Illegal invasions in the Karipuna Indigenous Territory in the northwest of the Brazilian Amazon have started to advance again, Karipuna leaders told Mongabay following an alert by global nonprofit Survival International. “This year has been very difficult because there are a lot of people on our territory,” André Karipuna, the chief of the Karipuna people, told Mongabay in an audio message. “We identified new places [that are being invaded], a place that had not been disturbed before and is now being destroyed.” Karipuna leaders told Mongabay they have reported dozens of new encroachments, especially in the south of the territory, but a response from authorities has been lacking. In July 2024, Brazil’s federal government carried out an operation to clear invaders from the land. Officials destroyed 17 bridges and 38 illegal access routes as well as other illegal infrastructure, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples told Mongabay by email. No one was arrested or held responsible. Indigenous leaders say that after the operation, illegal activities and invasions slowly resumed. Forest loss on Karipuna Indigenous Territory from 2019-25. Map by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay. According to Global Forest Watch, more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres), or 6.6% of the territory, was deforested between 2001 and 2024. It peaked in 2022, with a record forest loss of 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres), and satellite images show a house was built near one of the cleared fields. In 2024, satellites recorded 194 hectares (480 acres) of forest loss; data for 2025 have not yet been quantified. Government…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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