COP30 negotiators from around the world gather next week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Our Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes says it’s a vital opportunity to engage with the Indigenous peoples who help protect the vast rainforest region — even for environmental reporters not there in person. Here’s how to tell their stories.
"Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell by 11% from August 2024 to July this year, the government said Thursday, even as wildfires tracked by Brazil’s space agency surged to record levels amid a severe drought."
"South America's vulnerable Amazon rainforest region is a rising frontier for oil and gas drilling."
"As the world's thirst for coffee shows no signs of slowing down, widely used practices to ramp up the crop's production have become self-defeating, according to a nonprofit watchdog group."
"In a month’s time, nearly 200 countries will gather at the gates of the Amazon rainforest for a new round of United Nations-sponsored climate talks. But there is still intense discussion about what the main outcome ought to be."
"Ranchers are pushing against a Trump administration proposal to import beef from Argentina, a move they say is causing chaos in the market."
"Brazilian farmers are lobbying to roll back deforestation restrictions in order to sell more soybeans to the huge Chinese market."
"Brazil’s government approved on Monday exploratory drilling by state-run oil-giant Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon River. The decision comes only weeks before the United Nations climate conference in Belem, COP30, where efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels will be discussed."
"The United Nations warned that mercury contamination from illegal gold mining in Colombia’s Atrato River basin has created a “serious and ongoing human rights crisis,” threatening the health and survival of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities who depend on the river for food, water and culture."
"An illegal gold rush has cleared 140,000 hectares of rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon and is accelerating as foreign, armed groups move into the region to profit from record gold prices, according to a report."
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