A tiny frog that is endemic to—and emblematic of—Panama, yet has not been seen in the wild for over 15 years, has been successfully bred in captivity, with several dozen individuals released into the species’ natural habitat earlier this year. The bright-yellow, black-spotted Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) has a large cultural presence, though it is only 3 to 6 centimeters long. The amphibian, whose skin is highly toxic, appears on Panama’s state lottery tickets, and every August 14th is celebrated as Golden Frog Day. The breeding and reintroduction project is being carried out by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), a unit of the Smithsonian Institution based in Panama. Like many other amphibian species in Panama, the golden frog succumbed to the chytrid fungus, an aquatic fungal pathogen that causes a deadly skin disease scientists began linking to amphibian die-offs in the late 1990s...
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Four months after taking office, right-wing Chilean President José Antonio Kast has won congressional approval for legislation aimed at spurring investment in part by removing environmental requirements for industrial projects. The National Reconstruction Law, which also includes corporate tax cuts among numerous other provisions, won passage July 21 in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, a week after clearing the Senate. It is the first major legislation sought by the right-of-center Kast administration, which took office on March 11. Opponents of the legislation say they will challenge certain provisions of the bill in court. One of these creates a mechanism under which companies will be reimbursed with public funds for spending they carry out on a development project when government-approved environmental permits they have been granted are subsequently annulled in court. Critics say that if it’s implemented, the provision will create a powerful...
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has resisted U.S. demands that he declare Amazon-region criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, arguing the U.S. goal is to create a pretext for military intervention in favor of his right-wing opponents. But the left-leaning Lula administration is taking significant steps to crack down on those gangs, recently unveiling a R$209 million (US$41 million) campaign against organized crime and the socio-environmental damage it causes in the Amazon and border regions. The Safe Territory, Sovereign Amazon program, launched May 18 by order of the Brazilian Justice Ministry, aims to target crimes ranging from illegal logging and gold mining to drug trafficking and arms smuggling in four Amazon states, as well as two other states south of the region. Collectively, the targeted states include seven priority regions inhabited by 38 Indigenous peoples. “For decades, each state has confronted crime in...
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