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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ranching/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Ranching</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ranching/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Anatomy of a land grab: the law, likes, and legislator behind an Indigenous land invasion in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2026 19:42:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee GabayElisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16132711/73_tunaItata_03_Black_03-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332839</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Beef, Business, Cattle, Commodity agriculture, Conflict, Conservation, Corruption, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Farming, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law, Livestock, Natural Resources, Politics, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Resource Conflict, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The polished leather of Francisco “Torrinho” Torres’ shoes gleamed as he walked toward the lectern in the plenary chamber of the Pará state legislature in the Brazilian Amazon. The 57-year-old rancher-turned-politician moved unhurriedly as he prepared to deliver a speech that would set in motion a series of events leading to new invasions of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The polished leather of Francisco “Torrinho” Torres’ shoes gleamed as he walked toward the lectern in the plenary chamber of the Pará state legislature in the Brazilian Amazon. The 57-year-old rancher-turned-politician moved unhurriedly as he prepared to deliver a speech that would set in motion a series of events leading to new invasions of the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory. It was June 30, 2026, in what seemed to be a routine session for the state representative from one of Brazil’s largest Amazonian states. Behind his sharp suit and the supportive nods of his agribusiness allies was a track record of environmental fines, a corruption investigation, and land disputes. In a brief speech, Torres defended a bill he’d authored to create a new state-run environmental protection area, APA Bacajaí. He presented the measure as a solution for families struggling to farm and rural families in need of land regulation. Three other state representatives took the stand to support the proposal. They spoke of farmers who had waited decades for land titles, of families unable to access credit without them, and of the uncertainty created by the possibility of an Indigenous land claim. It only took 24 minutes for the chamber to pass the bill into law unanimously. There were no objections and no requests for technical notes — even though it was known that the new 142,400-hectare (about 351,900-acre) reserve would overlap entirely with the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory. The area has been under a land-use protection order since 2011 to safeguard the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332839</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At global desertification conference, pastoralists call for greater recognition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 20:36:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joseph Lee]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/23160710/IMG_4465-e1787690019347-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327316</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Governance, Grasslands, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Livestock, Pasture, Ranching, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cattle are a central part of the identity of Andrew Msami’s Maasai community in northeast Tanzania. Herd size determines social position, and many people keep all their wealth in livestock, not banks. In recent years, however, Msami and others have been forced to sell the animals and buy goats, which can handle drought better but are less financially and culturally valuable. Msami says adapting to a shifting climate has been a part of Maasai life for generations, but recent conditions represent an existential threat. “We have to adapt because it&#8217;s like desertification is attacking our identity,” Msami told Grist. a U.S.-based nonprofit media organization. “If you lose your identity, it means you have lost everything.” The Maasai are pastoralists, a term that describes the roughly 500 million people around the world who tend herds of livestock including cattle, goats and sheep. They often move with the animals as they seek grass and water. Because they live and work in places with arid conditions and extreme temperatures, they are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Around the world, drought and land degradation threaten rangelands, which make up roughly half of the planet’s landmass, and the pastoralists from Tanzania and Sudan to Nepal and Mongolia that rely on them. The pace of arable land degradation is 30 to 35 times the historic average, threatening even the most resilient communities, according to the U.N. Pastoralists also face an influx of invasive species, extractive industries, tourists and other threats. To address these overlapping crises, Msami&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/at-global-desertification-conference-pastoralists-call-for-greater-recognition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Land records reveal how Mennonites are reshaping Belize’s forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/land-records-reveal-how-mennonites-are-reshaping-belizes-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/land-records-reveal-how-mennonites-are-reshaping-belizes-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 18:45:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31152733/1-FEATURE--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324951</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Cattle, Conservation, Crops, Culture, Encroachment, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Farming, Food, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Livestock, Monocultures, Plantations, Politics, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Regulations, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SPANISH LOOKOUT, Belize — When the Mennonite community here purchased a property four years ago in the middle of the Maya Forest Corridor, a government-recognized stretch of land designed to connect forests in the region, conservation groups were concerned. Community members began clearing land before completing an environmental impact assessment, resulting in fires and pollution, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SPANISH LOOKOUT, Belize — When the Mennonite community here purchased a property four years ago in the middle of the Maya Forest Corridor, a government-recognized stretch of land designed to connect forests in the region, conservation groups were concerned. Community members began clearing land before completing an environmental impact assessment, resulting in fires and pollution, according to one report. In addition, Mennonites beat a conservation coalition that had also wanted to purchase the land for the corridor. The battle for that piece of real estate is just one example of how Mennonites conduct business in Belize, and how those moves have led to extensive deforestation. The small Central American country, flanked by Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea, is about the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey, but its dense jungle is now much smaller than it once was. The nation lost around 20% of its forest cover between 2001 and 2025 — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres), similar to the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Much of the deforestation in Belize has been tied to Mennonites, the conservative and largely insular Christian denomination that began migrating to Belize more than six decades ago, cutting down the rainforest to establish new colonies. While reports documenting Mennonites and deforestation are common, far less understood is the corporate machinery they’ve put in place for this expansion. Mongabay conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records to better understand the way Mennonites became one of the most prolific land&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/land-records-reveal-how-mennonites-are-reshaping-belizes-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/land-records-reveal-how-mennonites-are-reshaping-belizes-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324951</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ancient rock structures help restore biodiversity on the US-Mexico border</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 10:49:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rose Shimberg]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/17103615/IMG_0265-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323477</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Drought, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, In-situ Conservation, Nature-based climate solutions, Ranching, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CANANEA, Sonora — The day was windless. Long brown grasses speckled the landscape, and a stray tree erupted from the earth. The river channel was rusty, bone-dry. A pond that swells with summer rain glimmered on the horizon, but local rancher Eduardo Ríos Colores pointed toward the mountains, his finger tracing the route of a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CANANEA, Sonora — The day was windless. Long brown grasses speckled the landscape, and a stray tree erupted from the earth. The river channel was rusty, bone-dry. A pond that swells with summer rain glimmered on the horizon, but local rancher Eduardo Ríos Colores pointed toward the mountains, his finger tracing the route of a bone-dry streambed cutting through the landscape. “There was a time when this stream didn’t exist,” he said. “There used to be a lot of trees, and all the trees prevented erosion from the water. But … the trees have been drying up.” It was difficult to imagine the streambed swollen, rain-choked. But water in this region comes in all at once, in a deluge. As it races across the landscape, it forms deep channels like this one, creating sandy areas where new plants can’t grow. The land soon fails to support life, from the native grasses to migratory birds to the cattle that are the lifeline of ranchers like Ríos Colores. “Many people say that when water flows, it shouldn&#8217;t flow straight,” he continued. “Those serve to divert the water … so the current flows like a snake.” He was referring to his trincheras — hundreds of small rock structures peppering the streambed. The small, permeable barriers go on for more than a mile, spanning the channel, each small weir composed of dozens of fist-sized rocks. The trincheras, the Spanish word for “entrenchments,” were built in 2021 to slow down water, raising the water table&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ancient-rock-structures-help-restore-biodiversity-on-the-us-mexico-border/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil curbs Amazon deforestation in Piripkura, but ranchers’ cattle linger</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/brazil-curbs-amazon-deforestation-in-piripkura-but-ranchers-cattle-linger/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/brazil-curbs-amazon-deforestation-in-piripkura-but-ranchers-cattle-linger/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 16:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22144947/cattle-in-mato-grosso-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321585</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Conservation, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Law, Protected Areas, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A crackdown by the Brazilian government on land-grabbers who cleared primary Amazon forest for ranching and other agricultural activities in the Piripkura Indigenous Territory is yielding some results, with satellite analysis by Mongabay indicating a decline in deforestation. But one tricky problem remains, according to government agents and Indigenous rights organizations: removing their cattle. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A crackdown by the Brazilian government on land-grabbers who cleared primary Amazon forest for ranching and other agricultural activities in the Piripkura Indigenous Territory is yielding some results, with satellite analysis by Mongabay indicating a decline in deforestation. But one tricky problem remains, according to government agents and Indigenous rights organizations: removing their cattle. The 242,405-hectare (598,995-acre) Piripkura Indigenous Territory in west-central Brazil’s Mato Grosso state is home to the last two — known — Indigenous Piripkura people in voluntary isolation. According to Jair Candor, the coordinator of the Funai unit that protects isolated Indigenous groups, a third Piripkura person left the land and married into another tribe, the Karipuna, several decades ago. Funai, the country’s Indigenous affairs agency, has not yet ruled out the possibility that more isolated people live there. Ranchers coming in with their cattle to graze land have contributed to a large share of forest loss here. According to data from Global Forest Watch, the area lost a total tree cover of 1,769 hectares (4,371 acres) in 2021 — equivalent to 2,500 soccer fields — representing the largest increase since 2004, when the area lost was almost double (3,276 hectares, or 8,095 acres). Since the spike in 2021, due to successful operations by government agencies, deforestation has declined substantially, and despite a slight increase in 2023, losses remained far below 2021 levels and continued to decrease in 2024 and 2025. By 2025, tree cover loss had fallen to 106 hectares (262 acres). While deforestation has slowed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/brazil-curbs-amazon-deforestation-in-piripkura-but-ranchers-cattle-linger/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321585</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite restrictions, forest loss continued on Ituna land, home to isolated people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/despite-restrictions-forest-loss-continues-on-ituna-land-home-to-isolated-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/despite-restrictions-forest-loss-continues-on-ituna-land-home-to-isolated-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2026 19:46:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04162414/Ituna_Itata-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Livestock, Ranching, Remote Sensing, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Illegal invasions in the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous territory in Brazil’s Pará state, home to isolated Igarapé Ipiaçava Indigenous people, has continued since 2022, during one of the latest land use restriction orders meant to protect the territory, according to satellite analysis by Mongabay. Between 2022 and 2025, data from Global Forest Watch show the area lost [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Illegal invasions in the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous territory in Brazil’s Pará state, home to isolated Igarapé Ipiaçava Indigenous people, has continued since 2022, during one of the latest land use restriction orders meant to protect the territory, according to satellite analysis by Mongabay. Between 2022 and 2025, data from Global Forest Watch show the area lost 2,211 hectares (5,463 acres) of tree cover. But, in the last few years, forest loss has plummeted significantly in what was one of the most deforested Indigenous lands following operations by the country’s Indigenous affairs agency, Funai. Cleiton Gabriel, the coordinator of the Middle Xingu Ethno-Environmental Protection Front, a specialized Funai unit, told Mongabay via WhatsApp that the forest loss in Ituna/Itatá is caused by land-grabbers who clear the forest without authorization for cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. “The deforestation in the Ituna/Itatá region historically stems from the illegal occupation of the territory,” Gabriel explained. “This is driven by land grabbing, the establishment of agricultural activities, especially intensive livestock farming, and also smaller-scale laboratory operations, mainly cocoa processing.” The land use restriction order, which prohibits unauthorized individuals from entering Ituna/Itatá, has been in place since 2011 to protect the isolated people. The precautionary measure has been renewed six times, the most recent being in 2025. Global Forest Watch data show that Ituna/Itatá was the third-most deforested area in Brazil between 2011, the year of the first land restriction order, and 2021. It was the most deforested Indigenous land in 2019. This has affected Funai’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/despite-restrictions-forest-loss-continues-on-ituna-land-home-to-isolated-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 16:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/17165558/BANNER-UF17MGJ-25178_0047-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Cattle, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, Farming, Forest Destruction, Habitat Degradation, Industrial Agriculture, Pesticides, Ranching, Restoration, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SINOP, Brazil — In Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the country’s agricultural heartland, vast stretches of lush Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna give way to seemingly endless fields of soy. Located in a transition zone where the Amazon and Cerrado meet the Pantanal wetlands, about 90% of the state’s area was once covered in native vegetation. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SINOP, Brazil — In Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the country’s agricultural heartland, vast stretches of lush Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna give way to seemingly endless fields of soy. Located in a transition zone where the Amazon and Cerrado meet the Pantanal wetlands, about 90% of the state’s area was once covered in native vegetation. But from the 1970s onward, agricultural innovation and public policies — including subsidies that encouraged farmers to settle and clear land in Mato Grosso — allowed the agricultural frontier to advance rapidly, turning Mato Grosso into one of Brazil’s main farming powerhouses. The Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covers about 60% of Brazil. The Cerrado, one of the world’s most expansive savannas, spans some 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) of tropical grasslands, trees and watersheds that regulate rainfall patterns and temperatures. About a fifth of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested since monitoring began in 1985, and nearly half of the native vegetation of the Cerrado biome has been cleared for cattle and soy. Some of Mato Grosso’s former vast soy fields and cattle pasture have been left degraded — eroded grasslands that function neither as forest nor productive farmland. At a Biancon Group farm in Mato Grosso’s Itaúba municipality, Ivan Biancon, co-owner of the family-owned agribusiness group, scoops soil into his hands and lets it fall. The soil, he says, is now healthy enough to grow cotton, corn and soy beans. When he and his brother, Igor, first arrived, “these were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-brazil-regenerative-farming-advances-but-deforestation-still-pressures-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315826</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agroforestry offers market-based way to boost Amazon rains &#038; farmer incomes (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/agroforestry-offers-market-based-way-to-boost-amazon-rains-farmer-incomes-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/agroforestry-offers-market-based-way-to-boost-amazon-rains-farmer-incomes-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 19:24:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/10131843/IMG_2580-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314788</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Analysis, Biodiversity, Biofuels, Business, Cattle, climate finance, Commentary, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Forests, Governance, Green, Livestock, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest generates its own weather. Each day, the forest&#8217;s 390 billion trees release approximately 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, creating what Brazilian scientists call rios voadores — flying rivers. These aerial currents of moisture flow westward from the Atlantic, recirculating water from the forest canopy before [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest generates its own weather. Each day, the forest&#8217;s 390 billion trees release approximately 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, creating what Brazilian scientists call rios voadores — flying rivers. These aerial currents of moisture flow westward from the Atlantic, recirculating water from the forest canopy before turning south to deliver rainfall across South America&#8217;s agricultural heartlands. But the mechanism is breaking down. Since the 1970s, Brazil has cleared 88 million hectares (217 million acres) of Amazon forest, most converted into low-productivity pastures, with around 45 million hectares (111 million acres) considered severely or moderately degraded. The consequences extend beyond biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and social disruption: deforestation threatens the continent&#8217;s productive capacity and the economic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Droughts in 2023 and 2024 affected more than 50 million hectares (124 million acres) of forest, and scientists warn that continued deforestation could push the system past a tipping point where the Amazon can no longer sustain its rainfall regime. Yet hidden within this environmental crisis lies an economic opportunity. Brazil&#8217;s Forest Code, revised in 2012, requires private properties in the country’s Amazonian region to maintain native vegetation on 80% of their landholding as a “legal reserve” (reserva legal). Properties that clear forest beyond the 80% threshold carry a &#8220;forest debt&#8221; with a legal obligation to restore equivalent forest cover. Analysis using Brazil&#8217;s Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) indicates about 280,000 properties are noncompliant, with a collective deficit of 10&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/agroforestry-offers-market-based-way-to-boost-amazon-rains-farmer-incomes-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314788</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s land-use squeeze</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/australias-land-use-squeeze/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/australias-land-use-squeeze/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2026 22:53:59 +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/20/2026/01/29225240/australia_fnq_0493-26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313300</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Cities, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Land Use Change, Logging, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay recently launched the Australian Biodiversity Special Reporting Project, which will produce sustained, high-quality journalism on Australia’s unique wildlife, ecosystems, and the threats they face—including habitat destruction, invasive species, climate change, and extractive industries. Journalists interested in being involved can learn more via Mongabay.org. Australia likes to think of itself as a country with space [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay recently launched the Australian Biodiversity Special Reporting Project, which will produce sustained, high-quality journalism on Australia’s unique wildlife, ecosystems, and the threats they face—including habitat destruction, invasive species, climate change, and extractive industries. Journalists interested in being involved can learn more via Mongabay.org. Australia likes to think of itself as a country with space to spare. On maps it is a continent with most of its people pressed into a thin coastal rim, leaving a vast interior that looks empty. Ecologically, that impression is misleading. Much of Australia’s biodiversity is concentrated in habitats that sit close to where people farm, build, log, and dig. Over the past 20–30 years, land use change has continued to reshape those places. The result has been a slow narrowing of options for wildlife, even in a nation that prides itself on its natural heritage. The basic story is not complicated. Native vegetation is cleared or degraded. Habitat becomes smaller, more fragmented, and less resilient. Populations thin out. Some disappear. Australia’s national environment reporting treats habitat loss and modification as one of the major pressures on biodiversity, alongside invasive species and climate change. A continent of fragments Australia has already lost a meaningful share of its native vegetation since European settlement, and the long-run trend is still reflected in modern landscapes. The 2021 State of the Environment report notes that native vegetation has been replaced across large areas by agriculture, cities, and infrastructure, with some vegetation groups losing a substantial portion of their original&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/australias-land-use-squeeze/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313300</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Silvopasture gains momentum in the Amazon, but can it shrink beef’s footprint?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2026 12:26:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charlie Espinosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/07120648/PHOTO-2025-12-06-10-21-49-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312670</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Beef, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Cattle, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Pasture, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the rolling hills of Iñapari, a remote town in the Peruvian Amazon on the tri-border with Bolivia and Brazil, cattle ranchers are ditching grass monocultures, which have been shown to harm biodiversity, in favor of forested pastures. For Antonio Cardozo, a local rancher who has planted hundreds of native trees, the switch has improved [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the rolling hills of Iñapari, a remote town in the Peruvian Amazon on the tri-border with Bolivia and Brazil, cattle ranchers are ditching grass monocultures, which have been shown to harm biodiversity, in favor of forested pastures. For Antonio Cardozo, a local rancher who has planted hundreds of native trees, the switch has improved his cattle’s diet and health, while also providing him with additional sources of food and income. “Learning has a cost, but in a few years you start to see a difference,” says Cardozo, who has been combining trees with rotational grazing, a practice that keeps the soil intact and allows grass to regrow. In less than a year, this practice allowed him to more than double the number of cows he grazes per hectare Livestock farming is responsible for roughly 80% of the deforestation in the Amazon Basin and 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Yet agricultural solutions receive just 7% of global climate funding and were absent from the recent COP30 climate summit agreement. According to some researchers, planting trees in pastures, an agroforestry technique known as silvopasture, represents one of the most effective yet neglected opportunities to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Under ideal conditions, silvopasture sequesters carbon in trees and soils while providing better forage and shade to heat-stressed cows, leading to healthier animals that emit less methane and occupy less land. It can also help small farmers adapt to climate-related disasters — responsible for $2.9 trillion in losses over the last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312670</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation climbs in Central America’s largest biosphere reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/deforestation-climbs-in-central-americas-largest-biosphere-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/deforestation-climbs-in-central-americas-largest-biosphere-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 20:09:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/31195758/2048px-Bairds_Tapir_Tapirus_bairdii_captive_specimen-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Cattle, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Herps, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mammals, Pasture, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Ranching, Salamanders, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Encompassing some 7,400 square kilometers, or 2,860 square miles, along the Honduran border, Nicaragua’s Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is the largest biosphere reserve in Central America. It’s home to the Miskito and Mayanga Indigenous groups as well as countless species; endangered Geoffrey&#8217;s spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and Baird&#8217;s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) inhabit Bosawas, as do critically [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Encompassing some 7,400 square kilometers, or 2,860 square miles, along the Honduran border, Nicaragua’s Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is the largest biosphere reserve in Central America. It’s home to the Miskito and Mayanga Indigenous groups as well as countless species; endangered Geoffrey&#8217;s spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and Baird&#8217;s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) inhabit Bosawas, as do critically endangered Saslaya moss salamanders (Nototriton saslaya), that are found nowhere else in the world. But, increasingly over the past several decades, Bosawás has also become host to cattle ranches and gold mines, at the cost of its rainforest. Despite its designation as a UNESCO site, Bosawás Biosphere Reserve has lost more than 30% of its primary forest cover since the turn of the century, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery lab and visualized on the monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. Deforestation surged to a record high in 2024, with 740 km2 (286 mi2) — 10% of the reserve’s land area — cleared in a single year. A satellite image captured April 2025 by Sentinel 2b shows recently deforested areas in Bosawás Biosphere Reserve. The data show fire activity in Bosawás also rose in 2024, with 35% of annual tree cover loss caused by fire, representing a 700% jump from 2023. Preliminary data for 2025 indicate forest loss has continued this year, with satellite imagery showing telltale patches of brown spreading ever deeper into Bosawás’s remaining old-growth rainforest. Cattle ranching is one of the main drivers of forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/deforestation-climbs-in-central-americas-largest-biosphere-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite data show forest loss persists in Brazilian Amazon’s most deforested reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 21:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30212511/AP20236730024384-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312370</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Old Growth Forests, Pasture, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Slash-and-burn, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area encompasses an area of Amazon Rainforest more than half the size of Belgium. Or at least it used to. The embattled reserve has lost around half of its primary forest cover since it was created in 2006, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab and visualized on monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. The data show 2024 had the highest rate of forest loss, rocketing 400% over 2023. Preliminary data show forest loss continued in 2025, concentrated in the northern portion of the 1.7-million-hectare (4.2-million-acre) reserve, where most of the largest tracts of forest remain. Satellite data from the University of Maryland show primary forest loss jumped 400% between 2023 and 2024. Image by Mongabay. Google Timelapse shows forest loss advancing rapidly through Triunfo do Xingu. This has given Triunfo do Xingu the dubious distinction of being the protected area with the highest rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The main cause? Cattle. Triunfo do Xingu lies in the heart of Brazil’s cattle country, where cows outnumber people 38 to one. To feed this legion of cattle, ranchers carve pasture from forest, often using slash-and-burn techniques to clear areas and renew degraded soil. During a visit in 2023, Mongabay reporters observed the charred remains of sawed-down trees, and were told by local small-scale famers and officials that fires set by ranchers can spread out of control, consuming crops, homes and forest alike. “They set&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/satellite-data-show-forest-loss-persists-in-brazilian-amazons-most-deforested-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312370</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top new species from 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 14:22:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29141103/Screenshot-2025-12-28-at-5.12.22-PM-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312133</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Angola, Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Cerrado, Global, Himalayas, India, Peru, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Acoustic, Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Climate Change, Cloud Forests, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Farming, Forests, Fungi, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Invasive Species, Marine, Mining, Oceans, Old Growth Forests, Pollution, Protected Areas, Ranching, Research, Science, Snakes, Species, Species Discovery, Swamps, Threatened species, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world still holds its secrets. Hidden under wet rocks, in the ocean&#8217;s twilight crevices, and in the minutiae of the genetic code are creatures unknown and unnamed by the human species. Every year, scientists find hundreds of new animals, insects, plants and fungi. This year, researchers described a tiny new marsupial, a new Himalayan bat, an ancient tree, a bright blue butterfly, a parrot snake, and a fairy lantern plant, among others. &#8220;I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth,&#8221; Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay, &#8220;but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth&#8217;s species.&#8221; Some estimate that only 10% of all the species on the planet have been described. Unfortunately, many species may be threatened with extinction before they’re even formally named — victims of human activities like development and climate change. Some of these species could be food or medicine for humans, but each plays a unique role in Earth’s interconnected web of life. “We’re understanding more and more that every species on the planet has a role, and in one way or another, is linked to our well-being through the part they play in ecosystems,&#8221; said Boris Worm, a marine conservation biologist who co-authored a study that quantifies the number of undescribed species on land and in the ocean. “We can’t protect them … if we don’t know them.&#8221; Atlantic manta ray (Mobula yarae) with a diver off the coast of Mexico. Originally&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-top-new-species-from-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, a new label gives more visibility to deforestation-free beef</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-brazil-a-new-label-gives-more-visibility-to-deforestation-free-beef/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-brazil-a-new-label-gives-more-visibility-to-deforestation-free-beef/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2025 14:22:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/17151530/Beyond-Fire_Cattle_12_DSC_2938-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311607</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, European Union, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beef, Cattle, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, EUDR, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, International Trade, Monitoring, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid growing pressure for beef supply chains to be deforestation-free, a new certification system in Brazil will allow meatpackers, importers and retailers to guarantee that the meat cuts they sell are not associated with deforestation. Down the line, this could also help companies become compliant with the European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid growing pressure for beef supply chains to be deforestation-free, a new certification system in Brazil will allow meatpackers, importers and retailers to guarantee that the meat cuts they sell are not associated with deforestation. Down the line, this could also help companies become compliant with the European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The voluntary Beef on Track (BoT) label, launched by the Institute of Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora) in October and due to come into effect in 2026, is the first certification of its kind to guarantee deforestation-free beef. It will do so by building on existing monitoring, reporting and verification protocols adopted by the meat industry, rather than by designing new systems. “We’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re giving visibility to processes that already exist,” said Marina Guyot, Imaflora’s executive manager for climate, land use and public policy. Imaflora was involved in creating two initiatives that encourage best practices in the beef industry through monitoring, reporting and verification in recent years: the Beef on Track program (Boi na Linha in Portuguese) for beef produced in the Amazon, set up in 2019, and the Cerrado Protocol, launched in 2024. Companies that are already 95% compliant with these protocols are automatically eligible for BoT’s lowest certification level. Imaflora plans to develop similar frameworks for other Brazilian biomes in the future. The BoT certification will also rely on criteria from the Working Group of Indirect Suppliers (GTFI in Portuguese), a cross-sector body working to uproot deforestation from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/in-brazil-a-new-label-gives-more-visibility-to-deforestation-free-beef/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311607</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation and disease spread as Nicaragua ignores illegal cattle ranching</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/deforestation-and-disease-spread-as-nicaragua-ignores-illegal-cattle-ranching/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/deforestation-and-disease-spread-as-nicaragua-ignores-illegal-cattle-ranching/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2025 07:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16200006/8-1-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beef, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Diseases, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Meat, Politics, Protected Areas, Public Health, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Illegal cattle ranching has torn through Nicaragua’s rainforests in recent years, supplying a growing international market for meat despite calls for better oversight of the industry. Now, the country is feeling the consequences, as disease spreads through the unchecked movement of livestock. Cases of New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), or NWS, a fly that feeds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Illegal cattle ranching has torn through Nicaragua’s rainforests in recent years, supplying a growing international market for meat despite calls for better oversight of the industry. Now, the country is feeling the consequences, as disease spreads through the unchecked movement of livestock. Cases of New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), or NWS, a fly that feeds on warm-blooded animals, have exploded across the country. Experts have traced the outbreak to Nicaragua’s massive cattle ranching industry, which transports herds from grazeland to slaughterhouses without always following protocol. “Nicaraguan beef sold in the United States, Mexico and other global markets is fueling the destruction of the largest remaining tracts of rainforest in the country,” said a new report from environmental group Re:wild. “[It’s] facing one of the most aggressive outbreaks of [NWS] in its recent history.” Beef is one of Nicaragua’s top exports, and has continued to grow since President Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2007. Between January 2024 and June 2025, the country exported more than 60 million kilograms (132 million pounds) of beef to the U.S., valued at more than $390 million, according to U.S. maritime import data obtained by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Cattle ranching helped exacerbate the spread of NWS, a parasite that first appeared in Panama in 2023 before reaching other parts of Central America and Mexico. Reported cases in Nicaragua rose from 11,930 at the start of 2025 to 19,700 in early July, according to the country’s Institute for Agricultural Protection and Health. Indio Maíz&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/deforestation-and-disease-spread-as-nicaragua-ignores-illegal-cattle-ranching/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As wolves roam California, livestock losses remain low, yet ranchers’ fears grow</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-wolves-roam-california-livestock-losses-remain-low-yet-ranchers-fears-grow/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-wolves-roam-california-livestock-losses-remain-low-yet-ranchers-fears-grow/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 20:17:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16120223/3c589a96-f102-4b07-a3e9-601b22bbd964-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307707</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[California’s Wolf Divide]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cattle, Conflict, Conservation, Ranching, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first, third and fourth parts. In May 2025, five counties in northern California — mostly rural farm and ranch land — declared an unprecedented state of emergency. It wasn’t a natural disaster or civil unrest that led to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second part of Mongabay’s series on the expanding wolf population in California. Read the first, third and fourth parts. In May 2025, five counties in northern California — mostly rural farm and ranch land — declared an unprecedented state of emergency. It wasn’t a natural disaster or civil unrest that led to panic, but rather a bunch of thriving canids — wolves, to be precise. They’d killed livestock, and according to some residents, were exhibiting “bold, abnormal behavior” and “coming too close to homes.” Between October and December 2024, wolves killed 19 cattle in an area home to more than 300,000 cows, but the wolves are, in reality, returning to what was once their own homes. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) roamed the Californian landscape for thousands of years until the last one was shot in the 1920s. But over the last decade, they have started recolonizing their former territories, migrating south from Oregon, and their numbers have begun to rebound with howling success. Today, between 50 and 70 wolves live in 10 packs across the state, with most concentrated in the northeast — around counties that declared a state of emergency. Wolves, like all big carnivores, can go after livestock, but they prefer wild prey, particularly elk and deer, said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, who has spent more than three decades studying wolves across the United States. “That&#8217;s what they evolved to eat for millions of years.” Studies show wolves&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-wolves-roam-california-livestock-losses-remain-low-yet-ranchers-fears-grow/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307707</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biodiversity loss due to land use change could be highly underestimated: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/biodiversity-loss-due-to-land-use-change-could-be-highly-underestimated-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/biodiversity-loss-due-to-land-use-change-could-be-highly-underestimated-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2025 10:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Hillsdon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/04160611/5-plate-billed-mountain-toucan-is-native-to-Ecuador-and-a-portion-of-Colombia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307580</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Cattle, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Habitat Loss, Land Use Change, Pasture, Planetary Boundaries, Ranching, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A survey of Colombian birdlife, which evolved over more than a decade into the world’s largest-ever ornithological study, has found that clearing forests to create new pastures is causing as much as 60% more damage to biodiversity than previously thought. Until now, research into the impact on biodiversity of land use change has generally involved [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A survey of Colombian birdlife, which evolved over more than a decade into the world’s largest-ever ornithological study, has found that clearing forests to create new pastures is causing as much as 60% more damage to biodiversity than previously thought. Until now, research into the impact on biodiversity of land use change has generally involved small-scale, local surveys. But this approach does not accurately represent the larger-scale damage caused to nature, says study co-author David Edwards, a professor of plant ecology at the University of Cambridge. When forests are converted to pasture, some species win and others lose, he explains, and measuring the biodiversity loss at a local scale does not capture the larger-scale effect of these land clearances, which are occurring across the ranges of many different species. “When people want to understand the wider impact of deforestation on biodiversity, they tend to do a local survey and extrapolate the results,” Edwards tells Mongabay in a phone interview. “But the problem is that tree clearance is occurring at massive spatial scales, across all sorts of different habitats and elevations.” By focusing on isolated sites, researchers were missing how these effects accumulate across regions, he says. Large areas of Tinigua National Natural Park have been razed for illegal livestock ranching. Image by María Jimena Neira Niño. In 2024, Colombia lost 113,608 hectares (about 280,700 acres) of forest, a 43% increase compared with 2023, when deforestation had dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades. But while organized crime,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/biodiversity-loss-due-to-land-use-change-could-be-highly-underestimated-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/biodiversity-loss-due-to-land-use-change-could-be-highly-underestimated-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Marfrig&#8217;s bonds funded beef from illegally deforested areas in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/marfrigs-bonds-funded-beef-from-illegally-deforested-areas-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/marfrigs-bonds-funded-beef-from-illegally-deforested-areas-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2025 13:47:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bruna BronoskiO Joio e o Trigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/22101956/header-marfrig-v1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306344</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Beef, Cattle, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tied to clearing in Amazon and Cerrado, shipments from 'world's largest hamburger producer’ reach Europe and Asia.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Leia em português. Brazilian meatpacking giant Marfrig spent $1 billion from bonds it issued to buy cattle from a ranch linked to its board chair — with some of that cattle originating from illegally deforested areas of the Amazon and Cerrado, an investigation has found. Marfrig Global Foods SA, which bills itself as the world’s largest hamburger producer, has raised 11 billion reais ($2 billion) since 2019 from issuing a type of corporate bond known in Brazil as an agribusiness receivables certificate (CRA). Half of that amount — 5.5 billion reais, or $1 billion — was used exclusively to purchase cattle from feedlots run by MFG Agropecuária, whose managing partner is Marfrig&#8217;s board chairman, Marcos Antonio Molina dos Santos. Bondholders include individual investors, buying through brokerage apps or indirectly via financial operators. Part of the money went toward buying cattle originating from illegally deforested areas of the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado savanna, according to an investigation by Joio e o Trigo (republished by Mongabay), in partnership with the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA), a nonprofit organization that supports global climate action. MFG, indicated in CRA documents as the rural producer receiving the proceeds of the bond issuance, purchases cattle from other suppliers, known as indirect suppliers. The last of these bonds matures in 2032. According to a 2024 public document Marfrig shared with investors, 100% of cattle purchased by the six MFG feedlots are sold to Marfrig slaughterhouses. MFG has been a wholly owned Marfrig subsidiary since 2014. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/marfrigs-bonds-funded-beef-from-illegally-deforested-areas-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306344</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More than half the world’s forests fragmented in 20 years — but protection works: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/more-than-half-the-worlds-forests-fragmented-in-20-years-but-protection-works-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/more-than-half-the-worlds-forests-fragmented-in-20-years-but-protection-works-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Sep 2025 18:19:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/11182803/AP18330696503362-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305801</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Environment, Fires, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Fragmentation, Green, Habitat Loss, Logging, Mining, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Slash-and-burn, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“If you can imagine walking into a huge, 1,000-kilometer square [386-square-mile] tropical forest … it&#8217;s moist and damp [with] rich soil and an overstory. You imagine walking into a 10-meter [33-foot] patch of forest and it&#8217;s just a totally different thing. It&#8217;s drier, it&#8217;s more open, it&#8217;s more harsh, and there&#8217;ll be far fewer species,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“If you can imagine walking into a huge, 1,000-kilometer square [386-square-mile] tropical forest … it&#8217;s moist and damp [with] rich soil and an overstory. You imagine walking into a 10-meter [33-foot] patch of forest and it&#8217;s just a totally different thing. It&#8217;s drier, it&#8217;s more open, it&#8217;s more harsh, and there&#8217;ll be far fewer species,” says Thomas Crowther, ecology professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich). Fragmentation, the process by which large areas of intact forest become broken up into smaller pieces, is increasing in most of the world’s forests, according to a new Science study authored by Crowther and other researchers at institutions in Switzerland, Australia, China, the U.S. and the UK.   The study finds that more than 50% of the world’s forests became more fragmented between 2000 and 2020. Tropical forests fared the worst, with the findings indicating that up to 80% were fragmented over 20 years. This has profound implications for global biodiversity and ecosystem health, Crowther says. “[T]he scary thing is, even if we kept the same amount of forest area on the planet, if we&#8217;re turning those big intact ones into all the tiny fragments, we&#8217;re losing a lot of the ecological functionality.” Fragmentation can happen in different ways and for different reasons. Shifting cultivation can pockmark intact forests with clearings. New roads into previously intact areas can bring miners or loggers, creating a dendritic pattern of forest loss. Development can eat away at a forest’s perimeter. Stands of trees&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/more-than-half-the-worlds-forests-fragmented-in-20-years-but-protection-works-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305801</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Guatemala closes oil field, increases security in Maya Biosphere Reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/guatemala-closes-oil-field-increases-security-in-maya-biosphere-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/guatemala-closes-oil-field-increases-security-in-maya-biosphere-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2025 16:09:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/05160105/540547179_1219827613518092_5132558235579538579_n-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Guatemala, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Logging, Oil Drilling, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Guatemala have announced plans to occupy a recently closed oil field with the aim of increasing enforcement in protected areas badly hit by organized crime. The Xan oil field inside Laguna del Tigre National Park, in northern Guatemala, will become a base for military and law enforcement personnel tasked with protecting the rainforest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Officials in Guatemala have announced plans to occupy a recently closed oil field with the aim of increasing enforcement in protected areas badly hit by organized crime. The Xan oil field inside Laguna del Tigre National Park, in northern Guatemala, will become a base for military and law enforcement personnel tasked with protecting the rainforest from illegal cattle ranching, logging and drug trafficking. The move has been billed as a major security and conservation win while also reducing the country’s economic dependence on fossil fuels. “This marks the beginning of a process of taking control of a vast portion of the national territory that has long been open to all kinds of actors who often exploit it for illicit activities,” President Bernardo Arévalo said during a speech about the new facility. The oil field, formerly operated by Anglo-French firm Perenco, produced between 5,000 and 7,000 barrels of crude oil a day, accounting for around 90% of national output. But the extraction process was water-intensive and posed pollution risks, leading the government to deem it unprofitable. The operation was also controversial because of its location inside Laguna del Tigre National Park, a 337,899-hectare (834,967-acre) protected area within the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The reserve spans millions of hectares and connects northern Guatemala with protected forests in Belize and southern Mexico, creating one of the largest biological corridors in Mesoamerica. The government chose not to renew the oil concession, which ended last month, but Perenco will still operate a pipeline until 2044. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/guatemala-closes-oil-field-increases-security-in-maya-biosphere-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will we still eat beef in 50 years?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/will-we-still-eat-beef-in-50-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/will-we-still-eat-beef-in-50-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2025 13:56:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/14123248/janosch-diggelmann-6f9kju5FRqw-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304268</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Alternative proteins, Biodiversity, Birds, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Meat, NGOs, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When drought became a perennial visitor to the Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado in the late 1990s, Steve Wooten remembers telling his family, “We got to do something different.” Between 1997 and 2003, the Wootens, who have been raising cattle in this arid landscape since 1929, had to sell off cows — a last resort [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When drought became a perennial visitor to the Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado in the late 1990s, Steve Wooten remembers telling his family, “We got to do something different.” Between 1997 and 2003, the Wootens, who have been raising cattle in this arid landscape since 1929, had to sell off cows — a last resort for any rancher. Steve Wooten figures they lost half a million dollars. “I never want to do that again,” he tells Mongabay. “We felt like one of the things we have to do is create the resilience in the ranch so that we&#8217;re not wiped out by drought.&#8221; Around that time, the family “got more serious” about dealing with drought, and it’s helped the ranch keep going. They made plans to allow the recovery of grasses so that they spring back to life when the rains come, Wooten says. And they&#8217;ve gone all in on a strategy they’d previously experimented with, one that aims to mimic the role that wild grazers played on the grasslands of North America for millions of years. Proponents say a focus on holistic grazing helps the land recover, provides habitat for other species, and pulls carbon from the atmosphere. To Wooten, the proof is in the resurgent grasses that feed the cattle year after year. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t venture to say that we&#8217;re always in balance, because we are an extractor of that natural resource,” he adds. “But if your cattle are in balance, and you&#8217;re matching their forage needs …&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/will-we-still-eat-beef-in-50-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/will-we-still-eat-beef-in-50-years/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304268</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Restoration brings back fresh water, wildlife to degraded páramos in Ecuador</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/restoration-brings-back-fresh-water-wildlife-to-degraded-paramos-in-ecuador/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/restoration-brings-back-fresh-water-wildlife-to-degraded-paramos-in-ecuador/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2025 08:54:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Alvarado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/07085317/upscalemedia-transformed-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303914</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Landscape Restoration, National Parks, Protected Areas, Ranching, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When the sheep were removed, the páramo — high-altitude ecosystems in the Andes — started to heal. Without their waste, water quality improved. Without their hooves compacting the soil, plants began to grow again. Before long, shy white-tailed deer arrived, drawn by the grasses and shrubs for food and shelter. Not long after, pumas reappeared. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When the sheep were removed, the páramo — high-altitude ecosystems in the Andes — started to heal. Without their waste, water quality improved. Without their hooves compacting the soil, plants began to grow again. Before long, shy white-tailed deer arrived, drawn by the grasses and shrubs for food and shelter. Not long after, pumas reappeared. “This could serve as a case study for how food chains rebuild and slowly reshape the landscape,” says Evelyn Araujo, a biologist with the Fundación Cóndor Andino (FCA), which monitors the páramos around Ecuador’s Antisana volcano, southeast of Quito. “It’s also helping restore the region’s ability to provide water to the city,” says Silvia Benítez, director for the Latin America freshwater program at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The reappearance of deer in the Antisana Water Conservation Area is a key indicator of the páramo’s restoration. Image courtesy of Fundación Cóndor Andino. In 2010, Quito’s public water utility, Public Metropolitan Drinking Water and Sanitation Company of Quito (EPMAPS in Spanish), purchased approximately 7,000 hectares (about 17,300 acres) of páramo land from a former sheep ranch. Later, the Quito Water Conservation Fund (FONAG in Spanish) acquired additional land. Today, the Antisana Water Conservation Area (ACHA in Spanish), which lies in the western foothills of the volcano, next to Antisana National Park, covers 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres). “We exist because of the quality and availability of water,” says Bert De Bièvre, technical secretary at FONAG. “We are proud to fulfill that mission while also helping restore the natural&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/restoration-brings-back-fresh-water-wildlife-to-degraded-paramos-in-ecuador/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/restoration-brings-back-fresh-water-wildlife-to-degraded-paramos-in-ecuador/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303914</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mennonite farming in Belize threatens essential biological corridor, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 15:46:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/15144314/photo_968-1-768x470.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302420</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Central America, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Land Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A stretch of rainforest in Belize that allows wildlife to pass freely between protected areas is under threat of deforestation, and conservationists are scrambling to contain the damage. Mennonites, a highly conservative Christian sect, own thousands of acres of rainforest that currently make up part of the Maya Forest Corridor, but plans to clear it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A stretch of rainforest in Belize that allows wildlife to pass freely between protected areas is under threat of deforestation, and conservationists are scrambling to contain the damage. Mennonites, a highly conservative Christian sect, own thousands of acres of rainforest that currently make up part of the Maya Forest Corridor, but plans to clear it for farming and quarrying could sever the connection and weaken local ecosystems, critics say. “Wildlife disperse and move in order for them to survive,” Betsy Mallory, scientific adviser for the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center, said at a public consultation in June. “They need populations. They need to breed. They need to find mates.” The Maya Forest Corridor spans approximately 37,000 hectares (91,000 acres) and is the last section of forest connecting some of the most biodiverse protected areas in the country, the Belize Maya Forest and Maya Mountains Massif. The protected areas are made up of tropical forests, savannas, wetlands and cave systems that provide habitats for animals like jaguars (Panthera onca), Yucatán black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) and Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii), among others. There are also Maya artifacts in the area. The corridor isn’t one contiguous conservation area, but rather a collection of smaller protected areas and private property. In recent years, environmental groups like the Maya Forest Corridor Trust and Re:wild have tried to buy up as much private land as they can, including a 12,100-hectare (30,000-acre) stretch of forest in 2021 for $21.5 million. But other acquisitions haven’t always gone&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mennonite-farming-in-belize-threatens-essential-biological-corridor-critics-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302420</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil&#8217;s Arariboia set to be the first Indigenous land with legal cattle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/brazils-arariboia-set-to-be-the-first-indigenous-land-with-legal-cattle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/brazils-arariboia-set-to-be-the-first-indigenous-land-with-legal-cattle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 13:48:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11115012/guardians-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302234</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Blood Timber]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Conflict, Crime, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Politics, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A crackdown on illegal cattle herds inside the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in Brazil has hit unexpected pushback that could make this the first area of its kind in the country to allow licensed cattle ranching. That raised concerns among Indigenous rights activists about outsiders once again bringing their illegal herds back into this protected territory, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A crackdown on illegal cattle herds inside the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in Brazil has hit unexpected pushback that could make this the first area of its kind in the country to allow licensed cattle ranching. That raised concerns among Indigenous rights activists about outsiders once again bringing their illegal herds back into this protected territory, and the environmental damages that would entail. The Arariboia land, in the Amazonian state of Maranhão, is home to more than 10,000 Indigenous Guajajara and uncontacted Awá — hunter-gatherers who live in voluntary isolation in the depths of the forests and are considered the most threatened Indigenous group on the planet. Spanning an area of 413,000 hectares (1.02 million acres), more than three times the size of the city of São Paulo, Arariboia is a green island surrounded by cattle farms and sawmills, making it one of the country&#8217;s most endangered Indigenous lands; it&#8217;s also targeted by rising violence and killings of its Guajajara inhabitants. In February 2025, the federal government launched an operation against illegal cattle and other environmental crimes in Arariboia, spurred by a yearlong investigation by Mongabay that revealed a record-high number of killings of Indigenous Guajajara amid an illegal cattle boom in large parts of the territory. Cattle ranching and other exploitative activities by outsiders inside Indigenous territories is prohibited under Brazil’s Constitution. By its conclusion at the end of April, the federal task force had removed between 1,000 and 2,000 head of cattle and more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/brazils-arariboia-set-to-be-the-first-indigenous-land-with-legal-cattle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/brazils-arariboia-set-to-be-the-first-indigenous-land-with-legal-cattle/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Panama boosts protections in the Darién Gap, but deforestation threats still loom</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/panama-boosts-protections-in-the-darien-gap-but-deforestation-threats-still-loom/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/panama-boosts-protections-in-the-darien-gap-but-deforestation-threats-still-loom/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2025 21:59:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/01150303/AP24270727639176-768x487.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301089</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Organized Crime, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[METETÍ, Panama — Thousands of people used to cross the Darién Gap every day. Emerging from the rainforest, they would stop in small towns across southern Panama, where migrant reception centers provided food, water and medical treatment, before the long journey to the U.S. But last year, the government shut down several crossing routes, leaving [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[METETÍ, Panama — Thousands of people used to cross the Darién Gap every day. Emerging from the rainforest, they would stop in small towns across southern Panama, where migrant reception centers provided food, water and medical treatment, before the long journey to the U.S. But last year, the government shut down several crossing routes, leaving many of these small towns quieter than they have been in years. The government’s crackdown on migration is part of a broader effort to regain control over Darién, a remote province where the rugged, nearly impenetrable jungle provides cover not only for migrants but also drug traffickers, illegal loggers, miners and cattle ranchers. The effort, which began when President José Mulino took office last July, has seen increased funding, a wave of new hires in protected areas, tighter oversight, and more public comments from officials about the importance of conservation. The new policies could help curb deforestation, reduce pollution and protect threatened species in one of Central America’s largest rainforests — even as officials disagree over where to focus their efforts. “We’re aware that if we don’t conserve, we’ll affect this generation and the next, and that’s why we are concerned about what we have to do,” said Pablo Guainora, the general administrator of the Emberá-Wounaan comarca, or Indigenous territory, which borders Darién province. New personnel, better enforcement The Darién Gap straddles Panama’s border with Colombia, and is made up of a series of Indigenous territories, protected areas, and public and private lands, and only a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/panama-boosts-protections-in-the-darien-gap-but-deforestation-threats-still-loom/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301089</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protecting the Darién Gap: Interview with Panama national parks director Luis Carles Rudy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/protecting-the-darien-gap-interview-with-panama-national-parks-director-luis-carles-rudy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/protecting-the-darien-gap-interview-with-panama-national-parks-director-luis-carles-rudy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2025 21:59:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/19171434/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-09-at-1.02.02-PM-4-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cattle, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Migration, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[METETÍ, Panama — Darién National Park covers around 575,000 hectares, or 1.42 million acres, of rainforest at Panama’s southern border with Colombia, where Central and South America meet. It’s one of the most biodiverse rainforests in the region and a vital stopgap for diseases that might otherwise spread between the two continents, experts say. In [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[METETÍ, Panama — Darién National Park covers around 575,000 hectares, or 1.42 million acres, of rainforest at Panama’s southern border with Colombia, where Central and South America meet. It’s one of the most biodiverse rainforests in the region and a vital stopgap for diseases that might otherwise spread between the two continents, experts say. In recent years, the area has received global attention as a migrant crossing route, with thousands of people from Colombia, Venezuela and other parts of the region making the dangerous journey through the remote jungle each day to reach the U.S. Migrants have left thousands of tons of waste in the rainforest that officials don’t have a cost-effective way to remove. Meanwhile, criminal groups continue to set up mining camps that pollute the Chucunaque River watershed, among others. From outside, cattle ranchers and farmers are pushing ever closer to the park as new road development opens up access to once remote areas. Officials working in the area say they have more support from the government to tackle these problems than they have in years. President José Mulino, who took office last July, has increased the budget and assigned conservationist Juan Carlos Navarro to head the Ministry of Environment. Earlier this year, Mongabay’s Max Radwin met with 30 new Darién National Park rangers, who were training to use new equipment from the NGO Global Conservation. Mongabay also shadowed Luis Carles Rudy, Panama’s national director of protected areas, as he checked in on the issues in and around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/protecting-the-darien-gap-interview-with-panama-national-parks-director-luis-carles-rudy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/protecting-the-darien-gap-interview-with-panama-national-parks-director-luis-carles-rudy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report links meat giant JBS to massive destruction of jaguar habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/report-links-meat-giant-jbs-to-massive-destruction-of-jaguar-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/report-links-meat-giant-jbs-to-massive-destruction-of-jaguar-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2025 12:46:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/20084337/Jaguar_Female_Nina-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Beef, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cattle, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Illegal Logging, Jaguars, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Agricultural expansion in two Brazilian states has cleared a U.K -sized area of jaguar habitat, nearly a fifth of which occurred in the last decade alone, a new report shows. About 27 million hectares (67 million acres) of wild jaguar habitat have been lost as of 2023 in the Amazonian states of Pará and Mato [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Agricultural expansion in two Brazilian states has cleared a U.K -sized area of jaguar habitat, nearly a fifth of which occurred in the last decade alone, a new report shows. About 27 million hectares (67 million acres) of wild jaguar habitat have been lost as of 2023 in the Amazonian states of Pará and Mato Grosso, with 5 million hectares (12 million acres) deforested just in the period from 2014-2023, according to the report by environmental and human rights advocacy group Global Witness. It attributes part of this loss to ranches indirectly supplying cattle to meatpacking giant JBS, with nearly all of the deforestation since 2013 being illegal.  The report comes amid pushback against environmental enforcement efforts at the state level in Brazil, and as the country prepares to host the U.N.’s annual climate summit, COP30, in November. Jaguars (Panthera onca) need intact forests to live and hunt in, and are a keystone species, which means that any change to their territories affects the entire ecosystem they inhabit. The Amazon Rainforest remains the last major stronghold for the species listed as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List. Cattle grazing in deforested land in Pará, one of the states with jaguar territory analyzed by Global Witness. Image courtesy of Global Witness. “We wanted to show not just that deforestation is a huge climate threat, because it destroys forests on which we rely for all the ecosystem services, but also the impact it has on iconic species and all types of biodiversity,”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/report-links-meat-giant-jbs-to-massive-destruction-of-jaguar-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/report-links-meat-giant-jbs-to-massive-destruction-of-jaguar-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New forest loss data beef up Amazon deforestation case against Casino Group</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/new-forest-loss-data-beef-up-amazon-deforestation-case-against-casino-group/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/new-forest-loss-data-beef-up-amazon-deforestation-case-against-casino-group/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2025 08:51:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/20083849/4.Illegal-cattle-farm-inside-the-Indigenous-territory-Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau-in-Burareiro-Rondonia-Brazil-in-2021.-Credit_-Casino-Case-coalition-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299278</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beef, Cattle, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Pasture, Rainforests, Ranching, Supply Chain, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent report by the nonprofit Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) found that the operations of French retailer Casino Group in Brazil could be linked to more than half a million hectares of deforestation between 2018 and 2023. According to ICV, 526,459 hectares (approximately 1.3 million acres) of native vegetation — an area about 50 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recent report by the nonprofit Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) found that the operations of French retailer Casino Group in Brazil could be linked to more than half a million hectares of deforestation between 2018 and 2023. According to ICV, 526,459 hectares (approximately 1.3 million acres) of native vegetation — an area about 50 times the size of Paris — was cleared largely in the Amazon Rainforest to raise cattle for the company’s beef supply chain. The findings are the latest in a series of deforestation allegations against the French retailer in Latin America, where it operated more than 3,000 grocery stores until recently. In 2021, a coalition of 11 Colombian and Brazilian environmental and Indigenous organizations sued Casino Group in France for environmental damage and human rights violations. The case remains ongoing in the Paris courts. Raquel Carvalho, author of the ICV report, told Mongabay that it took a year to uncover the new data. “There’s great difficulty in measuring the deforestation caused by beef sold in grocery stores,” she said. “The main challenge is the lack of traceability between cattle suppliers and these stores. We have animal transport documents that track cattle from ranches to slaughterhouses, but the paper trail ends there.” In the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado savanna, clearing forests for pastureland remains widespread. Image courtesy of the Casino Case coalition. Researchers worked around this challenge by calculating the total beef traded by two Casino-owned retail chains in Brazil and estimating the amount of new pasture&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/new-forest-loss-data-beef-up-amazon-deforestation-case-against-casino-group/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299278</doi>				</item>
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					<title>‘We can’t talk solutions without understanding complexities: Kari Guajajara on Brazil’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 16:39:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12162154/53316205106_9e7a3d989b_k-e1747067057880-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cattle, Deforestation, Forests, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Rainforests, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the last of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country&#8217;s Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon here and Colombian Amazon here. NEW YORK CITY — In the bustling concrete jungle of New York City, representatives from the Amazon rainforest arrived at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the last of three interviews with Indigenous representatives at the United Nations about the latest issues in their country&#8217;s Amazon forests. Read the interview about the Peruvian Amazon here and Colombian Amazon here. NEW YORK CITY — In the bustling concrete jungle of New York City, representatives from the Amazon rainforest arrived at the 2025 U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, one of the world&#8217;s largest gatherings of Indigenous peoples, to spotlight issues they face in their countries. Among them was Kari Guajajara, a lawyer and the first Indigenous person to obtain a law degree in Brazil’s state of Maranhão. She spoke with Mongabay about her views on some of the latest and biggest events affecting Indigenous communities and forests in Brazilian Amazon, as well as the solutions she believes are needed. Our conversation touched on the ongoing operation to evict illegal miners in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in the state of Pará and illegal cattle ranching that may be tied to the killings of Indigenous land defenders. We also discussed the influence of the country’s agribusiness lobby in policies and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s drop in popularity. Most of the Amazon is held within Brazil’s borders and the three states with the biggest share of the rainforest — also home to many isolated Indigenous peoples — lost about 23 million hectares (56 million acres) of primary forest since 2001. “The state often tries to tackle the protection of Indigenous territories from a single vision, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/we-cant-talk-solutions-without-understanding-complexities-kari-guajajara-on-brazils-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/armed-groups-cattle-ranchers-drove-35-rise-in-colombias-deforestation-in-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/armed-groups-cattle-ranchers-drove-35-rise-in-colombias-deforestation-in-2024/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Apr 2025 16:30:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/18140144/WhatsApp-Image-2023-10-31-at-9.17.40-PM-1600x890-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297814</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The prediction came true: deforestation in Colombia increased in 2024 after two years of decline, just as the environment ministry had warned since April last year. The ministry announced that Colombia lost 1,070 square kilometers (413 square miles) of forest in 2024, a 35% increase from 2023, when deforestation hit 793 km2 (306 mi2). Former [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The prediction came true: deforestation in Colombia increased in 2024 after two years of decline, just as the environment ministry had warned since April last year. The ministry announced that Colombia lost 1,070 square kilometers (413 square miles) of forest in 2024, a 35% increase from 2023, when deforestation hit 793 km2 (306 mi2). Former environment minister Susana Muhamad, who left office on March 3, said the increase was highly influenced by the restructured peace negotiations between the government and armed rebel groups in Colombia’s northern Amazonian region. “What we’ve seen in 2024 is an increase in medium-sized deforestation patches involving operations paid for with vast sums, which have to do with organized crime and not the actions of rural farmers,” Muhamad said. She added that conservation agreements have been signed by nearly all households in rural areas in the Amazon. Environment ministry data reveal that the Amazon is the region most affected by forest loss in Colombia, accounting for 63.6% of total deforestation in 2024, and home to 22 of 28 deforestation hotspots that year. &nbsp; One the worst-hit of these hotspots, in Solano municipality in the department of Caquetá, is also the site of an active conflict between authorities and former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Four other critical hotspots are in the Llanos del Yari Yaguará II Indigenous Reserve (in Guaviare department), Cuemaní in Cartagena del Chairá (Caquetá), and Sierra de la Macarena and Tinigua national parks in Meta department. “We’ve seen deforestation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/armed-groups-cattle-ranchers-drove-35-rise-in-colombias-deforestation-in-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297814</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 18:32:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21182210/Gran-Chaco-Overhead-Shot-1-768x500.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296288</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Chaco, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn. Now a global coalition of Indigenous rights advocates is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn. Now a global coalition of Indigenous rights advocates is trying to sound the alarm on the problem, in hopes that the Paraguayan government and international community will respond with more ambitious solutions. In February, the International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Ayoreo communities, some of whom still live in isolation, without contact with the outside world. The visit was even more concerning than expected, members told Mongabay. “At any moment, our Ayoreo brothers and sisters in isolation are going to come out,” said Rocío Picaneré, a representative of the Ayoreo Native Council of Eastern Bolivia, which works with GTI-PIACI. “And why is this happening? Because we treat the forest like a supermarket, and the forest is being cleared every day.” GTI-PIACI is made up of 21 Indigenous organizations and civil society groups focused on addressing the threats against uncontacted peoples living in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazilian Cerrado and Gran Chaco, a dry forest ecosystem that covers approximately 65 million hectares (160 million acres) across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. It’s the second-largest forest in South America, after the Amazon, and has suffered some of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296288</doi>				</item>
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					<title>Colombia’s cattle traceability bill awaits approval as deforestation spikes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/colombias-cattle-traceability-bill-awaits-approval-as-deforestation-spikes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/colombias-cattle-traceability-bill-awaits-approval-as-deforestation-spikes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2025 15:54:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/25153937/Feature-16-768x453.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Cattle, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Law, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Colombia are considering new regulations that would make it easier to track the movement of cattle as they’re bought and sold, with the goal of controlling illegal deforestation connected to grazing pasture. The law would improve a digital tracking system for Colombia’s beef supply chain, allowing officials to identify cattle that were raised [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Colombia are considering new regulations that would make it easier to track the movement of cattle as they’re bought and sold, with the goal of controlling illegal deforestation connected to grazing pasture. The law would improve a digital tracking system for Colombia’s beef supply chain, allowing officials to identify cattle that were raised inside protected areas and on ranches where forests were cleared illegally for pasture. “Colombia has made significant efforts to address this problem,” WWF said in a statement. “However, structural causes, such as grazing for land grabbing, unsustainable extensive livestock practices, unplanned transport infrastructure, the expansion of the agricultural frontier … continue to be critical factors that require comprehensive attention.” There were around 30 million head of cattle in the country in 2023, according to estimates from the Colombian Federation of Cattle Ranchers. They make up nearly half of the country’s agricultural output, with $231 million in live exports and $32 million in meat exports in 2023. Those figures could rise as the country strengthens its bovine trade with China, the U.S. and Canada, some observers have said. The country saw a historic plunge in deforestation in 2023, with 66,083 hectares (163,295 acres) lost. But last year it shot back up to around 107,000 hectares (264,400 acres) — a 35% increase that led some officials to call for stronger oversight. The main drivers were cattle ranching and illegal mining, according to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The government has struggled to identify the origin&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/colombias-cattle-traceability-bill-awaits-approval-as-deforestation-spikes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294952</doi>				</item>
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