Latin America and the Caribbean

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...

Written by: Elizabeth Alberts Belize, a tiny Central American nation nestled beside the Caribbean Sea, is making giant strides in its ocean conservation efforts. In the short space of a month, the government made two big decisions to help protect its oceans: it expanded an...

Written by: Stella Muzin Healing Coral doesn't want to save the planet, they want to heal with it. This initiative, officially launched in April of 2022, is not just talking about what they plan to do but actually taking action. By creating ocean-based artworks and virtual...

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: 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...

Courtesy of Landscape News Written by: Augusta Dwyer A new study published in Nature Communications has quantified for the first time exactly how much deforestation decreases rainfall in the Amazon rainforest – and has put a price on it.  According to the analysis carried out by scientists at the Centre...

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: Natasha Ferrari and Klara Nilsson Decisions made by governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will determine the future health, wellbeing and resilience of people and planet. New policy recommendations offer governments around the world the chance to maximise the economic opportunities that lie in nature,...

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...

Written by: Kimberly White  Ecuador has moved to bar mining activity in the Los Cedros Protected Forest in a landmark case. The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has ruled that plans to mine copper and gold in the protected cloud forest violate the rights of nature.  Spanning...