Jeane Moura da Silva, 34, is a member of the third generation of residents of Educandos Creek, in the south end of Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon region. She lives with her three daughters, husband and grandson in the same place where her grandmother was born and raised and where everyone in the […]
Category: Topics
Sargassum: Brown Tide Threatens the Caribbean
A decade after the first sargassum blooms were spotted in the South Atlantic, these massive brown mats of macro-algae represent one of the largest ecological threats to the Caribbean, a megadiverse region whose tens of millions of inhabitants heavily depend on tourism and natural resources.
Murky Waters: Amazon Destruction Linked to the Largest Belt of Algae on the Planet
Scientists are examining why banks of sargassum in the Atlantic have proliferated explosively over the past decade, fouling the Caribbean and extending to the coast of Africa. Growing discharges of organic pollutants from the Amazon River are now believed to be a major cause.
Brazil’s isolated tribes in the crosshairs of miners targeting Indigenous lands
Mined Amazon has revealed 1,265 pending requests to mine in 26 Indigenous territories in Brazil that are home to isolated tribes. In 2020, half of the requests filed with the ANM were on lands with isolated tribes. Indigenous groups have filed a lawsuit with Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court against the government, and avert a “real risk of genocide” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Illegal mining sparks malaria outbreak in Indigenous territories in Brazil
A letter from Jacareacanga City Hall, obtained exclusively by Mongabay/InfoAmazonia, asks the Evandro Chagas Institute for help because of a “major outbreak of malaria” in the municipality’s indigenous lands and points out that the increase in cases is related to illegal mining in the region. by Hyury Potter, Eduardo Goulart de Andrade e Fábio BispoTranslation: […]
Encouraged by Bolsonaro, mining requests on indigenous lands reach record numbers in 2020
Exclusive survey reveals 145 requests filed with the National Mining Agency as of November 3, the highest number in 24 years. A bill presented by President Bolsonaro would legalize activities currently prohibited by the Constitution. Image: operation against illegal mining in TI Kayapó, in 2017. Photo: Felipe Werneck/InfoAmazonia.
‘Do I deserve to die for speaking on behalf of a people?’
Eronilde Fermin is the chief of the Omágua Kambeba in São Paulo de Olivença, in the Brazilian Amazon. The following is an account of the struggle of unequal forces she faces when trying to guarantee indigenous education, medical care during the pandemic, and protection against invaders.
‘Defending the jungle is defending community life,‘ says leader from Ecuadorian Amazon
Rosa Aranda faces two miseries. One in her own body: she was infected by Covid-19. The other is the historical pollution generated by the oil industry, which threatens the territory in which she lives, Piwiri, in the Ecuadorian Amazon forest.
Saweto’s daughter, from Peru, persists in her fight for justice
Diana Ríos Rengifo took on the defense of the Peruvian Amazon after the murder of her father, a well-known Asheninka leader in the fight against illegal loggers. The trees in Saweto, a community located near the Peruvian border with Brazil, are highly coveted on the market and are threatened by indiscriminate logging.
Hortimio, the “Lord of the Earth”: Always at the Forefront in Cataniapo
Inspired by Wänä’cä, a leader who is mentioned in the ancestral songs of the Huöttöja people, Hortimio Ochoa is the visible face of defense of the Cataniapo hydrographic basin in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas. It is an area subject to increasingly evident pressure associated with mining, deforestation and the incursion of illegal armed groups