Indigenous peoples and Amazon News

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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
A herd of cattle in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state

Brazil curbs Amazon deforestation in Piripkura, but ranchers’ cattle linger

Aimee Gabay 22 Jun 2026
The Tomachipán-Cumare road is an illegal trail used by dissidents as a strategic corridor. It has become an epicenter of violence. Image by Juan Carlos Contreras.

Death and exile: A war plagues Indigenous Jiw and Nukak in the Colombian Amazon

Pilar Puentes 19 Jun 2026

Illegal miners adapt their strategies in Yanomami Amazon territory

Rubens Valente 17 Jun 2026
Soy plantations amid savanna vegetation in Maranhão state, Brazil. Image courtesy of Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil.

Amazon deforestation declines as Brazil reduces forest loss nationwide

Shanna Hanbury 12 Jun 2026
Women and girls from Capirona gather to collect stones and make water filters, as part of the community experiment developed in partnership with the Yachana Foundation. Image courtesy of the Yachana Foundation.

In Ecuador, an Indigenous community goes thirsty despite its two rivers

Gabriela Verdezoto Landívar 12 Jun 2026
The Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor from above on the Peruvian side, near the Peru-Brazil border.

In Peru and Brazil, extractivism threatens Indigenous people in isolation: Report

Aimee Gabay 5 Jun 2026
Tawaya Village of the Matis people in Javari Valley, Amazonas, Brazil, also featuring Korubo members. Image courtesy of Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) / Daniel Dalberto.

Legal protections for Brazil’s isolated Indigenous peoples: Interview with prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto

Aimee Gabay 3 Jun 2026
Fisherman from the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory with his catch from the Tapajós River. Image courtesy of Luis Ushirobira/InfoAmazonia.

Artisanal mines in Brazil a front for gold laundering, investigation shows

Mongabay.com 21 May 2026

Organized crime adds to environmental destruction in the Amazon, report finds

Aimee Gabay 18 May 2026
A channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus) in Yasuní National Park.

Ecuador failing to end Yasuní oil drilling: Interview with Waorani leader Juan Bay

Aimee Gabay 13 May 2026
Indigenous communities face changes to their ways of life due to the presence of illegal economies. Image courtesy of Amazon Watch.

Crime affects 32% of Amazon Indigenous areas, says study

Yvette Sierra Praeli 11 May 2026
Filmmaker and workshop facilitator Natália Tupi guiding student Maicon Santos in audiovisual techniques during the workshop in the Tukum village, Tupinambá de Olivença Territory (Bahia, Brazil). Image courtesy of Emma Latham Phillips.

What Indigenous youth filmmaking reveals about environmental communication (commentary)

Jamille Pinheiro Dias 7 May 2026
Armed police and military forces called by a Canadian mining company carry out operations in Sigchos

New report reveals how environmental crime threatens Amazonian communities

Aimee Gabay 30 Apr 2026
Indigenous protests in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 7. Image courtesy of Anderson Barbosa/Amazon Watch.

Brazilian state greenlights deforestation for contested open-pit gold mine

Shanna Hanbury 29 Apr 2026

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