“My son was covered in burns, poor boy – he just died,” says María Grefa, a Kichwa from Sinchiurco, a community in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon. The tragedy took place in the 1990s, when the eight-year-old was playing with other children. They decided to climb the Guanta 1 oil platform transformer while his parents were […]
Once covering an expanse of more than 2,140 square kilometers (826 square miles) of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, Tinigua National Natural Park has lost 29% of its forests over the past 20 years. Much of this loss has occurred only since 2018, when the park lost nearly 6% of its tree cover in a single […]
UCAYALI, Peru Mennonites, an ultra-conservative religious group, are illegally converting pristine forests in the Peruvian Amazon into agricultural land. They are not only threatening biodiversity but also encroaching on Indigenous territory. Satellite data show that Mennonite colonies are now the leading cause of large-scale deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon exceeding deforestation caused by agribusiness […]
SANTA ROSILLO DE YANAYACU, Peru Swaths of recently deforested land and images of guns spray-painted on trees greeted the Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu patrol when they visited a portion of their community forest in northern Peru on Aug. 20, 2022. Members of the patrol said the forest had been intact when they had last […]
Palm oil production is leaving a deep mark on the rivers and forests of Latin America. Between 2010 and 2021, at least 298 cases were opened against 170 palm oil companies and producers in just six countries across the region. The violation of environmental regulations, deforestation, diverting watercourses and water hoarding, among other crimes, were […]