Criminal networks threaten the Amazon. Indigenous leaders want the UN to act

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🗞️ Driving the news: Indigenous leaders from Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador are urging the United Nations to strengthen international action against environmental crimes threatening the Amazon
• At the October 19–23 conference on transnational organized crime in Vienna, they are pushing for negotiations on a new international protocol targeting illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking, alongside stronger protections for Indigenous territories and leaders

🔭 The context: Criminal networks are driving deforestation, polluting rivers with mercury from illegal gold mining, and expanding drug trafficking into ancestral lands
• Indigenous communities increasingly face intimidation and violence while attempting to protect their territories
• In Peru, six Kakataibo leaders have reportedly been killed since 2020
• Indigenous representatives argue that isolated police raids are insufficient because illegal operations often resume once security forces withdraw
• They want governments to trace illicit financial flows, disrupt illegal gold markets and formally recognize community-led territorial guards.

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Illegal mining and logging destroy forests, contaminate freshwater ecosystems and threaten biodiversity, while deforestation undermines the Amazon’s role in regulating the global climate
• Protecting Indigenous land rights and strengthening community-led monitoring could help safeguard these ecosystems and the people who depend on them

⏭️ What’s next: Governments at the Vienna conference are expected to consider launching negotiations on a new protocol addressing environmental crime
• Indigenous leaders are calling for meaningful consultation in the process, although the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has not confirmed whether they will have a formal negotiating role

💬 One quote: “Deforestation and pollution in the Amazon are no longer just environmental problems, but a crisis of transnational organized crime and security,” said Galois Flores, a representative of Peru’s Wampis Nation

📈 One stat: 105 land and environmental defenders were killed in Latin America in 2025, representing 85% of the 124 killings documented worldwide, according to Global Witness

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