Every year, independent evaluators comb through nonprofit financial records, governance practices, and program data to help donors answer one of the most important questions in philanthropy: is this organization worth my trust?

We’re glad to share that in 2026, their answer about Amazon Conservation was yes, across the board.

Candid has renewed our Platinum Seal of Transparency, Charity Navigator has awarded us 4 stars for another consecutive year, and we’ve received accreditation from the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance for the first time. We’re proud of these results, and grateful to the team whose consistent, careful work makes them possible. If you’re not already familiar with how charity watchdogs work, or why their ratings matter to you as a donor, read on. Understanding what these organizations look for, and what it means when a nonprofit earns their top marks, can help you give with greater confidence, not just to us, but to any organization you choose to support.

Plus, if we’ve already earned your trust, scroll to the end: one of the watchdog platforms we work with invites reviews from donors and supporters, and a few words from you can go a long way toward helping others find us.

The Problem These Ratings Solve

Choosing a nonprofit to support isn’t always easy. There are hundreds of thousands of registered charities in the United States alone, and most of them will tell you, in good faith, that their work matters. The ones that are less effective, or less honest, will say the same thing.

Charity watchdogs exist to help donors cut through that noise. They do the investigative legwork that most donors don’t have time to do: scrutinizing tax filings, auditing governance structures, reviewing program data, and interviewing the communities an organization serves. Their ratings aren’t based on compelling storytelling or a beautiful website. They’re based on evidence.

When Amazon Conservation earns top marks from the most rigorous watchdogs in the field, it means independent evaluators, with no stake in our success, have looked hard at how we operate and concluded that we meet the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and effectiveness.

That’s what these ratings mean. That’s why they matter.

What the Watchdogs Found

Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency

Candid (formerly GuideStar) evaluates nonprofits on a single, essential question: how openly does an organization share information about itself? Financials, governance, leadership, strategy, impact metrics — Candid wants it all on the table.

The Platinum Seal is the highest level Candid awards, and it signals that an organization has met the most rigorous public reporting standards in the field. Only a small fraction of U.S. nonprofits hold Platinum status in any given year.

Amazon Conservation has earned and maintained the Platinum Seal for multiple consecutive years. You can explore our full Candid profile, including finances and leadership, here.

BBB Wise Giving Alliance Accreditation

The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance is perhaps the most thorough evaluator on this list. To earn accreditation, a charity must demonstrate compliance with 20 standards of charity accountability, covering everything from board governance and conflict-of-interest policies to fundraising practices, financial oversight, and donor privacy.

We are honored to receive this accreditation for the first time in 2026. It reflects not just the integrity of our programs, but the care and rigor our team brings to every aspect of how this organization is run.

You can review our BBB Wise Giving Alliance report here.

Charity Navigator: 4 Stars Rating

Charity Navigator takes the broadest view of any major watchdog, evaluating nonprofits across financial health, program effectiveness, cost efficiency, long-term stability, and accountability practices. Its four-star rating, the highest it awards, signals that an organization exceeds best practices across nearly every dimension it measures.

Amazon Conservation has held a four-star rating from Charity Navigator for over 13 consecutive years. That’s not an accident or a lucky streak. It’s the product of consistent, disciplined organizational management across more than a decade.

You can review our full Charity Navigator profile here.

 

What It Means for Your Giving

These ratings don’t tell you whether the Amazon matters. You already know it does. What they tell you is that when you give to Amazon Conservation, your contribution is managed with care and deployed with accountability. That your gift reaches the forests, the scientists, the community rangers, and the policy advocates who are doing the actual work of protecting them. And that we will continue to report back to you, honestly, on what that work has achieved.

In a moment when the Amazon faces some of the most serious pressures in its history, from deforestation, mining, and climate change, the organizations working to protect it need to be as effective as possible. These ratings are independent confirmation that Amazon Conservation is.

One More Way to Help: Leave a Review on GreatNonprofits

There is one watchdog we haven’t mentioned yet, and it works a little differently. GreatNonprofits doesn’t evaluate financial records or governance structures. It asks the people who know us best, donors, partners, volunteers, and community members, to share their firsthand experience.

If you support Amazon Conservation and our mission, we’d love to hear from you. Your review helps others discover why this work is worth their support and contributes to our rating on the platform. Create a free account at GreatNonprofits and share more about why you support our work!

These recognitions belong to everyone who makes this work possible: our team on the ground, our partners across the Amazon, and the donors and supporters who trust us with their resources and their faith in what conservation can accomplish. Thank you, for that trust, and for helping us earn it again.

Amazon Conservation launches a first-of-its-kind tool comparing mining governance across all eight Amazonian countries

As record-high gold prices continue to fuel the expansion of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) across the Amazon, governments face mounting pressure to address one of the region’s most persistent drivers of deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and social conflict. To help strengthen these efforts, Amazon Conservation has launched the Amazon Mining Policy Scoreboard, a new tool that evaluates and compares the legal and policy frameworks governing gold mining across all eight Amazonian countries.

The Scoreboard is the newest feature within Amazon Mining Watch, Amazon Conservation’s online platform that provides comprehensive information on gold mining activity across the Amazon. Developed with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in partnership with Earth Genome and the Pulitzer Center, the platform combines satellite-based monitoring of mining activity with policy and governance information, creating a more complete picture of the challenges and opportunities facing the region.

The Amazon Mining Policy Scoreboard helps fill that gap by providing a transparent, comparative view of mining governance across the region. Together with the mining footprint data available through Amazon Mining Watch, the tool offers decision-makers a powerful resource for identifying weaknesses, sharing best practices, and strengthening the policies needed to protect forests, rivers, Indigenous territories, and communities across the Amazon. Read more about our current findings below or in the platform.

Explore the Amazon Mining Policy Scoreboard

Want to know more? Read the Policy Scoreboard Explainer Report. 

Explainer Report English Explainer Report Spanish Explainer Report Portuguese

Satellite monitoring and drone analysis reveal the expansion of mining into national parks, biological reserves, and protected forests that are critical for the biodiversity and ecological connectivity of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The expansion of gold mining in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon continues to push into strategic ecosystems and protected areas of high ecological importance. This is highlighted in the report by Fundación EcoCiencia, “MAAP #243: Mining in the Southern Ecuadorian Amazon – Zamora Chinchipe Province,” which documents the growth of mining activity within and around key conservation zones in Zamora Chinchipe.

Zamora Chinchipe, located at the southern edge of the Ecuadorian Amazon, is one of the country’s most ecologically significant regions due to its position at the transition between the Andes and the Amazon lowlands. This unique geography supports high biological diversity and includes strategic ecosystems such as cloud forests, páramos, and rare formations like the sub-Andean tepuis.

The analysis identifies approximately 111 hectares affected by mining within protected areas and conservation zones across four case studies monitored between 2011 and 2025. The impacted areas include Podocarpus National Park, the Cerro Plateado Biological Reserve, the Maycú Nature Reserve, and the Cuenca Alta del Río Nangaritza Protective Forest, territories that are essential for ecological connectivity and for conserving emblematic species such as the jaguar, tapir, and spectacled bear.

One of the most concerning findings comes from the monitoring conducted in Podocarpus National Park, where 44 hectares affected by mining were identified between August 2023 and December 2025. The study shows that mining activity is taking place inside a protected area where mineral extraction is prohibited by law. In addition to forest loss, satellite monitoring revealed impacts on the Loyola River, part of the park’s hydrological network and a key element for the conservation of cloud forests and Andean páramos.

The report also documents impacts within the Cerro Plateado Biological Reserve, a core zone of high ecological importance in the southern Amazon. Between August 2024 and December 2025, 13 hectares affected by mining were recorded, including areas inside the reserve itself. The analysis further found that 92% of the intervened areas lie outside authorized concessions, indicating possible irregular mining activities in environmentally sensitive territories.

Additional impacts were identified in the Maycú Nature Reserve, where 21.22 hectares were affected by mining, and in the Cuenca Alta del Río Nangaritza Protective Forest, with 44.27 hectares impacted. The study warns that the expansion of mining continues to increase pressure on strategic ecosystems in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Using high-resolution satellite imagery and drone monitoring, the report identified the clearing of vegetation, soil erosion, sediment pools, and abandoned camps associated with mining activity. These findings reveal an extractive pattern marked by the repeated opening and abandonment of mining fronts, generating cumulative impacts and increasing challenges for environmental oversight.

The report also notes that Zamora Chinchipe has gone from registering around 5 hectares affected by mining in 1995 to more than 6,800 hectares in 2024, solidifying its position as one of the main hotspots of mining expansion in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

In this context, the report recommends strengthening the mandatory use of satellite-monitoring technologies and early-warning systems to detect new mining activities in protected areas and remote zones. It also underscores the need to incorporate technological evidence – such as satellite imagery, drones, and georeferencing systems – into administrative and judicial processes related to environmental crimes and illegal mining.

The study emphasizes that effectively protecting Amazonian protected areas requires reinforcing territorial control, surveillance, and institutional coordination to prevent the expansion of extractive activities in ecosystems that are critical for Ecuador’s biodiversity and ecological connectivity.

The report further warns that the rapid expansion of irregular mining activities in remote and environmentally sensitive areas poses an escalating challenge for territorial governance and the State’s capacity to exercise control. This trend highlights the need to strengthen monitoring systems, early-warning mechanisms, and more robust administrative and judicial processes to address environmental crimes and illegal mining.

Access the full report: https://www.maapprogram.org/ecuador-gold-mining-zamora/

 

This month, our Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP) released two major reports on illegal gold mining in two of the Amazon’s most critical territories: the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil and the Tambopata National Reserve in Peru. The findings are both encouraging and deeply alarming.

Brazil: Progress in Yanomami, but miners are adapting

The new report released by Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) in partnership with our MAAP initiative, documents a sharp decline in mining-driven deforestation inside the Yanomami Indigenous Territory following the Brazilian government’s large-scale intervention in 2023. Newly cleared mining areas dropped from roughly 1,800 hectares in 2022 to just 45 hectares in 2025. This means a reduction of over 90%. But the threat has not gone away, it has shifted. Satellite mapping shows that illegal miners have adopted a more decentralized tactic and are moving toward areas closer to the Venezuelan border to evade enforcement. The Yanomami Indigenous Territory Alert System recorded 66 territorial alerts in 2025 alone, the majority involving clandestine aircraft, river incursions, and the movement of supplies into mining zones.

 

Peru: A dangerous resurgence in Tambopata

The analysis conducted by Conservación Amazónica–ACCA, in partnership with our MAAP initiative, documented more than 500 hectares of forest lost, and identified 183 active mining structures, 67 illegal camps, and an estimated 1,000 people currently operating within the protected area. What makes this resurgence especially alarming is that mining is now expanding close to government control posts inside the reserve, significantly increasing risks for the park rangers who defend it. In 2025 alone, mining-driven deforestation inside Tambopata exceeded 400 hectares, surpassing even the worst years of incursions recorded between 2016 and 2017. The report points some factors driving this return: record-high international gold prices, weakened environmental regulations, and reduced enforcement capacity, all creating conditions in which criminal networks can reorganize faster than the State can respond.

 

Together, these two reports show a defining challenge for the Amazon: enforcement works, but it must be sustained in order to protect these territories.

Earlier this month, Amazon Conservation joined climate and forest leaders from around the world at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force), held in Caquetá, Colombia from May 18–22, 2026. The GCF Task Force unites 45 subnational governments across 11 countries, representing more than a third of the world’s tropical forests.The meeting brought together subnational governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, and the private sector around the theme “New Forest Economy for Climate Action: Territorial Development and Innovation.”

At the meeting, Amazon Mining Watch was highlighted as a valuable tool in the fight against illegal gold mining across the Amazon basin . Discussions made clear that more tools of this kind are urgently needed. Amazon’s Conservation participation in spaces like this is invaluable for building the alliances and cross-sector collaboration required to make lasting progress. 

Andrés Santana, Amazon Conservation’s Senior Manager for Combating Illegal Deforestation, shared his reflections on the meeting: “Since its creation, the GCF Task Force has been mainly oriented to building a forest-based economy, highlighting the role that regional governments can play. This year’s annual meeting was a milestone because organizers and members are increasingly acknowledging the importance of tackling environmental crimes that are preventing the enabling conditions necessary for a thriving bioeconomy.”

The week also included field visits across Caquetá, where participants explored community-led initiatives in sustainable ranching, agroforestry, and bioeconomy, living proof that forest-compatible economies are not just possible, but already being built. “During the field visit to the “Territorial Space for Training and Reintegration – ETCR Aguabonita” we could witness first hand how a new and prosperous forest economy can help social reconciliation in post conflict zones by harvesting and transforming fruits such as Açaí, Canangucha, Copoazú and other Amazonian products. That is true peace with nature” states Santana. 

At Amazon Conservation, we recognize the importance of these initiatives for long-term forest conservation. Visiting them is an opportunity to learn, connect, and strengthen our work across the region.

Click on the headlines to read the full story.

 

Flying rivers that sustain forests, agriculture, and water security across the Amazon are increasingly at risk from deforestation and infrastructure expansion.

The white paper, Keeping the Flying Rivers Flowing: How Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Threatens Rainfall in Peru and Bolivia, released by Amazon Conservation, maps for the first time the flying rivers that span the South American continent and their role in keeping the Amazon Rainforest’s tipping point at bay.

Flying rivers are seasonal pathways of atmospheric moisture flows that act like highways carrying water in the atmosphere, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes Mountains and providing vital water resources to the nine countries that form the Amazon Basin. The analysis goes beyond simply identifying the invisible flying rivers’ trajectory to pinpoint the forests most critical to maintaining this system and the areas where deforestation and planned infrastructure projects pose the greatest risks to these pathways.

The report finds that forests and ecosystems in the southwestern Amazon in Bolivia and Peru depend on flying rivers for more than 70% of their annual precipitation. As deforestation advances along these moisture pathways, the forest’s ability to recycle rainfall weakens, increasing the likelihood of drought and ecosystem collapse. The study highlights the dry season flying river as the most vulnerable moisture flow in the Amazon. These findings come after the severe 2023–2024 Amazon drought, the most intense on record, which caused devastating impacts across the region. In Bolivia, soy production in Santa Cruz dropped by 75%, while potato harvests in Peru’s Puno region fell dramatically. River systems, hydropower generation, and bioeconomies dependent on healthy forests, such as Brazil nut production, were also severely affected.. 

“Flying rivers are the invisible engine that sustains life, productive ecosystems, and identity in northern Bolivia. In the department of Pando, where the forest cover still maintains high levels of integrity, this climatic phenomenon is not an abstract concept; it is the direct regulator of the productive cycles of local communities that depend on the fruits produced by their forests,” states Daniel Larrea, Director of Science and Technology at Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA.

Another one of the report’s key findings is the strategic importance of conserving forests in western Brazil, particularly in the state of Acre, where all three seasonal flying river pathways converge before carrying atmospheric moisture toward Peru and Bolivia. This critical corridor acts as a bottleneck for the Amazon’s water cycle, making it especially vulnerable to disruptions caused by deforestation and infrastructure expansion. The pathway already crosses heavily deforested regions across Brazil, including southern Pará, and faces mounting pressure from planned road and infrastructure projects connecting Brazil and Peru. Among the most concerning examples is the BR-319 highway, whose paving could trigger more than 12 million acres of additional deforestation and significantly weaken the forest’s capacity to recycle rainfall across the Amazon Basin.

“These communities have no representation in the infrastructure licensing or land designation decisions that increase deforestation risk. The paper advocates for closing this gap between transboundary impact and national-scale decision making,” states Blaise Bodin, Director of Strategy and Policy at Amazon Conservation. 

Mapping strategic areas where prioritized conservation is needed

To address the growing threats to flying rivers, the report introduces the concept of Critical Moisture Territories: forests at high risk of deforestation that play a vital role in moisture recycling and keeping the flying rivers flowing. Many of the Amazon’s most important Critical Moisture Territories coincide with Brazil’s Undesignated Public Forests (UPFs) or Florestas Públicas Não Destinadas (FPND), making them among the most strategically important areas for prioritized conservation efforts to maintain the flying rivers system. Nearly more than 12 million acres of public Amazon forest currently lack formal legal protection, and many lie directly within key flying rivers paths, leaving these critical atmospheric corridors highly vulnerable to disruption by the impacts of deforestation driven by logging, land grabbing, mining, fires, and other human-caused activities. According to the report, formally protecting these forests could be one of the most effective ways to safeguard the Amazon’s atmospheric water cycle and reduce the risk of widespread regional drought.

Among the report’s six recommendations is the call to move beyond reactive law enforcement and adopt coordinated Amazon-wide policies that recognize Brazil’s critical role in sustaining the flying rivers across the continent and increase conservation efforts and investments in the most vulnerable areas in Bolivia and Peru. The report also highlights the need for forest restoration, climate adaptation strategies, and stronger science and technology to guide conservation decisions.

“At a country level, we need to double down on science to understand exactly how biodiversity is responding to climate change, both higher temperatures and a reduction in rainfall carried by flying rivers. In parallel, we must maintain and expand the forested connection between the slopes of the Andes and the Amazonian lowlands, creating and conserving these key climate corridors,” states Dr. Corine Vriesendorp, Director of Science at Conservación Amazónica-ACCA in Perú. 

A foreword by renowned Brazilian scientist Carlos Nobre, whose groundbreaking work with American biologist Thomas Lovejoy helped shape the global understanding of the Amazon tipping point, speaks to how decision-makers can use this analysis in policies and action: “This white paper by Amazon Conservation represents an important and timely contribution to this body of knowledge. By identifying the forests most critical to maintaining atmospheric moisture transport, it offers a practical pathway from science to action. The window to act is still open, but it is narrowing. Strengthening the resilience of flying rivers through science-backed, prioritized conservation actions is a vital step in the right direction. This white paper offers a valuable, actionable guide to doing so.” 

The report was developed by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with researchers and partner institutions across the Amazon Basin, including the Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, IPAM, FAS (Fundação Amazônia Sustentável), Conservación Amazónica–ACCA, and Conservación Amazónica–ACEAA.

Read the white paper: https://www.amazonconservation.org/publication/ 

Illegal mining–driven deforestation reached its peak in 2022, when roughly 1,800 hectares were cleared. In 2025, monitoring still identified an additional 45.2 hectares of new forest loss.

 Deforestation driven by illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory has dropped sharply over the past three years, following a surge in 2021 and 2022. That’s the conclusion of a new report released this Friday (May 22) by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), in partnership with MAAP (Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program), an initiative of the Amazon Conservation Association.

According to the report, satellite mapping suggests that invaders have changed the way they operate in response to increased enforcement, adopting more decentralized tactics and moving toward areas closer to the Venezuelan border. These findings are reinforced by complaints recorded in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory Alert System, which show that both aerial and river‑based incursions continue.

According to the report, the Yanomami Indigenous Territory has accumulated 5,564 hectares of land degraded by illegal mining. The material produced by ISA and the Amazon Conservation Association was developed in partnership with the Hutukara Associação Yanomami (HAY) and the Associação Wanasseduume Ye’kwana (Seduume).

In 2025, 45.2 new hectares were deforested as a result of illegal mining in the territory, nearly half of the 84 hectares recorded in 2024. According to the report, this figure is a warning sign: despite the slowdown in mining activity, the opening of new areas shows that the illegal operations have not been fully neutralized.

In 2023, when the Federal Government declared a Public Health Emergency of National Importance in the territory, 330 hectares of expansion were recorded – an 81.6% reduction compared to the previous year.

In 2020, 400 hectares were deforested, and in 2021 the figure rose to more than 1,000 hectares. The year 2022 saw the largest increase, with approximately 1,800 hectares cleared.

This monitoring is carried out monthly through the visual interpretation of satellite images by geoprocessing specialists. Based on these images, degradation polygons are drawn. Each month, the affected areas are revisited to refine the mapping and check for possible errors.

New areas impacted

In 2025, the mapping identified 121 polygons of newly impacted areas linked to illegal mining, 90% of them measuring one hectare or less. The two largest polygons – each roughly four hectares – are located in the Parima and Surucucus regions, specifically near the Feijão Queimado airstrip in Roraima.

The report also notes that illegal miners have dispersed their activities, avoiding the large concentrations seen before federal operations began. Areas previously exploited to exhaustion, such as Alto Catrimani, Médio Uraricoera and Homoxi, now appear to be relatively neutralized.

New tactics

To evade enforcement, the invaders continue relying on the tactic of moving toward areas closer to the Venezuelan border. In this context, the report identified new scars in Parafuri‑Parima, Hokomawë and Cabeceira do Aracaçá.

In 2025, the Yanomami Indigenous Territory Alert System – created and used by organizations within the Yanomami Territory – recorded at least five alerts related to the movement of clandestine aircraft in the Auaris region. In most cases, the aircraft were flying toward Hokomawë, either in the direction of the Gaúcho Animal airstrip, located at the mouth of the Auaris River, or toward the airstrip at the headwaters of the Aracaçá River.

According to ISA geographer Estêvão Senra, with gold prices reaching historic highs on the international market, pressure from illegal mining remains constant.

“Eviction operations are an essential first step, but on their own they do not solve the structural problem. Without medium‑ and long‑term territorial protection strategies – including permanent surveillance and improvements in the regulation of the gold supply chain – there is a significant risk of seeing a new wave of invasions in the near future.”

The same pattern has been observed in other parts of the Amazon where eviction and enforcement operations have taken place, such as the Madre de Dios region in Peru, which destroyed more than 100 mining dredges in recent years. Now, satellite data show the return of incursions into protected areas, including the Tambopata National Reserve, according to a recent report also released by MAAP.

Matt Finer, director of the MAAP program at Amazon Conservation, emphasizes that the data show governments are capable of reducing illegal mining when coordinated interventions and effective enforcement efforts are in place. “In the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, illegal mining reached its peak between 2021 and 2022 but dropped significantly after the major intervention by the Brazilian government beginning in 2023. However, as we have recently observed in Peru and Venezuela, these actions must be part of a continuous, long‑term effort. Otherwise, illegal mining tends to return quickly.”

Territorial Alerts

In 2025, the alert system recorded a total of 66 territorial alerts. Of these, 83% were invasion alerts, which include information on the movement of clandestine aircraft, boats, barges and other vehicles. There were also reports of attacks and the entry of firearms.

The alert system is an initiative of the organizations of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory: Hutukara Associação Yanomami, Associação Wanasseduume Ye’kwana, Urihi Associação Yanomami, Parawamë, Kurikama, AYRCA and Kumirayoma, with technical support from ISA and backing from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). The tool began to be implemented in 2023.

Read also Yanomami Indigenous issue cell phone alerts to defend their territory

The system allows community monitors to send alerts through a form with photos, videos, audio recordings and geolocation, even offline. The information is validated and translated by Indigenous researchers, organized into a public dashboard, and forwarded to the authorities. The tool is available in four languages: Yanomami, Ye’kwana, Sanoma and Portuguese.

Among the regions that recorded alerts of airspace invasion, in addition to Auaris, are Xitei, Alto Catrimani and Apiaú (possibly linked to mining activity on the Couto Magalhães River).

“In the case of Catrimani, the link between this movement and the mining activity taking place at the headwaters of the Orinoco, in Venezuelan territory, one of the areas with the highest miner activity in recent years, is striking,” the report notes.

The Taboca airstrip, located in Venezuela, is identified as a strategic part of the logistics that sustain illegal mining in Brazil. The airstrip supports invaders who continue to operate in the Alto Catrimani and Xitei regions.

According to the report, the Ericó region, an area accessible via the Uraricaá River, showed significant signs of deforestation linked to mining activity. During the most critical phase of the invasion, there were reports of dredges operating on the Uraricaá River, but no signs of mining on land. That scenario appears to have changed as part of the invaders’ strategy to evade operations in more heavily monitored areas.

Alerts submitted through the system also indicate the persistence of incursions along the Uraricoera, Catrimani, Apiaú and Ajarani rivers. Reports include barge traffic, dredge operations, the transport of cassiterite and the entry of supplies into mining camps.

Baixo Catrimani is the region that reported the highest number of river‑based invasions. From April to December 2025, the Yanomami sent nine alerts about the presence of barges, dredges and the movement of suspicious boats.

• Satellite monitoring shows more than 500 hectares of forest lost and nearly a thousand people involved in illegal mining operating inside the Tambopata National Reserve.
•  The advance of illegal mining continues, encroaching ever closer to government-run control posts within the protected area.

 Seven years after the historic Operación Mercurio was launched, illegal gold mining has surged back inside the Tambopata National Reserve, one of the most important protected areas in the southern Peruvian Amazon.

 A new high‑resolution satellite analysis by Conservación Amazónica–ACCA  reveals a troubling resurgence of mining activity during the second half of 2025 and the early months of 2026. This renewed expansion has already resulted in the loss of 500 hectares of Amazonian forest within the reserve.

The findings are presented in the latest MAAP Report #241, which documents not only the scale of the environmental destruction but also the intensifying criminal pressure on an ecosystem that is critical to global biodiversity.

A resurgence surpassing even the most critical years

The data show that in 2025 alone, mining‑driven deforestation inside Tambopata exceeded 400 hectares, a figure that surpasses the levels recorded during the most critical years of illegal mining incursions, between 2016 and 2017.

This new wave of expansion is concentrated primarily in the northern part of the reserve, in areas adjacent to the Malinowski River, a corridor long recognized as highly vulnerable to the entry of illegal operators.

Using 0.5‑meter‑resolution Skysat satellite imagery, the technical team identified 183 active mining structures, 67 illegal camps, and five major mining hubs operating within the reserve.

Drawing on the detected infrastructure and ACCA’s previously developed models, the analysis estimates that around 1,000 people may currently be involved in illegal gold extraction inside the protected area.

Illegal mining advances near State-run control posts

One of the report’s most troubling findings is that mining activity is now expanding in areas close to several control posts inside the Tambopata National Reserve, including Otorongo, Azul, and Yarinal.

Satellite imagery reveals a clear pattern: the opening of new mining pits, the installation of heavy machinery, and the steady growth of illegal camps within the protected area.

The most affected zones include Isla Córdoba, with 106 hectares deforested, 53 mining pits, and 20 camps; A4, with 101 hectares impacted, 68 mining structures, and 33 camps; and Isla Correntada, where 111 hectares have been affected and active machinery and illegal camps remain visible.

“It is particularly alarming that a significant share of the illegal mining advance is taking place inside the reserve and in areas close to control posts. This greatly heightens the risks faced by the park rangers responsible for safeguarding the Tambopata National Reserve and underscores the urgent need for broader, more decisive measures to prevent potential situations of violence or confrontation on the ground,” said Sidney Novoa, Director of Conservation Technologies at Conservación Amazónica–ACCA.

What is driving the return of illegal mining?

The report points to a convergence of economic, institutional, and political factors behind this renewed expansion. A key driver is the sustained rise in international gold prices, which reached record highs in 2025 and significantly increased the profitability of illegal extraction.

The analysis also warns that the current political and institutional climate may be enabling the resurgence of these illicit economies. Contributing factors include repeated extensions of the Reinfo registry, the weakening of regulations aimed at combating organized crime, the advancement of legislative proposals that could heighten extractive pressure on protected areas, and the budget constraints faced by the agencies responsible for oversight and enforcement.

Against this backdrop, the situation in Tambopata illustrates that enforcement operations alone are insufficient when environmental monitoring, regulatory oversight, and organized‑crime prevention mechanisms are being eroded. “Protecting natural protected areas requires regulatory stability, a sustained and effective State presence, and comprehensive measures that reduce the incentives currently fueling the expansion of these illegal economies,” said Gaby Rivandeneyra, Project Lead at DAR and representative of the Illegal Mining Observatory (OMI, the acronym in Spanish). 

Enforcement operations fall short of stopping the advance

Between January and March 2026, joint operations involving law‑enforcement agencies, environmental prosecutors, and other competent authorities succeeded in seizing and destroying machinery, fuel, engines, and camps linked to illegal mining.

However, satellite monitoring shows that, despite these interventions, the activity continues across the area.

This underscores a widening gap between the State’s operational response capacity and the speed with which criminal networks are able to reorganize and resume operations.

“The situation in the Tambopata National Reserve is emblematic for the entire Amazon. It shows that committed governments can confront illegal mining, but that the activity can return quickly if that commitment weakens,” said Matt Finer of Amazon Conservation.

A threat to biodiversity and to those who defend it

The Tambopata National Reserve protects some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. Yet the advance of illegal mining threatens not only its forests and waterways, but also the people who risk their safety to defend this territory.

Amid rising violence against environmental defenders in Madre de Dios, the report’s findings show that this new expansion is driven not only by criminal networks, but also by a deepening erosion of environmental governance.

Today, Tambopata is once again confronting a threat that puts decades of conservation efforts in the Peruvian Amazon to the test.

 

You can read the full report here:

https://www.maapprogram.org/mining-peru-tambopata/ 

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About the report

MAAP Report #241 was prepared by the Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), in partnership with Conservación Amazónica–ACCA, leading this report. The analysis draws on high‑resolution satellite imagery, historical geospatial datasets, and a review of the political and institutional context surrounding illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon.

 

From April 21–24, leaders from across the Amazon gathered in Lima, Peru, for the first-ever summit of the Amazon Gold Alliance (AGA), a collaborative network working to address the environmental, social, and economic impacts of gold mining in the Amazon. The summit, hosted by Amazon Aid, brought together more than 50 representatives from civil society organizations, Indigenous communities, academia, government agencies, and the jewelry sector to identify shared strategies for confronting one of the region’s most urgent threats: illegal gold mining.

Illegal and informal gold mining continues to drive widespread deforestation, mercury contamination, biodiversity loss, and violence across the Amazon Basin. While responses to the crisis have often been fragmented, the AGA was created to foster collaboration across the entire gold value chain and build coordinated, long-term solutions.

To guide this effort, the Alliance is advancing five strategic initiatives focused on key dimensions of the gold mining crisis. These include the Illicit Mapping Initiative, which seeks to trace how illegal gold enters formal supply chains; the Market Activation Initiative, which promotes demand for responsibly sourced, mercury-free gold; the Pressure Campaign Initiative, aimed at increasing public awareness around the impacts of illegal mining; the Regional Coordination Initiative, which strengthens collaboration among Amazonian countries and institutions; and the Financial Integrity Initiative, designed to address illicit financial flows and improve transparency in the gold trade.

Representing Amazon Conservation, President John Beavers and Senior Manager for Combating Illegal Deforestation Andrés Santana participated in the summit where they presented one of the five strategic initiatives being advanced under the AGA framework, highlighting the importance of strengthening transparency and accountability in the gold sector. As part of the presentation, the team showcased Amazon Mining Watch, a platform that monitors mining activity and deforestation across the Amazon Basin, and announced the release of the Amazon Mining Policy Scoreboard, an assessment of national policies and governance related to gold mining in Amazonian countries. The session generated strong interest among participants and underscored the importance of integrating technology, policy analysis, and on-the-ground partnerships to combat illegal mining across the region.

Participants shared experiences from communities on the front lines of illegal mining. Discussions highlighted the growing impacts of mercury pollution in rivers, forest degradation, threats to Indigenous territories, and the increasing role of criminal networks linked to illicit gold extraction across the region.

As part of the summit, assistants traveled to the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon, one of the areas most heavily impacted by gold mining. There, they witnessed firsthand the scale of forest destruction and water contamination caused by illegal mining operations. At the same time, the visit also highlighted examples of more responsible practices being implemented by some mining cooperatives, including mercury-free gold processing methods and ecological restoration efforts in previously mined areas. The field visit underscored both the complexity of the challenge and the need for solutions that combine environmental protection, responsible livelihoods, and regional cooperation.

By the end, connections had strengthened across sectors and contributed to shaping a roadmap for the next phase of the AGA’s five initiatives. The gathering created space not only for dialogue, but also for renewed commitments to collaborative action against illegal gold mining across the Amazon Basin.

Protecting the Amazon from the impacts of illegal mining requires coordinated responses that extend across borders, sectors, and supply chains. The first AGA summit marked an important step toward building those alliances and advancing shared solutions for the future of the region.

 

 

 

*Photo 1: Riverbeds after mining extraction along the Madre de Dios river, Peru. Photo: Andrés Santana / Amazon Conservation
*Photo 2: Mercury-free gold processing at one responsible mining cooperative in Madre de Dios, Peru. Photo: Andrés Santana / Amazon Conservation