STEVEN GRATTAN

Amazon rainforest / deforestation reporter

Grattan reports on the Amazon rainforest and deforestation around Latin America for The Associated Press. He is based in Bogota, Colombia.
Tourists walk in front of the Tuco glacier in Huascaran National Park during a tour called the "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru, Aug. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)
Peruvian farmer’s case against German energy giant RWE could reshape global climate accountability
 
Peru passes law critics claim will hamper the ability of NGOs to defend human rights
 
Part of the Amazon jungle destroyed by illegal miners is visible in the Tambopata province, Peru's Madre de Dios region on March 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
Peru’s Indigenous leaders raise concerns over oil and gas projects at a human rights hearing
 
A child fills a bucket of water transported by donkeys in the La Voz que Clama neighborhood on the outskirts of Maicao, Colombia, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Indigenous migrants in northern Colombia battle worsening droughts and floods
 
A group of men and a woman carry bananas and fish from the port, in Leticia, Colombia, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia, File)
UN talks end in Rome with nations backing $200 billion a year plan to protect nature
 
Climate demonstrators take part in a protest holding a sign that reads "tax fossils, protect biodiversity" as the COP16 biodiversity conference continues on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Rome. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)
In Rome, talks to protect Earth’s biodiversity resume with money topping the agenda
 
Luciane Mengual, 22, an Indigenous woman from the Wayuu community, poses with her baby at home in the Villa del Sur neighborhood, on the outskirts of Riohacha, Colombia, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Droughts, floods and economic uncertainty: Portraits of the Wayuu people in northern Colombia
 
Members of the Indigenous Wayuu community, Zoyla Velasquez, left, and her family, visit the graves of their ancestors near a wind farm on the outskirts of Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Renewable energy ambitions in northern Colombia collide with Indigenous worries
 
Residents look out at the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River amid a drought in Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)
Amazon’s advocates fear Trump’s return means little US help to protect rainforest
 
Fishermen push a boat in the Aleixo Lake amid a drought in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)
Drought, fires and deforestation battered Amazon rainforest in 2024
 
Trucks wait in line on Friendship Bridge over the Parana River, the border between Foz do Iguazu, Brazil, top, and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, June 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
26 people arrested in crackdown on illegal deforestation along Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina border
 
Indigenous leaders from the Wampis Nation in Peru, Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat, left, and Pamuk Teofilo Kukush Pati, pose inside the Westminster Hall in London, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Indigenous leaders travel to UK from Peru to draw attention to oil damage and banking
 
Susana Muhamad, environment minister of Colombia, speaks to The Associated press at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Colombia’s government is eager for a post-fossil fuels economy. But costs are a barrier
 
Members of Brazil's Indigenous delegation arrive to the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
At U.N. summit, historic agreement to give Indigenous groups voice on nature conservation decisions
 
Police stand guard in front of a hotel a day ahead of the COP16 United Nations biodiversity conference, in host city Cali, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Negotiations stall over some crucial issues on final day of UN biodiversity summit in Colombia
 
FILE - Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Fourth mass coral bleaching prompts UN emergency session at Colombia biodiversity summit
 
FILE - Fog drifts over the woods of the Taunus forest near Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
UN chief calls for more pledges, private sector input to save global biodiversity at Colombia summit
 
FILE - McCain Maximo runs back into the trees filled with bridled tern nests on the northern end of the sand bar on Helen Island, Palau, on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans, File)
Slight progress in global biodiversity protection efforts but some species decline, new reports find
 
People walk through a part of the Amazon River that shows signs of drought in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
In Colombia, Amazon River’s extreme drought falls hard on Indigenous communities
 
Afro-Colombian women perform during the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Environmental delegates gather in Colombia for a conference on dwindling global biodiversity
 
A group of women, part of Asociacion Nuestra Casa Comun, or Our Community House Association, go by boat to an area destroyed by illegal mining, on the Quito River, near Paimado, Colombia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Afro-Colombians fight the effects of gold mining through biodiversity projects in a violent region
 
FILE - Indigenous demonstrators join a protest outside Brazilian embassy to call on Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro to act to protect the Amazon rainforest, in Bogota, Colombia, Aug. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia, File)
Efforts to combat deforestation in Colombia hindered because of armed groups, report finds
 
Bernardino Mosquera, a river guardian, maneuvers his boat on the Quito River, near Paimado, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Colombia’s river guardians battle to protect the Atrato amid threats and abandonment
 
FILE - This June 2024 photo provided by Survival International shows members of the Mashco Piro along Las Piedras River in the Amazon near the community of Monte Salvado, in Madre de Dios province, Peru. (Survival International via AP, File)
A remote Indigenous tribe kills two loggers encroaching on their land in Peru
 
FILE - Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 20, 2024, demanding authorities comply with the decision to halt oil drilling in a national park in the heart of the country's share of the Amazon where they live. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Ecuador starts dismantling Yasuni National Park oil block two days before court deadline
 
FILE - Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 20, 2024, demanding authorities comply with the decision to halt oil drilling in a national park in the heart of the country's share of the Amazon where they live. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Ecuador’s citizens voted to stop oil drilling in heart of Amazon. A year later, it hasn’t happened
 
FILE - This June 2024 photo provided by Survival International shows members of the Mashco Piro along Las Piedras River in the Amazon near the community of Monte Salvado, in Madre de Dios province, Peru. (Survival International via AP, File)
Reclusive tribe attacks loggers suspected of encroaching on their land in Peru’s Amazon
 
This June 2024 photo provided by Survival International shows members of the Mashco Piro along the Las Piedras River in the Peruvian Amazon near the community of Monte Salvado, in Madre de Dios province, Peru. (Survival International via AP)
Group says photos of reclusive tribe on Peru beach show logging concessions are ‘dangerously close’
 
FILE - An illegal gold mining operation that contributed to deforestation is visible in Magui Payan, Colombia, April 20, 2021. The mine was among targets for destruction by National Police and soldiers in a crackdown against mining. Deforestation in Colombia fell 36% in 2023 versus the previous year, the government said in a press conference on Monday, July 8, 2024, marking the lowest level since records began. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
Deforestation in Colombia fell to historic lows in 2023, environment minister says