By Martin Hickman11 April 2011 An “upside-down forest” of small trees with deep roots, Brazil’s wildlife-rich outback is home to a 20th of the world’s species, including the spectacular blue and yellow macaw and giant armadillos. Yet this vast wilderness – as big the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain put together – is being […]
By Ruth Dasso Marlaire, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.29 March 2011 A new NASA-funded study has revealed widespread reductions in the greenness of the forests in the vast Amazon basin in South America caused by the record-breaking drought of 2010. “The greenness levels of Amazonian vegetation — a measure of its health — decreased […]
By Jacob Goldstein1 March 2011 China holds about $1.2 trillion in U.S. government debt, according to the Treasury Department’s latest figures. That’s about 30 percent higher than the previous estimate. This is part of those global imbalances we keep talking about. China exports more than it imports; the U.S. imports more than it exports. So […]
Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month. More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse. The Brazilian government has said it will set up an early warning system to […]
Residents stand on the porch of their home at the edge of landslide damage in the Caleme neighbourhood of Teresopolis, Brazil. Felipe Dana / AP Deadly flooding and mudslides in Brazil SAO PAULO, Brazil— ReutersPublished Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011 9:14AM EST Brazilian officials say the floods and mudslides that hit Rio de Janeiro state last […]
Scientists: Climate change no longer a theory; it’s happening. By LINSEY DAVIS and JENNIFER METZJan. 13, 2011 The pictures today from around the world of dramatic rooftop rescues from raging waters, makes it seem as though natural disasters are becoming an everyday occurrence. But they’re not all that natural; climate scientists say man-made global warming […]
AlJazeera English January 13, 2011 Floods and mudslides in Brazil have killed more than 330 people, with more feared dead after three towns just north of Rio De Janeiro were hit on Wednesday. A month’s worth of rain fell in one day in parts of Rio De Janeiro state and roads and bridges were swept […]
By Nick Sundt11/23/2010 The Amazon region is experiencing the third extreme drought in a dozen years — and it may turn out to be the worst on record. The droughts coupled with recent research findings, suggest that rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will rapidly increase the frequency and severity of droughts in the region. […]
Rio Negro, 9 December 2008 Rio Negro, 10 December 2010 By Holli RiebeekDecember 11, 2010 Widespread, severe drought gripped much of the Amazon Basin in 2010, straining the network of water that makes up the Amazon River. By December 3, one of the Amazon’s largest tributaries, the Negro River, reached a record-low 13.63 […]
www.mongabay.comOctober 12, 2010 Brazil will auction large blocks of the Amazon rainforest to private timber companies as part of an effort to reduce demand for illegal logging, reports Reuters. The government will grant 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of logging concessions by the end of the year, according to Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of […]
