South America

Brazilian Indigenous protest victory

Indigenous protests in Brazil topple law seen as threat to rural schools

After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. According to Indigenous leaders and the local teachers’ union, the law eliminated the existing education framework, cut teachers’ incomes, including a transportation allowance for teachers to reach remote communities.

Someone holding a phone opening the TikTok app

Brazil bans smartphones in schools to aim for better learning

Brazil’s Ministry of Education says that the restriction aims to protect students’ mental and physical health while promoting more rational use of technology. Institutions, governments, parents, and others have for years have associated smartphone use by children with bullying, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and loss of concentration necessary for learning. China moved last year to limit children’s use of smartphones, while France has banned smartphones in schools for kids aged six to 15.

Sea turtle swimming

Ecuador’s coastal ecosystems have rights, constitutional court rules

The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has determined that coastal marine ecosystems have rights of nature, including the right to “integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes,” per Chapter 7, Articles 71 to 74 in the country’s constitution. This is not the first time that Ecuador has established legal rights for nature. In fact, Ecuador was the first country in the world to establish that nature held legal rights, Earth.org reported.

Brazilian flag

Brazil passes law to cap emissions and regulate carbon market

Brazil will join the short list of countries, which includes China, Mexico, and Kazakhstan, and most E.U. member states, with a nationwide regulated carbon emissions system. The Brazilian government and the law’s proponents in the industrial sector say a regulated market will encourage companies to adopt low-carbon technologies and innovate toward greener production methods. Fines for not complying will be largely rerouted toward Brazil’s national climate change fund and administrative costs, with 5% of the fines destined to compensate Indigenous communities.

Cattle

Brazil to adopt full beef traceability by 2032

Brazil will soon begin tracing individual cattle from birth to slaughter, aiming to make the sector 100% traceable by 2032, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Fávaro has indicated. The announcement comes amid growing international demand for transparency, especially as the EUDR, a new European Union regulation requiring proof that certain imported commodities aren’t adding to recent deforestation, is set to come into force at the end of 2025. Fávaro stated that a tracing platform would be working by 2027.

Colombia flag

Colombia outlaws child marriage after 17-year campaign

There are currently 4.5 million girls and women in Colombia who married before 18 – about one in four. Of these, a million were married before they were 15. Now, Colombian lawmakers have approved a bill to eradicate child marriage in the South American country after 17 years of campaigning by advocacy groups and eight failed attempts to push legislation through the house and senate. Colombia is now one of 12 countries out of the 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean to have entirely banned marriage under the age of 18, following Honduras, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Brazil renews plan to restore 30 million acres of degraded land

Brazil recently announced a plan to restore an area of degraded land about half the size of the U.K. by 2030, in a bid to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. The Planaveg 2.0 initiative, launched at the U.N. biodiversity summit, COP16, in Colombia on Oct. 28, aims to restore 30 million acres, about half of Brazil’s degraded land area. Home to 15-18% of the world’s known species, Brazil is the most biodiverse nation on Earth, making it a key player in global ecosystem restoration.

Colombian woman in traditional clothing weaving looking at the camera

Colombia’s new decree recognizes Indigenous people as environmental authorities

Indigenous peoples in Colombia have been granted the authority to protect, manage, and conserve biodiversity within their territories according to their knowledge. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has issued a decree that lays out the standards required for Indigenous authorities to issue regulations regarding the protection, preservation, use, and management of natural resources in their territories and effective coordination with state authorities. These powers will be exercised according to their self-government structures.

Cattle

Brazil fines meat ranchers and packers $64 million for raising and purchasing cattle from deforested Amazon

IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, has fined meat packers and cattle ranchers — including the largest on the planet, JBS — $64 million for buying or raising cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon rainforest. The agency said 69 properties had been identified that had sold a total of 18,000 cattle who had been raised on deforested land. They also found 23 meat packing companies that had bought the cattle in Amazonas and Para states. Cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

Brazilian Indian Kaingang

Brazil elects record-high number of Indigenous mayors, vice mayors, and councilors

More than 250 Indigenous people were elected mayors, vice mayors, and city councilors this October, the highest in the country’s history and an 8% increase compared to the 2020 ballot. Increasing representation of Indigenous people elected in municipal ballots is a key move to ensure the fulfillment of Indigenous rights and conservation efforts and should pave the way to increase the number of Indigenous people elected in the 2026 state and federal ballots, advocates and activists say.

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