Peru's security forces cracked down on illegal gold mining operations in the Amazon region of Madre de Dios in late February, with army troops putting several dredges on the region's rivers to the torch. According to the Environment Ministry, some 20,000 hectares of rainforest are destroyed and 45 tons of mercury dumped into local rivers each year due to the dredging operations. (Reuters, Feb. 20)

A Brazilian judge ruled in favor of local indigenous groups Feb. 28, blocking President Dilma Rousseff's plans to move ahead with construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam in the Amazon rainforest. Federal Judge Ronaldo Desterro in Para state also ordered the national development bank, BNDES, not to fund the project. In his ruling, Judge Desterro found that the project had received insufficient review from IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, with many potential impacts ignored.

A judge for the Provincial Court of Sucumbios in Ecuador ordered US oil company Chevron to pay $8.6 billion in damages, finding that Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, polluted large areas of the country's rain forest. Chevron vowed to fight the ruling, calling it "illegitimate and unenforceable" and "the product of fraud." The plaintiffs' lawyer said he also plans to appeal, after the court awarded far less than the $113 billion for which the plaintiffs reportedly asked. It is unclear when, if ever, the Chevron will pay the judgment. Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, and it recently won rulings from a panel of arbitrators at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and a judgment in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York temporarily barring the enforcement of any judgment against Chevron.

Adherents of the Ecuadoran indigenous federation CONAIE rallied outside a Quito courthouse Feb. 7 to demand the release of three leaders of the Shuar people from the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago who were arrested last week in the September 2009 slaying of a local teacher in the region, Bosco Wizuma. One of the three, José Acacho, is charged with "terrorism" for inciting protests over La Voz de Arutam radio station which allegedly resulted in the killing. CONAIE leader Marlon Santi threatened protests that would "shake the country" if the men are not freed. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadoran Amazon (CONFENAIE), a regional CONAIE affiliate, accused President Rafael Correa's government of "criminalizing protest," and called for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to intercede in the case. (El Telégrafo, Quito, AFP, Feb. 7; AFP, Feb. 4)

The state agency PeruPetro has given the consortium that operates Peru's massive natural gas field at Camisea has until March 30 to negotiate a deal on export royalties, with talks deadlocked. The controversy comes as presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo has made a key platform plank of his demands that extractive industries contribute more of their revenue to support social development programs. (Reuters, Jan. 28; Bloomberg, Jan. 27)

A new study in the journal Science shows that the Amazon suffered a serious drought last year—making for two severe droughts in the world's biggest rainforest within five years, and raising disturbing implications for global climate. While the Amazon normally absorbs huge amounts of CO2, droughts cause the reverse effect—with the forests releasing emissions as dead trees decay. Emissions from last year's drought may exceed the 5 billion tons of CO2 that the last drought in 2005 is believed to have released. This is roughly equal to the annual emissions of the United States.

Brazil's National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI) has released new photographs of an isolated tribe living in a remote rainforest region of Acre state near the Peruvian border. FUNAI has been monitoring "uncontacted" tribes—those with only limited dealings with the outside world—from the air in recent years. Photographs of what is believed to be the same tribe were released to the world two years ago. Campaigners say the tribe, believed to be part of the Panoan indigenous group, are threatened by a rise in illegal logging on the Peruvian side of the border.

Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA, has issued a "partial" installation license for the Belo Monte dam, to be built on the Xingu River in the Amazon. The license allows the initial stages of construction, including the clearing of vast areas of forest, to commence, despite the numerous human rights and environmental violations this involves, and huge opposition from the local population.