Tepuis are stunning table-top mountains found in northern South America. They are considered sacred by indigenous groups of the region; in fact, the word tepui means “house of the gods” in a local indigenous language. Tepuis also have high levels of endemism since they are not connected to other ranges. However, we have documented active […]
The Amazon Soy Moratorium has often been credited with significantly reducing soy-related deforestation in the Amazon over the past 15 years. The Moratorium is a voluntary zero-deforestation agreement in which traders agree not to purchase soy grown on land cleared after 2008. However, increasing soybean prices may be driving a resurgence of the problem of […]
NASA’s GEDI mission uses lasers to provide cutting-edge estimates of aboveground biomass and related carbon on a global scale. Launched in late 2018 and installed on the International Space Station, GEDI’s lasers return an estimate of aboveground biomass density at greater accuracy and resolution than previously available. Here, we zoom in on the Amazon and […]
We present here the first report of a series focused on the Venezuelan Amazon, which covers over 47 million hectares of the northern section of the Amazon biome (above western Brazil). As the Amazon Base Map indicates, Venezuela is a key part to the remaining core Amazon that is still functioning as a critical carbon […]
We present the second report in our series focused on the Venezuelan Amazon. The first (MAAP #155) documented the loss of over 140,000 hectares (345,000 acres) of primary forest over the past four years. We also zoomed in on the major hotspots, showing that mining is one of the primary deforestation drivers, including in protected areas. Here we […]
We present a detailed look at the major 2021 Amazon forest loss hotspots, based on the final annual data produced by the University of Maryland. This dataset is unique in that distinguishes forest loss from fire, leaving the rest as a close proxy for deforestation. Thus, for the first time, the results include both deforestation and […]
Extensive deforestation, especially along the major road networks, has shockingly turned the eastern Brazilian Amazon into a net carbon source (see MAAP #144). Fortunately, the greater Amazon across all nine countries is still a net carbon sink, largely thanks to the still intact core of the western Amazon. The biggest long-term threat to this core […]
Illegal gold mining reached crisis levels in the southern Peruvian Amazon in 2017 and 2018, clearing over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) in the most critically impacted area, known as La Pampa (located in the buffer zone of Tambopata National Reserve, region of Madre de Dios). In early 2019, the Peruvian government launched Operation Mercury, an […]
We present a first look at the major 2021 Amazon deforestation hotspots.* The Amazon Base Map illustrates several key findings:p We estimate the loss of over 1.9 million hectares (4.8 million acres) of primary forest loss across the nine countries of the Amazon biome in 2021. k This matches the previous two years, bringing the total […]
Deforestation within and around Chiribiquete National Park represents one of the most critical threats to primary forests in the Colombian Amazon. In this report, we document the recent deforestation of more than 2,000 hectares (4,950 acres) across seven fronts within Chiribiquete National Park, between September 2021 and February 2022 (see Base Map). In addition, we […]
