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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Bioeconomy</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bioeconomy/</link>
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				<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>Land rights and mangroves entwine in a Brazilian quilombo’s resistance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-rights-and-mangroves-entwine-in-a-brazilian-quilombos-resistance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-rights-and-mangroves-entwine-in-a-brazilian-quilombos-resistance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 15:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolina de Marchi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/11152728/20260402-PXL_20260402_191844572.PANO_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325902</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Estuaries, Freshwater, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Protected Areas, Religions, Rivers, Social Justice, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BREJÃO DOS NEGROS, Brazil — It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other starts. Here on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, where the São Francisco River meets the sea, waves ripple across the crystal-clear water. In the vast blue expanse, the green of islands and islets blends with fertile lands covered in Atlantic Forest remnants, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BREJÃO DOS NEGROS, Brazil — It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other starts. Here on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, where the São Francisco River meets the sea, waves ripple across the crystal-clear water. In the vast blue expanse, the green of islands and islets blends with fertile lands covered in Atlantic Forest remnants, white dunes, small docks, marginal lagoons, and mangroves — a biological heritage that serves as a nursery for countless marine species. But this beauty has not always belonged to those who lived there. Remnants of cotton plantations and more than 20 mills tell of an era before the so-called Golden Law of 1888 abolished slavery in Brazil. This region once held the largest number of enslaved people in the lower catchment area of the São Francisco River. Because of its dense native forests, it was also an ideal refuge for those who managed to escape, which earned it the name Refúgio dos Negros. Even after abolition, the people who lived off artisanal fishing and farming here enjoyed little real freedom. The land where they had lived on and worked for generations was claimed by local landowners who, with or without legal titles, exercised uncontested dominance. According to residents of the Brejão dos Negros Quilombola Territory — a group of traditional communities, or quilombos, founded by formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians — fences and cattle grids went up everywhere, making them feel like prisoners in their own land. “It was like this: if you harvested a field of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/land-rights-and-mangroves-entwine-in-a-brazilian-quilombos-resistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325902</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A banana byproduct transforms farm waste into profits in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-banana-byproduct-transforms-farm-waste-into-profits-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-banana-byproduct-transforms-farm-waste-into-profits-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2026 14:38:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Md Jahidul Islam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/07141336/banana-fiber-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325560</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Business, Environment, Industry, International Trade, Natural Resources, Plants, Sustainability, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bananas make up 20% of all fruit crops grown in Bangladesh, and the country has begun to unlock the hidden potential of the plant’s agricultural byproducts. Banana fiber, extracted from post-harvest stems, is emerging as a versatile biodegradable material that can be used to manufacture textiles, blended yarns and handicrafts. In Bangladesh, banana fiber is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bananas make up 20% of all fruit crops grown in Bangladesh, and the country has begun to unlock the hidden potential of the plant’s agricultural byproducts. Banana fiber, extracted from post-harvest stems, is emerging as a versatile biodegradable material that can be used to manufacture textiles, blended yarns and handicrafts. In Bangladesh, banana fiber is used to make handcraft biodegradable items like the highly celebrated Kolaboti saree, curtains, mats, bags, handicrafts, ropes, paper, packaging material and eco-friendly composite products . According to World Population Review data, Bangladesh ranked 27th in global banana production in 2024, producing roughly 813,600 tons annually. India was the largest producer, with about 37.6 million tons. A 2024 study shows that Bangladesh could produce around 37,800 tons of banana fiber annually and generate more than $94 million in export earnings if the sector is commercialized effectively. In the Bangladeshi market, banana fiber is sold by some small and medium entrepreneurs for around 150 takas to 500 takas per kilogram (roughly $1.20 to $4 for 2.2 pounds). Processed and dyed banana fiber. Image by Mahmudul Hasan. The study also shows that Bangladesh has significant potential for banana fiber production because banana is cultivated across 54,756 hectares (133,305 acres) of land. The country generates substantial biomass from banana pseudo-stems, estimated at around 3.78 million tons annually, of which approximately 1% can be extracted as fiber. According to the study, banana fiber is generally more cost-effective on the raw material end because it uses agricultural waste, while jute requires&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-banana-byproduct-transforms-farm-waste-into-profits-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325560</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Secret Amazon species may be new source of ibogaine for addiction treatment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/secret-amazon-species-may-be-new-source-of-ibogaine-for-addiction-treatment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/secret-amazon-species-may-be-new-source-of-ibogaine-for-addiction-treatment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2026 17:49:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/30133255/5-Researcher-Ricardo-Marques-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, South America, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Conservation, Environment, Health, Medicinal Plants, Medicine, Natural Resources, Plants, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A dismissed pasture weed may be key to easing drug addictions, but a researcher is keeping it a closely guarded secret for now.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For generations, the Bwiti religion in Gabon has revered ibogaine, a psychedelic alkaloid extracted from the iboga shrub (Tabernanthe iboga). While ancient cultures have long held the plant as sacred and understood its spiritual depth, modern science has only recently been exploring its potential as a clinical tool to treat drug addiction. Recent trials and historical accounts suggest ibogaine can reduce withdrawal symptoms and the craving for drugs like heroin and methadone, offering a neurobiological &#8220;reset.&#8221; Although ibogaine’s medicinal use is still largely unregulated, the global demand for this anti-addiction agent has pushed the African iboga plant into danger. The shrub takes up to 30 years to mature and yields just a single gram of ibogaine; traditional extraction usually requires uprooting the plant, leading to its destruction. This scarcity has fueled poaching and smuggling, prompting the Gabonese government to prohibit its export. Now, a breakthrough has emerged from the Amazon Rainforest, centered on an undisclosed species. The identity of this plant remains a closely guarded secret by Brazilian researcher Ricardo Marques, who spent nearly two years locating it and studying its ecology. This species contains a chemical precursor that can be transformed into ibogaine using a new, potentially sustainable harvesting method that allows the plant to regenerate after extraction. By keeping the plant&#8217;s name a secret while training local families in its collection, Marques says he hopes to create a permanent, ethical supply of ibogaine without repeating the ecological harm seen in Africa. Up until now, the only alternative to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/secret-amazon-species-may-be-new-source-of-ibogaine-for-addiction-treatment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon floodplains cocoa offers a climate-resilient and sustainable chocolate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amazon-floodplains-cocoa-offers-a-climate-resilient-and-sustainable-chocolate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amazon-floodplains-cocoa-offers-a-climate-resilient-and-sustainable-chocolate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 18:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cícero Pedrosa NetoSam Cowie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25143734/CPN_Chocolate_Mongabay-243-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321624</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Cacao, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Drought, Environment, Ethics, Extreme Weather, Food, Forest Products, Forestry, Global Environmental Crisis, Indigenous Peoples, Natural Resources, Sustainable Forest Management, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A river community in Pará uses ancestral secrets to beat the climate crisis one chocolate bean at a time.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BACARENA, Brazil — Sunlight peeps through dense Amazonian foliage as Elene Elda Mota and her husband Giovanne guide their small motorboat down a narrow stream. Equipped with machetes and baskets, they disembark and make their way through the thick forest until they reach a tree bearing dozens of bright yellow cocoa pods. Here, in the Amazon floodplains of Barcarena, in northern Pará state, near where some Amazon rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean, cocoa grows in a natural agroforestry system. “Our cocoa is native cocoa,” Elene said. “We don’t plant our cocoa, we just manage it.” Protected and irrigated by the forest canopy of the floodplains, Elene’s cocoa is more resistant to pests like vassoura de bruxa, a fungus that devastated Brazilian crops in the 1980s, as well as climate change impacts like droughts and heavy rains. It also offers a diverse range of earthy, fruity and acidic flavors, which Elene has utilized to produce an expanding range of artisanal cocoa and chocolate products. Caramelized cocoa nibs are her best seller, she said, and she also produces artisanal chocolate bars, creams and other sweet spreads, cocoa powders and oils. Cocoa and chocolate producer Elene Elda Mota navigates an Amazon river and a new artisanal scene. Image by Cícero Pedrosa Neto. In recent years, the Amazon state of Pará, Brazil’s largest cocoa producer, has emerged as a new frontier, or terroir, for fine and artisanal chocolate. Like Burgundy wine from France or Ethiopian coffee, the concept of its terroir flavor is rooted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amazon-floodplains-cocoa-offers-a-climate-resilient-and-sustainable-chocolate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321624</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-amazons-path-from-crisis-to-durability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-amazons-path-from-crisis-to-durability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2026 23:05:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/28225126/amazon_201628_26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320267</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Conservation Finance, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Rights, Land Use Change, Law Enforcement, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Amazon, a forest can remain on the map while losing much of what makes it function. The Amazon rainforest is often discussed through a few familiar measures: deforestation, carbon, protected areas, and tipping points. Each is useful. But they do not fully explain why biodiversity continues to decline even where maps still show [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Amazon, a forest can remain on the map while losing much of what makes it function. The Amazon rainforest is often discussed through a few familiar measures: deforestation, carbon, protected areas, and tipping points. Each is useful. But they do not fully explain why biodiversity continues to decline even where maps still show forest, laws exist, and international pledges sound ambitious. A territory can be recognized and still be invaded. A satellite can detect illegal clearing and still fail to trigger a penalty. A story can describe crisis and still leave readers unsure what can be done. Six gaps help explain the problem: finance and forest economy, governance, enforcement, forest function, Indigenous rights, and narrative. They overlap in ways that make each harder to close. The finance and forest-economy gap Protecting forests costs money every year. It requires staff, transport, monitoring, community work, legal support, fire control, restoration, and the ability to respond when illegal actors arrive. Yet the money available for those tasks remains far below the scale of the problem. Globally, UNEP estimates that forest investments need to reach about $300 billion a year by 2030 to meet climate, biodiversity, and land-degradation targets. The report also notes that this figure excludes some enabling conditions, including governance and law enforcement, which means the true need is probably higher. The Brazilian Amazon shows the imbalance more clearly. WWF and Conservation Strategy Fund estimate that Brazil needs about $12.8 billion a year to meet forest policy goals. Current positive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-amazons-path-from-crisis-to-durability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvesters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2026 07:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/23204151/e.-GP0STPODX_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318072</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bees, Bioeconomy, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Farming, Fires, Food, Forests, Heatwave, Indigenous Peoples, Monocultures, Rainforests, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global craze for açaí is driving a plantation boom that leaves the forest’s original harvesters behind.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACARÁ, Brazil — “I’ve spent my whole life working with açaí,” said Eliseu Carvalho, 57, who cultivates the berry in a floodplain area next to his home in the municipality of Acará, in the Brazilian state of Pará. “I’ve always made a living from it.” But after a devastating wildfire near his community, Carvalho is now considering abandoning açaí harvesting altogether. Acará is one of the most productive açaí regions in the state of Pará, with thousands of small-scale producers working in forest patches and along riverbanks. In 2024, the municipality was severely affected by an intense wildfire season. More than 18 million hectares (44.5 million acres) — an area the size of Cambodia — burned in the Amazon that year, according to the Brazilian collaborative research network MapBiomas. Most of the burning occurred in forest areas, threatening frontline communities. Carvalho said he watched the flames burn for more than 20 days and consume almost 30 hectares (74 acres) of forestland. Prolonged drought conditions had left the humid vegetation unusually dry, leaving it much more susceptible to fire. “The flames spread through roots and organic matter,” he told Mongabay in Acará. “We would put them out on the surface, but they kept burning underground.” Açaí farmer Eliseu Carvalho shows his land in Acará, where a devastating wildfire burned down their açaí production in 2024. Image by Carla Ruas. When firefighters and volunteers finally managed to control the fire, about 2 hectares (5 acres) of açaí palms had burned to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318072</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Congo Basin-led bioeconomy could boost Central Africa’s green transition (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2026 16:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Metolo Foyet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/05115844/ForestElephant.Loxodonta.cyclotis_NgounieGabon_marcusgmeineriNaturalistBYNC4.0-BANNER-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317006</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Commentary, Community Development, Environment, Forest Products, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Trade, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Medicine, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, often referred to as the “second lungs of Earth,” holds immense potential for leading Central Africa’s green transition. Home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and second-largest reserve of drinkable water (holding 50% of all of Africa’s water resources), the region covers more than 3.7 million square kilometers (nearly 1.5 million square [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Congo Basin, often referred to as the “second lungs of Earth,” holds immense potential for leading Central Africa’s green transition. Home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and second-largest reserve of drinkable water (holding 50% of all of Africa’s water resources), the region covers more than 3.7 million square kilometers (nearly 1.5 million square miles), absorbs more carbon dioxide than any other region in the world — with an annual net carbon dioxide absorption six times that of the Amazon Rainforest — and spans six countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon), storing around 30 billion metric tons of carbon. This critical ecological zone harbors immense biodiversity and natural resources, making it a strategic hub for the emerging global bioeconomy. However, learning from the Eastern African experience, realizing this potential requires a shift from extractive industries to sustainable, nature-based economies that prioritize long-term ecological health and local prosperity. Beyond its ecological importance — containing more than 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of birds, and 400 species of mammals, including iconic ones like the forest elephant and the critically endangered western lowland gorilla — the region stands at a critical juncture in the global minerals race, holding a significant share of the world&#8217;s strategic assets like lithium, cobalt, gold, and rare earth elements — key components shaping global power and the future of the energy transition. Despite this wealth, the Congo Basin’s economic strategies have often relied on the “dig&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-congo-basin-led-bioeconomy-could-boost-central-africas-green-transition-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317006</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru, Indigenous women work to save an ancestral potato from disappearance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-peru-indigenous-women-work-to-save-an-ancestral-potato-from-disappearance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-peru-indigenous-women-work-to-save-an-ancestral-potato-from-disappearance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 07:02:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30150135/Copia-de-IMG_2365-1-1200x800-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316544</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Community Forests, Conservation, Culture, Food, Indigenous Peoples, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Kashiri, the Moon, saw the young woman through a window. The celestial body descended from the sky and found her eating soil molded into the shape of a tubercle. “What you are eating is mud, not yuca,” the root of the cassava plant. “I will let you taste the true yuca,” it said. In love [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Kashiri, the Moon, saw the young woman through a window. The celestial body descended from the sky and found her eating soil molded into the shape of a tubercle. “What you are eating is mud, not yuca,” the root of the cassava plant. “I will let you taste the true yuca,” it said. In love with her, Kashiri handed a sacred seed and taught her how to plant it. This is the story that has survived through the tales of grandmothers and grandfathers of the Machiguenga people. Gabriela Loaiza Seri recalls the ancestral anecdote. The account speaks about the origin of crops in her village of San José de Koribeni, in Cusco, in southeastern Peru — the largest Indigenous Machiguenga community in the South American country. “The young woman learned how to plant yuca, magona potatoes, shonaki [an Indigenous name for a type of sweet corn root] and all the tubers we have always consumed,” she says. Since then, women have been responsible for these crops. This time-honored knowledge, however, is now facing increasing threats. The expansion of monocultures and intensive agriculture in Peru has put many of these native species at risk of disappearing, according to Loaiza Seri. To make matters worse, the introduction of new varieties and foreign crops has reduced the diversity of yucas that once secured food to Indigenous communities year-round. The arrival of external projects has also distanced the community from their chacras ( small, traditional farming plots). A member of the association Mujeres Emprendedoras&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-peru-indigenous-women-work-to-save-an-ancestral-potato-from-disappearance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316544</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cowboy boots made from pirarucu leather fund Amazon’s sustainable fishery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cowboy-boots-made-from-pirarucu-leather-fund-amazons-sustainable-fishery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cowboy-boots-made-from-pirarucu-leather-fund-amazons-sustainable-fishery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2026 18:26:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/09112043/a.-Julie-Larsen_3333_Pirarucu-Boots-Boot-Barn-ME-_11-22-25-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312803</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arts, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Business, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Industry, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A massive Amazonian fish yields the unique and once overlooked leather prized by luxury brands and Texas cowboys.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An inhabitant of the Amazon Basin and one of the world’s largest freshwater fishes, the pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) has a hard skin that’s resistant to attacks from aquatic predators such as piranhas, yet is also flexible. Such features, combined with the diamond-shaped design of its scales, have attracted the interest of the global fashion industry. The largest market for sustainably harvested pirarucu skin is the U.S. state of Texas. Country-style boots made from it are manufactured in the U.S. and in Mexico and sold in both countries, a niche business that helps finance sustainable fishing by traditional communities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Meat is the main product of the managed pirarucu fishery, but the skin, which weighs at least 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and used for footwear and other fashion accessories, sells for a higher price, 170-200 reais ($32-$38). “Selling the skin is crucial to maintaining the 10 reais per kilo of pirarucu [about $1.90/kg, or 86 cents/lb] paid to fishers,” said Ana Alice Britto, commercial coordinator at the Carauari Rural Producers Association, ASPROC. “The skins also help pay a small portion of the logistics, processing and storage costs.” Founded in 1994, ASPROC is the largest organization in the Middle Juruá River region, representing 800 families from 61 riverside communities. Last year, it sold 180 metric tons of pirarucu. Commercial exploitation of the colossal fish — which can weigh up to 200 kg (440 lbs) and measure 3 meters (10 feet) long — began in earnest in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/cowboy-boots-made-from-pirarucu-leather-fund-amazons-sustainable-fishery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312803</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon entrepreneur spreads seeds of growth with recycled paper</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2026 07:00:38 +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/20/2025/12/29160337/B-Ocimum_basilicum_flower_closeup-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312231</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Business, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Innovation, Plants, Pulp And Paper, Reforestation, Seed Dispersal, Sustainability, Trees, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A burnout pushed one woman to build a new, nature-friendly career in one of the rainforest’s most deforested cities.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Alessandra Moreira worked as an administrative assistant in Altamira, an oversized municipality in the Brazilian Amazon — larger than Portugal or Greece. Burned out and facing anxiety and depression, she left her job, but was unsure of what would come next. “I was having panic attacks and couldn’t identify what was happening to me,” she told Mongabay. Then, a suggestion from her brother changed everything: Why not try making seed paper? Altamira, in the state of Pará, is the most deforested municipality in the Brazilian Amazon. There, “development” is often a synonym for deforestation, environmental degradation, and sometimes violence, erupting from clashes between conservationists, loggers and land grabbers. Despite the local culture, Moreira founded Ecoplante, a company that makes plantable seed paper — recycled sheets embedded with seeds that can typically grow into vegetables, herbs, flowers and, in Ecoplante’s specific case, native Amazonian vegetation, too. What began as a personal healing project has grown into an example of how creativity, entrepreneurship and sustainability can coexist in one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. Plantable seed paper is made by transforming discarded paper into new sheets infused with plant seeds. The process starts with recycled pulp mixed with water, then spread over a fine-mesh screen and layered with seeds, from herbs like basil and arugula, to flowers like daisies. Once dried, the paper can be written on, used, and later planted. When it decomposes, the seeds germinate, turning what would have been waste into greenery. In 2023, Moreira and her brother&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Amazon in 2026: A challenging year ahead, now off the center stage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 14:27:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/19151029/Parque_Estadual_Encontro_das_Aguas_Thomas-Fuhrmann_2023-_01_Jaguar_-_Panthera_onca_swimming-scaled-e1710871756906-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311879</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Latin America, Peru, South America, Suriname, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Belém's COP30 ended in compromise, political forces moved swiftly to accelerate destruction far from the global spotlight. 
]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon enters 2026 carrying the bitter taste of compromise. The world’s attention was fixed on Belém for the COP30 summit in November, transforming the Brazilian city into a brief, intense stage for climate diplomacy, where ambitious calls for a fossil fuel phaseout ultimately died on the negotiating floor. Yet, in 2025, the true battle for the rainforest was fought far from the Blue Zone. In the quiet shadows, powerful political forces moved to roll back environmental protections in Brazil (which holds 64% of the rainforest), successfully passing the anti-conservation bills and green-lighting critical infrastructure projects. This dual reality — grand promises versus accelerated development on the frontier — set the defining tension for the year, even as a more hopeful, grassroots movement gained momentum, finding new, valuable purpose for biodiversity in innovations, proving the rainforest is worth far more standing than cut. COP30 was wrapped in global expectations. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the summit by proposing a road map to enable humankind to overcome its dependence on fossil fuels in a fair and planned manner and to halt deforestation. However, the ambitious calls for a fossil fuel phaseout were excluded from the official COP outcomes. In response, Brazil, alongside the Colombian and Dutch delegations, agreed to develop road maps outside the formal U.N. process. This effort will culminate in the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, scheduled for April 2026, in Santa Marta, Colombia, to negotiate an equitable Fossil Fuel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311879</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New financial tools boost traditional bioeconomy projects in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-financial-tools-boost-traditional-bioeconomy-projects-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-financial-tools-boost-traditional-bioeconomy-projects-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 13:48:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/31113242/Cerrado-Brazil-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308629</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Caatinga, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Climate, climate finance, Climate Justice, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Food, Forests, Funding, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Sustainability, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When rigid loans fail to reach forest communities, they work in favor of invaders.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the Amazon Rainforest to the Cerrado savanna, enterprises led by Indigenous and traditional communities play a vital role in protecting forests and restoring degraded Brazilian landscapes. At the same time, they provide an important source of income for marginalized groups, strengthening Brazil’s bioeconomy environment. Sustainable forest-based businesses include the harvesting of açaí berries (Euterpe oleracea) and Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa), and the production of andiroba oil (Carapa guianensis). They also cover agroecological and agroforestry farming, community-based ecotourism, restoration and reforestation services, and the production of cultural goods such as artisanal crafts. Some of these projects even create community-level financial mechanisms, like cooperative banks. Yet many setbacks prevent them from scaling up. Problems range from initiatives not being formally recognized as businesses by conventional financial institutions, to barriers to accessing Brazilian administrative and regulatory infrastructure — such as registration systems, licensing and operational support, all needed to establish and run a business. “One of the main challenges faced by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities lies in how most financing mechanisms are structured,” Rose Apurinã, deputy director of Podáali, an Indigenous-run fund for the Brazilian Amazon, told Mongabay. “They are based on external, colonial and centralized logics that disregard these peoples’ own forms of social organization.” She added, “The majority of grant opportunities and funding sources impose technical, bureaucratic and institutional barriers that make it difficult — or even impossible — for people in the territories to access resources directly.” Açaí extraction provides income for local communities while helping to keep&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-financial-tools-boost-traditional-bioeconomy-projects-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308629</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon&#8217;s stingless bee propolis shows potent healing power, studies show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/amazons-stingless-bee-propolis-shows-potent-healing-power-studies-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/amazons-stingless-bee-propolis-shows-potent-healing-power-studies-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Dec 2025 07:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/12142842/153800040o-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309389</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bees, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Business, Conservation, Environment, Pollinators, Rainforests, Reforestation, Sustainability, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fueled by açaí flowers, a bee's resin once used for war wounds is now evolving as a new ingredient for cosmetics.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Açaí’s deep purple pulp is widely considered a “superfood” for its antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The berry grows naturally in the Amazon and has become a star for the rainforest’s bioeconomy, reaping more than $1 billion worldwide. Now, a growing body of research is showing that its antioxidant properties are not exclusive to the berry and are also present in its neighbors. A study by scientists from Brazil’s agricultural research company, Embrapa, in partnership with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), has shed light on the pharmaceutical potential of a cream formulated with propolis produced by native Amazonian stingless honeybees, known as meliponines. The experts identified healing and anti-inflammatory properties of substances sourced from the propolis (a resinous substance collected by honeybees from tree buds, used by them to fill crevices and to seal and varnish honeycombs) of the species Scaptotrigona aff. postica, popularly known in the northern Brazilian region and nearby areas as abelha-canudo. According to the findings, dermatological tests showed results comparable to those of healing ointments available in average cosmetic markets, giving positive perspectives for the creation of by-products. “The propolis-based cream directly influenced the lesion maturation process and exhibited a milder inflammatory response,” according to the study, published in October 2024, while describing that “biopharmaceuticals such as propolis-based creams offer advantages such as minimal side effects, low chemical residues, and negligible preservatives.” Despite being far less numerous and well-known than their more famous stinging “cousins” — particularly for not producing honey in the same quantity and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/amazons-stingless-bee-propolis-shows-potent-healing-power-studies-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309389</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil nut hauling effort gets easier with zip lines and &#8216;Amazon Waze&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-nut-hauling-effort-gets-easier-with-zip-lines-and-amazon-waze/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-nut-hauling-effort-gets-easier-with-zip-lines-and-amazon-waze/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Nov 2025 13:45:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/24124344/B-ISA_rogerio_assis_wai_wai_carrega_castanha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310074</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Conservation, Environment, Food, Forest Products, Indigenous Peoples, Innovation, Rainforests, Rivers, Technology, and Transportation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lugging 50-kilo bags through the rainforest’s rough terrain is a vital piece of the nut trade, but could soon change.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, the arrival of the rainy season and the swelling of the Anauá River indicate it’s time for the Wai Wai Indigenous people to go upriver to collect Brazil nuts. They spend the next few weeks in campsites in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, wandering through the nut groves and filling thousands of bags with the so-called hedgehogs, the woody fruit pods that hold the nuts. Brazil nuts, known locally as castanha, are popular worldwide, where they’re often marketed as Amazon nuts or Pará nuts. They’re the main source of income for around 60,000 Amazonian people living in Indigenous and riverine communities. In the Wai Wai territory, in Brazil’s Roraima state, the nuts are also a crucial part of the diet, blended with cassava flour to eat, or made into broth, juice or oil. However, bringing the nuts back to the villages from the depths of the rainforest, and from there selling them on to traders, is an adventure. Once the collection is over, the Indigenous people fill their boats with heavy bags of nuts and go down the winding river, where they run a gauntlet of rocky rapids and waterfalls. This often forces the Wai Wai to step out of their boats and tow them. One of the waterfalls, known as Conceição, is often impossible to cross, forcing the group to finish the route on foot. &#8220;We have to pull the canoe up to the waterfall,&#8221; Levi José da Silva, the leader of the Anauá community, told1&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-nut-hauling-effort-gets-easier-with-zip-lines-and-amazon-waze/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310074</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Embrace ‘blue’ foods as a climate strategy at COP30, fisheries ministers say (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/embrace-blue-foods-as-a-climate-strategy-at-cop30-fisheries-ministers-say-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/embrace-blue-foods-as-a-climate-strategy-at-cop30-fisheries-ministers-say-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 18:26:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[André de PaulaSalvador Malheiro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11175848/Fishing-boats-in-Grenada-by-Hugh-Whyte-Ocean-Image-Bank-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309298</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Global, and Portugal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Aquaculture, Bioeconomy, Blue Carbon, blue economy, Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, food security, Governance, Marine, Marine Conservation, Nutrition, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As two coastal countries connected by the Atlantic Ocean and five centuries of shared history, Brazil and Portugal have long appreciated the value of “blue” or aquatic foods, including our shared love of bacalhau, or salted cod. Portugal ranks third in the world and first in the EU for per capita fish and seafood consumption, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As two coastal countries connected by the Atlantic Ocean and five centuries of shared history, Brazil and Portugal have long appreciated the value of “blue” or aquatic foods, including our shared love of bacalhau, or salted cod. Portugal ranks third in the world and first in the EU for per capita fish and seafood consumption, while in Brazil, aquatic foods support more than 3 million livelihoods, with consumption of whole, raw fish reaching as much as 800 grams (28 ounces) per day in the Amazon, which is hosting the U.N. climate talks for the first time in its gateway city of Belém. But as our global food system comes under increasing pressure, from climate change to shifting diets, we also share the recognition that blue foods play a crucial role in building more resilient, adaptive, and nutritionally balanced food systems. Fishing vessels like this provide much of the world&#8217;s &#8220;blue&#8221; foods but are only a portion of the overall picture. Image courtesy of Nicolas Job/Ocean Image Bank. The blue food sector, which encompasses the wild harvest and farming of fish, shellfish, seaweed and other aquatic plants and animals, is well-known for providing rich sources of protein and essential micronutrients, such as vitamin B12, iron, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids that are crucial for combating malnutrition, which affects more than 2 billion people worldwide. However, this sector is often overlooked as a climate strategy despite its potential to help meet demand for animal-sourced food with a smaller environmental footprint. Many blue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/embrace-blue-foods-as-a-climate-strategy-at-cop30-fisheries-ministers-say-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-309298</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú&#8217;s Renata Piazzon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-can-protect-its-forests-while-growing-its-economy-says-arapyaus-renata-piazzon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-can-protect-its-forests-while-growing-its-economy-says-arapyaus-renata-piazzon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2025 15:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/05133026/Renata-Piazzon-Instituto-Arapyau-05-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308865</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Hope and optimism, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s climate conversation has a habit of returning to the same question: how can a country that depends so much on its natural riches also protect them? Renata Piazzon, who leads the São Paulo–based Instituto Arapyaú, naturally straddles that line. A lawyer by training, she has become one of Brazil’s clearest voices for aligning conservation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s climate conversation has a habit of returning to the same question: how can a country that depends so much on its natural riches also protect them? Renata Piazzon, who leads the São Paulo–based Instituto Arapyaú, naturally straddles that line. A lawyer by training, she has become one of Brazil’s clearest voices for aligning conservation with development, arguing that the health of the forest and the well-being of those who live in it are inseparable. Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Her path into climate work began early. Piazzon grew up watching her father travel to remote Amazonian communities as part of an NGO that worked with Indigenous peoples. She wanted to go along, but he refused—so she set out to make her own way there. After studying environmental law, she shifted from litigation to sustainability, a move she traces to a single moment: watching Christiana Figueres steer the Paris Agreement talks at COP21. “I thought, that’s what I want to do with my life,” she recalls. At Arapyaú, founded 17 years ago by Brazilian entrepreneur Guilherme Leal, Piazzon oversees programs on climate, forests, and the bio-economy. The foundation was one of the first in Brazil to make climate its core mission, back when, she jokes, “the entire field could fit in a van.” Since then, a small circle of business leaders has grown into a network of perhaps a dozen or more philanthropists who see sustainability not as ideology but as good strategy. She works to draw them&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-can-protect-its-forests-while-growing-its-economy-says-arapyaus-renata-piazzon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308865</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/beyond-deforestation-redesigning-how-we-protect-and-value-tropical-forests-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/beyond-deforestation-redesigning-how-we-protect-and-value-tropical-forests-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2025 15:57:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/02172829/vietnam_163028x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308743</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, carbon, Carbon Market, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Deforestation, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Services, Forest Carbon, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Land Rights, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Rainforests, Restoration, Sustainable Development, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth looking today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. Part 1 looked at possible fates of tropical forests. The first act of the forest crisis was destruction. The second, if there is to be one, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Heading into COP30, where tropical forests are set to be a central theme, it seemed worth looking today’s trajectories a little further forward and imagine where they might lead. Part 1 looked at possible fates of tropical forests. The first act of the forest crisis was destruction. The second, if there is to be one, must be design—deliberate, structural, and sustained. The world already knows what is burning; what it hasn’t decided is whether it truly wants to stop it. Last year’s fires tore through more than three million hectares of tropical primary forest, most of it in South America. Drought and El Niño played their part, but so did the same chronic weaknesses: fragmented governance, cheap credit for land clearance, and a market that rewards destruction faster than it rewards restraint. The causes are structural, which means the solutions will have to be as well. Power to those who already protect More than a third of the world’s intact forests lie on Indigenous and community lands. Where rights are recognized, deforestation typically drops. The logic is simple. People with secure tenure have reason to manage land for the long term. Yet only a fraction of community lands in the tropics have legal title. Recognition processes crawl through bureaucracy, while investors and speculators tend to advance quickly. A first-order intervention, therefore, is legal rather than technical: accelerating the transfer of rights. That means repairing broken land registries: mapping who actually owns what and granting legal title to the communities already&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/beyond-deforestation-redesigning-how-we-protect-and-value-tropical-forests-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308743</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Linking biodiversity protection with community development in an era of crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rethinking-conservation-in-an-era-of-crisis-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rethinking-conservation-in-an-era-of-crisis-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2025 12:52:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dheeraj Jayant]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/07210434/restoration-workers-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307197</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Navigating conservation's crisis]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cape Verde, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Commentary, Community Development, Conservation, Development, Environment, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The interlinked planetary crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss are losing significant ground in the global political agenda. From the ground, it seems as though even environmental discourse and momentum are weakening, as urgent geopolitical and economic priorities push concrete action to the margins. Overseas development aid and conservation finance is shrinking, often [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The interlinked planetary crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss are losing significant ground in the global political agenda. From the ground, it seems as though even environmental discourse and momentum are weakening, as urgent geopolitical and economic priorities push concrete action to the margins. Overseas development aid and conservation finance is shrinking, often creating conflict between actors, and the North–South divide is widening. Conflicts, shifting power balances, and unsustainable development models in megadiverse countries continue to erode ecosystems at alarming speed. Efforts to construct market mechanisms for biodiversity, such as access and benefit-sharing (ABS) under the Convention on Biological Diversity, have largely failed to deliver. After three decades of negotiations, frameworks like the Nagoya Protocol have generated enormous transaction costs but little tangible progress for biodiversity or justice. Confusion persists, entrenched political positions stall progress, and communities remain sidelined in processes that were meant to empower them. Likewise, ecotourism — once heralded as a win-win — often produces limited benefits when poorly designed, sometimes intensifying tensions with local people. Both ABS and ecotourism highlight the pitfalls of overreliance on market instruments to deliver justice and conservation at scale. In many megadiverse regions, the major components of biodiversity are found in rural landscapes, where they are managed and stewarded by local communities. Yet these very communities are under immense strain. Climate change, exploitative land regimes, the absence of meaningful employment opportunities, and lack of adequate public services are driving a rural exodus that is becoming increasingly difficult to halt&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rethinking-conservation-in-an-era-of-crisis-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-307197</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon jambu blends tradition and science for numbing flavors and healthcare</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/amazon-jambu-blends-tradition-and-science-for-numbing-flavors-and-healthcare/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/amazon-jambu-blends-tradition-and-science-for-numbing-flavors-and-healthcare/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 14:34:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/18131045/Acmella-oleracea-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304465</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Botany, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Medicinal Plants, Natural Resources, Plants, Soy, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil's bioeconomy efforts are unlocking surprising global applications for a homegrown plant known as a local remedy and seasoning.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The jambu plant is native to the Amazon Rainforest, where it’s renowned for its numbing and tingling effect when eaten. This characteristic has made it a main ingredient in many northern Brazilian dishes and drinks, as well as a traditional remedy for Indigenous communities living in Amazonian areas. But the benefits of the plant, Acmella oleracea, go even further: boosted by new studies, it’s now becoming a key ingredient of Brazil’s growing bioeconomy, thanks to researchers’ ability to turn local biodiversity and traditional knowledge into sustainable products with a huge socioeconomic impact. One of the initiatives is led by scientists from the Supercritical Technology Laboratory (Labtecs) at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Since 2019, they’ve been developing new applications to turn jambu-based products into bio-innovations, relying on techniques passed through Indigenous knowledge. So far, they’ve created a fast-dissolving oral film that relieves dry mouth in cancer patients; an anti-aging facial cream; an intimate lubricant and gels with stimulating effects; and an alcohol-free mouthwash. New research is even exploring jambu’s anti-arrhythmic activity property 一 that is, its potential for correcting abnormal heartbeat frequency. “It has truly unique characteristics,” Ana Paula Silva, a food science and technology researcher at UFPA, told Mongabay. “It’s an incredibly versatile plant with applications in cosmetics, medicine and functional foods. Very few native species offer such a wide range of possibilities.” Researcher Ana Paula Silva has been studying jambu for several years, from cultivation to finding the best ways to deliver the product to consumers. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/amazon-jambu-blends-tradition-and-science-for-numbing-flavors-and-healthcare/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304465</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rising heat and falling yields plague an Amazon island near COP30 host</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/rising-heat-and-falling-yields-plague-an-amazon-island-near-cop30-host/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/rising-heat-and-falling-yields-plague-an-amazon-island-near-cop30-host/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 07:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Peres/O Liberal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11153814/AreadeProtecaoAmbientalIlhaDoCombu_CarolineMoraes-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302288</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A short boat ride from Belém, an Amazon island offers a living lesson of the climate crisis that leaders will debate.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Leia em português. COMBU ISLAND, Brazil — Brazilian poet and songwriter Ruy Barata, born in 1920 in Santarém, in Brazil’s Amazonian state of Pará, once wrote ballads that captured the essence of ribeirinhos, the riverside people across the country. “This river is my street. Mine and yours, mururé,” he wrote, in lyrics that elegantly celebrate the traditions of communities living along riverbanks in the Amazon — a region where peoples, forests and rivers coexist in peace. Local inhabitants use the word mururé to designate several species of aquatic plants that can be easily seen in waterways throughout this part of Brazil. However, the natural life that once inspired Barata’s poetry is now under threat. The story takes us to Combu Island, a 10-minute boat ride from Pará’s capital, Belém. In November, the city will host the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30. But as the event draws near, the island is seen as a textbook example of the risks posed by unregulated human activity, biodiversity loss and shifting climate patterns. In a collaborative investigation by journalists and scientists, led by Brazil’s science-fostering Serrapilheira Institute and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), we examine how the deterioration of the Amazon Rainforest is interrupting vital environmental services — such as the upkeep of local biodiversity and preservation of water cycles — provided by the region. A stilt house in Combu, a typical residence of riverside communities in the Amazon. Image by Anna Peres/O Liberal. Combu Island is surrounded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/rising-heat-and-falling-yields-plague-an-amazon-island-near-cop30-host/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302288</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Iconic Brazil nut crop plunges after extreme drought, skyrocketing prices</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/iconic-brazil-nut-crop-plunges-after-extreme-drought-skyrocketing-prices/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/iconic-brazil-nut-crop-plunges-after-extreme-drought-skyrocketing-prices/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 11:58:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelKarla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10094151/1.-agencia_brasil_sementes-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302181</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Economics, Forest Products, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A vital Amazonian superfood suddenly vanishes, leaving thousands of Indigenous and extractivist families reeling.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — Each year, the rainforest communities of Brazil eagerly await the arrival of harvest season for Brazil nuts, which typically begins in November and goes on until March. Also known as Pará nuts or Amazonian chestnuts, the seed is the primary source of income for many extractivist, Indigenous and riverine communities, who spend the remainder of the year living on small farms. &#8220;The money from the nuts is used to support the family, build houses, and buy food, shoes and clothes,&#8221; Elziane Ribeiro de Souza, from the Cajari Extractive Reserve in Amapá state, told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;When possible, it is used to buy a motorcycle, a car or a small boat. We survive on it. The nut is a sustainable product of the community.&#8221; Souza lives in Água Branca do Cajari, one of the 13 communities inside the extractive reserve, known in Brazil as a Resex, that’s dedicated to collecting Brazil nuts. This year, however, they collected 70% less than expected. That’s according to data from Embrapa, Brazil’s federal agricultural research company that runs the NewCast project, which assists four Amazonian communities working on nut harvesting. The shortage has already led to a sharp price surge. In March 2025, a 20-liter (5.3-gallon) haul of nuts cost 220 reais ($39.70), almost four times higher than usual. &#8220;The harvest here was very poor, and we think it&#8217;s because of the weather,&#8221; Souza said . Losses have also occurred in other parts of the rainforest, with some communities&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/iconic-brazil-nut-crop-plunges-after-extreme-drought-skyrocketing-prices/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302181</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous rubber bounces back for Amazon conservation and higher income</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-rubber-bounces-back-for-amazon-conservation-and-higher-income/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-rubber-bounces-back-for-amazon-conservation-and-higher-income/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2025 14:15:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/08065454/Packs-of-rubber-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302014</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Conservation, Culture, Drought, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Services, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Rubber, Saving Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rubber tapping in the forest was once the main Amazonian economic activity, and now an Indigenous group is bringing it back.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Igarapé Lourdes Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon, community members gather to listen to José Palahv Gavião. An Indigenous teacher and cooperative leader, he speaks about the past and the future of Amazonian rubber. Rubber extracted from forest trees was a major Brazilian commodity in the 1800s and early 1900s. But for the Indigenous Gavião people of this part of Rondônia state, it also meant exploitation and suffering. Today, however, the community has reclaimed it as an opportunity for income and forest protection, especially for Indigenous youths. According to José, many young people seek better economic opportunities outside the community. But he says it’s important to balance these ambitions with efforts to protect the forest that sustains them. “In every meeting I go to, I always highlight this point: If we don’t give value to the rainforest’s products, it won’t take long before it’s gone,” José tells Mongabay. “It helps reverse that mindset. Because when a seed collector earns income from that tree, they won’t want to cut it down.” The Gavião of Rondônia worked under exploitative conditions imposed by rubber extractors following their first contact with outsiders. Due to land conflicts and the advance of external development projects, they eventually abandoned rubber tapping in the late 1980s. By then, rubber was being harvested at industrial scales from vast plantations of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis), obviating the need to venture into the forest to collect it. The process of tapping rubber in the wild starts with making incisions&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indigenous-rubber-bounces-back-for-amazon-conservation-and-higher-income/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302014</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traditional bug oil finds modern value through new research in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traditional-bug-oil-finds-modern-value-through-new-research-in-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traditional-bug-oil-finds-modern-value-through-new-research-in-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2025 17:46:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/09192316/Larvae-inside-shell-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298894</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Health, Planetary Health, Rainforests, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers are analyzing the bug oil’s bioactive properties, aiming to validate its safety and expand its promising applications in medicine, cosmetics and biotechnology.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Gabriel Araújo, bug oil has always been a part of everyday life. Growing up on Brazil’s Marajó Archipelago, a network of more than 2,500 islands dotted around the mouth of the Amazon River, he recalls the oil being a household staple for many Marajoaras, as the islanders are known. The product, a golden liquid extracted from the larvae of the tucumã stone beetle (Speciomerus ruficornis), is mostly used topically for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and wound-healing properties — although some people also use it in cooking. &#8220;I have several memories, old and recent, of the use of animal oil when someone at home has some kind of inflammation or pain,” said Araújo, a researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in Biodiversity (Ceabio), a biotech research hub, and at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) and the Amazon Oils Laboratory (LOA). Until recently, the benefits of bug oil were mostly anecdotal, but scientific research is now confirming its potential, linking Indigenous wisdom with biotechnology. Marajó Island, the largest fluvial-maritime island in the world, is made up of flooded savannas, rainforest, mangroves, and riverine ecosystems. Image by Adrian Be via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Researchers from Ceabio, UFPA and LOA, in collaboration with Pará State University (UEPA), are studying the bug oil’s medicinal properties and analyzing any potential risks for human use. Scientific validation could increase its value, allowing local communities to sell it at higher prices by certifying its safety for the market. These efforts are part of the growing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traditional-bug-oil-finds-modern-value-through-new-research-in-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What does bioeconomy truly mean? Indigenous groups seek answer to dodge capitalist traps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/what-does-bioeconomy-truly-mean-indigenous-groups-seek-answer-to-dodge-capitalist-traps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/what-does-bioeconomy-truly-mean-indigenous-groups-seek-answer-to-dodge-capitalist-traps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2025 19:34:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amanda Magnani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/07083044/amanda-magnani-14-768x512.avif" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298711</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Conservation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Indigenous Peoples, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across the Pan-Amazon region, communities who developed the bioeconomy concept centuries ago and practice it today still have a hard time accessing its benefits.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Developed by Indigenous peoples centuries ago, it was only recently that the bioeconomy’s role in mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity has gained momentum. Currently valued at $4 trillion globally, the bioeconomy is expected to reach $38.5 trillion by 2050. In the Pan-Amazon, home to more than 400 Indigenous peoples and the world’s largest river basin — but also to poverty and hunger levels above national averages and escalating violence — the bioeconomy represents a promising solution. “It offers livable alternatives to increasingly prevalent illicit activities and reduces the pressure of threats from loggers, miners and farmers,” Joaquin Carrizosa, strategic adviser to the Secretariat of the Pan-Amazon Network for Bioeconomy, told Mongabay. In September 2024, it secured a new, high-profile ally: the G20 group of the world’s biggest conventional economies. The G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB), which lists 10 voluntary high-level principles, is the first multilateral agreement to address the subject, according to the Brazilian government, which held the rotating G20 presidency at the time. Delegates at the inaugural GIB meeting. Image courtesy of Felipe Werneck/Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The GIB proposes international collaboration for sustainable development, and that the bioeconomy be inclusive and equitable. For experts like Luiz Brasi Filho, market coordinator at Rede Origens Brasil, a network that connects Amazon producers with companies and consumers, it was a symbolic achievement. “The common understanding reached by the GIB is a crucial step to level the field and direct national and international investments,” he told Mongabay. Yet,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/what-does-bioeconomy-truly-mean-indigenous-groups-seek-answer-to-dodge-capitalist-traps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298711</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The rough road to sustainable farming in an Amazon deforestation hotspot</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/the-rough-road-to-sustainable-farming-in-an-amazon-deforestation-hotspot/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/the-rough-road-to-sustainable-farming-in-an-amazon-deforestation-hotspot/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2025 15:54:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/17143417/Copy-of-05__FM46689-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295926</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging. ]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ALTAMIRA, Brazil — Bartolomeu Moraes, better known as Brasília, was a peasant leader and trade unionist in Brazil involved in a long, bloody land war. In 2002, he was killed after years of opposing powerful local ranchers along the BR-163 highway area, located in the Brazilian state of Pará. &#8220;He saw a lot of land with few people and wanted people to be able to use the land for family farming,&#8221; Raimunda Rodrigues, better known as Mariana, told Mongabay while walking along the dirt road that leads to her house. After his death, the Brazilian state finally caved in and created a sustainable settlement (known as PDS in Portuguese) in 2005, honoring Brasília. Mariana got a piece of land inside the 19,800 hectares (49,000 acres) of PDS Brasília, an area bigger than Brooklyn in New York, which by then had belonged to a single rancher. The federal land reform agency, INCRA, designed the settlement for 500 families that would practice family farming on their plots while collectively using a large area of standing forest to extract forest fruits and nuts. However, 19 years later, the scenario is quite different. Without support from public administration, only 200 families remain on their plots. Many of them were forced to sell the land to large ranchers (which is illegal), who gradually regained territorial supremacy. According to the civil society network MapBiomas, more than two-thirds (75%) of the settlement has already been converted into pasture for cattle ranching, which is forbidden inside a PDS.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/the-rough-road-to-sustainable-farming-in-an-amazon-deforestation-hotspot/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295926</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Handcrafted woodwork helps save an Amazonian reserve, one tree at a time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/handcrafted-woodwork-helps-save-an-amazonian-reserve-one-tree-at-a-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/handcrafted-woodwork-helps-save-an-amazonian-reserve-one-tree-at-a-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2025 18:40:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sibélia Zanon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/05181409/IMG_0991-scaled-e1738780077875-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293904</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A community in the Brazilian Amazon is transforming fallen trunks and dead trees into everyday items and art pieces.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CHICO MENDES EXTRACTIVE RESERVE, Brazil — After crossing the Acre River by ferry and driving 23 kilometers, about 14 miles, along a dirt road in a four-by-four, we arrived at a woodworking shop that’s repurposing what would otherwise be waste from the rainforest. In the Ateliê da Floresta studio, located in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, or resex, in Brazil’s Xapuri municipality, fallen trunks and dead trees are crafted into art objects, providing new and profitable income for local families. Established in June 2024, the workshop was the brainchild of Raimundo Mendes de Barros, affectionately called Raimundão, and now engages 18 local families. Raimundão, 79, is a cousin of the late Chico Mendes, an activist for environmental protection and the rights of the Amazon’s traditional rubber tappers, who was assassinated in 1988 by a rancher threatening to deforest a swath of the rainforest in Acre state. The reserve named after him spans almost 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres), about the size of Jamaica, and straddles seven municipalities near Brazil’s border with Peru and Bolivia. As an extractive reserve, a conservation area where local communities retain the right to practice sustainable forest activities, it provides income for local families, especially from harvesting Brazil nuts and rubber. But prices of commodities like these have always been subject to the seasons and market fluctuations, and diversifying income streams has been a perennial challenge for these communities. “We focus a lot on working with Brazil nuts and rubber trees, right?” Rogério Mendes de&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/handcrafted-woodwork-helps-save-an-amazonian-reserve-one-tree-at-a-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293904</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon communities reap the smallest share of bioeconomy profits</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/amazon-communities-reap-the-smallest-share-of-bioeconomy-profits/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/amazon-communities-reap-the-smallest-share-of-bioeconomy-profits/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2025 13:12:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/02115452/nuts_Rhett-A.-Butler-_-mongabay-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Traditional people need more financing, better access to energy and improved roads to get their products into the market.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The concept of bioeconomy is increasingly present in international forums like the United Nations climate summits (COP) and G20 meetings. However, despite its recent incorporation by environmentalists, governments and companies, the idea of generating wealth while preserving nature is not new for Amazon communities. &#8220;Our communities have lived in, managed and preserved the forest for millennia, using biodiversity, water and the land to guarantee their livelihoods with autonomy and abundance,&#8221; a group of 25 traditional communities stated in a letter published Nov. 14. The document responded to a statement by Pará&#8217;s state governor, Helder Barbalho, in Baku, Azerbaijan, during COP29. In his speech, he said carbon projects would help Indigenous people &#8220;to feed themselves, to dream and to have quality of life, without having to propose as a solution for their communities illegal mining and mineral extraction.&#8221; Amazon traditional communities are experts in making their living from small plots by collecting forest fruits and cultivating small gardens. Despite doing the job&#8217;s harder part, studies show that these families earn the smallest share of the profits. In the case of Brazil nuts, for example, 79% of the profits go to the processing industry and only 11% remain with the forest communities. Regarding cocoa, rural producers and agro-extractives in Brazil get up to 6% of the money, while processing companies based in Europe get 24% of the profits. Large international chocolate producers, like Mars Inc. and Nestlé, own more than 70% of the profits. Bought for a maximum of $1.43 in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/amazon-communities-reap-the-smallest-share-of-bioeconomy-profits/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scaling up the Amazon&#8217;s many bioeconomies requires investment in nature, prosperity, and inclusion (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/scaling-up-the-amazons-many-bioeconomies-requires-investment-in-nature-prosperity-and-inclusion-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/scaling-up-the-amazons-many-bioeconomies-requires-investment-in-nature-prosperity-and-inclusion-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2024 18:39:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Katherine AguirrePeter SmithRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/08182650/Biological-innovation-with-Amazon-products-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285882</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Forest Products, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Relentless climate change and biodiversity loss are pushing the world&#8217;s ecosystems to the brink of collapse. The planet may have already surpassed at least six of nine planetary boundaries crucial for maintaining a safe operating environment for humanity. The only way to slow and eventually reverse course is by eliminating carbon emissions, transitioning to clean [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Relentless climate change and biodiversity loss are pushing the world&#8217;s ecosystems to the brink of collapse. The planet may have already surpassed at least six of nine planetary boundaries crucial for maintaining a safe operating environment for humanity. The only way to slow and eventually reverse course is by eliminating carbon emissions, transitioning to clean energy, and protecting and restoring nature. This means shifting the prevailing economic paradigm so that forests are more valuable standing than cleared. One way to do this is by fostering new economic and productive models in the world’s most important biomes. The Amazon rainforest is widely regarded as one of several key bulwarks against global warming and the transition to a low-carbon future. Yet the Amazon and its extraordinary biodiversity are under threat from extensive cattle ranching, large-scale farming, unsustainable mining, and an ecosystem of illegal activities. Spanning over 8 million km², the Amazon is approaching an irreversible tipping point that could turn rainforest into savannah. Protecting and conserving the world&#8217;s largest tropical forest is essential. A paradigm shift is required, one that accelerates and scales high-integrity green enterprises and nature-based solutions, including a bioeconomy. Amazon rainforest. Credit: Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay While easier to describe than define, the bioeconomy involves using biological resources and processes to create sustainable growth. Despite its potential, the bioeconomy has yet to reach the necessary scale to generate regional, much less global, impact. Even so, the eight countries of the Amazon are well-positioned to contribute significantly to a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/scaling-up-the-amazons-many-bioeconomies-requires-investment-in-nature-prosperity-and-inclusion-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-285882</doi>				</item>
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