Over the next days and weeks, we'll introduce more of our team and share more about our project, but first, our brand new feature article about the illegal timber that's pulled out of Bolivian forests into Peru and to world markets - by RAI - from Bolivia!

amazonunderworld.org/selva-en-fug...

11/ It has been very exciting to work with a full team of administrative experts, advocacy and editorial specialists, amazing journalists, researchers, social media people, web developers and designers, but special thanks to co-director Juan Torres for working tirelessly to get this ready!

10/ and will repackage some of our journalistic content in investigative reports and advocate for change. This, for example, we do with partners such as @amazonwatch.org, IUCN-NL, GI-TOC and @globalwitness.org.
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9/ Now, in our new setup, our journalistic content is only part of our project, as we try to answer a high demand from policymakers to better understand the combined climate, environmental, and security crises in the Amazon ...

8/ That said, this means we'll do our best to combine maps and data with chronicled texts, but also will include video and short documentaries in our way of reporting, with help from Cruzo Mundo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMp-...

7/ We've been focusing—and will continue to do so—on the mapping of the presence of crime/armed groups, but also invest in fieldwork to be able to offer in-field insights, empathetic reporting, exposing global relations with Amazon crime, and attractive storytelling.

6/ As we were working with a network of researchers already, we could puzzle together some of the linkages and start to interpret crime on an Amazon level, specifically focusing on border areas where organized crime nests, multiplies, and outsmarts law enforcement strategies.

5/ Our first phase had many highlights: we travelled to international conferences and events, such as the COP16 on Biodiversity, won awards, such as the Gabriel García Márquez award in Bogotá, and were able to lay the groundwork for what comes next.

4/ It all started in 2023, when we published a series looking into expanding criminal dynamics in the Amazon. During the research, we noticed that while there was substantial information about specific crimes or groups, there was limited understanding of the cross-border aspects of crime.

3/ Our new website just went live, we have a new logo, and instead of one-off journalistic series, we will publish frequent feature-length articles, (short) documentaries, op-eds from experts from and on the Amazon, and investigative reports.

But first, a look back...

2/ In Amazon Underworld, we bring together six media outlets and will have frequent publications and media specials.