Indigenous groups held protests Nov. 14 in Belém, blocking the main entrance to the restricted area at the UN Climate Summit (COP30) to demand that the Brazilian government halt extractive projects that jeopardize their cultures and livelihoods.

A comprehensive global report on "uncontacted" indigenous peoples, published Oct. 27 by UK-based Survival International estimates that the world still holds at least 196 uncontacted or isolated peoples living in 10 countries in South America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Nine out of 10 of these groups face the threat of unwanted contact by extractive industries, including logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling. It's estimated that a quarter are threatened by agribusiness, with a third terrorized by criminal gangs. Intrusions by missionaries are a problem for one in six groups. After contact, indigenous groups are often decimated by illnesses, mainly influenza, for which they have little immunity. Survival International found that unless governments and private companies act to protect them, half of these groups could be wiped out within 10 years.

Officials in Peru on Sept. 5 voted against a proposal to create an indigenous reserve in the country's Amazonian region, where isolated tribes face threats from logging, mining and drug trafficking. The decision will likely delay efforts to protect them by several years and could lead to their displacement, critics said.

Global forest loss surged to record highs in 2024, driven by a catastrophic rise in fires, according to new data from the University of Maryland's Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) Lab, made available May 20 on the World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch platform. Loss of tropical primary forests alone reached 6.7 million hectares—nearly twice as much as in 2023 and an area nearly the size of Panama, at a rate of 18 soccer fields each minute. For the first time on record, fires—not agriculture—were the leading cause of tropical primary forest loss, accounting for nearly 50% of all destruction. This marks a dramatic shift from recent years, when fires averaged just 20%. Yet, tropical primary forest loss driven by other causes also jumped by 14%, the sharpest increase since 2016. (WRI)

The president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW) in Peru on Feb. 17 denounced the use of local children as "human shields" to protect illegal mining activities and demanded the declaration of a state of emergency in the northern Amazon region.

The Wampis Indigenous Nation has more than 10,000 inhabitants. In 2015, the nation formed its Autonomous Territorial Government to manage and protect the territory, which covers lowland rainforest across the Santiago/Kanus and Morona/Kankaim river basins in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Peru is the leading producer of gold, zinc, tin, lead and molybdenum in Latin America. However, long-term illegal mining, principally of gold, has posed significant threats to the environment and human rights.

The Amazon rainforest has seen a record-setting wildfire season this year, fueled by an historic drought and scorching temperatures. In Brazil, the cumulative total estimated carbon emissions from the fires so far in 2024 has reached 183 megatons, according to Europe's Copernicus atmospheric monitoring service—equivalent to the total annual emissions of the Netherlands. The most impacted states are Amazonas and Mato Grosso do Sul, where the great expanse of the Pantanal wetlands are located. The unprecedented fires come even as overall deforestation (defined as the permanent conversion of forest for another use, such as logging, mining or farming) has dropped in Brazil since President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva took office in January 2023. Fires now account for a much higher proportion of forest loss.

Peru's reclusive Mashco Piro people used bows and arrows to attack loggers encroaching on their territory in the Amazon, according to a regional indigenous organization. FENAMAD, representing 39 indigenous communities in Cuzco and Madre de Dios regions, said Aug. 5 that it believes illegal logging was taking place on Mashco Piro territory and that one logger was injured in the July 27 attack. Days before the incident occurred, photos emerged of some 50 members of the isolated tribe apparently searching for food on a river beach—which advocacy group Survival International said is evidence that logging concessions are "dangerously close" to its territory. The photo was taken near the Yine indigenous settlement of Monte Salvado on the Río Las Piedras, Tambopata province, Madre de Dios. The Yine are thought to be closely related to the Mashco Piro.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva vowed Jan. 23 to provide the indigenous Pataxó Hã Hã Hãe people of southern Bahia state with federal support in a land dispute with farmers who are encroaching on their territory. The dispute led to the death of an indigenous leader in a confrontation; her brother, a traditional indigenous chief (cacique), was also shot but survived after undergoing surgery. Others suffered non-deadly injuries in the clash, including a broken arm.