"QUITO, Ecuador — Pope Francis on Tuesday called for increased protection of the Amazon rain forest and the indigenous people who live there, declaring that Ecuador must resist exploiting natural riches for “short-term benefits,” an implicit rebuke of the policies of President Rafael Correa."

"RIO DE JANEIRO — The head of rowing's governing body says races at next year's Olympics could be delayed because of severe water pollution at the venue."

"Colombian authorities must stop using the controversial herbicide glyphosate -- also known by its brand name Roundup -- to eradicate illicit coca plantations, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday."

"SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Endowed with the Amazon and other mighty rivers, an array of huge dams and one-eighth of the world’s fresh water, Brazil is sometimes called the “Saudi Arabia of water,” so rich in the coveted resource that some liken it to living above a sea of oil. But in Brazil’s largest and wealthiest city, a more dystopian situation is unfolding: The taps are starting to run dry."

"Achuar tribe demands compensation from Argentine energy company Pluspetrol for pollution on their ancestral land."

"RIO DE JANEIRO — Calling Aldo Rebelo a climate-change skeptic would be putting it mildly. In his days as a fiery legislator in the Communist Party of Brazil, he railed against those who say human activity is warming the globe and called the international environmental movement 'nothing less, in its geopolitical essence, than the bridgehead of imperialism.'"

"A commodity boom has helped pull millions out of poverty across South America over the past decade. It has also unleashed a new scramble for oil, minerals and cropland that is accelerating deforestation and fueling a new wave of land conflicts from Colombia to Chile."

Industrial-scale palm oil plantations and processing plants in Colombia are at the center of conflict between leftist rebels, government ­forces, right-wing paramilitary groups and criminal gangs.
 

SAN PEDRO VILLAGE, Peru -- "It is a disaster hidden from the environmental leaders gathered inside the walls of a military compound in Lima on a mission to fight climate change."