Extractive Industries

Natural resources and responsible extraction

A man wearing an orange feather headdress and silver necklace adorned with blue beads stares into distance

Latin America remains the deadliest region for environmental defenders

New Global Witness report shows nearly 90% of all environment-linked killings in 2022 were in the region, driven by land disputes, armed conflict and extractive industries

shirtless man standing in forest near tall fan palms

Indigenous peoples

Ecuador’s oil referendum polarises Indigenous groups

A squirrel monkey in tree

Ecuador set to vote on banning oil projects in Yasuní National Park

A woman in a bridge with water lilies in the river

In Peru’s Amazon, Indigenous women lead the way on conservation

Berito Kuwaru’wa, an U’wa indigenous leader and 1998 Goldman Prize winner. Since the 1990s, the U’wa people have protested against the exploitation of fossil fuels in their territory in north-east Colombia (Image: Jorge Sánchez / Earth Rights International)

Indigenous group takes on Colombian government in court

Indigenous peoples

How an Amazon activist became a ‘Green Nobel’ prize winner

Black and white underwater photo of Seals swimming at Isla de Lobos, one of the areas being considered for protection by the Uruguayan government

Uruguay targets new marine protections – and offshore oil

Aerial view of a hill or mountain with strange rock formations, deformed, curves, lines, abstract silhouettes, deteriorated rock, wear and tear

Q&A: ‘We won’t see a 100% Mexican lithium process for a decade’

indigenous people camp on the property of Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine

Latam NGOs raise concerns on Chinese investments to UN body

Highlights

Mining facility in the middle of mountains

Zijin’s difficult days in Buriticá

What seemed to be a perfect business has ended in a series of complaints and stoppages that have complicated the work of Chinese multinational Zijin, owner of one of Colombia’s largest gold mines

Aerial view of brine ponds

Mining companies in Argentina look to solar to power lithium extraction

In the country’s sun-drenched northwest, on-site solar power could help plant operators decarbonise energy-intensive lithium processes

member of an indigenous community next to rubbish bags

Oil spills stain the Amazon in Peru. Why has it been so slow to act?

Nearly 600 oil spills have occurred in the Peruvian Amazon since 1997. The state’s inaction forces indigenous groups to live with the economic, health and cultural consequences.

Children sitting in front of a river

Mining firm accused of coercing indigenous groups to exploit potash in Amazon

Public Prosecutor’s Office investigates Canadian-controlled Potássio do Brasil for manipulating consultations and land transactions with indigenous people

helicopters in clearing

Book extract: ‘They’re killing us’

A man protesting the closure of a copper smelting plant waves the Chile flag in front of smoke, standing on a balcony

Energy transition

What does a ‘just transition’ mean for Latin America?

Communities in the Peruvian Amazon using drones to protect territory

Peru’s Amazon-defending technologies

yanomami exhibition

Indigenous peoples

Struggle of Brazilian Amazon’s Yanomami brought to life through art

Ruth Alipaz

‘We will fight every battle’ – two women, one mission against deforestation

An aerial view of Montevideo port, Uruguay

Boats fishing illegally slip through the nets at Uruguay's main port

A truckload of sugar cane outside a factory in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Bolivia’s biodiesel play: economic sense or another Amazon threat?

China, the world and the environment: what to expect in the Year of the Rabbit

Sápara: the Amazon community going global in its fight against oil majors

A worker walks on a beach at Ventanilla Peru on 18 January 2022 following oil spill

Repsol oil spill: One year on, no justice in sight for Peruvian fishers

Maroon-bellied Parakeet, Pyrrhura Frontalis, Feeding In A Ligustrum Lucidum Tree In Buenos Aires

Chinese privet: the invasive tree putting Argentina’s native forests at risk

A reflection of a woman from a community on Peru's mining corridor

‘How are we going to live?’: The impact of mining on communities in Peru

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