“Ah-sigh-ee.” Perhaps you don’t yet know the correct pronunciation of this Amazonian fruit, but chances are high that you’ve already seen its name – açaí – on some menu, especially in cafes and small shops specializing in healthy eating, sold mainly as the primary ingredient in bowls, smoothies, ice creams or juices. In Brazil, about 95% of the production of this small, round and very dark-purple fruit is concentrated in the Amazonian state of Pará. It’s a staple of the local diet, where it’s consumed, blended, with fish, cassava flour and other Amazonian ingredients. But because of its nutritional benefits, being rich in antioxidants and fibers, and having high energy value, açaí’s fame as a “superfood” quickly reached other Brazilian regions and, eventually, other countries. But the increase in fruit production to meet both national and international demand is reducing bird diversity in the floodplain forests of the Amazon. According to a study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, areas with a higher density of açaí palm trees show a 28% decline in the number of bird species. “Our goal was to understand the consequences of the expansion of açaí cultivation and its various forms of management on birds, with a primary focus on frugivores, those that feed on fruits,” study co-author Raphael de Vasconcelos Nunes, a biologist at the Federal University of Pará, told Mongabay. According to Nunes, floodplain forests are already among the most impacted forest environments in the Amazon. They’re located on riverbanks and undergo constant…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The man’s cheekbones are painted with achiote, a red pigment extracted from the seeds of the Bixa orellana plant. He wears a thin headband over his gray hair, and a traditional green shirt with yellow and blue trim on the collar and sleeves. In his right hand, he holds a wooden spear, 2.5 meters long, or just over 8 feet, made from the chonta palm (Bactris gasipaes). He stares at the journalist. His dark eyes widen as he laments the occurrence of several cases of community residents, including children, suffering from fungal infections. “Even two people have already died from stomach pain, and at the hospital, they said: ‘Maybe it’s the water.’” The video was first broadcast on Sept. 28, 2024, on an Ecuadorian national news program. The man recorded is Galo Villamil, one of the leaders of the Capirona community, an Indigenous Kichwa resistance enclave in the Ecuadorian Amazon. One year before, in 2023, 22-year-old Joana Ashanga and her 2-year-old nephew, Ville Ashanga, were victims of what the community considers the fatal consequence of river pollution. “Despite the complaints, official reports from the [Ecuadorian] Ministry of Health made no mention of links between the pollution and the deaths, which generated distrust and outrage,” said Linda Tapuy, president of the Capirona community, before an audience at a university auditorium in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, two years after the deaths. The victims’ death certificates said the cause of death was “unknown.” For the Indigenous group, appearing in that television news story was…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Court has given new momentum to one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the Brazilian Amazon: The Ferrogrão railway. The plan is to link Sinop, in the grain-producing state of Mato Grosso, to the port of Miritituba in Pará, a key commodity export hub on the Tapajós River. Conceived by the agribusiness sector to reduce grain transportation costs, Ferrogrão is a priority project for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, despite warnings about its potential impacts on Indigenous territories and protected forests in an Amazon region already under significant socio-environmental pressure. In May, the justices upheld a 2017 law that removed 862 hectares (2,130 acres) from Jamanxim National Park, a conservation unit located in Pará state, to allow Ferrogrão to pass through the protected area. The initiative had been challenged on the grounds that Brazil’s Federal Constitution requires a formal law to reduce the size of protected areas, rather than the conversion into law of a provisional measure issued by the executive branch. “The STF decision does not give the green light to the Ferrogrão project, which still must undergo environmental studies and the licensing process,” said Alice Dandara de Assis Correia, an attorney at Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a nonprofit that advocates for environmental and Indigenous rights. “But the courts have ruled that specially protected areas can be altered through an expedited process, an extremely dangerous shortcut that could pave the way for Congress to approve similar changes in other protected areas facing…This article was originally published on Mongabay