Managing editor - Brazil @ Mongabay Ex-deputy editor @ The Intercept Brazil @Fronteira founder Bylines in a bunch of places Guitar player
The Parakanã are reoccupying their territory after federal forces evicted around 3,000 invaders. But they are ready to come back if Brazil’s next administration carries a new anti-environmental agenda in 2027. @nandawenzel.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indi...
Indigenous Parakanã fear election U-turn may spark new invasions in BrazilExpelled loggers hope for a political shift to reclaim Indigenous land like bacteria adapting to an antibiotic.news.mongabay.comOne of the most cooked fish in the Amazon, the tambaqui was included in Brazil's list of threatened species, triggering fear of losses from Amazon small-scale fishers who depend on the species for their livelihood. @bykarlamendes.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fish...
Fishers fight for solutions as Brazil lists tambaqui as threatenedAmazon fishers fear a total ban on their most iconic catch could favor industrial farms over local communities.news.mongabay.comProject Reconecta installed eight rope bridges in a municipality in Brazil, and a 15-month study used camera traps to document thousands of arboreal wildlife adapting to new aerial crossings. Suzana Carmago on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero...
Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossingsFor some of the world's rarest monkeys, the path to survival now runs through a simple network of ropes.news.mongabay.comDespite protection and conservation efforts, cágado-iaçá’s populations over the past 36 years declined by more than 50% in Amazonas and western Pará states, according to official data. @bykarlamendes.bsky.social reports on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/braz...
Brazil lists the Amazon river turtle as endangered for the first timeA food staple and once a common sight, the Amazon turtle is now officially endangered as its population halves.news.mongabay.comThe investigation suggests Amazonian dark earth could work as a “biological engineer” by reshaping the soil’s microbiome, increasing beneficial fungal diversity and reducing pathogenic microbes that hinder tree growth. Evanildo da Silveira on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/dark...
Dark earth: Ancient Amazonian soil can boost forest restoration, study findsPink ipê trees grow taller and faster thanks to a microscopic boost from an ancestral formula.news.mongabay.comRecent satellite images show forest closing over the path of an illegal road that nearly severed the Xingu Socioenvironmental Corridor in 2022. Rafael Spuldar on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/07/crac...
Crackdown lets rainforest reclaim illegal road in rare win for the AmazonA vanishing road in the Xingu region exemplifies what is at stake in Brazil’s October election.news.mongabay.comA new harvesting method allows an undisclosed Amazon plant to provide production of ibogaine, a psychedelic compound known for its largely unregulated and understudied properties in helping chemical addiction. Jenny Gonzales on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/06/secr...
Secret Amazon species may be new source of ibogaine for addiction treatmentA dismissed pasture weed may be key to easing drug addictions, but a researcher is keeping it a closely guarded secret for now.news.mongabay.comTraditional communities in Pará, Brazil’s top cocoa-producing state, are managing native species that naturally resist pests and extreme weather. @samcowie84.bsky.social and Cícero Pedroso on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amaz...
Amazon floodplains cocoa offers a climate-resilient and sustainable chocolateA river community in Pará uses ancestral secrets to beat the climate crisis one chocolate bean at a time.news.mongabay.comO ministro destacou que o Supremo não está analisando as provas obtidas no processo, mas a conduta do advogado de defesa do réu e do juiz instrutor do caso, que tiveram uma “atitude profissional lamentável e criminosa”. www.cartacapital.com.br/justica/stf-...
Por unanimidade, STF anula absolvição no caso Mariana FerrerO julgamento teve a repercussão geral reconhecida, então servirá de baliza para todos os julgamentos envolvendo crimes sexuais no Paíswww.cartacapital.com.brA newly published study has found a 28% decline in bird species richness in Amazonian areas with high densities of açaí palms. Suzana Camargo on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/06/grow...
Growing appetite for açaí is damaging bird diversity in the AmazonYour refreshing smoothie bowl might be silencing the white-throated toucan and the razor-billed curassow.news.mongabay.comBrazil’s Supreme Court upheld a law removing 862 hectares (2,130 acres) from Jamanxim National Park, clearing a legal obstacle for the proposed Ferrogrão grain railway. @schroder.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/06/braz...
Brazil carves national park to make room for grain railwayBrazil's Supreme Court ruling revives a controversial Amazon railway and sets a precedent about protected areas.news.mongabay.comBrazil’s environmental agency approved oil drilling off the mouth of the Amazon River, even though oil company Petrobras considers it “unfeasible” to rescue large animals like manatees in the event of an oil spill. @nandawenzel.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amaz...
Amazon oil drilling plan excludes unique hybrid manatees too big for rescueA rare hybrid population faces an oil frontier with a rescue plan that experts call insufficient.news.mongabay.comA two-decade study conducted in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon found that while degraded forests show high ecological resilience and no sign of transitioning to savanna, species diversity at forest edges halved. Suzana Camargo on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/05/amaz...
Amazon resilient to fire, but diversity loss still a threat, study findsExperiment shows the Amazon can recover after fires, but the new forest is a “poorer” version of its former self.news.mongabay.comThe measure impacts IBAMA’s raids and risks reversing the system that halved Amazon deforestation under the Lula administration. @nandawenzel.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/04/braz...
Brazil bill aims to ban satellite tool used to slow Amazon deforestationThe agribusiness caucus is pushing restrictions on the technology that has helped halve deforestation since 2023.news.mongabay.comIntensive farming of the popular açaí berry grew by 70% since 2015, while community cooperatives reported losses of 35% or more during recent heat waves and fires. Carla Ruas on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat...
Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvestersThe global craze for açaí is driving a plantation boom that leaves the forest’s original harvesters behind.news.mongabay.comThe government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched renewal works for the BR-319 highway, using a new legal loophole to bypass environmental licensing requirements. @nandawenzel.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/04/braz...
Brazil taps legal loophole to issue bids for Amazon ‘tipping point’ roadA strategic shift in law clears the way for a highway that scientists warn will push the Amazon to a tipping point.news.mongabay.comA federal court and Brazil’s environmental agency ordered the Belo Monte hydropower plant to revise the Xingu River’s water-sharing plan, a decade after its debut, but a legal stay blocks enforcement of the ruling. @schroder.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cont...
Contested Amazon dam called to review water flow as river ecosystem failsLocals warned Belo Monte would kill the river, and now the plant faces a turning point as prophecies become real.news.mongabay.comA planned shipping waterway on the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon, may disrupt the sophisticated social communication systems used by the Amazon river turtle, a species likely to be endangered. @nandawenzel.bsky.social on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/03/amaz...
Amazon waterway noise threatens unique social life of giant river turtlesHatchlings talk inside their shells to time their birth, but the roar of massive barges may soon drown out their sound.news.mongabay.comA survey by @reporterbrasil.org.br of mining records found dozens of requests for copper, manganese and nickel targeting land reform settlements in northern Brazil’s Carajás region in the last five years. on @mongabay.com news.mongabay.com/2026/03/mini...
Mining rush for critical minerals threatens Amazon land reform settlementsFamilies awaiting land reform in the Amazon now face a surge in mining that can destroy their chance at a decent life.news.mongabay.com