Why are the lost tribes now emerging from the Amazon?

By Angus Macqueen20 February 2016 (Guardian) – Footage of a man handing bananas to two naked men in the middle of an Amazonian river went viral in late June 2014. At the time, the Brazilians claimed it was a once in a generation event – that the moment of “first contact” was caught on camera. […]

Seven million hectares of forests have been lost in Argentina over the past 20 years – ‘We are facing a serious forest emergency’

By Ruxandra Guidi 19 February 2016 (mongabay.com) – Agriculture in Argentina has expanded at an accelerated rate in the past twenty years due to technological advances, the use of genetically modified crops, and, in particular, to the cultivation of soybean. The South American country is the first global exporter of soy, and the biggest provider […]

Drought ends in São Paulo but future still uncertain

By Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Brad Brooks and Bill Trott 18 February 2016 SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – Water levels at the main reservoir in Brazil’s largest city of São Paulo have more than doubled since the El Niño climate phenomenon ended a two-year drought, although industrialists and activists warn fresh shortages may be just a […]

Wildlife slaughtered as Amazon rainforest burns for Belo Monte dam construction – Burning timber fuels Brazil’s illegal lumber market

By Ana Aranha; translated by Holly Holmes      27 January 2016 (Upside Down World) – Source in Portuguese: Reporterbrasil.org This report follow up on an earlier article by Ana Aranha, published by Upside Down World here. Gliding through the waters of the Xingu River in Pará, between white sand beaches and four-story trees, the contrast is […]

Four billion people face severe water scarcity, new research finds – ‘The results imply the global water situation is much worse than suggested by previous studies’

By Damian Carrington  12 February 2016 (Guardian) – At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis. The revelation shows water shortages, one of the most dangerous challenges the world faces, is far worse previously […]

Ecuador signs contracts with China oil giant for oil exploration in Amazon – Nearly 1 million acres of rainforest at risk – Indigenous people protest

1 February 2016 (Pachamama Alliance) – The indigenous people in this region are strongly opposed to any plans for oil development and vow to resist and stop these projects. They know the environmental and social disaster that oil development will bring. On January 26, the government of Ecuador formally signed exploration contracts for two Amazonian […]

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon down by 49 percent, but degradation up 323 percent

(Imazon) – SAD detected 99 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in November 2015. That represented a 49% reduction in relation to November 2014 when deforestation totaled 195 square kilometers. It was possible to monitor 80% of the forest area in the Brazilian Amazon, while in November 2014 monitoring covered a smaller area […]

Researchers find the world’s forests are fragmenting at three times the rate of forest loss as a whole

By Mike Gaworecki 4 February 2016 (mongabay.com) – Recent research by the U.S. Forest Service finds that the world lost interior forest at three times the rate of forest loss as a whole. They write that this fragmentation could severely jeopardize the ability of remaining forests to provide critical wildlife habitat and other ecological functions. […]

Imperiled Amazon freshwater ecosystems urgently need basin-wide study, management – ‘The consequences are so overwhelming that they are hard to explain’

By Claire Salisbury1 February 2016 (mongabay.com) – The Amazon’s freshwater ecosystems are at risk because current policy and existing protected areas fail to protect the connectivity of the water cycle, scientists warn. The new study, published in Global Change Biology, examines the factors degrading the Amazon basin’s hydrological connectivity: the movement of water — and […]

Study reveals Amazon deforestation tends to decrease but remains high – 222,248 square kilometers destroyed between 2000 and 2013

(RAISG) – The Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG) reveals in a recent publication that the loss of original forest cover of the Amazon rainforest decelerated between 2000 and 2013 relative to the 1970-2000 period. Despite this deceleration, figures remain high within the entire region for the three periods analyzed (2000-2005, 2005-2010, 2010-2013). The […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial