By Vanessa Dezem15 June 2015 (Bloomberg) – After drought pushed São Paulo to the verge of severe water rationing, late summer rains gave the state-run utility Sabesp, Brazil’s biggest water provider, a second chance to fix infrastructure that city officials blamed for the crisis. With the dry season starting, it’s a rush against time to […]
By Julie Cohen9 June 2015 (UCSB) – A combination of drought, heat and insects is responsible for the death of more than 12 million trees in California, according to a new study from UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Members of the NCEAS working group studying environmental factors contributing to […]
By Claire Rigby15 April 2015 São Paulo (The Guardian) – With water levels worryingly low in at least two of São Paulo’s largest reservoirs, insecurity around water has become a fact of life for most paulistanos – as has a newfound interest in self-reliance and thrift: in stored water, rainwater collection and reduced usage. Yet […]
By John C. Cannon 20 May 2015 (mongabay.com) – More than 9,400 hectares of closed-canopy Amazonian rainforest has been removed for two oil palm plantations in the Peruvian region of Ucayali since 2011, according to scientists working for MAAP, the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project. The two plantations are linked to Czech entrepreneur Dennis […]
By Tiago Dantas 8 April 2015 [Translation by Bing] SÃO PAULO (O Globo) – The main reservoirs of São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte have reached the end of the summer with at least 40% less water than they had at the beginning of April 2014. Although consumption of the population has fallen, experts assess […]
By Stan Lehman 2 April 2015 SÃO PAULO (Associated Press) – Brazil’s biggest city has recorded its rainiest March since 2008, but the worst drought in more than 80 years has left reservoir levels critically low and water experts fear that strict water rationing may still loom for São Paulo as it enters the April-September […]
By Nigel Sizer, Rachael Petersen, James Anderson, Matt Hansen, Peter Potapov, and David Thau2 April 2015 (WRI) – New, high-resolution satellite-based maps released today by the University of Maryland and Google on Global Forest Watch, a partnership of over 60 organizations convened by the World Resources Institute, reveal a significant recent surge in tree cover […]
By Stephen Chen29 March 2015 (SCMP) – Thick smog could kill off most southern China’s natural forests within decades and threatens trees around the world unless nations take action, say scientists. A 13-year study by Chinese scientists has revealed strong evidence to show the danger is being caused by nitrogen emissions in the atmosphere. “It […]
10 February 2015 (Conservation Letters) – Drivers of declines in status for pollinator birds (1988-2012) and mammals (1996-2008). ABSTRACT: Biodiversity is declining, with direct and indirect effects on ecosystem functions and services that are poorly quantified. Here we develop the first global assessment of trends in pollinators, focusing on pollinating birds and mammals. A Red […]
By Priscila Jordao and Silvio Cascione; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn26 March 2015 SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil will import electricity from Argentina and Uruguay this year, the government said in its official gazette on Thursday, the latest step to fend off energy rationing as reservoirs of local hydroelectric plants remain at very low levels. […]
