Can upcoming referendum in Ecuador stop oil drilling in Yasuní National Park?
QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorians have been given a chance to vote on whether or not they want oil drilling to continue in Yasuní National Park, deep in the northern Amazon…
Articles by Kimberley Brown
Kim is a freelance writer and video journalist based in Quito, Ecuador. She has been living in Latin America and covering regional society and politics - with the occasional environmental story - for the past four years. To see more of her work, follow her on Twitter @KimberleyJBrown
Can the EU’s deforestation law save Argentina’s Gran Chaco from soy?
Large-scale soy production for European markets has long been associated with deforestation in South America’s forests, including in the continent’s second-largest, but lesser-known, forest, the Gran Chaco in Argentina and…
Forest conservation efforts in Peru are failing across the board, study says
Peru has attracted millions of dollars in forest conservation projects over the years, has a series of international agreements and targets to protect forests and has 254 public and private…
Changing circumstances turn ‘sustainable communities’ into deforestation drivers: Study
Subsistence communities, those who live off the forest and lead largely sustainable lifestyles, can actually become drivers of forest loss and degradation under certain circumstances, according to a new study.…
Violence in Brazil’s Amazon are also crimes against humanity, lawyers tell international court
On the morning of May 24, 2017, police and military carried out an operation in the Santa Lúcia farm in Brazil’s northern Amazon state of Pará, killing 10 unarmed rural…
Indigenous Kogi worldview aims to change face of conservation for good
Long before climate change had been deemed a global crisis, the Kogi Indigenous people, who have long lived in seclusion in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains, were already warning that industrial…
Peru is tackling water scarcity with nature-based solutions, leading the way in Latin America
Josefa Mería has lived in the Peruvian city of Moyobamba, where the Andes meet the Amazon rainforest, for more than 30 years. Even in this humid tropical climate, she remembers…
‘We go in and take Indigenous lands back from cattle ranchers’: Q&A with activist Pablo Sibar
In a country often ignored internationally except when it comes to its bustling tourism industry and oceans, Costa Rica and its Indigenous rights record is receiving careful attention by the…
First-ever regional court case involving rights of uncontacted peoples awaits verdict
Deep in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest live the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous nations, the last two communities in the country who have never set foot outside of the jungle. They…
Alternatives to farmwork empower communities and save forests, study finds
Protected areas are important for saving tropical forests and biodiversity, but for them to be effective, local communities living around the reserves need to have access to non-agricultural jobs, a…
Indigenous lands, knowledge are essential for saving primates from extinction, says new study
The declining population of non-human primates, like monkeys, apes, tarsiers or prosimians, mainly due to deforestation and habitat loss, has long been a concern for researchers. At least 68% of…
‘Lost’ Amazonian cities hint at how to build urban landscapes without harming nature
It was over twenty years ago when locals in Bolivia’s northern plains told archaeologist Heiko Prümers, with the German Archaeological Institute in Bonn, about mysterious mounds of earth in the…
‘Marine conservation talks must include human rights’: Q&A with biologist Vivienne Solís Rivera
Human rights, such as those of small-scale fishers, must be included in the global conservation goal to protect 30% of the world's lands and oceans by 2030, say environmentalists, otherwise…
Sabino Gualinga, Amazon shaman and defender of the ‘living forest,’ passes away
QUITO — Its a sad moment for any Indigenous community when spiritual leaders, those who hold the knowledge of sacred ceremonies and traditions, pass away from this world. But Sabino…
Ecuador’s top court rules for stronger land rights for Indigenous communities
QUITO, Ecuador — Indigenous communities across Ecuador celebrated over the weekend after a historic ruling by the country’s highest court declaring that Indigenous communities have more autonomy over their territory and…
Oil highway bears down on uncontacted Indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Yasuní
Yasuní National Park in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest has long been famed for being one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, home to thousands of species of plants, birds,…
Court convenes historic hearing in Indigenous territory on land consent issue
Early on the morning of Nov. 15, five Constitutional Court judges arrived by canoe to the Indigenous Cofan community of Sinangoe in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest, wearing rubber boots and…
Ecuador’s consultation process for Indigenous lands comes under the microscope
Before the pandemic, Ecuador’s Indigenous communities were on a roll, winning a series of lawsuits against the state for selling, or trying to sell, their land to oil and mining…
Environmental defenders in Ecuador aren’t safe, new report shows
QUITO — For almost five years, Andres Durazno and his niece Elizabeth would march, block roads, and confront mining authorities and police together. They were leading the fight against mining…
Human rights must be at heart of new biodiversity framework, experts say
The planet’s wildlife is disappearing at unprecedented rates and ecosystems are deteriorating rapidly, according to a growing number of studies. This is why the world’s largest biodiversity conference, COP15, taking…
Ecuador Indigenous accuse state of crimes against humanity
QUITO, Ecuador — Katy Mochoa marched down the streets of Quito on Oct. 12, holding in one hand the corner of a large Wiphala flag — the rainbow-hued banner of…
TIME’s list of 100 most influential people in 2020 includes Indigenous Waorani leader
QUITO, Ecuador — It was a historic moment in April of 2019. Dozens of Indigenous Waorani plaintiffs filled a small courtroom in Ecuador’s Amazon city of Puyo, many of them…
Latin America unites to fight global inequalities in new regional pact
QUITO — COVID-19 has made it hard to ignore the gaping social and economic inequalities and environmental destruction worldwide, particularly in the global south. That’s why researchers and social movements…
Court forces Ecuador government to protect Indigenous Waorani during COVID-19
QUITO — As COVID-19 sweeps across communities in the Amazon rainforest, the Indigenous Waorani in Ecuador are celebrating a bittersweet victory after a provincial court ruled in their favor in…
‘I’ll never be ready for this port,’ locals say of Colombia’s proposed project
TRIBUGÁ, Colombia — Aida Leides Palacios Moreno strolls through the narrow dirt streets in the Colombian town of Tribugá surrounded by palm and plantain trees rustling in the seaside breeze.…
Life on the Amazon oil frontier: From exploration to ecotourism
LLANCHAMA, Ecuador — A long passenger boat floats abandoned outside Andres Machoa’s house, along the Tiputini River in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. The community bought the boat more than five years…
Complicating the narrative about indigenous communities and their struggles (insider)
Don Lizardo was sitting in his hammock, rocking gently back and forth, as he told us heartbreaking stories about working in haciendas when he was younger. We were sitting in…
Heart of Ecuador’s Yasuni, home to uncontacted tribes, opens for oil drilling
QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park sits in a unique position on the equator, between the Andes mountain range and the Amazon rainforest, which has allowed a rich and…
Colombia’s El Paujil Reserve expands in dying Magdalena Valley
QUITO, Ecuador — Environmentalists have made a major advancement in saving the last remaining bit of rainforest in Colombia’s Magdalena Valley by expanding El Paujil Nature Reserve. The reserve is…
Historic win by Ecuador’s Waorani could re-shape extraction activities
QUITO, Ecuador — The indigenous Waorani community in Ecuador won a historic lawsuit against the government late last month, when a three-judge panel ruled that a consultation process conducted with…
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