As the novel coronavirus spreads throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, social media have been rife with reports touting some of the environmental and climate benefits of the pandemic.

If ratified, the Mercosur-EU trade deal may reinforce the parties’ commitment to climate action. Yet, its potential relevance is weakened by a language that often stops short of concrete commitments, as well as by political resistance.

A new form of organized crime has recently been emerging in the Amazon: illegal mining. Miners fell trees, use high-grade explosives to oblast soils and dredge riverbeds.

In some areas of the world, including Central America, rising sea levels and declining agricultural productivity due to climate change are expected to trigger major migratory flows, especially within countries.

This idea has gained momentum as Peru, Bolivia and Brazil join forces to build a corridor that would stretch over 3,800 km from the port of Santos, in Brazil, across Bolivia to the port of Ilo, in Peru.