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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/south-america/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>South America environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/south-america/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>In Ecuador, Indigenous youth turn to rap music to defend the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 16:32:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Alarcón]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09141132/Raperos-1-Willan-Gualinga-Taki-Supay-Ecuador-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arts, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Willan Gualinga first stepped onto a stage in his home community of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the province of Pastaza. He recalls his hands sweating, his body trembling, and his mouth freezing up as words crowded his mind. Three years after that debut, he performed the same song at the Rizoma 2026 Festival [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Willan Gualinga first stepped onto a stage in his home community of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the province of Pastaza. He recalls his hands sweating, his body trembling, and his mouth freezing up as words crowded his mind. Three years after that debut, he performed the same song at the Rizoma 2026 Festival in the Amazonian city of Puyo. This time, he was no longer in front of dozens of people. He was seeing thousands chanting his lyrics in his Indigenous Kichwa language. On this occasion, his body moved with the rhythm and with the strength his message demanded: “Allpamanda kawsay manda jatarishun,” or “Let us rise up for the land and for life.” That was the title of his first track and the phrase he shouted at the top of his lungs throughout his performance. The song draws on elders’ stories about the origins of Sarayaku (his traditional territory) and, like his other compositions, spotlights the threats facing his people. “Through music we can transmit the knowledge of our ancestors and, above all, defend the territory,” said Gualinga, a 23-year-old artist known on stage as “Taki Supay.” Like him, a new generation of Amazonian artists is using rap to bring attention to the threats facing Indigenous peoples and nationalities across the Ecuadorian Amazon — and to show why the rainforest must be protected. “Rap is talking about what you feel, what is happening, and our struggle,” Misael Elías Criollo Grefa, better known as Misa17, said. He is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-ecuador-indigenous-youth-turn-to-rap-music-to-defend-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers in Suriname call for investigation, stricter oversight amid new mining activity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 16:18:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09154037/a.-Banner-%C2%A9-marccharron-original-1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331661</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Chemicals, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, and said they discovered “substantial” mining activity that raised legal questions about permitting. Now, the two lawmakers are calling on President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons to launch an immediate investigation and temporarily halt all mining activity in the area. “The situation on-site raises fundamental questions about the nature, duration, permitting, oversight and the fiscal and environmental controls on these activities,” the lawmakers said in a letter, reviewed by Mongabay, to the president’s office last month. It added, “[It’s] necessary to establish how activities of this scale have been able to take place over an extended period and to what extent the state’s interests and revenues have been protected in the process.” The lawmakers, who traveled with a group of local journalists and an environmental activist, observed “deep excavations” at the site and materials being transported to processing locations. There were also indications of cyanide use via heap leaching, a process in which the chemical is sprayed onto rock to dissolve gold, making it easier to collect smaller particles. The import and use of cyanide is heavily restricted in Suriname. Geerlings-Simons is trying to phase out imports and implement a registry system for the chemical, which is still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Endangered angelshark is still traded in Brazil despite import ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/endangered-angelshark-is-still-traded-in-brazil-despite-import-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/endangered-angelshark-is-still-traded-in-brazil-despite-import-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2026 18:34:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/08144635/stalls-in-the-Porto-Alegre-Public-Market-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331970</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Shark Meat Nation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — “Good choice!” said the clerk at one of the fish stalls in the Porto Alegre Public Market when Mongabay asked about the peixe anjo, which means “angel fish” in Portuguese, in mid-September. “We sell a lot of these. It’s really good, and it doesn’t have any bones.” The same product was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — “Good choice!” said the clerk at one of the fish stalls in the Porto Alegre Public Market when Mongabay asked about the peixe anjo, which means “angel fish” in Portuguese, in mid-September. “We sell a lot of these. It’s really good, and it doesn’t have any bones.” The same product was for sale by at least four other fishmongers in the traditional market of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, in the South of Brazil. Prices were attractive, ranging from 30 to 37 reais per kilo ($5.70 to $7). The problem is that the “angel” isn’t just any fish — it’s a shark. More specifically, an angelshark, and in Brazil, that means three of the world’s most endangered shark species: Squatina guggenheim, the angular angelshark; S. occulta, the hidden angelshark; and S. argentina, the Argentine angelshark. And fishing of these species is prohibited in Brazil. For many years, the Brazilian government authorized the import of angelsharks from neighboring countries. According to data from the Federal Revenue Service obtained by Mongabay through the Freedom of Information Act, 48 metric tons of S. guggenheim meat and 194.6 metric tons of S. argentina entered Brazil between January 2021 and Sept. 10, 2026, totaling 242.6 metric tons. Most of the shipments came from Argentina, entering the country through the customs ports of São Borja and Uruguaiana municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, and Dionísio Cerqueira in Santa Catarina state. Once in Brazil, the imported product was mixed with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/endangered-angelshark-is-still-traded-in-brazil-despite-import-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/endangered-angelshark-is-still-traded-in-brazil-despite-import-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331970</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s new government backs fracking as debate over energy future heats up</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2026 10:46:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Catherine Ellis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/07103518/Residents-in-the-Medio-Magdalena-region-protest-against-proposed-fracking-CREDIT-Alianza-Colombia-Libre-de-Fracking-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331720</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Natural Resources, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO WILCHES, Santander &#8211; On the banks of Colombia’s largest river, the town and the wider municipality of Puerto Wilches sit amid a maze of wetlands and floodplain lakes in the Middle Magdalena Valley. Residents spend weekends at riverside swimming spots known as balnearios and nearby waterfalls, while local fishermen still cast their nets each [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUERTO WILCHES, Santander &#8211; On the banks of Colombia’s largest river, the town and the wider municipality of Puerto Wilches sit amid a maze of wetlands and floodplain lakes in the Middle Magdalena Valley. Residents spend weekends at riverside swimming spots known as balnearios and nearby waterfalls, while local fishermen still cast their nets each morning. Since about 2018, however, the municipality has been a focal point in Colombia’s debate over how to balance energy security, environmental concerns, and the transition away from fossil fuels. In 2021, Puerto Wilches was chosen for two pilot projects to test whether fracking, a method of extracting oil and gas trapped in shale rock, could be done commercially in Colombia, targeting shale formations beneath the region. Then-President Gustavo Petro later halted the projects, arguing that Colombia should move away from fossil fuels rather than expand oil and gas production. But that policy could soon be reversed under the new government of right-wing populist Abelardo de la Espriella, who during his campaign pledged to &#8220;fully open the door to fracking.&#8221; De la Espriella and other fracking supporters say the practice could help shore up Colombia&#8217;s gas supplies. According to the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), the country’s proven gas reserves will only last another 5.9 years at the current production rate and with no new discoveries. Critics, however, warn that fracking could expose communities and ecosystems to environmental risks while also deepening Colombia&#8217;s reliance on fossil fuels, just as the country has been accelerating its clean&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/colombias-new-government-backs-fracking-as-debate-over-energy-future-heats-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331720</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uncertainty mounts as Suriname struggles to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 19:03:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/05183543/FEATURE-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331665</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Forestry, Governance, Law, Law Enforcement, Natural Resources, Protected Areas, Sustainable Forest Management, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what laws. Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons created a task force to investigate illegal settlements destroying the rainforest, many of them Mennonites moving from other countries. Officials delivered eviction notices to some of the settlers as recently as July, yet some deny receiving the notices and continue to develop the area. Lawmakers said they’re confused about the location of the new Mennonite communities, the legal process for removing them, and how they entered the country in the first place. “We got bits and pieces of information that more and more families were coming,” Rabindre Parmessar, leader of the National Democratic Party in the National Assembly, told Mongabay over the phone. “We don’t know whether immigration rules were taken into consideration, and the other rules and procedures we have here in Suriname.” Since at least 2022, agribusiness investors in the country have been trying to relocate Mennonite farming families from Bolivia, Belize and other parts of the Americas. The conservative Christian group has a track record of rapid farming growth, and would have helped develop hundreds of thousands of hectares of mostly primary rainforest. Geerlings-Simons during the press briefing Aug 4. Image courtesy of Key tv 8.2 In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/uncertainty-mounts-as-suriname-struggles-to-evict-illegal-settlers-in-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331665</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A first in Brazil: Black-faced lion tamarins vaccinated</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-first-in-brazil-black-faced-lion-tamarins-vaccinated/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-first-in-brazil-black-faced-lion-tamarins-vaccinated/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 18:46:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Marshall]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/01135354/Mico-caicara_PorGabrielMarchi_9-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331427</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Health, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Research, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a Wednesday in July, deep in a coastal restinga area of Brazil’s Paraná state, muffled footsteps broke through the chirping of manakins. Three field researchers from the conservation NGO Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) moved carefully along a trail, each carrying a small cage covered in a dark cloth. Each cage [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a Wednesday in July, deep in a coastal restinga area of Brazil’s Paraná state, muffled footsteps broke through the chirping of manakins. Three field researchers from the conservation NGO Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) moved carefully along a trail, each carrying a small cage covered in a dark cloth. Each cage held a black-faced lion tamarin, known locally as the caissara lion tamarin (Leontopithecus caissara). Captured safely from the canopy, the three small primates — two males and one female — were carried to a makeshift tent in a forest clearing, where they would make history. Within hours, they would become the first of their species to be vaccinated against yellow fever. A team of researchers and veterinarians was waiting, quickly transferring each tamarin into a cotton bag to be weighed, starting a race against the clock to protect one of Brazil’s most threatened mammals. L. caissara is one of four lion tamarin species endemic to the Atlantic Forest; it ranks among the world’s rarest primates. First found and described by science in 1990, its wild population was estimated at just 392 individuals in a 2011 study. Most tamarins are confined to coastal restinga areas along the São Paulo-Paraná state border. A Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education veterinarian examines a sedated black-faced lion tamarin. Image by Gabriel Marchi. The species’ already restricted range has also been fragmented for decades. Part of the problems started with the Varadouro Canal, a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile)-long, 50-meter (164-feet)-wide artificial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-first-in-brazil-black-faced-lion-tamarins-vaccinated/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331427</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US-Argentina initiative aims to boost critical mineral, oil and gas exports</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/us-argentina-initiative-aims-to-boost-critical-mineral-oil-and-gas-exports/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/us-argentina-initiative-aims-to-boost-critical-mineral-oil-and-gas-exports/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 16:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/01165242/AP24062652958789-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331465</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new initiative between the U.S. and Argentina is meant to bolster investment opportunities and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals that could be used in the clean energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The Andes-Atlantic Corridor, announced Sept. 23, will make it easier to funnel U.S. investment into Argentina’s mining sector and to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new initiative between the U.S. and Argentina is meant to bolster investment opportunities and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals that could be used in the clean energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The Andes-Atlantic Corridor, announced Sept. 23, will make it easier to funnel U.S. investment into Argentina’s mining sector and to export critical minerals. At the same time, the initiative will help continue to develop the Vaca Muerta region, home to Argentina’s largest oil and gas reserves. “Working together, the United States and Argentina seek to continue to build on our robust relationship through increased U.S. investment, close security cooperation, and aligned values,” the two countries said in a joint statement. Argentina has about 117.91 million metric tons of copper reserves and 216.32 million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, the chemical used in lithium-ion batteries. Many of the country’s minerals are needed for building the cables and transformers in power grids, wind turbines and solar panels, among other things. The country is also part of the “Lithium Triangle,” alongside Chile and Bolivia, an approximately 400,000-square-kilometer (154,400-square-mile) stretch of salt flats where 40-60% of the world’s lithium is located. Historically, exporting minerals has been a challenge for Argentina. The closure of a major copper mine and a lack of foreign investment, among other economic troubles in the country, saw copper exports drop between 2012 and 2019, according to an analysis by the Payne Institute for Public Policy, a U.S.-based think tank studying energy, natural resources, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/us-argentina-initiative-aims-to-boost-critical-mineral-oil-and-gas-exports/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331465</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vantara in talks with Brazil on ‘strategic cooperation’ on threatened species, FOIA documents reveal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 11:01:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelSpoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/29135733/two-Spixs-macaws-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331147</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brazil, India, Latin America, South America, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Controversial, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Parrots, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vantara, the billionaire-run Indian private zoo that houses more than 150,000 animals, discussed a “strategic conservation partnership” with authorities in Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, according to documents obtained by Mongabay under Brazil’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Correspondence between Vantara representatives and Brazilian officials reveal that negotiations, initiated by Vantara, began in August [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vantara, the billionaire-run Indian private zoo that houses more than 150,000 animals, discussed a “strategic conservation partnership” with authorities in Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, according to documents obtained by Mongabay under Brazil’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Correspondence between Vantara representatives and Brazilian officials reveal that negotiations, initiated by Vantara, began in August 2025, and involved some of Brazil’s threatened species. The zoo, which is located in Gujarat state in western India, was founded in 2025 by Anant Ambani. He’s the youngest son of India’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries, a conglomerate valued at $167 billion as of press time. On Aug. 30, 2025, a Vantara representative sent a letter by email to three officials at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the governmental agency responsible for protecting Brazil&#8217;s biodiversity. The sender’s identity was redacted in the FOIA response. The subject line reads, “Proposal for Strategic Conservation Partnership with the Government of Brazil.” The letterhead uses Vantara’s official name, the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GZRRC). The letters are addressed to Mauro Pires, president of ICMBio; Marcelo Marcelino de Oliveira, the agency’s director; and Raul Fontoura, its head of international affairs. The letter sent by Vantara to ICMBio proposing a “strategic conservation partnership.” Obtained by Mongabay through FOIA. The letter states that Vantara was “well-positioned to assist with other Brazilian species requiring urgent ex-situ intervention,” referring to the conservation strategy of keeping a population surplus in zoos and breeding centers, rather than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vantara-in-talks-with-brazil-on-strategic-cooperation-on-threatened-species-foia-documents-reveal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331147</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil’s Acre, calls for new roads clash with deforestation commitments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-brazils-acre-calls-for-new-roads-clash-with-deforestation-commitments/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-brazils-acre-calls-for-new-roads-clash-with-deforestation-commitments/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2026 15:05:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/03130100/1-Brazil-Acre-road-5-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331068</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Loss, Governance, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Ports, Roads, Trade, Transportation, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Along a freshly repaved stretch of the BR-317 highway in Acre, a Brazilian state bordering Bolivia and Peru in the Western Amazon, pasture stretches out as far as the eye can see. Solitary Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa), a protected species, are the only reminder of the tropical forest that once stood there. The road [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Along a freshly repaved stretch of the BR-317 highway in Acre, a Brazilian state bordering Bolivia and Peru in the Western Amazon, pasture stretches out as far as the eye can see. Solitary Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa), a protected species, are the only reminder of the tropical forest that once stood there. The road is part of the Interoceanic Highway, inaugurated in 2011 as the first paved road in South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Built through the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon to help increase trade to Asia as well as between neighboring countries, the highway has been associated with deforestation on both sides of the border. “Roads are the main vector for deforestation and irregular [land] occupation,” says Sonaira Souza da Silva, a professor at the Federal University of Acre’s Floresta Campus and co-author of a recent paper on road expansion in Acre. The desolate landscape that now lines the BR-317 could be replicated elsewhere in Acre, environmentalists warn, if plans go ahead to build a second road connection with Peru. This is part of a renewed push to turn the state into a corridor to the Pacific for the export of Brazilian agricultural and mineral goods, following the 2024 inauguration of Chancay, a Chinese-built mega-port just north of Peru’s capital Lima. A new report from the NGO Amazon Conservation argues that expanding road infrastructure is incompatible with Acre’s deforestation commitments and that new corridors could add between 74,700 to 133,800 hectares (around 184,600 to 330,600&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-brazils-acre-calls-for-new-roads-clash-with-deforestation-commitments/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331068</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Undiscovered Amazon drugs could be valued at $215 billion, analysis finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/undiscovered-amazon-drugs-could-be-valued-at-215-billion-analysis-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/undiscovered-amazon-drugs-could-be-valued-at-215-billion-analysis-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2026 08:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafael Spuldar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25141558/Photo-1-Agencia-Brasil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330895</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Health, Medicinal Plants, Natural Resources, Plants, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As trees fall, species that could yield lifesaving medicines risk disappearing before science can find them.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An analysis by the London-based group Zero Carbon Analytics (ZCA) supports a claim conservationists have made for decades: Tropical forests are worth more standing than cleared, with the Amazon as the world&#8217;s &#8220;crown jewel&#8221; in this context. According to the ZCA analysis released in July, tropical forests worldwide could hold a median of $714 billion — within a range of $382 billion to $1.176 trillion — in potential commercial value from undiscovered drugs based on flowering plants. The Amazon alone holds around $215 billion, or roughly 30% of the total, the largest share compared with regions such as Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin. Natural compounds are central to medicine. Roughly three in four cancer drugs approved between 1940 and 2014 were derived from or inspired by natural products, and an estimated 99% of the chemical compounds plants produce remain unscreened. In that logic, the Amazon stands out: It &#8220;hosts potentially the greatest commercial option value for medicines from flowering plants&#8221; of any major forested region, co-author of the ZCA analysis Joanne Bentley-McKune told Mongabay. But deforestation is eroding this value. ZCA estimates that tropical forest clearing since 2001 has already put $86 billion in commercial drug value at risk globally. In the Amazon, the pharmaceutical benefits of some extinct species may be gone forever. &#8220;Over the last 20 years, many endemics, or plants that occur nowhere else, might have been lost due to deforestation in Brazil, across different regions,&#8221; Bentley-McKune said. The Amazon alone holds roughly 30% of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/undiscovered-amazon-drugs-could-be-valued-at-215-billion-analysis-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330895</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:07:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ilona Szabó de CarvalhoRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/08201639/3.-mongabay_Image-by-Ibama-via-Wikimedia-Commons-CC-BY-SA-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Mining, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is emerging on the assumption that intact ecosystems can generate enough economic value to protect them. A more destructive economy has been putting a price on nature for much longer. It makes money by extracting and selling it. Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are usually treated as environmental offenses, so responsibility falls to park rangers, customs officials and specialized police. That view badly underestimates what is happening. In a new paper for the Brookings Institution, we argue that environmental crimes are a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action. They damage ecosystems and weaken the institutions charged with governing them. They also drain revenue from legitimate companies and public coffers. Enforcement alone will not solve a problem that runs through trade, finance and local political economies. An IBAMA agent participates in a raid on an illegal logging and mining operation within an Indigenous reserve. Image courtesy of IBAMA. Global criminal economy No one knows exactly how large this economy has become. A widely cited estimate puts annual proceeds at between $110 billion and $281 billion, but the true figure is probably far higher, perhaps in the trillions. What makes the business&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A new cat species was just discovered. Several more may follow</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 19:53:17 +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/20/2026/09/24194331/tiger-cat-released-with-sattelite-collar-Mirador-St-Park-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, DNA, Endangered Species, Genetics, Interviews, Mammals, Small Cats, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s note: Last week, the description of a “new” cat species from Bolivia made headlines around the world. The tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo), a small spotted cat from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests, was described as the first new living cat species discovered in more than a century. Unlike several cats recognized as new species in recent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s note: Last week, the description of a “new” cat species from Bolivia made headlines around the world. The tilcayo (Leopardus tilcayo), a small spotted cat from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests, was described as the first new living cat species discovered in more than a century. Unlike several cats recognized as new species in recent years through taxonomic revisions, the tilcayo had never been formally described by science. Genetic analysis indicates its lineage diverged from other tiger cats around 1.4 million years ago. The discovery comes amid a broader reassessment of cat taxonomy. Several populations once considered subspecies or regional forms are now recognized, or have been proposed, as separate species. And there may be considerably more to come, according to Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira, a Brazilian wildlife biologist and conservationist who has spent several decades studying the small wild cats of the Neotropics. Oliveira is one of the co-chairs of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group. He is also a professor in the biology department at Maranhão State University (UEMA) in São Luís and a researcher and scientific adviser with Brazil’s Instituto Pró-Carnívoros. He leads the Wild Cats Brazil/Americas Conservation Program and is founder and chair of the Tiger Cats Conservation Initiative. Much of Oliveira’s work has focused on the tiger-cat complex, including Leopardus tigrinus, L. guttulus, and L. pardinoides. He has also been involved for many years in IUCN Red List assessments and conservation planning in Brazil. “The tiger-cat group is undergoing a genetic revolution,” Oliveira&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-new-cat-species-was-just-discovered-several-more-may-follow/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s tropical forest fund races to raise $2.7 billion before deadline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:43:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24114238/I.-Orange-winged-amazon-Amazona-amazonica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Latin America, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Finance, Forests, Funding, Governance, Politics, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A historic billion-dollar rainforest pledge can collapse if global donors fail to act by December.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a new investment fund launched at COP30 by Brazil, has attracted about $7.3 billion in initial sponsor capital. The initiative aims to compensate tropical forest countries for preserving forest areas. But despite recent pledges, the fund remains short of its $10 billion fundraising goal for the end of 2026. After the 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, TFFF received a wave of political support, with over 60 nations endorsing its launch declaration and five countries announcing investments. Since then, the pace of financial commitments has been slower. Only Luxembourg and the U.K. have made government pledges this year, totaling around $600 million, while the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy committed another $5 million. The fund has now less than four months to raise $2.7 billion and meet its target. The $10 billion benchmark is especially important because Norway’s $3 billion pledge — part of that total — will only be released once the goal is met. “I’m in a period of anticipation right now, but also optimistic that we’ll get there,” Carlos Rittl told Mongabay. Rittl is the director of public policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has contributed to TFFF’s environmental design. “There is no indication that the system itself is in doubt. But for countries to sign checks, the rules need to be very clear.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attend the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility. Image by © UN&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru’s high Andes, restoring ancient ecosystems could help protect water security</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 10:30:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22202412/Wetlands-of-Huancavelica-in-the-Yaku-Pacha-project-Peru.-April-2026.-Credit_-Alan-Chamorro-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330474</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Nature-based climate solutions, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the highlands above Villa de Arma, community leaders once walked through ice and snow. They still remember the stories told by their grandparents of the Apus, high-mountain spirits that guard the Andean landscape. Locals in this central-Andean community, which sits around 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) above sea level in central-southern Peru’s Huancavelica region, say [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the highlands above Villa de Arma, community leaders once walked through ice and snow. They still remember the stories told by their grandparents of the Apus, high-mountain spirits that guard the Andean landscape. Locals in this central-Andean community, which sits around 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) above sea level in central-southern Peru’s Huancavelica region, say that much of the ice has since given way to rock. In the last six decades, climate change has erased about 56% of Peru’s glacier mass, a critical water reservoir that feeds the country’s cities and arid regions. Locals fear the changing landscape of the Peruvian Andes heralds a broader pattern of climate change that threatens to tip the country’s high-altitude regions into a water security crisis. “Their worry is that later on they could be left without water,” Edison Sánchez Toscano, a field technician working in Villa de Arma for Peruvian NGO Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) and a local of the Huancavelica region, tells Mongabay in a video call. “If they are left without water, they are left with nothing.” According to ECOAN, Villa de Arma sits at a critical watershed feeding the Chincha Valley, which runs from the high Andes to Peru&#8217;s arid Pacific coast and depends largely on water descending from the mountains. With glacial ice rapidly disappearing across the country, conservationists are increasingly looking to ancient Andean ecosystems, such as wetlands and native forests, that can store and release water. In 2025, ECOAN partnered with a new project designed to secure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-perus-high-andes-restoring-ancient-ecosystems-could-help-protect-water-security/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330474</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tight Brazil election challenges fragile gains for Amazon conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 07:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelKarla MendesLucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18210229/Curvas_do_Parque_Nacional_de_Anavilhanas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330151</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As South America turns right, Brazil’s vote could leave the Amazon without conservation leaders.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As voters in Brazil prepare to head to the polls on Oct. 4, forest guardians and environmental analysts are bracing for a high-stakes presidential contest that could abruptly shift the nation&#8217;s environmental policy. The election presents a stark choice between maintaining current conservation strategies, experts say, or risking a policy U-turn that could reverse recent progress in lowering deforestation rates across the Amazon rainforest and other biomes. The election is shaping up to be a tight race between left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who was arrested and blocked from running for office after being sentenced in a failed coup d’ètat trial. According to polls, the two are very likely to face off in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 25. Lula&#8217;s administration managed to drop deforestation in the Amazon to its lowest level in a decade — Brazil holds 60% of the biome. However, experts and conservationists warn that these gains are fragile, hanging by a thread that could snap if Flávio Bolsonaro brings back his father’s policies, favoring agribusiness and mining, and slashing Indigenous rights and support. In a detailed analysis of the candidates&#8217; environmental platforms, the Climate Observatory, a prominent coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, concluded that issues related to climate and the environment are receiving far less attention than necessary. The exception is Lula’s plans, where the only area of concern is energy — which was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community-based conservation is a good climate investment in Brazil &#038; beyond (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 14:39:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina BarrosCarlos Eduardo Viveiros GrelleKatia Ribeiro Torres]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/29122935/Fisher-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[climate finance, Commentary, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Development, Finance, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than half a century has passed since Garrett Hardin published The Tragedy of the Commons in Science in 1968. In that influential article, he argued that human greed and short-term thinking would drive societies toward collapse. Hardin illustrated his argument with the well-known example of herders sharing a pasture: each herder would receive all [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than half a century has passed since Garrett Hardin published The Tragedy of the Commons in Science in 1968. In that influential article, he argued that human greed and short-term thinking would drive societies toward collapse. Hardin illustrated his argument with the well-known example of herders sharing a pasture: each herder would receive all the income from adding another animal, while the cost of consuming the grass would be shared by all. The path toward pasture depletion was therefore set, as some herders would keep adding animals for their own benefit rather than restrain themselves in the name of an abstract collective good. For Hardin, there was no way to change this equation; the solution for the sustainability of life on the planet was population control. Two decades later, and not by chance, it was a woman who challenged this foretold tragedy, showing that, under certain conditions, human beings can be organized and perceptive enough to cooperate and avert collective failure. Elinor Ostrom developed a theory of cooperation applied to the use of common-pool resources, explaining how locally agreed rules can enable shared benefits. It was an expression of confidence in human social intelligence. The point is not to decide who was right or wrong. Hardin’s argument helps us understand why reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains so difficult, as do countless examples of the degradation of humanity’s natural heritage and, consequently, of the foundations of our future. Ostrom, in turn, helps explain many successful cases of collective natural resource&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/community-based-conservation-is-a-good-climate-investment-in-brazil-beyond-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A giant anteater’s return in Argentina offers a case for letting nature restore itself</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 09:55:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15094610/Image_1_Osa-hormiguero-sobre-Bermejo-Foto-Veronica-Quiroga-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329627</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chaco, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Conservation Solutions, Forest Regeneration, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Restoration, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Threatened species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, a giant anteater returned to the Alma Guaraní reserve in Argentina’s Corrientes province. It marked the first sighting of this vulnerable and emblematic mammal in the region since 1986. That return is believed to be the result of restoration work that began in the reserve in 2021, according to a paper published in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2025, a giant anteater returned to the Alma Guaraní reserve in Argentina’s Corrientes province. It marked the first sighting of this vulnerable and emblematic mammal in the region since 1986. That return is believed to be the result of restoration work that began in the reserve in 2021, according to a paper published in Restoration Ecology, which makes the case that passive restoration in particular may have triggered the species’ return to the area. “It was the first register of the giant anteater in 40 years in Corrientes province, and it was spontaneous,” said co-author Rosario Montiel, from the National University of the Northeast and CEO of climate and environmental startup RestoreData. “We think that in this area, in this reserve, this animal has found food and all its needs to settle there.” It’s not known where the giant anteater came from. Montiel and colleagues suggest the individual, thought to be a male, may have crossed over from neighboring Chaco province, swimming across the nearby Parana River when water levels hit a historical low in 2024. Giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Habitat loss is a major threat, driven primarily by the expansion of agriculture and livestock ranching, and is behind much of the species’ decline across Argentina and the wider Gran Chaco region. Infrastructure development, such as increasing road networks, and hunting are also significant threats. Anteaters are caught for the pet trade and accidentally killed by hunters’ dogs. These pressures still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-giant-anteaters-return-in-argentina-offers-a-case-for-letting-nature-restore-itself/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329627</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil election could put 95% of the Amazon under right-wing governments</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 19:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15182022/AP26237589746151-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329809</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With 60% of the rainforest hanging in the balance, Brazil’s upcoming election could seal the Amazon's fate.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In January 2027, five of the nine Amazonian countries could be run by right-wing or far-right parties, posing new risks to the world’s greatest rainforest, experts warn. Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador have already elected presidents who explicitly favor agribusiness and mining over environmental conservation. Brazil, home to more than 60% of the Amazon, could be next. According to polls, the left-wing incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is neck and neck ahead of October’s ballot against Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president he defeated in the last election four years ago. The elder Bolsonaro has since been convicted for an attempted coup d’état, imprisoned, and barred from running for office. Venezuela, run by a nominally socialist regime but now under economic intervention from the U.S., is facing mounting pressure from President Donald Trump to boost oil production and sign new mining deals, raising environmental concerns in the country. Together, these six nations cover up to 95% of the Amazon. Experts say Brazil’s election will have high stakes for the Amazon and other biomes, especially as the younger Bolsonaro looks set to revive his father’s policies. Opposition presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, left, greets El Salvador&#8217;s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Hector Gustavo Villatoro, during a meeting, in São Paulo, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Andre Penner. “Even under a government that is somewhat committed to combating deforestation, the task is already very difficult,” Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/right-wing-leaders-could-rule-95-of-the-amazon-by-2027-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329809</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 17:13:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14212951/AP26023620981888-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, could be worth billions. Burgum’s trip came just a few months after a U.S. military operation removed then-President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to a detention center in the U.S. state of New York. Since then, officials have heralded a new era for Venezuela, and tried to make the mining sector more attractive to foreign investment: Passing mining reform laws, taking down leaders of criminal groups involved in mining, and raiding illegal mining sites. The U.S. is also considering an executive order aimed at improving access to critical minerals, Reuters reported. Yet at the same time, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better. Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, according to sources contacted by Mongabay. “[Since Maduro’s capture], nothing has changed in the criminal and legal ecosystem,” Cristina Burelli, founder of SOSOrinoco, an advocacy group studying the social and environmental impacts of mining in Venezuela, told Mongabay. “If anything, we have seen an increase in certain areas.” Vendors weigh and trade gold at gold-buying shops in El Callao, Venezuela.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-x-tech-in-the-search-for-a-tiny-amazon-monkey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-x-tech-in-the-search-for-a-tiny-amazon-monkey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Sep 2026 10:40:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/11083700/Pygmy_marmoset_Peter_Kerrawn_B-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329438</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Animals, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Business, Camera Trapping, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Culture, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Education, Environment, forest degradation, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Monitoring, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Pets, Primates, Technology, Trade, Traditional Knowledge, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How do you search for the world&#8217;s smallest monkey? Earlier this year, Nicolás Schuldt Durán took on this task after he was approached by members of an Indigenous community in Ecuador. Ever since, he’s been tapping into the knowledge of the Siekopai people and combining it with passive acoustic monitoring technology to look for pygmy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How do you search for the world&#8217;s smallest monkey? Earlier this year, Nicolás Schuldt Durán took on this task after he was approached by members of an Indigenous community in Ecuador. Ever since, he’s been tapping into the knowledge of the Siekopai people and combining it with passive acoustic monitoring technology to look for pygmy marmosets. Spoiler alert: They’re still looking for this elusive species. Working in the Siekoya Remolino community in Ecuador, Durán is collaborating with Indigenous community members to track pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea), locally called leoncillo, and gather data on where they live and how they’re faring. “The community has already been setting up camera traps and running a territorial monitoring program to catch hunters and loggers,” Durán, founder of conservation technology organization Neblina Labs, told Mongabay in a video interview. Non-profit Equitable Origin&#8217;s CEFO program was working in the community along with the Keñao women association and the Kënapu&#8217;tiyo climbers. As part of their work, they were using technology and territorial monitoring to protect the forests. Durán joined the program to incorporate bioacoustics to their toolkit. “This is just adding one more tool to their toolkit to monitor biodiversity,” he said. Pygmy marmosets are threatened by the illegal pet trade as well as deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. Image by David Reece via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Pygmy marmosets, native to the western Amazon Basin, are so small that an adult weighs only 140-150 grams (about 5 ounces), or the weight of a small apple. They&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-x-tech-in-the-search-for-a-tiny-amazon-monkey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329438</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon Fund grantees fear a new funding freeze after Brazil’s election</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/amazon-fund-grantees-fear-a-new-funding-freeze-after-brazils-election/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/amazon-fund-grantees-fear-a-new-funding-freeze-after-brazils-election/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 17:34:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/10150522/1_Ricardo-Oliveira-_Instituto-Mamiraua-pirarucu-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329406</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fish, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Monitoring, Politics, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The fund helped Brazil reach a 10-year low in deforestation, but conservationists are bracing for a potential sharp policy U-turn.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, the Amazon Fund chose to support a project in the Brazilian Amazon helping 614 families engaged in babassu coconut breaking in 11 traditional communities. Encroached on by soy farming and cattle ranching, the families in the state of Tocantins would receive financial support to keep producing oil, flour and handicrafts from this unique Amazonian fruit while reinforcing their role as guardians of the forest. But the promise was short-lived. Jair Bolsonaro took office as Brazil’s president in January 2019, and immediately set his far-right agenda to work dismantling the country’s environmental frameworks and freezing the Amazon Fund’s contributions. The fund was created in 2008, with initial donations from Norway and Germany to reward Brazil for its success in reducing Amazonian deforestation. Over the last 18 years, it has benefited 288,000 people and supported 144 projects in forest restoration, sustainable production, firefighting, inspections and monitoring of environmental crimes, and Indigenous issues. “It is one of the world’s leading funds for investing in projects that protect the rainforest,” said Rayandra Araújo, climate policy specialist at Talanoa, a Brazilian climate think tank. When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced Bolsonaro, returning to the presidency in January 2023, he revived the Amazon Fund’s operations. The babassu coconut breaker project, led by the group Alternatives for Small-Scale Farming in Tocantins (APA-TO), was again considered and began implementation in April 2026. “The project was on hold for almost 10 years,” says Selma Yuki Ishii, the project coordinator and technical director at APA-TO. With Lula,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/amazon-fund-grantees-fear-a-new-funding-freeze-after-brazils-election/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge AI data center project blindsides water-stressed town in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/huge-ai-data-center-project-blindsides-water-stressed-town-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/huge-ai-data-center-project-blindsides-water-stressed-town-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 12:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Naira Hofmeister]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08190834/Headerfeat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328289</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Business, Conflict, Data centers, Development, Environment, Governance, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Mining, Natural Resources, Resource Conflict, Technology, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As water wells turn to dust, local leaders learn of the massive facility firsthand from reporters.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PARACATU, Brazil — As the president of Paracatu’s city council, Manoel Alves is used to being courted by companies and executives that want his blessing for new business. But on a Thursday afternoon in May 2026, he was upset talking on the phone about a data center planned for his city, about which he was informed by reporters. “I just heard the data center construction will start in two months. Don’t you guys know about this either?” Alves asked someone at the mayor&#8217;s office. The answer from the other side of the call was “no”, the same received from all interviewees: Local authorities, business owners, farmers, and citizens. “It is some new hotel concept?” a major restaurant owner in the city asked. “A dentist?” a citizen in Paracatu’s main square questioned. “Data center? What is this?” queried the guardian of an 18th-century church. Read it in Portuguese. The data center in Paracatu, a municipality located a three-hour drive from Brazil’s capital, Brasília, is not just any data center, but a 1-gigawatt data center, which will be larger than the combined total of all data centers currently installed in the country, which use around 800 megawatts. Or similar to one of the gigantic projects that are part of the Stargate initiative, one of the world&#8217;s largest artificial intelligence infrastructure networks, strongly supported by the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Paracatu’s data center is being planned by Atlas Renewable Energy, owned by an arm of the global asset manager BlackRock, which already&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/huge-ai-data-center-project-blindsides-water-stressed-town-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous land back in Chile brings mixed bag of environmental outcomes: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-land-back-in-chile-brings-mixed-bag-of-environmental-outcomes-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-land-back-in-chile-brings-mixed-bag-of-environmental-outcomes-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 18:59:33 +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/20/2026/09/09154250/Pictures-of-the-Week-Latin-America-and-Caribbean-Photo-Gallery-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329292</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Degraded Lands, forest degradation, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Livestock, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Plantations, Protected Areas, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous land restitution in Chile came with a mixed bag of environmental outcomes and did not boost natural forest cover, according to a new study published in Nature Sustainability. While the return of ancestral lands gave the Indigenous Mapuche communities in southern Chile greater control over how their land was used — leading to an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous land restitution in Chile came with a mixed bag of environmental outcomes and did not boost natural forest cover, according to a new study published in Nature Sustainability. While the return of ancestral lands gave the Indigenous Mapuche communities in southern Chile greater control over how their land was used — leading to an increase in grasslands for livestock production and a reduction in non-native tree plantations — it did not improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration or erosion control. Researchers say these findings challenge long-held assumptions that Indigenous self-determination automatically equates to positive changes in natural forests, carbon sequestration or biodiversity. “In the past, conservation advocates have at times adopted romanticized views of what such self-determination would mean, assuming that Indigenous communities will always choose to allocate land towards more ‘natural’ uses,” said study co-author Robert Heilmayr, an associate professor at the University of California Santa Barbara in the U.S. He told Mongabay over email that the new research “complicates this narrative,” arguing that true self-determination only emerges when Indigenous communities define for themselves what land uses align with their needs and values. The study set out to understand how Indigenous land restitution in Biobío, Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos reshapes the environment. It did so by analyzing satellite and administrative data from 1,577 properties across 36 communities to compare land use and environmental outcomes before and after land restitution. Researchers focused on what happened after a Chilean land restitution program, known as the Chilean Indigenous Land and Water&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-land-back-in-chile-brings-mixed-bag-of-environmental-outcomes-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329292</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s Indigenous guardians adapt as pressures mount on the ‘Heart of the World’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 07:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Roberto Maccariello]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08210725/0002-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329184</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mining, Religions, Social Conflict, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RIOHACHA, Colombia — Amid the low slopes of a tropical dry forest, families from the Wiwa community of Gomke are building a new home. Their ancestral settlement lies higher on a lush mountain in the town of Dibulla, overlooking the Caribbean coast in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Across this region, many Indigenous communities [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RIOHACHA, Colombia — Amid the low slopes of a tropical dry forest, families from the Wiwa community of Gomke are building a new home. Their ancestral settlement lies higher on a lush mountain in the town of Dibulla, overlooking the Caribbean coast in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Across this region, many Indigenous communities have been forcibly displaced by climate-related disasters or uprooted by armed actors. Gomke’s move to lower terrain, however, is described by community representatives as voluntary: a collectively led adaptation strategy to protect social, educational and spiritual cohesion amid intensifying climate pressures and the presence of paramilitary groups. They call their new settlement Shegunamke. Shegunnamke is a recently rebuilt Wiwa village. Severe weather events and the spread of paramilitary violence have made their home village increasingly isolated and dangerous. In response, the community is building a new settlement in a safer and more accessible location in order to preserve its social and spiritual structures. Image by Roberto Maccariello. The Wiwa have also acquired other parcels of land elsewhere in the Sierra, including at higher elevations. “We have left [those] untouched so that rivers, springs and bodies of water do not die,” said Roberto Carlos Coronado Calvo, rector of Shenzhawimaku, the Wiwa educational institution that combines conventional learning with the community’s language, culture, knowledge systems and relationship to the territory. “If we begin clearing and cutting into the páramo [ecosystem], how can we guarantee life for those living below?” Across the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, known&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/colombias-indigenous-guardians-adapt-as-pressures-mount-on-the-heart-of-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:59:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26162833/BANNER-Karla_Renata-Guacebe-PXL_20250518_143520458.jpg.00_00_03_13.Still001-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327497</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LAGO DO PURUZINHO/KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY/CALAMA, Brazil — The Lake Puruzinho community sits on a clear, fish-rich lake in the Brazilian Amazon, an area that, at first glance, resembles paradise. Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Humaitá in Amazonas state, the community is soundtracked by two contrasting noises: the song of birds like the crested oropendola as it flies in search of fruit, and the thunderous engines of vessels plying the Madeira River. For decades, the approximately 170 residents of the riverside community ate fish from the lake, but that changed when they learned about mercury — and discovered that large quantities of the heavy metal were being dumped into the Madeira by illegal gold mining. The river, which feeds Lake Puruzinho and is a tributary of the Amazon, receives an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury from dredges used in gold mining. &#8220;There was a lot of mercury in our hair [because] of the fish, the tucunaré, which we eat a lot,&#8221; says Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a fisher and homemaker, at the door of her house, located on the shore of Lake Puruzinho. &#8220;It was a huge scare.&#8221; She’s referring to studies by researchers at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR), in which she has participated for 26 years. The research examines how mercury contamination affects fish and, ultimately, human health, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children in communities along the Madeira River. The studies revealed, in recent years, the presence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327497</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru, mercury leaves a toxic footprint on those who depend on a river</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:51:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Salazar Vega]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26152747/Maternidad_I4A6126-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327449</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay reviewed nearly three decades of scientific research on the impact of heavy metals and traveled to several Amazonian communities to track the course of mercury contamination.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — “Bayolet, my little daughter, had some tests when she was five years old,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a mother from the Shintuya Indigenous community, located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, in the Peruvian Amazon. “She had already fainted twice at school, and we didn&#8217;t know why … That&#8217;s where they found mercury.” Ordoñez still remembers the group of “outsiders” who arrived a decade ago to take blood and hair samples. Weeks later, they returned to warn that the fish the community was consuming — its main source of food — could be contaminated. “We said no, that it couldn&#8217;t be,” says María Santos, another mother from the community. “We don&#8217;t mine for gold here. There is no mining here”. But its source was not in the village: Upstream, illegal gold mining was pouring mercury into the rivers that flow through the Madre de Dios region. Fish came into contact with the heavy metal and traveled downstream before reaching the plates of dozens of local families. Eleven years later, the problem persists. Little Bayolet is now 16 years old. In her fourth year of secondary school, she says she still finds it difficult to concentrate when taking lessons. According to Bayolet, her greatest wish is to finish school so she can take nursing classes. She remembers feeling constant fatigue in the classroom, along with tiredness and weakness. After her diagnosis of mercury exposure, she says she only received treatment for anemia. Bayolet was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2026/08/19152603/4I4A5955-5.mp4" length="3763673" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327449</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mercury threatens over 160 communities in Bolivia’s Beni River basin</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:44:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26144848/AA-FOTO-PRINCIPAL1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327431</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay found that 39 communities in Bolivia are suffering from mercury poisoning and that 125 more face a similar risk.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENI, Bolivia — Gilberto Vaca Muiba fears that the mercury in his body will end his life. Yet, the fear does not change his routine. He takes his old fishing rod, walks toward the river, and waits patiently for the meal of the day. He is on his knees on one of the shores of the Beni River, in the Bolivian Amazon, waiting for a fish to bite — so he can take the food home. It is a July afternoon in the Bolivian community of Puerto Yumani, and he has just caught a small surubí. The local fish is likely contaminated with mercury, but he brings it to his table nonetheless. Puerto Yumani is one of the five Indigenous communities Mongabay visited along a 41-kilometer (25.48 miles) stretch of the Beni River. The other four are Carmen Soledad and Puerto Motor, in the municipality of Rurrenabaque (in the Beni department), and Eyiyoquibo and Buena Vista, in the municipality of San Buenaventura (north of La Paz department). All these territories, belonging to the Tacana, Leco, and Ese Ejja Indigenous peoples, are exposed to mercury contamination arising in the river. Because of that, the Beni River is perceived in two ways: As a source of subsistence for the communities but also as the center of all their ills. “We eat fish every day; it is our common diet because buying meat or chicken is too expensive for us. In the rivers, we have our food, but this very food is contaminated.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327431</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-amazonian-wildlife-turning-up-at-a-bangkok-market/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-amazonian-wildlife-turning-up-at-a-bangkok-market/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 14:03:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/07110651/1.-POSSIBLE-BANNER-DSC05680-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328961</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, South America, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Crime, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK, Thailand — In the narrow alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, the world’s wildlife is for sale. Ensnared in jungles, fished out of rivers and plucked from wetlands across the globe, hundreds of exotic species are packed onto transcontinental flights only to end up on display in what experts say ranks as one of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK, Thailand — In the narrow alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, the world’s wildlife is for sale. Ensnared in jungles, fished out of rivers and plucked from wetlands across the globe, hundreds of exotic species are packed onto transcontinental flights only to end up on display in what experts say ranks as one of the largest wildlife markets on Earth. Here, alongside Thai milk tea vendors and mango sticky rice stalls, visitors need only veer a few steps from the tourist path to end up in the market’s “Pets” zone — an arguably liberal use of the term. This section of the market hosts a menagerie of domestic and wild animals alike, often crammed into cages with little water and no respite from temperatures that soar beyond 32° Celsius (90° Fahrenheit). From Africa, there are spurred tortoises, fennec foxes, gray parrots, serval cats, and ball pythons. Giant bush babies retail for 48,000 baht (about $1,450), with signs advertising the nocturnal African primates as &#8220;newly arrived.&#8221; Miniscule meerkats dressed in tutus, sometimes presented in petting zoo sandboxes, are among the most plentiful animals at Chatuchak. Masked palm civets, sugar gliders, squirrels, rainbow lorikeets, and eclectus parrots are on offer from Asia and Oceania. As are baby raccoons, prairie dogs, iguanas, goats, cats, baby pigs, among others. Much of the planet is represented in this market; meerkats, like the one pictured here, hail from Southern Africa and are dressed up to be sold as an adorable pet. Image by Gloria Dickie. To&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-amazonian-wildlife-turning-up-at-a-bangkok-market/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328961</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Plastic pollution hotspots’ spawn a public health crisis across Latin America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 13:33:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08133303/AP21097556420581-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329024</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Dominican Republic, Global, Guatemala, Honduras, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Circular Economy, Governance, Health, International Trade, Microplastics, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, Recycling, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, plastic pollution has been having a growing impact on the people and ecosystems of Latin America. As the region imports an increasing amount of the world’s used and discarded plastic, new research shows that waste infrastructure in many countries is already buckling under the strain [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, plastic pollution has been having a growing impact on the people and ecosystems of Latin America. As the region imports an increasing amount of the world’s used and discarded plastic, new research shows that waste infrastructure in many countries is already buckling under the strain of dealing with domestic trash. As a result, much of the imported plastic is leaking out into the environment, with experts and the U.N. warning of major consequences for human health. A study published in April found that seven countries in the region — the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay — have become plastic pollution hotspots, or PPHs, where high imports of low-quality plastics meet high rates of mismanaged waste. Global plastic waste generation reached 353 million metric tons in 2019 alone, of which 72% ended up being landfilled or dumped and just 9% was recycled, according to an OECD report. Much of the world’s plastic waste was previously destined for China, but in 2018 the country banned those imports. While Malaysia and Thailand took up much of the slack, Latin America also started importing more plastic waste, although the region has historically been an importer of difficult-to-recycle plastics. “Certain countries in Latin America have started importing more waste but they haven’t actually got the capacity to deal with [it],” Veronica Herrera, lead author of April study and an associate professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/plastic-pollution-hotspots-spawn-a-public-health-crisis-across-latin-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329024</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Key tree species boost Amazon forest restoration, new study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/key-tree-species-boost-amazon-forest-restoration-new-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/key-tree-species-boost-amazon-forest-restoration-new-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 18:55:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/03074352/1.-LEAF-MPEG_Centro-Capoeira-cortado-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328521</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Biodiversity, Biology, Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Science, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Drones, Earth Science, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Finance, Forest Regeneration, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Land Grabbing, Mitigation, Plants, Research, Resource Conflict, Restoration, Science, Secondary Forests, Solutions, Species, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Technology, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Regrowing Amazon forests face a quiet collapse if fast pioneer trees die without stronger successors.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A few tree species are key to restoring biodiversity and carbon storage in deforested areas of the Brazilian Amazon, suggests an article published in June in Global Change Biology. Researchers examined 102 plots under natural regeneration in four municipalities in Pará state — Bragantina, Marabá, Paragominas and Santarém — and concluded that a range of 15 to 25 species accounted for nearly half of the trees present and half of the plots’ carbon stocks. ​Among these species are the embaúba (Cecropia palmata), the tatapiririca (Tapirira guianensis), the ingá-vermelho (Inga alba), and the araticum-bravo (Annona exsucca). ​This relatively short list of hyperdominant species could “guide assisted restoration and enrichment strategies” in the Amazon, the researchers said, and help Brazil meet the goal of restoring 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of forests by 2030, an area roughly the size of North Korea. ​“These areas are already restoring [ecological] services and biodiversity,” Fernando Elias, a researcher in Pará&#8217;s Emílio Goeldi Museum and the coordinator of the study, told Mongabay. “That is why it is so important to understand how these forests behave.” According to Elias, the Brazilian Amazon has more than 140,000 square kilometers (around 57,000 square miles) of regrowing forests in areas previously deforested, known as secondary forests. In many cases, these lands have been abandoned after being used for cattle ranching. ​Most of it has the potential to recover naturally, without the need to plant a single seed. Close monitoring, however, is necessary to control fires, cattle ranching and land&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/key-tree-species-boost-amazon-forest-restoration-new-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328521</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned Bolivia-Brazil highway threatens Chiquitania dry forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 15:08:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/03131309/1-Deforestacion-Chiquitania-EDUARDO-FRANCO-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328580</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Soy, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco in the Chiquitania region with the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On July 31, politicians and agribusiness leaders from Bolivia and Brazil gathered in the eastern Bolivian city of San Ignacio de Velasco. There, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz signed an agreement to begin technical studies for a highway connecting San Ignacio de Velasco to Marfil, a point on the border with Brazil. A second section of the road will extend into Brazil toward the municipality of Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade. Experts told Mongabay the project will cause severe environmental damage, driving deforestation and land-use change to make way for soy fields and cattle ranches on the Bolivian side. San Ignacio de Velasco lies in the heart of the Bolivian Chiquitania, a region of vast tropical dry forests. The municipality has 67,103 inhabitants, according to the 2024 census. On July 31, its small airfield briefly became an international airport as some 15 private planes landed there. Except for the Bolivian presidential plane, every aircraft belonged to Brazilian businesspeople and politicians. Among them was Eraí Maggi, known in Brazil as the &#8220;soy king.&#8221; Planes from Brazil arrive in San Ignacio de Velasco for the signing of the highway agreement. Image courtesy of the Bolivian government. San Ignacio de Velasco, which holds 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres) of Chiquitano forest, or 6.2% of Bolivia&#8217;s total forest cover, has become the country&#8217;s epicenter of deforestation, according to reporting by Nómadas magazine in 2025. The Institute for Socio-Economic Research (IISEC) at the Bolivian Catholic University (UCB) found that between 2017 and 2023, agricultural expansion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-bolivia-brazil-highway-threatens-chiquitania-dry-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico-Brazil oil deal raises concern for ecosystems and energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mexico-brazil-oil-deal-raises-concern-for-ecosystems-and-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mexico-brazil-oil-deal-raises-concern-for-ecosystems-and-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 10:02:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10060125/AP24088006980479-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328312</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Fossil Fuels, and Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations have raised concerns that a recent partnership between the state petrochemical companies of Brazil and Mexico will commit both nations to decades of fossil fuel production, increase the risk of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and displace coastal communities with industrial expansion. On June 23, Brazil’s Petrobras and Mexico’s Pemex announced [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations have raised concerns that a recent partnership between the state petrochemical companies of Brazil and Mexico will commit both nations to decades of fossil fuel production, increase the risk of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and displace coastal communities with industrial expansion. On June 23, Brazil’s Petrobras and Mexico’s Pemex announced a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining their collaboration. The document itself was not published, but in a short press release, the companies describe cooperating to “increase production in deepwater” and “mature fields … in the Gulf of Mexico”. The agreement also refers to ancillary fossil fuel products such as fertilizers, biofuels and carbon capture, according to the release. Mexico extracts the majority of its fossil fuels from the southern Gulf of Mexico, but has seen production declining in recent decades. Although the partnership is aimed to increase the country’s energy sovereignty, energy researchers and environmentalists say questions remain about the terms of the deal and its repercussions. “This is an effort from the Mexican administration to increase oil barrels, but at what cost,” Renata Terrazas, vice president, Mexico, of marine environmental group Oceana, said to Mongabay over video call. “Right now we’re just guessing. There’s no transparency about what this actually means, and that’s one of the things that we fear the most.” The partnership comes after Pemex suffered two major safety incidents this spring. In February, an exploratory natural gas well near Las Choapas, Veracruz, exploded and continued to release smoke and gas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mexico-brazil-oil-deal-raises-concern-for-ecosystems-and-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328312</doi>				</item>
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