Paraguay has provided updated information to the United Nations about the Chaco Biosphere Reserve, a protected area where deforestation from farming and cattle ranching threatens the survival of Indigenous communities. The country had until the end of September to respond to a UNESCO request to provide updated management plans and zoning, which critics say are only selectively enforced. There was no automatic consequence for not meeting the deadline, but UNESCO officials said they’re monitoring the site to ensure it doesn’t lose its designation. “We aim to provide member-states with the necessary technical support and opportunities to complete or improve their documentation, with the ultimate objective of ensuring strong and functional biosphere reserves,” a UNESCO official wrote in an email to Mongabay in September. The biosphere reserve covers approximately 7.5 million hectares (18.5 million acres) of the Gran Chaco, one of the largest tropical dry forests in the world. Millions of hectares of the biome have been deforested, most of it for farming and cattle ranching, over the last two decades. Much of the region is the ancestral territory of the Indigenous Ayoreo. The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode continue to live in voluntary isolation, making them especially vulnerable to outside disease where farms and ranches are expanding. They’re the last uncontacted Indigenous group in South America outside of the Amazon Rainforest. The biosphere reserve was established in 2001 and then expanded in 2011, partly due to the presence of Indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation. In 2005, it was included in UNESCO’s Man and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, and said they discovered “substantial” mining activity that raised legal questions about permitting. Now, the two lawmakers are calling on President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons to launch an immediate investigation and temporarily halt all mining activity in the area. “The situation on-site raises fundamental questions about the nature, duration, permitting, oversight and the fiscal and environmental controls on these activities,” the lawmakers said in a letter, reviewed by Mongabay, to the president’s office last month. It added, “[It’s] necessary to establish how activities of this scale have been able to take place over an extended period and to what extent the state’s interests and revenues have been protected in the process.” The lawmakers, who traveled with a group of local journalists and an environmental activist, observed “deep excavations” at the site and materials being transported to processing locations. There were also indications of cyanide use via heap leaching, a process in which the chemical is sprayed onto rock to dissolve gold, making it easier to collect smaller particles. The import and use of cyanide is heavily restricted in Suriname. Geerlings-Simons is trying to phase out imports and implement a registry system for the chemical, which is still…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what laws. Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons created a task force to investigate illegal settlements destroying the rainforest, many of them Mennonites moving from other countries. Officials delivered eviction notices to some of the settlers as recently as July, yet some deny receiving the notices and continue to develop the area. Lawmakers said they’re confused about the location of the new Mennonite communities, the legal process for removing them, and how they entered the country in the first place. “We got bits and pieces of information that more and more families were coming,” Rabindre Parmessar, leader of the National Democratic Party in the National Assembly, told Mongabay over the phone. “We don’t know whether immigration rules were taken into consideration, and the other rules and procedures we have here in Suriname.” Since at least 2022, agribusiness investors in the country have been trying to relocate Mennonite farming families from Bolivia, Belize and other parts of the Americas. The conservative Christian group has a track record of rapid farming growth, and would have helped develop hundreds of thousands of hectares of mostly primary rainforest. Geerlings-Simons during the press briefing Aug 4. Image courtesy of Key tv 8.2 In…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A new initiative between the U.S. and Argentina is meant to bolster investment opportunities and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals that could be used in the clean energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The Andes-Atlantic Corridor, announced Sept. 23, will make it easier to funnel U.S. investment into Argentina’s mining sector and to export critical minerals. At the same time, the initiative will help continue to develop the Vaca Muerta region, home to Argentina’s largest oil and gas reserves. “Working together, the United States and Argentina seek to continue to build on our robust relationship through increased U.S. investment, close security cooperation, and aligned values,” the two countries said in a joint statement. Argentina has about 117.91 million metric tons of copper reserves and 216.32 million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent, the chemical used in lithium-ion batteries. Many of the country’s minerals are needed for building the cables and transformers in power grids, wind turbines and solar panels, among other things. The country is also part of the “Lithium Triangle,” alongside Chile and Bolivia, an approximately 400,000-square-kilometer (154,400-square-mile) stretch of salt flats where 40-60% of the world’s lithium is located. Historically, exporting minerals has been a challenge for Argentina. The closure of a major copper mine and a lack of foreign investment, among other economic troubles in the country, saw copper exports drop between 2012 and 2019, according to an analysis by the Payne Institute for Public Policy, a U.S.-based think tank studying energy, natural resources, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay