Enforcement authorities throughout the Americas continued investigations of fraud, corruption, and other misconduct across the region. Below are some of the highlights of the last.
A Repórter Brasil está sob censura judicial desde o dia 9 de outubro de 2015. Saiba mais.
“Consortia of deception” enable destruction in a conservation unit where deforestation is high
By Maurício Hashizume |
10/05/21
The Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area (EPA) is a key territory in the Xingu Socio-Environmental Diversity Corridor located between São Félix do Xingu and Altamira. About 40% of its area has already been converted to other uses, mainly livestock. Actions by “consortia” formed to deceive governance drive devastation and worsen conflicts
The Triunfo
do Xingu Environmental Protection Area (EPA), in southern Pará state, appears
at the top of several lists of conservation units (CUs) with the highest rates
‘Throw them overboard’: Brazil mine disaster victims bullied over compensation
by Alice Maciel on 6 May 2021
Communities awaiting compensation from the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history say they’re being stymied by a convoluted legal process that favors those responsible.
Compensation for the 2015 Mariana tailings dam disaster, which killed 19 people and polluted a river basin the size of Portugal, is being administered by a foundation set up by the mining companies.
State and federal prosecutors and public defenders allege collusion between the foundation and the judge overseeing the process; they also call the compensation being offered “ridiculously low.”
In a recording of a meeting this past January, a lawyer for the foundation can be heard berating community members and demanding that they apologize for staging a peaceful protest, or risk the payments being stopped.
After facing a long suspension, WhatsApp on Wednesday said it is finally launching its Payments service in Brazil as part of a gradual rollout.Brazil s Central Bank had blocked the service in June 2020, citing concerns about competition in the .
Deforestation-free beef stymied by Brazil’s unequal supply chain
A decade after signing agreements to ban deforestation caused by the beef industry, cattle ranching continues to be the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
A study reveals disparities between ranchers and meatpackers that make it difficult for the industry to comply with the agreements and that allow deforestation to persist.
Only 100 out of 160 meatpacking plants in the study area, in southeast Pará state, have signed zero-deforestation agreements; of these, only 56 have been audited for their compliance.
Among ranches, bigger ones have the financial resources and access to technology to boost productivity without clearing forest for new pasture, while smaller ones tend not even to be formally registered, depriving them of incentives to aim for compliance.