mining – Page 3 – Desdemona Despair

Satellite view of deforestation in Rondônia state, Brazil, 1975-2001. Data gathered by several satellites in the Landsat series of spacecraft shows enormous tracts of forest disappearing in Rondonia, Brazil from 1975 through 2001. The human phenomenon of deforestation starts, especially in the dense tropical forests of Brazil, when systematic cutting of a road opens new territory to potential deforestation by penetrating into new areas. Clearing of vegetation along the sides of those roads then tends to fan out to create a pattern akin to a fish skeleton. As new paths appear in the woods, more areas become vulnerable. Finally, the spaces between the “skeletal bones” fall to defoliation. Photo: Joycelyn Thomson / Horace Mitchell / Darrel Williams / NASA / GSFC

October 29, 2022

Amazon governor revokes Amazon rainforest protection in re-election bid – “It will make it more difficult to expel the invaders. They will destroy what’s left.”

By Fabiano Maisonnave 29 October 2022 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – In an effort to get more votes and win reelection, the governor of the Brazilian state of Rondônia on Friday revoked the protection of a large swath of Amazon forest. Marcos Rocha, a staunch ally of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, signed a decree that […]

Smoke rises from a forest fire in the Transamazonica highway region, in the municipality of Labrea, Amazonas state, Brazil, 17 September 2022. Despite the smoke clogging the air of entire Amazon cities, state elections have largely ignored environmental issues. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is seeking a second four-year term against leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who ruled Brazil between 2003 and 2010. Photo: Edmar Barros / AP Photo

October 24, 2022

Worst Brazil forest fires in a decade, yet election silence – “Your administration is the one that has set biomes, forests, and my Pantanal wetlands on fire. Your administration favored miners and loggers and protected them. You, in this regard, were the worst president in Brazil’s history.”

By Fabiano Maisonnave 1 October 2022 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – September has come and gone, marking another painful milestone for the world’s largest rainforest. It’s the worst month for fire in the Amazon in over a decade. Satellite sensors detected over 42,000 fires in 30 days according to Brazil’s national space institute. It is […]

Dredging barges operated by miners illegally mining gold converge on the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil, 25 November 2021. One of Brazil’s biggest gold refiners, which has been accused of processing gold mined illegally deep in the Amazon rainforest, has been stripped of an important industry certification that global manufacturers from Apple to Tesla rely on to root out abuses in their supply chains. Photo: Edmar Barros / AP Photo

October 23, 2022

Big Brazilian gold refiner delisted amid Amazon mining probe – “In Brazil, as in so many gold-producing countries, illegality enters into the supply chain very early on”

By Joshua Goodman and David Biller 5 October 2022 MIAMI (AP) – One of Brazil’s biggest gold refiners, which processes gold suspected of being mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, has been stripped of an important industry seal of approval that global manufacturers from Apple to Tesla rely on to root out abuses in their […]

The conservation status of the world’s 58,497 tree species in 2022. Graphic: BGCI

September 17, 2022

At least one-third of Earth’s trees face extinction – Scientists issue “warning to humanity” that tree species extinction could bring economic as well as ecosystem crisis

LONDON, 1 September 2022 (BGCI) – Today a new paper by leading scientists and the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) reveals the severe impact that tree species extinction will have on other species, ecosystems and livelihoods. This comes exactly one year on from the landmark State of the World’s Trees report, which examined global tree species and found that a […]

Indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara from the Guajajara ethnic group shows her hands painted in red symbolizing blood, during a protest against Violence, illegal logging, mining and ranching, and to demand government protection for their reserves, one day before the celebration of "Amazon Day," in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, 4 September 2022. Photo: Andre Penner / AP Photo

September 7, 2022

Indigenous forest guardians reported slain in Brazil – “We are here to say: enough with this violence, enough with genocide against our people and our territory”

RIO DE JANEIRO, 4 September 2022 (AP) – Two members of the Brazilian Indigenous group known for its forest guardians who combat illegal deforestation have been killed according to the Indigenist Missionary Council, a nonprofit that monitors violence against native peoples. Forest guard Janildo Oliveira Guajajara was killed with multiple gunshots from behind, while another […]

Lake Sawa in Iraq, 6 July 2022. The lake is filled with only 5 percent to 10 percent of its initial area. Photo: Laurence Geai / Le Monde

September 5, 2022

Iraq’s fertile valley is dying – Authorities estimate that the Euphrates could dry up as early as 2040

By Hélène Sallon 21 August 2022 (Le Monde) – From the top of the old tourist complex built on the shores of Lake Sawa, in the province of Al-Muthanna in southern Iraq, the desert stretches as far as the eye can see. The buildings have been abandoned since the 2003 US-British invasion. “In the past, […]

A rare earth mine near the Chinese border owned by a company that has no permits. On paper, Sin Kyaing Company is owned by a local militia leader named Lagwi Bawm Lang. But like other Burmese companies in the rare earth mining industry, it is really a front for illegal investment by Chinese businesspeople. Photo: Global Witness

August 14, 2022

New evidence shows massive and rapid expansion of illicit rare earths industry in Myanmar – “China has effectively offshored this toxic industry to Myanmar over the past few years, with terrible consequences for local communities and the environment”

9 August 2022 (Global Witness) – Myanmar has seen a rapid expansion of illegal mining of heavy rare earth minerals, used in green energy technologies, smartphones and home electronics, with the industry fuelling human rights abuses, environmental destruction and funding local militias linked to the brutal military regime, our new investigation reveals today. Our report shows that […]

Poster demanding justice for Dom Phillips, a British journalist, and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on indigenous people, who were murdered while doing investigative work in a remote region of the Amazon rainforest in early June 2022. Graphic: Cris Vector

June 27, 2022

Assassinated British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira laid to rest in Brazil – Indigenous group Univaja demands probe into murders – “They tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest and its inhabitants”

By Tom Phillips and Andrew Downie 26 June 2022 Niterói (The Guardian) – The British journalist Dom Phillips has been laid to rest in Brazil, exactly three weeks after he was gunned down while journeying through the Amazon with the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. Pereira and Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, disappeared while travelling on […]

Aerial view of an illegal mining operation on Yanomami land in Roraima, in the Amazon rainforest. By April 2021, a Greenpeace flyover had already shown the expansion of the mine in the Yanomami land, which a year later was the second most deforested indigenous territory in the entire Amazon. Photo: Christian Braga / Greenpeace

June 4, 2022

Amazon deforestation in April 2022 increased by 54 percent, making it the worst April in the last 15 years

11 May 2022 (Imazon) – The Amazon is getting closer and closer to suffering from a new annual record for deforestation. However, there is still time to reduce forest loss before the so-called “deforestation calendar” closes at the end of July. And the time to act must be now, because in May begins the dry […]

At this pavement stall, a worker rests as temperatures in May 2022 crossed 45 degrees Celsius. Photo: Anjana Pasricha / VOA

May 29, 2022

India faces wider coal shortages, worsening power-outage risks – Projected annual coal shortage nearly three times earlier projection

By Sudarshan Varadhan 27 May 2022 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is expected to face a wider coal shortage during the quarter ending September 2022 over expectations of higher power demand, an internal power ministry presentation seen by Reuters showed, worsening risks of widespread power outages. The energy-hungry nation expects local coal supply to fall […]