While trying to put together a review of what happened to Venezuela’s environment in 2021, conservationists ran into a problem. The government publishes virtually no statistics on things like deforestation, infrastructure or mining, and it often actively blocks researchers from investigating threats to local ecosystems. Last year, the government appeared to lean more heavily on the country’s natural resources, expanding mining activity and increasing oil production in hopes of creating some economic stability. The result was another year of significant environmental devastation. Although there…