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Chiquita banana

Colombian victims win historic lawsuit in U.S. court over banana giant Chiquita

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Following 17 years of legal proceedings, victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia have obtained justice, as a jury found the banana company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group. The ruling is historic because it’s the first time an American jury has held a major U.S. corporation liable for complicity in serious human rights abuses in another country. Victims’ families will receive $38.3 million in compensation.

Peru fog oasis

Peru grants conservation status to 16,000-acre desert oasis site

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Peru has granted formal conservation status to Lomas y Tillandsiales de Amara y Ullujaya, a unique fog oasis ecosystem on the arid Peruvian coastline. The state-owned land, which spans 15,936 acres in the Ica region of Southwest Peru and hosts hundreds of rare and threatened native species, will be protected for future research and exploration for at least three decades.

Rainforest scene

Landmark ruling in Suriname grants protections to local and Indigenous communities

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A court in Suriname approved an injunction filed on behalf of twelve Indigenous and maroon groups concerned about losing approximately 1,322,013 acres of rainforest to agricultural development. The court said the government doesn’t have the right to grant land without free, prior and informed consent, a process in which developers meet with residents to explain how projects would impact daily life.

School of fish

Peru approves the creation of long-awaited marine protected area

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After 10 years of negotiations, Peru’s Council of Ministers has approved the creation of the Grau Tropical Sea National Reserve. To Peruvians, it is a much-awaited marine protected area, as it’s one of the most biodiverse stretches along the country’s coastline. The reserve covers over 285,000 acres of sea off the departments of Piura and Tumbes in northern Peru. The IUCN ranked the area among the 70 most important places in the world for marine biodiversity conservation.

A person preparing for planting the plant

Campesinos plant nearly a million trees in deforestation hotspot in the Colombian Amazon

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More than 700 campesinos from the municipality of Cartagena del Chairá have started restoring more than 11,000 acres of degraded rainforest in one of Colombia’s deforestation hotspots. In collaboration with researchers from SINCHI, the Amazonian Scientific Research Institute, and the Association of Community Action Boards, the families have recorded more than 600 plant and more than 100 animal species in the area.

Aral Sea time lapse 1989 2014

Uzbekistan plants millions of acres of forest where the Aral Sea once lay

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Instead of trying to restore what used to be the world’s third largest lake, officials from the Uzbekistan Forestry Agency and locals are trying to plant a new forest where it once rested. The main purpose of the afforestation project it to curb the harmful sandstorms and improve the ecosystem by planting desert-tolerant plants. The initiative has so far planted 4.2 million acres of forest, with up to 494,000 acres of new forest planned for 2024.

Vast salt flat

Chile to create network of protected salt flats

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Currently, only around 8% of Chile’s salt flats are protected. The new network of protected salt flats will raise that to 25%. This also aligns with the 30×30 goal as outlined by the global Convention on Biological Diversity, which ensures that at least 30% of the planet’s ecosystems are protected by 2030. The protection plan is part of the broader National Lithium Strategy, which seeks to make Chile the world’s lead producer of lithium, a critical component of EV batteries.

Howler monkey

Brazil takes pioneering action to rewild howler monkeys

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Brown howler monkeys, endemic to the Atlantic Forest in Brazil and Argentina, became one of the 25 most threatened primate species following a yellow fever outbreak in late 2016.
In response, Brazilian government agencies and other conservation organizations launched a nationwide population management plan, the first of its kind in the country, focused on coordinating captive facilities with experts who could relocate animals to areas where populations have vanished or declined.

Acacia tree branch

Democratic Republic of the Congo plants more than 800 million trees between 2019 and 2023

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Ten percent of the world’s tropical forests are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the DRC is losing 1.2 million acres of forest every year. To help address this, a Congolese government program aspired to plant 1 billion trees between 2019 and 2023, aiming to strengthen climate resilience, alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity, and achieved 90% of their goal.

Aerial view of river and mangroves

Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state

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Brazil’s Pará state has now protected almost all of its Amazonian coastline after establishing two new conservation units that make up the world’s largest and most conserved belt of mangroves. The environmental victory came after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the decree for the two reserves on March 21, placing an additional 184,600 acres of mangrove ecosystems under federal protection.

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