EcoAméricas

04/22/2026

Brazil this month unveiled its long-awaited National Climate Change Plan, a blueprint for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and managing climate impacts between now and 2035.

The document, coordinated by Brazil’s Environment and Climate Change Ministry (MMA) with input from 24 other ministries, has drawn unfavorable reviews from green advocates, many of whom call its objectives and implementation provisions lackluster. But government officials said it marks a serious attempt to address the causes of climate change and protect Brazilians from the risks it poses. Among them was Marina Silva, Brazil’s environment and climate change minister until she stepped down on April 1, to run for the national senate. (See Around the Region—this issue.)

“The Climate Plan places people at the center of the policy to address climate change,” Silva said in a prepared statement issued on March 16, when she was still minister. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the main culprit behind global warming, and building the resilience of cities and natural ecosystems against their impacts means protecting the lives of those who already suffer from the extreme rains, droughts, and heat waves that the climate emergency makes more intense and frequent.”

Continue reading online at: https://bit.ly/3Qs0Vfw

04/21/2026

Monarch butterfly populations in central Mexico increased for a second consecutive winter, according to data from the World Wildlife Fund and the Mexican government. Scientists attribute the recovery to wetter weather that improved migration conditions across North America.

Monarchs occupied 7.24 acres (2.9 hectares) of oyamel fir forest in nine sites across the states of México and Michoacán. That is a 64 percent increase compared with the 2024 to 2025 season, when they covered 4.4 acres (1.8 hectares).

Experts say the increase is encouraging but does not signal that long-term threats have eased. Habitat loss, pesticide use in the United States, and degradation of overwintering sites in Mexico and California continue to pressure populations.

In California, western monarchs remain at very low levels, with about 12,260 counted at overwintering sites, still among the smallest populations recorded.

Researchers say new tracking technology is improving understanding of migration routes and survival, including unexpected shifts such as monarchs heading to Florida instead of Mexico.

Continue reading online at:

The number of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) that spent the winter of 2025-26 in the mountain forests of Central Mexico rose for the second consecutive year, a recovery experts attribute to favorable, wetter weather during the insects’ spring and fall migrations. The butterflies clung to o...

04/17/2026

As ocean warming, pollution, and overfishing threaten marine life, countries are stepping up to protect migratory corridors used by species like hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles.

In the eastern tropical Pacific, Ecuador and Costa Rica have created a connected marine corridor linking the Galápagos and Cocos Island—two of the world’s most biodiverse ocean regions. New reserves like Hermandad and Bicentenario are designed to safeguard these routes, and early science is promising: a 2024 expedition documented around 200 marine species, confirming the corridor’s ecological importance.

But the picture isn’t entirely positive.

- Critical habitats, like the Paramount seamount, remain unprotected

- Longline fishing may be allowed in parts of Costa Rica’s reserve, raising bycatch risks for sharks, turtles, and seabirds

- Enforcement and regulation still lag behind conservation commitments

Marine corridors have been proven to work and collaboration between governments, scientists, and fishers can improve compliance. But protection needs to be comprehensive, enforced, and science-based to truly safeguard migratory species.

This article, written by Mercedes Alvaro, is a free-read: https://bit.ly/4vAXsLN

04/16/2026

As ocean warming, pollution, and overfishing threaten marine life, countries are stepping up to protect migratory corridors used by species like hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles.

In the eastern tropical Pacific, Ecuador and Costa Rica have created a connected marine corridor linking the Galápagos and Cocos Island—two of the world’s most biodiverse ocean regions. New reserves like Hermandad and Bicentenario are designed to safeguard these routes, and early science is promising: a 2024 expedition documented around 200 marine species, confirming the corridor’s ecological importance.

But the picture isn’t entirely positive.

- Critical habitats, like the Paramount seamount, remain unprotected

- Longline fishing may be allowed in parts of Costa Rica’s reserve, raising bycatch risks for sharks, turtles, and seabirds

- Enforcement and regulation still lag behind conservation commitments

Marine corridors have been proven to work and collaboration between governments, scientists, and fishers can improve compliance. But protection needs to be comprehensive, enforced, and science-based to truly safeguard migratory species.

This article, written by Mercedes Alvaro, is a free-read: https://bit.ly/4vAXsLN

Efforts to protect migratory swimways that extend from one country’s waters to another’s have stirred growing interest in recent years, as global warming pushes ocean temperatures up and joins water pollution and overfishing to drive marine biodiversity down. In the eastern tropical Pacific, one...

04/15/2026

Large volumes of sargassum seaweed have already begun accumulating along beaches in Cancún, with similar influxes reported across the Caribbean, Florida’s east coast, and the Florida Keys. Scientists warn that 2026 could rival or even exceed recent record-breaking years.

Since 2011, massive blooms linked to the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt have disrupted marine ecosystems and coastal economies. While the exact causes remain under study, shifting ocean and atmospheric conditions—combined with nutrient runoff—are likely driving this growing phenomenon.

The impacts are significant:
• Environmental damage to coastal and marine ecosystems
• Rising cleanup costs—reaching up to $1.1M annually per kilometer in parts of Mexico
• Increasing pressure on tourism-dependent economies across the Caribbean and beyond

In 2025 alone, sargassum blooms reached an estimated 38 million metric tons—70% higher than the previous record.

There is some progress at the international level. At the latest UN Environment Assembly, countries from the Caribbean and West Africa successfully pushed for stronger global cooperation on monitoring and managing sargassum.
While still an early step, it signals growing recognition of the issue as a serious socio-economic and environmental challenge.

Continue reading online at: https://bit.ly/48NEDLo

04/15/2026

Large volumes of sargassum seaweed have already begun accumulating along beaches in Cancún, with similar influxes reported across the Caribbean, Florida’s east coast, and the Florida Keys. Scientists warn that 2026 could rival or even exceed recent record-breaking years.

Since 2011, massive blooms linked to the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt have disrupted marine ecosystems and coastal economies. While the exact causes remain under study, shifting ocean and atmospheric conditions—combined with nutrient runoff—are likely driving this growing phenomenon.

The impacts are significant:

• Environmental damage to coastal and marine ecosystems

• Rising cleanup costs—reaching up to $1.1M annually per kilometer in parts of Mexico

• Increasing pressure on tourism-dependent economies across the Caribbean and beyond

In 2025 alone, sargassum blooms reached an estimated 38 million metric tons—70% higher than the previous record.

There is some progress at the international level. At the latest UN Environment Assembly, countries from the Caribbean and West Africa successfully pushed for stronger global cooperation on monitoring and managing sargassum.

While still an early step, it signals growing recognition of the issue as a serious socio-economic and environmental challenge.

Continue reading online at: https://bit.ly/48NEDLo

An unwanted visitor has arrived on the beaches of Cancún, Mexico—again. Sargassum, the brown seaweed that in recent years has beset the Caribbean’s tourism industry and marine ecosystems, began matting local beaches in March in quantities that could rival last year’s record algal invasion. Th...

04/14/2026

Chile’s new right-wing president, José Antonio Kast, is already reshaping the country’s environmental policy—just days after taking office.

Within 24 hours of his March 11 inauguration, Kast moved to reverse 43 environmental decrees introduced by his predecessor, Gabriel Boric—targeting policies on climate, biodiversity, pollution, and protected areas.

Kast says environmental protection must align with economic growth, but critics argue this signals a return to an outdated tradeoff between development and conservation.

Some measures have been revived, including protections for the Darwin’s frog and cleanup efforts for Lake Villarrica. But major initiatives, like marine reserve expansions and lithium-related conservation plans, remain stalled.

At the center of the debate: can Chile balance its role in the global energy transition with protecting its ecosystems?

Chile’s new right-wing President José Antonio Kast wasted no time pushing back against the environmental agenda of his left-leaning predecessor, Gabriel Boric. Just one day after his March 11 inauguration, Kast reversed 43 decrees issued by Boric in areas including pollution control, climate-chan...

03/30/2026

Mexico’s evolving fisheries policy in the Gulf of California raises urgent questions about conservation trade-offs and governance capacity.

The critically endangered vaquita, with an estimated population of ~10, remains highly vulnerable to bycatch from gillnets, particularly those used in the lucrative totoaba fishery. While a “Zero Tolerance Area” has offered limited protection, enforcement across the broader restricted zone has been inconsistent.

Mexico’s proposed policy shift, to scale back the gillnet ban and concentrate protections in a smaller core habitat, highlights a persistent dilemma in environmental governance: how to balance species conservation with local livelihoods. Critics argue that reducing the protected area increases extinction risk, while others contend that prior regulations were unenforceable and lacked community buy-in.

This article was published in the February 2026 issue of EcoAméricas: https://bit.ly/4sM9NLi

03/30/2026

Mexico’s evolving fisheries policy in the Gulf of California raises urgent questions about conservation trade-offs and governance capacity.

The critically endangered vaquita—with an estimated population of ~10—remains highly vulnerable to bycatch from gillnets, particularly those used in the lucrative totoaba fishery. While a “Zero Tolerance Area” has offered limited protection, enforcement across the broader restricted zone has been inconsistent.

Mexico’s proposed policy shift—to scale back the gillnet ban and concentrate protections in a smaller core habitat—highlights a persistent dilemma in environmental governance: how to balance species conservation with local livelihoods. Critics argue that reducing the protected area increases extinction risk, while others contend that prior regulations were unenforceable and lacked community buy-in.

This article was published in the February 2026 issue of EcoAméricas:

For years, the Mexican government has banned gillnets in a vast area of the upper Gulf of California to protect the vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest and most endangered living cetacean. Gillnets, which are set for fish but can indiscriminately snare other marine animals including turtles, se...

03/27/2026

The once-huge Atlantic Forest has become a key focus of ecological restoration in Brazil, thanks to its biological riches, its highly degraded state and its status as the main water source for nearly three-quarters of the country’s population.

The tropical and subtropical forest survives to greater or lesser degrees in 17 mostly coastal Brazilian states, with 8% extending into Argentina and Paraguay. Its current footprint of 315,000 square kilometers (122,000 sq. miles)—an area the size of the U.S. state of New Mexico—represents only 24% of its original, pre-colonial size. Of this surviving quarter, roughly half is mature, well-preserved forest while the rest is highly fragmented and degraded.

As extensive as the better-known destruction of the Amazon rainforest has been—17 to 20% cleared since pre-colonial times—the felling of Atlantic Forest has been far more severe. That’s because from the start of colonization, its coastal habitat lay directly in the path of the country’s voracious development. Relentless settlement eventually turned coastal forests into urban sprawl, all the while fueling an expanding slash-and-burn farming and cattle-ranching frontier further inland. Currently, the Atlantic Forest biome, or what’s left of it, is home to 72% of Brazil’s population.

Increasingly, however, that population has come to realize that the quality and quantity of its water depends on restoring degraded Atlantic Forest river basins. Partly as a result, reforestation projects in the biome have gained traction, showing considerably more progress than those in the Amazon. Other reasons for the progress is the vast quantity of cleared land available for reforestation and the relative ease of reaching it given its proximity to population centers—making reintroduction of fledgling, nursery-raised trees less costly.

“Also, the Atlantic Forest’s coastal location puts it closer to investors and makes it the home of Brazil’s biggest environmental nonprofits doing such restoration,” says Alexis Bastos, project coordinator of the Rioterra Study Center, a Brazilian nonprofit that reforests land in the southwest portion of the country’s Amazon region. “The biome also [has] more reforestation specialists than in the [Brazilian] Amazon and far fewer violent land conflicts, which often involve armed land grabbers.”

This is a free-read article online at:

The once-huge Atlantic Forest has become a key focus of ecological restoration in Brazil, thanks to its biological riches, its highly degraded state and its status as the main water source for nearly three-quarters of the country’s population. The tropical and subtropical forest survives to greate...