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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Colombia environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/colombia/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 11:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuel Fonseca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cryptic Species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monkeys]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species classification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species detection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species identification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerable species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09111227/night-monkeys-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317266</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Habitat Loss, Monkeys, Research, Rivers, Species, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from the light. It was a night monkey, from the genus Aotus. This brief encounter would decide Montilla’s path. “I became very passionate about those animals, in fact, when I was in school, my favorite pastime was to go outside and lie down under their sleeping place, to watch them do nothing,” Montilla, now a doctoral student in biological sciences at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, told Mongabay in a video call. “I’m very surprised by the fact that [night monkeys] have gone unnoticed for so long, both in the scientific community and in the public sphere,” he added. “It’s astonishing because at midnight they are moving right past our houses and we don’t even notice.” Night monkeys, also known as owl monkeys, are the only primate group in the Americas that have adapted to be active at night. These monkeys have evolved enormous round eyes with retinas 50% bigger than those of daytime-active primates to better capture the scarce light available in their environments. Unlike other nocturnal primate species in Asia and Africa, such as lorises (family Lorisidae), tarsiers (Tarsiidae) and lemurs (Lemuroidae), which tend to be solitary, night monkeys form lifelong monogamous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/colombias-main-river-redraws-the-map-of-little-known-night-monkeys/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Working together, Indigenous peoples &#038; researchers describe new Amazonian palm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 14:06:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sofia Moutinho]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Community-based Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[field research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Species Discovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[species identification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Biology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Indigenous Communities, New Species, Plants, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, botanists Rodrigo Cámara-Leret and Juan Carlos Copete embarked on a two-hour boat ride down the Vaupés River in the Colombian Amazon, followed by a two-hour hike to the village of Wacará, where about 140 Indigenous Cacua people live in relative isolation. They were aiming to study the medicinal plants used by this Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, botanists Rodrigo Cámara-Leret and Juan Carlos Copete embarked on a two-hour boat ride down the Vaupés River in the Colombian Amazon, followed by a two-hour hike to the village of Wacará, where about 140 Indigenous Cacua people live in relative isolation. They were aiming to study the medicinal plants used by this Indigenous group, one of the smallest in the country. But their plans changed as soon as they had their first meal in the village of thatch-roofed houses, when some children offered them a yellowish-brown fruit the Cacau called táam. Although the duo had been studying tropical plants for more than a decade, they had never seen that drop-shaped fruit before. Initially, they thought the fruit might be from a palm tree introduced to the region from nearby Brazil. However, as they spent more time with the community, they realized it was likely an entirely new species of palm that had not yet been described by scientists. &#8220;We knew most of the plants we would encounter in the forest, so when we saw that fruit, we were extremely shocked and surprised,&#8221; Cámara-Leret, a professor in tropical plant diversity and ethnobotany at the University of Zürich, tells Mongabay. Discovering new palm species in the Amazon is rare, even more so one that is tall-stemmed and used in the human diet like the táam. Palms are among the most well-known species of the region and were extensively studied by European naturalists who explored the jungle between the 16th and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/working-together-indigenous-peoples-researchers-describe-new-amazonian-palm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Disastrous floods in Colombia reignite debate over hydroelectric dam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/disastrous-floods-in-colombia-reignite-debate-over-hydroelectric-dam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/disastrous-floods-in-colombia-reignite-debate-over-hydroelectric-dam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2026 17:12:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change impacts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme weather events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hydropower]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Impact Of Climate Change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Renewable Energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/13164229/DSC08870-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315701</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change And Extreme Weather, Dams, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Hydropower, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Communities, Nature And Health, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — In the suburb of La Palma, in the city of Montería, Córdoba, two boys stand knee-deep in water. A shimmering film of dirt spreads across its opaque surface. The two are piling family possessions into an upturned refrigerator – a makeshift raft used to ferry their belongings toward dry land. Across the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — In the suburb of La Palma, in the city of Montería, Córdoba, two boys stand knee-deep in water. A shimmering film of dirt spreads across its opaque surface. The two are piling family possessions into an upturned refrigerator – a makeshift raft used to ferry their belongings toward dry land. Across the street, Ana Castillo, 33, watches them from her doorway. Her home sits just a few inches above the water. By her side, a dark stain rising 1 meter (3.3 feet) up the wall marks where the water line was just a few days earlier. “This took us by surprise,” Castillo says. Broom in hand, she tries to sweep the last of the water from her front room. “It’s sad to see your things half-submerged in water.” La Palma is one of the 27 neighborhoods in Montería affected by severe flooding during the region’s dry season. What began as torrential rain in early February turned into a regional disaster: 24 municipalities in Cordoba were affected, and seven people died. The causes are still under debate; while scientists have pointed to unstable weather patterns and the influence of climate change, locals, some experts and high-ranking politicians say high water levels in the Urra Dam, a hydroelectric project long contested by Indigenous communities, have aggravated the floods. In the neighbourhood of La Palma, Montería, two young men attempt to use a fridge as a makeshift canoe. Image by Euan Wallace. Amid the debate, authorities continue to grapple with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/disastrous-floods-in-colombia-reignite-debate-over-hydroelectric-dam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/disastrous-floods-in-colombia-reignite-debate-over-hydroelectric-dam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s coffee industry well placed but wary as EU deforestation rule looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 16:23:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EUDR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Farming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest clearing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law Enforcement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Deforestation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/04114305/Juan-Nieves5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315196</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Coffee, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Farming, Global Trade, Law Enforcement, Organic Farming, Rainforest Deforestation, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CIÉNAGA, Colombia — A handful of men swarm around a coffee collection center in the city of Ciénaga, shouldering burlap sacks of coffee as they move in and out of the mill. Ciénaga is a port town in the foothills of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world’s highest coastal mountain range, and is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CIÉNAGA, Colombia — A handful of men swarm around a coffee collection center in the city of Ciénaga, shouldering burlap sacks of coffee as they move in and out of the mill. Ciénaga is a port town in the foothills of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world’s highest coastal mountain range, and is known locally as the coffee capital of the Sierra Nevada region. “We hope EUDR will be to our benefit,” says Silver Polo Palomino, a coffee grower and representative of the Asociación de Agricultores Orgánicos de La Secreta (AGROSEC), a local organic coffee growers’ association in Ciénaga, speaking over the roar of the mill. Polo is one of many producers in Colombia who say they’re uncertain — and increasingly nervous — about what the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will mean for their livelihoods. The regulation, set to go into force at the end of this year, will ban the import into the EU market of seven key commodities linked to deforestation. Coffee is among them. But Colombia, the world’s No. 3 coffee producer, is well prepared for the EUDR and better positioned than coffee exporters in many parts of Africa and Asia, several experts told Mongabay. Despite a fragmented sector dominated by small-scale farmers, Colombia’s coffee industry is highly organized, largely through the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), which represents more than 500,000 coffee-growing families. The FNC has developed a centralized georeferenced database, the Coffee Information System (SICA), designed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/colombias-coffee-industry-well-placed-but-wary-as-eu-deforestation-rule-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Photos: In the Colombian Amazon, fishing binds a community to river and forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/photos-in-the-colombian-amazon-fishing-binds-a-community-to-river-and-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/photos-in-the-colombian-amazon-fishing-binds-a-community-to-river-and-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2026 16:09:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/26151320/Fishing-rod-2-e1772123553245-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314875</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Cultures, Indigenous Peoples, Photos, Rivers, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, Colombia — The Vaupés River and its extensive network of waterways and lagoons in the southeastern Colombian department of the same name are integral to the Indigenous Macaquiño community, who lives along its banks. It provides them with water for drinking, bathing and washing, and also serves as a migration route and breeding ground [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, Colombia — The Vaupés River and its extensive network of waterways and lagoons in the southeastern Colombian department of the same name are integral to the Indigenous Macaquiño community, who lives along its banks. It provides them with water for drinking, bathing and washing, and also serves as a migration route and breeding ground for an abundance of fish, which they depend on for food. But for the Macaquiño community, these waters are more than just a food pantry, they told Mongabay. It forms part of the deep cultural and spiritual connection they have with their waters and the species that inhabit them. Their traditional calendar responds to its natural cycles, marked by the rainy and dry seasons, each with their own traditional rules and rituals dictating when the community can harvest food, fish and hunt. Omar Salvador Fernández Chequemarca and Harold Ferreira Romero, two fishers from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés, fish in the Vaupés River. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. A fish caught from the waters of a flooded forest near the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. Manuel Claudio Fernández, the captain of Macaquiño, said the community doesn’t just care for the land; they coexist with it. “How do we coexist? By respecting the forest, the articulation of spirits, the water, the forest and us humans. We, the people, depend on water and the forest. And the forest and water also depend on us.” While Macaquiño fishers still use some of the traditional&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/photos-in-the-colombian-amazon-fishing-binds-a-community-to-river-and-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Big cats get the press, but small wildcats are being poached and trafficked in silence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 15:13:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/25042015/Image-7-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314723</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bangladesh, Benin, Colombia, Latin America, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, South America, South Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cats, Conservation, Environment, Illegal Trade, Jaguars, Pet Trade, Poachers, Poaching, Small Cats, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jaguars are increasingly targeted across Latin America for their roseate-patterned pelts and canine teeth, following decades of relatively little poaching. When researchers in Colombia investigated the jaguar trade within the country, they made a troubling discovery: Colombia&#8217;s small wildcats are also in the crosshairs. Official records revealed that between 2015 and 2021, more than 700 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Jaguars are increasingly targeted across Latin America for their roseate-patterned pelts and canine teeth, following decades of relatively little poaching. When researchers in Colombia investigated the jaguar trade within the country, they made a troubling discovery: Colombia&#8217;s small wildcats are also in the crosshairs. Official records revealed that between 2015 and 2021, more than 700 small wildcats were seized or surrendered to authorities. The vast majority of these cats were found alive, including more than 400 ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) as well as oncillas (Leopardus pardinoides), also known as the clouded tiger cat, jaguarundis (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margays (Leopardus wiedii). Between 2015 and 2021, more than 400 ocelots were seized by or surrendered to Colombian authorities. Image by Robin Gwen Agarwal via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Skins, teeth and other parts were also confiscated. The research, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation, suggests an established demand for small wildcats as exotic pets in Colombia. “Until now, the trade in small cats in Latin America had always seemed [to be at] a very low scale — opportunistic activity,” says Melissa Arias, a wildlife trade specialist at the Zoological Society of London and a co-author of the study. “But what we saw with the numbers is that it is actually quite significant.” Their findings are both unsurprising and worrisome, as the true scale of trade is likely to be higher, says Pauline Verheij, a wildlife crime specialist with the NGO EcoJust, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It&#8217;s a given that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Indigenous leader assassinated in Colombia’s Caldas department</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/indigenous-leader-assassinated-in-colombias-caldas-department/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/indigenous-leader-assassinated-in-colombias-caldas-department/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2026 21:15:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/24211104/Embera-3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=314719</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, and Indigenous Reserves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous leader José Albino Cañas Ramírez was recently shot and killed by two unknown individuals in Colombia’s Caldas department. Indigenous authorities suspect it was a targeted attack linked to his work in defense of one of the oldest Indigenous reserves in Colombia, the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP). It’s a 37.6-square-kilometer (14.5-square-mile) reserve [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous leader José Albino Cañas Ramírez was recently shot and killed by two unknown individuals in Colombia’s Caldas department. Indigenous authorities suspect it was a targeted attack linked to his work in defense of one of the oldest Indigenous reserves in Colombia, the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta (RCMLP). It’s a 37.6-square-kilometer (14.5-square-mile) reserve established in 1540 but has been threatened by illegal miners and armed groups for decades. According to a statement released by the RCMLP, the two individuals arrived at the shop attached to the home of Cañas Ramírez at approximately 8:50 p.m. on Feb. 16. As Ramírez prepared to attend to them, they shot him four times and fled along the community’s roads toward Supía, a neighboring municipality. Ramírez died several minutes later, the statement said. Ramírez was an active member of the resguardo&#8217;s governing council (cabildo) and an Indigenous authority from the community of Portachuelo, one of 32 Embera Chamí Indigenous communities in the reserve. Ramírez’s responsibilities included territorial protection, conflict resolution and the promotion of cultural preservation within the Portachuelo community. As part of his work, he encouraged young people to stay away from drugs, which has been a growing concern in the community, Hector Jaime Vinasco, a member of the resguardo&#8217;s governing council, told Mongabay over a phone call. Illegal mining and armed conflict have threatened the local communities for many years. In recognition of the threats and violence they face, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted the Embera people precautionary measures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/02/indigenous-leader-assassinated-in-colombias-caldas-department/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous territories, aged 44</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2026 21:46:34 +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/20/2026/02/20214228/Jose-Albino-Canas-Ramirez-636721909_26491799580412673_5408253252520863944_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314593</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Murdered Activists, Nonviolence, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the landscape where he lived. He was shot at his home in the community of Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, on the evening of February 16. Two men came to the shop he ran from his house, opened fire, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the landscape where he lived. He was shot at his home in the community of Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, on the evening of February 16. Two men came to the shop he ran from his house, opened fire, and fled along the footpaths that lace the Indigenous reserve. He was 44. His killing was treated not merely as a private tragedy, but as a public matter of governance. Cañas Ramírez was a cabildante—a member of the governing council—of the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory of more than 23,000 people spread across dozens of communities. His death, leaders said, struck at the very structure of Indigenous self-government. The community of Portachuelo, where Cañas Ramírez lived, lies at the base of a sacred hill called Carbunco. Photo by Héctor Jaime Vinasco, member of the Governing Council of the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Reserve of Colonial Origin. The Emberá Chamí, whose name means “people of the mountains,” inhabit the central and western Andes. Their lands are biodiverse, steep, and contested. For decades, they have lived at the intersection of armed conflict and extractive ambition. Guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, criminal networks, miners, and state interests have all sought to control territory that the Emberá consider ancestral. The result has been what activists call a form of “double victimization”: pressure from illegal armed actors on one side, and development projects and resource exploitation on the other.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/jose-albino-canas-ramirez-a-defender-of-indigenous-territories-44/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Colombia poised for another drop in deforestation in 2025, data show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/colombia-poised-for-another-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-data-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/colombia-poised-for-another-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-data-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2026 19:58:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/15211439/AP25339572345149-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313048</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Logging, Mining, Organized Crime, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments that have historically struggled with forest loss. An estimated 36,280 hectares (89,650 acres) of forest were lost during the first three quarters of the year, a 25% drop from the 48,500 hectares (about 119,850 acres) recorded over the same period [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments that have historically struggled with forest loss. An estimated 36,280 hectares (89,650 acres) of forest were lost during the first three quarters of the year, a 25% drop from the 48,500 hectares (about 119,850 acres) recorded over the same period in 2024, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), a government agency. The figures only account for January to September, as data for the final quarter of the year are still being processed. Officials celebrated the results while stressing the need to continue improving forest conservation strategies. “The sustained reduction of deforestation in the Amazon is the result of collaboration between the national government and communities, through ecological restoration actions, voluntary conservation agreements, strengthening of sustainable production chains and forest management,” the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development said in a December statement. Colombia has around 60 million hectares (148 million acres) of forest cover, representing more than half of its total land area. This includes the Amazon Rainforest and savanna ecosystems like the Orinoquía. For decades, the country has struggled to slow the spread of cattle ranching and agriculture as well as illicit crops like coca, the primary ingredient in cocaine. In 2025, many of the worst-hit departments also saw the largest drops in forest loss, signaling progress in addressing some of these long-standing drivers. “When the figures are low, we should take advantage and strengthen actions to reduce threats,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/colombia-poised-for-another-drop-in-deforestation-in-2025-data-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Three Andean condor chicks hatch in Colombia as species nears local extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/three-andean-condor-chicks-hatch-in-colombia-as-species-nears-local-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/three-andean-condor-chicks-hatch-in-colombia-as-species-nears-local-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2026 02:18:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/14020739/National-Aviary_MarijoChick_Michael-Faix-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=312927</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since July 2024, three Andean condor chicks have hatched at an artificial incubation program located near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, contributor Christina Noriega reported for Mongabay. The artificial incubation program is run by the Jaime Duque Park Foundation, a Colombian conservation nonprofit that has worked since 2015 to counter the birds’ population decline. Globally, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since July 2024, three Andean condor chicks have hatched at an artificial incubation program located near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, contributor Christina Noriega reported for Mongabay. The artificial incubation program is run by the Jaime Duque Park Foundation, a Colombian conservation nonprofit that has worked since 2015 to counter the birds’ population decline. Globally, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is classified as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List, with an estimated 6,700 mature individuals remaining across the species’ range, largely concentrated in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. But in Colombia and Ecuador, the species is considered critically endangered, with fewer than 150 birds left in the wild. In Venezuela, the species is believed to have already gone locally extinct. The chicks, named Rafiki, Wayra and Ámbar, hatched in July 2024, September 2025 and October 2025, respectively. “They are the salvation of the species,” Fernando Castro, director of biodiversity at the foundation, told Mongabay. Rafiki and Wayra, the two older chicks, are expected to be released this year near Cerrito, a high-altitude town in northeastern Colombia where nearly half of the nation’s condor population survives today. To boost condor survival, wildlife caretakers at Jaime Duque Park place each egg collected from captive condor nests in an oven-like incubator to provide warmth and safety. Andean condors typically raise one chick every 2-3 years, and first-time parents have been observed accidentally cracking their eggs, Castro told Noriega. But removing the egg from their nest often stimulates the birds to lay again, increasing the number of eggs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/three-andean-condor-chicks-hatch-in-colombia-as-species-nears-local-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/three-andean-condor-chicks-hatch-in-colombia-as-species-nears-local-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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						<item>
					<title>Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/illegal-mining-and-urban-sprawl-reshape-a-fragile-amazon-frontier/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/illegal-mining-and-urban-sprawl-reshape-a-fragile-amazon-frontier/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2026 17:15:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/06105654/Mitu-expansion-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312653</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Amazon Destruction, Amazon Logging, Amazon Mining, Amazon Rainforest, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To The Amazon, Tropical Forests, Urbanization, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MITÚ, Colombia — Beneath the rising sun, people from nearby Indigenous communities navigate across the Vaupés River in traditional wooden canoes toward Mitú, a rapidly expanding town in the Colombian Amazon. The canoes are packed with fish, plucked from the river’s tea-colored waters hours before, and produce, harvested from their traditional gardens. To reach the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MITÚ, Colombia — Beneath the rising sun, people from nearby Indigenous communities navigate across the Vaupés River in traditional wooden canoes toward Mitú, a rapidly expanding town in the Colombian Amazon. The canoes are packed with fish, plucked from the river’s tea-colored waters hours before, and produce, harvested from their traditional gardens. To reach the town’s market, where merchants wait above a concrete slipway, the canoes stream past huge concrete sewage pipes and a statue of the Virgin Mary. As they navigate farther in, they’re no longer in the Great Vaupés Indigenous Reserve, an Indigenous territory whose borders surround Mitú and its connecting highway. They’re now in an urban frontier experiencing staggering changes in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. Today, Mitú’s population has swelled to almost 30,000, from just over 4,000 five decades ago. This is due to an influx of Indigenous people who move between their traditional communities and the urban center, and non-Indigenous settlers who have established businesses or work for research centers or NGOs. The population boom is also due to illegal gold mining by organized crime groups and the illegal extraction of critical minerals in the wider region, including coltan, which is used in electronics and in electric vehicle batteries. Residents, NGOs and authorities have also reported an expansion in cattle farming and the illegal extraction and trafficking of timber, fish and animals. Members of the Indigenous Macaquiño community take Mongabay to visit their traditional forest garden, or chagra, in September 2025. Image by Aimee&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/illegal-mining-and-urban-sprawl-reshape-a-fragile-amazon-frontier/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Cultural changes shift an Indigenous community’s relationship with the Amazon forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cultural-changes-shift-an-indigenous-communitys-relationship-with-the-amazon-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cultural-changes-shift-an-indigenous-communitys-relationship-with-the-amazon-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jan 2026 18:14:07 +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/20/2026/01/05142855/4-Indigenous-Macaquino-community-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312610</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Amazon People, Amazon Rainforest, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Cultures, Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA – As a baby, Elisa Fernández Sánchez’ mother would place her into the bow of the canoe and glide across the murky waters of the Vaupés River in the thick Amazon rainforest. Their journey towards the traditional forest gardens was not easy, but they did it almost every day. Her mom would plunge [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA – As a baby, Elisa Fernández Sánchez’ mother would place her into the bow of the canoe and glide across the murky waters of the Vaupés River in the thick Amazon rainforest. Their journey towards the traditional forest gardens was not easy, but they did it almost every day. Her mom would plunge the canoe into a series of small river channels, ducking to protect herself from the violent blizzard of branches, vines and leaves that threatened to gouge her eyes if she was not careful. Like most members of the mostly Cubeo Macaquiño community at the time, her mother respected nature and the spiritual beings that guard its sacred sites. It was dangerous to enter the forest unprotected. To enter sacred sites, the payé (an Indigenous authority responsible for maintaining the community’s cultural and spiritual well-being) had to pray to the spirits for permission. Failure to respect this rule could result in severe illness, they believed. Through rituals, prayers and their careful relationship with nature, the Macaquiño community has maintained a healthy territory. It is one of four Indigenous communities that form part of the Association of Traditional Indigenous Authorities Surrounding Mitú (AATIAM), a public entity with a state-recognized right to govern autonomously. Manuel Claudio Fernández, the captain of Macaquiño, said that the community does not care for the land; they co-exist with it. “How do we co-exist? By respecting the forest, the articulation of spirits, the water, the forest and us humans. We, the people, depend&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cultural-changes-shift-an-indigenous-communitys-relationship-with-the-amazon-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<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, 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, Ecosystem Finance, Environment, Environmental Politics, Featured, Fires, Forest Fires, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Rainforest Conservation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Saving The Amazon, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Year in review - rainforests, 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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					<title>Agroforestry grows in popularity among central Colombia&#8217;s coffee farmers (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 18:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliana Cajiao Raigosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23171032/coffee-lady-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Analysis, Coffee, Commentary, Commodity agriculture, Community Development, Conflict, Deforestation, Education, Forests, Social Conflict, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia is the world&#8217;s third-largest coffee producer and the main producer of Arabica coffee, which is known worldwide for its quality. The nation began developing commercial production in 1870, which now accounts for 22% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). According to the National Federation of Coffee Growers, there are approximately 560,000 farms in the country dedicated to coffee production, most of them small scale and accounting for 15% of total production. Coffee in Colombia has become part of the national identity and is also considered part of its cultural heritage. Besides this, it has been of vital importance for the economy, representing up to 80% of total exports, and is undoubtedly partly responsible for the changes that took place between 1870 and 1930, which allowed for the integration of the country&#8217;s economy and generated positive political and social effects. However, only 5% of smallholder farmers are technically efficient (TE), reflecting poor agronomic management strategies such as inadequate uses of inputs, irrational uses of fertilizers and pesticides, low phytosanitary control and monitoring strategies, lack of labor and substandard production conditions, among other factors. Mr. Arlisson Neussa, an agricultural engineer, assisting with coffee berry borer monitoring on a coffee plantation. The agroforestry coffee system, in which the coffee is interplanted within a native forest, can be clearly seen. Image courtesy of Juliana Cajiao Raigosa. The main coffee-producing departments of the “cafetal zone” are Risalda, Caldas, Antioquia and Quindío. Coffee in these areas is considered a cultural heritage and is mainly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/agroforestry-grows-in-popularity-among-central-colombias-coffee-farmers-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>The Amazon in 2026: A challenging year ahead, now off the center stage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 14:27:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/19151029/Parque_Estadual_Encontro_das_Aguas_Thomas-Fuhrmann_2023-_01_Jaguar_-_Panthera_onca_swimming-scaled-e1710871756906-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311879</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Latin America, Peru, South America, Suriname, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Amazon Agriculture, Amazon Destruction, Amazon People, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Deforestation, Threats To Rainforests, and Threats To The Amazon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Belém's COP30 ended in compromise, political forces moved swiftly to accelerate destruction far from the global spotlight. 
]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon enters 2026 carrying the bitter taste of compromise. The world’s attention was fixed on Belém for the COP30 summit in November, transforming the Brazilian city into a brief, intense stage for climate diplomacy, where ambitious calls for a fossil fuel phaseout ultimately died on the negotiating floor. Yet, in 2025, the true battle for the rainforest was fought far from the Blue Zone. In the quiet shadows, powerful political forces moved to roll back environmental protections in Brazil (which holds 64% of the rainforest), successfully passing the anti-conservation bills and green-lighting critical infrastructure projects. This dual reality — grand promises versus accelerated development on the frontier — set the defining tension for the year, even as a more hopeful, grassroots movement gained momentum, finding new, valuable purpose for biodiversity in innovations, proving the rainforest is worth far more standing than cut. COP30 was wrapped in global expectations. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the summit by proposing a road map to enable humankind to overcome its dependence on fossil fuels in a fair and planned manner and to halt deforestation. However, the ambitious calls for a fossil fuel phaseout were excluded from the official COP outcomes. In response, Brazil, alongside the Colombian and Dutch delegations, agreed to develop road maps outside the formal U.N. process. This effort will culminate in the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, scheduled for April 2026, in Santa Marta, Colombia, to negotiate an equitable Fossil Fuel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>&#8216;It’s not safe to live here.&#8217; Colombia is deadliest country for environmental defenders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/its-not-safe-to-live-here-colombia-is-deadliest-country-for-environmental-defenders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/its-not-safe-to-live-here-colombia-is-deadliest-country-for-environmental-defenders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 18:55:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08185330/AP25339572249206-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=310798</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation and Environmental Crime]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO ASIS, Colombia (AP) — Jani Silva is a renowned environmental activist in Colombia’s Amazon, but she has been unable to live in her house for nearly a decade. She has lived under threat from armed groups who forced her out and require her to have a permanent security detail. Living with fear can come [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO ASIS, Colombia (AP) — Jani Silva is a renowned environmental activist in Colombia’s Amazon, but she has been unable to live in her house for nearly a decade. She has lived under threat from armed groups who forced her out and require her to have a permanent security detail. Living with fear can come with activism in Colombia, where one group recorded 48 killings of activists last year. Colombia says it protects activists through its National Protection Unit, providing bodyguards and other security measures. Officials also note progress in court rulings recognizing the rights of nature and stronger environmental oversight. But watchdog groups say the state should do more to prosecute anyone behind threats and attacks. By Steven Grattan, Associated Press &nbsp;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/its-not-safe-to-live-here-colombia-is-deadliest-country-for-environmental-defenders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>In Chocó, river defenders say race for energy transition threatens lifelines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-choco-river-defenders-say-race-for-energy-transition-threatens-lifelines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-choco-river-defenders-say-race-for-energy-transition-threatens-lifelines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 12:44:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Energy Transition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freshwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freshwater Ecosystems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freshwater Fish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rights of nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riverine communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rivers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Water Pollution]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08122405/DSC02881-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310732</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Copper, Critical Minerals, Energy, Freshwater Ecosystems, Gold Mining, Green Energy, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Pollution, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“People bathe in the river, they eat from the river — they live, dance and sing there,” says Dora Agudelo Vázquez. “Their whole lives are bound to the river.” Agudelo Vazquez, one of the guardians of the Atrato River, is sitting on a park bench in the main square of her hometown of El Carmen [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[“People bathe in the river, they eat from the river — they live, dance and sing there,” says Dora Agudelo Vázquez. “Their whole lives are bound to the river.” Agudelo Vazquez, one of the guardians of the Atrato River, is sitting on a park bench in the main square of her hometown of El Carmen de Atrato, in Colombia’s northwestern Chocó department. “In these 30 years of mining, the river has suffered a lot,” she says. By night, this square is full of life. Beneath the stone façade of the central church, vendors sell hot food from densely packed marquees, many of which display the words “Minera El Roble —  Estamos Contigo” (“We Are With You”). Children jump between small groups of heavy-booted workers who gather around the food stalls.  Their overalls carry the same logo: Minera El Roble. El Roble, Colombia’s only active copper mine, is about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) north of the town square. It sits at the base of a valley crossed by the Atrato River, which flows over about 700 km (435 miles) and in 2016 was recognized as a subject of constitutional rights by a Colombian court. This court also ordered the creation of the Guardian Commission, consisting of 14 guardians entrusted with monitoring compliance with the ruling. But Agudelo Vázquez, along with several environmental NGOs and local community groups, allege that El Roble is harming the river’s health, accusing the mine of failing to meet conservation commitments, having weak regulatory oversight and polluting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-choco-river-defenders-say-race-for-energy-transition-threatens-lifelines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The Indigenous women changing the course of their communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 12:27:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04122109/Captura-de-pantalla-2025-09-03-a-las-4.43.50-p.m-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310599</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, and Women in conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective and our resistance is ancestral. Let’s continue sowing resistance, sowing identity,” says Ketty Marcelo, president of the National Organization of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (ONAMIAP). Marcelo says the legacy of their female ancestors is an inspiration and also a guide for Indigenous women to face down historical challenges, resist structural racism and violence, promote economic justice, and strengthen identity in the next generation. In this article first published by Mongabay Latam for the International Day of Indigenous Women on Sept. 5, we share the initiatives of three women leaders from Peru, Mexico and Colombia, whose actions are paving the way toward a better future for Indigenous people. International Day of Indigenous Women has been celebrated every Sept. 5 since 1983 to give visibility to Indigenous women’s achievements and the challenges they face. Image courtesy of ONAMIAP. Peru: Naming water to protect it In Indigenous territories in Peru, each water spring has a name, and each of them is a symbol of resistance. Women are the guardians of the water, and each source is enshrined with a ceremony. In a healing ritual, the elders speak to the water, while the rest of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Artificial incubation gives Colombia’s threatened Andean condor a new lifeline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/artificial-incubation-gives-colombias-threatened-andean-condor-a-new-lifeline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/artificial-incubation-gives-colombias-threatened-andean-condor-a-new-lifeline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2025 12:23:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christina Noriega]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breeding center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation Solutions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Endangered Species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Invasive species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Threatened species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/02111525/Banner-Martin-Brogger-aaMIA_3117-Andean-Condor-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310429</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Captive Breeding, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Raptors, Saving Species From Extinction, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In an isolated backroom of a nature reserve near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Wayra, a recently hatched condor chick, is a symbol of hope for Fernando Castro, a wildlife specialist. Castro, 33, says he sees in the small fluff of gray down the future of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) in Colombia. Wayra is the latest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[In an isolated backroom of a nature reserve near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Wayra, a recently hatched condor chick, is a symbol of hope for Fernando Castro, a wildlife specialist. Castro, 33, says he sees in the small fluff of gray down the future of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) in Colombia. Wayra is the latest Andean condor chick hatched through an artificial incubation program run by the Jaime Duque Park Foundation, a Colombian nonprofit working to conserve the species. At Jaime Duque Park, a theme park a 30-minute drive from Bogotá, which includes two nature reserves, conservationists are working to breed the species at a faster pace than would happen naturally, in a bid to give the Americas’ largest flying bird a better chance at recovery. Over the past two centuries, Andean condor populations have been steadily declining across the seven countries they inhabit: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. The population plunged in the 20th century as people settling in the Andean highlands killed the scavenging birds because of the mistaken belief that they were to blame for livestock deaths. Habitat loss and lead contamination from ammunition left in animal carcasses further devastated the species. Today, the Andean condor is classified on the IUCN Red List as vulnerable to extinction. The IUCN assessment, carried out in 2020, estimates there are about 6,700 individual condors remaining across the species’ range. But their situation varies across countries. In Venezuela, the species is believed to have gone locally extinct, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/artificial-incubation-gives-colombias-threatened-andean-condor-a-new-lifeline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Indigenous guardians protecting the Amazon Trapeze continue to face challenges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indigenous-guardians-protecting-the-amazon-trapeze-continue-to-face-challenges/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indigenous-guardians-protecting-the-amazon-trapeze-continue-to-face-challenges/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 11:12:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[César Giraldo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28110701/3_Illustracion_Los-retos-que-afrontan-los-indigenas_2-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310293</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Olegario Sánchez Pinto, 74, wakes up at 7 a.m. every day to complete all the tasks he must perform as a member of the Indigenous guard in the Colombian community of San Martín de Amacayacu. He begins work early, using only his traditional walking stick to patrol the hamlet along the Amacayacu River, a two-hour [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Olegario Sánchez Pinto, 74, wakes up at 7 a.m. every day to complete all the tasks he must perform as a member of the Indigenous guard in the Colombian community of San Martín de Amacayacu. He begins work early, using only his traditional walking stick to patrol the hamlet along the Amacayacu River, a two-hour boat ride from the city of Leticia on the Amazon River. First, he travels along the shore, which serves as a port where people arrive at and depart from San Martín. Next, he walks among the houses to find out if anyone is sick. In the event of an argument or fight, he immediately seeks out the curaca, or chief, the community’s highest authority. The curaca is responsible for resolving these problems, including imposing any penalties if necessary. Then, along with other guards, Sánchez travels along the ravines to determine whether anyone is cutting trees or fishing. In late March, according to Sánchez, he’s also very watchful for hunting. “That’s the breeding season, so animals can’t be hunted. During those days, tapirs can’t be killed because they’re pregnant. If you kill an animal with [a large] belly, that to us is a crime,” he says. Sánchez has more years of experience as a guard than almost anyone else in San Martín, an Indigenous Tikuna community. Over the years, he’s watched as dozens of his colleagues have left the Indigenous guard due to a lack of income. He recalls a former fellow guardian telling him, “I&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indigenous-guardians-protecting-the-amazon-trapeze-continue-to-face-challenges/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Afro-descendant territories slash deforestation, lock in carbon, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/afro-descendant-territories-slash-deforestation-lock-in-carbon-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/afro-descendant-territories-slash-deforestation-lock-in-carbon-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 10:02:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gonzalo Ortuño López]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/28095807/portada-mujeres-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310290</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Conservation, Carbon Dioxide, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Protected Areas, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America have historically been guardians of nature, but their role could be more important than previously estimated. New research carried out in four Amazonian countries — Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname — has revealed that their territories have achieved lower levels of deforestation and greater conservation of biodiversity than other protected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America have historically been guardians of nature, but their role could be more important than previously estimated. New research carried out in four Amazonian countries — Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname — has revealed that their territories have achieved lower levels of deforestation and greater conservation of biodiversity than other protected areas. The study, funded by Conservation International and published in the journal Communications Earth &amp; Environment, is the first to use statistics, georeferenced information and historical context to measure the contributions of Afro-descendant populations to conservation. Afro-descendant people were taken as slaves from Africa to Latin America, where many fled into the wilderness in search of freedom. One of the study’s most significant findings is the sustained reduction of deforestation in Afro-descendant lands. Here the study found that forest loss was lower, depending on location, than in protected areas. For example, deforestation rates in Afro-descendant lands were 29% lower when the lands were inside protected areas, 36% lower when they were outside protected areas, and 55% lower when they were on the edge of these areas. “It confirms that we are the guardians of these Amazonian lands; we have been doing this sustainably for over 400 years,” says Hugo Jabini, Saramaka Maroon leader and winner of the 2009 Goldman Prize for defending Afro-descendant rights in Suriname. What’s more, Afro-descendant territories are vital for tropical biodiversity: the researchers found that they host habitat for more than 4,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. At least&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/afro-descendant-territories-slash-deforestation-lock-in-carbon-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-aims-for-alternative-route-to-fossil-fuel-road-map-after-cop30-failure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-aims-for-alternative-route-to-fossil-fuel-road-map-after-cop30-failure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 13:51:24 +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/20/2025/11/25125453/marcha-cop30-crop-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310125</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Amazon Agriculture, Amazon Destruction, Amazon People, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Deforestation, Threats To Rainforests, and Threats To The Amazon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Phaseout plan gained unexpected momentum at the summit, only to vanish from the final deal and unlock a new stage. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — In April 2026, a new summit in Santa Marta, Colombia, promises to advance on one crucial point the U.N. climate summits have been failing to address after 30 editions: planning the transition to a world without fossil fuels. An action plan for a phaseout was once again left out of COP official outcomes in the Amazonian city of Belém, which held the event for two weeks ending Nov. 22. Although Brazil spearheaded a road map to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels, it was never included in the official agenda — despite expectations following COP28’s call for a transition. Brazil hosted COP30 with high promises despite its scaling environmental contradictions, such as green-lighting the exploration of oil on the Amazon coast weeks before the event. However, the Belém summit was presented as the “implementation COP” and the “COP of the truth” in official banners. In a powerful opening speech, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva first launched the road map proposal. “We need road maps that will enable humankind, in a fair and planned manner, to overcome its dependence on fossil fuels, halt and reverse deforestation and mobilize resources to achieve these goals,” he said. Lula’s speech was within the spirit of mutirão, which initially took over negotiations in Belém. The Portuguese word with roots in the Indigenous language Tupi-Guarani means making a “collective effort” to achieve concrete results. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago on his left and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-aims-for-alternative-route-to-fossil-fuel-road-map-after-cop30-failure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Colombia slams international trade rules that punish states for climate action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-slams-international-trade-rules-that-punish-states-for-climate-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-slams-international-trade-rules-that-punish-states-for-climate-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Nov 2025 10:17:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/19102053/1-Caqueta-River-serves-as-a-vital-transportation-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=309808</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporations, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, International Trade, Law, Mining, Oil, Oil Drilling, and Rainforest Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres has called for reform of international arbitration tribunals, saying they’re “one of the greatest obstacles” to the energy transition and favor corporate interests over sovereignty. The investor–state dispute settlement system (ISDS), also called a “corporate court,” is an international trade mechanism that allows foreign investors, usually corporations, to sue [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres has called for reform of international arbitration tribunals, saying they’re “one of the greatest obstacles” to the energy transition and favor corporate interests over sovereignty. The investor–state dispute settlement system (ISDS), also called a “corporate court,” is an international trade mechanism that allows foreign investors, usually corporations, to sue a government for losses caused by its policies. Under this system, a nation can’t outlaw, or in some cases punish, existing extractive industries for environmental reasons without facing significant penalties. “No government should have to choose between protecting nature and its people, and protecting itself from arbitrators,” Vélez said at the U.N. climate summit, COP30, in Belém, Brazil, in a session hosted by U.K.-based advocacy group Global Justice Now. “This mechanism, that has been inherited from an era in which the priority was investment over sovereignty, allows corporations to sue the state for adopting legitimate environmental and climate policies,” Vélez added. According to Global Justice Now, corporations have sued over environmental demands made by nations several times under the ISDS framework. These include U.K. mining giant Anglo American suing Colombia after a court there stopped the expansion of an open-cast coal mine, and Chevron, a U.S. oil company, suing Ecuador after the nation ordered compensation following a devastating oil spill in the Amazon. Vélez said Colombia has historically been dependent on fossil fuels and their exports, and that these mechanisms force nations to continue supporting extractive industries that damage the environment and emit greenhouse gases.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-slams-international-trade-rules-that-punish-states-for-climate-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Colombia bans all new oil and mining projects in its Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-bans-all-new-oil-and-mining-projects-in-its-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-bans-all-new-oil-and-mining-projects-in-its-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 08:38:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Bobbybascomb]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/13131448/Puerto-Caiman-Island-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=309710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Mining, Emission Reduction, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mining, Oil, Oil Drilling, Rainforest Conservation, and Rainforest Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia will no longer approve new oil or large-scale mining projects in its Amazon biome, which covers 42% of the nation’s territory, according to a Nov. 13 statement by its environment ministry. Acting Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said the entire Colombian Amazon will be made a reserve for renewable natural resources. She made the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia will no longer approve new oil or large-scale mining projects in its Amazon biome, which covers 42% of the nation’s territory, according to a Nov. 13 statement by its environment ministry. Acting Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said the entire Colombian Amazon will be made a reserve for renewable natural resources. She made the announcement at a meeting of ministers with the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, during COP30, the U.N. climate summit taking place in Belém, Brazil. “This declaration is an ethical and scientific commitment. It seeks to prevent forest degradation, river contamination and biodiversity loss that threatens the continent’s climate balance,” Vélez said. She also called on other Amazonian nations to adopt similar protections, highlighting that Colombia controls just 7% of the Amazon biome. Across the Amazon, 871 oil and gas blocks cover an area roughly twice the size of France; 68% of the blocks are still in the study or bidding phases.  “We do this not only as an act of environmental sovereignty, but as a fraternal call to the other countries that share the Amazon biome, because the Amazon does not know borders and its care requires us to move forward together,” Vélez added. Brazil, which controls nearly 60% of the Amazon, has moved in the opposite direction over the past year, despite successfully cracking down on deforestation. The nation auctioned off several oil blocks near Indigenous lands and approved drilling for an offshore site at the mouth of the Amazon River. Peru is courting foreign&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-bans-all-new-oil-and-mining-projects-in-its-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Top ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin&#8217;s COP30 reflections on Amazon conservation (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/top-ethnobotanist-mark-plotkins-cop30-reflections-on-amazon-conservation-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/top-ethnobotanist-mark-plotkins-cop30-reflections-on-amazon-conservation-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 21:45:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark J. Plotkin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/17210100/Suriname-2-e1763414931233-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309585</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Rainforest, Analysis, Biodiversity, Biodiversity And Medicine, Botany, Commentary, Conservation, Development, Environment, Ethnobotany, Forest Products, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Medicinal Plants, Medicine, Rainforest People, Rainforests, Research, Sustainable Development, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Medicine, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Having studied the healing plants and peoples of tropical South America for well over four decades, I am often asked, “What is the conservation status of the Amazon Rainforest? Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” My reply never changes. “By definition, any glass that is half-full is half-empty!” When I first traveled to the Amazon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Having studied the healing plants and peoples of tropical South America for well over four decades, I am often asked, “What is the conservation status of the Amazon Rainforest? Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” My reply never changes. “By definition, any glass that is half-full is half-empty!” When I first traveled to the Amazon in the 1970s, the world was a different place. Most people thought of the rainforest, if they thought of it at all, as a green hell to be avoided at all costs. Soon thereafter, public perception of tropical rainforests shifted dramatically, driven by the emerging modern environmental movement. Tropical forest and river in Suriname. Image courtesy of Mark J. Plotkin. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 and Earth Day in 1970 were milestones in generating global awareness and concern over deforestation, pesticides, pollution and species extinction, particularly in the industrialized world. However, Western scientists like Tom Lovejoy, Richard Schultes and E.O. Wilson — as well as Brazilian scientists like Marcio Ayres, Paulo Nogueiro-Neto and Paulo Vanzolini — presented a compelling case that the biological richness and fragility of tropical forests merited at least as much attention as ecosystems in the temperate regions. These scientists reframed the global image of Amazonia from “green hell” to “treasure trove of biodiversity.” The media also played a positive role. The vast scale of burning and clearing — turning a green wonderland into a red desert through major development projects like ill-planned dams or road building — shocked and horrified&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/top-ethnobotanist-mark-plotkins-cop30-reflections-on-amazon-conservation-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Sloth selfies are feeding a booming wildlife trafficking trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2025 13:15:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/13201239/0.-World-Animal-Protection-x3a_-Nando-Machado-B.variegatus-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Biodiversity, Defaunation, Endangered Species, Species, Tourism, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s not easy to find a sloth in the middle of the forest. They spend most of their time in the tree canopy and are masters of camouflage, thanks to their slow movements and the algae attached to their fur, which makes them blend in with the color of the leaves. Once identified high up, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s not easy to find a sloth in the middle of the forest. They spend most of their time in the tree canopy and are masters of camouflage, thanks to their slow movements and the algae attached to their fur, which makes them blend in with the color of the leaves. Once identified high up, however, these animals become easy prey. Hunters cut down the tree, and within seconds, the animal is on the ground. In their eagerness to defend their young, mothers often are killed by the hunters. The young animals have their claws and sometimes even their fingertips cut off before becoming tourist attractions or exotic “pets.” The exploitation of sloths by the tourism industry has intensified in recent decades, perhaps due to their peaceful appearance and the impression that they are always smiling, which has earned them the nickname Miss Congeniality of the Amazon. Many travelers crossing South American countries want to take photos next to them, and some even decide to take a baby sloth home, fueling a wildlife trade that’s as lucrative as it’s cruel. “That ‘smile’ hides immense suffering,” says biologist Neil D’Cruze, strategic research leader at Canopy, an international environmental advocacy organization. “These animals undergo extreme stress when they are handled, confined or exposed to noisy crowds. They are not physiologically suited for this type of treatment,” says the researcher, who conducted studies in South America on the exploitation of these animals. Few babies resist such stress. In the case of smaller young&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/indigenous-communities-protect-colombias-uncontacted-peoples/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/indigenous-communities-protect-colombias-uncontacted-peoples/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2025 13:43:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/13131448/Puerto-Caiman-Island-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=308788</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Amazon Mining, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Rivers, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Founder&#8217;s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than a decade, two Indigenous communities deep in Colombia’s Amazon have been safeguarding those who wish to remain unseen, reports contributor Pilar Puentes for Mongabay. The residents of the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve and the neighboring Manacaro community have built an extraordinary system of surveillance and stewardship to protect uncontacted peoples such as the Yuri and Passé — tribes that continue to live in voluntary isolation. Their vigilance, combining ancestral wisdom and digital tools, led the government in October 2024 to formally recognize the existence of two such groups, ending a century of speculation. The decision owed much to the patient accumulation of evidence: faint footprints, scattered seeds, traces of fire. The Indigenous monitors’ efforts filled the void left by the state, which has been largely absent from this conflict-ridden region. Armed groups, illegal miners, missionaries and traffickers now press upon the boundaries of lands that had once been untouched. In the face of danger, women from Manacaro have stepped into roles long reserved for men, steering canoes along the rivers, collecting data and recording threats. Their work, supported by the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) and local associations, now spans thousands of hectares. Using GPS, georeferencing programs and tablets, they track wildlife and human incursions, and their findings feed into national policymaking through Colombia’s Commission for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation. The communities’ maps are more than technical records.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/indigenous-communities-protect-colombias-uncontacted-peoples/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Brazil dismantles hundreds of illegal dredges in major Amazon mining crackdown</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-dismantles-hundreds-of-illegal-dredges-in-major-amazon-mining-crackdown/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-dismantles-hundreds-of-illegal-dredges-in-major-amazon-mining-crackdown/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2025 21:35:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Associated Press]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/03213417/AP25307670675571-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=308751</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Mining, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, and Rainforest Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Brazilian police backed by Interpol have destroyed hundreds of dredges used in illegal gold mining along the Madeira River, in one of the biggest coordinated crackdowns yet on criminal networks operating across the Amazon Basin. The international police agency said officers dismantled 277 floating mining rafts worth an estimated $6.8 million. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Brazilian police backed by Interpol have destroyed hundreds of dredges used in illegal gold mining along the Madeira River, in one of the biggest coordinated crackdowns yet on criminal networks operating across the Amazon Basin. The international police agency said officers dismantled 277 floating mining rafts worth an estimated $6.8 million. When factoring in lost gold, equipment and environmental damage, officials estimated the total financial blow to organized crime groups at about $193 million. The Madeira River, one of the Amazon’s largest tributaries, flows from the Andes through Bolivia into northern Brazil before joining the main Amazon River — an area long plagued by illegal mining and environmental crime. The raids were led by Brazil’s Federal Police Amazon and Environment Protection Division, a special unit focused on combating environmental crimes, with support from a new regional coordination center linking law enforcement agencies from several Amazon countries. More than 100 officers used satellite data to map 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) of forest and river areas scarred by mining, Interpol said Monday. Interpol — the international organization that helps police in nearly 200 countries share intelligence and coordinate operations — said the crackdown builds on a series of recent cross-border missions in Latin America targeting illegal gold mining, logging and wildlife trafficking. Such crimes are among the biggest drivers of deforestation and river contamination in the Amazon, and often fund broader organized crime networks. The operation comes just weeks before world leaders gather in the northern Brazilian city&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-dismantles-hundreds-of-illegal-dredges-in-major-amazon-mining-crackdown/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/report-urges-full-protection-of-worlds-196-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/report-urges-full-protection-of-worlds-196-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2025 14:22:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/27113221/Photo-9-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308336</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Latin America, Pacific Islands, Peru, South America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Conservation, Development, Diseases, Drug Trade, Environment, extractives, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Cultures, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Mining, Oil Drilling, Rainforests, Uncontacted Tribes, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“My children died. My mother died. My husband died. My brothers, my sisters, my aunts and uncles. I saw the bones sticking out of their rotting corpses inside the longhouse. We were too weak to bury them. I was left alone with my two baby brothers. All my family died, and all we got in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[“My children died. My mother died. My husband died. My brothers, my sisters, my aunts and uncles. I saw the bones sticking out of their rotting corpses inside the longhouse. We were too weak to bury them. I was left alone with my two baby brothers. All my family died, and all we got in return were a few machetes.” This story comes from a Matis Indigenous woman living in Brazil and speaking to an anthropologist in the 1990s. Her people were almost wiped out in the years after they were initially contacted by outsiders in the 1970s. Loggers and wildcat miners brought in diseases, mainly influenza, against which the Matis had little resistance. Testimonies like this one from the Matis Indigenous woman convinced Survival International of the urgent need to campaign to safeguard the collective rights of the Indigenous, tribal and uncontacted peoples of the world, whom the human rights organization says must be left alone and fully protected. On Oct. 27, the NGO published a 300-page report, Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples: at the Edge of Survival, documenting the past and looming threats posed by contact and offering up the experiences of numerous Indigenous peoples whose lives have been uprooted, disrupted and forever changed by contact. It states: “In particular, the rush by extractive industries and agribusiness to seize the resources of uncontacted peoples risks their total annihilation.” A Tupá Matis Indigenous person near the Itui river in the Javari Valley, Brazil. The Matis were devastated by western diseases after&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/report-urges-full-protection-of-worlds-196-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Indigenous monitoring project helps protect isolated peoples in Colombia’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indigenous-monitoring-project-helps-protect-isolated-peoples-in-colombias-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indigenous-monitoring-project-helps-protect-isolated-peoples-in-colombias-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 15:23:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pilar Puentes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/13124216/PORTADA-Escudo-de-proteccion-de-los-aislados-_-Sara-Arredondo-Baudo-Agencia-Publica-1200x675-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307491</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Mining, Amazon People, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Monitoring, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rivers, Technology, and Technology And Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Colombia’s Amazon, two communities have worked for more than a decade to guard their territory and to protect the right of other Indigenous peoples to remain isolated. The community of Manacaro and the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve, located in the lower Caquetá River region, were fundamental in the federal government’s decision to formally recognize [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Colombia’s Amazon, two communities have worked for more than a decade to guard their territory and to protect the right of other Indigenous peoples to remain isolated. The community of Manacaro and the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve, located in the lower Caquetá River region, were fundamental in the federal government’s decision to formally recognize the existence of two voluntarily isolated peoples in Colombia: the Yuri and the Passé. Since the late 1800s, there have been reports of at least 18 Indigenous communities that have chosen not to have contact with the outside world, or who — after colonization, the rubber boom and the trafficking of Amazonian animal skins — decided to flee and remain isolated. However, it wasn’t until October 2024, 15 years after the first hints of isolated peoples (some footsteps and scattered seeds on the ground), that the Ministry of the Interior issued a resolution confirming the presence of two of those 18 communities. That resolution would never have been possible without the monitoring work of these communities’ Indigenous neighbors. The territory inhabited by the Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation is surrounded by threats that put their way of life at risk: missionaries who try to contact them, armed actors, drug trafficking and the advance of illegal mining. The Ombudsman has issued several alerts about these risks. The most recent ones, in February 2025, are the new territorial disputes between former commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC in Spanish) who did not agree&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indigenous-monitoring-project-helps-protect-isolated-peoples-in-colombias-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Putumayo’s women guardians defend land and culture amid Colombia’s deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/putumayos-women-guardians-defend-land-and-culture-amid-colombias-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/putumayos-women-guardians-defend-land-and-culture-amid-colombias-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 20:24:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Natalia Arbelaez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15133452/PORTADA-Mujeres-de-Sibundoy-_-Sara-Arredondo-Baudo-Agencia-Publica-1200x675-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307688</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Gender and Conservation, Governance, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Roads, Spirituality and Conservation, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Women in conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Sibundoy Valley in Putumayo, southwestern Colombia, is an ancestral territory inhabited by two sister ethnic groups: the Kamëntšá and the Inga, descendants of the Peruvian Incas. It is also the place where at least four rivers originate, including the Putumayo, which later joins the Caquetá before flowing into the Amazon. The valley is situated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Sibundoy Valley in Putumayo, southwestern Colombia, is an ancestral territory inhabited by two sister ethnic groups: the Kamëntšá and the Inga, descendants of the Peruvian Incas. It is also the place where at least four rivers originate, including the Putumayo, which later joins the Caquetá before flowing into the Amazon. The valley is situated in a region of the Andes known as Nudo de los Pastos, before it branches into three separate mountain ranges, with peaks measuring up to 3,500 meters (11,400 feet) above the sea level and several páramos (high-altitude Andean ecosystems) surrounding it. Although far from the Amazonian lowlands, it is an essential part of the territory, providing water to the rest of Putumayo. Due to its climate, the Sibundoy Valley does not face the same challenges — such as illicit coca cultivation and armed groups — as the lower Putumayo, but it is threatened by cattle ranching and extensive plantations of beans, corn and lulo, which were established in the territory decades ago. Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the new road between San Francisco and Mocoa municipalities also pose a risk to conservation in the area. The Sibundoy Valley as seen from the mountains. Image by Laura Niño/La Silla Vacía. As part of a special on Indigenous guardians coordinated by Mongabay Latam, Colombia’s independent online news platform La Silla traveled to the Sibundoy Valley to learn about the work of three Indigenous women in the defense of this territory, who embody the efforts of many others.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/putumayos-women-guardians-defend-land-and-culture-amid-colombias-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Voices from the Land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/10/voices-from-the-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/10/voices-from-the-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 04:57:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rohini Alamgir]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/06161152/IMG_1807-1-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=specials&#038;p=307670</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Andes, Colombia, Europe, Finland, Norway, Russia, South Africa, South America, and Sweden]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Rainforest, Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate policy, Commentary, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, and Land Rights]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous peoples are experiencing firsthand the impacts of the environmental and climate crises on their lands and communities. This commentary series, produced by the collective Passu Creativa with the support of Earth Alliance, is written by Indigenous leaders from around the world, including Goldman Prize winners, political officials, and representatives of grassroots movements. These leaders [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous peoples are experiencing firsthand the impacts of the environmental and climate crises on their lands and communities. This commentary series, produced by the collective Passu Creativa with the support of Earth Alliance, is written by Indigenous leaders from around the world, including Goldman Prize winners, political officials, and representatives of grassroots movements. These leaders write from the heart of their communities, seeking to tell their own stories to a global audience. Through these stories, the leaders share their lived realities and reflections on the issues shaping their lives — environmental destruction, humanity’s relationship with nature, and the search for solutions.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/10/voices-from-the-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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