to guarantee the survival of the rainforest and the ecosystem services it provides. Anthropogenic activities are threatening landscape integrity and therefore connectivity, the research shows, while Indigenous territories and conservation areas are the best barrier against deforestation. This means that supporting Indigenous governance and the integrity of these territories at a transnational level is vital to protect the Amazon as a whole. Where&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indigenous-governance-key-to-protecting-amazon-basin-connectivity-experts-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316855</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change drives uneven shifts in tree diversity across Amazon and Andes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-drives-uneven-shifts-in-tree-diversity-across-amazon-and-andes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-drives-uneven-shifts-in-tree-diversity-across-amazon-and-andes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2026 09:57:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/14100659/amazon_241209124744z-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314949</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Andes, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Cloud Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Fires, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Precipitation, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The tropical forests of the Amazon and Andes are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, but across both regions, changes in climate and landscape conditions are driving a shift in the number of tree species, recent research has found. Although the overall number of tree species across the Andes and Amazon hasn’t [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The tropical forests of the Amazon and Andes are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, but across both regions, changes in climate and landscape conditions are driving a shift in the number of tree species, recent research has found. Although the overall number of tree species across the Andes and Amazon hasn’t changed in recent decades, some subregions are gaining species while others are losing them, according to the study published in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution. Trees provide vital ecosystem services, and changes in their diversity — what experts call tree richness — could have an impact, including on the forests’ role in temperature regulation or carbon storage. Using more than 40 years of tree diversity data, the study found that species richness declined in the central Andes, the Guyana Shield, and the central-eastern Amazon subregions. Meanwhile, it increased in the northern Andes and western Amazon, and didn’t change significantly in the southern Amazon. Researchers used data from 406 different forest plots across 10 countries, paired with records of climate indicators. “Forests are changing and now we have evidence that it’s linked to climate change,” said Belén Fadrique, a research fellow at the University of Liverpool in the U.K. and lead author of the study, which involved more than 160 co-authors. “We do find that a majority of sites are decreasing in richness,” Fadrique told Mongabay in a video interview. In total, 203 plots declined in tree richness and 146 increased, the research found. Overall, the richness&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-drives-uneven-shifts-in-tree-diversity-across-amazon-and-andes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314949</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seminarian-turned-fire-agent preaches new tactics to fight Amazon’s burn crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/seminarian-turned-fire-agent-preaches-new-tactics-to-fight-amazons-burn-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/seminarian-turned-fire-agent-preaches-new-tactics-to-fight-amazons-burn-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2026 17:46:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26203517/BANNER-15-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313372</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Rainforests, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Once destined for the priesthood, Edson Abreu dos Santos now shepherds volunteers to tackle Amazon’s fire crisis.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACARÁ, Brazil — In August 2024, a wildfire broke out in Acará, a rural municipality in Brazil’s eastern Amazon state of Pará. Local civil defense coordinator Edson Abreu dos Santos, 48, knew he had to act quickly. Acará has no fire brigade, no water trucks, no firefighting drones and no helicopters. And because the fire was burning along the stream Itapecuru, accessible only by boat, vehicle support was out of the question. As the flames advanced into the forest, Santos set up an improvised command post in a ribeirinha (riverside) stilt house. From the porch, he used WhatsApp to message dozens of community members asking for help. More than 100 neighbors answered the call, pulling up to the house in rabetas — small, narrow wooden boats designed to navigate the winding Amazonian rivers. He instructed volunteers to fill 20-liter (5.3-gallon) water barrels — known locally as carotes — with river water. Forming a single line, they carried the containers on their shoulders for nearly a kilometer (0.6 mile) into the dense forest, throwing the water on the flames one barrel at a time. Many made the trek in flip-flops, while the men worked shirtless due to the intense heat. The small but steady effort managed to hold the line of fire until 30 firefighters arrived from a neighboring municipality, Macarena, more than 100 km (62 miles) away. They brought support in the way of backpack sprayers and a single water hose. In a makeshift setup, they patched the hose to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/seminarian-turned-fire-agent-preaches-new-tactics-to-fight-amazons-burn-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313372</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show forest loss persists in Brazilian Amazon’s most deforested reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 21:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30212511/AP20236730024384-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312370</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Old Growth Forests, Pasture, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Slash-and-burn, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab and visualized on monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. The data show 2024 had the highest rate of forest loss, rocketing 400% over 2023. Preliminary data show forest loss continued in 2025, concentrated in the northern portion of the 1.7-million-hectare (4.2-million-acre) reserve, where most of the largest tracts of forest remain. Satellite data from the University of Maryland show primary forest loss jumped 400% between 2023 and 2024. Image by Mongabay. Google Timelapse shows forest loss advancing rapidly through Triunfo do Xingu. This has given Triunfo do Xingu the dubious distinction of being the protected area with the highest rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The main cause? Cattle. Triunfo do Xingu lies in the heart of Brazil’s cattle country, where cows outnumber people 38 to one. To feed this legion of cattle, ranchers carve pasture from forest, often using slash-and-burn techniques to clear areas and renew degraded soil. During a visit in 2023, Mongabay reporters observed the charred remains of sawed-down trees, and were told by local small-scale famers and officials that fires set by ranchers can spread out of control, consuming crops, homes and forest alike. “They set&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312370</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2025 20:11:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/26174503/14-brunei_251114145042_0254z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312083</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Central Africa, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Peru, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The story of the world’s tropical forests in 2025 was not one of dramatic reversal, but one shaped by accumulated pressure. In several regions, deforestation slowed. In others, loss continued in less visible forms, shaped by fire, degradation, and political choices not limited to large-scale clearing alone. Governments continued to speak the language of protection, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The story of the world’s tropical forests in 2025 was not one of dramatic reversal, but one shaped by accumulated pressure. In several regions, deforestation slowed. In others, loss continued in less visible forms, shaped by fire, degradation, and political choices not limited to large-scale clearing alone. Governments continued to speak the language of protection, even as infrastructure, extraction, and energy projects advanced into forest landscapes. Progress was real, though uneven, and the distance between policy commitments and conditions on the ground remained substantial. What distinguished the year was the growing influence of indirect forces, rather than a single driver of loss. Heat, drought, and past damage increasingly shaped forest outcomes, even where new clearing slowed. Commodity markets rewarded persistence more than short-lived price spikes. Finance shifted away from individual projects toward broader fiscal tools. Enforcement mattered, alongside institutional credibility and the ability to operate consistently over time. At the global level, climate diplomacy continued, with limited appetite for binding decisions. COP30 avoided collapse and deferred the hardest choices. Forests remained prominent in rhetoric while enforceable outcomes remained limited. Market-based tools—carbon credits, trade regulation, and conservation finance—advanced unevenly, shaped as much by political confidence and capacity as by technical design. Taken together, 2025 underscored that tropical forests are now shaped more by interacting systems rather than single policies. Finance, science, enforcement, conflict, and climate stress increasingly operate together, often reinforcing one another. This review traces where those systems functioned, where they faltered, and what that means for the forests caught&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/heading-into-cop-brazils-amazon-deforestation-rate-is-falling-what-about-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/heading-into-cop-brazils-amazon-deforestation-rate-is-falling-what-about-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Oct 2025 21:49:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/30215831/deforesation-in-the-amazon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308606</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, forest degradation, Forests, Governance, Green, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world’s attention turns toward COP30 in Belém next month, the story of Brazil’s Amazon is shifting—though not quite in a straightforward way. According to the government’s satellite-based monitoring system, INPE’s PRODES, deforestation in the region known as the “Legal Amazon” totaled 5,796 square kilometers for the 12 months ending July 31st, 2025. That’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world’s attention turns toward COP30 in Belém next month, the story of Brazil’s Amazon is shifting—though not quite in a straightforward way. According to the government’s satellite-based monitoring system, INPE’s PRODES, deforestation in the region known as the “Legal Amazon” totaled 5,796 square kilometers for the 12 months ending July 31st, 2025. That’s 11% drop from 6,518 square kilometers in the same period a year earlier and the lowest annual tally since 2014. Meanwhile, the Brazilian NGO Imazon independently estimated a similar decline using its near-real-time detection system, SAD. Annual deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Amazonia) from 1988-2025, according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil&#8217;s national space research institute, INPE. Annual deforestation in the Cerrado from 1988-2025, according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil&#8217;s national space research institute, INPE. Deforestation also fell in Brazil&#8217;s Cerrado, a wooded savanna ecosystem that neighbors the Amazon rainforest. Clearing fell 11.5% to 7,235 square kilometers, a six-year low. On its face, the data suggest progress. The steep fall under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—first during his initial presidency from 2003 to 2011, then again since January 2023—marks a clear reversal of his predecessor’s tenure, when deforestation soared as protections were rolled back and razing of forests were actively encouraged. But while land clearing for farms has edged down, another threat looms. The nature of forest loss is changing, and fire now plays a far larger role. Forest degradation from selective logging, cumulative clearing, and the “fish-bone” sprawl of roads—combined with hotter, drier&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/heading-into-cop-brazils-amazon-deforestation-rate-is-falling-what-about-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308606</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon deforestation spikes as Brazil blames criminal fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/amazon-deforestation-spikes-as-brazil-blames-criminal-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/amazon-deforestation-spikes-as-brazil-blames-criminal-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2025 19:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/16184237/Desmatamento_e_Queimdas_2020_50223713453-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conflict, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new and alarming pattern of destruction is emerging in the rainforest, challenging Brazilian authorities ahead of COP30. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s environmental agenda is tasting bittersweet in 2025. While the country’s northern capital city of Belém is wrapped in global expectations for hosting the COP30 U.N. climate summit in November, loud alarms have sounded in the Amazon due to a noticeable growth in deforestation in the first months of the year. In May, deforestation reached 960 square kilometres (around 370 square miles), a 92% increase compared with the same month in 2024, according to data from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. The numbers are part of a broader problem: Brazil&#8217;s space agency, INPE, had already indicated in April that alerts of forest loss had risen by 55% in 2025, suggesting that a big-scale upward trend could be in progress. A mid-year review published in July corroborated the forecast. From January to June, deforestation alerts covered 2,090 square kilometers (806 square miles), 27% more than in the same period last year, the highest since 2023, according to INPE. Authorities are now trying to piece together the puzzle, especially as recent reports bring an unprecedented aspect. When unraveling the data in early June, João Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary for the environment ministry, stated that more than half (51%) of the recently detected deforestation was recorded in portions of the forest that were recently burned. To make matters worse, this issue is gaining steam: from an average of 6.6% between 2016 and 2022, it jumped to 21% in May 2024, until reaching the recently registered record-breaking levels. In a statement,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/amazon-deforestation-spikes-as-brazil-blames-criminal-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/amazon-deforestation-spikes-as-brazil-blames-criminal-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildfires push tropical forest loss in Latin America to record highs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/wildfires-push-tropical-forest-loss-in-latin-america-to-record-highs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/wildfires-push-tropical-forest-loss-in-latin-america-to-record-highs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 13:41:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/08184720/fogo_pantanal_Gustavo-Figueiroa_SOS-Pantanal-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300871</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Latin America, Mexico, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2024, six Latin American countries were in the top 10 nations with the highest loss of tropical primary forest, according to recent data from the University of Maryland, U.S. Topping the list were Brazil and Bolivia, in a year that saw the record-breaking loss of 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In 2024, six Latin American countries were in the top 10 nations with the highest loss of tropical primary forest, according to recent data from the University of Maryland, U.S. Topping the list were Brazil and Bolivia, in a year that saw the record-breaking loss of 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) of forest, 80% more than in 2023. In the Amazon, forest loss jumped by 110% compared to 2023, the biggest increase since 2016. Although tropical forest loss rose globally, some countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, saw improvements. In Latin America, however, even countries that had previously curbed forest loss, such as Brazil and Colombia, experienced dramatic losses. Wildfires encroach on tropical forests In 2024, wildfires burned five times more tropical primary forest than the year before. Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico saw particularly high numbers of wildfires. “The rapid loss of forest is very sad news at a time when we need our forests more than ever,” says Marlene Quintanilla Palacios, director of research and knowledge management at Bolivian conservation NGO Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (Friends of Nature Foundation). Last year was also the hottest year on record, with Latin America experiencing intense droughts due to a strong El Niño, a recurring climate pattern marked by warmer Pacific waters. “Climate change is accelerating all of this,” Quintanilla Palacios says. Hotspots show areas in Latin America that were newly affected by fires in 2024. Source: Global Forest Watch. If wildfires become the main driver of tropical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/wildfires-push-tropical-forest-loss-in-latin-america-to-record-highs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/wildfires-push-tropical-forest-loss-in-latin-america-to-record-highs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300871</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/brazil-is-speeding-up-forest-fire-prevention-to-avoid-dangerous-tipping-points-in-the-amazon-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/brazil-is-speeding-up-forest-fire-prevention-to-avoid-dangerous-tipping-points-in-the-amazon-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2025 03:32:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ilona SzaboRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/09113431/GP0STURQM_AmazonFiresAug20_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297115</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Governance, Green, Health, Planetary Health, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil is facing an alarming surge in forest fires. Last year, the country registered 237,000 fires and over 30.8 million hectares of vegetation were consumed by flames—an area the size of Italy. This represented a 79% increase in areas burned compared to 2023. The Amazon rainforest bore the brunt, accounting for 58% of the total burned area. The threat of more fires during the 2025 fire [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil is facing an alarming surge in forest fires. Last year, the country registered 237,000 fires and over 30.8 million hectares of vegetation were consumed by flames—an area the size of Italy. This represented a 79% increase in areas burned compared to 2023. The Amazon rainforest bore the brunt, accounting for 58% of the total burned area. The threat of more fires during the 2025 fire season prompted the Brazilian government to declare a nationwide environmental emergency. Early this year, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government and all Amazon and Pantanal states to draw-up emergency fire management plans. The future risks of forest fires in Brazil over the coming decade are disconcerting. Rising global temperatures and shifting climate patterns are expected to intensify droughts, creating even more flammable conditions across the Amazon, Pantanal, and Atlantic Forest. Both the El Niño and La Niña climate cycles are also expected to become more frequent and severe. Without significant reductions in deforestation and carbon emissions, parts of the Amazon will likely tip in the coming decades, transitioning into a savanna-like ecosystem.  Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. Brazilian forest fires are overwhelmingly man-made. Some of the underlying drivers include deforestation, degradation, land grabbing, and land clearing for agriculture and cattle ranching, all of which involve the deliberate use of fire, a practice that frequently spirals out of control. Illegal logging and mining exacerbate the problem, with fires set to cover up deforestation or create access routes for unauthorized extractive activities. Meanwhile, climate change and extreme weather conditions have intensified, making rainforests drier and more flammable than ever. The consequences of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/brazil-is-speeding-up-forest-fire-prevention-to-avoid-dangerous-tipping-points-in-the-amazon-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/brazil-is-speeding-up-forest-fire-prevention-to-avoid-dangerous-tipping-points-in-the-amazon-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297115</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon states lead rebellion on environmental enforcement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amazon-states-lead-rebellion-on-environmental-enforcement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amazon-states-lead-rebellion-on-environmental-enforcement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2025 13:14:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/31191029/1.-crops_Image-courtesy-of-Victor-Moriyama_Greenpeace-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293742</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazilian Amazon states are leading an offensive against environmental regulations in the Amazon and beyond. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In effect for the past 18 years, the soy moratorium seemed established in Brazil. The voluntary agreement in which large soy traders commit to not buying soy from Amazon areas deforested after 2008 had helped to maintain the country&#8217;s reputation in international markets. According to the Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industries Association (Abiove), which gathers some of the world&#8217;s largest soy companies, this commitment contributed to a 69% reduction in deforestation until 2022. In 2024, however, the agreement suffered an unexpected setback. In July, Rondônia state approved a law punishing its members by withdrawing their fiscal tax incentives. The biggest strike, however, came in October, when a similar law was approved in Mato Grosso. Known as “Brazil&#8217;s granary,” the state in the west-central region is the country&#8217;s largest soy, cotton, corn and beef producer. &#8220;Our country is sovereign, and no company can break our environmental laws, which are the most restrictive in the world,&#8221; Governor Mauro Mendes said when sanctioning the new law, arguing the moratorium was undermining Brazil&#8217;s environmental legislation. A similar bill has also been filed in the Brazilian Congress, threatening the moratorium on a national level. According to The Guardian, the offensive made Abiove evaluate changes to soften the agreement — in a WhatsApp message to Mongabay, the organization&#8217;s PR person said it wouldn’t comment. &#8220;Mato Grosso has always been a great laboratory,&#8221; said Edilene Fernandes do Amaral, the legal adviser of the civil society network Observa-MT, which advocates for environmental protection in the state, referring to controversial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amazon-states-lead-rebellion-on-environmental-enforcement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/amazon-states-lead-rebellion-on-environmental-enforcement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293742</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World’s record heat is worsening air pollution and health in Global South</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/worlds-record-heat-is-worsening-air-pollution-and-health-in-global-south/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/worlds-record-heat-is-worsening-air-pollution-and-health-in-global-south/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2025 15:05:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla MendesOrji SundaySimrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10151456/firefighter-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292838</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Global, India, Nigeria, South America, South Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Governance, Health, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Industry, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, Temperatures, Transportation, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Humanity achieved a fateful milestone last year. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has officially declared 2024 the hottest year on record, and the first year in history with an average global temperature rising 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial period — significantly increasing dangerous climate risks. In fact, 2023 and 2024 may [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Humanity achieved a fateful milestone last year. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has officially declared 2024 the hottest year on record, and the first year in history with an average global temperature rising 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial period — significantly increasing dangerous climate risks. In fact, 2023 and 2024 may well be the hottest years in 100,000 years, with all indicators pointing to it getting hotter, bringing ever-worsening global impacts. “The temperature-related extreme events witnessed [last Norther Hemisphere] summer will only become more intense,” warned Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, extreme heat enveloped whole regions of the world for weeks on end, with severe unprecedented consequences. A deadly heat wave killed at least 1,300 people during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, while the worst drought in a century gripped Southern Africa, leaving 21 million children malnourished. Record drought also devastated South America, reducing Amazon rivers to their lowest levels ever recorded. North America wasn’t spared either. Heat domes — stalled high pressure systems that retain and intensify temperatures — blanketed vast parts of the U.S. and killed more than 100 people in Mexico. But less noticed, and harder to track, is the way in which oppressive heat helps degrade air quality, making people sick. While air pollution sources are typically local or regional, the invisible hand of climate change is further deteriorating air quality around the planet. Stubbornly persistent heat waves, record wildfires, and drastically changing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/worlds-record-heat-is-worsening-air-pollution-and-health-in-global-south/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/worlds-record-heat-is-worsening-air-pollution-and-health-in-global-south/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292838</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After a searing Amazon fire season, experts warn of more in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/after-a-searing-amazon-fire-season-experts-warn-of-more-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/after-a-searing-amazon-fire-season-experts-warn-of-more-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jan 2025 18:56:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/08171602/Mayangdi-Inzaulgarat_Ibama-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292741</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[South America recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in 14 years in 2024, with Brazil at the epicenter of the crisis.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[South American countries registered 511,575 fire outbreaks in 2024, the highest number since 2010. Brazil accounted for 54% of them, according to the country’s space agency, INPE, with fires mainly hitting the Amazon Rainforest, but also the Pantanal wetlands, the Cerrado savanna, and the country&#8217;s most populous state, São Paulo. The smoke spread through 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, impacting air quality and air traffic. &#8220;The fires took on a tragedy dimension in 2024,&#8221; Suely Araújo, a senior public policy adviser at the civil society coalition Climate Observatory, told Mongabay. &#8220;It&#8217;s important to understand the causes well enough to ensure that it won&#8217;t happen again this year.&#8221; The outbreaks were fueled by an extreme drought that hit the Amazon in 2023 and 2024. Rainfall in the biome started diminishing in 2023 due to El Niño, the abnormal warming of the surface waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The two intense dry seasons saw water levels in the Amazonian rivers drop to record lows and created the perfect conditions for burning. &#8220;The landscape became very dry, with many fallen leaves accumulating flammable material on the ground,&#8221; Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), told Mongabay. The record of fires in 2024 happened despite a 30% decrease in deforestation rates, contradicting previous assumptions that fires are directly related to forest destruction; historically, deforesters set fires to burn the remains of trunks and branches before growing pasture. The historic drought that ravaged Brazil in 2024 saw water levels&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/after-a-searing-amazon-fire-season-experts-warn-of-more-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/after-a-searing-amazon-fire-season-experts-warn-of-more-in-2025/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292741</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The year in tropical rainforests: 2024</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2024/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2024 00:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/24155125/Slide1-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292245</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ecuador, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Peru, South America, Southeast Asia, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems. Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems. Although a complete comparison of tropical forest loss in 2024 with previous years is not yet available, there are currently no indications that this year’s loss will be markedly higher. A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon—partially offset by widespread forest fires—suggests the overall rate of loss may be lower. This analysis explores key storylines that shaped tropical rainforests in 2024. &nbsp; Previous year-in-reviews: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | The 2010s | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 Contents Brazil | Suriname | Indonesia | Congo Basin | EUDR | Conservation finance | Carbon market | Biodiversity credits | Forest science | Remote sensing | 30&#215;30 | Illegality in the Amazon | Politics A respite in the Brazilian Amazon: Deforestation declines amid rising fires The Brazilian Amazon experienced a notable decline in deforestation in 2024, offering a rare glimmer of optimism for the embattled rainforest. According to Brazil&#8217;s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), forest loss fell by 30.6% between August 2023 and July 2024, reaching its lowest level in nine years. The 6,288 square kilometers of rainforest cleared—a swath roughly the size of Delaware—marks the smallest annual loss since 2015. The slowdown is part of a three-year trend&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-year-in-tropical-rainforests-2024/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292245</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon&#8217;s Boiling River gives scientists a window into the rainforest&#8217;s future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Dec 2024 17:28:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/20164410/BRAlyssa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;You&#8217;re engulfed in waves of steam and sweating buckets and there&#8217;s no cool water anywhere,&#8221; Kenneth Feeley, a professor at the University of Miami, tells Mongabay. He’s describing the Boiling River in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest. &#8220;If you look at the heat index, everything says immediate danger of heat stroke.&#8221; The Boiling River gets its name [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;You&#8217;re engulfed in waves of steam and sweating buckets and there&#8217;s no cool water anywhere,&#8221; Kenneth Feeley, a professor at the University of Miami, tells Mongabay. He’s describing the Boiling River in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest. &#8220;If you look at the heat index, everything says immediate danger of heat stroke.&#8221; The Boiling River gets its name from thermally heated water bubbling up from underground, creating distinct temperature zones in the surrounding forest. Within less than a kilometer (just over half a mile), temperatures vary by up to 11° Celsius (19.8° Fahrenheit), providing scientists with a natural laboratory to study how rising temperatures may affect tropical trees. This natural hotspot has existed for thousands of years, offering a window into how forests might look in a warmer future. In a study published in Global Change Biology, researchers found that for each 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, there were 11% fewer tree species in the area. These temperature effects on tree diversity are significant, the authors say, given that scientists predict the region could warm by 3-6°C (5.4-10.8°F) by 2100. The Boiling River immediately downstream of most hot water inputs. Here, the water can reach 95 ˚C. Photo courtesy of Riley Fortier. To study these effects, the research team, led by Riley Fortier, a graduate student at the University of Miami, established 70 circular study plots, each with a diameter of 6 meters (20 feet). In each plot, they measured and identified every woody plant with a trunk diameter of 2 centimeters (nearly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/fires-rip-through-indigenous-territories-in-brazilian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/fires-rip-through-indigenous-territories-in-brazilian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2024 23:27:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/29230510/1129-capoto-xingu-sept-planet-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290961</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Corn, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Reserves, Industrial Agriculture, Infrastructure, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Roads, Soy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Surrounded by soy fields and cattle pastures, Xingu Indigenous Park and Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory — still shrouded in rainforest — stand out like a green thumb in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state. Home to roughly 7,500 Indigenous residents in 18 groups, the two territories cover 3.3 million hectares — an area bigger than Belgium — and are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Surrounded by soy fields and cattle pastures, Xingu Indigenous Park and Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory — still shrouded in rainforest — stand out like a green thumb in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state. Home to roughly 7,500 Indigenous residents in 18 groups, the two territories cover 3.3 million hectares — an area bigger than Belgium — and are a haven for wildlife. Yet despite decades of protection, the reserves are not immune to the pressures building at their boundaries. Google Timelapse shows how Xingu and Capoto/Jarina became an island of forest in a sea of industrial agriculture. Xingu Indigenous Park lost 15% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2023, an area of 368,000 hectares, according to satellite data from Global Forest Watch (GFW). More than a quarter of that was lost in 2016 alone, when fires ripped through the reserve. The adjacent Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory lost 8.3% of primary forest cover between 2002 and 2023, an area of 46,300 hectares. The worst years for forest loss were 2017, 2020 and 2022. Both territories saw big drops in deforestation activity in 2023.  But that appears to be but a blip, with imagery and data showing huge swaths of land lost to fire in 2024. Satellite data show large swaths of tree cover were lost in both Xingu Indigenous Park and Capoto/Jarina Indigenous Territory in 2024. Data from NASA and satellite imagery from Planet Labs and Sentinel 2A indicate fires were the driving force behind forest loss in both Indigenous territories. In Capoto/Jarina&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/fires-rip-through-indigenous-territories-in-brazilian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/fires-rip-through-indigenous-territories-in-brazilian-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290961</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reserve in Brazilian Amazon struggles as &#8216;aggressive&#8217; deforestation spreads</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2024 02:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/27020136/brazil_1261-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290745</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, National Parks, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When created in 2006, the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area in the Brazilian Amazon was supposed to preserve the region’s rich biodiversity and nearby protected areas. Instead, the reserve has lost over 40% of its rainforest, and become a conduit for deforestation into nearby protected areas. Now, satellite data and imagery indicate deforestation in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When created in 2006, the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area in the Brazilian Amazon was supposed to preserve the region’s rich biodiversity and nearby protected areas. Instead, the reserve has lost over 40% of its rainforest, and become a conduit for deforestation into nearby protected areas. Now, satellite data and imagery indicate deforestation in Triunfo do Xingu is continuing to soar in 2024 — and is spreading into nearby protected areas. The Triunfo do Xingu reserve encompasses some 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) — an area more than half the size of Belgium — and sits in the verdant Xingu Basin, a biodiverse region home to 28 conservation areas and 18 Indigenous territories. Within the reserve, landowners are allowed to clear up to 20% of their land, but must leave the remaining forest intact. But satellite data and imagery reveal a far higher rate of deforestation. From 2006 to 2023, the reserve lost 41% of its primary (old growth) forest cover, according to the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. That’s equivalent to 617,000 hectares of forest, or 6,170 square kilometers (2,382 square miles). Primary forest loss peaked in 2020, with nearly 70,000 hectares of forest destroyed. Deforestation declined somewhat in 2021 and 2022, but remained relatively high, with more than 50,000 hectares of forest lost each year. In 2023, deforestation dropped again, with 30,000 hectares lost that year. But this year, clearing appears to have sped up again. From January to November deforestation alerts from the Global Forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/reserve-in-brazilian-amazon-struggles-as-aggressive-deforestation-spreads/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation remains low, but fires surge in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/deforestation-remains-low-but-fires-surge-in-brazils-amazon-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/deforestation-remains-low-but-fires-surge-in-brazils-amazon-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Oct 2024 19:24:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/28140520/GP0SU1T9P_24-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288589</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has remained near a six-year low despite a surge in the number of fires burning in Earth’s largest rainforest, according to data released on Friday by Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE. INPE’s deforestation alert system (DETER) reported that 561 square kilometers were cleared in September, bringing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has remained near a six-year low despite a surge in the number of fires burning in Earth’s largest rainforest, according to data released on Friday by Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE. INPE’s deforestation alert system (DETER) reported that 561 square kilometers were cleared in September, bringing the 12-month total to 4,191 square kilometers—an area equivalent to nearly 600,000 football fields. This marks a 30% decline from the 6,029 square kilometers recorded at the same time last year. Monthly and 12-month- moving average data for deforestation alert data from Imazon&#8217;s SAD system and INPE&#8217;s DETER system. Imazon is a Brazilian NGO that independently monitors deforestation. While deforestation has decreased significantly, the area affected by fires in the Brazilian Amazon surged nearly 18-fold, from 4,700 square kilometers to 39,983 square kilometers, as fires ravaged regions hit by a historic drought. The number of fire hotspots detected by satellite rose to 145,357, a 70% increase from 85,670 at the same time last year. Monthly and 12-month- moving average data for burn scar alert data for Legal Amazonia from INPE&#8217;s DETER system. &nbsp; Amazonia: Comparison of the total number of active fires detected by the reference satellite each month, from 1998 to Sep 30. Fires are widespread across South America this year, causing air pollution and health impacts. In Brazil, fires outside the Amazon have been particularly severe in the Pantanal and Cerrado. Scientists have warned that the combination of deforestation, forest degradation, and climate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/deforestation-remains-low-but-fires-surge-in-brazils-amazon-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/deforestation-remains-low-but-fires-surge-in-brazils-amazon-rainforest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288589</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Bolivia, Indigenous communities struggle to rebuild as wildfires return</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-bolivia-indigenous-communities-struggle-to-rebuild-as-wildfires-return/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-bolivia-indigenous-communities-struggle-to-rebuild-as-wildfires-return/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2024 18:17:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Swift]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/08180517/20241006_172021_KevAleman-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288356</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every Sunday, Hermindo Vies wakes up early and travels by river from his village, Asunción de Quiquibey, in Bolivia’s Beni department, to the nearest major town to sell his produce. Though he knows the route along the Quiquibey and Beni rivers well, in recent weeks a thick smoke has settled over the area. “It was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every Sunday, Hermindo Vies wakes up early and travels by river from his village, Asunción de Quiquibey, in Bolivia’s Beni department, to the nearest major town to sell his produce. Though he knows the route along the Quiquibey and Beni rivers well, in recent weeks a thick smoke has settled over the area. “It was dark for a distance of maybe 100-200 meters [330-660 feet],” Vies said. “The hillsides were hidden” by the haze, he added, making it impossible to find one’s way in the early morning. There are currently no uncontrolled wildfires near Asunción de Quiquibey, an Indigenous Mosetén village in an Indigenous reserve in Bolivia’s northwestern Amazon Basin. Nonetheless, the area has been covered in smog for weeks, the result of fires nearby. Given the devastating fires in 2023 that ravaged the Indigenous reserve that includes the village, the community is now on edge, fearing it could be hit again. “In any moment a fire could erupt,” Vies said. Smoke outside of Rurrenabaque on September 16, 2024. Image courtesy of Vicente Canare. Most forest fires in Bolivia begin when intentional agricultural burning spreads out of control. Though seasonal wildfires in parts of the country’s dry Chiquitano forests occur naturally, uncontrolled megafires have become common over the past decade as industrial agriculture in the country’s lowlands has expanded, using large-scale slash-and-burn practices. Combined with chronic drought, more intense fires undermining the rainforest’s resilience, and government policies that do little to dissuade large landholders from illegal burning, intentional fires often&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-bolivia-indigenous-communities-struggle-to-rebuild-as-wildfires-return/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-bolivia-indigenous-communities-struggle-to-rebuild-as-wildfires-return/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288356</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Amazon is ablaze again. What it means for us (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-amazon-is-ablaze-again-what-it-means-for-us-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-amazon-is-ablaze-again-what-it-means-for-us-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2024 00:08:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark J. Plotkin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/27150306/amazon_201359_24-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287959</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Botany, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Medicinal Plants, Precipitation, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, the world watched in horror as images of the Amazon rainforest ablaze flooded the news. Over 70,000 wildfires raged uncontrollably, killing wildlife, filling hospitals with patients struggling to breathe, polluting rivers, halting air traffic, and casting a dark pall over Brazil’s largest cities. And now, it&#8217;s happening again. Climate change is no longer [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, the world watched in horror as images of the Amazon rainforest ablaze flooded the news. Over 70,000 wildfires raged uncontrollably, killing wildlife, filling hospitals with patients struggling to breathe, polluting rivers, halting air traffic, and casting a dark pall over Brazil’s largest cities. And now, it&#8217;s happening again. Scorched earth on the banks of the drought-stricken Xingu River in the Capoto-Jarina Indigenous Territory on September 12th, 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. Fire on the banks of the drought-stricken Xingu River in the Capoto-Jarina Indigenous Territory on September 12th, 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it’s here, growing more severe with each year. We are witnessing an increase in extreme weather events—more frequent and intense hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Rising sea levels are flooding coastlines, endangering entire island nations as well as major American cities like New York and my hometown of New Orleans. Worsening heatwaves are threatening to make vast regions of the Middle East and Indian subcontinent uninhabitable. Climate refugees and drought can only lead to more human misery and additional conflict. Number of fire hotspots detected by the Aqua satellite across Brazilian biomes between Jan 1 and Sep 26, 1998-2024, according to INPE. Number of fire hotspots detected by the Aqua satellite across the Brazilian Amazon (Amazonia) between Jan 1 and Sep 26, 1998-2024, according to INPE. Ironically, some of South America’s most traditional peoples were among the first to raise the alarm about global&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-amazon-is-ablaze-again-what-it-means-for-us-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/the-amazon-is-ablaze-again-what-it-means-for-us-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287959</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil launches ‘war’ on widespread fire outbreaks &#038; criminal arsonists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/brazil-launches-war-on-widespread-fire-outbreaks-criminal-arsonists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/brazil-launches-war-on-widespread-fire-outbreaks-criminal-arsonists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2024 16:41:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/27162801/GP0STURQN_AmazonFiresAug20_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286758</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, Pantanal, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drought, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fire outbreaks are setting records all over Brazil, with flames burning the Amazon, the Cerrado, the Pantanal and the São Paulo state.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;There won&#8217;t be anything left here,&#8221; Maria Márcia told Mongabay through text message while observing fire advancing a few meters away from her house. Márcia lives in PDS Terra Nossa, a land reform settlement in the southwest of Pará state, in the Brazilian Amazon, where land-grabbers are burning vegetation for the fourth year in a row. Designed as a sustainable settlement where dwellers once could live from small plots of farmlands collecting fruits and nuts, PDS Terra Nossa is now mostly covered by pasture and soy. &#8220;They&#8217;ve burned everyone&#8217;s crops. How are we going to live? How are we going to sell our food?&#8221; said Márcia, the most outspoken PDS activist. She survived three death attempts and is now part of Pará’s state human rights defenders protection program. On Aug. 22, the Federal Public Ministry in Pará urged federal and public bodies to take urgent measures to fight the fires in PDS Terra Nossa and the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, also in Pará&#8217;s southwest. The federal land reform agency, INCRA, which oversees the settlement management, sent Mongabay an email stating that the process of removing land-grabbers from the area is in the administrative stage. The scenario at PDS Terra Nossa is part of Amazon&#8217;s worst fire season in the last 17 years, considering the period from January to August. However, the flames are not restricted to the rainforest: More than 110,000 fire outbreaks were registered in different parts of Brazil by the end of August, a 40% increase from 2023. Fires&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/brazil-launches-war-on-widespread-fire-outbreaks-criminal-arsonists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/brazil-launches-war-on-widespread-fire-outbreaks-criminal-arsonists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286758</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest degradation releases 5 times more Amazon carbon than deforestation: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/forest-degradation-releases-5-times-more-amazon-carbon-than-deforestation-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/forest-degradation-releases-5-times-more-amazon-carbon-than-deforestation-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Aug 2024 16:52:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/09113431/GP0STURQM_AmazonFiresAug20_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285917</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A study using detailed 3D imagery found that the carbon released by roads, selective logging, fires and natural disturbances in the southern Brazilian Amazon are not fully reflected in the country’s carbon emissions reporting.]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Forest degradation — access roads, selective logging, fires, natural disturbances — is having a far greater impact on reducing carbon storage in the southern Brazilian Amazon than deforestation, according to a new study that has produced some of the most precise findings of changes in carbon stocks in a critically important region of the tropics. In real terms, forest degradation reduced carbon storage in the study area five times more than deforestation, a finding not currently reflected in Brazil’s carbon emissions accounting. “When countries report their forest and carbon changes, they mostly rely on deforestation because it’s much easier to see and quantify,” Ovidiu Csillik, lead author who is formerly of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, told Mongabay. “But we’ve found that forest degradation is actually more important in terms of carbon loss.” Analyzing and comparing data from 2016 and 2018 in Brazil’s so-called Arc of Deforestation and covering 48,280 hectares (119,300 acres), a team of international experts divided the region into 99 transects. They used repeated flyovers of airborne lidar, a remote laser sensor technology that registers objects in three dimensions and obtains detailed data, to produce two vast data sets, according to the study published in the National Academy of Sciences’ journal, PNAS. Tropical forests are subject to a range of disturbance types or degradation from small-scale mortality from natural processes affecting one or a few trees. This includes fire, flooding, landslides, selective logging or weather-related tree toppling. Image courtesy of K.C.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/forest-degradation-releases-5-times-more-amazon-carbon-than-deforestation-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/forest-degradation-releases-5-times-more-amazon-carbon-than-deforestation-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285917</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Study says 40% of Amazon region is potentially conserved — more than officially recorded</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/study-says-40-of-amazon-rainforest-is-protected-more-than-officially-recorded/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/study-says-40-of-amazon-rainforest-is-protected-more-than-officially-recorded/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2024 20:13:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/18041629/peru_220697-e1718684422579-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283961</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Latin America, Peru, South America, Suriname, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A larger portion of the Amazonian region might be under protection or potentially conserved than official records indicate, according to a new study published in the journal One Earth. A team of international researchers found that more than 40% of land across the nine Amazonian countries is under some form of conservation management, significantly higher [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A larger portion of the Amazonian region might be under protection or potentially conserved than official records indicate, according to a new study published in the journal One Earth. A team of international researchers found that more than 40% of land across the nine Amazonian countries is under some form of conservation management, significantly higher than the 28% reported in official records. This figure includes all biomes in the region such as the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado, Atlantic forest, the Chaco, and Pantanal. In the Amazon rainforest alone, 62.44%  of land is under some sort of area-based conservation. To arrive at this number, the authors looked beyond traditional protected areas such as national parks and nature reserves. They gathered information from scientific papers, legal documents and local knowledge to include land managed by Indigenous peoples, community-based natural resource management areas, regions covered by payment for ecosystem services programs and even sustainably managed forest production areas. The researchers say this method provides a more complete picture of conservation efforts than current tracking systems and will help others assess the effectiveness of different types of conservation governance systems. &#8220;Knowing who is governing these lands and how, as well as recognizing their visions related to conservation, is the first step to collectively planning for a fair and feasible future for our planet,&#8221; Siyu Qin, a lead author of the study, told Mongabay. Figure from Qin et al 2024 illustrating the types of conservation areas considered in the study. Women from the Sinangoe Indigenous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/study-says-40-of-amazon-rainforest-is-protected-more-than-officially-recorded/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/study-says-40-of-amazon-rainforest-is-protected-more-than-officially-recorded/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283961</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fire bans not effective as the Amazon and Pantanal burn, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/fire-bans-not-effective-as-the-amazon-and-pantanal-burn-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/fire-bans-not-effective-as-the-amazon-and-pantanal-burn-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2024 07:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/26200502/WhatsApp-Image-2024-06-26-at-11.06.32-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283739</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Pantanal, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This year, both the Pantanal and the Amazon have recorded alarming rates of burning, with the wetland breaking recent records that caused an international uproar.]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In August 2019, the number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon skyrocketed, making international headlines and prompting protests in cities like London, Paris and Toronto. While the global community was shocked by images of burning trees and animals, in Brazil, the arrival of the smoke in the country&#8217;s business capital and largest city, São Paulo, made the urban population suddenly wake up to the problem. The crisis also drew the attention of the scientific community, which has since invested more effort into creating tools and data to understand the dynamics of fire in the Amazon, a biome not naturally adapted to burning. &#8220;All this caused a stir among researchers, who began to ask themselves, &#8216;What is going on?'&#8221; Manoela Machado, a researcher with the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, told Mongabay. Fire doesn’t occur naturally in the Amazon, unlike in the Cerrado, the vast Brazilian savanna, or the forests of California. In the rainforest, it takes human action to start and spread fires, and as such, burning is usually associated with the final step in the deforestation process: once chainsaws and tractors have done their work of felling trees and clearing vegetation, deforesters set fires to burn all the remaining trunks, roots and vines. Ranchers also use fire to renew cattle pastures, especially in areas with low-quality grass and no access to modern farming techniques. Using fire to clear land is legal in Brazil, but farmers and ranchers must have authorization from state environmental regulators to use&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/fire-bans-not-effective-as-the-amazon-and-pantanal-burn-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283739</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/amid-record-high-fires-across-the-amazon-brazil-loses-primary-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/amid-record-high-fires-across-the-amazon-brazil-loses-primary-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2024 07:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/22184614/Smoke-and-flames-among-trees-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281250</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The number of fires shows no signs of easing as Brazil’s Roraima faces unprecedented blazes, and several Amazonian countries, including Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, registered record-high outbreaks in the first quarter this year.]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest continues to feel the effect of 2023’s severe drought that intensified the dry season, provoking blazes across vast regions of untouched vegetation. Fire outbreaks in these swaths of primary forest grew by 152% in 2023, according to a recent study, and record highs of wildfires continue to be registered this year across several Amazonian countries. According to the research published in February in Global Change Biology, satellite images show that fire outbreaks in mature forest areas rose from 13,477 in 2022 to 34,012 in 2023. The increase in fires in old-growth forest highlights the challenges the Amazon continues to face, despite seeing a 22% drop in deforestation and 16% decrease in total fire counts in Brazil last year. “Fires in mature forests can have serious consequences for the future of the Amazon,” Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de Aragão, one of the study authors and the head of Brazil’s space research agency INPE’s Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division, told Mongabay. “Fire degradation deals silent damage. While deforestation monitored daily by INPE finds a voice in the media, degradation by fire is little publicized.” The wildfires in mature forests last year were the result of a combination of the fragmented and degraded environment in the Amazon and the extreme drought that occurred as a result of the natural weather phenomenon El Niño, Aragão said. The river that supplies water in the Porto Praia community of the Kokama Indigenous people in Amazonas state almost completely dried up in 2023,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/amid-record-high-fires-across-the-amazon-brazil-loses-primary-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281250</doi>				</item>
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