The Amazonian apocalypse is just around the corner, according to scientists gathered at the conference launching the International Year of Biodiversity. By Stephen Leahy PARIS, Feb 1 (Tierramérica).- The Amazon forest “is very close to a tipping point,” and if destruction continues, it could shrink to one third of its original size in just 65 […]
By Gary DuffyBBC News, Sao Paulo Brazil’s government has granted an environmental licence for the construction of a controversial hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest. Environmental groups say the Belo Monte dam will cause devastation in a large area of the rainforest and threaten the survival of indigenous groups. However, the government says whoever is […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comJanuary 24, 2010 From 2003-2006, Java lost approximately 2,500 hectares a year (10,000 hectares of forest in total) according to the Forestry Ministry. Despite the rate of loss being far lower in Java than other Indonesian islands (such as Borneo, Sumatra, and Sulawesi), Java is particularly threatened because there is so little […]
www.wildmadagascar.org via MongabayJanuary 11, 2010 Madagascar has legalized the export of rosewood logs, possibly ushering in renewed logging of the country’s embattled rainforest parks. The transitional authority led by president Andry Rajoelina, who seized power during a military coup last March, today released a decree that allows the export of rosewood logs harvested from the […]
By Christine Dell’Amore in CopenhagenNational Geographic NewsDecember 18, 2009 The Amazon’s “flying rivers”—humid air currents that deliver water to the vast rain forest—may be ebbing, which could have dire consequences for the region’s ability to help curb global warming, an expert said this week at the Copenhagen climate conference. Rising temperatures in the Amazon region, […]
Paraguay lost nearly 40 percent of its Atlantic Forest between 1990 and 2000 By Rebecca Lindsey. Sandwiched between Argentina to the southwest and Brazil to the northeast, landlocked Paraguay possesses remarkable ecological richness for its relatively small (about the size of California) area. The northwestern part of the country is occupied by the dry woodlands […]
By James Murray, BusinessGreen, Monday 23 November 2009 at 14:24:00 The world is dangerously close to climatic “tipping points” that could result in catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences, according to a major new study commissioned by the WWF and global insurance giant Allianz. The report from the UK’s Tyndall Centre warns that, unless carbon […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comNovember 10, 2009 Forty percent of lowland forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) were cleared from 1990 to 2005, reports a high resolution assessment of land cover change in Indonesia. The research, conducted by Matthew Hansen of South Dakota State University, and colleagues, found that Indonesia lost 21.35 million hectares […]
By GUY CHAZAN Criticism is mounting against Italian energy giant Eni SpA’s plans to squeeze oil from the tar sands of the Republic of Congo, which campaigners claim could endanger one of the world’s largest tropical rain forests. Eni says the crude would be produced in areas of grassy savannah, and wouldn’t harm the local […]
By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent Lush tropical rainforest once covered almost all of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And just half a century ago, 80 per cent remained. But since then, rampant logging and burning has destroyed nearly half that cover, and made the country the world’s third largest emitter of […]
