Indigenous peoples and Amazon News

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In March, IBAMA dismantled an illegal mining operation in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory in Roraima. This image from Operation Xapiri shows rocks resulting from bedrock blasting. After being crushed, the ore is processed using cyanide to separate the gold from other minerals.

Cyanide ponds from illegal mining threaten Amazon Indigenous territory

Elizabeth Oliveira 2 Nov 2026

In Suriname’s Amazon, the Wayana community struggling to keep gold miners at bay

Maxwell Radwin 29 Oct 2026
A giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)

Between revered and hunted: The journey of human-otter coexistence in the Amazon

Sarah Brown 29 Oct 2026
A watercolor by the Indigenous Wayana, Aimawale Opoya.

Suriname’s rich archaeological history may hold keys to conservation

Peter Speetjens 28 Oct 2026

New report maps widespread criminal presence across six Amazonian countries

Aimee Gabay 27 Oct 2026
Robson Mura, of the Mura Indigenous community, watches the sunrise at the Moyray village in Autazes, Amazonas state, February 2025.

Canadian-backed potash mine in Brazil has dried up sacred Amazon springs, say residents

Aimee Gabay 26 Oct 2026
The Arazaire community is split in two, bisected by the Inambari River. On the river's left bank, where residents once had agricultural plots, forest, and ceremonial lagoons, the landscape is now dominated by mercury-laden ponds and deforestation.

Amazon communities lose water as mining and deforestation reshape rivers

Vanessa Romo 23 Oct 2026
Women from the Missão Tiriyó village in the Tumucumaque Park Indigenous Territory. Image courtesy of the Iepé Institute archive.

Two Indigenous Brazilians denied their language interpreter at election voting booth

Shanna Hanbury 23 Oct 2026
Minister of Indigenous Peoples Eloy Terena is celebrated after being sworn as minister in March 2026. Image courtesy of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI).

Brazil election puts unprecedented Indigenous ministry at risk if Flávio Bolsonaro wins

Karla Mendes 20 Oct 2026
In the Los Ángeles community within the Monte Verde territory in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, the Indigenous Chiquitano people confront and evict the invaders. Image by Edy Yobanny Velasco.

New tool reveals siege on Indigenous lands in Bolivia’s Amazon

Nelfi Fernández Reyes 15 Oct 2026
Willan Gualinga rapping

In Ecuador, Indigenous youth turn to rap music to defend the Amazon

Isabel Alarcón 9 Oct 2026

Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say

Maxwell Radwin 15 Sep 2026
A pygmy marmoset.

Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey

Abhishyant Kidangoor 11 Sep 2026

New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries

Alexa Vélez, Vanessa Romo, Daniela Quintero Díaz 8 Sep 2026
From July 25-26, 2026, the Matsés held their bimonthly community assembly in the San Mateo village, which Mongabay attended, along with leaders from all 29 Matsés communities in Peru. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Drought is deepening a health crisis among Peru’s recently contacted Indigenous Matsés

Aimee Gabay 2 Sep 2026
Américo Pascuala Tumisha. Photo courtesy of Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN)

Ashéninka leader reportedly killed while patrolling Indigenous territory is found alive

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Aug 2026
Representatives of the Huitoto and Ticuna indigenous communities

Drugs are becoming institutionalized: Interview with Ticuna leader in Peru’s Amazon

Aimee Gabay 20 Aug 2026
The first sign demarcating the Rio Pardo Kawahiva Indigenous Territory. Image courtesy of FUNAI.

Brazil marks borders for isolated Indigenous group in the Amazon after decades

Shanna Hanbury 19 Aug 2026
Residents at Paraíso Grande riverine community, located 30 minutes by fast boat from the city of Humaitá, say the risk of accidents with big convoys increases during the Madeira River’s high-water season, when its banks are flooded.. Image by Karla Mendes/Mongabay.

Fatal barge crashes fuel fear over Madeira River waterway expansion in Brazil

Karla Mendes 17 Aug 2026
Cerros de Mavicure at sunset. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Among the sacred hills of Colombia’s Guainía

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Aug 2026
Doña Oscarina. Photo by Ana Amelia Hamdan / ISA

Doña Oscarina, master ceramicist, documented Indigenous knowledge along the Tiquié River

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Aug 2026
Gold extraction site

Brazil’s mining agency under fire over corruption and omission probes

Fernanda Wenzel 4 Aug 2026
For years, the Parakanã Indigenous people had their territory exploited by around 3,000 invaders. Image by Bruno Peres/Agência Brasil.

Indigenous Parakanã fear election U-turn may spark new invasions in Brazil

Fernanda Wenzel 29 Jul 2026
Kajkwakratxi-Tapayuna leader Yaiku Suya at an April 2026 public hearing. Image courtesy of Larissa Silva/Rede Juruena Vivo.

Brazil court orders recognition of Indigenous land and apology for historic atrocities

Shanna Hanbury 29 Jul 2026
Khuiusi Khisetje. Photo by Christian Braga / ISA

Khuiusi Khisêtjê helped his people recover their land and future in the Xingu

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Jul 2026
Indigenous people walk through a part of the Amazon River that shows signs of drought in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, 2024.

An Indigenous take on Colombia’s new gov’t: Interview with a Putumayo Indigenous leader

Aimee Gabay 22 Jul 2026
Mamá Conchita in her chagra with her dogs.

Women Defenders of the Colombian Amazon

Alejandro Prescott-Cornejo 13 Jul 2026
Plant species used in the experiment with dark earth, including paricá and pink ipê.

Dark earth: Ancient Amazonian soil can boost forest restoration, study finds

Evanildo da Silveira 8 Jul 2026
Indigenous peoples sing and dance as they participate in an opening ceremony as part of the People's Summit offsite from the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. Image by AP Photo/Fernando Llano.

A fraction of promised climate money reaches Amazon communities: Interview with Latimpacto’s leaders

Beverley Choo 8 Jul 2026
Patches of deforested land observed from the air within the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. Image courtesy of AIDESEP.

Roads, loggers close in on an unprotected refuge for isolated Kakataibo

Aimee Gabay 7 Jul 2026
Cocoa producer Giovanne holds a native Amazon species, which is naturally resistant to pests and extreme weather. Image by Cícero Pedrosa Neto.

Amazon floodplains cocoa offers a climate-resilient and sustainable chocolate

Sam Cowie, Cícero Pedrosa Neto 25 Jun 2026
Firefighters from the Chico Mendes Institute work to contain a forest fire and prevent it from reaching Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, in Brazil’s northern Goiás state in 2025. Image by AP Photo / Eraldo Peres.

Fire surge in 2025 threatened isolated peoples in Brazil

Aimee Gabay 24 Jun 2026

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