South America

"Brazilian farmers are lobbying to roll back deforestation restrictions in order to sell more soybeans to the huge Chinese market."

"Brazil’s government approved on Monday exploratory drilling by state-run oil-giant Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon River. The decision comes only weeks before the United Nations climate conference in Belem, COP30, where efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels will be discussed."

"The United Nations warned that mercury contamination from illegal gold mining in Colombia’s Atrato River basin has created a “serious and ongoing human rights crisis,” threatening the health and survival of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities who depend on the river for food, water and culture."

"An illegal gold rush has cleared 140,000 hectares of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon and is accelerating as foreign, armed groups move into the region to profit from record gold prices, according to a report."

"A recent Mongabay investigation found widespread government purchases of shark meat in Brazil to serve in thousands of public institutions." "As part of the research, we spent months combing through dozens of websites where Brazilian government agencies are legally required to publish their procurement records."

"Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced a $1 billion investment in the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) to support forest conservation this week at a United Nations event in New York."

"An Indigenous land defender was shot and killed on Sunday in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where he was marching in protest of high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists."

"JBS, the world's largest meat company, has indirectly bought cattle raised illegally on indigenous land in Brazil, according to a Greenpeace investigation released on Thursday."

"At least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or have gone missing around the world in 2024, with more than 80% of those cases in Latin America, according to a report released Wednesday by watchdog group Global Witness."