By David Hill 15 October 2013 (theguardian.com) – The decision by Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa to abandon a plan to permanently forgo exploiting hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in return for at least US$3.6bn in compensation – the “Yasuni-ITT Initiative” – has sparked severe non-state media criticism in Ecuador, calls for a referendum, […]
Contact: Press Officepress@pik-potsdam.de49-331-288-2507Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)8 October 2013 More than 500 million people might face increasing water scarcity This is shown by complementary studies now published by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) [Comparing projections of future changes in runoff from hydrological and biome models in ISI-MIP, Asynchronous […]
By Jeremy Hance 3 October 2013 (mongabay.com) – Over 100 scientists have issued a statement to the Ecuadorian Congress warning that proposed oil development and accompanying roads in Yasuní National Park will degrade its “extraordinary biodiversity.” The statement by a group dubbed the Scientists Concerned for Yasuní outlines in detail how the park is not […]
By Rhett A. Butler 26 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Video of illegal gold mining operations that have turned a portion of the Amazon rainforest into a moonscape went viral on YouTube after a popular radio and TV journalist in Peru highlighted the story. Last week Peruvian journalist and politician Güido Lombardi directed his audience to […]
By KATE GALBRAITH4 September 2013 SAN FRANCISCO (The New York Times) – The huge wildfire scorching one of America’s most beloved national parks, Yosemite, has rained ash on San Francisco’s water supply and jolted the nation. Experts say this is just a foretaste of major fires to come, in the United States and much of […]
By Rhett A. Butler4 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Data released this week by Terra-i, a collaborative mapping initiative, shows that deforestation in Ecuador for the first three months of 2013 was pacing more than 300 percent ahead of last year’s rate. The report comes shortly after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa killed off a proposed plan […]
By Frank Bajak20 August 2013 LIMA, Peru (AP) – Members of an Indian tribe that has long lived in voluntary isolation in Peru’s southeastern Amazon attempted to make contact with outsiders for a second time since 2011, leading to a tense standoff at a river hamlet. Authorities are unsure what provoked the three-day encounter, but […]
By Rhett A. Butler 26 June 2013 (Mongabay) – Peru had the largest extent of forest loss in 2012, losing 48,000 hectares, an increase of 15,431 ha or 47 percent over 2011. Venezuela (11,606 ha), Colombia (10,069 ha), Bolivia (6,975 ha), Suriname (6,569 ha), Guyana (3,713 ha), Ecuador (1,663 ha), and French Guyana (1,338 ha) […]
By Rhett A. Butler26 June 2013 (mongabay.com) – Peru had the largest extent of forest loss in 2012, losing 48,000 hectares, an increase of 15,431 ha or 47 percent over 2011. Venezuela (11,606 ha), Colombia (10,069 ha), Bolivia (6,975 ha), Suriname (6,569 ha), Guyana (3,713 ha), Ecuador (1,663 ha), and French Guyana (1,338 ha) followed. […]
6 July 2013 (mongabay.com) – Data released by the Brazilian government Friday confirms an increase in Amazon forest loss. Brazil’s National Space Research Institute, INPE, updated data from its near-real-time deforestation tracking system, known as DETER. The system showed a near five-fold increase in forest loss during May 2013 relative to a year earlier, from […]
