climate destabilization

The Andes

Colombia: state oil company named in war crimes

UN experts welcomed a ruling by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) relating to Macro-Case 08, recognizing the responsibility of a director of parastatal oil company Ecopetrol and several state agents for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious human rights violations. The ruling concerns abuses committed during the armed conflict in and around the refinery city of Barrancabermeja in the late 1990s that saw several people abducted and presumably killed by right-wing paramilitaries. “The JEP’s decision represents a significant step forward for truth, justice and accountability regarding the impacts of corporate activities in conflict-affected contexts,” the experts stated. (Photo: Crystalarts via Wikimedia Commons)

Planet Watch

Centuries of impacts seen from greenhouse emissions

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases reached record highs in 2025—another portent of global warming, which increases the frequency of extreme weather events and associated risks to societies and economies. WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett stated: “The past 11 years have been the warmest on record and this trend is set to continue. CO2 has a very long lifetime and so will affect the global climate not just for years but for decades and even centuries.” (Photo: Janak Bhatta via Wikimedia Commons)

The Amazon

Brazil: Amazon deforestation plunged under Lula

In the year to July 2026, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by nearly 42%, according the National Institute for Space Research (INPE)—the steepest decline since monitoring began in 1988—while losses in the Cerrado, Brazil’s vast tropical savanna, fell by nearly 24%. Deforestation surged to its highest level in more than a decade in 2021 under far-right then-president Jair Bolsonaro. His successor, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, pledged to reverse the trend when he took office in 2022. Lula and Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio, just faced each other in a tight presidential contest, with the left-wing incumbent achieving a surprise victory in the run-off. (Photo: Catedral Verde via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: #ResistRobotRule

CounterVortex editor and ranter Bill Weinberg faces imminent cancelation of his landline service by corporate oppressor Verizon. As fiber-optic is not available in his building, this makes cable the only alternative—which means drilling through exterior walls, threatening the structural integrity of the 19th century tenement. This as the Countervortex website remains debilitated following an attack by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. With this dissident voice in danger of being silenced, the system of corporate rule is increasingly replaced by worse-still actual robot rule. Trump and the fascist tech bros are putting in place the architecture for direct robot control over the military-security apparatus, and even of imperial decision-making. Robo-propaganda has already thoroughly colonized the political process, both in the US and elsewhere. All this as the ecological impacts of the technology contiue to propel the apocalypse. In Episode 348 of the CounterVortex podcast, Weinberg looks for glimmers of hope in municipal pushback, and popular refusal of aritifical intelligence and the entire digital leviathan. (Image: Darrin Grimwood via Goodreads)

Oceania

Tuvalu welcomes UN Declaration on Sea-Level Rise

Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo addressed the United Nations General Assembly, urging decisive global action to mitigate sea-level rise and welcoming the UN's approval of the Declaration on Sea-Level Rise. The landmark agreement formally recognizes the continuity of statehood and the permanence of maritime boundaries established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), creating a vital legal precedent for climate-vulnerable island nations facing territorial loss. (Image via Pixabay)

Planet Watch

Planet faces ‘new water reality’: WMO

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that the planet now faces a "new water reality," announcing its latest report assessing the state of global water resources. Growing numbers around the world increasingly experience "abnormal water supplies," especially due to disruption in freshwater resources, including river flows, groundwater and glaciers. (Photo via Nepali Times)

Planet Watch

Criminalization of peasant seed systems threatens global food supply

The global food supply is under threat from laws that criminalize the sale and exchange of traditional peasant seed varieties, a group of UN experts warned. In their latest report to the Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas indicated that almost all of the world's food comes from seeds and that traditional systems supply 70 to 90 percent of the seeds sown in many countries. According to the report, peasants' rights and the food supply as a whole have come under threat from the commercialization of seed systems and implementation of plant variety protection laws (PVPs), which punish farmers who trade seeds of a company's protected variety. These laws may additionally prohibit the sale or exchange of any seed that is not catalogued, targeting the diverse peasant variety seed that does not meet industrial standards. (Photo of indigenous Mexican corn varities: Feria de Productores via Earth@Home)

The Amazon

Ecuador: Yasuní defenders face persecution

Amnesty International called on Ecuadorian authorities to drop all legal and financial penalties against activists behind the 2023 Yasuní Referendum, warning that the looming fines are part of a broader crackdown on civic space and dissent in the country. The Referendum resulted in an overwhelming majority of citizens voting to end oil extraction within Yasuní National Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This result was celebrated across the world and hailed as one of Latin America's most important victories in the fight against climate change. However, since the vote, oil drilling has continued uninterrupted. Amnesty is pressing President Daniel Noboa to restore full legal protections for NGOs and respect the mandate of the Referendum, calling it a non-negotiable test of democratic integrity. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Israeli ‘ecocide’ seen in Lebanon

Lebanese firefighters, residents, and environmental groups have accused the Israeli military of deliberately lighting wildfires across the areas of southern Lebanon it occupies, with some labelling it "ecocide." According to the reports, up to 40% of the land in areas close to the front line has been burned by Israeli drones, flares and munitions since June, with firefighters in some cases attacked as they attempted to respond. (Image via Flickr)

Planet Watch

UN warns of global spike in food prices

The United Nations reported that the cost of key foods increased in July as a result of searing heatwaves and ongoing geopolitical instability, which have affected crop yields and global energy prices amid persistent hunger risks in multiple countries. This situation is attributed to recurrent heatwaves, predicted effects of El Niño on this year's harvests, and growing uncertainty resulting from geopolitical tensions that have impacted the price of oil and disrupted global supply chains. (Photo: officials inspect dry rice fields in Philippines. Credit: Sen. Kiko Pangilinan via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Ethiopia: Tigray fighting flares again

Clashes between the Ethiopian army and Tigrayan forces have led to hundreds of civilians crossing into neighboring Sudan, marking another serious threat to a 2022 peace agreement. Heavy artillery and drones were used during the fighting, which was concentrated in contested western Tigray. Both sides have been amassing troops in recent months and there has been a significant recruitment drive in Tigray, where regional authorities have forcibly conscripted civilians, including children, according to Human Rights Watch. Close to a million Tigrayans have been unable to return to their homes despite the peace deal, and have struggled to recover from the ethnic cleansing and siege campaign carried out by the Ethiopian army and its allies during the 2020-2022 conflict. A return to war would likely involve Eritrea, and could pull in Sudan, merging two of the deadliest conflicts in recent history. (Map: Political Geography Now)

The Amazon

UAE joins multinational Amazon crackdown

Five South American countries announced completion of a two-week joint law enforcement operation targeting environmental crimes across the Amazon rainforest. The campaign, dubbed Operation Green Shield 2026, resulted in over 800 arrests and the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in timber, minerals and livestock. The campaign was coordinated by the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC), a project led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched jointly with the UN Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) to help countries share intelligence and resources against environmental crimes. (Photo: WAM)