Amazon Monitoring

- Presented in February by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, a draft bill violates Indigenous people’s constitutional rights by stripping their veto power against impactful activities on their ancestral lands and adding further obstacles to an already long land demarcation process.- Critics say the Supreme Federal Court’s act is “unprecedented” in Brazil’s history by an institution that’s entitled to protect Indigenous and minorities’ rights — as dictated by the Constitution.- The move comes months after the same court decided those Indigenous rights couldn’t be stripped by a legislative bill, with the support of Mendes.- Critics say the bill “brings together the main threats to Indigenous peoples” and “directly contradicts the Brazilian Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court itself and international human rights law.”

A massive oil spill in Ecuadorian Amazon, in the northwestern Esmeraldas province, has covered multiple rivers and a key wildlife refuge in thick, black sludge, impacting more than half a million residents. A rupture appeared in a 500-kilometer (310-mile) pipeline operated by the state-owned oil company Petroecuador on Mar. 13, according to a statement by

- Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.- Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.- Despite the bioeconomy buzz, people working on the ground say they miss support from banks and public administrations.

If you are caught cutting down the Amazon Rainforest illegally, chances are you will get off without being required to pay for the environmental damage. According to a recent report, only 5% of offenders have paid court-ordered fines for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Researchers at Imazon, a Brazilian environmental research nonprofit, analyzed more than

- The global climate system is even nearer than we thought to a tipping point where global warming escapes from human control. Emissions from both fossil fuel combustion and the loss and degradation of forests must be drastically reduced, beginning immediately.- Brazil would be one of the greatest victims if global warming escapes from control, but, excepting the Ministry of Environment and Climate change, virtually the entire Brazilian government is promoting projects that will increase emissions for decades to come.- Brazil’s President Lula so far shows no signs of waking up to the climate crisis, to its implications for Brazil, and to the climatic consequences of his current policies.- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.