With voters heading to the polls on June 21, Colombia faces two opposing environmental paths. The election will determine whether the nation phases out fossil fuels & empowers local communities or expands oil & military operations to secure its resource frontiers. @aimeegabay.bsky.social reports.

Illegal clearing for cattle ranches continues to plague the Ituna/Itatá territory in Brazil. Land-grabbers continue to clear areas for cattle ranching, threatening groups in voluntary isolation. While government raids helped, forest loss persists through loopholes. @aimeegabay.bsky.social reports.

AI can boost environmental monitoring, but U.N. experts say its massive energy and mineral footprint threatens the very territories it aims to protect. Governments must ensure that AI-driven conservation doesn't lead to mining on Indigenous lands. @aimeegabay.bsky.social reports for #Mongabay.

Foreign investors are suing Latin American and Caribbean nations for $36.6 billion, often targeting environmental policies. These legal battles undermine government efforts to protect ecosystems, transition to clean energy, and human rights. Story by @aimeegabay.bsky.social for #Mongabay.

A landmark court ruling in Brazil allows for potential mining in Indigenous territories to fund local health and education. However, critics warn that this sets a dangerous precedent and "opens the door" to wider threats across the Amazon. Story by @aimeegabay.bsky.social for #Mongabay.

Mining giant Vale has obtained a preliminary license for its Bacaba project, the first step toward doubling its copper production in the Brazilian Amazon over the next decade. @schroder.bsky.social for @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2025/10/copp...

In 2015, the Wampís of northern Peru did what no other Indigenous people had done in the country’s modern history: They declared themselves an autonomous nation to gain greater control over their territory. To understand why, see 🧵: news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-...

Brazil’s largest #Indigenous organization has launched the country’s first Native-led strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions, This comes as the world marks International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on Aug. 9, as @aimeegabay.bsky.social reports:

NEW: A shadowy legal tool called ISDS is allowing foreign corporations to sue Honduras — one of the region's poorest countries — for a total of $19.4 billion, roughly 53% of the country’s 2024 GDP. The public good must be put over this corporate greed. @aimeegabay.bsky.social in @mongabay.com:

In Latin America, energy transition stirs a rise in human rights lawsuits. Almost half of the 95 lawsuits were filed by Indigenous peoples and 76% of those filed in Latin America and the Caribbean concerned mining for transition minerals. For @mongabay.com: news.mongabay.com/2025/07/in-l...

Super excited to share that my series on the Yaqui tribe and their struggle for water in Mexico has won an award at the Indigenous Media Awards. It was in the ‘Best Coverage of Indigenous Communities’ category 🥺

The self-proclaimed nation, the United States of Kailasa, operates from different parts of the world and offered high sums of money to Indigenous leaders in exchange for lands to exploit or conserve for carbon credit projects, say legal experts. @mongabay.com: news.mongabay.com/2025/05/boli...

Bibles, bullets and beef: Amazon cowboy culture at odds with Brazil’s climate goals My long read on the struggle of frontiersmen and women to adjust to a decaying environment - and how this feeds into the rise of the far right. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Seven years after four officials were charged with negligence that resulted in a toxic cyanide spill at Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, the case has still not gone to trial. New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/04/stil...

The aguaje, a tropical palm tree that grows in peatlands and other wetland areas in tropical South America, produces oval-shaped fruits that can be consumed raw or processed to make beverages, soap, oils and other products. But climate change and the lack of a secure market remain a challenge.

A little 🧵: Most of the stories I have written over the years are about extractive projects in the Amazon. Many highlight the concerns of affected community members, such as contamination in rivers they depend on or a lack of consultation about a project that impacts their agricultural lands.

The involvement of Munduruku people in illegal mining inside the Munduruku Indigenous Territory made Brazil’s efforts to stop it more complicated, federal officials said. Munduruku sources say that deception, abandonment by the state & lack of alternative income are what push some people to mine.

What pushes Indigenous Munduruku people to mine their land in Brazil’s Amazon? I asked Munduruku people to share how illegal miners lure in their relatives and the conditions that led to dependency for some. 3rd of a series for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/04/what...

I spent the last few weeks interviewing members of campesino communities who live around Lake Chinchaycocha in Peru, a critical water source that has been contaminated for decades by mining pollution and domestic waste. Full story @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/03/drow...

A proposed port terminal within a protected mangrove area on Brazil’s Amazon coast will impact the area’s wetlands and cause a disturbance to breeding bird colonies and marine species. 🔗 New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/03/plan...

As the operation to evict miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory enters phase two, I asked researchers and federal officials to share plans and strategies to prevent illegal miners from returning.

Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory has, so far, led to a reduction in mining activities, but fears remain. My latest for @mongabay.bsky.social. Stay tuned for part two, three, four and five coming soon. news.mongabay.com/2025/03/braz...

The Mexican women who defied drug-dealers, fly-tippers and chauvinists to build a sustainable shellfish business. “The truth is, it wasn’t only the mangrove we transformed,” Reyes said. “We transformed ourselves as well.” So beautiful! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ever since the Cobre Panamá mine was forced to shut down in 2023, the copper mine’s infrastructure has been eroding away in a biodiverse jungle on Panama’s Atlantic coast — a situation researchers say is all too common. 🔗 New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/02/yet-...

An independent analysis by @mongabay.bsky.social has found that almost half of Mexico's 232 federally protected areas (46.5%) do not have management plans. Among those without plans are protected areas that were decreed more than 50 years ago. See 🧵:

New to Bluesky? Here's a starter pack for the award-winning @mongabay.bsky.social news team, featuring @aimeegabay.bsky.social @geraldrflynn.bsky.social @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social @nandawenzel.bsky.social @jeremyhance.bsky.social @apcwildlife.bsky.social @spoorthyraman.bsky.social & more:

Journalist @geraldrflynn.bsky.social has been barred from Cambodia on questionable grounds after reporting on environmental issues there for years for @mongabay.bsky.social, an environmental news outlet It appears to be part of a broader pattern of repression of journalists & activists there:

As sea levels rise, a handful of communities are being relocated further inland, to safer areas. But what happens when a community that depends on fishing is relocated and can no longer easily access the sea? Latest for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mexi...

Plans to construct a sprawling port and railway line in Brazil’s northeastern state of Maranhão are sparking concerns among some residents and civil society groups worried about its potential impact on the environment and lands used by marginalized communities.

Latoya Abulu at @mongabay.bsky.social asked me some very thoughtful questions about the human rights responsibilities of conservation organizations when abuses occur in parks that it funds. Here's the interview: news.mongabay.com/2025/01/what...

One year ago, Mexico announced the creation of 20 new protected areas. But the country’s environment ministry has failed to publish a single protected area management plan, despite being required to do so by law. For @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/01/mexi...

A fascinating piece that covers the implications of closing a culturally and economically important coal mine in Svalbard: "Mine closures are nearly always disruptive in some way [...] but they seldom turn into the kind of geopolitical hot potato that Gruve 7 has become." atmos.earth/the-worlds-n...

Nice to see my profile on Mario Luna Romero, a Yaqui water defender who faces constant threats for fighting to protect his community’s rights to water, make this list. @mongabay.bsky.social’s top 10 Indigenous news stories and investigations that marked 2024: news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-...

I looooved writing this story about this community's effort to restore mangroves in a Mexican fishing village. Together, they have planted over 1.8 million mangroves with a 92-94% survival rate. news.mongabay.com/2024/12/afte...

Last year I visited one of Uganda’s national parks as part of a series on conservation in East Africa. I heard disturbing allegations of serious, deadly violence there. My report for @mongabay.bsky.social news.mongabay.com/2024/12/kill...

A new report by @banktrack.bsky.social finds most large banks are failing to consider Indigenous rights. My latest report for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2024/12/most...

A new series by the great @shokes.bsky.social on protected areas and Indigenous rights in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. The first piece looks at the history of how and why Africa’s national parks were set up, and how it influenced conservation practices today. news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like...

The red siskin, an endangered bird known for its vivid red-and-black plumage, has found an unexpected refuge in Guyana. The species had almost disappeared from tropical South America until researchers recorded it there in 2000.

New from top reporter @nandawenzel.bsky.social for @mongabay.bsky.social --> The seller of carbon credits to Spotify & others is suspected of land-grabbing & laundering illegal timber from Indigenous territories and protected areas The ipê & other valuable wood was sold to US & EU companies:

A beautiful story about the Dayak Iban peoples’ efforts to protect songbirds from deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. For the community, the birds are regarded as messengers sharing omens and warnings from spirits, and must therefore be protected. news.mongabay.com/2024/11/born...

Is the Brazilian military failing to protect Indigenous people? Reports from the Yanomami Indigenous Territory reveal a troubling pattern: the Brazilian military has either undermined or failed to support efforts to address a growing humanitarian crisis, per André Schröder.

Indigenous residents who live inside Peru’s Imiría Regional Conservation Area feel they’ve been unfairly targeted by some of the government’s environmental policies. New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2024/12/gaps...

A severe drought that spread over recent months in Peru’s Loreto and Ucayali regions led to the isolation of more than 130 communities. Due to record low water levels, they had no access to food, water or health care. My latest report for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2024/12/seve...

How does our @mongabay.bsky.social team get stories no one else does? Great new profile from the essential media thinkers at CJR @columjournreview.bsky.social with details on our model, reach & power to make change around the world with #journalism “No one would [know] if we didn’t publish it.”

In Paraguay, agribusiness, armed groups and drug traffickers have caused the fragmentation and displacement of Indigenous Paĩ Tavyterã communities, who have been threatened and in some cases killed by the invaders. news.mongabay.com/2024/11/para...

A great piece that looks at the potential reasons behind the alarming rise in birth defects in Brazil’s Pará state. Medics and Indigenous health specialists are asking if contamination caused by illegal gold mining is to blame. But there are other theories. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

An epic year-long investigation by the @mongabaylatam.bsky.social team who developed an AI tool with Earth Genome to detect clandestine airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon. Most of the 67 illegal airstrips detected are located in and around Indigenous communities. news.mongabay.com/custom-story...

Hello new followers! Yesterday marked one year since I started working as a staff writer for @mongabay.bsky.social. Here’s a selection of my favourite stories so far 🧵