Latin America and the Caribbean

Written by: Juan Mayorga In Tepejillo, on one of the many hills in the southern Mexican municipality of San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, extreme erosion has transformed the earth into bare rock, making it difficult to imagine that the area used to be home to a...

Written by: Maxwell Radwin An Indigenous community in Ecuador has finally obtained national protections for part of its territory after decades of fighting off deforestation and pollution in its mega-diverse rainforests. Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas now includes the 5,497-hectare (13,583-acre) ancestral Tiwi Nunka Forest,...

Written by: Kimberly White  Costa Rica has been awarded the 2019 UN Champion of the Earth award. The Central American country is recognized for its steadfast commitment to the environment and ambitious policies to tackle the climate crisis.  The Champions of the Earth award is the...

Written by: Peter Yeung In the tropical forest surrounding Alter do Chão, a Brazilian town located on a languid stretch of the Amazon River and home to what is considered one of the most beautiful freshwater beaches in the world, monkeys, macaws, agoutis and armadillos...

Written by: Kimberly White  Panama’s plastic bag ban has gone into effect. Panama became the first Central American country to ban single-use plastic bags in 2018.  As of July 20th, retailers, supermarkets, and pharmacies can no longer use polyethylene bags. Similar to other single-use plastics bans, businesses...

Written by: Amy White and Shannon Engstrom Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and heat waves, are increasing in intensity, frequency and duration due to climate change. Recently, there has been a spate of devastating storms across the Caribbean and North America, with the...

Written by: Kimberly White On Thursday, April 11th, President Sebastián Piñera launched the COP25 climate change summit. Chile will be the host of the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference this December. President Piñera called for tougher and more ambitious steps to be taken to combat...

Written by: Mauricio Rodas As climate change increasingly threatens populated urban areas, cities need to be at the forefront of pioneering sustainable urban development and nature-positive transitions to mitigate environmental challenges. Projects crucial for protecting growing urban centres from the dangers of climate-related threats are...

Courtesy of Landscape News Written by: Natasha Vizcarra An international panel of 200 scientists has called for a halt to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, saying the biome plays a critical role in global water cycles and regulating climate variability and therefore must be protected. “We are scientists who...

Written by: Victoria Masterson The bioeconomy is becoming big business in Colombia. By protecting and restoring the Amazon rainforest – and cultivating some of its 80,000 plant species – communities are replacing work that once relied on deforestation. Here, we detail three businesses in Colombia that are...