Q&A: “The Order Was to Kill Us”

The Peruvian government described the recent deaths of police officers in clashes with indigenous protesters in the country’s Amazon rainforest as "genocide" at the hands of "extremist savages."

SOUTH AMERICA: Calls for Justice for Peru’s Native Peoples

Social organisations in South America are backing the struggle against opening up Peru’s Amazon jungle to mining and oil companies, which resulted in clashes in which at least nine indigenous people and 25 police officers died.

BRAZIL: Environment Minister Under Fire from All Sides

The approval of draft laws and infrastructure projects that pose a threat to the environment in Brazil, promoted by large landowners and even sanctioned by some sectors in the government, has tied the hands of Environment Minister Carlos Minc and brought a replay of the tense climate that cost his predecessor her job.

PERU: Native Protesters Search for Their Dead

Indigenous people taking part in protests near this town in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas that ended in a bloody clash with the police last week are now focusing on drawing up a list of the dead and missing, amidst a climate of fear and mistrust.

PERU: ‘Police Are Throwing Bodies in the River,’ Say Native Protesters

There are conflicting reports on a violent incident in Peru’s Amazon jungle region in which both police officers and indigenous protesters were killed.

COLOMBIA: The Farmers Who Abandoned Coca for Cocoa

Chocaguán Amazónico, a small peasant-run alternative crop company that emerged in the midst of Colombia's cocaine boom and civil war, will celebrate its 15th birthday in September.

ENVIRONMENT: Preserve Peru’s Biodiversity, Save the World

Peru, second in Latin America for total area of tropical forests, has adopted international laws, instruments and strategies to protect its wealth of flora and fauna. But those tools have not yet had much effect.

PERU: Talks Fall Flat; Indigenous Protests Rage On

The Peruvian government resumed talks with indigenous groups after a violent crackdown on protests left 10 injured and around 20 under arrest. But the dialogue has not yet brought results, and the demonstrations against decrees that affect indigenous lands and the rainforest continue, while a state of emergency remains in place in several Amazon regions.

BRAZIL: Vigil Against Farming Offensive in Amazon

Celebrities and environmental organisations held a vigil at the Brazilian Congress in an effort to block passage of a bill that they say could cause an even greater "environmental disaster" in the Amazon jungle.

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Protecting the Jungle Has a Price

Government officials, business leaders and non-governmental organisations agreed in Brazil on the need for rich countries and companies to "pay" the people of the Amazon jungle as "providers of environmental services" for contributing to the fight against climate change by not deforesting.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Going Beyond the Carbon Market

With an incisive report in hand about what awaits Latin America and the Caribbean in the future if action is not taken to fight climate change, economist John Nash defends the role of the World Bank and underscores the need to expand the so-called "clean development mechanism".

ENVIRONMENT: Quest for the Amazon Turtles

Looking back, Mario Maranhão concludes that being a conservationist was always in his nature. When he had to hunt for a living, he "only killed enough to eat, and never went after the female animals," he says. Five years ago, he took on the mission of rescuing turtles that hatch near Alter do Chão, a natural paradise located in eastern Amazonia.

BRAZIL: Happiness Is Promoting Health and Development in the Amazon

On his fourth trip to Brazil, Prince Charles plans to visit a project in the Amazon jungle that has cut infant mortality and illiteracy nearly in half by organising poor communities to get involved in their own development.

ENVIRONMENT: Amazon Teetering on the Edge

The Amazon Basin captures 12,000 to 16,000 square kilometres of water per year, and just 40 percent of that flows through the rivers. The rest returns to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration of the forests and is distributed throughout South America.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Amazon Destruction Undermines Brazil’s Leadership

The Brazilian government, and its Environment Ministry in particular, accepted a risky bet by agreeing to voluntary goals for curbing deforestation in the Amazon, giving the country greater weight in the global talks on fighting climate change.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: ‘Stateless Peoples’ Defend Diversity

The immense diversity of peoples was apparent at the World Social Forum (WSF), which ended Sunday in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon region.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “Wake Up, World!” – SOS from the Amazon

A human banner made up of more than 1,000 people, seen and photographed from the air, sent the message "SOS Amazon" to the world, in the first action taken by indigenous people hours before the opening in northern Brazil on Tuesday of the 2009 World Social Forum (WSF).

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Crisis as Opportunity for “Another World”

A World Social Forum (WSF) revitalised by a global crisis that has awakened new interest in the proposition that "another world is possible" - now perceived as either less utopian or more urgently needed - will take place from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 in Belém, in northern Brazil.

LATIN AMERICA: Elusive Right to Land Inflames Indigenous Protests

In the past two decades Latin America has made advances in signing international and national instruments that recognise and protect the rights of indigenous peoples. The problem is that these laws are not always heeded by governments, and the lack of enforcement has fuelled protests.

BRAZIL: Speculative Prices Block Land Reform

Rising land prices in Brazil, driven up by the boom in investment in rural property and the expansion of biofuels, are hindering agrarian reform, says João Pedro Stédile, an activist with the international peasant movement Via Campesina.

PERU: Free Trade Opens Environmental Window

Legislative decree 1090, which modifies Peru's forest policy, is worrying U.S. trade authorities because it contravenes environmental clauses of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is to enter force between the two countries in January 2009.