Drugs and agriculture cause deforestation to skyrocket at Honduran UNESCO site
Honduras’ Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve occupies a large portion of the country’s eastern region.
However, despite official protection and recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Río Plátano is plagued by deforestation; satellite data show the biosphere reserve lost 13% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2020.
Deforestation shot up in 2020, nearly doubling the amount of forest loss over 2019. 2021 may be another rocky year for the biosphere reserve, with satellite data showing several “unusually high” spikes of clearing activity so far this year.
Sources say deforestation in the reserve is being driven by logging, agriculture and the drug trade.
Peru to establish rainforest reserve for isolated Indigenous peoples
After nearly twenty years of discussion, the Peruvian government has moved to establish a new Indigenous reserve for “uncontacted peoples” deep in the Amazon rainforest.
Yavarí Tapiche Indigenous Reserve, which covers 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) in the department of Loreto on the Peru-Brazil border, is home to Matsés, Remo, and Marubo peoples, as well as other groups that have yet to be identified.
Yavarí Tapiche will be established under Peru’s law governing territories for peoples in isolation and initial contact (PIACI).
Yavarí Tapiche has been officially categorized as the first PIACI reserve in Loreto, but its protection plan still must be approved by the Ministry of Culture within 60 days.
Ecuador court orders end to gas flaring by oil industry in Amazon
In the Ecuadoran Amazon, at least 447 flares have been burning gas for decades.
Local communities say these flares are responsible for the high cancer rates in the area.
The Sucumbíos Provincial Court ruled in January that the Ecuadoran state had ignored the rights of nine girls to live in a healthy environment.
It also found that the government had violated their rights to good health by not providing clean technologies that would avoid contamination.
“I’m very happy because, finally, justice has been served. We’re going to restore nature, for all the sick children, for the people, for the parents who have fought to stay healthy, for the families that have also kept fighting if only to grow a few crops, for the families who live under the flares and have had to abandon their land,” says 10-year-old Leonela Moncayo. She had just found out that, on Jan. 26, 2021, a court in Ecuador had ruled in favor of he
Illegal fishing: The great threat to Latin America s marine sanctuaries mongabay.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mongabay.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Chinese triads target Bolivia’s jaguars in search of ‘American tiger’ parts
An intelligence-gathering investigation by Earth League International and the Dutch national committee to the IUCN has revealed that Chinese-controlled trafficking syndicates are responsible for smuggling jaguar body parts out of Bolivia.
These groups hide behind legitimate businesses like restaurants and shops, which also serve as fronts for the transit of other wildlife and illegal drugs, the investigation found.
An influx of Chinese investment into infrastructure projects in Bolivia in recent years has coincided with a rise in poaching, with traffickers targeting jaguars as a replacement for nearly depleted tiger populations back in Asia.