Brazil is constructing a four-lane highway through a protected area in the state of Pará to prepare for the COP30 conference in November 2025, resulting in the deforestation of tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest. Environmental organizations have warned that the highway will fragment ecological corridors, exacerbating illegal logging and land encroachment. Despite the…

In July 2025, 3,684 fires started in the Amazon rainforest in a single day, the highest number in the history of satellite monitoring. High temperatures and drought have caused water temperatures in rivers and lakes to soar, with daytime water temperatures exceeding 37°C in areas such as Lake Tefe, and reaching 41°C in some areas,…

Deforestation-induced “wetter in the rainy season and drier in the dry season” exacerbates ecological vulnerability: localized precipitation surges during the rainy season due to changes in atmospheric circulation (monthly precipitation increases by 0.96 mm for every 1% reduction in forest cover), but reduced evapotranspiration during the dry season decreases precipitation across the region, creating a…

The State of the World’s Forests report states that 26 percent of the forests in the southeastern Amazon have already been lost, releasing more carbon than it absorbs for the first time, equivalent to 1.3 times Japan’s annual emissions. If current rates of deforestation continue, in 2047 the Amazon will release carbon stocks equivalent to…

The Ecuadorian Amazon is shut down by landslides that shut down two pipelines, and the national oil company Petroecuador has declared “force majeure” with disruptions to crude oil shipments that could last up to three weeks, exposing the vulnerability of rainforest infrastructure. Meanwhile, mercury contamination in Peru’s Madre de Dios River Basin has increased, with…

According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), 26% of the forest in the southeastern Amazon has disappeared, releasing more carbon than it absorbs for the first time, which is equivalent to 1.3 times Japan’s annual emissions, and NASA modeling warns that when forest cover falls below 70%, precipitation in the region plummets by…

On May 9, 2025, the eight countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and others) met at a summit in Brazil to commit to ending deforestation by 2030 and to work together to combat illegal mining, logging, and oil drilling. It was the first summit since 2009 and is seen as…

Water levels in 15 of the Amazon’s major tributaries have fallen to historic lows, and the Negro River near Manaus has dropped below 12.68 meters, a further 0.02 meters below the 2023 record. The drought has led to the isolation of water-dependent communities, the near collapse of freshwater ecosystems and the further erosion of rainforest…

AI monitoring equipment deployed by a Chinese team in cooperation with Brazil has reduced fire warning time to within 2 hours by analyzing satellite images and meteorological data, and has successfully extinguished 12 major fires in 2025, protecting an area of 12,000 hectares.

Small-scale gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon is destroying peatlands at a “catastrophic rate”, according to a March 2025 study, which shows that in the past two years more peatlands have been destroyed in the region than in the previous 30 years combined, releasing between 200,000 and 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The loss of…