Category: Deforestation

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Latin America in 2024: politics, turmoil and hope

  • In 2024, Latin America continued facing chronic issues of deforestation, ecosystem contamination, violence, habitat loss and political turmoil.
  • Changes brought on by presidential elections in several countries have not brought on significant changes for the environment, at least not yet, with effects still to be seen in the years to come.
  • Increased criminal activity in the region remains a serious obstacle to conservation work, endangering local and Indigenous communities, while highlighting governments’ inability to tackle narco-trafficking and its associated consequences.

Throughout a year in which Latin America saw elections in six countries and prepared for the biodiversity COP16 in Colombia, the region continued its struggle with extreme weather events, criminal activity threatening ecosystems and development encroaching on communities and wildlife habitats. At the same time, community efforts toward conservation, environmental justice and implementation of nature-based solutions kept up. Below we selected several key stories we reported on last year – they are good opportunities to refresh one’s memory about what has happened, but also set our expectations for the issues carrying on into 2025. 

Political change across the region

In El Salvador, the re-election of Nayib Bukele posed environmental concerns, as his agenda prioritizes development, security, and attracting foreign investments over the country’s natural assets. In 2017, El Salvador was the first country in the world to ban mining but fears that Bukele would reverse that ban have since become a reality. 

In Panama, presidential race winner Jose Raul Mulino has stated he didn’t have plans to re-open the Cobre Panama mine, but his plans are also more focused on job development and infrastructure than on environmental issues. Last year, the government’s relocation of the island community of Gardi Sugdub – a first for the country – highlighted Panama’s tangible struggle with climate change impacts.

Families are migrating from Gardi Sugdub, a tiny island belonging to the Indigenous Guna Yala people of Panama, packed with houses to the edge of the water, due to sea level rise.
Families are migrating from Gardi Sugdub, a tiny island belonging to the Indigenous Guna Yala people of Panama, packed with houses to the edge of the water, due to sea level rise. Image by Michael Adams via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Mexico’s election of its first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has brought hope that more of the country’s environmental issues will get attention from the government. Sheinbaum is the former mayor of Mexico City and an environmental scientist by trade. She co-authored the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, yet her campaign has been light on rigorous environmental policy, some critics have said. As the successor of AMLO, her support of the controversial Tren Maya and oil giant Pemex has raised red flags about her commitment to conservation and the energy transition.

Venezuela’s electoral campaign, with Nicolas Maduro’s victory still highly contested, had little space for environmental issues, even though the country has plunged into a crisis so severe that many observers have called it an ecocide. Mining has torn through the Amazon Rainforest. A neglected oil industry has polluted the coast. Protected areas are plundered for their timber and exotic species. Funds for scientific research have all but dried up. Funds for park guards have dwindled, as well.

A year of wildfires and drought

Wildfires have scorched millions of hectares of forest across South America so far this year. From Bolivia to Brazil, Peru to Argentina, the continent has been gripped by one of its worst fire seasons in decades, with deforestation and drought fueling the flames.

Bolivia has been hit the hardest, with more than 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of forest and natural vegetation scorched by late September. This made 2024 Bolivia’s worst year for fires on record. There were three times more fires in Bolivia in 2024 than in previous years, devastating biodiversity and Indigenous territories.

Brazil, home to 60% of the Amazon, also faced extreme fire activity. In the Brazilian Pantanal, more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) burned by October, marking one of the most destructive fire seasons in recent history. 

Peru has also declared a state of emergency in six regions as fires spread across the country. By late September, the fires had killed 20 people, injured more than 160, and burned more than 12,300 hectares (30,400 acres) of natural vegetation, while severe drought in the Amazon left several Indigenous communities isolated. Meanwhile, Colombia reported 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres) destroyed by fires in September alone. In Mexico, heat waves have also had severe impacts: by August 2024, the country had recorded at least 125 heat-related deaths and 2,308 cases of heat stroke, along with power outages, wildfires, and mass die-offs of threatened howler monkeys. 

The Amazon has experienced its worst fire season in 19 years, while Pantanal wetlands have already burned 15% of its area. Image courtesy of Fernando Donasci/Environment and Climate Change Ministry.

In early 2024, Venezuela experienced record-breaking fires. Apart from the highest number of fires in any January and February for the last two decades, wildfires continued into early May, devastating national parks and affecting the capital of Caracas. To that point, up to 2 million hectares (4.94 million acres) of land appear to have already burned, experts estimated.

Mining, energy and infrastructure projects expanded

In Bolivia, lithium extraction has brought on new issues for communities neighboring the industry. In Salar de Uyuni, a lithium plant opened in 2023 has been using untested equipment and has been possibly mismanaging its use of freshwater, raising concerns for residents about whether the Bolivian government can responsibly manage the rapid growth of the industry.

In Nicaragua, despite US sanctions, harmful mining has continued unabated. Between 2021 and 2023, the amount of Nicaraguan land concessioned for mining more than doubled, from 923,681 hectares (2,282,465 acres) to 1.8 million hectares (4,447,896 acres), according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Mining concessions now take up around 15% of the country’s total land area. 

In Colombia, approval of the $420.4 million Alacrán mining project in northern Colombia has alarmed residents, who say they might lose their food and drinking water to unregulated pollution, causing them to relocate to other parts of the country. In Guyana, a series of ongoing road projects traveling over 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the capital of Georgetown to the city of Lethem, in the south, are supposed to improve access to more rural parts of Guyana while facilitating international trade, most notably with Brazil. But the project also crosses sensitive wetlands and Indigenous communities, raising concerns about how the government will manage future development there.

Plant of Bolivian Lithium Deposits, in Uyuni. Photo: YLB.

Earlier in the year, Mongabay reporter Maxwell Radwin and videographer Caitlin Cooper embarked on a journey aboard the Tren Maya, traveling from Cancún to Palenque and back, on a mission to uncover critical issues associated with the rail project, including impacts on communities and ecosystems.

Criminality encroaches on ecosystems

In Ecuador, an investigation by Mongabay and Codigo Vidrio found that for the last seven years, the Los Lobos criminal group has become deeply entrenched in illegal gold mining across all of the country’s provinces, taking over the mineral’s supply chain. The group that has entered even protected areas, has spread fear among local and Indigenous communities.

The Maya Biosphere Reserve, which stretches 2.2 million hectares (5.3 million acres) across northern Guatemala, has seen a wave of land invasions in 2024 in areas that have historically not faced threats of colonization.  As new trails open up and fires spread, officials have raised concerns not just about deforestation but about potentially losing control of the area altogether.

In Colombia, the Chinese-owned Buritica gold mine lost control over 60% of its operations as its tunnels have been invaded by informal miners associated with Colombia’s largest criminal armed group, the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), also known as the Gulf Clan. Armed groups have increasingly gained power in the country: one report found that one of Colombia’s biggest active FARC dissident groups, the Central Armed Command (EMC), controls much of the Amazon rainforest in the departments of Guaviare, Meta and Caquetá.

The Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Large-scale deforestation in the region has been linked, in part, to narco-trafficking, say experts.
The Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Large-scale deforestation in the region has been linked, in part, to narco-trafficking, say experts. Image courtesy of CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

In the Peruvian Amazon, cocaine has gained more ground. According to official data from MAAP, the surface area of coca production in Peru is increasing, particularly in the central Peruvian Amazon, along the Andes Mountains in the regions of Ucayali and Huánuco, leading to further threats and killings of Indigenous leaders. At the same time, experts have warned that organizations associated with the drug trade have diversified into mining, logging and land-grabbing enterprises, redrawing the map of criminal networks in Latin America.

Green finance has also continued stirring controversy. In early 2024, a Mongabay investigation revealed that several companies registered in Latin American countries claiming to have U.N. endorsement have persuaded Indigenous communities to hand over the economic rights to their forests for decades to come. Indigenous communities in Peru, Bolivia and Panama were promised jobs and local development projects in exchange for putting on the market more than 9.5 million hectares (23.5 million acres) of forests. The U.N. entities cited by the companies have rejected any involvement.

Conservation efforts carry on, despite obstacles

While Latin America might be battling many chronic issues, it still abounds in stories about conservation successes and new solutions to older problems. In Beni, Bolivia, a new approach to ranching has succeeded in bringing more sustainable practices and helping regenerate native grasses in the local savannas. In Peru, conservationists have come together to help protect the critically endangered Lima leaf-toed gecko (Phyllodactylus sentosus), which lives in Lima’s archaeological sites, while in Iquitos, communities are struggling to protect turtle species from illegal trade and local culinary traditions.

Illegal bird traders have aggressively sought out the red siskin for more than a century. Image courtesy of SRCS.

Research has shown that in Ecuador community-led conservation initiatives were more effective in curbing páramo loss than state-protected areas, while in Guyana, local Indigenous communities have set up a conservation zone for the rare red siskin (Spinus cucullata) finch to protect it from illegal trade and habitat loss.

Banner image: Mist rising from the Amazon rainforest at dawn. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

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Four new tarantula species found in India’s Western Ghats mountains

  • Four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, have been described from India’s Western Ghats mountains.
  • A concerning trend shows that 25% of newly described tarantula species since 2000 have appeared in the pet trade, with some appearing for sale within months of being scientifically described.
  • Tarantulas face dual threats from illegal collection for the pet trade and habitat loss in the Western Ghats, where many are found only in small patches of remaining forest surrounded by tea plantations.
  • These spiders serve as important predators and indicators of healthy habitats in their ecosystems, but are particularly vulnerable due to their slow reproduction rates and the difficulty in detecting them during smuggling attempts.

A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India’s Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country’s west coast.

“Most people in India are not even aware that there are tarantulas in India when there are more than 60 species in the country,” Zeeshan Mirza, from the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Germany, who found and described the species, told Mongabay.

The large, fuzzy spiders live in tree hollows, along streams and forest paths, and in forest patches. They exhibit interesting behaviors, such as females carrying their egg sacs under their mouth parts (or chelicerae) or creating hammock-like web structures to protect their eggs.

Zeeshan Mirza with one of the new tarantula species from the Western Ghats. Mirza has discovered several species of reptiles in India as well. Photo courtesy of Mirza.

One of the new species, named Haploclastus bratocolonus (meaning “tree dweller”), makes its home in hollow trees along rivers. Another species, Haploclastus montanus, was found living at elevations higher than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) in mountain forests, making it one of the highest-living tarantulas known from the region. Some of the new species were found in the rare small fragments of remaining shola forest surrounded by tea plantations.

Among the species was an entirely new genus of tarantulas called Cilantica, named after the Tamil word for spider. They can be identified by the unique scattered pattern of curved bristles on their bodies, unlike the C-shaped arrangement of bristles found in other tarantulas.

Tarantulas serve important roles in their forest homes, acting as biological pest controllers and preying on smaller invertebrates and vertebrates. “They also form part of the diet of other species like spider wasps and small carnivores,” Mirza said. “They are keystone species and indicators of undisturbed habitats.”

A female Haploclastus montanus, a new species of tarantula found in the Western Ghats. Photo courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza
The burrow of a newly described tarantula genus in the Western Ghats if India. Photo courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza.

However, there’s trouble for tarantulas across the globe. A recent study reveals that 25% of all newly described tarantula species since 2000 have ended up in the international pet trade, meaning many spiders could be at risk from collectors before we can fully understand them

Alice Hughes, a biologist at the University of Hong Kong who studies the global trade in arachnids, found that rare spiders often appear for sale shortly after being scientifically described. Her research revealed that an estimated 1,264 arachnid species are currently traded worldwide.

More than 73% of arachnid species sold online aren’t listed in international trade monitoring systems, according to Hughes’s research. “For most of these species we don’t have the data, but we’re also focusing so much on species like elephants, that we’ve forgotten that literally 99.9% of [arachnid] species are not getting the level of attention they deserve,” she said.

Cilantica agasthyaensis is one of the new species included in a new genus of trantulas from the Western Ghats. Photo courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza.

The problem is made worse because detecting a smuggled tarantula is difficult. “Tarantulas cannot be detected easily through X-ray-based screening at airports as they lack bones,” Mirza said.

He added the speed at which newly discovered species can end up in the pet trade is alarming. For example, the tarantula Haploclastus devamatha was described from the Indian state of Kerala in 2014, and within eight months was being “sold in several online pet stores,” he said. “Even now, many pet stores have this species on sale on their websites.”

Tarantulas are especially vulnerable to overcollection because they reproduce slowly and live a long time (10-20 years or more). Many species are found only in small areas, meaning too much collecting could wipe out entire populations.

“As a researcher, I am worried about the fate of the new species I described,” Mirza said.

Silent Valley National Park in India’s Western Ghats. Some of the mountain range is protected, but many areas face threats from development and hunting. Photo courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza.

The discovery of the new tarantula species underscores both the region’s biological richness and the ongoing need for conservation efforts. The Western Ghats, recognized as a biodiversity hotspot, harbor numerous endemic species found nowhere else on Earth. While parts of it are protected, the ecosystem faces threats from deforestation, agriculture and climate change. The paper suggests that these tarantulas could serve as flagship species for invertebrate conservation in the Western Ghats.

To protect these spiders, Mirza suggested several solutions. People living in areas with tarantulas can help by reporting illegal collection to forest departments. He also recommended better training for customs and airport security, possibly including sniffer dogs to detect smuggled spiders.

For tarantula enthusiasts, Mirza offered clear advice: “Tarantula enthusiasts can be more responsible and only choose species that have been captive-bred and are not sourced illegally.”

Banner image of  Zeeshan Mirza, with one of the four new tarantula species he found in India’s Western Ghats.

Liz Kimbrough is a staff writer for Mongabay and holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University, where she studied the microbiomes of trees. View more of her reporting here.

Study: Online trade in arachnids threatens some species with extinction

Citation: 

Mirza ZA (2024) Systematics of the Western Ghats endemic tarantula subfamily Thrigmopoeinae with the description of a new genus and four new species. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 67(2): 183-234. https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.67.e112517

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An underground gold war in Colombia is ‘a ticking ecological time bomb’

  • In Colombia’s Buriticá municipality, a gold mine owned by Chinese company Zijin has become a hotspot of environmental damage, criminal activity and conflict.
  • Zijin announced earlier this year that it had lost control of 60% of its mining operations to the illegal miners, who have taken over the mine’s tunnels or collapsed them.
  • Illegal mining has expanded in and around the mine, with miners using mercury, explosives and heavy machinery to extract gold, contaminating ecosystems and threatening the geological stability of the area.
  • The illegal miners flock here from around the country, and are associated with the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), also known as the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest criminal armed group.

Nearly 100 underground tunnels, running a combined length of more than 84 kilometers, or 52 miles, crisscross and plunge into the depths of the mountain that hosts the Zijin gold mine in Buriticá, northeastern Colombia. Since 2021, those tunnels have been invaded by informal miners associated with Colombia’s largest criminal armed group, the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), called the “Gulf Clan” by the government, who are digging their own honeycomb of tunnels into the same massive gold deposits.

Confrontations between the informal miners Zijin security personnel have at times escalated into underground gun battles. And as the mine acts as a magnet for increasing criminality, both social and environmental destruction have followed.

Residents describe the situation as “a ticking ecological time bomb.” Some say they worry that the thousands of poorly constructed tunnels built by the informal miners are in danger of collapsing the mountain entirely — a fear also expressed after investigations by the Mining, Environmental and Agrarian Office of Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office.

Concerns over contamination

In a public statement from July, the AGO warned that illegal mining is creating “grave environmental consequences” that include “structural geological risk to the base” of the mountain where the Zijin mine is located.

“All mining, legal or illegal, contributes to ecological damage, and potentially threatens water tables via underground aquifers, causes deforestation and in turn these phenomena threaten biodiversity,” Oscar Alejandro Pérez-Escobar, a Colombian researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K., told Mongabay. “The region where Buriticá is located is among the most biodiverse in the Andes.”

But illegal mining is often more damaging than licensed commercial mining operations, because the miners don’t follow state-imposed practices that include basic ecological and safety guidelines, he said.

Mercury being used to agglomerate gold.
Mercury used to agglomerate gold has contaminated the local water table. Image by Fabio Nascimento.

Many of the informal mining operations that have sprung up around the mine use mercury as an agent to extract the gold deposits from the ore, as well as explosives to create tunnels or erode mountain faces, and heavy machinery to clear forest for strip-mining.

These illegal underground operations also damage the water table in the region through the use of chemicals and by leaving mining waste, or tailings, in poorly constructed tunnels that stretch deep into the mountain range in which they’re constructed.

“This is incredibly concerning,” Pérez-Escobar said, noting that any toxic materials left in the tunnels “will immediately end up in the water table. The tunnels are dug directly through natural subterranean aquifers in the mountains.”

“Heavy metals left over from mining, or used in mining processes, such as mercury, make their way up through the water table, into the food chain, and threaten flora and fauna alike,” he said. “This eventually becomes a poison for every living thing in the region.”

Mercury, which causes neurological damage in humans, including developmental problems in infants, has been detected in residents of other regions of Colombia where illegal mining has long been prevalent.

A 2017 study by the country’s environmental ministry in the municipalities of Segovia and Remedios found “high levels of mercury” in the breast milk of nearly 12% of lactating mothers. The government of Antioquia department, where the two municipalities are located, didn’t immediately respond to questions sent by Mongabay about whether similar studies had been conducted or were planned in Buriticá.

The Zijin mine operator has also been accused by the informal miners of intentionally dumping “toxic sludge” in tunnels in an attempt to deter illegal miners from entering. The operator has denied the accusations.

A growing minefield

The Zijin mine sits on the largest known gold deposit in South America,  an estimated reserve of more than 300 metric tons. The Chinese mining conglomerate that operates it calls it “ultra high-grade” and the country’s “first modern underground mine.”

But amid growing tensions with some local community members since the mine opened in 2020, the Chinese company has been the target of protests and road blockades by informal miners in the region.

The mine was initially built following surveying by Canada-based Continental Gold between 2016 and 2019, which discovered the gold deposits in Buriticá. In 2019, Zijin Mining Group, a multinational Chinese conglomerate, acquired 69.28% of Continental Gold’s shares and took over the Canadian company’s operations in Colombia.

Buriticá, Colombia, has seen a boom in mining, as it sits on the largest known gold deposit in South America. Image by Joshua Collins.

Juan Guillermo Pineda is a firefighter who has lived his whole life in Buriticá. “The illegal miners dump the bodies of those who die in the Zijin tunnels,” he told Mongabay over coffee in the idyllic town square. “They know they’ll be found there. So we come to pick them up, identify them, and then notify the families. If there are any families.”

Pineda adds that “We used to all be farmers here. But the kids here aren’t interested in that. Why would they want to poke around in the dirt when they earn 20 times as much looking for gold?”

Previously, the Gaitanistas didn’t have much of a presence in the municipality, despite having effective control over the region. But after Continental Gold’s discovery, things quickly began to change.

“A lot of people started arriving here from other mining regions in the country [in 2020],” said an activist and social leader who asked for anonymity, citing safety concerns. “People started to come here from dangerous places, like Segovia,” a mining town in northern Antioquia where the Gulf Clan maintains a strong presence. The region has a murder rate eight times higher than the national average.

“And now everyone has to pay EGC,” the activist said. “But the extortion isn’t the worst of it. Informal mining has exploded, and deaths have come with that.”

Zijin invested heavily in infrastructure and mining titles in the region. After operations became increasingly dangerous, in 2024 the company filed a lawsuit against the Colombian government. It sought $500 million in damages under Colombian-Canadian trade agreements, claiming Colombia had failed to guarantee basic security for its investment.

In June 2024, Zijin publicly declared it had lost control of more than 60% of its mining operation, as tunnels had been taken over or collapsed by informal miners, while two employees had been killed and dozens more injured. In the same statement, the company announced that it had recorded “2,260 explosions using improvised artifacts” and “a total of 2,450 shots fired” during confrontations with illegal miners within its tunnels in 2023.

“The Canadians dressed up the mine, claimed it was safe, and walked away with a nice paycheck,” said Luis, a mid-level manager for Zijin’s operations in Buriticá. He asked that his last name be withheld because he doesn’t have authorization to speak on behalf of the company. “It isn’t the Chinese company’s fault the problems started right afterward.”

Juan Pineda, a local firefighter, says that miners are working in dangerous, often deadly conditions. Image by Joshua Collins.

But Zijin’s lawsuit against Colombia is “unlikely to succeed,” said Adriaan Alsema, executive editor of South America-focused news portal Colombia Reports, who has reported on similar legal battles in the past. “The fact that Buriticá rests in a region firmly controlled by EGC is public knowledge. Government lawyers are likely to argue that it was a lack of due diligence on the part of the international conglomerate that is to blame, not Colombian security forces”

Alsema added that “No one is forcing the Zijin mining group to conduct operations here.”

Since 2020, when the Zijin mine opened, Colombian authorities have deployed 50 police from the National Unit Against Illegal Mining and Terrorism (UNMIL), who provide 24-hour security inside the mine, and hundreds of uniformed officers in the regions around Buriticá, where the illegal tunnel entrances are located.

“It hasn’t been enough,” said the activist. They added, however, that many of the informal miners being blamed for environmental and social problems are victims of the organized crime dynamic as well.

Most informal miners there are young and come to Buriticá from all over the country, searching for what seems to be a surefire way to make money.

“These kids are locked underground for weeks. They have no cellphone service, no entertainment,” the activist said. “So a lot of them turn to cocaine or other drugs to aid with the tedium of the work.”

They work shifts of 20 to 30 days locked in the tunnels. Although they can order food and even drugs from those who manage the illegal mining operation, they must pay out of their earnings.

“Some of them, if they’re unlucky, end up in debt,” the activist said.

But more often, miners who are paid based on the amount of ore they extract by the “investors” who oversee the illegal mines, can earn five to six times the monthly minimum wage in Colombia  —  currently around $360.

“Sometimes, if they strike a rich vein, they can make more though,” Pineda said. He described the work as incredibly dangerous, with workers drowning in floods in badly constructed tunnels, asphyxiated from a lack of proper ventilation, crushed by tunnel collapses that are either unprovoked or triggered by explosives used in mining operations.

“If someone is working in an adjacent illegal tunnel when Zijin workers are using explosives, it can burn all the oxygen in the air for hundreds of meters,” Pineda told Mongabay. “Informal miners have died not even realizing they are suffocating.”

For Luis, the Zijin mine manager, the solution is “a purge.” “Security forces need to clear out all of these strangers who come here and commit crimes. If Zijin leaves, the mine will just become even more of a magnet for armed groups,” he said.

But the activist said the solution isn’t that simple. “You can’t put these kids in jail for accepting an opportunity to improve their economic situation that they view as legitimate,” they said. “They are victims of the armed conflict as much as anyone else. And Zijin, despite their claims otherwise, knew the situation they were getting into.

“They just thought the profit would exceed the risk,” they added.

The departmental government and the Attorney General’s Office have launched programs in cooperation with Zijin to formalize illegal miners in the region, who must undergo environmental and safety training to be granted licenses.

Hugo Valle works as a subcontractor in the program to help the illegal miners enroll. “Mining has to be done in a responsible and sustainable manner,” he told Mongabay. “[President Gustavo] Petro has made environmentalism one of the primary goals of his administration, but we see no presence from the national government.

“Tons of illegal explosives and mercury are entering our town,” he added. “And this industry, carried out by thousands of [illegal] miners, also increases deforestation. They need wood to build their operations. We have already identified two species of trees near extinction that exist only in this region.”

Pérez-Escobar, the ecologist, spoke of a “strong link in Colombia between conflict and environmental destruction. Many times it is the human cost that is more visible,” he said.

“But environmental damage is often less immediately visible and may take decades to repair.”

Banner image: Buriticá is among the most diverse regions in the Andes. Image by Joshua Collins.

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Photos: Top new species from 2024

  • Scientists described numerous new species this past year, the world’s smallest otter in India, a fanged hedgehog from Southeast Asia, tree-dwelling frogs in Madagascar, and a new family of African plants.
  • Experts estimate that fewer than 20% of Earth’s species have been documented by Western science, with potentially millions more awaiting discovery.
  • Although species may be new to science, many are already known to local and Indigenous peoples and have traditional names and uses.
  • Upon discovery, many new species are assessed as threatened with extinction, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts.

A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the mountaintops of Southeast Asia, each new species shows us that even our well-known world contains unexplored chambers of life.

This year, in Peru’s Alto Mayo Landscape alone, scientists uncovered 27 new-to-science species, including four new mammals, during a two month expedition. Meanwhile, the Greater Mekong region yielded 234 new species, and scientists from the California Academy of Sciences described 138 new species globally. The ocean depths continued to surprise, with more than 100 potentially new species found on an unexplored underwater mountain off Chile’s coast. Two new mammal species were found in India this year, including the world’s smallest otter.

Scientists estimate only a small fraction of Earth’s species have been documented, perhaps 20% at best. Even among mammals, the best-known group of animals, scientists think we’ve only found 80% of species.  Yet most of the hidden species are likely bats, rodents, shrews, moles and hedgehogs.

Members of Indigenous Awajun communities in Peru’s Alto Mayo assist scientists with their research, such as throwing cast nets to capture fish.  68 fish species were collected, including eight that are new to science. Photo courtesy of Conservation International/ Trond Larsen.

However, while species may be new to Western science, many have been well known to Indigenous peoples and local communities for generations. These communities often maintain sophisticated classification systems and deep ecological knowledge about species’ behaviors, uses and roles in local ecosystems.

“For example, the blob-headed fish, which is so bizarre and unusual, and scientists have never seen anything like it, but it’s very familiar to the Awajún,” Trond Larsen, the leader of the Alto Mayo expedition in Peru from the NGO Conservation International, told Mongabay. “They regularly catch and eat them.” Similarly, the ghost palm, newly named by scientists this year, has been used by Iban communities in Borneo for basketry and food for decades.

Unfortunately, many species may be threatened with extinction before they’re even formally named, victims of human activities like development and climate change. Some of these species could be foods or medicines for humans, but each has a unique role in Earth’s interconnected web of life.

“There is something immensely unethical and troubling about humans driving species extinct without ever even having appreciated their existence and given them consideration,” Walter Jetz, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, U.S., told Mongabay.

Here’s our look at some of the new-to-science species described in 2024:

Vampire hedgehog and glamorous viper among 243 new species from the Greater Mekong

The Greater Mekong region revealed some of the year’s most distinctive species. Local nature enthusiasts and researchers documented a hedgehog species with fang-like teeth, leading to its name vampire hedgehog (Hylomys macarong).

They also described a pit viper (Trimeresurus ciliaris) whose scales create the appearance of dramatic eyelashes, and a karst dragon lizard (Laodracon carsticola) first noticed by a local tour guide.

These findings illuminate the region’s rich biodiversity and conservation challenges, as many species face immediate threats from development and wildlife trafficking.

New giant anaconda species found on Waorani Indigenous land in Ecuador

Northern green anaconda, a new species found in Ecuador, feeding on a large lizard. Photo by Jesus Rivas.

A significant discovery has been made in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where scientists have identified a new species of giant anaconda in the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory. During their research, the team encountered an impressive female specimen measuring 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) in length from head to tail, though local Indigenous communities report encountering even larger individuals. The species faces multiple threats throughout its range, from deforestation destroying their habitat to direct hunting by humans and environmental degradation from oil spills.

Tree-dwelling frogs found in Madagascar’s pandan trees

One of the newly named frogs, Guibemantis ambakoana. Ambakoana means ‘living within Pandanus’ in Malagasy. Image courtesy of Hugh Gabriel.

In Madagascar’s eastern rainforests, three frog species living in pandan trees received their first scientific descriptions. Known locally as sahona vakoa (pandan frogs), these amphibians complete their entire life cycle within the water-filled spaces between the plants’ spiky leaves. The species, now given the scientific names Guibemantis rianasoa, G. vakoa and G. ambakoana, exemplify how local ecological knowledge often precedes formal scientific documentation by generations.

A new underwater mountain hosts deep-sea wonders off Chile</

A Chaunacops, a genus of bony fish in the sea toad family, seen at a depth of nearly 1,400 m (4,560 ft) on Seamount SF2 inside Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park. Image courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. CC BY-NC-SA
A rarely seen Bathyphysa conifera, commonly known as flying spaghetti monster was documented on an unnamed and unexplored seamount along the Nazca Ridge off the coast of Chile. Image courtesy of ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

An expedition in the Southeast Pacific discovered more than 100 potentially new-to-science species on a previously unknown underwater mountain, including deep-sea corals (order Scleractinia), glass sponges, sea urchins (class Echinoidea), amphipods (order Amphipoda) and squat lobsters (family Galatheidae).

The expedition also sighted rare creatures like the flying spaghetti monster (Bathyphysa conifera) and Casper octopus (genus Grimpoteuthis).

The seamount, rising about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) from the seafloor, about 1,450 km (900 mi) off Chile’s coast, hosts thriving deep-sea ecosystems with ancient corals and glass sponges. The findings highlight the rich biodiversity of the high seas as the U.N. finalizes treaties to protect international waters.

Toothed toads emerge from mountain forests of Vietnam and China

A new-to-science frog species from Vietnam identified as the Mount Po Ma Lung toothed toad (Oreolalax adelphos). Image courtesy of Zoological Society of London.

Two new species of rare, toothed toads were discovered in Vietnam and China: the Mount Po Ma Lung toothed toad (Oreolalax adelphos) and the Yanyuan toothed toad (Oreolalax yanyuanensis). These amphibians are characterized by an unusual row of tiny teeth on the roof of their mouths. The discovery brings the total known toothed toad species to 21. However, more than half are already considered threatened due to habitat loss and degradation.

Dwarf squirrel and blobfish among 27 new species found in Peru’s Alto Mayo

This ‘blob-headed’ fish (Chaetostoma sp.), is new to science and was a shocking discovery due to its enlarged blob-like head, a feature that the fish scientists have never seen before, even though this species is already familiar to the Indigenous Awajun people who worked with scientists. It is a type of bristlemouth armored catfish. Photo courtesy of Conservation International / Robinson Olivera.
This dwarf squirrel species (Microsciurus sp.) is a very small squirrel that is difficult to spot in the rainforest where it moves quickly and hides among tree branches. After proper taxonomic revision, this species that is new to science will also belong to a new genus. Photo courtesy of Conservation International/Ronald Diaz.
A semi-aquatic (amphibious) mouse (Daptomys sp.) that is new to science from Peru’s Alto Mayo. The species belongs to a group of rodents that is considered among the rarest in the world, and the few species that are known have only been observed a handful of times by scientists, with much still to be learned about their ecology. Photo courtesy of Conservation International/Ronald Diaz.

In Peru’s densely populated Alto Mayo region, home to 280,000 people, scientists working with local communities documented 27 species previously unknown to Western science.

The species included an amphibious mouse (Necromys aquaticus) found in just one patch of swamp forest; a fish with an unexplained blob-like head structure (Trichomycterus sp. nov.); an agile dwarf squirrel (Microsciurus sp. nov.); and a tree-climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa sp. nov.). These findings demonstrate how even human-modified landscapes can harbor biodiversity not yet documented by scientists.

The clouded tiger cat gains species status

Colombia and Costa Rica are key locations for the conservation of Leopardus pardinoides. But preservation of Colombia’s clouded tiger cats faces difficult hurdles, including the urgent need for more research and protection conducted within key areas that lie inside conflict zones, say researchers. Image courtesy of Camilo Botero. Article title - A tiger cat gains new species designation, but conservation challenges remain
Leopardus pardinoides, or the clouded tiger cat, as a new species. This small wildcat is found in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, south to Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Colombia and Costa Rica are key locations for the conservation. Image courtesy of Camilo Botero.

Scientists formally described a new small wild cat species, the clouded tiger cat (Leopardus pardinoides), found in high-altitude cloud forests from Central to South America. This taxonomic clarification has major conservation implications, as new data indicate all three tiger cat species have experienced dramatic range reductions, with the clouded tiger cat’s habitat particularly threatened by human activities.

A rare ghost palm from Borneo

The ghost palm (Plectocomiopsis hantu) from Borneo was already known to local communities. Benedikt Kuhnhäuser / RBG Kew

 Though long used by local Iban communities in western Borneo for basketry and edible shoots, scientists finally gave a formal name to a distinctive rattan palm after 90 years. Named Plectocomiopsis hantu (“hantu” meaning ghost in Indonesian and Malay), the palm is known for its ghostly appearance, with white undersides to the leaves and gray stems. It’s currently known from only three locations in or near protected rainforest habitats.

A new family of African plants that can’t photosynthesize

Afrothismia species have lost their ability to photosynthesize and rely on fungi for food. Image courtesy of Martin Cheek © RBG Kew

Scientists named an entirely new family of plants, Afrothismiaceae, which have evolved to take all their nutrients from fungal partners rather than through photosynthesis. Found in African forests, these rare plants only appear above ground to fruit and flower. Most species in this family are extremely rare or possibly extinct, with the majority recorded only once in Cameroon.

New orchids from Indonesia

Indonesia is home to exceptional biodiversity including the orchid Dendrobium cokronagoroi (left) and Mediocalcar gemma-corona (right), two of the five new orchids described from Indonesia. Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Champion and Andre Schuiteman RBG Kew.

The orchid family is immense, and new species are found most years. This year, researchers described five new species from islands throughout Indonesia. These are: Coelogyne albomarginata from Sumatra, Coelogyne spinifera from Seram, and Dendrobium cokronagoroi, the Dendrobium wanmae (a critically endangered species) and Mediocalcar gemma-coronae (endangered), all from western New Guinea.

A lonely liana faces extinction from cement production in Vietnam

The habitat of Chlorohiptage vietnamensis is being destroyed for the manufacture of cement. Photo courtesy of Truong VanDo/RBG Kew.

A new genus and species of green-flowered liana, Chlorohiptage vietnamensis, was discovered in Vietnam but is already assessed as critically endangered. Its limestone karst habitat is being cleared for quarries to make cement, threatening the only known population of this unique plant.

Two new mammals from India

Small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus), the world’s tiniest otter species, photographed for the first time in Kaziranga. Photo courtesy of Arun Vignesh.
Binturong (Arctictis binturong), the largest civet species, was also photographed for the first time in Kaziranga. Photo courtesy of Chirantanu Saikia.

Two new mammal species in were described in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, Northeast India’s biggest national park.  A forest officer documented the presence of the small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus), the world’s tiniest otter species.  The small-clawed otter, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, joins two other otter species already known to inhabit Kaziranga.

The binturong (Arctictis binturong), an elusive nocturnal tree-dweller also known as the bearcat, was photographed by tour guide Chirantanu Saikia in January 2024. The binturong is found exclusively in Northeast India and requires dense forest canopy for survival. It has become increasingly rare due to deforestation.

While local residents had previously reported sightings of both species, these photographs provide the first concrete evidence of their presence in the park. Conservation officials believe these discoveries suggest the potential presence of other undocumented species within the park, highlighting the importance of continued wildlife surveys and protection efforts in the region.

One of the tiniest frogs ever found in Brazil

Brachycephalus dacnis rests on a fingertip. Photo courtesy of Lucas Machado Botelho.

Scientists in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest described a remarkable new species of frog, Brachycephalus dacnis, measuring just 6.95 millimeters in length – about the size of a pencil eraser. Unlike other similarly tiny frogs that often struggle with balance, this species has maintained its inner ear structure, allowing it to jump gracefully up to 32 times its body length. The discovery in São Paulo state’s remaining Atlantic Forest highlights both the region’s rich biodiversity and the urgent need for conservation, as this critically threatened ecosystem now stands at just 13% of its original extent, potentially harboring many more undiscovered species.

Banner image of Leopardus pardinoides, or the clouded tiger cat, as a new species. This small wildcat is found in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, south to Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Image courtesy of Johanes Pfleiderer.

Liz Kimbrough is a staff writer for Mongabay and holds a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Tulane University, where she studied the microbiomes of trees. View more of her reporting here.

Photos: Top species discoveries from 2023

Gone before we know them? Kew’s ‘State of the World’s Plants and Fungi’ report warns of extinctions

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Agribusiness giant Olam gets head start on EUDR; its suppliers, not so much

  • Some smallholder farmers, associations and suppliers in exporting countries are concerned about their readiness for the EU’s antideforestation law due to a lack of technology, information and resources.
  • Meanwhile, leading agricultural commodity businesses such as Olam Agri and ofi say they expect to be ready before the legislation comes into force at the end of 2025.
  • Olam Agri and ofi say they’ve developed and implemented advanced traceability and information systems to meet regulatory requirements, as well as other tools and technologies.
  • But independent experts warn that pressure to meet the law’s obligations are leading to large companies dropping suppliers who aren’t ready, and pushing smallholders to switch to crops where traceability and sustainability aren’t strict requirements.

A massive gap is forming in the race to comply with the European Union’s antideforestation rules, as smallholder farmers and suppliers struggle to meet the new requirements while agribusiness giants express confidence about being ready in time.

Olam Agri and ofi, both subsidiaries of Singapore-headquartered food and agribusiness conglomerate Olam Group, told Mongabay they’re using advanced traceability and information systems to get ahead. By contrast, smallholders in countries like Honduras and Indonesia still lack critical information and resources to even begin the compliance process before the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) takes effect.

In response to these and similar concerns from trade groups and exporting countries, the EU has agreed to delay the law’s implementation by a year from the initial start date of end-2024.  

Coffee is one of the seven commodities subject to the EUDR; the regulation will prohibit imports into the EU market of commodities sourced from land that was deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. Coffee will be heavily impacted by the new regulation: between 2001 and 2015, 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of forest, an area about half the size of Switzerland, was cleared for coffee cultivation. And in 2023, half of the coffee exported from Honduras was destined for the EU.

ofi carrying out agroforestry training. Image courtesy of ofi.

Miguel Pon, executive president of the Association of Coffee Exporters of Honduras, told Mongabay by email that he believes “no more than 20 percent of all Honduras [coffee] producers are prepared with the points and polygons of their farms.” These refer to the collection of geographic coordinates of the plots of land where the commodities were produced or harvested, which must be submitted to an information system as part of compliance with the EUDR.

The main challenges, Pon said, are access to technology, lack of knowledge of national legislation and the EUDR, as well as a lack of financial and human resources to carry out the data collection on each farm. 

Race to compliance

Companies like ofi, previously known as Olam Food Ingredients, are also racing to meet the requirements. A spokesperson said it’s been a “herculean task” to map ofi’s entire supply chain, especially the . Those responsible for collecting data for ofi “often have to travel to remote areas, sometimes only accessible by moped or on foot, and explain to each farmer why they need to walk the farm boundaries,” Christopher Stewart, global head of sustainability impact at ofi, told Mongabay by email.  

Despite having hundreds and thousands of smallholder suppliers in their sourcing networks, these enumerators often manage only three to four farms a day, he said.  

As pressure to meet the EUDR obligations mounts, there’s the danger that large companies will simply drop suppliers to meet their own compliance needs, said Mairon Bastos Lima, a senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

A women-only cocoa farmer training led by ofi. Image courtesy of ofi.

Large European companies face fines of up to 4% of their turnover if they import noncompliant products. “At the end of the day, the companies have their balance sheets on the line,” Bastos said.  

In Ethiopia’s Kafa region, said to be where coffee was first cultivated and made into a drink, the crop is mostly grown by poor farmers who don’t have the expertise or technology to collect the complex data required to meet with EUDR requirements. That’s already led to some European buyers cutting back on orders. “Buyers are hesitating to buy our coffee because they are not confident we can demonstrate compliance,” Tsegaye Anebo, manager of a coffee farmers’ union, told The Guardian. 

“Whilst we are confident our systems are robust within our own supply chains, we are concerned that many smallholders in producing countries will not be ready for the EUDR, as the FAO reported this year for coffee farmers in Honduras and Guatemala,” ofi’s Stewart said. “The unintended consequence will be that they are locked out of EU markets — which could make solving the challenges of poverty or deforestation even more difficult.”

Tools and technology 

ofi says its coffee teams have carried out more than 135,000 deforestation assessments and registered 63,500 farmers via the Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS), a digital survey tool used for collecting data, training and tracking. 

To track their coffee and cocoa supply chains from farm to customer, ofi uses an internal digital traceability tool, known as Track & Trace, which integrates all the information gathered from OFIS and other on-the-ground digital apps, as well as enumerators and local buying agents. Data from the apps will appear on Track & Trace, ready to be uploaded to the EU’s TRACES platform.  

To avoid locking out unprepared farmers, the company’s global cocoa and coffee teams have equipped farmers with the resources needed to meet the EUDR’s requirements, via ofi’s sustainability programs. According to Olam’s most recent annual report, ofi delivered training and support to more than 530,000 farmers across its supply chains in 2023. 

Selorm Kugbega, a research fellow at the Stockholm Research Institute who has carried out research on smallholders in Ghana, told Mongabay that smallholder coffee and cocoa farmers are generally less prepared for compliance than rubber farmers, as the latter produce rubber on a contract basis and rubber estate owners are better organized and more protective of their contract farmers.  

Coffee and cocoa farmers, on the other hand, are viewed as individual entrepreneurs by commodity sourcing companies, Kugbega said.

An Olam Agri representative told Mongabay by email that the company has established “complete traceability” in Côte d’Ivoire, where it sources its rubber. It attributes this to a suite of applications and tools recording detailed chain-of-custody information, as well as monitoring deforestation. These tools are also being used to prepare the company’s rubber suppliers in Indonesia.  

“So far, we have onboarded over 4,000 direct farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and nearly 5,000 suppliers in Indonesia covering more than 20,000 hectares [about 50,000 acres],” the representative said.

Risk assessment

Among the EUDR requirements, companies must carry out risk assessments to ensure products comply with the rules. If any risks are discovered, they’re expected to adopt risk mitigation procedures and measures.

At the start of each year’s crop season, all of ofi’s suppliers are expected to sign the ofi Agri Supplier Code (ASC). This is the first stage of their human rights and environmental due diligence approach. An ofi representative told Mongabay they already carry out farm-based audits on verified and certified supply chains, but in 2024, they introduced a sampling-based internal verification procedure for uncertified suppliers, which tracks back to the farm level. This is currently being tested in multiple product supply chains and origins, covering the key topics of the ASC.

Cattle roaming in what used to be lush Amazonian rainforest and is now degraded pastureland in the municipality of São Felix do Xingu, Pará State. Image by Mairon G. Bastos Lima.

“Due to our long-term focus on reducing deforestation in smallholder supply chains and advancing sustainability programs we already regularly perform extensive deforestation risk assessments including the use of Google Earth Engine planetary libraries and Global Forest Watch,” the same ofi representative told Mongabay. “This provides near-real time and historical monitoring of more than 1 million farm plots (including other commodities) mapped using ofi digital solutions.” 

In Olam Agri’s case, risk assessment involves background checks on potential suppliers, deforestation assessments using Global Forest Watch, and GPS data collection for plantation-level traceability. The company’s risk mitigation measures include using digital tools for end-to-end traceability, as well as training suppliers and factories on environmental, labor and human rights issues to address sustainability gaps.

A head start  

As a result of its commitment to other global standards, such as the U.K. Timber Regulation (UKTR) and the U.S. Lacey Act, Olam Agri was already well-placed to meet the traceability requirements of the EUDR. This put it at an advantage over those needing to comply with its rigorous requirements from scratch.  

According to a company spokesperson, its wood operations “exceed the regulation’s requirements,” as they source exclusively from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified forest concessions in the Republic of Congo. This means it hasn’t had to face the complexities of managing traceability across diverse external suppliers. 

“To further enhance compliance, we integrate advanced monitoring tools such as satellite image deforestation tracking and digitize our entire processing chain with robust tracking and barcode systems,” the spokesperson said. “These efforts reflect our longstanding commitment to responsible forest management, reinforced by advanced traceability systems, ensuring full compliance with EUDR standards while upholding transparency and accountability for our stakeholders.” 

The main challenge for Olam Agri was the detailed data collection, verification and reporting required. To deal with this, it had to develop and implement tools that systematically organize and report the vast amount of data for each contract.  “This required significant investments in technology to ensure that data collected in the field translates seamlessly into transparent and actionable reporting for our clients and auditors,” a spokesperson said.  

The company uses geographic information system-based mapping applications and GPS-enabled devices to geolocate individual trees throughout the inventory process. This information is then integrated into its databases, allowing it to maintain a detailed chain of custody for each log.

Kugbega told Mongabay many smallholders feel a sense of regulatory fatigue, as these new rules have been forced on them by national or international actors “without their input.” As a result, some farmers are considering transitioning to crops like oil palm, banana or cashew, which have robust domestic or Asian export markets with less stringent deforestation compliance requirements, he said.  

“Attention has not been paid to millions of farmers that are not part of cooperatives with valid certifications,” Kugbega said. “They stand risk of noncompliance to EUDR simply because of the inability provide the needed evidence of compliance.”

He said there needs to be a greater effort to reduce the challenges and costs of compliance for individual farmers and farmer cooperatives. Rather than training farmers and offering “token gifts that provide little incentive for compliance,” there should be more investment into household, cooperative and community-level mapping and deforestation monitoring infrastructure. 

Sustainability is also about social issues, said Bastos from the Stockholm Environment Institute. “Abandoning people in poverty is not the kind of social impact a sustainability policy should strive to have.”

Banner image: Cattle roaming on degraded pastures in the Brazilian Amazon, in the municipality of São Felix do Xingu, Pará State. Image by: Mairon G. Bastos Lima.

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The fuel that moves people: the Ecuadorian case

  • In Ecuador, the main areas of colonization were a north-south corridor along the base of the Andes and the Sucumbíos-Orellana quadrant, the country’s major oil-producing region.
  • Since the 1970s, populations in both areas have grown significantly. The Andean zone went from 160,000 inhabitants to more than 520,000 in 2017; in parallel, the population in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana increased from less than 12,000 to more than 350,000.
  • Colonization also led to the invasion of lands of the indigenous Shuar, which prompted an unusual effort on their part to protect their territory. Today, the area specializes in cattle production and seeks to establish a niche market for high-quality beef for the domestic market.

Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Ecuadorian authorities pursued a geopolitical strategy that reflected a long-held conviction that they were cheated out of large territories in the Western Amazon. Most of their claims were adjudicated in favor of Peru and they were on the losing side of border disputes in 1860, 1903 and 1941. Consequently, successive governments were intent on not losing another square meter of what they fervently believed was their national territory, a policy that led to the construction of several highways and deliberate policies to foster migration into their lowland provinces.

Peru and Ecuador resolved their differences in 1998, after another border dispute, via an arbitration process coordinated by the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States. In the process, the countries established paired national parks on both sides of the border, and an ambitious IIRSA-sponsored initiative was launched to provide Ecuador with direct access to the Amazon waterway at Puerto Morona. The resolution of the border conflict and the much-improved transportation infrastructure opened up the Cordillera del Condor to large-scale mining operations operated by Canadian and Chinese corporations.

The road network in Amazonian Ecuador closely corresponds to the petroleum pipeline system, partly because the government promoted settlement along service roads during the 1970s. Data sources: GEM (2023) and RAISG (2022).

Migratory pathways

Migration into Amazonian Ecuador has occurred via four highway routes that connect urban centers in the Andes with a town or small city in the lowlands; from north to south, they include Quito to Nueva Loja (E10), Ambato to Puyo (E30), Cuenca to Macas (E40) and Loja to Zamora (E45). These roads channeled migrants into two major colonization landscapes: a north-south corridor along the base of the Andes, and the Sucumbíos-Orellana quadrant, which is also the country’s primary oil-producing region. The population along the piedmont grew from about 160,000 inhabitants in 1970 to more than 520,000 by 2017; simultaneously, the inhabitants of the Sucumbíos and Orellana provinces increased from fewer than 12,000 to more than 350,000.

Most communication was up and down mountain valleys between individual highland and lowland population centers, but eventually these communities were linked by a rudimentary north-south highway (Route 45). Multiple roads extended east into the Amazon lowlands, including one along the border to Tiwinza, a military post on the Santiago River, and an alternative route from the north to connect with Puerto Morona on the Morona River.

This latter route caused significant encroachment by Colonos on traditional lands of the Shuar Indigenous people in the 1970s and led to an unusual effort on their part to protect their land. This occurred two decades before Indigenous organizations launched their campaign to promote communal tenure regimes, and Shuar families had no option but to apply for legal title using the administrative procedures of the national colonization agency. This obligated them to deforest small plots within the larger landscapes of their traditional territories.

In 1997, the government allocated funds to improve infrastructure, with the modernization of Route 45, now known as the Troncal Amazónica. Settlement along the highway and into the Amazonian lowlands occurred mainly in the 1970s via development initiatives organized by a regional development entity (CREA) with financing from the IDB. The area now specializes in cattle production and seeks to establish a niche market for high-quality beef for the national market.

A researcher sets up a camera trap in Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Image by Jeremy Hance & Tiffany Roufs.

Migration into the southern sector was supported by a regional development organization, but most immigrants came on their own. They included Indigenous Quechua speakers, as well as Ecuadorians of mixed racial heritage, all of whom encroached upon the traditional lands of the Shuar. The super humid climate and rolling topography make intensive cultivation impossible, and the principal economic activity is raising beef and dairy cattle.

In contrast, colonization of the Sucumbíos-Orellano quadrant reflects a proactive settlement policy implemented by the central government after the completion of the highway between Quito and Lago Agrio in 1967. The military government declared Sucumbíos a ‘zone for migration and expansion’ in 1972 and sent teams of surveyors to lay out transects of fifty-hectare plots (250 meters by 2,000 meters) for distribution to new arrivals. The network of nearly identical landholdings was established along a rapidly expanding secondary road network, which was created to support the feeder pipelines that carry crude oil to pumping stations in Lago Agrio.

The soils in the quadrant are relatively fertile, which has allowed for the development of a diverse assemblage of productive systems, including food staples and cash crops such as coffee, cocoa and palm oil. Like other colonization schemes of the 1970s, poor infrastructure and inadequate public services led to widespread disenchantment, and many farmers abandoned their farms. Simultaneously, oil field workers filed claims to acquire plots or purchased abandoned farms from people seeking to leave the region. Many owners adopted a beef production strategy that allowed them to meet the legal requirements for a land claim, but which could be managed by an absentee owner. Consequently, the ethnic makeup of the quadrant is relatively diverse.

The government now seems dedicated to promoting the development of Amazonian Ecuador by embracing the intensification of agricultural production on previously deforested landscapes, while promoting a diversification of production strategies. The government continues to build new oil pipelines and access roads as it expands into new production fields in previously remote landscapes in and around Yasuní National Park. The government’s insistence on developing these assets is highly controversial and a source of conflict with Indigenous groups, particularly the Waorani, whose ancestral territory lies over Ecuador’s most valuable oil reserves.

“A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” is a book by Timothy Killeen and contains the author’s viewpoints and analysis. The second edition was published by The White Horse in 2021, under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

To read earlier chapters of the book, find Chapter One here, Chapter Two here, Chapter Three here, Chapter Four here and Chapter Five here.

Chapter 6. Culture and demographic defines the present

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Foreign investor lawsuits impede Honduras human rights & environment protections

  • Foreign investors in Honduras have “extraordinary privileges,” allowing them to sue the government for reforms that affect their investments, hindering public interest legislation, a recent report has found.
  • Honduras faces billions of dollars in lawsuits from corporations, many tied to controversial investments made after the 2009 coup, creating a deterrent effect on the government’s ability to make sovereign decisions and making it the second-most-sued country in Latin America over the period of 2023 to August 2024, after Mexico.
  • Some local communities in Honduras are divided over foreign investment projects, with several expressing resistance due to concerns about their impact on the environment and land rights.
  • Honduras’ recent energy reforms and mining bans are facing backlash and legal challenges, as foreign corporations resist changes aimed at protecting natural resources and human rights.

Foreign investors in Honduras enjoy “extraordinary privileges” that hinder the government’s ability to implement reforms that could benefit human rights and the environment, a report has found. These advantages allow corporations to sue the Central American country for policy changes that allegedly harm their investments using controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, resulting in a surge of lawsuits amounting to billions of dollars.

The report from the Institute for Policy Studies, the Transnational Institute, TerraJusta and the Honduras Solidarity Network reveals that the impact of these legal disputes creates a “chilling effect,” otherwise known as a “deterrent effect,” in which the state may be discouraged from enacting public interest legislation due to the costly risk of liability under investment agreements.

“The lawsuits directly undermine the government’s ability to listen to local communities and make sovereign decisions about protecting their land and resources,” Karen Spring, coordinator for the Honduras Solidarity Network and co-author of the report, told Mongabay.

Honduras has faced 19 claims over the past two decades, 14 of which have occurred since 2023. The chart highlights the various sectors involved and the legal pathways investors have used to file these lawsuits. Image via ‘Corporate Assault on Honduras’ report.

The ISDS provision allows private sector lawyers to determine whether countries are treating foreign investors fairly. The report says that many lawsuits in Honduras stem from companies that made questionable investments after the 2009 coup d’état, with around a third of the investments facing significant resistance from affected communities.

ISDS is a controversial mechanism that companies across the world are increasingly using to sue governments for policies that may impact their profits, often with harmful consequences for environmental protection and human rights. In a 2023 report, U.N. human rights rapporteur David Boyd described ISDS as “a major obstacle to the urgent actions needed to address the planetary environmental and human rights crises,” noting that such cases contribute to a “regulatory chill,” discouraging governments from enacting stricter regulations.

“These [lawsuits] are an incredible amount of money that would absolutely erode what Honduras has available for health, education, infrastructure and other public investments,” Jen Moore, associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-author of the report, told Mongabay.

A $10.8 billion lawsuit

The island of Roatán is at the center of the largest pending lawsuit against Honduras, sparked by government reforms to the employment and economic zones (ZEDEs) that threaten the U.S.-based Honduras Próspera’s “startup city” project. Established in 2013 to attract foreign investment, ZEDEs operate under the Honduran Constitution but enjoy extensive legal, tax and administrative autonomy, a situation that has fueled significant controversy.

During President Xiomara Castro’s electoral campaign before she was elected and took office in January 2022, she vowed to eliminate ZEDEs. Her promise led to their repeal in 2022 and a Supreme Court ruling in September that declared them unconstitutional, a decision applicable retroactively back to 2013.

The island of Roatan is at the center of a $10.8 billion lawsuit against Honduras, after the government vowed reforms of Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDEs). Image by Michelle Raponi via Pixabay.

“Justice for the Honduran people,” Castro wrote on X in light of the Supreme Court’s decision, “means not selling off pieces of our territory nor privatizing our sovereignty.”

Próspera ZEDE is an economic development zone in Honduras created to attract investment and boost job growth. It functions as a free trade zone with government oversight but is managed by the private company Honduras Próspera Inc. through a U.S.-based system. The setup encourages both local and international businesses, with more than $120 million in U.S. private investment reportedly drawn so far, according to a Próspera statement sent to Mongabay.

The project has become a source of division. Some members of Crawfish Rock, a community of a few hundred people in Roatán, were unaware of what a ZEDE was before development and consider it a dispossession of land, according to the report. Social tensions have risen between supporters of the projects and those focused on protecting the environment, Spring said. Meanwhile, Honduras Próspera said in a statement sent to Mongabay that support for the ZEDE outweighs opposition 4-to-1, claiming opposition comes from a “tiny, politically connected elite” within the community.

President Xiomara Castro came into office in 2022. Since then, she has sought to make social and environmental reforms, but has been met with billions of dollars in lawsuits from corporations alleging that the policy changes impact their profits. Image via Honduras government.

The impact of government reforms on existing ZEDEs is still unclear, but they have already faced a costly backlash. Honduras Próspera, which has invested significant sums into the project and has a 50-year legal stability guarantee, is seeking to sue the government for unfair treatment, claiming $10.8 billion, plus costs, which amount to at least $5 million per lawsuit.

In an emailed statement to Mongabay, Nick Dranias, the general counsel of Honduras Próspera, predicted thousands of human rights complaints may be filed to challenge the ruling, along with numerous trade treaty arbitration claims.

“Honduras remains the master of its fate,” he wrote. “If Honduras proceeds with what clearly constitutes indirect expropriation of investments, and the violation of the human rights of thousands of Honduran workers and international investors, just compensation is what will be due.”

A procession of lawsuits

In the past two decades, corporations have filed 19 ISDS cases in Honduras, with nearly all of them in the last two years. In 2023 alone, Honduras faced nine claims, and by August 2024, another five cases had been added, coinciding with Castro’s administration. This made Honduras the second most sued country in Latin America over that period (after Mexico). The 15 pending lawsuits total nearly $14 billion — about 40% of Honduras’ 2023 GDP — posing a significant threat to one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

Claimants, primarily from the U.S. (four), Europe (six) and Latin America (nine), including Panama, Guatemala, Mexico and Colombia, are mostly in the finance, real estate, energy and transportation sectors.

The report describes these lawsuits in Honduras as “mafia-style” and links them to the concept of “odious debt,” which holds that debts acquired from prior problematic regimes shouldn’t burden the people.

“It’s unfair that Hondurans should have to pay for these bad deals and bad policies that were struck under such irregular and corrupt and repressive circumstances after the military [regime] back in 2009,” Moore said.

Recent energy sector reforms

In 2022, Honduras passed a new energy law that aims to increase state control over the electricity sector that has been dominated by political-entrepreneurial groups since the 1990s and help reduce soaring energy prices, among the highest in Latin America.

These reforms, however, generated uncertainty among private energy generators over future energy production, prompting Norwegian investors Scatec, Norfund and KLP to file two lawsuits against Honduras related to the Agua Fria Solar Energy Park in Valle and Los Prados Solar Energy Park in Choluteca, totaling together $400 million plus costs.

The report states that the Los Prados project was rejected by the local population, and community leaders have faced persecution and criminalization for years for their opposition to the solar park. Furthermore, locals complain of environmental damage and restricted access to their land and crops due to hostility in the area.

Despite long-standing resistance, local activists in the Guapinol community face powerful opposition from the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares. Image by Fernando Destephen/Contra Corriente.

One local woman was cited in the report as saying that the solar companies Scatec and Norfund “buried the water sources. That’s been the hardest part for us — there’s not enough water to bathe, especially with all the heat here.”

Denia Castillo, a lawyer with the Network of Women Human Rights Defense Lawyers (RADDH), who is working with communities impacted by the solar projects, told Mongabay that negotiations between the companies and the government focus on lowering tariffs rather than canceling the contracts altogether. So far, RADDH and local communities have filed 33 complaints against public officials, citing alleged irregularities in the approval process for these contracts.

According to Castillo, the communities call for cancellation of the contracts and oppose the project. “The people feel completely let down by the government because it has not wanted to listen to them, but [instead] it is negotiating with the company,” she said.

Scatec, KLP and Norfund didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story.

A delayed ban on open-pit mining

As part of Castro’s green agenda, she announced in early 2022 that no new permits for open-pit mines would be issued. This common mining method involves digging large holes and can devastate ecosystems by clearing vegetation and displacing soil. A month later, the Secretariat of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (SERNA) declared all of Honduras free of open-pit mining and pledged to review, suspend and cancel related permits.

Yet despite the government’s announcement, Canadian mining company Aura Minerals, with controversial operations in Honduras, noted in a press release that SERNA’s minister later clarified that the government would focus on unregulated mining, allowing companies with valid operating permits to continue their activities. In response to Mongabay’s request for comment, the company replied, “Aura Minerals states that its Minosa [a subsidiary of the company] operation in Honduras holds all the necessary licenses and permits to operate and maintains its activities are in compliance with current legislation.” The extent of the mining ban remains uncertain.

Experts in the report suggest that the shift from an outright ban to allowing exceptions may be due to weakening commitments to avoid potential lawsuits. To date, the mining industry has not made any arbitration claims at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICDID) against Honduras in relation to the country’s  policies on open-pit mining.

“A threat is sometimes as effective as an actual arbitration suit,” Moore said. “It makes public officials think twice about whether or not they would follow through on a [reform] decision.”

According to the report, this could be behind the delay in halting the open-pit iron oxide mine and associated installations linked to the Inversiones Los Pinares mining company (previously known as EMCO Mining and owned by EMCO Holdings) with operations in Tocoa in the department of Colón.

Killed on September 4 this year, Juan Lopez was an environmental defender who opposed mining in the Tocoa region. Human rights organizations, such as the UN and Frontline Defenders, have demanded a full investigation into his death. Image via Frontline Defenders.

The Los Pinares mining operations in Carlos Escaleras National Park have been accused of causing water shortages and pollution in the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, vital for 42,000 people, and endangering local ecosystems, according to the humanitarian organization Trócaire. Trócaire also links the project to human rights abuses, including the killing, criminalization, and imprisonment of community members defending their water sources. This includes the recent killing of local environmental defender Juan López, who was shot dead in September. Following his death, U.N. experts called for an independent investigation into potential involvement by businesses and politicians.

López was one more victim in a string of killings of activists in the region. There have also been at least 32 people criminalized by Inversiones Los Pinares for defending Carlos Escaleras National Park, according to an Amnesty International report.

“It’s … absolutely scandalous that asymmetry between corporate power and what people have access to, to defend their very basic rights,” Moore said. “It’s just so starkly on display in this case and with this slew of arbitration cases since 2023.”

EMCO Group (to which Los Pinares belongs in the iron and steel division) didn’t respond to Mongabay’s request for comment for this story.

Next steps

In February, Honduras began its exit from the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which handles the suits against the country — a move praised by researchers who argue ICSID membership isn’t essential to attract foreign investment.

Experts argue it’s not enough. The report calls on Honduras to revoke investor privileges in treaties, laws and contracts and fully repeal the 2013 constitutional reforms that enabled ZEDEs. The authors also contend it’s unjust for the Honduran people to bear the cost of compensating transnational corporations amid widespread local resistance.

“[The ISDS mechanism] is a system that should be abolished,” Moore said. “It is catastrophic for policies and decisions in the public interest, in the interest of affected communities, and that repeatedly is serving very narrow profit-based interests of investors at the expense of people.”

Banner image: The Carlos Escaleras National Park has long been at the center of community efforts to protect it from mining activities, which has reportedly caused environmental damage and led to social conflicts and violence. Image via the Comité Municipal para la Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos de Tocoa (Municipal Committee for the Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa). 

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‘Bear’s-eye camera’ reveals elusive Andean bear cannibalism and treetop mating

  • Scientists captured the first-ever camera collar footage of wild Andean bears, revealing unprecedented behaviors, including canopy mating and cannibalism.
  • The research team, led by Indigenous researcher Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, successfully tracked a male bear for four months in Peru’s challenging cloud forest terrain.
  • The footage challenges previous assumptions about Andean bears being solitary vegetarians and shows them behaving more like other bear species.
  • While the bears face mounting threats from climate change and human conflict, researchers are combining scientific study with community education to protect them.

In the mountains of Peru, where ancient cloud forests meet the Amazon Rainforest, an Andean bear made scientific history. For four months, a camera collar captured the wild male’s daily life, revealing behaviors never before documented in the Southern Hemisphere’s only bear species, from treetop mating rituals to unexpected acts of cannibalism.

The study, published in Ecology and Evolution, provides a bear’s-eye view of life in one of South America’s steepest and wettest terrains and marks the first time this technology has been used on the species.

“For 15 years, I’ve been traveling up and down that valley and never seen a bear,” Andrew Whitworth, executive director of Osa Conservation and co-author of the study, told Mongabay. “So, the prospect of capturing a bear was quite insane. … These are just sheer walls of cloud forest.”

Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, a National Geographic Explorer and the study’s lead author, led the research team. She says her work to protect the Andean bears of Peru is inspired by the legends of her Indigenous Quechua heritage.

National Geographic Explorer, Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, attaches a trail camera to the branch of a tall tree in the buffer Zone of Manu National Park, Madre de Dios. Photo courtesy of Pablo Durana via National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition.

Guardians of the Andes

Andean bears also hold profound cultural significance in Andean communities. “In Andean Quechua culture, Andean bears are known as Ukuku or Ukumary. The Ukukus are mythical beings, half-human and half-bear,” Pillco Huarcaya told Mongabay in a text message.  “I wish people knew that Andean bears are the guardians of the mountains and vital ambassadors for the conservation of cloud forests, their primary habitat.”

To better understand these mountain guardians, in 2023, the team deployed camera collars on three wild Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) in Peru’s Kosñipata Valley. The first two collars were pilot studies that used National Geographic’s CritterCam. However, the study is based on just one longer-term collar worn by a male bear for four months, revealing many behaviors scientists have never seen before.

The footage challenged long-held assumptions about Andean bears being solitary vegetarians. Instead, it showed them as social creatures, having both peaceful and aggressive interactions with other bears.

Love in the Canopy

During his four months under observation, the male bear engaged in two remarkable courtship periods. The first, a weeklong encounter in December 2023, documented something never before seen: Andean bears mating in the tree canopy. The bears were filmed coupling high above the ground in at least eight video clips. A second female encountered the male in March, though no mating was recorded.

“There seems to be these sort of very intimate moments when he’s with a female and they’re hanging out in the same tree, just looking at one another,” Whitworth said. While Andean bears have long been considered solitary, the footage showed the pairs remaining together for days at a time and sleeping next to each other, suggesting their social lives may be more complex than previously understood.

The bear’s agility in the canopy wasn’t limited to mating. The bear was also filmed feeding 20-30 meters [65-98 feet] up into the top of a Cecropia tree. “I remember being really shocked when we saw this,” Whitworth said. “These are fast-growing, very spindly, hollow trees that snap really easily, and we see this bear 30 m up feeding on seeds. Holy smokes!”

Camera collar footage of the male Andean bear interacting with a female Andean bear. Credit: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya/National Geographic.

Bears will be bears

The footage also revealed that Andean bears are not purely vegetarians but have an omnivorous behavior typical of other bear species. Camera collars caught them eating insects and meat along with fruit, bromeliads and even stinging nettles.

In one surprising discovery, the collared bear was recorded feeding on the carcass of a woolly monkey (Lagothrix cana), the first documented case of an Andean bear consuming a primate. Nine video clips captured the sequence of events, showing the bear first with the monkey’s carcass on the ground before carrying it into the tree canopy, where the primate’s hand was clearly visible. The footage suggests the bear discovered the already-deceased monkey while foraging rather than hunting it.

Even more dramatic were two instances of cannibalism caught on camera. In mid-November 2023, just a month before his mating season, the bear was recorded feeding on a dead bear cub over three days, starting with the head and moving to the stomach.

In a second incident on New Year’s Day 2024, after a long journey crossing the Kosñipata Valley, the bear was filmed in the canopy consuming what appeared to be the partially eaten carcass of another small bear.

While cannibalism has been previously reported in Andean bears in Ecuador, this could be the first documented case of infanticide in Andean bears, a behavior known in other bear species. These videos suggest these bears may be more similar to their northern cousins than previously thought.

“When you look at everything that we’ve recorded,” Whitworth said, “you realize it’s just like any other bear.” This simple observation might be the study’s most profound finding, Whitworth said. Beneath the mystery and mythology, Andean bears are just bears being bears.

An Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) in Parque Nacional del Rio Abiseo, Peru.  The species is listed as Vulnerable to extinction in the IUCN Red List and is the only bear species in the Southern Hemisphere. Image by Pedro Peloso courtesy of National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition.

How to catch a bear

Collaring an Andean bear in Peru’s steep cloud forests required ingenuity and patience. The team used an “Iznachi trap,” essentially a large box with a guillotine-style door that drops when a bear enters to take the bait. But first, they had to get the trap into position.

“We had to design it where it was in panels that could be put on your back, and you could hoist these big metal panels out through these mountains,” Whitworth said. “It was pretty dangerous.”

Working with a local mechanic, they created a portable version the team could carry in pieces and assemble on-site. Each trap was connected to a satellite transmitter that would immediately alert researchers via email when triggered.

The process of actually catching a bear required careful preparation. “You don’t arm the trap at first; you kind of want them to just get used to coming in for the bait,” Whitworth said.

Using camera traps, the team spent a year identifying where individual bears hung out before attempting any captures. This allowed them to target specific animals while avoiding females with cubs. The trap’s design ensured only bears could trigger it. “It’s so heavy that pulling the prongs from this big door is actually real hard for an animal to do,” Whitworth said. “If a fox comes, they’ll nibble on the meat, but they’re not strong enough to pull it and trigger the trap.”

Once a bear is caught, the teams head to the field to immobilize it using a precise combination of drugs. During the immobilization, veterinarians conducted health evaluations and fitted a collar with GPS tracking onto the bear.

National Geographic Explorer, Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, holds up footage of an Andean bear exploring the bear cage her team set up. Photo courtesy of Andy Whitworth/National Geographic.

Tracking technology

The collars are designed to be released remotely via satellite, typically after about three months. The researchers wait until the bear is in an area where they think they can retrieve the collar, then send a signal to fire a release mechanism. However, the process isn’t always straightforward.

“The problem is that collar has been on the bear for a few months, and a bunch of gunk can just sort of keep it closed,” Whitworth said. “So sometimes you don’t find the collar in the place where the release went. It can take two or three hours to wiggle off, and the animal could have moved kilometers.”

Even after successfully tracking a collar’s location, retrieving it from the precipitous terrain proved its own adventure. During one recovery attempt, a swollen river separated the team from their quarry. The solution emerged from the community itself.

“Ruth hired a bunch of the local people and we built a makeshift bridge to sort of scramble over this raging torrent,” Whitworth said, highlighting how local knowledge and collaboration often proved crucial to the project’s success.

After retrieving the collar, researchers anxiously waited to see if the data were successfully recorded. Despite these challenges, the team has had been largely successful in recovering their equipment. Across their broader mammal research program, they’ve retrieved 19 out of 20 collars deployed on various species.

This high recovery rate helps justify the steep cost of the technology, around $5,000 per camera collar. The study authors argue the investment is worthwhile when compared with the total cost of bear research.

The bigger challenge, Whitworth noted, is making this technology accessible to researchers in tropical regions where many poorly understood species live. He said that financial support from National Geographic and Rolex allowed the team to take risks on expensive technology, “but for a lot of researchers in the Global South, those risks are unattainable unless they can get access to the resources.”

Beyond the technical and financial challenges, the footage offered something unique: a glimpse into how an Andean bear experiences its world. Whitworth describes the wonder of seeing from a bear’s perspective, noting that the bear would sometimes stop at a vista and look out over the landscape, much like humans do on a hike.

“He’ll be walking and then all of a sudden, he’ll just stop in some beautiful part of the Andes and look out over the river and the valley,” Whitworth said. “He’s probably smelling and looking at his surroundings, but you get the idea that he’s seeing the land, in some respects, how we see it. It’s pretty incredible.”

Camera collar footage of the male Andean bear walking along a river. Credit: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya/National Geographic.

Seeds of survival

However, understanding Andean bear behavior isn’t just amusing. These large mammals play an important role in the ecosystem, eating seeds and then dispersing them over large distances. This service helps maintain the immense biodiversity of the cloud forest, an ecosystem critical to the water cycle of the entire Amazon Basin.

Yet the bears’ vital role in the ecosystem is at risk. Listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, there are estimated to be fewer than 20,000 Andean bears left in the wild.

The species faces pressures from multiple directions. As the climate becomes hotter and drier, their habitat is pushed upward. At the same time, human activities like farming are moving in from above, leaving the bears less room to roam.

“Sadly, I don’t see things improving for Andean bears anytime soon,” Whitworth said. “There are some scary predictions about cloud forest loss under current climate warming scenarios.”

This squeeze on their habitat forces bears to adapt their movements and behavior. They rarely stay within a national park, instead passing through multiple protected areas and community lands—sometimes raiding crops or in very rare cases preying on livestock. This can lead to retaliatory killings by local people. Camera footage paired with GPS tracking can help researchers and communities understand why bears are going to community lands, what risks they take, and perhaps how to avoid conflicts.

Community conservation

In response to these challenges, Pillco Huarcaya’s team is also working to expand their community engagement efforts, transforming their field station into what Whitworth called a “community conservation campus.”

“My work with children has had a significant impact on how the community views Andean bears,” Pillco Huarcaya said. “Through our ‘Conservation Ambassadors’ program, children visit the Wayqecha Biological Station to learn about the bears and the cloud forest. Many of them didn’t know about Andean bears before, and now they see them as friends that need to be protected.”

Despite the challenges, Whitworth said he remains cautiously optimistic. The behaviors captured by the camera collars demonstrate the bears’ intelligence and adaptability. “If there is a species that can change fast and learn quickly,” he says, “it’s a bear.”

A male Andean bear, and his paw. Credit: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya/National Geographic.

Banner image of Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) in  Parque Nacional del Rio Abiseo, Peru. Image by Pedro Peloso courtesy of National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition.

Liz Kimbrough is a staff writer for Mongabay and holds a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Tulane University, where she studied the microbiomes of trees. View more of her reporting here.

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Citation:

Pillco Huarcaya, R., Whitworth, A., Mamani, N., Thomas, M., Condori, E., (2024) Through the eyes of the Andean bear: Camera collar insights into the life of a threatened South American Ursid. Ecology and Evolution 14(12)  doi: 10.1002/ece3.70304

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Report reveals how environmental crime profits in the Amazon are laundered

  • A recent report from the FACT Coalition analyzed 230 cases of environmental crime in Amazon countries over the past decade to better understand how crimes are committed and how the associated profits are laundered.
  • It found that the U.S. is the most common foreign destination for the products and proceeds of environmental crimes committed in the Amazon region.
  • The most popular way to launder money involves the use of shell and front companies, and corruption was the single most prevalent convergent crime mentioned.
  • Of the cases analyzed, only one in three appears to have included a parallel financial investigation.

A new report by the FACT Coalition found that many investigations into environmental crimes do not follow the money. Of the 230 cases analyzed, 76% involved the use of front and shell companies, likely due to flaws in the anti-money laundering systems of foreign countries, researchers said. 

The environmental crimes analyzed occurred between 2014 and 2024 in Amazon countries, mainly in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The aim was to better understand how criminals operate and how the associated profits are laundered.  

The report pointed to weaknesses in the way the investigations were carried out — for instance, a lack of financial investigations — as well as the role of convergent crime, which played a role in most cases.  

“When it comes to environmental crimes that are committed in countries in the Amazon region, many cases are discovered accidentally,” Julia Yansura, the program director for environmental crime and illicit finance at the FACT Coalition and author of the report, told Mongabay over email. “A police officer happens to stop a vehicle or an airport security officer randomly checks a bag, and they find something. That approach is far from sufficient and often yields minor cases involving low-level criminals.” 

Trucks loaded with Amazon timber await the repair of a ferry used to cross the Curuá-Una river, close to Santarém, Pará State. Photo courtesy of Marizilda Cruppe for Greenpeace.
Trucks loaded with Amazon timber in Pará State. Image courtesy of Marizilda Cruppe for Greenpeace.

One in every three cases appeared to include a parallel financial investigation, the report said. Without financial investigations, it’s hard to find out who is responsible for these crimes and who is benefiting financially, Yansura explained. Criminal groups will most likely move to a different location and continue their crimes.  

“We see this frequently with illegal gold mining in South America,” she explained. “When authorities seize the gold and destroy the heavy machinery, criminal groups are back literally the next day, re-establishing operations a few miles away.”

A failure to conduct parallel financial investigations will likely only lead to the arrest and prosecution of low-level individuals who may be victims themselves, while those who are responsible remain free. Research by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has shown that as much as 40% of all deforestation worldwide is carried out by victims of modern slavery or forced labor.   

When it comes to the laundering of profits from environmental crimes, such as illegal logging, illegal mining and wildlife trafficking, the report found that the most common methods identified in the analysis involved front and shell companies, which are used to mask illegal activity.

Deforestation for agriculture in the Sepahua River watershed, Peru. Credit: © Jason Houston/Upper Amazon Conservancy.

According to the report’s findings, 25% of all cases, and 44% of “follow the money” cases, involved at least one foreign jurisdiction. The U.S. was the foreign jurisdiction mentioned most across all cases analyzed, either as a transit or destination point for illegally sourced natural resources, such as gold or timber, or dirty money.  

Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Brazilian-based think tank Igarapé Institute, told Mongabay this is because of “the abundance of shell companies, front companies and trade-based fraud that allow criminal actors to wash dirty money” in the country.

“To a large extent, U.S. businesses have not historically been required to identify their true beneficial owners to the Treasury Department,” he explained over email. “In the meantime, owing to uneven regulatory oversight and enforcement, U.S. banks have allowed large sums of cash to be transferred in the financial system by individuals involved in corruption, fraud and sanctions evasion.”  

Another reason why the U.S. is central to this network is because real estate is exempt from many rules related to countering money laundering, Muggah explained. “Networks of shell companies and foreign investors often purchase real estate to launder billions of dollars of profits generated by, among other things, environmental crime.” 

amazon landscape
Most of the environmental crimes analyzed by the FACT report occurred in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Image by Dimitri Selibas.

To address the issue, Yansura said the U.S. should implement the Corporate Transparency Act, which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and is meant to increase transparency in business ownership and entity structures to combat laundering and other criminal activities. By ensuring this mechanism is up and running as soon as possible, “the U.S. could shut down one of the biggest loopholes currently being used by environmental criminals in the Amazon,” Yansura added.

Beyond the U.S., Muggah said national governments should follow the EU’s lead in ensuring that environmental crime is a predicate offense, a component of a more complex crime, often associated with money laundering or organized crime. In addition, anti-money laundering authorities can strengthen partnerships with environmental protection agencies, environmental crime investigators and other research organizations, “to assess the extent of vulnerabilities in financial and nonfinancial sectors to conceal and launder gains from environmental crime,” he said.  

Environmental crime was almost always accompanied by other converging crimes, such as corruption and drug trafficking, the FACT Coalition found. Among the 230 environmental crimes analyzed, corruption was by far the most prevalent, followed by terrorism financing and drug trafficking.  

According to research carried out by the Financial Action Task Force, wildlife traffickers often exploit weaknesses in the financial and nonfinancial sectors to move, hide and launder their profits. The annual revenue generated by the global illegal wildlife trade has been estimated at $20 billion per year. 

Amid conversations at the COP16 biodiversity summit about funding collective efforts to protect biodiversity, Yansura said that by tackling environmental crime, which generates up to $281 billion a year, governments could recover and use the money to help restore damaged ecosystems and safeguard natural resources.

Banner image: Image © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

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