The disappearance of Brazilian Amazon expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips has been in the headlines since they went missing on June 5 while on a research trip in the Javari Valley reserve, the country's second-biggest indigenous territory. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

Under the far-right government of President Jair Bolsonaro, Pereira had been sidelined from his job coordinating efforts to protect indigenous peoples at Funai, the government agency charged with that mission. He took leave to work with them directly in the field in Javari.

On Monday, Indigenistas Associados (INA), an institution that represents agents working for Funai, released a dossier with the Institute of Socioeconomic Studies, accusing Bolsonaro's government of persecuting public employees such as Pereira and transforming Funai into an "anti-indigenous" agency.

The document said Bolsonaro had carried out his threats to weaken Funai and not recognise "one more centimetre" of indigenous land with formal protection.

The changes have put indigenous communities - and those who work to protect them, like Pereira - at greater risk, Fernando de Luiz Brito Vianna, INA president and one of the dossier authors, told our correspondent. That grave concern now seems to be playing out in reality.

Meanwhile, over in Bonn at the U.N. climate talks, things got off to a stormy start, as developing countries and campaigners remain sceptical about rich countries' commitment both to helping the vulnerable adapt to, and minimising growing losses from, extreme weather and rising seas.

The negotiations are tangled over whether a new global goal on adaptation and discussions around financing for loss and damage should be made official items on the agenda - which would give them far more weight and prevent them becoming a "talk shop".

The V20 group of 55 most at-risk countries released an analysis finding that the surging costs of climate change-driven destruction made them poorer by about one-fifth in the past two decades - and have launched their own effort to road-test how loss and damage finance could work in practice.

And new research shows that pledges made so far by donors to boost sparse funding for adaptation will add up to little more than half of the $40 billion a year by 2025 as promised at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last November.

Back in the real world, we've been busy exploring how climate change is hitting hardest those who can least afford to deal with it.

In India, our correspondent spoke to workers feeling the effects of soaring temperatures in boiling hot factories without air conditioning and cool water - and increasingly falling sick as a result.

In Mexico's drought-hit industrial hub of Monterrey, we report on the irony of residents having to buy water from drinks firms that extract the precious resource from nearby wells, stoking a number of protests at bottling plants since water rationing began earlier this year.

And in Africa, small amounts of money are starting to trickle down from philanthropists and others to help cities like Mozambique's Beira repair its cyclone-battered fish market and move flood-prone communities to safer places.

But far more funding is, and will be, needed to deal with these problems - a call that is likely to become louder and more urgent ahead of Egypt's COP27 summit. We'll be covering it, as ever...

We hope you'll notice a welcome change in this week's newsletter. Many of you had said our links were too hard to see - so we've shifted the colour to make them easier to read. Hope that helps!

Megan

Uganda chiefs fight to save 'sacred' shea trees felled for fuel
Northern Uganda's revered shea trees are under threat from climate change and illegal loggers who turn the wood into charcoal and sell the fuel for use in cooking

Vanished Amazon expert Pereira sought mission outside Brazil's weakened watchdog
Sent to a desk job after President Jair Bolsonaro's election, indigenous protector Bruno Pereira took leave and returned to the field - but is now missing with British journalist Dom Phillips

As taps run dry, Mexican drought fuels anger over water inequality
Strict rationing has left millions of Monterrey residents without tap water for hours or days at a time, fueling long-standing anger over water concessions that favor big companies - including soft drinks and beer makers

EXPLAINER: Are we making real progress towards 'net zero' emissions?
Many countries and companies have set 'net zero' goals to curb global warming - but they are still too weak to kickstart the huge changes needed in how we live, work and play

Women are leading India’s EV revolution. What can the world learn from them?
While major players in the global auto industry are dominated by men, women are finding success at Indian electric vehicle companies

From Dhaka to Freetown, climate migration puts cities on alert
In climate-vulnerable nations, city mayors say they need cash and a bigger say in forging policies to deal with displacement caused by drought, storms and flooding

Climate-battered nations hunt elusive cash to adapt at U.N. talks
International funding to protect vulnerable communities from climate change impacts is starting to flow - but is still far too little, too late, say developing nations and experts

Vulnerable nations demand funding for climate losses, fearing UN 'talk shop'
Developing countries are losing wealth as they are hit by extreme weather and rising seas, says V20, amid calls for a new fund to direct money to repair the damage fast

Russia gas crisis highlights Europe's green energy storage problem
Renewable energy could help fill the gap as European nations move away from Russian gas - but storing it remains a concern. Could innovation help?

OPINION: Let’s revamp how we talk about climate change
To win real climate action, we need to clearly show how that benefits people – and talk more frankly about the risks of inaction

OPINION: It's about time we took investing in adaptation seriously
The consequences of extreme weather are cascading around the globe, hitting rich and poor alike - yet finance to build resilience to these impacts is falling woefully short

OPINION: How to stop trade rules undermining progress on climate change
Many current rules at the World Trade Organization are set up in a way which actively obstructs climate action

OPINION: Climate finance must foster a just transition in developing countries
The Global South needs international funding to help decision-makers tackle the inequities that could be created by a shift to greener economies

OPINION: Nature-based solutions in Brazil are key to reaching global climate targets
While projects to protect ecosystems are promising, they won't achieve their full potential so long as clear-cutting and forest burning continue unabated

OPINION: The world cannot afford inaction over the rising cost of disasters
The world cannot afford to continue its current trajectory in which countries create more new risks than they can prevent

OPINION: Africans are fighting to protect our oceans, food and jobs
Offshore gas exploration now threatens the sealife that West Africans depend on in whole new ways

OPINION: It’s time to act together to protect oceans
On World Ocean Day, ocean governance needs a comprehensive rethink