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File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

Open access notables

The Perils of Climate Catastrophism: A Call to Situate Crisis and Change, Bickerstaff, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change

Catastrophic imaginaries are inextricably bound to how we think about climate change and also how we respond—individually and collectively—to the urgent challenges of achieving rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This advanced review reflects on, and problematises, the power and persistence of ideas about climate catastrophe. It is argued that this politically and culturally dominant framing of imminent planetary devastation impedes and constrains action on climate change. It is a position that underlines, I suggest, a need to rethink and better situate our narratives of, and relations to, climate crisis and emergency. I pursue this argument in four parts. First, I begin by introducing and theoretically contextualizing “environmental catastrophism”. Second, and following on, I address the ways in which the problem of climate change has become synonymous with imaginaries of apocalyptic catastrophism, tracing dominant tropes and discourses. In the third step I raise interconnected perils of the catastrophic gaze for climate action: the impossibility of solving a problem framed as a predominantly totalising whole-planet challenge; defeatism that displaces action to “total” and/or depoliticising solutions; and public despair around, and alienation from, climate action. Finally, and in response to these challenges, I make the case for a situated view of climate crisis and change—one that offers and embraces imaginaries that are fundamentally partial, located and positioned.

Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes

There is evidence that rainfall extremes have become more intense and frequent over the last few decades, but it is difficult to assess these changes due to the limitations of our short observational records. We use the UNprecedented Simulated Extreme ENsemble (UNSEEN) approach to (1) assess changes in extreme rainfall over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia over the last 40 years and (2) identify locations that have a high chance of breaking rainfall records. We find that extreme rainfall risk has already increased since 1981 during the rainy season in both regions, including a doubling of risk in some months for many major population centers such as Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Bangkok, Hanoi, Maseru, Johannesburg, Lilongwe, and Lusaka. The pattern of increasing risk of extreme rainfall is projected to increase further in the coming 20 years in the CMIP6 ensemble; yet UNSEEN estimates of changes from the last 20 years are already greater than these future projections in the Philippines, northern Mozambique, and northern Madagascar. Finally, we compare the UNSEEN ensemble to historical records to identify places that have “soft records” and are likely to see record-setting events. These places with increasing risks but no recent extremes are labeled as “sitting ducks” in today's climate. We find that much of Mozambique, the Philippines, and Laos would be considered “sitting ducks” for extreme precipitation in at least one month of the year. Disaster risk managers should use these types of large ensembles when estimating the risk of extremes in today's climate, in order to ensure that society is prepared for record breaking events. This approach can also be used for improving engineering design estimates of rainfall return periods and for stress-testing health system and disaster preparedness.

Facilitating permanent carbon storage through risk transfers? Analyzing the insurability of the carbon leakage liability, Spencer et al., Energy Research & Social Science

Geological storage of CO2 is expected to play a role in mitigating climate change, especially for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in hard-to-electrify sectors, and for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) under net-zero targets. One challenge of geological CO2 storage is the risk that CO2  later returns to the atmosphere. Policymakers aim to address this risk by imposing  leakage liabilities on storage operators, potentially also mandating insurance cover. However, whether such liabilities are insurable is still open given the undeveloped state of the insurance market for this risk. Here, we adapt the Berliner (1982) framework from insurance economics to this question, to consider actuarial, market, and social factors that might constitute barriers to insurability. Due to the lack of a loss history, we systematically use the upstream oil & gas industry as an analogy. Combining expert workshops and techno-economic estimates, we find two barriers: the possibility of correlated material failures across the industry and gradual leakages, which will likely have to remain uninsured initially (though increased experience will likely improve the situation). We also find three general preconditions for insurability: appropriate care in site selection, robust regulations for information sharing and risk mitigation, and limited coverage periods to exclude CO2 price volatility. Overall, the insurability of CO2 leakage does not appear to be a roadblock for the deployment of CCS and CDR. The future price of CO2 emissions and removals, however, remains an important uncertainty. ‘In-kind’ insurances (based on reserve CO2 units) are a possible way out.

Dust Decline Amplifies High-Cloud Ice-to-Liquid Transition and Buffers the Radiative Feedback Under Warming, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters

The response of the cloud phase to global warming is a critical yet poorly constrained component of Earth's climate sensitivity. While rising temperatures drive a thermodynamic transition from ice to liquid clouds, the role of ice-nucleating particles in modulating this shift remains underexplored. Here, we provide evidence that the declining trend of mineral dust in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) may act as a microphysical amplifier of this transition. Satellite observations of high clouds (

Opposing transient and equilibrium effective radiative forcing from aerosol-cloud interactions, Dagan, Nature Communications

Aerosols influence clouds, and therefore Earth’s radiation budget, through processes that operate across multiple and interacting time scales, making aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) a persistent source of uncertainty in estimates of effective radiative forcing (ERF). Here we examine the time-dependent response of the local, convection-focused ERFACI using an ensemble of high-resolution simulations initialized from different atmospheric states and subjected to an instantaneous aerosol perturbation, together with simulations in which aerosol concentration changes with prescribed periods. We find that the transient ERFACI during the first  ~ 2 days is positive, driven by rapid microphysical invigoration, enhanced high-cloud fraction, and increased longwave trapping. In contrast, the equilibrium ERFACI becomes negative as upper-tropospheric warming increases static stability and reduces anvil cloud fraction. As a result, the time-mean forcing depends on the ratio between the environmental adjustment time scale (τadj) and the aerosol-perturbation time scale (τaer). For intermediate regimes, where τaer is only moderately longer than τadj, the system exhibits pronounced hysteresis: ERFACI depends not only on the instantaneous aerosol loading but also on its recent history. These results imply that snapshot-based observational constraints and near-instantaneous-equilibrium convective parameterizations may systematically misestimate ERFACI.

From this week's government/NGO section:

Pedal to the Metal 2026. The iron and steel industry’s coal lock-in crisis, Grigsby-Schulte et al., Global Energy Monitor

The authors present the newest annual survey of the current and developing global iron and steel plant fleet. The authors examine the status of the iron and steel sector compared to global decarbonization roadmaps and corporate and country-level net-zero pledges. Included in the survey are asset-level data on 1,293 iron and steel plants in 91 countries and nearly 700 operating and proposed mines worldwide. A closing window for transition With 2030 decarbonization deadlines approaching, the global iron and steel industry is running out of time to shift away from coal-based production methods. Continued investment in coal-based capacity and underinvestment in green hydrogen threaten net-zero targets. Now more than ever, it is crucial to disrupt emissions-intensive blast furnace developments and redirect resources to iron and steelmaking technologies that align with net-zero goals.

Trust, Governance, and Climate Disasters in the Indo-Pacific, Sohail Akhtar, Toda Peace Institute

The author argues that climate emergencies generate epistemic stress: situations in which uncertainty and competing narratives disrupt shared understandings of risk and appropriate response. Drawing on recent bushfire events and subsequent reviews of disaster governance in Australia, the author shows how disagreements over climate attribution, institutional readiness, and political accountability can complicate emergency coordination and weaken public trust even where operational capacity remains strong. The author concludes with policy recommendations for Indo-Pacific governments, regional organizations, and international partners aimed at strengthening crisis communication, institutional credibility, and the capacity of democratic systems to manage contested knowledge during climate emergencies. 129 articles in 63 journals by 1077 contributing authors

Physical science of climate change, effects

Changes in Wind Extremes Shaped the Summertime Weakening of the Eurasian Subtropical Westerly Jet, Li et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 10.1029/2025jd045904

Critical role of low cloud feedback in irreversible sea level rise, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72898-4

Impact of the AMOC Weakening on Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere Warming Over the Extratropical North Pacific, Joshi & Zhang, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122116

Stratospheric cooling and amplification of radiative forcing with rising carbon dioxide, Cohen et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-026-01965-8

The Role of Internal Variability in Springtime Arctic Amplification from 1980 to 2022, Gale et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0421.1

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Arctic amplification-induced intensification of planetary wave modulational instability: A simplified theory of enhanced large-scale waviness, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 10.1002/qj.4740 19 cites.

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Observations of climate change, effects

Equatorward shift of marine heatwaves centroids in the Atlantic Ocean, Ji et al., npj Climate and Atmospheric Science Open Access 10.1038/s41612-026-01426-4

State of polar climate (2025), Ding et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2024.08.004

Unprecedented 2025 glacier mass loss in Pamir, Fan et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.04.018

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Human-induced intensified seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-48381-3 36 cites.

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Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects

A Climatology of Heat Domes Over North America, Loikith et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100913

Four decades of global surface albedo estimates in the third edition of the CLARA climate data record, Riihelä et al., Earth system science data Open Access 10.5194/essd-16-1007-2024

The DLR CO2-equivalent estimator FlightClim v1.0: an easy-to-use estimation of per flight CO2 and non-CO2 climate effects, Bruder et al., elib (German Aerospace Center) pmh:oai:elib.dlr.de:217602

Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100910

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Exploring the spatial and temporal changes of compound disasters: A case study in Gaoping River, Taiwan, Climate Risk Management, 10.1016/j.crm.2024.100617 4 cites.

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Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects

Asymmetric Spring–Summer Responses of Interannual Dry–Wet Transitions in Eastern Asia and North America Under Global Warming, Yang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122510

Joint Risk Assessment of Humid Heatwave-Heavy Precipitation Compound Events in East China During the Late 21st Century, Yu et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70395

Levante and poniente winds in the Strait of Gibraltar: Present and future characterization using regional climate models, Ortega et al., Atmospheric Research 10.1016/j.atmosres.2026.109071

Observed and Projected Future Changes in Climate and Extremes in a Himalayan Watershed Based on CMIP6 Model Outputs, Phuyal et al., Journal of Hydrometeorology 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0175.1

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Projections of temperature and precipitation trends using CMhyd under CMIP6 scenarios: A case study of Iraq's Middle and West, Atmospheric Research, 10.1016/j.atmosres.2024.107470 31 cites.

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Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection

Baseline Climate Variables for Earth System Modelling, Juckes et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access pdf 10.5194/gmd-18-2639-2025

Conditional diffusion models for downscaling and bias correction of Earth system model precipitation, Aich et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access pdf 10.5194/gmd-19-1791-2026

Integrating climate model ensembles for reliable regional drought assessment through redundancy control, Abbas et al., Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 10.1002/qj.70211

Modeling snowpack dynamics and surface energy budget in boreal and subarctic peatlands and forests, Nousu et al., cryosphere Open Access 10.5194/tc-18-231-2024

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Systematic and objective evaluation of Earth system models: PCMDI Metrics Package (PMP) version 3, Geoscientific model development, 10.5194/gmd-17-3919-2024 30 cites.

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Cryosphere & climate change

A comprehensive database of thawing permafrost locations across Alaska: version 2.0.0, Webb et al., Earth system science data Open Access pdf 10.5194/essd-18-3147-2026

Acceleration of an Antarctic outlet glacier driven by surface meltwater input to the base, Sugiyama et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72724-x

Compound drivers of Antarctic sea ice loss and Southern Ocean destratification, Narayanan et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aeb0166

Decadal re-forecasts of glacier climatic mass balance, Laan et al., Leibniz Universität Hannover Open Access 10.15488/20255

Glacier surge activity over Svalbard from 1992 to 2025 interpreted using heritage satellite radar missions and Sentinel-1, Strozzi et al., cryosphere Open Access 10.5194/tc-20-1679-2026

Glacier velocity as a primary control on areal retreat and surface thinning across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding regions, Guo et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105528

Ice core reveals longest-ever continuous record of Earth’s climate, Castelvecchi, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01523-7

Quantifying Asymmetries in the Societal Impact of Mass Loss From the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets, Bolliger et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2024ef005914

The effect of the present-day imbalance on schematic and climate forced simulations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse, Akker et al., cryosphere Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc-20-1405-2026

Unprecedented 2025 glacier mass loss in Pamir, Fan et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.04.018

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
A Multifaceted Look at Garhwal Himalayan Glaciers: Quantifying Area Change, Retreat, and Mass Balance, and Its Controlling Parameters, Environment Development and Sustainability, 10.1007/s10668-024-04917-7 6 cites.

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Sea level & climate change

Critical role of low cloud feedback in irreversible sea level rise, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72898-4

Quantifying the Sea Level and Estuary Contributions to Changing High Water Levels in Four Major Australian Estuaries, Palmer et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef006175

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Storm surges and extreme sea levels: Review, establishment of model intercomparison and coordination of surge climate projection efforts (SurgeMIP)., Weather and Climate Extremes, 10.1016/j.wace.2024.100689 39 cites.

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Paleoclimate & paleogeochemistry

Impact of the temperature-cloud phase relationship on the simulated Arctic warming during the Last Interglacial, Arima et al., Climate of the past Open Access 10.5194/cp-22-891-2026

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Changes in monsoon precipitation in East Asia under a 2°C interglacial warming, Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.adm7694 26 cites.

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Biology & climate change, related geochemistry

Autonomous Float Data Reveal Decoupled Trends in Chlorophyll and Stratification in the Indian Ocean, Ishaque et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc023417

Biogeochemistry of climate driven shifts in Southern Ocean primary producers, Fisher et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-22-975-2025

Climate-driven degradation of marine foraging habitats for Adélie penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula, Liu et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105518

Climate-induced range shifts support local plant diversity but don’t reduce extinction risk, Wang et al., Science 10.1126/science.aea1676

Current and Future Potential Distribution of the Invasive Thrips Echinothrips americanus (Terebrantia: Thripidae) Under Global Climate Change, QingLing et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access 10.1002/ece3.73636

Deforestation-induced drying lowers Amazon climate threshold, Wunderling et al., Nature Open Access 10.1038/s41586-026-10456-0

Evaluating the protection status and exposure to warming of Caribbean reefs with high functional potential, Melo?Merino et al., Conservation Biology Open Access 10.1111/cobi.70302

Flash drought-driven forest gross primary productivity declines in China amplified by extreme heat, Sun et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105515

Forest tree fecundity declines as climate shifts, Foest et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02638-5

Future Drought Will Lead to a Decrease in Vegetation Resilience in China, Jiang et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007070

Increasing Mortality of Rare Tree Species Amplifies Extinction Risk in Tropical Forests Under Climate Change, He et al., Global Ecology and Biogeography 10.1111/geb.70235

Loss of competitive strength in European conifer species under climate change, Grünig et al., bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) Open Access 10.64898/2026.02.13.705703

Reorganization of Subtropical Phytoplankton Communities in the Warming Ocean, Xin et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 10.1029/2025jc022734

Scientists’ warning on the global destruction of rock outcrop ecosystems, Paula et al., Conservation Biology Open Access 10.1111/cobi.70316

Ten Strategies to Promote Climate Resilience and Sustainability of Global Forests, Wang et al., Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Open Access 10.1002/wcc.70064

Variations in the temperature response of photosynthesis among nine common tree species planted in Singapore, Teo et al., Frontiers in Forests and Global Change Open Access 10.3389/ffgc.2026.1738900

Vegetation responses to air dryness amplify future land surface warming, Green et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-73063-7

Vulnerability and Adaptations to Climate Change in EU Protected Areas: A Natura 2000 Managers’ perspective, Zavattoni et al., bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) Open Access pdf 10.64898/2025.12.19.695111

Warming-driven shifts in floral traits generate flower–pollinator size mismatch and decrease reproductive output, Dong et al., Ecology 10.1002/ecy.70368

Water-Regulated Carbon Cost–Benefit Drives Divergent Effective Rooting Depth Across the Greening Loess Plateau, Su et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl122356

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Rapid climate change increases diversity and homogenizes composition of coastal fish at high latitudes, Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.17273 14 cites.

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GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry

A Comprehensive Global Aquatic N2O Emission Database (GANED): Unravelling N2O Emission Patterns from Different Water Bodies, Nazir et al., Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) Open Access 10.5281/zenodo.18442133

Carbon sequestration service in the Atlantic Ocean: an assessment from coastal to ocean ecosystems, Zunino et al., Earth-Science Reviews 10.1016/j.earscirev.2026.105536

Evolution and drivers of CO2 and carbon intensity in Malaysia, Su et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115364

Global methane emissions rebounded in 2024 despite a deceleration in atmospheric growth, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72764-3

Integrated climate effects on nitrogen cycles in global grasslands, Zheng et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aec5940

Microbial Controls on Carbon Pump Partitioning in the Subtropical North Atlantic: Stoichiometry and Nutrient Limitation Across a Basin-Scale Transect, Marx et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc023638

Sentinel-5p Reveals Unexplained Large Wildfire Carbon Emissions in the Amazon in 2024, Laat et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl115123

Stronger Southern Ocean Anthropogenic Carbon Uptake in Eddying Ocean Simulations, Patara et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0198.1

The increasing impact of vegetation productivity on global wetland methane emissions, Wang et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105523

White Is a New Shade of Blue Carbon: A Case Study of a Traditional Salt Production Pond That is a Net Carbon Sink, Alexandre et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences Open Access 10.1029/2025jg009016

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Global nitrous oxide emissions from livestock manure during 1890–2020: An IPCC tier 2 inventory, Global Change Biology, 10.1111/gcb.17303 19 cites.

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CO2 capture, sequestration science & engineering

Facilitating permanent carbon storage through risk transfers? Analyzing the insurability of the carbon leakage liability, Spencer et al., Energy Research & Social Science Open Access 10.1016/j.erss.2026.104746

On the Efficiency and Durability of Purposefully Sinking Seaweed Biomass as a Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Strategy, Sten et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007628

Short-term action is key for gigaton-scale Direct Air Capture by 2050, Zurbriggen et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72691-3

The state of macroalgae carbon dioxide removal: insights from a methodology development team, III et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1761760

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Modeling direct air carbon capture and storage in a 1.5 °C climate future using historical analogs, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2215679121 37 cites.

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Decarbonization

Carbon-neutral Powertrains – Research into Non-fossil Energy Sources and Life Cycle Analyses, Tutsch, MTZ worldwide 10.1007/s38313-026-2194-y

EV-ready building codes and electric vehicle adoption, Lou & Niemeier, Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-72664-6

Offshore wind farms reshape ocean stratification and productivity differently in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, Maar et al., npj Ocean Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44183-026-00202-4

Potential and challenges for CDR in the European pulp and paper sector, Jordal et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1834276

Sustainable EV adoption with clustering and predictive modelling for optimal charging infrastructure in the West Midlands and North East UK, Cavus et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-43106-6

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
The roll-to-roll revolution to tackle the industrial leap for perovskite solar cells, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-48518-4 70 cites.

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Geoengineering climate

A Climate Intervention Dynamical Emulator (CIDER) for scenario space exploration, Farley et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access 10.5194/gmd-19-1809-2026

Assessing the impact of solar climate intervention on future U.S. weather using a convection-permitting WRF model, Sun et al., Geoscientific model development Open Access 10.5194/gmd-19-2239-2026

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Opinion: A research roadmap for exploring atmospheric methane removal via iron salt aerosol, Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024 9 cites.

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Aerosols

Dust Decline Amplifies High-Cloud Ice-to-Liquid Transition and Buffers the Radiative Feedback Under Warming, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl121917

Effects of climate change on desert dust, Middleton & Goudie, Earth-Science Reviews 10.1016/j.earscirev.2026.105540

Nitric Oxide Radiative Relaxation Time: Damping Timescales of Lower Thermospheric Thermal Perturbations, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl117874

Opposing transient and equilibrium effective radiative forcing from aerosol-cloud interactions, Dagan, Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72896-6

Strong global radiative effects from wildfire dark brown carbon, Xu et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-026-01972-9

Climate change communications & cognition

A technocognitive approach to detecting fallacies in climate misinformation, Zanartu et al., Scientific Reports Open Access 10.1038/s41598-024-76139-w

Climate Creativity for Action: Conceptual Development and the Catalytic Effect of Hope., Spence & Burge, Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103075

Scientists as activists: An ethnography of the ‘critical moments’ in scientists’ transition to climate activism, Finnerty, PLOS Climate Open Access 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000828

The Perils of Climate Catastrophism: A Call to Situate Crisis and Change, Bickerstaff, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Open Access 10.1002/wcc.70062

The psychology of real-world collective climate action: A mixed-methods approach, Brouër et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103072

When Climate Anxiety Motivates Versus Paralyzes: A Conceptual Replication of the Inverted U-Shaped Relationship between Climate Anxiety and Pro-Environmental Behavior, Dijk et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103069

When Trust Is Good and Worrying Is Even Better. Trust in Science and Climate Change Specific Worries Are Linked to Policy Support and Pro-Environmental Behaviours., Nitschke et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103042

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Setting the agenda for climate assemblies. Trade-offs and guiding principles, Climate Policy, 10.1080/14693062.2024.2349824 15 cites.

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Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change

Climate and ecological constraints of cultivating bioenergy crops for climate mitigation in tropical regions, Navarro et al., PNAS Nexus Open Access 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag123

Climate vulnerability and adaptation pathways among smallholder sheep farmers in the Drakensberg Grasslands of South Africa, Slayi et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1785998

Decarbonizing desert greenhouse crop production with direct air capture–based CO2 enrichment, Lopez-Reyes et al., npj Sustainable Agriculture Open Access 10.1038/s44264-026-00149-6

Engineering resilient food systems in a warming world, Woodrow, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01250-z

Financial accounting of carbon forestry with data from Florida, Kärenlampi, Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1738771

Interdependent adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among rice farmers in northwest Bangladesh, Islam et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-51096-8

Renewable energy installation as a catalyst for sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural growth in Kenya, Masibayi et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115371

Scientists breed low-emission rice to fight climate change, You, Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02614-z

Thermal limits of estuarine amphipods and their implications for aquaculture production, Rodrigues et al., Marine Environmental Research Open Access 10.1016/j.marenvres.2026.108109

Warming winters and cultivar resilience in sweet cherry: agroclimatic requirements and future suitability under Mediterranean-continental conditions, Santolaria et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Open Access 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111138

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Organic food has lower environmental impacts per area unit and similar climate impacts per mass unit compared to conventional, Communications Earth & Environment, 10.1038/s43247-024-01415-6 27 cites.

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Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change

Assessing the Role of Tropical Cyclones on Drought Characteristics in the Hurricane Region of the Americas Between 1983 and 2024, Herrera et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2025jd045998

Climate Change Amplifies Rainfall Sensitivity to Deforestation in the Southern Amazon, Zhang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl119000

Dealing with water extremes: An exploration of conditions for transformative adaptation, Pahl?Wostl, Global Environmental Change Open Access 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2026.103163

Dynamics and risk assessment of water conservation in a high-mountain river basin under climate change, Chai et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105527

From opinion to action: Impact of social networks and information policy on private adaptation to floods, Wagenblast et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104393

Global irrigation reservoirs are at a higher risk of water shortages, Shah et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access 10.1038/s43247-026-03571-3

Global Vegetation Greening Is Exacerbating Soil Dryness, Qu et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70901

Joint Risk Assessment of Humid Heatwave-Heavy Precipitation Compound Events in East China During the Late 21st Century, Yu et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70395

Unseen but increasing: recent changes in risk of extreme precipitation over Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, Perez et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100910

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
California’s 2023 snow deluge: Contextualizing an extreme snow year against future climate change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.2320600121 18 cites.

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Climate change economics

Fixing carbon credits requires a new financing model, Probst & Egli, PNAS Nexus Open Access 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag117

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Tackling debt, biodiversity loss, and climate change, Science, 10.1126/science.ado7418 10 cites.

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Climate change mitigation public policy research

Carbon markets rule change would harm mitigation and Indigenous peoples, Williamson et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02629-6

Climate governance overlooks the ocean: a structural limitation exposed at COP30, García-Soto, npj Ocean Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44183-026-00206-0

Evaluative governance for climate action in Australia, Kotarba-Morley et al., Nature Sustainability 10.1038/s41893-026-01814-x

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Are consumers ready to adopt electric vehicles? Analyzing the barriers and motivators associated with electric vehicle adoption in India: Policy implications for various stakeholders, Energy Policy, 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114173 34 cites.

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Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research

American cities in a time of global environmental change: the case of the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, Zaitchik et al., Environmental Research Infrastructure and Sustainability Open Access 10.1088/2634-4505/ae636e

Assessing vulnerability and risk of coastal settlements in The Gambia to windstorms: integrating socioeconomic and environmental dimensions, Dibba, Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1741665

Climate resilience in Indian smart cities: Linking dry–hot extremes and urban vulnerability for sustainability, Sahu et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2026.102922

Digital climate education for rural resilience: validation and effectiveness of an e-learning module for farmers in flood- and cyclone-prone regions of India, Gorai et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1756972

From opinion to action: Impact of social networks and information policy on private adaptation to floods, Wagenblast et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104393

From the Mediterranean to the Arctic: the climate change approaches of Mersin and Tromsø municipalities, Da??d?r, Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration 10.1007/s41207-026-01155-3

The climate justice implementation gap: are urban health and planning workforces trained for equitable climate adaptation?, Acuña-Rodríguez et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1827634

The importance of recognizing opportunities in climate change impacts, Carter, Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02626-9

Trees halve urban heat island effect globally but unequal benefits only modestly mitigate climate-change warming, McDonald et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-71825-x

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Linking the interplay of resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation to long-term changes in metropolitan spaces for climate-related disaster risk management, Climate Risk Management, 10.1016/j.crm.2024.100618 26 cites.

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Climate change impacts on human health

Modelling the impact of climate on cholera: a case study of Kolkata, Shackleton et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-51415-z

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Indian Ocean temperature anomalies predict long-term global dengue trends, Science, 10.1126/science.adj4427 43 cites.

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Climate change & geopolitics

Caribbean small island developing states and the climate change advisory opinions: engagement and potential use, Berry et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science Open Access 10.3389/fenvs.2026.1782320

Other

An analytical assessment of greenhouse gas impacts on HF propagation using the Appleton-Beynon approach, Zossi et al., Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 10.1016/j.jastp.2026.106825

Evidence of hydrological regime shifts associated with a major decades-long drought in West Africa, Peugeot et al., Nature Communications Open Access 10.1038/s41467-026-72648-6

Scientists as activists: An ethnography of the ‘critical moments’ in scientists’ transition to climate activism, Finnerty, PLOS Climate Open Access 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000828

Socioeconomic Disparities in Climate Change-Induced Compound Energy Droughts in China, Wang et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007598

World-leading climate centre takes Trump administration to court, Witze, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-01501-z

Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives

The future of plant extinction, McChesney et al., Phytochemistry 10.1016/j.phytochem.2007.04.032

The Paradox of Climate Justice, Isenhour, Local Environment 10.1080/13549839.2012.729570

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago:
Just urban transitions: Toward a research agenda, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change, 10.1002/wcc.640 165 cites.

Articles/Reports from Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations Addressing Aspects of Climate Change

24/7 renewables: The economics of firm solar and wind, Dardour et al., International Renewable Energy Agency

The authors' analysis shows that the cost of firm renewable electricity has declined rapidly across all major technologies and markets. In high-quality solar and wind resource regions, co-located hybrid systems can already deliver round-the-clock electricity at costs competitive with - and in many cases below - those of new fossil-fuel generation. China currently defines the global cost floor, while costs in Brazil, India, South Africa, Australia, and the Gulf region are declining rapidly towards fossil-fuel cost parity. The authors identify key drivers of firm renewable costs – technology performance, resource quality and system configuration – and examine the policy levers that are proving decisive in translating cost competitiveness into deployment at scale. They conclude that the technologies are maturing, the costs are falling and the commercial demand is growing. The pace at which firm renewable electricity is deployed will be among the most consequential determinants of the global energy transition in the decade ahead.

Powering Reliability Through Market Design. Addressing Rising Demand and Constrained Supply, and Stimulating Investment to Support Durable Reliability, PJM

For two decades, the PJM region managed its electricity system in an era of relative stability. The Reliability Pricing Model, PJM’s capacity market, was built for that environment: a system with predictable, gradually changing load; a coal-to-gas fuel transition that could be managed over a years-long horizon; and a generation development timeline that aligned with the market’s three-year forward horizon. The PJM region is now navigating a convergence of three structural forces that have pushed the system into disequilibrium: an unprecedented surge in demand driven by the rapid expansion of large-load data centers and broader economy-wide electrification; the accelerated retirement of dispatchable generation due to environmental policy and economics; and significant supply chain and permitting frictions that have extended the time required to bring new resources online. The PJM Board of Managers directed PJM staff to undertake a holistic review of the capacity market design and investment incentives. The Board recognized that the market’s current price volatility – while economically rational – is placing unsustainable stress on the governmental compact that allows the market to function, and that the foundational assumptions of the Reliability Pricing Model design must be reexamined in a resource-constrained world. This white paper is PJM’s response to that directive.

Homegrown Energy: A policy blueprint for energy affordability, Eberhard et al., Rewiring America

A coordinated set of policies can make whole-home electrification, rooftop solar, and battery storage affordable for 96 percent of eligible U.S. households, delivering $26,000 in average lifetime savings per home, or $1.5 trillion nationwide. Home electrification alone is affordable for roughly 40 percent of U.S. households. By reshaping incentives and economics to capture the value of household energy infrastructure, policymakers can shift affordability from 1 in 10 eligible households to more than 9 in 10. The authors identify six market-based policies that lower costs, bring in new capital, and ensure households are paid for the value they provide; reduce soft costs; require large new energy users to invest in distributed resources; enable inclusive utility investment; modernize rate design; redirecting gas infrastructure investment; and scale virtual power plants.

Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient, Affordable Grid of the Future, Lightbody et al., Pew Charitable Trusts

Distributed energy resources (DERs)—energy generation and storage technologies including rooftop solar, battery storage, smart appliances, and “managed” electric vehicle charging, which involves controlling when EVs are charged to account for demand on the grid—offer a low-cost, readily available, scalable solution to increased demand. To help address this demand, the authors identified three core DER policy goals and specific recommendations that can help decision-makers, including state elected officials and public utility regulators, begin the work of bringing DERs to scale nationwide; integrate DERs as core grid resources into utility planning, investment, and procurement decisions; reduce administrative, technical, and regulatory barriers to allow DERs to be permitted and granted grid access faster and at lower cost; and strengthen community resilience by using DER solutions to improve grid reliability.

Watts Wasting Texas Water. How coal and gas power plants guzzle billions of gallons every year and how we can transition to a more secure water future, Lindsay Stafford Mader, Sierra Club

Texas is facing drought, water shortages, and declining river and stream flows in all reaches of the state. Amid these ongoing water crises, it is important to understand just how much water coal and gas power plants use every year, whereas renewable energy and battery storage barely use any. To determine the enormity of water resources dedicated to Texas power plants, the author analyzed water consumption numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration as well as state water rights data.

Water Use Requirements for Data Centers in Texas, COMPASS Research Affiliates Program at the University of Texas at Austin

The authors address the urgent and growing need to understand and quantify the water footprint of data centers, alongside their escalating energy demands. Water has now emerged as a primary constraint in data center planning, particularly in regions vulnerable to drought, water stress, or infrastructure limitations. The adoption of water-intensive cooling systems, such as evaporative and hybrid technologies, while advantageous for energy efficiency, raises concerns over freshwater use and long-term sustainability. The authors position water not as a secondary input, but as a core engineering, environmental, and policy issue in the future of digital infrastructure.

Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa, Muttitt et al., Oil Change International and Power Shift Africa

As global energy markets are rocked by conflict and geopolitical instability, the authors found that oil and gas production has failed to deliver economic development in Africa’s producing countries and is instead deepening vulnerability, inequality, and dependence. The authors use data from 13 producing countries in Africa and find that decades of extraction have failed to reduce poverty or drive economic growth, and instead are lining the pockets of an elite few.

A New Phase for the U.S. Battery Industry. Policy Considerations to Sustain Momentum, Bridge Gaps, and Avoid Pitfalls, Ray Cai and Jane Nakano, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Drawing on extensive desk research and stakeholder interviews, the authors use their report to inform policy debates through evidence-based analysis of the complex dynamics that are shaping the industry at today’s critical inflection point. The authors focus on three central strategic questions: where are the most critical supply chain vulnerabilities, what should be the approach to international linkages, and how can innovation be aligned with industrialization?

Offshore Wind: Status and Issues for the 119th Congress, Clark et al., Congressional Research Service

The U.S. offshore wind industry has faced economic challenges in recent years that have led to the postponement or cancellation of some projects. Projects also have faced lawsuits from coastal homeowners and preservationists, the fishing industry, tribes, and those concerned about potential impacts to marine wildlife. Recent federal policies toward U.S. offshore wind have shifted from those in place during the Biden Administration. President Trump has halted OCS wind leasing and permitting and directed other actions to reverse prior federal support for offshore wind. Also, in P.L. 119-21, the FY2025 budget reconciliation law, Congress limited offshore wind tax credits and rescinded unobligated balances for federally funded activities related to interregional and offshore wind electricity transmission. Congress continues to consider issues related to offshore wind leasing, permitting, transmission, tax credits, and related matters through oversight and legislation.

Hydrogen Energy: Technologies Offer Potential Benefits but Face Challenges to Widespread Use, Fletcher et al., Government Accountability Office

Hydrogen energy technologies offer long-duration energy storage, increased transportation efficiencies, quiet operation, reduced air polluting emissions, and potentially broad availability. For example, hydrogen fuel cell power generation technologies could provide quiet, clean backup power to data centers and other large-scale operations during power outages. These generation technologies could increase overall electricity grid security by providing long-duration energy storage. Currently, hydrogen fuel cells provide about 0.03 percent of utility-scale electricity generation.

Trust, Governance, and Climate Disasters in the Indo-Pacific, Sohail Akhtar, Toda Peace Institute

The author argues that climate emergencies generate epistemic stress: situations in which uncertainty and competing narratives disrupt shared understandings of risk and appropriate response. Drawing on recent bushfire events and subsequent reviews of disaster governance in Australia, the author shows how disagreements over climate attribution, institutional readiness, and political accountability can complicate emergency coordination and weaken public trust even where operational capacity remains strong. The author concludes with policy recommendations for Indo-Pacific governments, regional organizations, and international partners aimed at strengthening crisis communication, institutional credibility, and the capacity of democratic systems to manage contested knowledge during climate emergencies.

Taiwan’s Climate Adaptation Leadership in the Caribbean: Technology, Capacity, and Strategic Cooperation, Hernandez-Roy et al., Center for Strategic and International Studies

Climate change represents an existential threat for Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where exposure to extreme climate events intersects with structural economic vulnerabilities, limited fiscal capacity, and high economic dependence on climate-sensitive sectors. As Caribbean states seek technical expertise in climate adaptation strategies such as water resilience, disaster preparedness, and agricultural security, Taiwan—itself an island—could be a natural partner with which to collaborate on innovative and impactful projects.

Pedal to the Metal 2026. The iron and steel industry’s coal lock-in crisis, Grigsby-Schulte et al., Global Energy Monitor

The authors present the newest annual survey of the current and developing global iron and steel plant fleet. The authors examine the status of the iron and steel sector compared to global decarbonization roadmaps and corporate and country-level net-zero pledges. Included in the survey are asset-level data on 1,293 iron and steel plants in 91 countries and nearly 700 operating and proposed mines worldwide. A closing window for transition With 2030 decarbonization deadlines approaching, the global iron and steel industry is running out of time to shift away from coal-based production methods. Continued investment in coal-based capacity and underinvestment in green hydrogen threaten net-zero targets. Now more than ever, it is crucial to disrupt emissions-intensive blast furnace developments and redirect resources to iron and steelmaking technologies that align with net-zero goals About New Research

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Amenazas a defensores del territorio indígenas en Bolivia han llamado la atención de las Naciones Unidas. Los defensores denuncian la contaminación del agua y del suelo provocada por varias minas de la zona y documentada por el gobierno estatal.

Líderes de Seque Jahuira han logrado organizarse, manifestarse e incluso conseguir la aprobación de una ley para denunciar los efectos de la minería en la zona. Han sido objeto de amenazas y hostilidad, lo que les ha llevado a temer por la seguridad de sus familias.

Por desgracia, no son los únicos que viven esta situación. Los pueblos indígenas y líderes de comunidades afectadas por la minería suelen sufrir intimidación y violencia, a pesar de que los pueblos indígenas tienen el derecho a rechazar la minería o a establecer condiciones para un proyecto.

Las protestas dan lugar a una legislación contra la contaminación minera

El 1 de septiembre de 2025, el pueblo de Seque Jahuira, en Bolivia, junto con otras comunidades de la región, organizaron una protesta masiva contra la presencia de múltiples operaciones mineras en su territorio. Los manifestantes marcharon hasta la alcaldía y tomaron el edificio.

Llevaban consigo documentos de la oficina del gobernador de La Paz, la capital del país. Los documentos indicaban que, en 2023, al menos nueve empresas operando en la región, tanto de forma legal como ilegal, eran responsables por el vertido de residuos mineros tóxicos y el drenaje ácido de minas, afectando a la salud del agua y del suelo en una zona que depende principalmente de la agricultura y la ganadería para su sustento.

Tras las protestas, la Defensoría del Pueblo también sacó un comunicado afirmando que, «Tras múltiples gestiones y seguimientos a las denuncias de contaminación del agua con cianuro… no obtuvieron respuestas efectivas de las instancias competentes». A pesar de la existencia de documentación y conocimiento del problema por parte del gobierno, Seque Jahuira y las comunidades vecinas seguían sufriendo los efectos de la contaminación minera para su salud y el medio ambiente.

Esa tarde, el alcalde del municipio de Viacha, donde se encuentran estas comunidades, firmó la ley municipal 042/2025. Esta ley declaró al municipio un territorio libre de la contaminación minera con el fin de proteger el derecho a un medio ambiente limpio y saludable. La ley permite inspecciones y sanciones para cualquier operación minera que no cumpliera con la normativa, y compromete al gobierno local a «la mitigación de todo tipo de contaminación debiendo iniciarse las acciones jurisdiccionales para la reparación y resarcimiento de daños ocasionados a las comunidades afectadas».

Los líderes indígenas de Seque Jahuira, organizaciones aliadas como el colectivo nacional de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, Qhana Pukara Kurmi, y otras comunidades de Viacha celebraron este importante logro, ya que se ordenó a más de 15 empresas mineras a suspender sus operaciones en el municipio.

Los líderes se enfrentan a amenazas y hostilidad

Sin embargo, al día siguiente Qhana Pukara Kurmi y algunos líderes comunitarios comenzaron a recibir llamadas anónimas amenazándolos por su participación en las protestas y su apoyo a la aplicación de la nueva ley. A raíz de las amenazas, Qhana Pukara Kurmi retiró los señalamientos de su oficina en La Paz y se vieron obligados a abandonar las instalaciones durante unas semanas hasta que se sentían seguros para volver a trabajar allí.

La semana después de que Qhana Pukara Kurmi abandonara su oficina, dos líderes indígenas se vieron obligados a salir de Viacha con sus familias, lo que también supuso que uno de ellos tuviera que cerrar su tienda de materiales de construcción. Mientras las amenazas continuaban, los miembros de Qhana Pukara Kurmi y los líderes de Viacha fueron objeto de una campaña de desprestigio en la cual se difundieron vídeos y mensajes en redes sociales que intentaban socavar su labor y cuestionaban su independencia, acusándolos de ser financiados por organizaciones y actores internacionales.

Más adelante ese mes, miembros de Qhana Pukara Kurmi se reunieron con la Defensoría del Pueblo para hablar sobre las continuas amenazas y el ambiente hostil que enfrentaban. Unos días después, la Defensoría del Pueblo confirmó que solo seis empresas mineras contaban con licencias ambientales vigentes, y que 21 de las 23 empresas operando en Viacha lo hacían de forma ilegal, sin los permisos necesarios.

Aunque algunos organismos gubernamentales, como la Defensoría del Pueblo, se han pronunciado sobre la situación en Viacha, los líderes indígenas siguen preocupados por las amenazas que reciben ellos y sus familias por sus denuncias de los impactos de la minería en su territorio.

La ONU y organismos gubernamentales expresan su preocupación

En octubre de 2025, los Relatores Especiales de la ONU sobre los defensores de los derechos humanos, sobre la libertad de reunión pacífica y asociación, y sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas enviaron una carta conjunta al Gobierno boliviano exigiendo una respuesta a los hechos dirigidos contra los defensores del territorio indígenas y toda la información disponible sobre las medidas implementadas para garantizar su protección. La carta denunciaba el incendio provocado en la casa de un líder, ataques violentos, el ataque del hijo de un líder, intimidación y amenazas.

El Gobierno boliviano envió un acuse de recibido y solicitó más tiempo para responder. Hasta la fecha de publicación, no ha habido ninguna otra respuesta por parte del Gobierno.

Mientras tanto, la situación en Seque Jahuira y Viacha se ha agravado desde la protesta, ya que las empresas siguen operando sin atender las preocupaciones de las comunidades respecto al impacto ambiental de sus actividades.

Ya es hora de que el Gobierno boliviano adopte medidas para remediar la contaminación ambiental y del agua en Viacha, regule mejor a las empresas mineras que operan en Viacha y garantice la seguridad de los líderes indígenas que defienden el derecho a la salud y la seguridad de sus comunidades y territorios.

The post Persisten los riesgos para defensores del territorio indígenas en Bolivia appeared first on Earthworks.

En español aqui.

Threats to Indigenous land defenders in Bolivia have drawn attention from the United Nations. The land defenders are speaking out against water and soil contamination, documented by the state government, from multiple mines in the area.

Leaders from Seque Jahuira have successfully organized, protested, and even passed legislation to address the effects of mining in the area. They have encountered threats and hostility causing leaders to fear for their families’ safety.

Unfortunately, they are not alone in their experience. Indigenous People and leaders from communities affected by mines often experience intimidation and violence, even though Indigenous Peoples have a right to say no to mining or to set conditions for a project.

Protest leads to legislation addressing mining pollution

On September 1st, 2025, the town of Seque Jahuira in Bolivia, together with other communities in the region, held a mass protest against the presence of multiple mining operations on their territory. Protestors marched to the mayor’s office and took the local municipal building. 

With them, they carried documentation emitted by the office of the Governor of La Paz, the country’s capital. The documents stated that, in 2023, at least nine companies operating in the region legally and illegally were responsible for dumping toxic mine waste and generating acid mine drainage, affecting the health of waterways and soil in an area that relies predominantly on agriculture and raising livestock for their livelihood. 

After the protests, the National Ombudsman Office also put out a statement claiming that, “Despite multiple attempts to follow up on complaints of cyanide contamination in the water, they did not receive a response from the responsible agencies.” Despite the existence of government documentation and knowledge of the problem, residents of Seque Jahuira and neighboring towns were still living with the effects of mine contamination on their health and the environment.

By that afternoon, the mayor for the municipality of Viacha, where these communities are located, had signed municipal law 042/2025. This law declared the municipality a territory free of pollution from mining in order to uphold the right to a clean and healthy environment. The law allowed for inspections and sanctions for any mining operation not in compliance, and committed the local government to “mitigate all types of contamination and to take judicial actions for remediation and compensation for any harms caused to impacted communities.” 

Indigenous leaders in Seque Jahuira, allied organizations like the national Indigenous Peoples’ rights collective, Qhana Pukara Kurmi, and communities across Viacha celebrated this important step as more than 15 mining companies were ordered to suspend their operations in the municipality.

Leaders encounter threats and hostility

But the next day, Qhana Pukara Kurmi and prominent community leaders began receiving anonymous calls threatening them for their involvement in the protests and support for the implementation of the new law. Due to the threats, Qhana Pukara Kurmi took down the signage at their office in La Paz and were forced to abandon the office for a few weeks until they felt they could safely return to work there. 

The week following Qhana Pukara Kurmi’s departure from their office, two Indigenous leaders were forced to leave Viacha with their families, a move that also meant one of them had to close his construction supply store. As the threats continued, members of Qhana Pukara Kurmi and the leaders from Viacha were targets of a smear campaign, where videos and messages on social media tried to undermine their work and questioned their independence by accusing them of being funded by international organizations and actors. 

Later that month, members of Qhana Pukara Kurmi met with the Ombudsman’s Office to talk about the ongoing threats and hostile environment they were facing. A few days later, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed that only six mining companies had active environmental licenses, and that 21 companies of the 23 operating in Viacha were operating illegally without the needed permits. 

While some government agencies, such as the National Ombudsman’s Office have spoken up about the situation in Viacha, Indigenous leaders still worry about threats to them and their families for their role in speaking out about the impacts of mining in their territory.

The UN and government agencies express concern

In October 2025, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights Defenders, on Freedom of  Peaceful Assembly and Association, and of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sent a joint letter to the Bolivian Government asking them to respond to the events targeting Indigenous land defenders and to provide any information available on measures taken to ensure their protection. The letter cited allegations of arson at a leader’s house, violent attacks, the beating of a leader’s son, intimidation, and threats.

The Bolivian Government replied, stating that they had received the letter and needed more time to respond. Up to the date of publication, there has been no further response from the Government. 

Meanwhile, the situation in Seque Jahuira and Viacha has only intensified since the protest as companies continue operating without addressing communities’ concerns about the environmental impacts of their operations.

It is past time for the Bolivian Government to implement measures to remediate the environmental and water contamination in Viacha, to better regulate the mining companies operating in Viacha, and to guarantee the safety of Indigenous leaders defending the right to health and safety of their communities and territories.

The post Risks Remain for Indigenous Land Defenders in Bolivia appeared first on Earthworks.

NEW YORK (May 14, 2026) – The National Audubon Society honored environmental journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert with the Rachel Carson Award at the Women in...

The event marks three decades of the movement’s constant struggle to protect nature and uphold the dignity of rural communities.

The post Brazil: MPA Begins Fourth National Meeting in Brasília appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

The British government has notified the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) that it will cut the contribution it pledged for 2024-2027 in half, a GCF spokesperson told Climate Home News.

The reduction, which is part of a wider UK shift from development aid to military spending, will restrict the GCF’s ability to fund projects that help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to climate change.

Harjeet Singh, director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, called the UK’s decision “moral bankruptcy”, noting that Britain has a historical responsibility for climate change “as a nation built on fossil-fuelled industrialisation”.

• Feb 21, 2025 News After US retreat, countries clash over who should make up Green Climate Fund shortfall At this week’s board meeting, Germany and Sweden encouraged wealthier developing nations to step up – an idea rejected by Saudi Arabia Read more
• Mar 19, 2026 Justice UK cuts support for climate action abroad to fund military instead The UK’s foreign minister said the cuts to the aid budget would “deliver the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War” Read more

Liane Schalatek, who observes GCF board meetings for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, said the UK’s move was “an unfortunate signal”, especially as it comes just before the GCF launches its next fundraising round.

She noted that the UK has been the biggest contributor to the GCF, and “with the UK halving – where doubling would be needed – this will give permission to others to do the same”.

There are fears that other countries could follow suit as governments in Europe trim their aid budgets, while the US has refused to deliver any further money under climate change-sceptic President Donald Trump and has also given up its seat on the GCF board.

The GCF was established in 2010, and has since funded over $15 billion of climate projects across the developing world. Its financing comes mainly from developed countries pledging money in regular replenishment rounds.

During the last GCF replenishment round in 2023, the UK’s previous Conservative government promised £1.622 billion ($2.18 billion) for the 2024-27 period, with then development minister Andrew Mitchell saying the pledge “underlines our sustained commitment to tackling climate change”.

But, as of March 2026, the UK had only handed over £655 million ($885 million) of that pledge, which is its third to the fund, and has now informed the GCF it will only deliver £815 million ($1.1 billion). The GCF’s total funding for the 2024-2027 period is $10.149 billion.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office declined to comment.

Approved projects unaffected

A GCF spokesperson told Climate Home News that all current projects under implementation have guaranteed funding while the GCF is assessing what the cuts mean for the projects that are being prepared and are expected to come before the GCF board in 2026 and 2027.

“Our focus will continue to be delivering the greatest impact with the investments we make, working with the largest network of partners in the financial architecture and mobilizing the greatest amount of resources to fulfill GCF’s critical and unique mandate,” the spokesperson said.

Scientists warn El Niño could intensify climate extremes in 2026

In a separate email to GCF board members, seen by Climate Home News, the GCF’s executive director Mafalda Duarte warned that the cuts are “expected to have a material impact” on the fund’s work over the next two years.

Duarte said the cuts were part of the UK wider decision to reduce international development spending “and invest more in addressing growing security threats”.

Development to military

Announcing this decision in March, UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper said the cuts were a “hugely difficult decision” and “not ideological”, but necessary “to deliver the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War”. The US has been pressuring countries in the NATO alliance to boost military budgets as conflict surges around the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East.

Cooper reiterated Labour’s commitment to restore overseas development spending to 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) “when fiscal circumstances allow”, but did not provide a timeline when pressed by an opposition member of parliament. UK aid was reduced from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI by the previous Conservative government in 2021, and is now set to fall further to 0.3%. 

While the UK government has claimed it is only cutting international climate finance by around 13% compared to the previous government’s level of spending, analysis by Carbon Brief suggests that the real figure is close to 50% once inflation and accounting changes are considered. 

The leadership of the UK is currently in doubt with several ministers from the ruling Labour Party calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, with a challenge to his leadership of the party and country expected after poor local election results for Labour.

The post UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Santa Marta summit moved beyond the blockages in the UN climate process, building a coalition of around 60 countries that want to tackle a shift away from fossil fuels. The host countries said the outcomes would feed into the voluntary roadmap on the energy transition being put together by COP30 hosts Brazil, which is due to be presented before COP31.

June’s mid-year climate talks in Bonn, followed by London Climate Action Week, will be key moments to reflect on the progress so far and work out ways to bring the strands closer together. How might that happen while fossil fuels remain the elephant in the UNFCCC room and there’s no formal place for a roadmap on the agenda?

Tune in to hear our expert reporters discussing this and other key topics set to headline at the Bonn session, both in the negotiations and on the sidelines! Questions and comments will be welcome from participants and used to inform our future coverage.

SPEAKERS:

• Host: Megan Rowling, editor at Climate Home News
• Guest #1: Sebastian Rodriguez, reporter for Climate Home News
• Guest #2: Joe Lo, news editor at Climate Home News
• Guest #3: Tais Gadea Lara, freelance climate journalist

DAY: Wednesday 27 May

TIME: 3pm UK time | 4pm Central Europe (CEST) | 10am US Eastern (EDT)

REGISTER HERE

Note: This event is exclusively for free essential users and paid subscribers of Climate Home News. If you’re not yet signed up, you can join us by clicking the “Subscribe Now” button.

The post Webinar: From Santa Marta to Bonn – where next for the fossil fuel transition? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Updates to the Global Methane Tracker 2026 confirm what Earthworks has been saying for more than a decade – the oil and gas methane problem is worse than companies are willing to admit. 

Despite Big Oil’s rhetoric about efforts to reduce methane emissions, the world is still far off track to stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis. Industry’s words may have changed (from climate denial to promises that industry is the solution), but our work in the oil and gas field still shows that actions haven’t. Or as the IEA, more neutrally, puts it: “transparency and reporting on abatement plans still lag the industry’s stated ambitions.”

Here are some big takeaways from the 2026 IEA Global Methane Tracker: 

Estimates are estimates…which involve little to no actual measurement

For over a decade Earthworks thermographers have been documenting pollution throughout the upstream and midstream sector at an alarming rate – often this pollution is going unreported until we discover it. Over the years it has become clear to us that pollution estimates are just that…estimates, which contain little to no actual measurements. We are happy to see that the IEA has developed new methodologies that incorporate actual measurements to supplement and reconcile company reported estimates and claims. 

Detection has improved, yet industry still refuses to act

The IEA Global Methane Tracker also points to another major issue we have been sounding the alarm on for years – even when problems are identified companies rarely take action. 

The IEA (via information from the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS)) looked at satellite based methane emissions detections and alerts at both the global and country level and found that globally only 12% of methane detection alerts were responded to in 2025. In the United States, the issue is far worse. According to the Global Methane Tracker, “Since 2022, the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) has tracked 1,300 super-emitting oil and gas-related events in the United States – about 10% of the global total.” – that makes the United States one of the super-emitting countries. However, according to a 2025 report by the UNEP (the administrators of the MARS system) the United States has one of the lowest response rates at an abysmal 2%. 

In other words, US oil and gas companies are massive methane polluters. They claim to have the tools to stop the pollution (just read the methane reductions section of any oil and gas company’s annual climate report – here is TotalEnergies for example). They just don’t seem to take action to actually stop the pollution. What is most puzzling is that the IEA also finds that “around 30% of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations could be reduced at no cost.”

Integrity & Transparency Concerns on Gas Certification Schemes 

Furthermore, “actions” that the industry have taken are shrouded in questions. For instance, gas certification efforts from companies like Project Canary, which claim to certify companies’ methane emissions, often don’t hold up under independent scrutiny. Through our field work we even discovered that some of these efforts are little more than greenwashing. The IEA report references our effort (with OCI and the GasLeaks Project) to encourage Senator Markey (D-MA), a member of the Senate Committee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy (which oversees the FTC) to address certification schemes within the FTC.

Although certification typically involves independent third-party verification of emissions (enhancing buyers’ trust in reported emissions), it also faces its own unique challenges. Measurement-based quantification is not always required, raising the risk that methane emissions could be underestimated. Although volumes of certified natural gas reached 320 bcm in 2024 (roughly 7.5% of global output), certification remains concentrated in the North American upstream natural gas sector, with limited uptake outside this segment. Questions have also been raised about the integrity and transparency of some schemes, casting doubt on the reliability of emissions reported under them.

Raising the Bar: Data to Action at Earthworks

Optical gas image of pollution at Shell Plastics Plant in Beaver, County, Pennsylvania. Taken 16 February 2026.

Methane detection tools are expanding and improving. Data is becoming more available, often at no cost. Earthworks is expanding its use of satellite technology to guide and strengthen our existing ground-truthing of oil & gas pollution harms using our optical gas imaging cameras. Yet, as the IEA report shows, what was true of industry and pollution before remains true today: without proper accountability, polluters will continue to pollute.

This is especially true now with The the U.S. Trump Administration’s pay-to-play EPA stopped enforcing oil and gas methane regulations on March 12, 2025 and recently reaffirmed its intention to roll back methane standards for new and existing sources as outlined in the 2024 EPA Methane Rule. That rule is one of the best levers that everyday people across the country have currently to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for methane pollution.

We believe the narrative must change to reflect the objective truth about polluters. The obvious discrepancy between industry rhetoric and data must translate into public skepticism of every oil & gas climate claim. The facts must translate into known truth so that the well-earned pressure from the public demands industry actually take action to stop polluting the air we breathe and the climate we depend on.

We believe accountability must be universal and enforced by government policies that put people before polluters.

We believe this industry must be phased out. Detection and significant reductions in methane pollution are essential, but only as a bandaid fix. Cuts to pollution facility-by-facility only buy us time to enact other energy solutions to the climate crisis. But not even those work if the number of facilities continue to expand and total methane emissions increase.

Earthworks Data 2 Action To Date

•  Polluter of the Month series with partner Gas Leaks to shine a light on the biggest inconsistencies between the words and actions of the biggest polluters in the US.
• Report on Appalachian Super-emitters found nearly 100 oil and gas emission events in the Appalachian Basin, unknowingly exposing nearby communities to harmful carcinogens.
• Our work has always been covered in a Financial Times article that identified as repeat polluters several companies who advertise themselves as less polluting companies.

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The post Big Oil’s Big Methane is still a Big Problem appeared first on Earthworks.

Gippsland wind project gains planning permit, but still has to win over neighbours who brought down the first iteration.

The post Revamped Gippsland wind project wins state approval, but still to win over some near neighbours appeared first on Renew Economy.

The campaign to restore the Everglades has received a boost with completion of a key project that returns the flow of water to 55,000 acres that had once been drained for development. Experts see it as a major step forward in bringing back South Florida’s River of Grass.

Read more on E360 →

Headline News:

• “Tomatoes, Seafood, And More: Grocery Prices Are Soaring” • Grocery prices in the US increased fastest in April of any month in nearly four years, driving up the cost of foods from tomatoes and frankfurters to cupcakes, government data this week showed. The jump in food prices stems in part from a historic oil shock set off by the Iran war. [ABC News]

Groceries (nrd, Unsplash, cropped)

• “China Goes Electric, But Can It Get Off Coal?” • China has achieved the goal of adding 1,200 GW of wind and solar capacity by 2030 five years ahead of schedule. China produces over 80% of the world’s solar panels, helping drive down costs and speed up the clean energy transition globally. But clean energy boom has not yet displaced coal. [DW.com]
• “Oil Stocks Drain At Record Pace As IEA Warns Of Renewed Price Swings” • More than ten weeks into the war in the Middle East, global oil inventories are being depleted at a record pace, over 100 million barrels per month, as disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz tightens supplies, according to the International Energy Agency. [Euronews]
• “Taihan Adds Skandi Connector To Cable Vessel Fleet” • Taihan signed a sales and purchase agreement with Norway-based DOF Group to acquire the cable laying vessel Skandi Connector. The Korean company said it would use the 10,000-tonne CLV to establish a two-track submarine cable installation system, along with its existing vessel PALOS. [reNews]
• “Alsym Partners With Juniper For 500 MWh Of Sodium-Ion Grid-Scale Battery Storage” • It wasn’t that long ago that sodium-ion batteries were little more than a curiosity. But while we were not looking, they suddenly leaped from the lab to large scale production, offering lower prices, improved performance, and virtually no risk of fires. [CleanTechnica]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

A government's move to end a 10-year moratorium on fracking in a sensitive coastal region will put farm land and water systems at risk, opponents say.

The post Community shocked as Australia’s most advanced renewable state moves to end fracking ban appeared first on Renew Economy.

“Tell you what,” Drew Maciel told his Instagram followers in April, “I’m sick of finding dead moose.” He zoomed in on a dead bull moose lying prone on the ground, running the camera over clusters of ticks nestled within every crevice of the corpse.

Maciel is a shed hunter, meaning he collects antlers that have been naturally “shed” by wildlife. But a winter tick feeding frenzy in Maine, driven by rising temperatures, means that this year he kept finding dead animals. Up to 90 percent of the moose calves tracked by scientists in recent years have been bled to death by ticks — an ongoing crisis in a state that prizes these largest of all deer species.

But where scientists see the hand of climate change at work — average temperatures in Maine have risen 3 degrees Fahrenheit since 1985 — others see the designs of a global cabal. 

“Human engineered biological warfare,” read a comment on Maciel’s video posted by Dries Van Langenhove, a far-right former member of the Belgian government who was recently convicted of violating the country’s Holocaust denial laws. The comment got 32,000 likes. “It’s Bill Gates,” someone else posted.  

Chuck Lubelczyk, a vector-borne ecologist with Maine Medical Center, collects ticks at a site in Cape Elizabeth. John Ewing / Portland Press Herald / Getty Images

These posts are part of a wave of tick-related conspiracy theories garnering millions of views online. In April, a self-proclaimed holistic doctor on Instagram claimed to have spoken with multiple farmers in the Midwest who told her that they were finding boxes of ticks dumped on their properties. “Something is happening with ticks right now, and farmers are starting to talk,” she posted alongside a video that got 10 million views across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The MAHA Moms Coalition, a nationwide group inspired by the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, reposted the claim asking affected farmers to come forward.

The theory dates back to 2023, with viral claims that Pfizer and Valneva, pharmaceutical companies developing a vaccine for Lyme disease, were planting boxes of ticks on farms to drum up demand for their product. 

A separate theory that gained traction around the same time linked a British research program to genetically modify cattle ticks, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to rising cases of red meat allergies in the U.S. The biggest problem with that theory is that the allergy, Alpha-gal syndrome, is caused by the bite of a Lone Star tick — a completely different species from the cattle ticks in the research program.

While all these conspiracies involve different ticks, different diseases, and different alleged culprits, they are often treated as interchangeable evidence of the same broader claim: that rising tick encounters are a part of a nefarious human plot. 

The theories are right about one thing: Ticks are getting worse. Some of the same ecological changes fueling Maine’s winter tick boom are also making tick encounters more common in broad swaths of the U.S. The arachnids are showing up earlier in the year, expanding into new terrain, and biting people more often than they used to. But the force driving those shifts is not a clandestine bioweapons program, a vaccine plot, or Bill Gates — it’s climate change. 

A screenshot of an Instagram post furthering the unproven claim that Midwestern farmers are finding boxes of ticks left behind on their properties. Instagram

Richard Ostfeld, an ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, said a warming world is “bringing ticks out earlier in the year” in states like New York, where he lives. “It used to be we were pretty safe in the month of May,” he said. “Now, not so much.”

Tick season is off to an unusually early start across most of the U.S. this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said in an alert published late last month. Emergency room visits for tick bites in four of the five geographic regions the agency tracks are the highest they’ve been for this time of year since the CDC started keeping tabs on tick-borne illness rates in 2017. 

While the CDC hasn’t said what’s behind the uptick in bites this spring, ample snow cover earlier in the year helped insulate adult ticks from the cold of winter, and an early spring bloom across much of the U.S. likely brought those hungry adults out of the leaf litter earlier than normal. But regardless of the specific dynamics at play this year, rising average temperatures will lead to more robust tick exposure on balance. That’s because warmer temperatures both coax ticks north into territory that was once too cold to host them and also extend the length of time that ticks are active every year.

More tick bites mean more opportunities for infection — and the list of infections doctors are watching for is getting longer. Positive tests for alpha-gal syndrome have increased 100-fold since 2013; nearly half a million people in the U.S. now carry an allergy to red meat. Cases of anaplasmosis, a disease carried by black-legged ticks that hospitalizes roughly 30 percent of the people who contract it, increased 16-fold between 2000 and 2017. Babesiosis, a malaria-like illness also carried by black-legged ticks, has risen roughly 10 percent year-over-year since 2015. It’s not uncommon now for a single tick to carry two or more diseases. 

Ecologists who study ticks see an interwoven mix of factors driving these increases. Land-use and wildlife changes are increasing contact between humans and ticks, invasive and expanding tick species are bringing different disease risks to new parts of the country, and better testing and reporting of tick-borne illnesses is making diseases more visible. But there is widespread agreement in the scientific community that those trends are unfolding against the backdrop of climate change.

Ostfeld worries that the complexity of the factors that lead to higher rates of tick-borne disease, paired with the allure of online conspiracies, will make it harder for people to understand why backyards in some parts of the country are getting more dangerous. “The more I read about people actually believing some of these conspiracy theories, the more I worry that even moderately complex explanations or phenomena we care about — like how likely we are to get bitten by a tick — might be too much,” he said.

Scientists collect Lone Star ticks, which can cause an allergic reaction to red meat, for research. Ben McCanna / Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

It doesn’t help that conspiracies about ticks have now been legitimized by federal government officials. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has at various times in his career opined that Lyme disease, which now affects an estimated half a million Americans every year, was created as a byproduct of vaccine research and originally used as a military bioweapon. (This flies in the face of genomic evidence that the bacteria causing Lyme has existed in North America for at least 60,000 years.)

Both Kennedy and Tucker Carlson, one of America’s most prominent Republican-aligned media figures, have hosted the writer Kris Newby on their podcasts in recent years. In both cases, Newby espoused debunked claims about the military origins of Lyme.  

The idea that Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses were created by a U.S. military bioweapons program is so pervasive that a formal initiative to investigate the origin has twice been introduced by lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Chris Smith, a Republican representative from New Jersey who spearheaded those efforts, was successful on his second attempt. A directive in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, signed by President Donald Trump last December, includes a provision requiring the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to investigate whether the military used ticks as biological warfare agents in the middle of the twentieth century. 

“GAO will be fully empowered to leave no stone unturned, and now it’ll have a congressional mandate to get to the bottom of it, because they were weaponizing ticks,” Smith said at a Lyme disease roundtable convened by Secretary Kennedy last year. 

But away from the congressional roundtables and viral videos, the plot begins to lose some of its drama. Even in the Midwest, where millions of social media viewers have been told that boxes of ticks are being dumped on unsuspecting farmers, evidence of foul play is hard to find. Terry Hoerbert and her husband Bob own Little Brown Cow Dairy, a small dairy farm in Delavan, Illinois. The lane down to the farm is short, Terry said, so she would have seen someone dropping off packages of ticks. Had the Hoerberts heard of any other farms in the area receiving packages of live ticks?

“We have not,” Terry told me. “You are the first to enlighten us.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As tick bites surge, conspiracy theories follow on May 14, 2026.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and BPR, a public radio station serving western North Carolina.

In Murphy, North Carolina, a peaceful mountain town once defined by birdsong and swaying trees, a steady electric hum cuts through the calm. The noise from a nearby cryptocurrency mine has intruded on Rebecca and Tom Lash’s lives since it opened in 2021.

“There was nothing in this little pasture but these electric lines,” Rebecca Lash said, as she and Tom stood on the hill overlooking the mine. “And it was just nice and quiet.”

The Lashes came to Cherokee County eight years ago to settle down and enjoy their older age in view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They grew more and more incensed as three cryptocurrency mines opened near their home within the last five years. 

Now, the landscape is shifting again as one of those mines becomes an artificial intelligence data center.

Western North Carolina is seeing a local manifestation of a national trend. Across the country, communities that spent years trying to stop cryptocurrency mines are confronting a new and potentially larger wave of digital infrastructure that powers AI. As profits from crypto mining have fallen, the companies behind it have begun converting their operations into facilities designed to handle the computing that underpins that burgeoning industry. 

“The big AI centers and the big data centers, there’s some horror stories about people that live near those,” said Tom Lash.

This transition is triggering a growing backlash. Residents and local officials in Cherokee County and beyond fear that these immense operations — which consume as much electricity and water as small towns — will alter rural communities with few land-use restrictions. Towns and counties across western North Carolina have begun passing moratoriums and considering new regulations as they scramble to respond to an industry many say arrived faster than local authorities could understand or control it.

The shift is possible because crypto mines and AI data centers rely on the same underlying resources: enormous amounts of electricity, industrial-scale cooling systems, and large buildings capable of housing thousands of servers that run constantly. That infrastructure has made crypto operations attractive targets for companies racing to build AI computing capacity. 

Political and environmental conditions of Cherokee County are easing the transition, especially in post-industrial communities that need economic invigoration. In Marble, Core Scientific’s cryptocurrency mining site-turned-data-center once housed American Thread, which produced thread for the garment industry until it closed in 2015, taking hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual taxes with it. The region’s abundant water, mild climate, and lack of zoning restrictions make it attractive. 

Late last year, Core Scientific announced plans to merge with CoreWeave, which leases computing power to AI companies. Though that deal fell through in October, Core Scientific has publicly said it is still converting facilities like the one in Marble to handle artificial intelligence workloads. That facility consumes as much power as a medium-sized town. 

Core Scientific did not respond to a request for comment. CoreWeave declined to comment.

Becoming an AI data center has required quite an expansion. According to Cherokee County commissioners and a public records request filed by commissioner Ben Adams, the company submitted a site plan last year that included more than 170 diesel generators, most of which would provide backup power. Records released by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality after an inquiry by Grist showed that they were exempt from air-quality permitting requirements because they were classified as backup systems.

The site spreads across 250,000 square feet, or 7 acres. The company is working with neighboring utilities to meet its water and sewer needs, and it’s digging three wells to tap the local water table. The data center sought a wastewater contract with the nearby town of Andrews, but Mayor James Reid told Grist officials denied the request because the company lacked an environmental plan. 

Read Next Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it? Naveena Sadasivam

He’s also not happy that a soccer complex Core Scientific had promised hasn’t materialized. What’s more, he thinks the facility is an eyesore.

“I wouldn’t wish this on any county or entity, ever,” said Reid. “It’s absolutely destroyed Marble.”

Taxes, at least, are back. The county received $268,000 in 2024 from the Marble facility’s last full year of the crypto operation, with a steep drop last year, mostly because of data center construction. In an email, County Tax Assessor Teresa Ricks said her office is working with a contractor to appraise the value of the Marble data center and its equipment in hopes the community will receive every cent it’s entitled to.

Adams doesn’t think the revenue is worth the impact the operation has on the community. He ran on an anti-crypto campaign in 2022. Although he wants to lure new business, he doesn’t want to see the county’s rural nature change and worries the data centers will bring noise and pollution. During a commissioners’ meeting in January, he begged his colleagues to renew a moratorium on crypto mining that expired a year ago and include AI data centers in the restriction.

“If we don’t do something, our little peaceful town’s going to turn into something else and people are going to come here looking to put stuff in our town,” he said at the time.

Another commissioner expressed concern that the Trump administration’s efforts to discourage local regulation of AI would hamstring any county action. “It would require a tremendous amount of resources, money to fight that back,” one commissioner said.

In the end, nothing happened that evening. 

But Cherokee County’s circumstance has alarmed communities throughout the region. Since January, officials across western North Carolina — in towns like Boone and Clyde, and counties like Swain and Clay — and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have adopted temporary bans or moratoriums on new data centers. In Canton, where a recently decommissioned paper mill might become a data center, the town council approved a moratorium in February before a crowd so large it couldn’t fit in the town hall building. The temporary bans, like the one that existed in Cherokee County from 2024 to 2025, are meant to give communities breathing room as they consider more permanent limits.

Like Canton’s ordinance, many of the moratoriums were passed before any formal data center proposals emerged. In April, Democratic state representative Lyndsey Prather introduced legislation that would scale back incentives for data centers and require them to pay the full cost of their energy use.

The tide is also beginning to turn against these operations elsewhere in the U.S. Lawmakers in Maine are considering a statewide ban, and similar bills are under consideration from New York to Oklahoma to Michigan. But as Cherokee County shows, a moratorium can come and go without a clear result, even as data center construction continues to hum. 

Adams, who is in his final year in office, is reconvening the county planning board to explore ways to limit new data centers without imposing zoning laws. A pro-business conservative, Adams said he has struggled to reconcile his support for economic growth with what he sees as a need to preserve the county’s rural character and manage its rapid transformation.

“I do believe, one, that we are stewards of our property,” Adams said. “Two, I think we can’t possibly keep out all these bad elements coming in. Three, growth is inevitable, but I hope that we can maintain it and keep it more of a peaceful community.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline First crypto, now data centers: How tech is reshaping this North Carolina community on May 14, 2026.

In the kitchen of Alnice Poxo Munduruku, fresh fish keeps the ancestral traditions of those who live along the vast Tapajós River alive. As the fire burns, the family cleans the fish while keeping a close eye on 11-year-old Aleckson. Born with cerebral palsy, which limits his mobility and speech, he has needed continuous care since birth. Like everyone here, he loves fish.

But the village’s food carries an invisible danger. Tests by scientists from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, or Fiocruz, show that Aleckson, his parents, and nearly everyone in neighboring communities have mercury levels above the safe threshold. Research by Fiocruz indicates that the contamination stems from gold mining, where mercury is used to separate the metal and then spreads through the rivers into the food chain.

This poisoning results not only from illegal mining but also from decisions and omissions by the Brazilian government. An exclusive InfoAmazonia investigation has found that Brazil’s National Mining Agency, or ANM, still maintains mining permits with signs of irregularities, such as reported gold production with no evidence of extraction consistent with the declared volumes — a practice identified by oversight bodies as illegal gold laundering.

Aleckson has cerebral palsy, a condition that restricts his mobility and speech. He has required continuous care since birth. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

Created in 1989 to regulate mining during the Tapajós gold rush that ran from the late 1970s to the 1990s, Garimpeiro Mining Permits (PLGs) were meant to be a simplified authorization for supposedly small-scale, low-impact operations. Decades later, what began as artisanal mining has become industrial-scale extraction involving heavy equipment, dredges, and mercury. These permits now give a veneer of legality to large-scale illegal mining in Tapajós, sidestepping legal limits.

For more than a decade, oversight agencies have warned the mining authority about the irregular use of PLGs. In 2022, the Comptroller General of the Union uncovered a series of illegalities in an audit. The following year, Operation Sisaque — carried out by Brazil’s Federal Police (PF), Federal Revenue Service, and Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) — exposed one of the Amazon’s largest gold-laundering schemes, which relied on PLGs in Tapajós. In 2025, the Federal Court of Accounts reached similar conclusions, identifying structural flaws that enable gold of illegal origin to be legalized.

Even so, our reporting found that between 2022 and 2026, of the 540 PLGs that declared gold sales in the Tapajós River basin, nearly half (263) showed no evidence of extraction consistent with the amounts reported. This suggests these permits may be used to launder gold extracted illegally elsewhere — a practice known as “gold laundering.”

Roughly 70 percent of the mining activity in the region lies within 10 kilometers of the PLGs that declared gold production. This proximity suggests that illegal mining operations, including those operating inside conservation areas and Indigenous lands, may be using these permits to bring their gold into the formal market.

Nearly 60 percent of the gold from legalized mining in Brazil has passed through a Tapajós PLG over the past four years, totaling $2.03 billion (10 billion Brazilian reais) in declared production in the basin during that period.

The information for this investigation comes from the VEIO (Verification and Investigation of Gold Origin) platform, which cross-references mining and deforestation data with mineral production taxes and gold export figures. The tool was developed by InfoAmazonia in partnership with Instituto Dados, with support from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

The PLG is a “sham document” that sustains this system despite the Brazilian government’s inability to put an end to gold mining in the Amazon, according to Danicley Aguiar, coordinator of Greenpeace Brasil’s Indigenous Peoples Front. “It is environmentally impossible for these permits to meet even minimal conditions. Yet they continue to exist because they are part of a structural problem,” he says.

Gold mining along the Tapajós River impacts the health of communities in the Sawre Muybu Indigenous territory. Here, a dredger operates in an area linked to mercury contamination. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

PLGs have become the backbone of illegal mining in Tapajós: Without them, gold would have to be transported through clandestine routes, often across borders, before entering the formal market. With them, gold can be declared as legally sourced and leave the Amazon already carrying a stamp of legitimacy.

Multiple mining fronts

Gerson Harlei Selzler, president of the Minuano Cooperative of Miners and Prospectors, previously headed the Cooperativa dos Garimpeiros do Brasil, whose members were investigated in Operation Sisaque for “gold laundering.” Among them were his father, Nelson Selzler, accused of supplying gold to the scheme using falsified documents, and Lillian Rodrigues Pena Fernandes, who, according to the PF, owned a company used to launder gold and ran the operation with her husband, Diego de Mello.

Although not indicted in Operation Sisaque, Gerson reported selling $548,780 (2.7 million Brazilian reais) in gold in 2023 through a PLG whose area shows no signs of extraction, such as deforestation characteristic of mining activity. He also jointly administered a PLG with Nelson Selzler in which InfoAmazonia identified declarations of gold unsupported by evidence of exploitation.

Fragmented into seven individual permits, the Minuano Cooperative garimpo authorized inside the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA) reports gold overproduction in only two PLGs, shown in red. Planet Inc. (09/2025). Source: ANM

Founded in 2022, Minuano began declaring production only in 2024, coinciding with when the main suspects in Operation Sisaque stopped reporting gold transactions. Since then, the cooperative has declared roughly $9.76 million (48 million Brazilian reais) in gold production linked to two PLGs inside the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA), where it operates without authorization from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, or ICMBio, the office responsible for managing federal protected areas in Brazil. According to VEIO’s analysis, the volume declared in these PLGs exceeds by a factor of 10 the extraction estimates cited in studies, which suggest around 20 grams of gold per hectare explored.

The two PLGs used by Minuano are part of a group of eight permits held by the cooperative inside the Tapajós APA. Seven of them are contiguous, extending along the Creporizinho River, a tributary of the Crepori and Tapajós rivers, which run through the conservation unit.

Satellite images show an operation functioning as an integrated whole, despite being formally divided into parcels of up to 50 hectares, the maximum area allowed for individual mining under an ANM resolution issued in 2025. As a result, the work falls under more permissive environmental rules, since each parcel has its own authorization and environmental license issued by the city government of Itaituba. This arrangement enables large-scale extraction under simplified requirements, and satellite images reveal that the mining has already altered the river’s course.

The February meeting in Brasília regarding PLGs in the Tapajós region brought together, from right to left, Diego de Mello (accused by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office of “gold laundering”), Fernando Lucas (president of the Federation of Garimpeiros Cooperatives of Pará), state legislator Wescley Tomáz (Avante), and José Fernando (director of the National Mining Agency — ANM).
Instagram

Minuano holds 15 PLGs in total, including the eight within the Tapajós APA, covering 2,200 hectares. According to ICMBio, the cooperative has requested authorization to operate inside the conservation unit, but the application remains under review.

Beyond Minuano’s PLGs, Gerson also holds mining permits as an individual. He recently obtained from the ANM the transfer of rights to conduct gold prospecting on a 3,200‑hectare area, also within the Tapajós APA. For that area, VEIO found that mining was already underway, yet no production had been reported to the regulator. 

Despite mounting evidence and repeated warnings, the ANM continues to engage with suspicious actors in the sector. In March of this year, under the banner of expanding mining legalization in the region, the Pará state government backed the Legal Mining Expedition, an initiative supported by the mining agency and cooperatives.

Itaituba, a city in the Tapajós region, is home to Brazil’s largest mining front. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

Diego de Mello, accused by the Federal Police of running the laundering scheme revealed in Operation Sisaque, attended a meeting in Brasília alongside ANM director José Fernando. The expedition held meetings in mining areas and opened channels to help legalize PLGs with applications already filed with the agency.

Mining concentrated in the hands of a few

There are currently 9,101 mining applications to exploit the Tapajós APA, including 6,255 PLGs. This report found that 21 individuals control more than half (3,382) of these applications. Some have declared gold production in more than 30 different PLGs, a situation the Federal Court of Accounts described as a “real circumvention of the area limits established by law.”

One such figure is lawyer José Antunes, who chairs the Environmental Law Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Itaituba and holds 162 PLGs of 50 hectares each within the conservation unit, more than 8,000 hectares in total.

José Antunes holds 162 PLGs in the Tapajós APA, spanning more than 8,000 hectares. In 31 of them, highlighted in red, he has reported production — including in areas with no detectable mining activity. Planet Inc. (09/2025). Source: ANM

Between 2022 and 2023, Antunes reported $13 million (64 million Brazilian reais) in gold sales across 31 PLGs. In several of them, there is no evidence of mining activity; in others, the extraction appears to extend beyond licensed boundaries. In December 2024, inspectors from Ibama, Brazil’s environmental regulator, documented active, unauthorized mining in areas covered by Antunes’s PLGs, including illegal mercury use, river alteration, and deforestation in Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs).

Hot gold on the market, mercury in the body

Aleckson was born already contaminated with mercury. He has never walked, uses a wheelchair, and depends on his mother, Alnice, for nearly every task. Soon after birth, he was diagnosed with spastic tetraparesis, a neurological condition that causes weakness and muscle stiffness in his limbs. The disability was attributed to a lack of oxygen during a long and painful labor.

In his most recent test, Aleckson had 6.9 micrograms of mercury per gram of hair (µg/g) in his system, three times the upper safe limit of 2.3 µg/g defined by the World Health Organization and Brazil’s Ministry of Health.

Indigenous residents prepare fish for a meal in the Sawre Muybu Indigenous territory. Luis Ushirobira/InfoAmazonia

“We eat fish almost every day. It’s very hard to change that, because this is how we were raised,” says Alnice, as her son devours a stew of surubim and barbado prepared by her sisters. In one of her tests, Alnice recorded 9 µg/g of mercury, more than four times the safe limit.

Researcher Isabela Freitas Vaz, from Fiocruz, has followed the case since the first tests. “The signs we’ve observed, not only in Aleckson’s case but in many children, point to a high-risk scenario,” she says.

Although a definitive causal link between mercury exposure and the observed clinical conditions has yet to be proven, researchers say the warning signs are consistent: people with high exposure levels exhibit indicators associated with the potential development of mercury-related diseases.

“The next step is to establish this causal connection between contamination levels and the symptoms we are seeing, so it can guide public policy,” explains Isabela Vaz.

A pregnant woman from the Sawré Muybu Indigenous territory participates in a Fiocruz study with researcher Isabela Freitas Vaz on the effect of mercury on Munduruku health. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

The Tapajós basin lies in western Pará state, extending into northern Mato Grosso and southern Amazonas. It consists of the Tapajós River and major tributaries such as the Jamanxim, Teles Pires, and Juruena, which converge toward Santarém. Mining is concentrated in the Tapajós Gold Province, centered on Itaituba and including Jacareacanga and Novo Progresso. This area is home to Brazil’s largest active mining front.

In February, InfoAmazonia traveled along stretches of the rivers feeding the basin and accompanied Fiocruz researchers as they collected samples from pregnant women and newborns of the Munduruku people.

The researchers are investigating how mercury contamination in the Tapajós may be linked to Minamata disease, a severe neurological syndrome caused by acute exposure to methylmercury, the metal’s most toxic form.

Identified in the 1950s in Minamata, Japan, the disease struck thousands who were acutely poisoned by large volumes of industrial mercury waste dumped into the fishing bay. Many victims were left with lifelong impairments, and more than 900 died.

A sample of a baby’s hair is collected for Fiocruz research into the effect of mercury on Munduruku health. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

Unlike the disaster in Minamata, scientists say contamination in the Tapajós occurs slowly and persistently. It is chronic rather than sudden, and its effects can take years to appear.

“The main source of contamination in the Amazon today is fish consumption. The mercury used in mining enters the river, becomes organic [methylmercury], and accumulates in the food chain,” says Pedro Basta, an analyst with the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health and a member of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Pregnant Women and Newborns Exposed to Mercury in the Amazon.

Because the metal accumulates over time, it remains in the environment for decades, even in places where mining has ceased. In the Tapajós basin, it is most concentrated in carnivorous fish such as barbado, surubim, and tucunaré, species widely consumed by local communities.

Since 2019, when studies began in some villages, nearly half of the children examined have shown heavy metal levels above the safe limit. Among pregnant women, concentrations reach up to five times the recommended threshold, passing the substance to the fetus. “Mercury causes irreversible brain damage. It can cause tremors, numbness, muscle weakness, and long-term neurological problems,” says Basta.

The most significant harm may not be visible deformities but progressive neurological impairment, including delayed development, cognitive difficulties, and reduced learning capacity. For those with levels above 6.9 µg/g, considered high risk, the recommendation is to reduce fish consumption. In practice, that means altering the dietary foundation of entire communities.

Pedro Basta, an analyst with the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health and a member of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Pregnant Women and Newborns Exposed to Mercury in the Amazon.
Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

In the Tapajós between the Sawré Muybu and Sawré Bap’in Indigenous lands, the water no longer retains its natural color. When we visited in February, a dozen mining rafts churned the river’s emerald green into a murky brown, five operating within a 6,700-hectare PLG authorized by the National Mining Agency (ANM) for the Cooperativa dos Garimpeiros da Amazônia, or Coogam. One raft worked less than a kilometer from the Daje Kapap village.

The area Coogam exploits along this stretch of the Tapajós forms a kind of barrier between the two territories, where the noise and movement of the mining barges are nearly constant. According to ANM records, the cooperative’s PLG authorization (850.796/2009) expired in January 2025; its environmental license expired in June 2024 and was resubmitted only early this year. Even so, the barges continued operating. ANM scheduled a task force to inspect this and other PLGs on the Tapajós, but says the inspection never occurred because of a lack of funds.

A mining dredger releases sediment into the Tapajós River during gold extraction near the Sawré Muybu Indigenous territory. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

Between 2022 and 2026, this PLG reported $5.49 million (R$27 million) in gold sales. Coogam holds 32 PLGs in the Tapajós region and has declared $22.97 million (R$113 million) from seven of them over the past five years.

‘Regulatory permissiveness’

In December 2024, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) filed a public civil action seeking to suspend all mining permits within the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA). According to Federal Prosecutor Gilberto Batista Naves Filho, who filed the lawsuit, the permits were issued without prior ICMBio analysis, a requirement explicitly stated in Article 17 of Law 7.805/1989 for activities in conservation units.

“We are facing an evident lack of mercury control, an unacceptable risk for rivers and public health, especially for Indigenous and vulnerable populations who depend on the region’s rivers for their survival,” Naves Filho states in the civil action.

ICMBio told InfoAmazonia that mining activities within the Tapajós APA require prior authorization from the environmental agency, which has not been granted in most cases.

While gold miners use mercury, Indigenous communities in the Tapajós basin consume fish contaminated by it. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

The result, according to the MPF, is an ongoing environmental collapse. With 83,000 hectares already affected, an area larger than New York City or Chicago, the Tapajós APA has become Brazil’s federally protected area most heavily degraded by mining, according to MapBiomas data compiled by Greenpeace at InfoAmazonia’s request.

ICMBio reports that at least 829 PLGs have been authorized by ANM within the Tapajós APA without any review by the management body. ANM interprets the law differently and argues in the MPF lawsuit that environmental authorization is required only when exploration begins, not when permits are issued.

For the MPF, this interpretation nullifies environmental oversight and turns mining permits into tools that give a veneer of legality to illegally extracted gold. The agency describes ANM’s actions as “merely notarial,” issuing permits without assessing environmental feasibility or the cumulative impacts of hundreds of mining fronts.

The lawsuit seeks $20.33 million (R$100 million) in collective moral damages from the ANM. After an unsuccessful conciliation hearing in March, the case awaits a ruling from the Federal Court.

The Federal Court of Accounts reached similar conclusions. In an audit completed in July 2025, the court identified “regulatory permissiveness” and systemic failures in oversight of the gold supply chain. The report notes that ANM’s omissions enable PLGs to launder illegal gold and artificially fragment areas, making large-scale operations viable under rules intended for small-scale mining.

Children play in the Sawré Muybu village. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

The court ordered ANM to cancel irregular authorizations within 90 days. That deadline has passed.

On the ground, the pattern repeats. Between December 2024 and January 2025, Ibama ordered the suspension of 342 PLGs in the Tapajós APA after an operation against illegal mining. Inspectors found multiple violations, including lack of ICMBio authorization, destruction of vegetation, mining in permanent preservation areas, and extensive mercury use.

For Ibama’s director of environmental protection, Jair Schmitt, the issue goes far beyond isolated violations. Even permits considered “regular,” he says, contain structural illegalities, from municipal-level licensing, contested by the federal agency and MPF, to lack of meaningful environmental oversight.

“There is no mercury legally available for mining in Brazil today,” Schmitt says. “For this reason, even PLGs considered regular are not, because there is likely no lawful mercury available for their operations.”

Ibama estimates that producing one gram of gold requires roughly one gram of mercury. But after the Minamata Convention took effect in 2017, Brazil stopped importing the substance and sharply restricted its use. According to Schmitt, this means the current scale of mining cannot be reconciled with any legal scenario.

Although the agency claims it has no authority over the need for prior authorization for exploration in the Tapajós APA, it has begun notifying PLG permit holders within the conservation unit that they must secure ICMBio approval before starting exploration. Still, there is no news of any permits operating within the conservation unit being revoked.

The management plan for the Tapajós APA, in development since 2020, is expected to be completed this year. The proposal includes creating zoning areas within the territory, including an urban-industrial zone, the largest in the unit, to organize landscapes already heavily degraded by mining and deforestation, where ICMBio says there may still be potential for mining. The plan’s drafting has been marked by pressure from groups linked to the mining sector, pushing to formalize the activity within the conservation unit, a move environmentalists criticize because of its environmental and social impacts.

‘Water becomes like milk’

In September 2025, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Santarém recommended annulling 15 PLGs granted in areas adjoining the Sawré Muybu, Sawré Bap’in, Munduruku, and Sai-Cinza territories, including the Coogam PLG documented during our February reporting trip.

According to the MPF, these permits were issued without prior consultation with Indigenous communities, as required by International Labor Organization Convention 169. The agency also notes that barge and mining operations near the villages violate measures ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to contain mercury contamination. “It is unacceptable for state-licensed projects to inflict the same harm on Indigenous people as illegal mining,” prosecutor Thais Medeiros da Costa wrote in a recommendation sent to ANM in September 2025.

Chief Juarez Saw Munduruku from the Sawré Muybu Indigenous territory. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

“When the prospectors arrive and start working, the water becomes like milk,” said Chief Juarez Saw Munduruku of the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land. “We can’t bathe anymore; it causes itching. It used to be joyful; children played along the riverbank. Today that’s over,” he says.

According to the chief, mercury exposure has become part of daily life for families, with symptoms resembling those researchers are investigating as possible effects of poisoning.

“My son’s contamination level has reached the limit. He already feels numbness in his legs and arms. We keep wondering … could this be what’s causing these symptoms?” the chief asks.

Deivison Saw Munduruku, the chief’s son, is among the cases with the highest contamination levels recorded by researchers, nearly 10 times above the safe threshold.

Aldira Akai Munduruku, deputy coordinator of the Pariri Indigenous Association and a teacher in Sawré-Muybu village, believes contamination may be linked to some children’s learning difficulties. “We notice that some children struggle to learn, and this is not normal,” she says.

A classroom at the Sawre Ba’ay school in the Sawré Muybu village. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

In 2019, the Pariri Association approached researcher Paulo Basta — the father of analyst Pedro Basta and coordinator of Fiocruz’s “environment, diversity, and health” research group — after the death of environmentalist Cássio Beda, who had lived among the Munduruku and developed a severe neurological condition. While mercury poisoning has not been confirmed as the cause, the physician who treated him noted the possibility of “secondary motor neuron disease and mercury intoxication” in a July 2017 report, as reported by Repórter Brasil.

“We monitor the results and try to warn people. But it’s not only the Munduruku who can change this. We need more effective public policies,” Aldira says.

Among the Indigenous residents interviewed, suspected miscarriages, numbness in the limbs, memory lapses, and tremors appeared frequently, symptoms the medical literature associates with high mercury levels.

Aldira Akai Munduruku, vice coordinator of the Pariri Indigenous Association and a teacher in the Sawré-Muybu village. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

For Paulo Basta, who coordinates research in the region and is working to determine which symptoms are linked to mercury exposure, one conclusion is clear: continual exposure, combined with precarious living conditions in the villages, creates extreme vulnerability. In this setting, he says, mercury exacerbates existing inequalities, hindering child development and shaping the entire life trajectory of affected populations.

“A child with mental deficits today becomes an adult with mental deficits tomorrow. They will struggle in school and later in the job market,” Basta explains.

Paradoxically, when the Tapajós River swells during the Amazon’s winter rains, access to water becomes even more limited. As the river floods, contamination spreads into the streams supplying the villages, bringing mud and mercury.

Indigenous residents swim, bathe, fish, and wash clothes in the Tapajós River. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

On February 13, a federal court ruling underscored the severity of the health crisis in the Tapajós, ordering the federal government to provide drinking water to Indigenous communities and recognizing the structural abandonment aggravated by mining-related contamination.

The National Mining Agency (ANM) stated that PLGs with environmental licenses are considered valid and that it is not the agency’s role to “question the validity of the documentation submitted,” saying it relies on licenses issued by other authorities. Regarding the Tapajós APA, the agency acknowledged the requirement for ICMBio approval and said it is working to identify and regularize permits lacking it. The agency maintains it is not responsible for identifying illegalities because it received the licenses “in good faith.”

On the issue of irregularities, ANM said it does not authorize mercury use in PLGs. It acknowledged knowing of evidence of the laundering of gold, a practice linked to weaknesses in the self-declaration system, and said it uses inspections, data cross-checking, and satellite monitoring to detect inconsistencies between explored areas and reported production.

The Sawré Muybu village. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

“There are ongoing administrative investigations, some confidential, others public, into indications of irregularities in the gold production chain, including possible cases of laundering,” the ANM stated.

The agency also said it has discussed prior consultation with Indigenous peoples but noted there is no automatic ban on mining within 10 kilometers of Indigenous lands, considered a direct-impact zone. In a statement to InfoAmazonia, it said it had no knowledge of the so-called “Legal Mining Expedition,” supported by the Pará state government, and did not comment on the meeting between representatives of the initiative and one of its directors.

The report also contacted Coogam president Tânia Oliveira Sena, who declined to be interviewed. We also reached out to the defense of Nelson Selzler, who declined to comment on his mention in the Federal Police investigation and the activities of the Minuano Cooperative in the Tapajós APA. The report was unable to reach Gerson Harlei Selzler, Diego de Mello, or his wife, Lillian Rodrigues Pena Fernandes.

Lawyer José Antunes has contested oversight authorities’ findings that no signs of mining were present in the PLGs where he declared production. He argues that the satellite images used to reach this conclusion “are not reliable for the Tapajós biome.” He also disputes the irregularity arising from lack of ICMBio authorization, saying his operations were licensed by Pará’s state environmental agency. Regarding the concentration of PLGs, Antunes claims it “represents almost nothing compared to the area of the Tapajós APA” and insists they “are all fully up to date.”

Aerial view of the Tapajós River beside the Sawré Muybu village. Luis Ushirobira / InfoAmazonia

Responding to Ibama’s citations for illegal mercury use in the area of his PLGs, Antunes said in a statement that the violations “were committed by miners who have no link to me, as they themselves stated.” He also criticized what he called sweeping generalizations in the investigations and argued for greater legal certainty for the sector, insisting he acts in good faith and within the law.

For Danicley Aguiar of Greenpeace, the state’s failure to address the region’s economic dependence on mining ensures the activity will continue to thrive, even under a veneer of legality, while inflicting ongoing environmental and social harm.

“Mining violates human rights in a widespread and systematic way. How can the state tolerate such an activity? How can it claim this is essential for regional development?” he asked. For the Munduruku, the distinction between “legal” and “illegal” areas does little to change daily life. Mining continues to contaminate the river, and the river remains the center of their existence.

Methodology

VEIO uses data from mining processes (SIGMINE) and mineral production declarations (CFEM), both provided by the National Mining Agency for the Legal Amazon. The tool cross-references this information with georeferenced data from DETER/Inpe deforestation alerts, Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and gold export figures from Comex Stat, Brazil’s foreign trade statistics system, to automatically analyze and flag potential irregularities. These alerts are updated weekly and indicate whether illegal activity is affecting Indigenous Lands, Quilombola Territories, Conservation Units or Rural Settlements.

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Translated from the Portuguese original by Matt Sandy.

This investigation was carried out with support from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The Brazilian government keeps giving out mining licenses in the Amazon – in spite of evidence of gold ‘laundering’ on May 14, 2026.

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