NEWSLETTER

Category: Pathobiome of wildlife in Brazil

  • New Environmental Education Curriculum carries forward sustainable wildlife programme in Guyana

    New Environmental Education Curriculum carries forward sustainable wildlife programme in Guyana

    Stakeholders of the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme gather for the final meeting of the project, Phase 2. Photo by Luke McKenna/FAO

    This content was originally posted on Landscape Alliance.

    July 2026 — Guyana marked two conservation milestones this month: The launch of a new Environmental Education Curriculum (EEC) for Regions 4 and 6, and the conclusion of the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme’s Phase 2 — representing eight years of engagement in the country.

    At the closing event in Georgetown, SWM Programme Country Coordinator, Oswin David, praised the years of collective achievements, thanked key stakeholders, and set the scene for ongoing impacts.

    “This eight-year initiative…has provided a roadmap for how we can effectively balance conservation and human development in Guyana,” he said.

    The Landscape Alliance led the SWM Programme work in Guyana, and activities were implemented through the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC) with support from the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and local partners such as the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS) and Caiman House Inc.

    David Oswin presents the results of the SWM Programme’s consolidated eight-year efforts. © FAO/Luke McKenna
    These books form part of the recently launched Environmental Education Curriculum (EEC) for Regions Four and Six. © FAO/Luke McKenna

    Alona Sankar, Commissioner of GWCMC, echoed her support for the Programme’s work:

    “From the Commission’s perspective, the SWM Programme has been instrumental in supporting our core mandate to conserve, protect, manage, and sustainably utilize wildlife, as well as regulate both internal and external trade,” she said.

    “Furthermore, the addition of the Biodiversity Component in 2024 has been invaluable. Its goal of developing cost-effective, scientifically verifiable monitoring methods aligns perfectly with the initiative launched by His Excellency at the Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit. These findings will guide our national policies and bolster our efforts in sustainable development and conservation.”

    The Biodiversity Component Sankar mentioned has engaged seven villages across the Rupununi to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of six monitoring methods: camera trapping, passive acoustic monitoring, bird counts, environmental DNA (eDNA), local ecological knowledge, and fish stock assessments.

    Over 700 individual species have been identified so far, and the team has created a regional Artificial Intelligence (AI) model capable of identifying 445 species classes — one of the largest regional identifying databases available.

    Continue reading on Landscape Alliance

    Acknowledgements

    The SWM Programme in Guyana is implemented by Landscape Alliance [formerly called the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)] and the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC) as the National Focal Point.

    The SWM Programme extends its sincere gratitude to all of the biodiversity rangers and villagers involved in the biodiversity component of the programme, without whom none of this would be possible. Special thanks go to the European Union for its generous funding in making this initiative possible; the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC) for its keen interest and partnership; thanks to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations for all assistance during the project; to all the local partners of the Programme (South Rupununi District Council, South Rupununi Conservation Society, Visit Rupununi, Rupununi Livestock Producers Association, Caiman House Inc., and North Rupununi District Development Board) for their passionate work in their activities; and to all staff of the Programme.

    About the SWM Programme

    The SWM Programme is a major international initiative that aims to improve the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife in forest, savannah and wetland ecosystems. It is funded by the European Union, with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). Projects are being piloted and tested with governments and communities in 16 participating countries. The initiative is coordinated by a dynamic consortium of four partners, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

  • Uncovering the link between armadillo hunting, deforestation and leprosy

    Uncovering the link between armadillo hunting, deforestation and leprosy

    A nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus). Photo by Jim Mullhaupt.

    By Daniella Silva

    This content was originally posted on Forests News.

    6 Jul. 2026 — Leprosy (caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae) is an ongoing public health challenge across the tropical Americas. The disease primarily affects the skin and peripheral nerves and – until recently – was thought to spread mainly from human to human through respiratory droplets. Mounting evidence, however, suggests armadillos can also transmit the disease to humans, especially when people hunt and handle them directly.

    An estimated 25 percent of all new human leprosy cases in Brazil are now linked to armadillos, and that figure jumps to 40 percent in deforestation hotspots, such as the Amazon’s so-called “arc of deforestation“.

    These findings come from a 2025 study in Infectious Diseases of Poverty, which maps where armadillo-to-human leprosy transmission happens most and where public health interventions work best.

    Drawing on more than 326,000 reported leprosy cases across Brazil between 2013 and 2022 and a dataset of 554 hunted armadillos across 175 municipalities, the researchers developed a model to estimate the armadillo-hunting infection risk. They also identified other factors that amplify the risk, including higher population density, environmental degradation (deforestation), malnutrition and socioeconomic status.

    Hani Rocha El Bizri, lead author and coordinator of the Sustainable Use of Wild Species Transformative Partnership Platform (SU-TPP), sat down with Forests News to share more.

    What is the link between armadillo hunting, deforestation and leprosy in Brazil?

    The most important finding of the study is that an estimated 25 percent of all new human leprosy cases in Brazil relate to hunting and consumption of armadillo meat.

    Before this study, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized a link between armadillos and leprosy transmission; a few human cases had been reported in the United States that matched the genotype of the leprosy bacteria, Mycobacterium leprae. However, our findings suggest the number of people infected through hunting armadillos is much higher than expected.

    We also identified several other variables responsible for zoonotic disease transfer. In heavily deforested areas, we see a higher prevalence of the disease in both humans and armadillos. In some municipalities located in Brazil’s ‘arc of deforestation,’ up to 40 percent of leprosy cases could be attributed to armadillo hunting and use. This is very high and very concerning.

    Continue reading on Forests News

    Acknowledgements

    Landscape Alliance scientists contributed key data sets and collaborated on this research with researchers from many institutions; funding comes from the University of Malaga, the TRADEHub project and the Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI).

  • Wild monkeys are catching HBV in the Brazilian Amazon deforestation frontier

    Wild monkeys are catching HBV in the Brazilian Amazon deforestation frontier

    6 Apr. 2026 — A new study in EcoHealth is the first report of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) in wild neotropical primates. 

    Researchers tested blood or liver samples from 88 primates across 28 species and two Brazilian Amazonian regions—one human-impacted area (Rondonia and Mato Grosso states) and one remote area (upper Japurá River, Amazonas state). They found HBV in 17 out of 49 primates from the human-impacted areas. None of the 39 primate samples from the remote area had contracted HBV.  

    The findings suggest that human population density significantly predicts human HBV infection in wild primates, supporting the hypothesis of human-to-primate disease spillover that is driven by deforestation and encroachment (Figure 1) 

    Figure 1: A scatter plot showing the positive correlation between HBV probability in monkeys and human population density (persons/km2) 

    Why it matters

    Increasing deforestation and human encroachment into wildlife habitats is increasing human-primate interactions, which could lead to more cross-species disease transmission. In the Amazon, Indigenous people and local communities consume an estimated three million primates from the genara Alouatta, Ateles and Sapajus for subsistence. Other primate species, especially squirrel monkeys (Samiri spp.) are often traded as pets. Both the pet trade and subsistence hunting increase instances of human-primate interaction. 

    Primates (e.g. chimpanzees) who contract HBV have been shown in experimental studies to develop symptoms such as lethargy, jaundice and anorexia. However, there are currently no clinical studies involving New World primates. 

    What’s next?

    The study recommends increased monitoring and preventative measures to mitigate the risk of human-primate disease transmission. 

    Read more

    Acknowledgements

    Molecular analyses and Japura field expeditions were funded by CNPq SISBIOTA Program to IPF, and in Rondˆonia by grants from the Fundac¸a˜o Oswaldo Cruz Rondˆonia (FIOCRUZ/RO), Fiocruz- Rondˆonia, CT-Amazˆonia, and CNPq Universal.