Latin America and the Caribbean

Written by: Oliver Wilson For hundreds of thousands of years, the distinctive candelabra shapes of Araucaria trees (Araucaria angustifolia) have defined landscapes at the southern edge of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Humans have never known a world without these majestic evergreens. But my new research, conducted with...

Written by: Johan Oldekop, Bowy den Braber, and Marina Schmoeller Although deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have halved, it is still losing more than 5,000km² every year. That’s an area three times larger than Greater London. By combining satellite imagery for the entire Amazon region with...

Written by: Kimberly White Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Paraguay have joined the battle against marine plastic pollution this week at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya. The three nations joined the UN Environment Programme’s Clean Seas campaign. Launched in...

Courtesy of Landscape News Written by: Ming Chun Tang Wildlife and greenery aren’t Mexico City’s calling cards. But while the world’s fifth-largest metropolis is home to more than 21 million people, it’s also grounds for nearly 4,000 species of flora and fauna, and some 15 percent of its total area consists of national...

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,...

Courtesy of Forests News Written by: Julie Mollins Indigenous federations and the Peruvian government are confronting obstacles caused by conflicts over land-tenure rights to implement effective climate mitigation programs, raising hopes that their innovative collaborative approach could be replicated in other regions, scientists say. Efforts to introduce REDD+ programs (Reducing...

Written by: Kimberly White Indigenous groups in Brazil are calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate President Jair Bolsonaro for genocide and ecocide.  The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples from Brazil (APIB) filed a statement with the ICC accusing the Bolsonaro administration of genocide and...

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: 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: Kimberly White The Amazonian Siekopai Nation has been granted ownership of their ancestral homeland in a landmark decision by an Ecuadorian appeals court.  After a lengthy legal battle with the Ecuadorian government, an Ecuadorian appeals court has ruled in favor of the Siekopai Nation,...