Secret titanium mine threatens Cambodia’s most untouched forest

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comSeptember 01, 2010 Although the mining consortium, United Khmer Group, has been drawing up plans to build a massive titanium mine in a Cambodian protected forest for three years, the development did not become public knowledge until rural villagers came face-to-face with bulldozers and trucks building access roads. Reaction against the secret […]

Morgan Stanley to underwrite coal mining on Borneo

www.mongabay.com September 01, 2010 Morgan Stanley, CIMB Securities, and Credit Suisse will underwrite the initial public offering of PT Borneo Lumbung Energi (Borneo Energy), a company that owns Asmin Koalindo Tuhup, a mining company that operates in Central Kalimantan in Indonesia Borneo, reports ANTARA. The listing aims to raise roughly $250 by selling 30 percent […]

Amazon deforestation falls significantly in 2010, according to preliminary data

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comAugust 31, 2010 Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is down significantly since last year, according to preliminary estimates released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and Imazon, a Brazil-based NGO that tracks forest loss and degradation across the Amazon. Analysis of NASA MODIS data by Imazon found some 1,488 […]

Photo album tells story of wildlife decline in Sumatra

NEW YORK (August 30, 2010) – With a simple click of the camera, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Zoological Society of London have developed a new way to accurately monitor long-term trends in rare and vanishing species over large landscapes. Called the “Wildlife Picture Index,” (WPI) the methodology collects images from remote “camera […]

Google Earth animation shows Brazil plans to turn Amazon River into a ‘series of stagnant reservoirs’

www.mongabay.com August 30, 2010 The decision last week by the Brazilian government to move forward on the $17 billion Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu river will set in motion a plan to build more than 100 dams across the Amazon basin, potentially turning tributaries of the world’s largest river into ‘an endless series of […]

Forest-clearing fires double in Brazil as environmental regulations go unenforced — Twitter sensation ensues

www.mongabay.com August 27, 2010 The number of fires burning in Brazil has more than doubled compared with the same period last year. Surprisingly, the news has sparked a Twitter sensation, with more than 120,000 users “tweeting” messages with the hashtag “#chegadequeimadas” about the fires in a 48 hour window. The phenomenon emerged after analysis of […]

Brazil green light for Amazon dam — ‘Death warrant for the Xingu river’

BBC26 August 2010 Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam. After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium. Critics say the project will […]

Plantation linked to junta is ‘destroying’ Burmese tiger reserve

By Peter PophamThursday, 26 August 2010 The world’s largest tiger reserve, in the wilds of northern Burma, is being rapidly eroded as a businessman with links to the junta replaces trees with cash crops, according to a report published yesterday. The Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was created in 2001 with the support […]

Higher temperatures cause longer Alaska growing season and loss of boreal forest

By Molly Rettig, Fairbanks News-Miner Monday, August 02, 2010 FAIRBANKS – One hundred years ago, the growing season in Fairbanks was less than three months long. Last year, some local gardeners were still harvesting broccoli and cabbage in mid-September. Fairbanks is 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter and 11 percent drier than it was in the early […]

Yellowstone bears go hungry after beetle infestation destroys whitebark pines

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press WriterAugust 22, 2010 (AP) — Yellowstone’s grizzlies are going to be particularly hungry this fall, and that means more dangerous meetings with humans in a year that is already the area’s deadliest on record. Scientists report that a favorite food of many bears, nuts from whitebark pine cones, is scarce. […]

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