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The document examines how land-use changes, specifically deforestation in the Gran Chaco region, correlate with increased rural land conflicts in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

A study in San Luis, Argentina, comparing native dry forests and pastures found that replacing forests with pastures reduces direct precipitation interception and increases surface runoff and potential soil-level evaporation. These changes suggest a reduction in transpirable precipitation and a higher risk of water erosion.

An analysis of 45 forest sites and 1,500 plots in the Neotropics reveals that secondary forests are highly productive, with an average biomass recovery of 122 Mg/ha after 20 years and a median recovery time of 66 years to reach 90% of old-growth levels. Recovery rates are strongly influenced by water availability, with the highest potential in humid tropical lowland areas and the lowest in seasonally dry forest regions.

Mighty Earth's 2025 strategy focuses on decoupling agriculture from deforestation, ensuring sustainable state-backed development in Southeast Asia, and scaling finance for nature. The organization aims to leverage public distrust of corporations and passion for the environment to pressure the private sector, specifically targeting the automotive supply chain for decarbonized materials and promoting plant-based proteins to reduce methane emissions. Additionally, the group is pursuing continent-scale rewilding in North America, Asia, and Africa.

The study identifies a strong correlation between active fire anomalies in the Brazilian Amazon and deforestation, noting that the 2019 crisis was particularly severe in the states of Acre, Amazonas, and Roraima.

The report evaluates the "Freetown the Treetown" initiative, which aims to plant millions of trees to combat deforestation and climate change in Freetown. Using Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi), it analyzes two scenarios for planting trees by 2050, projecting significant net discounted benefits between USD 21.68 million and USD 26.45 million. The primary benefits include avoided infrastructure damage from natural hazards, job creation, and reduced loss of life, with a societal return of over USD 2 for every USD 1 invested.

The report exposes how Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector uses political capture and greenwashing to avoid climate accountability, specifically by omitting agricultural methane from the country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and lobbying to weaken environmental protections ahead of COP30.

The report argues that Brazil's agribusiness sector, dominated by giants like JBS, MBRF, and Minerva, exerts systemic control over political and public narratives to avoid climate regulation. It highlights a critical 'blind spot' in Brazil's updated NDC, which omits agricultural methane emissions despite the sector accounting for 75.6% of the country's total methane. The document details how the 'ruralist caucus' (FPA) controls Congress and pushes for controversial methane metrics like GWP* to downplay warming impacts. It also exposes the 'AgriZone' and other industry-led events surrounding COP30 as tools for greenwashing, while noting that structural weaknesses in the Climate Plan, Tax Reform, and Forest Code continue to favour industrial agriculture over sustainable agroecological farming.

The report analyzes the Novo PAC's impact on the Amazon, arguing that the program lacks regional planning and fails to account for the area's socio-environmental complexity. It highlights contradictions between infrastructure projects and deforestation goals, such as the Ferrogrão railway and BR-319 paving, and criticizes the continued use of fossil fuels in energy projects. The authors recommend a comprehensive regional development plan, better alignment with the PPCDAm's zero-deforestation target, and a shift toward renewable energy and distributed generation.

The report argues that legal gold mining in the Amazon, particularly when conducted by cooperatives, has evolved from an artisanal activity into an industrial-scale enterprise, yet remains subject to an anachronistic and lenient regulatory regime. It highlights a significant increase in legal mining areas between 2016 and 2023, with 82% of Brazil's approved gold mining areas located in the Legal Amazon. The authors identify critical gaps, such as the lack of mandatory prior mineral research for 'garimpo' and the use of simplified, municipalized environmental licensing in Pará, which contradicts the activity's classification as high-impact. The document recommends extending prior research requirements to cooperatives, rejecting legislative proposals that further ease mining restrictions without adding safeguards, and restoring rigorous trifasic licensing and EIA/Rima requirements in Pará.

The report quantifies the economic and energetic losses at the Itaipu and Belo Monte hydroelectric plants caused by Amazon deforestation, which disrupts 'flying rivers' and reduces river flow. Together, these plants lose an estimated 3,780 GWh of electricity and R$ 1.1 billion in annual revenue. The study highlights that the loss of forest cover affects plants even those far from the biome, such as Itaipu, and suggests that the energy sector must actively support forest restoration and conservation to ensure financial sustainability and grid resilience.

The report presents findings from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 Indonesian adults conducted in 2025. While 73% of respondents report knowing little to nothing about climate change, 86% believe it is happening after receiving a definition. There is strong public support for clean energy policies, including a 79% favorability rate for banning new coal plants and an 83% support rate for the government's 2060 net-zero commitment. However, a gap exists between personal concern (88%) and actual engagement, with very few respondents having taken political action to address the issue.

The report identifies opportunities to reduce direct emissions from the food, agriculture, and land use (FALU) sector in Southeast Asia by 1.9 billion tons of CO2-eq per year. It highlights that FALU is responsible for 54% of the region's total greenhouse gas emissions, with deforestation and peatland degradation acting as the primary drivers. The analysis emphasizes 'hotspots' where targeted interventions—such as protecting 20% of carbon-dense forests or improving rice cultivation on 20% of farms—can yield disproportionately high emissions savings. Key solutions include legal forest protection, non-continuous flooding in rice paddies, and improved nitrogen fertilizer management. The report also discusses indirect solutions like shifting diets toward the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet and reducing food loss and waste, while detailing co-benefits such as improved air quality, water security, and enhanced farmer incomes.

The report examines how voluntary sustainability initiatives (VSIs) in the mining sector address forest risks. It finds that while VSIs are growing in membership and scope, they often lack biome-specific language, fail to address the full mining lifecycle, and suffer from governance gaps and weak market incentives. The analysis of 20 VSIs reveals that about half do not explicitly recognize forest impacts. The report argues that VSIs must move beyond broad sustainability language to integrate specific criteria and collaborate with governments to raise regulatory baselines to effectively protect forests, especially as demand for energy transition minerals increases.

Dar es Salaam is one of Africa's fastest-growing cities and Tanzania's economic hub, though it faces significant challenges in infrastructure and governance. While the city's GDP is growing and it leads the country in startups and telecommunications, it is characterized by high levels of informality, with 70% of the population living in informal settlements. Public services such as water, sanitation, and waste management are underperforming, and the city is highly vulnerable to flooding and urban heat. Governance is heavily centralized, with local authorities relying on the national government for approximately 75% to 90% of their revenue, severely limiting their fiscal autonomy and ability to address local needs.

The Lilongwe City Profiling Report 2025 provides a comprehensive analysis of the capital city of Malawi, detailing its urban geography, governance, socio-economic status, and service delivery. The report highlights a city facing significant challenges including high poverty levels, limited infrastructure, and a governance structure where the local council has minimal de facto control over essential services like health and education, which remain managed by the central government.

The Maputo metropolitan area, with a population of 2.9 million, serves as Mozambique's primary economic and political hub but faces significant challenges in service delivery and infrastructure. While the city shows economic growth and improving health indices, it is characterized by high levels of informal settlements, inadequate sanitation, and a fragmented local government system with limited functional autonomy. Key infrastructure projects like the Maputo-Katembe bridge have improved connectivity, but the region remains one of the poorest primary cities in the SADC region, with a heavy reliance on charcoal for cooking and a high prevalence of waterborne diseases among children.

Global Witness warns that a second Trump administration is likely to accelerate fossil fuel production, weaken protections for land and environmental defenders, and undermine global efforts to combat deforestation and climate disinformation. The organization highlights risks including the rollback of environmental regulations, the potential defunding of human rights initiatives, and a shift toward domestic mining on protected Native and Tribal lands. It also expresses concern over the 'anti-ESG' movement and the potential for social media platforms to spread disinformation under the guise of free speech.

The report examines the severe biodiversity loss in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting phenomena like 'empty forest syndrome' and the 'reverse terraforming' caused by gold mining in the Amazon. It emphasizes the critical link between biodiversity and human well-being, citing the water crises in the Northern Andes due to páramo degradation and the role of soil organic matter in climate mitigation. The document advocates for 'inclusive conservation' that integrates Indigenous and local knowledge, arguing that Indigenous lands are essential for climate mitigation. It also analyzes the impact of global trade and 'telecoupling'—where demand for energy transition minerals like lithium in the Global North drives environmental degradation in the Andes—and calls for a sustainable blue economy and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The report outlines a comprehensive framework for (re)insurers to decarbonize their business models. It advocates for the adoption of Net Zero Transition Plans (NZTP) based on 1.5°C scenarios and establishes specific restrictions for the coal, oil and gas, and power sectors. Key demands include the immediate cessation of support for fossil fuel expansion, the implementation of time-bound phase-out dates for unsustainable power and hydrocarbons, and the use of rigorous engagement and voting policies to hold portfolio companies accountable.