29 October 2013 (mongabay.com) – Roads are rapidly expanding across the Brazilian Amazon opening up once remote rainforests to loggers, miners, ranchers, farmers, and land speculators, finds a new study published in the journal Regional Environmental Change. Researchers from Imperial College London and Brazil-based Imazon used maps of existing roads and satellite imagery to track […]
By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network27 October 2013 LONDON (Climate Central) – Researchers say the southern part of the Amazon rainforest is at a far higher risk of dieback than the models used in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The research team, led by Professor Rong Fu of […]
By Rhett A. Butler 23 October 2013 (mongabay.com) – Illegal logging remains pervasive in the Brazilian state of Pará, finds an assessment released Monday by Imazon. Analyzing satellite data and records from Pará’s environmental agency Sema, the Brazil-based NGO found that 78 percent of logging documented via satellite between August 2011 and July 2012 was […]
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, […]
[Can’t verify the truthiness of this video (it looks a bit stagey), but Desdemona completely supports the message.] 9 October 2013 (RAN) – http://InYourPalm.org – TAKE ACTION TODAY TO STAND WITH THE LAST WILD ORANGUTANS. Rainforests are being destroyed for palm oil and pushing the last wild orangutans to the brink of extinction. At Rainforest […]
3 October 2013 (Reuters) – Twenty-one Nobel laureates including South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu have written to European Union leaders urging them to implement a law that would label oil from tar sands as dirtier than other crudes. The EU tar sands proposal has incensed the government of Canada, whose economy is highly dependent […]
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 Sue Palminteri 1 October 2013 (mongabay.com) – Forests are increasingly limited to steep slopes as mankind continues to clear lowland areas suitable for agriculture and urban areas, finds a new study published in Nature Communications. The trend has significant implications for global biodiversity. As human societies have expanded, they have been remarkably efficient at […]
25 September 2013 (borneoproject.org) – It has been a tragic week for the people affected by the Murum Dam in Sarawak. Sarawak Energy has begun the impoundment of the Murum dam, starting a process that threatens to drown over 2,750 sq. kilometers of forest and traditionally-owned land. We have also heard from our partners at […]
3 September 2013 (Greenpeace) – The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 to promote the use of sustainable palm oil through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. It is a voluntary association, consisting of palm oil producers, processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors as well as […]
