South america News

RSS
5025 stories
Voluntarily isolated people in the Javari Valley in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo credit: FUNAI.

Indigenous delegates at the U.N. raise alarm for isolated peoples in the Amazon

Aimee Gabay 25 Apr 2025
Members of the international study team pull a peat core from a wetland in the Colombian Amazon.

New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia’s conflicted Amazon

Erik Iverson 23 Apr 2025
Federal forces have been expelling illegal gold miners from protected areas like the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in Pará state. Image courtesy of the Federal Police. 

Amazon illegal miners bypass enforcement by smuggling gold into Venezuela

Fernanda Wenzel 22 Apr 2025
Auyán-Tepuí in Venezuela. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

In the shadow of Angel Falls: How Auyán-Tepuí sparked my reverence for nature

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2025
A part of Putumayo rainforest showing areas of deforestation.

Armed groups, cattle ranchers drove 35% rise in Colombia’s deforestation in 2024

Antonio José Paz Cardona 18 Apr 2025
The pied tamarin (Saguinus bicolor) is one of the world’s most endangered monkeys. Image courtesy of Diogo Lagroteria.

New refuge helps protect Amazon’s most endangered monkey, but gaps remain

Shanna Hanbury 18 Apr 2025

Ecuador communities resist Canada-backed gold mine in sacred highlands

Aimee Gabay, Sonam Lama Hyolmo 17 Apr 2025
A flamingo in Salar de Uyuni, southwestern Bolivia.

Bolivian communities push back against foreign-backed lithium projects

Carla Ruas 17 Apr 2025
The Cuyaba dwarf frog (Physalaemus nattereri) inflating its rear end to scare away predators. Image courtesy of Felipe Bittioli.

Most frogs in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands to lose habitat by 2100: Study

Shanna Hanbury 17 Apr 2025

Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged

Aimee Gabay 16 Apr 2025
timber Brazil

Fake documents, real deforestation drive global trade in illegal Amazon timber

Fernanda Wenzel 16 Apr 2025
protests Mexico

Sheinbaum’s energy agenda under fire as Mexican activists slam LNG megaproject

Joshua Collins and Daniela Díaz 15 Apr 2025
Amapá state is home to six of the Amazon's tallest known trees, including an 85-meter (279-foot) red angelim threatened by illegal gold mining. Image courtesy of Havita Rigamonti/Imazon/Ideflor-Bi.

Illegal gold mining creeps within a kilometer of Amazon’s second-tallest tree

Fernanda Wenzel 14 Apr 2025
Paulo’s killing has become the symbol of the guardians’ fight to protect Arariboia.

Mongabay investigation spurs Brazil crackdown on illegal cattle in Amazon’s Arariboia territory

Karla Mendes 11 Apr 2025

Nature protection is part of fundamental law in Amazon countries

Timothy J. Killeen 11 Apr 2025
Sustainable harvesting techniques, such as climbing the aguaje tree to collect the fruit instead of cutting it down, have taken hold in local communities that previously cut down the trees. Image by Wilfredo Martinez / One Planet.

Indigenous aguaje tree climbers bring down profits in Peru’s Amazon — sustainably

Aimee Gabay 10 Apr 2025
Restoration projects have been developed in large Amazon properties with high investments and intensive use of machinery. Image courtesy of Mombak/Raimundo Paccó.

For scandal-ridden carbon credit industry, Amazon restoration offers redemption

Fernanda Wenzel 9 Apr 2025
Jaguar siblings in Porto Jofre in the Brazilian Pantanal. Image by Bernard Dupont via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Jaguar tourism in Brazil’s Pantanal needs new rules to avoid collapse: Study

Shanna Hanbury 8 Apr 2025
Munduruku in the Tapajós river, next to Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land, home to the Munduruku people, Pará state, Brazil. Photo by Valdemir Cunha / Greenpeace.

What pushes Indigenous Munduruku people to mine their land in Brazil’s Amazon?

Aimee Gabay 8 Apr 2025
Susana Muhamad interacts with an Indigenous representative.

Colombia’s green transition should be inclusive: Interview with Susana Muhamad, former environment minister

Mie Hoejris Dahl 8 Apr 2025
Fire in an area newly deforested in Brazil.

Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon (commentary)

Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo 6 Apr 2025

Lithium Triangle mining may strain water sources more than expected, study says

Maxwell Radwin 4 Apr 2025
Euperfadis Cardenas Vargas in his finca (2 hectarias of Cacao) Photo © Victor Raison

Colombian farmers switch from coffee to cacao as temperature and prices soar

Victor Raison 4 Apr 2025
Munduruku Indigenous People blocked a road on March 25, protesting against the conciliation table at the Supreme Court and for the repeal of law 14.701. Image courtesy of the Pariri Association.

After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands

Karla Mendes 3 Apr 2025

Despite improvements, governance in the Pan Amazon falls short

Timothy J. Killeen 3 Apr 2025
irrigation field

Groundwater overuse puts Brazil’s river flow at risk, study finds

Sarah Brown 3 Apr 2025
The chosen Saakhelu tree, honored with offerings of chicha, stands as an axis, connecting the community to its environment and the divine. Image by Anna Abraham and Tony Kirby.

Photos: Colombia’s Indigenous Nasa push back against cultural loss to reconnect with nature

Anna Abraham, Tony Kirby 2 Apr 2025
The families of fishers gather on Jan. 3 for a communal meal provided by the Talara Fishermen’s Guild.

Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill

Miguel Ángel Valero, Sandra Incio 2 Apr 2025

Longer periods of drought threaten Brazilian amphibians

Suzana Camargo 2 Apr 2025
A young orange-spined hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus villosus) rescued by the Vida Livre institute. Image by Rafael Bacelar for Mongabay.

Brazilian rescue center returns trafficked animals to the wild

Mongabay.com 2 Apr 2025
Bernardo Vallejo inspects in Finca Las Brisas. Image © Victor Raison.

Colombia’s coffee farmers try to balance innovation and tradition to adapt to climate change

Victor Raison 1 Apr 2025

A Kichwa women’s collective uses ecotourism to safeguard Ecuador’s Amazon

Ana Cristina Alvarado 1 Apr 2025

you're currently offline