New mapping by Amazon Underworld finds that criminal networks or armed groups operate in nearly three-fifths of Amazon municipalities across the six countries surveyed, which include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Of the 1,310 municipalities examined, researchers found illicit actors in 768 of them, or 59%. Colombia had the highest proportion of affected municipalities (98%), followed by Venezuela (82%), Brazil and Ecuador (59% each), Peru (34%) and Bolivia (31%). The report also identifies increasingly interconnected criminal operations crossing international boundaries, such as Brazil’s Comando Vermelho, which is now present in almost 500 municipalities, including in Bolivia and Peru. Eight armed groups are present in 99 municipalities in the Colombian Amazon. About 78% of the country’s rural population, nearly 10 million people, “live under the influence of at least” one non-state armed group, according to Humanitarian Action. “One of our main concerns is how organized crime instrumentalizes local communities,” report author Bram Ebus, founder of Amazon Underworld and International Crisis Group consultant, told Mongabay over WhatsApp messages. “Groups extort them. They also use them, often under coercion, as human shields to protect illicit economies and obstruct state interventions. This leaves communities exposed to violent repression by state forces as well.” According to the report, gold has overtaken cocaine as the Amazon’s most lucrative criminal industry. “This shift has accelerated environmental destruction through deforestation and mercury contamination,” Ebus said. As rival groups battle for territorial control, local populations, especially Indigenous communities, bear the brunt of escalating violence. Ebus said such…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Roy Sesana, a 97-year-old Indigenous rights campaigner who opposed the Botswana government over the removal of San communities from their traditional lands in Central Kalahari, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Botswana. The university awarded Sesana an honorary Doctor of Letters on Oct. 23, recognizing his decades of advocacy for Indigenous rights, cultural identity and dignity. In an official statement, the university said the honor recognized “a lifetime of service that goes beyond individual achievement.” The recognition comes nearly 20 years after Botswana’s High Court ruled in favor of Sesana and other San people who challenged their removal from traditional lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Communities were moved in the 1990s and early 2000s. The government justified the action saying it was necessary for conservation and because providing public services was difficult. Nearly two decades later, one of the lawyers who represented San communities is now Botswana’s president. Since taking office in November 2024, Duma Boko has prioritized Indigenous land rights, established an interministerial committee to address longstanding grievances and advanced plans to restore community rights across the 52,000-square-kilometer (20,000-square-mile) reserve. He attended the recent ceremony and paid tribute to Sesana’s struggle. Sesana helped establish First People of the Kalahari in 1991 and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2005 for his work defending his people’s right to live on their traditional land. According to Botswana’s government news agency, Sesana dedicated his honorary doctorate to the Basarwa and the people of Botswana. After the ceremony,…This article was originally published on Mongabay