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California issues advisory on a parasitic fly whose maggots can infest living humans

California health officials warn that the New World Screwworm could arrive in California from an infested traveler or animal, or from the natural travel of the parasitic flies.

A parasitic fly whose maggots can infest living livestock, birds, pets and humans, could threaten California soon. The New World Screwworm has rapidly spread northward from Panama since 2023 and farther into Central America. As of early September, the parasitic fly was present in seven states in southern Mexico, where 720 humans have been infested and six of them have died. More than 111,000 animals also have been infested, health officials said. In early August, a person traveling from El Salvador to Maryland was discovered to have been infested, federal officials said. But the parasitic fly has not been found in the wild within a 20-mile radius of the infested person, which includes Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. After the Maryland incident, the California Department of Public Health decided to issue a health advisory this month warning that the New World Screwworm could arrive in California from an infested traveler or animal, or from the natural travel of the flies.Graphic images of New World Screwworm infestations show open wounds in cows, deer, pigs, chickens, horses and goats, infesting a wide swath of the body from the neck, head and mouth to the belly and legs.The Latin species name of the fly — hominivorax — loosely translates to “maneater.”“People have to be aware of it,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases specialist. “As the New World Screwworm flies northward, they may start to see people at the borders — through the cattle industry — get them, too.”Other people at higher risk include those living in rural areas where there’s an outbreak, anyone with open sores or wounds, those who are immunocompromised, the very young and very old, and people who are malnourished, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. There could be grave economic consequences should the New World Screwworm get out of hand among U.S. livestock, leading to animal deaths, decreased livestock production, and decreased availability of manure and draught animals, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “It is not only a threat to our ranching community — but it is a threat to our food supply and our national security,” the USDA said.Already, in May, the USDA suspended imports of live cattle, horse and bison from the Mexican border because of the parasitic fly’s spread through southern Mexico. The New World Screwworm isn’t new to the U.S. But it was considered eradicated in the United States in 1966, and by 1996, the economic benefit of that eradication was estimated at nearly $800 million, “with an estimated $2.8 billion benefit to the wider economy,” the USDA said. Texas suffered an outbreak in 1976. A repeat could cost the state’s livestock producers $732 million a year and the state economy $1.8 billion, the USDA said. Historically, the New World Screwworm was a problem in the U.S. Southwest and expanded to the Southeast in the 1930s after a shipment of infested animals, the USDA said. Scientists in the 1950s discovered a technique that uses radiation to sterilize male parasitic flies. Female flies that mate with the sterile male flies produce sterile eggs, “so they can’t propagate anymore,” Chin-Hong said. It was this technique that allowed the U.S., Mexico and Central America to eradicate the New World Screwworm by the 1960s. But the parasitic fly has remained endemic in South America, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In late August, the USDA said it would invest in new technology to try to accelerate the pace of sterile fly production. The agency also said it would build a sterile-fly production facility at Edinburg, Texas, which is close to the Mexico border, and would be able to produce up to 300 million sterile flies per week. “This will be the only United States-based sterile fly facility and will work in tandem with facilities in Panama and Mexico to help eradicate the pest and protect American agriculture,” the USDA said. The USDA is already releasing sterile flies in southern Mexico and Central America.The risk to humans from the fly, particularly in the U.S., is relatively low. “We have decent nutrition; people have access to medical care,” Chin-Hong said. But infestations can happen. Open wounds are a danger, and mucus membranes can also be infested, such as inside the nose, according to the CDC. An infestation occurs when fly maggots infest the living flesh of warm-blooded animals, the CDC says. The flies “land on the eyes or the nose or the mouth,” Chin-Hong said, or, according to the CDC, in an opening such as the genitals or a wound as small as an insect bite. A single female fly can lay 200 to 300 eggs at a time. When they hatch, the maggots — which are called screwworms — “have these little sharp teeth or hooks in their mouths, and they chomp away at the flesh and burrow,” Chin-Hong said. After feeding for about seven days, a maggot will fall to the ground, dig into the soil and then awaken as an adult fly. Deaths among humans are uncommon but can happen, Chin-Hong said. Infestation should be treated as soon as possible. Symptoms can include painful skin sores or wounds that may not heal, the feeling of the larvae moving, or a foul-smelling odor, the CDC says. Patients are treated by removal of the maggots, which need to be killed by putting them into a sealed container of concentrated ethyl or isopropyl alcohol then disposed of as biohazardous waste. The parasitic fly has been found recently in seven Mexican states: Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Yucatán. Officials urge travelers to keep open wounds clean and covered, avoid insect bites, and wear hats, loose-fitting long-sleeved shirts and pants, socks, and insect repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency as effective.

Animals
Health
Food

Pentagon plan pits U.S. Marines against California off-roaders and civilian pilots

A proposal by the U.S. Marines to restrict civilian flight traffic above Johnson Valley OHV Area has drawn outrage from off-roaders and civilian pilots.

LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. — The U.S. Marine Corps tried once to occupy this remote stretch of California desert beloved by off-roaders — but officials managed eventually to broker a deal that allowed both leathernecks and dirt riders to share the same rocky canyons and wrinkled mountains of Johnson Valley.Now, more than a decade later, the Marines are back — and this time, they want the skies.The Pentagon has proposed restricting civilian air traffic above much of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area to expand and support training exercises. But those who frequent the area just west of the Twentynine Palms Marine base say the proposal would severely limit recreational access and reduce safety.They say the airspace restrictions could prevent rescue helicopters from evacuating injured motorists, and threaten the famed King of the Hammers off-road race that’s held there each year.And perhaps most crucially, they fear the proposal — which must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration — is just the first step toward the Marines ending public access to an area that was set aside by Congress for public use.“It feels like it’s literally just another way for them to take the land, but from above,” said Shannon Welch, vice president of the off-road group Blue Ribbon Coalition.The proposal has also drawn criticism from aviation officials, who say the restrictions could affect the operations of small local airports and add time and cost to commercial flights.The military says such fears are overblown.Recently, base officials said that the proposal would restrict the airspace for only up to 60 days per year. Project documents say the Marines are hoping the FAA will consider adding more days after the first year, but the base officials told The Times they would not seek additional days of activation over the portion of Johnson Valley that’s shared with the public. They are also working on mitigation measures that would enable them to share the skies even when the restrictions are active, they said.“There is no intention to restrict public access to Johnson Valley,” said Cindy Smith, land management specialist with the base’s government and external affairs. King of the Hammers founder Dave Cole walks along sand dunes in the Johnson Valley OHV Area where the military wants to impose restrictions on civilian aircraft. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) Johnson Valley devotee Dave Cole lives on 15 acres that back up onto the OHV area. From his front door, he can hop in a side-by-side and traverse miles of rolling sand dunes and rugged boulder piles. The vastness reminds him of the ocean, where constantly shifting tides mean that no two trips yield the same experience. And in the world of motorized recreation, the 96,000-acre riding area simply has no peer.“Going off-roading and those kinds of things, that’s surfing for me, and this is like Oahu. It’s beachfront,” Cole said.One recent afternoon, he stood on a ridge above a sprawling dry lakebed. There, in a few months, a temporary city called Hammertown would arise from the sun-baked sand. Some 80,000 people were expected to watch rock-crawling competitions and races, camp out and hear vendors pitch the latest in automotive technology. The King of the Hammers off-road vehicle competition is held each year in February. (Dennis Utt) Cole co-founded King of the Hammers in 2007 — in part to fend off a westward expansion by the Marine Corps. He thought an off-roading competition would draw attention to the Bureau of Land Management-maintained area and demonstrate the importance of keeping it open to the public.The two-week festival has since grown into one of the largest events on public land outside of Burning Man and a report commissioned by San Bernardino County estimated the race’s economic impact to be $34 million in 2023.As for the Marines’ expansion ambitions, they were addressed by a compromise in the 2014 defense bill. The legislation set aside about 43,000 acres of Johnson Valley for recreational use, 79,000 acres for the Marines and 53,000 to be shared. The Marines are permitted to close that shared-use area for two 30-day periods each year.The proposed airspace restrictions would stretch above much of the recreational area, including the entire shared-use area.King of the Hammers relies on helicopters and drones to respond to emergencies and to livestream the event worldwide. Welch, of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, described a potential loss of air support as “catastrophic.” King of the Hammers is an off-road race that combines desert racing and rock crawling. This race is held in February on Means Dry Lake at Johnson Valley. (Dennis Utt) Cole isn’t as worried about King of the Hammers. He believes a compromise to accommodate the event is possible and even likely. He’s more concerned that the proposal may mark the start of a broader takeover of the same area the Marines sought to annex years ago. “It’s a different bite; same apple,” he said.Military airspace restrictions above other public lands often result in ground closures with little notice, Welch said. Such areas include BLM-managed lands in the vicinity of the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, as well as the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona, she said.“These two areas are cautionary tales for what happens when the military gains control of the skies — even if the land underneath remains technically public,” she wrote in an email.Marine Corps officials said they are committed to honoring the shared-use agreement, but that they need additional restricted airspace for training involving both piloted aircraft and drones.Col. Benjamin Adams, assistant chief of staff for the base’s training directorate, pointed to a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that every squad must be armed with small drones by the end of fiscal year 2026. The Twentynine Palms base, with its 1,200 square miles of rugged training area, is one of the only places the Marines can perform large-scale combined-arms exercises, Adams said.“This is the golden jewel of the Marine Corps,” he said. “The training we complete here cannot be conducted anywhere else in the Marine Corps, period.”The Marines published a description of the airspace proposal in 2019, but multiple recreation advocates and local officials said they didn’t hear about it until the Marines released a draft environmental assessment last month.San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe questions whether federal officials have a full understanding of how the restrictions would affect local residents. At least 36 medical helicopters responded to the Johnson Valley area last year, according to statistics provided to Rowe by the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.“Nobody really looks up to say, ‘what are we sacrificing on the other end of it?’ Is it public safety? Access to public lands and recreation? Private property rights of inholders?” she said. “That falls to us on the outside who want to coexist with the Marines, who we respect, but also want to preserve the areas we have known and enjoyed for years.”Both the Yucca Valley Airport District and the San Bernardino County Airport Commission have voted to submit letters opposing the proposal. Both the Yucca Valley Airport District and the San Bernardino County Airport Commission have voted to submit letters opposing the Marine air restriction proposal. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) An increase in military flights through the Yucca Valley Airport’s traffic pattern would raise public safety and noise concerns, wrote board director Tim Lewis. He noted the military already has 31 special use airspaces within a 100 nautical-mile range of the Twentynine Palms base, with restrictions running almost continually from Barstow to Prescott, Ariz.The addition of even more restrictions is likely to impact commercial air travel, potentially reducing the number of flights through a heavily-used corridor, he wrote. And it would restrict the use of multiple small airports, including the Yucca Valley Airport, Twentynine Palms Airport, Big Bear City Airport, Needles Airport, Barstow-Daggett Airport and Apple Valley Airport, he wrote.“I think ultimately the Marines will find that the public opposition they’ve encountered will require them to make some compromises,” said Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), who is also a pilot.When it comes to Big Bear, the proposed restrictions overlap with a line of approach for pilots using instrument flight rules, said Obernolte, who previously served on the Big Bear City Airport board. If the proposal is approved, those pilots would not be able to land at the airport under current procedures, he said.Obernolte is seeking to have a provision added to this year’s defense bill that would condition any expansion on the Marines complying with a previous law that requires them to work with the FAA to better alert pilots to the status of restricted airspace. “This is a real sore issue,” pilot Jim Bagley said recently as he flew a small airplane through skies the U.S. Marine Corps is seeking to restrict. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) “This is a real sore issue,” said Jim Bagley from the cockpit of his 1955 Cessna 172 as it roared through the airspace that would be subject to restriction. Thousands of feet below, a smattering of old homesteads spread out like playing cards on a poker table.The former three-time mayor of Twentynine Palms, Bagley is now a recreational pilot and flight instructor who sits on the county Airport Commission. For him, backcountry flying is just another mode of sightseeing, like hiking through Yosemite or boating beneath Niagara Falls.Open areas like Johnson Valley — where you can race your side-by-side as fast as you want or land an ultralight on a dry lake bed — are unique American experiences that are growing rarer, he said.Yet even Bagley, a close watcher of the project who had given the draft environmental assessment a careful read, did not initially realize some of the restrictions would be limited to 60 days. That is explained in an appendix more than halfway through the 394-page document. The rest repeatedly frames the proposal as the establishment of permanent restricted areas. Smith said that notice of the project was published in local newspapers and sent to various stakeholders. Public feedback will be incorporated in both the final environmental assessment and a letter of procedure specifying how the proposal will be carried out, she said. The Marines are already working with the FAA on that letter, which will enable the public to use the airspace above the shared-use area for low-level flights, including rescue helicopters, even when the restrictions are active, provided the ground is open, she said. The letter will also accommodate all aircraft approaching Big Bear, said Andy Chatelin, director of the base’s range management and development division. Chatelin pointed out that the proposal has already gone through an FAA aeronautical study and safety risk management panel to determine its impacts on the National Airspace System. A final decision is expected in the fall of 2026, he said.Had the Marine Corps held public meetings on the proposal and publicized the 60-day cap, some of the backlash against it could likely have been avoided, Bagley said. He has no issue with the military using portions of the airspace for training when they need it, he said.“What I object to is taking away public access to the public lands — and those public lands include the airspace above them.”

Government
Mountains
Technology

Defending the Earth is deadly work. A new report illuminates how much.

Nearly 150 land and environment defenders were killed or disappeared last year, most for standing up to mining and logging.

Since the 1990’s, Martin Egot has protected his tribe’s ancestral homelands near Nigeria’s Cross River National Park. Egot, who is Indigenous Ekuri, helped establish the Ekuri Initiative, an organization dedicated to protecting parts of the rainforest. In 2009, the Ekuri Initiative successfully pushed the Cross River government, a state in Nigeria, to put a moratorium on logging activity in community-controlled areas of the rainforest, and were able to enforce the logging ban by deploying eco-guards: Ekuri men who patrol the rainforest to deter developers and illegal loggers.  But in 2023, the Nigerian government lifted the moratorium to allow logging. Then, later that year, a local timber company arrived without proper permits. The Ekuri eco-guards confiscated the company’s logging equipment, but their actions caused army personnel to enter the village, firing their weapons. There were no reported injuries, but the violence all but ended the Ekuri Initiative as eco-guards are unable to compete with private and government security forces hired to protect logging companies moving into the area. “In Cross River, the forest is almost completely gone everywhere else,” said Egot. “What we still have is found around the communities. So there’s a whole lot of pressure.” The violence that Ekuri environment and land defenders face isn’t uncommon. This week, Global Witness, an organization that investigates environmental and human rights abuses, released a new report documenting 146 cases of homicides and kidnappings of environmental and land defenders in 2024 – an average of three people killed or disappeared every week. The report’s authors say attacks occurred after speaking out or taking action to defend their lands, with many opposing mining, logging, and other extractive industries.  One third of the collected incidents happened to Indigenous peoples, while Afro-descendants, people with ancestral ties to enslaved Africans, comprised two cases this year. Most Afro-descendants reside in South America, like Brazil, and are stewards of biodiverse land. Since the organization began tracking violence against land and environment defenders in 2012, there have been a total of 2,253 cases.  “All these years reporting on the realities of defenders across the world, highlight, to me, the disproportionate nature of the attacks that Indigenous peoples in particular, and Afro descendants, are having to suffer year in and year out,” said Laura Furones, the report’s author.  According to the study, Colombia is considered the deadliest country for land and environment defenders with the highest number of lethal attacks with 48 cases, a third of the total, global amount. However, 80 percent of kidnapping and murder cases occurred in Latin America. Global Witness attributes the high rates of lethal violence to countries with weak state presence that enable corruption and unbalanced legal systems making resource conflicts more deadly. In Asia, the Philippines saw the highest number of killings and disappearances with most violence linked to government bodies.  It’s estimated that around 54 percent of the world’s critical mineral deposits needed for green energy and AI needs – cobalt, lithium, nickel, and copper – are located on or near Indigenous lands, often driving violence. “Amid rampant resource use, escalating environmental pressure, and a rapidly closing window to limit [global] warming to 1.5C, [industries] are treating land and environmental defenders like they are a major inconvenience instead of canaries in a coal mine about to explode,” said Rachel Cox, a senior campaigner at Global Witness. In Nigeria, Egot says he hopes to restore the Ekuri Initiative, and find ways to introduce more jobs to the region, including as eco-guards, as a way to curb logging in his community’s homelands. “We are calling on international communities to continue to talk to our state, our government, because Nigeria signs to a whole lot of environmental treaties,” he said. “So these treaties that they sign into, do they actually respect these treaties? Do they follow up on these treaties? This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Defending the Earth is deadly work. A new report illuminates how much. on Sep 17, 2025.

Energy
Forests
Government

Gas stove makers quietly delete air pollution warnings as they fight mandatory health labels

Manufacturers sued to stop a Colorado law requiring air quality warnings, arguing gas stoves are safe. Some of their websites once said the opposite.

The home appliance industry would like you to believe that gas-burning stoves are not a risk to your health — and several companies that make the devices are scrambling to erase their prior acknowledgements that they are.  That claim is at the heart of a lawsuit the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers has filed against the state of Colorado to stop it from requiring natural gas stoves, which burn methane, to carry health labels not unlike those on every pack of cigarettes. “Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove,” the warning would read. The law was to take effect August 5 but is now on hold, and state officials did not respond to a request for comment. In its federal lawsuit, the Association — whose board includes representatives of LG Electronics, BSH Home Appliance Corp. (which makes Bosch appliances), Whirlpool, and Samsung Electronics — asserts that the labeling requirement is “unconstitutional compelled speech” and illegal under the First Amendment. It calls the legislation a climate law disguised as a health law and, most strikingly, it claims there is “no association between gas stoves and adverse health outcomes.”  Yet LG, BSH, Whirlpool, and Samsung have published information on their websites directly contradicting that claim and lauded the health benefits of electric and induction stoves.  “Traditional gas appliances can emit harmful pollutants, which can compromise indoor air quality and pose health risks,” reads a blog post, titled “Life’s Good When It’s Electrified,” that LG published in May of 2024. “By switching to electric appliances, these risks are substantially reduced, ensuring a cleaner and safer home environment.”  Another LG page noted that “induction surfaces remain cool to the touch and unlike gas, is better for kitchen air quality” as recently as May 25, according to an archived version of the site maintained by Wayback Machine. It was later revised to eliminate mention of gas, reading “Surfaces remain cool to the touch — no open flames or hot coils. No fumes, either, so it’s [sic] air quality-friendly.” BSH’s page on Bosch induction cooktops notes that the devices are “safer to use because unlike other types of cooktops, they do not release indoor air pollutants during cooking.” Whirlpool wrote that induction cooktops might help “reduce indoor air pollutants.”  And until last week, a page on Samsung’s U.S. website said “induction cooktops can … help remove concerns over indoor air pollution, creating a sustainable and healthier home environment. The page’s source code did not appear to have been updated since 2022. Samsung did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but the page was taken down shortly after Grist reached out to the company.  Itai Vardi, a researcher with the Energy and Policy Institute, was the first to notice the discrepancies between what the Association said in its lawsuit and what some of its manufacturers have said in the past. “The statements coming from them directly contradict the very strong language in this lawsuit,” Vardi said. “And that, I think, deserves some scrutiny.” Scientific evidence that gas stoves pollute by releasing dangerous concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, benzene, and methane has accumulated since 1970. Justin Paget / Getty Images In its lawsuit, the Association argues that “the potential health risks of cooking with gas are no different than cooking with electricity” and acknowledging the ways gas-burning appliances can harm respiratory health promotes “non-consensus, scientifically controversial, and factually misleading” messages. It adds that “there is scant scientific support” for disclosing health risks associated with gas appliances.  Asked for comment, the organization referred to a statement it issued August 6 saying “no study has found that gas stoves cause respiratory health issues.”  When reached for comment, a BSH representative stated that the company is as of now “in complete alignment” with the Association’s position. An LG representative noted that the most pollution-acknowledging statements on their website were in fact made by the company’s UK branch, but did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the UK and US divisions disagree on the risks of LG products. “This is a troubling attempt by these companies’ to quickly erase their own public acknowledgement of the dangers of gas stoves,” said Vardi. “But you can scrub your website, not the fact of gas stove pollution.”  Scientific evidence that gas stoves pollute by releasing dangerous concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, benzene, and methane has piled up for the past half-century. In 1970, scientist Carl Shy showed that families exposed to high levels of nitrogen dioxide indoors are at greater risk of asthma and other respiratory illnesses than those who are not. Nine years later, scientist Bernard Goldstein identified the fuel as the likely source of all that nitrogen. A bevy of studies and papers in the decades since came to similar conclusions. One 2022 study estimated that 12 percent of American children with asthma develop that respiratory condition solely due to living in homes with gas stoves.  Appliance manufacturers and the natural gas industry are no stranger to promoting their products regardless of known health risks. “There’s been a campaign by industry to keep the science under wraps or to confuse it, deny it,” said Abe Scarr of the consumer-protection nonprofit Public Interest Working Group.  The lobbyists at the American Gas Association have worked hard to popularize gas stoves: At one point, the organization even provided the stoves Julia Child used in her popular cooking show. The campaign went beyond product placement: When information on the health risks of gas stoves began to emerge in the mid-1970s, industry lobbyists launched “Operation Attack,” a million-dollar marketing campaign to bring the stoves into even more kitchens. This worked: today, about 40% of Americans cook with gas. They also funded their own research, which cast doubt on independent findings on the health risks of gas stoves.  Environmental health sciences professor Misbath Daouda of the University of California, Berkeley, was recently part of a pilot study replacing gas stoves in low-income New York City apartments with induction stoves. Nitrogen dioxide concentrations in those apartments, she said, dropped by over 50 percent within months – and the families who lived there liked their new cooktops better than the old ones, she said.  The association between gas stoves and adverse health outcomes, Daouda said, “is clear.”  “I’m not sure who they are referring to when they say the majority of studies” don’t support that conclusion, she said. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Gas stove makers quietly delete air pollution warnings as they fight mandatory health labels on Sep 17, 2025.

Health
Pollution
Energy

Robert Redford Remembered for His Deep Legacy in Environmental Activism and Native American Advocacy

Robert Redford, who died Tuesday at 89, was known for his deep commitment to activism, especially for Native American rights and the environment

NEW YORK (AP) — Lorie Lee Sekayumptewa, a former administrator with the Navajo Nation Film Office, remembers seeing Robert Redford at traditional cultural dances at the Hopi village of Hotevilla in New Mexico. It was more than 30 years ago and he was serving as executive producer of the 1991 release “The Dark Wind," a drama about Navajo life.Redford stood out for his Hollywood looks and for his un-Hollywood behavior, from his earnest desire to learn more about the tribe’s spiritual knowledge to his visits to the Navajo Nation, where Sekayumptewa’s father served as the dean of students at the tribal college and would show Redford’s movies at the student union building.“Even at home, he would bring that camera and film home to us, put up a sheet and we would invite our neighbors and the kids and we would all be there in our living room, watching these movies,” the 54-year-old Sekayumptewa, who is Navajo, Hopi and Sac and Fox Nation, said of Redford.Redford, who died Tuesday at age 89, was hardly the only liberal activist to emerge out of Hollywood, but few matched his knowledge and focus, his humility and dedication. Fellow actors and leaders of the causes he fought for spoke of his unusually deep legacy, his fight for Native Americans and the environment that began at the height of his stardom.In the mid-1970s, around the same time he was appearing in such blockbusters as “The Sting” and “The Way We Were," he immersed himself in the emerging environmental movement. He successfully opposed a power plant being built in his adopted state, Utah, and lobbied for the landmark bills the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. He also joined the board of the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, where he remained a guiding force up to his death.“His legacy was extraordinary,” says NRDC CEO and President Manish Bapna. “One of the things that was most extraordinary about him was that he understood the power of storytelling. He could talk about climate change and the toll it was inflicting on people and communities — the fisherman coping with rising seas, a family fleeing for their lives from a raging wildfire. He would record messages, give talks or speak in front of Congress."Bapna last saw Redford a few months ago, when they dined in New York City.“He chose his words carefully, and every word he said was profound. He said we must continue to find ways to tell stories that reach people,” Bapna said.Redford had a longtime affinity for the environment. After growing up in Southern California in the 1930s and '40s, he was disheartened to see Los Angeles transform after World War II into a mecca of pollution and traffic jams. In the early 1960s, when he came upon Provo Canyon, Utah, during a cross-country motorcycle trip, he was so awed and invigorated by the landscape that he eventually settled in the area.Entertainers over time have come to identify and, be identified with, a given cause: Harry Belafonte and civil rights, Paul Newman and nuclear disarmament, Jane Fonda and the Vietnam War. Redford, as much as anyone, helped make the environment an issue for the Hollywood elite, whether for Fonda or Julia Louis-Dreyfus or Leonardo DiCaprio, a fellow NRDC board member who called Redford's death “a huge loss to our community” and cited his legacy an actor and activist.“More so than anything, he was a staunch environmental leader,” DiCaprio said Monday.In 2013, Redford joined with then-Gov. Bill Richardson to create the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife to fight efforts by a Roswell, New Mexico, company and others to slaughter horses. The following year, the foundation reached an agreement with the Navajo Nation to manage thousands of wild horses on the reservation and keep the animals from being sent to slaughter houses.For Redford, the wild horse was representative of the American West. His advocacy also was channeled through the nonprofit group Return to Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation. The group posted on social media Tuesday that they were heartbroken.“We have all lost an irreplaceable artist, activist and environmentalist,” said Neda DeMayo, founder of RTF. “Robert Redford was and is an iconic and inspiring human being forever interwoven with the beauty and majesty of the West. I feel very grateful to have known him and to have had his support.”Redford's activism extended to some of his film projects, whether the probes of the political system in “All the President's Men” and “The Candidate” or the drama “The Milagro Beanfield War,” in which a local resident fights a real estate mogul for control of his land. His final work was “Dark Winds,” an AMC show that premiered in 2022 and is based, like “The Dark Wind,” on the fiction of Tony Hillerman.John Wirth, the series showrunner, said that “Dark Winds” wouldn’t exist without Redford, who served as an executive producer and appeared in a short cameo that aired earlier this year. The show, Wirth said, gives audiences a look into the Navajo community, with actors and writers largely holding Native identities.Redford “endeavored to give people a shot at making art, you know, where they maybe hadn’t had the ability to have access to mainstream media.”Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Itzel Luna in Los Angeles; and Sian Watson in London contributed to this report.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Activism
Animals
Conservation

Insects Are Disappearing Even From “Untouched” Landscapes, Study Warns

Insects in remote ecosystems are declining rapidly. Climate change is likely the cause. A recent investigation by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revealed that insect numbers are falling sharply, even in landscapes with little direct human disturbance. This trend raises serious concerns for the stability of ecosystems that rely on insects [...]

A long-term study shows that insect populations are collapsing even in pristine mountain habitats, pointing to climate change as a key driver of biodiversity loss. Credit: ShutterstockInsects in remote ecosystems are declining rapidly. Climate change is likely the cause. A recent investigation by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revealed that insect numbers are falling sharply, even in landscapes with little direct human disturbance. This trend raises serious concerns for the stability of ecosystems that rely on insects for essential functions. Keith Sockman, an associate professor of biology at UNC-Chapel Hill, monitored flying insect populations across 15 field seasons between 2004 and 2024 in a subalpine meadow in Colorado. The site provided 38 years of weather records and had experienced minimal human impact. His analysis showed an average annual reduction of 6.6% in insect abundance, which adds up to a 72.4% loss over two decades. The decline was strongly linked to rising summer temperatures. Ecological importance of insects “Insects have a unique, if inauspicious position in the biodiversity crisis due to the ecological services, such as nutrient cycling and pollination, they provide and to their vulnerability to environmental change,” Sockman said. “Insects are necessary for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems to function.” Colorado meadow used for Keith Sockman’s 20 year study. Credit: Keith Sockman (UNC-Chapel Hill)These results help fill an important gap in global insect research. Although many studies on insect decline emphasize ecosystems heavily altered by humans, far fewer have looked at populations in largely untouched environments. This work shows that sharp declines can still happen in such areas, pointing to climate change as a likely driving factor. “Several recent studies report significant insect declines across a variety of human-altered ecosystems, particularly in North America and Europe,” Sockman said. “Most such studies report on ecosystems that have been directly impacted by humans or are surrounded by impacted areas, raising questions about insect declines and their drivers in more natural areas.” Mountain ecosystems at risk Sockman emphasizes the urgency of these results for biodiversity conservation: “Mountains are host to disproportionately high numbers of locally adapted endemic species, including insects. Thus, the status of mountains as biodiversity hotspots may be in jeopardy if the declines shown here reflect trends broadly.” This research highlights the need for more comprehensive monitoring of insect populations in a variety of landscapes and adds urgency to addressing climate change. By showing that even remote ecosystems are not immune, the study underscores the global scale of the biodiversity crisis. Reference: “Long-term decline in montane insects under warming summers” by Keith W. Sockman, 4 September 2025, Ecology.DOI: 10.1002/ecy.70187 Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

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Why Is a Floating Seaweed Taking Over an Entire Ocean? Researchers Have the Answer

Sargassum expansion across the Atlantic is tied to nutrient pollution and ocean circulation. Its growth now affects ecosystems and coastal communities. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute have compiled a comprehensive review covering forty years of data on pelagic sargassum, the free-floating brown algae that plays a crucial role in the Atlantic [...]

Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., a leading expert on Sargassum and a research professor at FAU Harbor Branch, emerges from Sargassum at Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys in 2014. Credit: Tanju MisharaSargassum expansion across the Atlantic is tied to nutrient pollution and ocean circulation. Its growth now affects ecosystems and coastal communities. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute have compiled a comprehensive review covering forty years of data on pelagic sargassum, the free-floating brown algae that plays a crucial role in the Atlantic Ocean. For decades, scientists believed sargassum was largely restricted to the nutrient-poor waters of the Sargasso Sea. It is now clear that this seaweed has become a widespread and fast-growing presence across the Atlantic, with its expansion tied to both natural variability and human-driven nutrient inputs. Published in the journal Harmful Algae, the review examines the emergence and persistence of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, an enormous seasonal bloom that spans from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. Since first being observed in 2011, this belt has formed nearly every year—except in 2013—and in May reached a record biomass of 37.5 million tons. This figure excludes the long-term background biomass of 7.3 million tons typically found in the Sargasso Sea. Linking nutrient enrichment to sargassum expansion The analysis integrates historical oceanographic records, modern satellite data, and detailed biogeochemical studies to better explain shifts in sargassum abundance, distribution, and nutrient balance. The findings emphasize the influence of human-driven nutrient loading on ocean processes and the urgent need for international collaboration to track and mitigate the impacts of these vast seaweed blooms. “Our review takes a deep dive into the changing story of sargassum – how it’s growing, what’s fueling that growth, and why we’re seeing such a dramatic increase in biomass across the North Atlantic,” said Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., lead author and a research professor at FAU Harbor Branch. “By examining shifts in its nutrient composition – particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon – and how those elements vary over time and space, we’re beginning to understand the larger environmental forces at play.” Sargassum on a beach in Palm Beach County in 2021. Credit: Brian Lapointe, FAU Harbor BranchAt the start of the review, Brian Lapointe and his colleagues, Deanna F. Webber, research coordinator, and Rachel Brewton, Ph.D., assistant research professor at FAU Harbor Branch, note that early oceanographers mapped the Sargasso Sea by tracking surface patches of sargassum. They assumed the seaweed flourished in its warm, clear, yet nutrient-poor waters. This idea later presented a paradox, as mid-20th-century researchers went on to describe the same region as a “biological desert.” Resolving the paradox with modern studies However, recent satellite observations, ocean circulation models, and field studies have resolved this paradox by tracing the seasonal transport of sargassum from nutrient-rich coastal areas, particularly the western Gulf of America, to the open ocean via the Loop Current and Gulf Stream. These findings support early theories by explorers who proposed that Gulf-originating sargassum could feed populations in the Sargasso Sea. Remote sensing technology played a pivotal role in these discoveries. In 2004 and 2005, satellites captured extensive sargassum windrows – long, narrow lines or bands of floating sargassum – in the western Gulf of America, a region experiencing increased nutrient loads from river systems such as the Mississippi and Atchafalaya. “These nutrient-rich waters fueled high biomass events along the Gulf Coast, resulting in mass strandings, costly beach cleanups, and even the emergency shutdown of a Florida nuclear power plant in 1991,” Lapointe said. “A major focus of our review is the elemental composition of sargassum tissue and how it has changed over time.” Growth rates and limiting nutrients Laboratory experiments and field research dating back to the 1980s confirmed that sargassum grows more quickly and is more productive in nutrient-enriched neritic waters than in the oligotrophic waters of the open ocean. Controlled studies revealed that the two primary species, sargassum natans and sargassum fluitans, can double their biomass in just 11 days under optimal conditions. These studies also established that phosphorus is often the primary limiting nutrient for growth, although nitrogen also plays a critical role. From the 1980s to the 2020s, the nitrogen content of sargassum increased by more than 50%, while phosphorus content decreased slightly, leading to a sharp rise in the nitrogen-to-phosphorus (N:P) ratio. VIDEOThe story of sargassum over four decades. Credit: Brian Lapointe, FAU Harbor Branch “These changes reflect a shift away from natural oceanic nutrient sources like upwelling and vertical mixing, and toward land-based inputs such as agricultural runoff, wastewater discharge, and atmospheric deposition,” said Lapointe. “Carbon levels in sargassum also rose, contributing to changes in overall stoichiometry and further highlighting the impact of external nutrient loading on marine primary producers.” The review also explores how nutrient recycling within sargassum windrows, including excretion by associated marine organisms and microbial breakdown of organic matter, can sustain growth in nutrient-poor environments. This micro-scale recycling is critical in maintaining sargassum populations in parts of the ocean that would otherwise not support high levels of productivity. Influence of Amazon River outflow Data from sargassum collected near the Amazon River mouth support the hypothesis that nutrient outflows from this major river contribute significantly to the development of the GASB. Variations in sargassum biomass have been linked to flood and drought cycles in the Amazon basin, further connecting land-based nutrient inputs to the open ocean. The formation of the GASB appears to have been seeded by an extreme atmospheric event – the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation in 2009 to 2010, which may have helped shift surface waters and sargassum from the Sargasso Sea southward into the tropical Atlantic. However, the researchers caution that there is no direct evidence of this movement. Moreover, genetic and morphological data suggest that some sargassum populations, particularly the dominant S. natans var. wingei, were already present in the tropical Atlantic prior to 2011, indicating that this region may have had an overlooked role in the early development of the GASB. “The expansion of sargassum isn’t just an ecological curiosity – it has real impacts on coastal communities. The massive blooms can clog beaches, affect fisheries and tourism, and pose health risks,” said Lapointe. “Understanding why sargassum is growing so much is crucial for managing these impacts. Our review helps to connect the dots between land-based nutrient pollution, ocean circulation, and the unprecedented expansion of sargassum across an entire ocean basin.” Reference: “Productivity, growth, and biogeochemistry of pelagic Sargassum in a changing world” by Brian E. Lapointe, Deanna F. Webber and Rachel A. Brewton, 8 August 2025, Harmful Algae.DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2025.102940 This work was funded by the Florida Department of Emergency Management, United States Environmental Protection Agency, South Florida Program Project, and the NOAA Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms program. Historical studies included within the review were funded by the NASA Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program and Ecological Forecast Program, NOAA RESTORE Science Program, National Science Foundation, “Save Our Seas” Specialty License Plate and discretionary funds, granted through the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation, and a Red Wright Fellowship from the Bermuda Biological Station. Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Pollution
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Strange “Halos” on the Ocean Floor off Los Angeles Reveal a Toxic Secret

Once believed to contain the pesticide DDT, new analysis shows some barrels actually held caustic alkaline waste. In 2020, striking photographs revealed rusted barrels scattered across the seafloor near Los Angeles, capturing widespread attention. At first, the corroded containers were suspected to hold residues of the pesticide DDT, especially since some were surrounded by pale, [...]

A discarded barrel on the seafloor off the coast of Los Angeles. The image was taken during a survey in July 2021 by remotely operated vehicle SuBastian. Credit: Schmidt Ocean InstituteOnce believed to contain the pesticide DDT, new analysis shows some barrels actually held caustic alkaline waste. In 2020, striking photographs revealed rusted barrels scattered across the seafloor near Los Angeles, capturing widespread attention. At first, the corroded containers were suspected to hold residues of the pesticide DDT, especially since some were surrounded by pale, halo-like rings in the sediment. Yet the actual contents of the barrels, as well as the cause of the strange halos, remained uncertain. Research led by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography has since clarified that the halo-producing barrels contained caustic alkaline waste, which seeped out and altered the surrounding environment. While the study could not determine the precise compounds inside, it noted that DDT production produced both alkaline and acidic byproducts. In addition, other major industries in the area, including oil refining, were known to release large amounts of alkaline waste. “One of the main waste streams from DDT production was acid, and they didn’t put that into barrels,” said Johanna Gutleben, a Scripps postdoctoral scholar and the study’s first author. “It makes you wonder: What was worse than DDT acid waste to deserve being put into barrels?” Researchers use Remotely Operated Vehicle SuBastian to collect sediment push cores next to barrels discarded on the seafloor. Credit: Schmidt Ocean InstituteToxic transformations of the seafloor The research showed that leaking alkaline waste reshaped parts of the seafloor into harsh habitats resembling natural hydrothermal vents — environments that host specialized microbes capable of surviving where most organisms cannot. According to the study’s authors, the scale and intensity of these impacts on marine ecosystems depend on both the number of barrels resting on the seafloor and the particular chemicals they released. Even with these uncertainties, Paul Jensen, a Scripps emeritus marine microbiologist and the study’s senior author, explained that he had assumed such alkaline material would quickly dilute in seawater. Instead, it has remained intact for more than fifty years, leading him to conclude that this waste “can now join the ranks of DDT as a persistent pollutant with long-term environmental impacts.” Released on September 9, 2025, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nexus and backed by NOAA along with the University of Southern California’s Sea Grant program, the study adds to Scripps’ longstanding efforts to investigate the toxic legacy of once-permitted dumping in Southern California’s offshore waters. The results also offer a visual method to distinguish barrels that once carried this alkaline waste. “DDT was not the only thing that was dumped in this part of the ocean and we have only a very fragmented idea of what else was dumped there,” said Gutleben. “We only find what we are looking for and up to this point we have mostly been looking for DDT. Nobody was thinking about alkaline waste before this and we may have to start looking for other things as well.” VIDEO Video footage from ROV SuBastian’s exploration around the DDT Barrel Site 1 in the Southern California Borderland off the coast of Los Angeles. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute Ocean dumping legacy in California From the 1930s through the early 1970s, 14 deep-water dumping grounds off the coast of Southern California were used to dispose of “refinery wastes, filter cakes and oil drilling wastes, chemical wastes, refuse and garbage, military explosives and radioactive wastes,” according to the EPA. Seafloor surveys led by Scripps in 2021 and 2023 documented thousands of discarded objects, including hundreds of military munitions. The total number of barrels lying on the ocean floor is still unknown. Sediments in this region are heavily contaminated with DDT, a pesticide banned in 1972 and now recognized as dangerous to both humans and wildlife. Sparse records from the period suggest that most DDT waste was discharged directly into the sea. Gutleben said she and her co-authors didn’t initially set out to solve the halo mystery. In 2021, aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor, she and other researchers collected sediment samples to better understand the contamination near Catalina. Using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, the team collected sediment samples at precise distances from five barrels, three of which had white halos. The barrels featuring white halos presented an unexpected challenge: Inside the white halos the sea floor suddenly became like concrete, preventing the researchers from collecting samples with their coring devices. Using the ROV’s robotic arm, the researchers collected a piece of the hardened sediment from one of the halo barrels. Paul Jensen and Johanna Gutleben of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography unload and sort sediment cores after the samples were brought to the surface from known dumping sites by Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian during a July 2021 expedition aboard Research Vessel Falkor. Credit: Schmidt Ocean InstituteTesting for DDT and microbes The team analyzed the sediment samples and the hardened piece of halo barrel crust for DDT concentrations, mineral content and microbial DNA. The sediment samples showed that DDT contamination did not increase closer to the barrels, deepening the mystery of what they contained. During the analysis, Gutleben struggled to extract microbial DNA from the samples taken through the halos. After some unsuccessful troubleshooting in the lab, Gutleben tested one of these samples’ pH. She was shocked to find that the sample’s pH was extremely high — around 12. All the samples from near the barrels with halos turned out to be similarly alkaline. (An alkaline mixture is also known as a base, meaning it has a pH higher than 7 — as opposed to an acid which has a pH less than 7). This explained the limited amount of microbial DNA she and her colleagues had been able to extract from the halo samples. The samples turned out to have low bacterial diversity compared to other surrounding sediments and the bacteria came from families adapted to alkaline environments, like deep-sea hydrothermal vents and alkaline hot springs. Analysis of the hard crust showed that it was mostly made of a mineral called brucite. When the alkaline waste leaked from the barrels, it reacted with magnesium in the seawater to create brucite, which cemented the sediment into a concrete-like crust. The brucite is also slowly dissolving, which maintains the high pH in the sediment around the barrels, and creates a place only few extremophilic microbes can survive. Where this high pH meets the surrounding seawater, it forms calcium carbonate that deposits as a white dust, creating the halos. Photo of DDT Dumpsite Sediment core processing team. From left to right: Kira Mizell (USGS), Johanna Gutleben, Paul Jensen, Devin Vlach, Michelle Guraieb, Lisa Levin. Credit: Brady Lawrence for Schmidt Ocean InstituteLasting ecological consequences “This adds to our understanding of the consequences of the dumping of these barrels,” said Jensen. “It’s shocking that 50-plus years later you’re still seeing these effects. We can’t quantify the environmental impact without knowing how many of these barrels with white halos are out there, but it’s clearly having a localized impact on microbes.” Prior research led by Lisa Levin, study co-author and emeritus biological oceanographer at Scripps, showed that small animal biodiversity around the barrels with halos was also reduced. Jensen said that roughly a third of the barrels that have been visually observed had halos, but it’s unclear if this ratio holds true for the entire area and it remains unknown just how many barrels are sitting on the seafloor. The researchers suggest using white halos as indicators of alkaline waste could help rapidly assess the extent of alkaline waste contamination near Catalina. Next, Gutleben and Jensen said they are experimenting with DDT contaminated sediments collected from the dump site to search for microbes capable of breaking down DDT. The slow microbial breakdown the researchers are now studying may be the only feasible hope for eliminating the DDT dumped decades ago. Jensen said that trying to physically remove the contaminated sediments would, in addition to being a huge logistical challenge, likely do more harm than good. “The highest concentrations of DDT are buried around 4 or 5 centimeters below the surface — so it’s kind of contained,” said Jensen. “If you tried to suction that up you would create a huge sediment plume and stir that contamination into the water column.” Reference: “Extremophile hotspots linked to containerized industrial waste dumping in a deep-sea basin” by Johanna Gutleben, Sheila Podell, Kira Mizell, Douglas Sweeney, Carlos Neira, Lisa A Levin and Paul R Jensen, 9 September 2025, PNAS Nexus.DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf260 This research was funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmosheric Administration award nos. NA23NMF4690462 and NA22OAR4690679 to P.R.J. and L.A.L. and the University of Southern California Sea Grant award SCON-00003146 to L.A.L. Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

Waste
Animals
Science

120 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed or Disappeared in Latin America Last Year, Report Finds

A report by Global Witness reveals that at least 146 land and environmental defenders have been killed or gone missing worldwide in 2024

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — At least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or have gone missing around the world in 2024, with more than 80% of those cases in Latin America, according to a report released Wednesday by watchdog group Global Witness.The London-based organization said the region once again ranked as the most dangerous for people protecting their homes, communities and natural resources, recording 120 of the total cases. Colombia remained the deadliest country, with 48 killings — nearly a third of cases worldwide — followed by Guatemala with 20 and Mexico with 18. The number of killings in Guatemala jumped fivefold from four in 2023, making it the country with the highest per capita rate of defender deaths in the world. Brazil registered 12 killings, while Honduras, Chile and Mexico each recorded one disappearance.“There are many factors that contribute to the persistent high levels of violence in Latin American countries, particularly Colombia,” Laura Furones, lead researcher of the report, told The Associated Press. “These countries are rich in natural resources and have vast areas of land under pressure for food and feed production. Conflict over the extraction of such resources and over the use of such land often leads to violence against defenders trying to uphold their rights.”Since 2012, Global Witness has documented more than 2,250 killings and disappearances of land and environmental defenders worldwide. Nearly three-quarters occurred in Latin America, including close to 1,000 cases since 2018, when the region adopted the Escazu Agreement — a treaty designed to protect environmental defenders. The pact requires governments to guarantee access to environmental information, ensure public participation in environmental decision-making and take timely measures to prevent and punish attacks against those who defend the environment.“The Escazu Agreement provides a crucial tool for Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Furones. “But some countries have still not ratified it, and others that have are proving slow to implement and resource it properly. Stopping violence against defenders will not happen overnight, but governments must ramp up their efforts toward full implementation.”The report noted that Indigenous peoples bore a disproportionate share of the violence. They accounted for around one-third of all lethal attacks worldwide last year despite making up only about 6% of the global population. Ninety-four percent of all attacks on Indigenous defenders documented in the report occurred in Latin America. In Colombia’s southwestern Cauca region, Indigenous youth are working to ensure they will not be the next generation of victims. Through community “semilleros,” or seedbeds, children and teenagers train in environmental care, cultural traditions and territorial defense — preparing to take on leadership roles in protecting land that has come under pressure from armed groups and extractive industries. “We are defenders because our lives and territories are under threat,” said Yeing Aníbal Secué, a 17-year-old Indigenous youth leader from Toribio, Cauca, who spoke to AP in July. These initiatives show how communities are organizing at the grassroots to resist violence, even as Colombia remains the deadliest country for defenders.Small-scale farmers were also heavily targeted, making up 35% of the victims in the region. Most killings were tied to land disputes, and many were linked to industries such as mining, logging and agribusiness. Organized crime groups were suspected of being behind at least 42 cases, followed by private security forces and hired hitmen. Colombia one of the worst hit The Amazonian department of Putumayo in southern Colombia illustrates many of the risks faced by defenders. With its strategic location bridging the Andes and the Amazon, the region is rich in forests, rivers and cultural knowledge. But it also sits at the crossroads of armed conflict, extractive projects and illicit economies. Armed groups have long used the Putumayo River as a trafficking route toward Brazil and Ecuador, where weak controls make it easier to move cocaine, minerals and laundered money.An environmental defender there, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisals, told AP this has created one of the most hostile climates in the country.“Defending rights here means living under permanent threat,” the source said. “We face pressure from illegal mining, oil projects tied to armed groups, deforestation and coca cultivation. Speaking out often makes you a military target.”Andrew Miller of the nonprofit Amazon Watch said transnational criminal networks involved in drug, gold and timber trafficking have become a major force behind threats — and often deadly attacks — against environmental defenders.“The security situation for defenders across the Amazon is increasingly precarious,” Miller said.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Business
Climate
Food

‘We’re still in the dark’: a missing land defender and the deadly toll of land conflict on Indigenous people

Julia Chuñil is one of 146 land defenders who were killed or went missing last year, a third of them from Indigenous communitiesOne day last November, Julia Chuñil called for her dog, Cholito, and they set off into the woods around her home to search for lost livestock. The animals returned but Chuñil, who was 72 at the time, and Cholito did not.More than 100 people joined her family in a search lasting weeks in the steep, wet and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian forest. After a month, they even kept an eye on vultures for any grim signs. But they found no trace of Chuñil. Continue reading...

One day last November, Julia Chuñil called for her dog, Cholito, and they set off into the woods around her home to search for lost livestock. The animals returned but Chuñil, who was 72 at the time, and Cholito did not.More than 100 people joined her family in a search lasting weeks in the steep, wet and densely overgrown terrain of Chile’s ancient Valdivian forest. After a month, they even kept an eye on vultures for any grim signs. But they found no trace of Chuñil.Chuñil is one of 146 land and environmental defenders who were killed or disappeared around the world last year, according to a report by the campaign group Global Witness. About a third of those, like Chuñil, were from Indigenous communities – a heavy toll for groups who collectively make up just 6% of the global population.Chuñil, a leader of Chile’s indigenous Mapuche, was living on disputed land. Ten years ago she had moved on to Reserva Cora, a 900-hectare (2,200-acre) portion of the ancient Valdivian forest 500 miles south of Santiago, which her people claimed as an ancestral territory.She spent years campaigning to secure land rights over the site for her community. But the site’s nominal owner, the descendant of settlers, refused to relinquish control. He wanted the site for logging – Chile is a major supplier of wood to the US – and he wanted rid of Chuñil. Before she vanished, Chuñil told supporters: “If anything happens to me, you already know who did it.”Global Witness started documenting cases of killings and disappearances of land and environmental defenders in 2012. Since then it has collated a total of 2,253 cases. For the past decade, the most dangerous place has been Latin America. In 2024 it accounted for 82% of cases, including 45 Indigenous people.“Land conflict is at the heart of violence against defenders, and Indigenous peoples are paying the highest price,” said Javier Garate, a senior policy adviser at Global Witness. “Communities with ancestral connections to land often form the frontline of resistance when their territories come under threat from exploitation and encroachment. But despite their critical role, they are frequently denied recognition and justice, and subjected to serious danger for defending their rightful lands.”Chuñil’s was the only case recorded in her country last year, although it fitted a pattern of the targeting of Mapuche activists in Chile. Colombia recorded 48 cases, making it the deadliest country overall for environmental defenders, followed by Guatemala with 20, the deadliest country per capita. Mexico had 19 cases, putting it in third place overall.Under-reporting remains an issue, particularly in Asia and Africa, which registered 16 and nine cases respectively, Global Witness said. Overall, last year the fewest cases of killings and disappearances of environmental defenders were registered for a decade.Laura Furones, who led the research for Global Witness, said: “I would also like to be able to tell you that this implies a decrease in violence and an improvement in the conditions for defenders, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Human rights defenders face realities of violence that go far beyond murder. What violence often does is evolve, become more sophisticated, change its face.”skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionChuñil’s family have continued to pursue justice but their advocacy has made them a target of threats and intimidation, too. In April, two animals from Chuñil’s home that they had planned to auction to fund legal costs were found killed, one shot and one poisoned. “It is, above all, a deliberate attempt to prevent us from fighting this case,” her son Pablo San Martín told Global Witness.The group’s report calls on governments to act to end the impunity of the killers of environmental defenders by addressing the lack of rights defenders have over land and territory, strengthening weak national legal systems, and ensuring defenders at risk are given adequate state protection.“All we are asking for is a full, fair investigation to take place,” San Martín said of his mother’s case. “It’s been almost a year since she disappeared and we’re still in the dark about what happened. We want those behind this to be identified and charged.”

Indigenous
Animals
Forests

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