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Voices from the Andes and the Amazon

The Andes-Amazon region spans five countries — Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia — and is home to spectacled bears and tapirs, with an abundance of orchids and hummingbirds and condors that soar over the tops of mountains. The ecosystems and landscapes have developed into tropical, temperate and cold climates, turning the Andes-Amazon region into one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

But this biodiverse region is seriously threatened, with mining, energy, the construction of infrastructure projects like interstate highways and hydroelectric dams, and climate change putting species in danger of extinction. As the ecosystems become more fragile they can no longer support many of the animal, bird and plant species in the mountains and jungle of the Andes-Amazon region.

We invite you to propose projects that tell the stories of communities in the region that are being impacted. We are looking for intimate stories, transmitted by the voices of those who are affected, people who are witnessing first-hand the damage to biodiversity, the climate and their own health.

By writing these stories, you will be telling the larger story of the Andes-Amazon region. Your reporting will narrate the story of an environmental crisis that is affecting us all.

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The cycle of gold mining in Ecuador

This series of three stories explains, through voices from the Amazon, the cycle, structure and operation of mining in Ecuador. Academics and specialists on the subject agree that there is no mining without violence because it implies a dispute over territory. From the intimacy of the communities to the national data on the importance of the extractive industry, this trilogy investigates, explores and extracts different points of view on gold mining in this Amazonian country based on three different areas in the province of Napo where mining has grown 907% between 2011 and 2021.

Read our investigative report
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Traces of Oil in the Peruvian Amazon

In the 1970s, an oil strike in Peru’s northeastern Loreto region was heralded as the path to development. Half a century later, communities in the area, most of them Indigenous, lack safe drinking water, health care and decent schools, and are left with a legacy of pollution. The question now: Can Loreto plan for a future beyond petroleum?

Read our investigative report

These media organizations have partnered with Montañas y Selva to publish our projects proyectos