Farming now worse for climate than clearing forests

By John Upton3 February 2015 (Climate Central) – Efforts to restrain deforestation are working, which means pollution from farming has increased in importance. The federal raids in Alta Floresta, Brazil surprised locals in 2005. The year before, nearly 60,000 acres of rainforest had been torn out of the municipality. Now farmers and loggers were being […]

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon increased by more than 200 percent in previous 6 months; forest degradation increased by more than 700 percent

By Antônio Fonseca,  Carlos Souza Jr., and Adalberto Veríssimo23 February 2015 (Imazon) – […] In January 2015, 288 square kilometers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon were detected by SAD. That represents a 169% increase in relation to January 2014 when deforestation totaled 107 square kilometers. In January 2015, deforestation was concentrated in Mato Grosso […]

Taps start to run dry in Brazil’s largest city – São Paulo devastated by its worst drought on record – ‘We’re witnessing an unprecedented water crisis in one of the world’s great industrial cities’

[This is an interesting situation: A technogenic climate catastrophe that isn’t caused by global warming, but instead by deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. –Des] By Zachary Davies Boren   23 February 2015 (The Independent) – As Brazil continues to battle a historic drought, millions of people in its largest city are about to run out of […]

Image of the Day: ‘Welcome to the Cantareira desert’

15 January 2015 (EPA) – A message in graffiti which reads ‘Welcome to the Cantareira desert’ is written on a car which was once submerged in water, at the Atibainha dam, part of the Cantareira System, which shows lowest levels of water, in Nazare Paulista city, 90km away from Sao Paulo, Brazil, 15 January 2015. […]

Brazil drought prompts drastic measures to save water – ‘São Paulo was known as the drizzle city. Now it’s kind of a desert.’

By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro10 February 2015 (NPR) – Last Sunday, hundreds of Paulistanos, as the residents of São Paulo are known, dressed up and danced on the streets at one of the dozens of block parties that happen in advance of the annual celebration known as Carnival. Except this year – among the pirates and Viking […]

Drought may force Brazil’s biggest city to cut back water service to 2 days a week – ‘The water is at its end, our patience too’

São Paulo, January 28, 2015 (Associated Press) –  The worst drought to hit Brazil’s biggest city in decades may leave residents with water service only two days a week. São Paulo water utility company Sabesp says a five days-off, two days-on system would be a last-ditch effort to prevent the collapse of the Cantareira water […]

Brazil environment minister says drought is worst on record – Rio de Janeiro state in ‘the worst water crisis in its history’

BRASILIA, Brazil, 24 January 2015 (Australian News.Net) – Brazil’s Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira has told the media following a crisis meeting at the presidential palace in Brasilia that the country is experiencing its worst drought since 1930. The states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais are the worst affected, she said after […]

Drought reduces São Paulo’s main water reservoir to 6 percent of capacity – ‘The water supply situation is critical and could become even more critical if the lack of rain and hot weather continue’

São Paulo, 16 January 2015 (Associated Press) – Halfway through the rainy season, the key reservoir for the southern hemisphere’s largest city holds just 6% of its capacity, and experts warned Friday that São Paulo’s authorities must take urgent steps to prevent the worst drought in more than 80 years from drying it out. The […]

Deforestation puts cultural survival of forest-dependent peoples at risk

10 December 2014 (mongabay.com) – Forest-dependent peoples face grave threats from deforestation and other depredations, warns a new report that urges greater recognition of traditional land use and support of community-led initiatives to fight forest loss. The report, published Monday during climate talks in Lima, is based on research by dozens of indigenous and forest […]

Deforestation may be at root of Brazil drought – ‘We’re like the Titanic moving straight toward the iceberg’

By BRAD BROOKS and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON 4 December 2014 SÃO PAULO (Associated Press) – Vera Lucia de Oliveira looks to the sky, hoping for any sign of rain. For weeks, the taps in her home have run dry as São Paulo has suffered its worst drought in eight decades, with rainfall at one-third the […]

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