South America

"President Lula bet big on mega dams in the 2000s to expand clean energy. Now climate change is hurting Brazil's green ambitions"

"Wildfires have burned through 40,000 hectares (400 square kilometers) of Argentina's central farming region of Cordoba, according to officials, leaving charred cattle, houses, forests and fields in their wake."

"Preservationists say governments at all levels have failed to prevent authorized and illegal off-road racers from driving through giant figures of animals, humans and objects."

"A destructive cocktail of herbicides, including a key compound in the lethal defoliant Agent Orange, is being used to chemically deforest huge areas of Brazil as ranchers there seek new, less detectable ways to clear forests for grazing cattle."

"The worst drought on record has lowered the water level of the rivers in the Amazon basin to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were previously navigable waterways."

"Activists greet decision over killings of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert with ‘indignation’"

"It was just before dawn when the Ashaninka people, wearing long, tunic-like dresses, began singing traditional songs while playing drums and other instruments. The music drifted through Apiwtxa village, which had welcomed guests from Indigenous communities in Brazil and neighboring Peru, some having traveled three days. As the sun rose, they moved beneath the shadow of a huge mango tree."

"Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress — an area roughly half the size of the U.S. Major Amazon basin rivers are registering historic lows, and uncontrolled manmade wildfires have ravaged protected areas and spread smoke over a vast expanse, plummeting air quality."

"Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has flown into the Amazon amid growing alarm over the droughts and wildfires sweeping the rainforest region and others parts of Brazil."

"Colombia, host nation for this year's United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference, was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, with a record 79 killed, according to UK advocacy group Global Witness."