Journalism from the center of the world

Scenes from last year of burn-offs in the Amazon, which are now recurring at record levels. Photo: Christian Braga/Greenpeace

FOREST CRIMES AND DESTRUCTION

  • Illicit land appropriators advertise on Facebook
    Over 150 ads for stolen Amazonian public lands were placed on social media over a three-week period, according to an investigation by Forbidden Stories, in continuance of Dom Phillips’ work. (Repórter Brasil)
  • New record for burn-offs
    With 1,692 fires in May, the first month in the region’s dry season, the Amazon saw the second most burn-offs ever in the last 18 years. (((o))eco)
  • Agro giants buy illegal soy
    Agribusinesses purchased soybeans from farmers who had been fined for planting crops on embargoed indigenous lands in Mato Grosso. The scheme used falsified invoices. (O Joio e O Trigo)
  • Violence in the Amazon exceeds the national average
    The homicide rate in Brazil’s Legal Amazon is 50.8% higher than in other states, according to a study. Environmental crimes and drug trafficking are intertwined in the region. (FBSP)

UNPROTECTED NON-HUMANS

  • Rodeo culture invades the Amazon
    American-style rodeos organized by farmhands on cattle farms are proliferating in southern Pará, normalizing deforestation. (Mongabay)
  • Operation to save wounded dolphin
    Ribeirinhos – members of traditional forest communities – and environmental agents in the Amazon are trying to save an Amazon river dolphin in need of surgery after it was the victim of illegal hunting. (((o))eco)

POLITICS

Opened during military rule, Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) is being rebuilt in northern Brazil and is once again putting the forest at risk. Photo: Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real

  • Bruno and Dom murders: no change in the Javari Valley
    Beto Marubo, an Indigenous leader who took part in the searches for Bruno and Dom in the Javari Valley, said nothing has changed in the region. He is calling for integrated action by environmental agencies. (InfoAmazonia)
  • Gas exploration ignores input from Indigenous people
    Indigenous people have filed a legal demand that the Mura, Munduruku, and Gavião peoples be consulted during the process of licensing gas exploration on the Amazon River, a region where 190 families live. (Amazônia Real)
  • BR319 is the Amazon’s road to ruin
    Rebuilding the BR319 poses the greatest threat to the still pristine forest in the western Amazon because the highway could cause deforestation to spread up to 150 km on each side of the road. (Amazônia Real)

Spell check (Portuguese): Elvira Gago
Translation into Spanish: Meritxell Almarza
English translation: Sarah J. Johnson
Photography editing: Marcelo Aguilar, Mariana Greif and Pablo Albarenga
Page setup: Érica Saboya

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