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News articles on Brazil

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Mongabay.com news articles on brazil in blog format. Updated regularly.

Timber traffickers arrested in Brazil
(10/31/2005) Brazilian federal police on Wednesday arrested at least 43 people accused of forging and selling permits for the transport of tens of millions of dollars (Euros) worth of illegally cut lumber, authorities said.


Biopiracy fears hampering research in Brazilian Amazon
(10/30/2005) Somewhere in the Amazon there may be flora and fauna that hold the key to curing diseases ranging from cancer to multiple sclerosis. That, at any rate, is the dream. But the reality is that the search for the next miracle drugs is being hampered by a deep Brazilian suspicion of "biopiracy."


Pre-Columbian Amazon supported millions of people
(10/18/2005) Controversial evidence uncovered over the past decade suggests that the Amazon rainforest was once home to large sedentary populations of people. Besides the well-known empires of the Inca and their predecessors, the Huari, millions of people once lived in the forests and shaped the environment to suit their own needs.


Air medics deliver healthcare in the remote Amazon
(10/13/2005) National Air Mail isn't a letter-carrying service -- it's an airborne medical unit making rounds in the most isolated parts of the jungle.


Amazon at record low -- communities isolated, commerce stalled
(10/11/2005) The Amazon River in Peru and parts of Brazil is at its lowest level in 30 years of record keeping. While variable water levels are characteristic of the Amazon river ecosystem, the increasingly extreme fluctuations are of great concern. Low water levels are wreaking havoc on the shipping industry in the region. In Iquitos, a city in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon which is only accessible by plane or boat, ships and barges are having difficulty navigating the river, resulting in serious shipping delays. Local officials in Peru are blaming deforestation of the upper reaches of the Amazon in the Andes for the fall in river levels, although it is likely that larger forces are at least equally important. Warmer ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific and low sunspot activity is also affecting weather in the region, while warming in the north Atlantic -- which has helped trigger an unusually strong and destructive hurricane season -- may be preventing the formation of rain clouds over the Amazon Basin.


Extreme drought drops Amazon river to record low levels
(10/7/2005) The Amazon River in Peru and parts of Brazil is at its lowest level in 30 years of record keeping. While variable water levels are characteristic of the Amazon river ecosystem, the increasingly extreme fluctuations are of great concern. Low water levels are wreaking havoc on the shipping industry in the region. In Iquitos, a city in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon which is only accessible by plane or boat, ships and barges are having difficulty navigating the river, resulting in serious shipping delays. Local officials in Peru are blaming deforestation of the upper reaches of the Amazon in the Andes for the fall in river levels, although it is likely that larger forces are at least equally important. Warmer ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific and low sunspot activity is also affecting weather in the region. Brazilian meteorologists have discounted the theory that the severe hurricane season off the US Gulf coast has impacted the availability of moisture in the Amazon.


95% of mahogany from Peru is illegally logged says scientist
(10/6/2005) 95 percent of the mahogany that leaves the rainforests of Peru is logged illegally according to a scientist at the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazon.


Weight of flooded Amazon river causes Earth to sink 3 inches
(10/5/2005) As the Amazon River floods every year, a sizeable portion of South America sinks several inches because of the extra weight -- and then rises again as the waters recede, a study has found. This annual rise and fall of earth's crust is the largest ever detected, and it may one day help scientists tally the total amount of water on Earth.


Dodging bullets in Brazil with Greenpeace
(10/2/2005) When self-confessed hippie and Innocent smoothies entrepreneur Richard Reed travelled to the Amazon, he wasn't sure what to expect. But it certainly wasn't Greenpeace activists with bullet-proof vests and night-vision goggles. This is his travel journal.


Amazon river at record low levels; deforestation blamed
(9/30/2005) The Amazon River in Peru is at its lowest level in 30 years of record keeping according to a report in Peruvian daily newspaper El Comercio. Local officials say deforestation is the likely culprit of the low water levels. While variable water levels are characteristic of the Amazon river ecosystem, the increasingly extreme fluctuations are of great concern.


Number of Amazon forest fires in Mato Grosso, Brazil fall 44%
(9/21/2005) The Brazilian National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE) reports that fires have fallen 44% in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil when compared to last year's figures.


Pig iron production fueling Amazon deforestation
(9/21/2005) Pig iron production in the states of Para and Maranhao is fueling deforestation a Brazilian newspaper reports.


Tropical deforestation affects rainfall in North America
(9/20/2005) NASA research has found that deforestation in the tropics affects rainfall patterns in North America. Deforestation in the Amazon region of South America influences rainfall from Mexico to Texas and in the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly, deforesting lands in Central Africa affects precipitation in the upper and lower U.S Midwest, while deforestation in Southeast Asia was found to alter rainfall in China and the Balkan Peninsula.


Builder of rainforest canopy walkways believes conservation can be profitable
(9/20/2005) This month's issue of The Ecological Finance Review details Greenheart Conservation Company, a for-profit company that designs, builds and operates conservation based canopy walkways (canopy trails) and other nature-based attractions around the world. Operating on the premise that conservation can be economically viable, Greenheart believes that is has already become a "model of how to shift gears from an industrial to a green economy." Greenheart has developed or is developing canopy walkways in Peru, Nigeria, Madagascar, Ghana, Brazil, Guyana, the United Kingdon, and Canada.


Coca cultivation and eradication destroy rainforest
(9/15/2005) 1.8 million hectares of rainforest in Colombia have been destroyed to make room for drug plantations according to the director of Amazon Institute of Scientific Investigation.


NASA Satellite Data Used to Assess Amazon Deforestation
(9/15/2005) The Amazon, a vast tropical forest stretching across South America, is so large that is virtually impossible to study the evolving landscapes within the basin without the use of satellites. Scientists have used satellite imagery of the Amazon for more than 30 years to seek answers about this diverse ecosystem and the patterns and processes of land cover change. This technology continues to advance and a new study shows that NASA satellite images can allow scientists to more quickly and accurately assess deforestation in the Amazon.


Ancient 46-foot long crocodile found in Amazon
(9/3/2005) Peruvian scientists discovered the fossilized remains of a giant, 46-foot-(14-meter)-long crocodile deep in the Amazon rainf orest, lending credence to a theory that the Amazon was once a huge inland sea.


Amazon deforestation lower than last year says Brazil
(8/27/2005) Yesterday Brazil announced that 3,515 square miles (9,103 square kilometers) of Amazon rainforest were destroyed between August 2004 and July 2005, a marked decline from the 7,229 sq. mi. (18,723 sq. km.) in the same period a year earlier. While the government has tried to take credit for the drop, analysts say the slowing is more likely the result of lower commodity prices, giving farmers less incentive to clear forest land.


Chevron faces Billion-Dollar Liability for damage in Ecuador
(8/24/2005) ChevronTexaco, now Chevron Corp (CVX), appears to be losing ground in the environmental "Trial of the Century" in Ecuador's rainforest over Texaco's operation of a former concession, according to the environmental group Amazon Watch.


Brazil's growth as agricultural giant has cost -- LA Times
(8/22/2005) Saturday, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on Brazil's drive to become an agricultural giant. The country's breakneck growth has made it the world's biggest exporter of many agricultural products, but at a cost: some of Brazil's richest ecological areas have been plowed under for crops. Brazil has the highest biological diversity of any country on Earth.


Brazil to crackdown on illegal logging says Environment Minister
(8/9/2005) According to a report from Bloomberg, Brazil will increase the monitoring of logging in the Amazon rainforest and raise fines for those caught illegally clearing trees.


Landowner caught burning 2 million trees in the Amazon
(8/3/2005) A large plantation owner was caught burning almost 2 million trees in the Amazon to make way for a cattle pastures according to O Estado de S.Paulo, as translated by amazonia.org.br.


Brazil's grasslands could replace food production of American heartland
(8/1/2005) Today when people mention Brazil and agriculture, people often first envision the Amazon rainforest giving way to soybean plantations and cattle farms. While the Amazon is being converted for such purposes, the cerrado, a vast area of savanna-like grasslands covering more than 20% of the country's surface area, is increasingly under threat as farmers from the United States and Europe are setting their sights on the country's sizeable agricultural potential.


Amazon not holding expected carbon, carbon-credit trading scheme at risk?
(7/28/2005) The rivers of South America's Amazon basin are "breathing" far harder -- cycling the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide more quickly -- than anyone realized.


Scientists to set fire to Amazon rainforest to study its resilience
(7/19/2005) Woods Hole Research Center scientists will burn two and a half square kilometers of forest in the transition forest of northern Mato Grosso state in order to study the effects of fire on the rainforest and the forests' ability to recover from repeated burning.


Scientists to set fire to Amazon rainforest to study its resilience
(7/19/2005) Woods Hole Research Center scientists will burn two and a half square kilometers of forest in the transition forest of northern Mato Grosso state in order to study the effects of fire on the rainforest and the forests' ability to recover from repeated burning.


Rainforest plant helps treat psoriasis
(7/14/2005) A compound dervied from an Amazon-rainforest tree is effective in the treatment of the skin disease psoriasis according to a study released in late June in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.


Brazilian environment chief arrested on illegal forest-clearing charges
(6/3/2005) Blairo Maggi, governor of Brazil's Mato Grosso state and the world's largest soybean farmer, froze logging-permit approvals and fired his environment chief, one of dozens arrested yesterday on illegal forest-clearing charges.


Saving the Amazonian Rainforest Through Agricultural Certification
(6/3/2005) John Cain Carter is a Texan rancher who believes that landowners, despite being held in low regard by environmentalists, may be the potential saviors of the rainforest. Carter, among other somewhat environmentally-conscious, yet profit-oriented landowners, wants to promote responsible agricultural practices by encouraging consumers to provide incentives to growers and producers.


Second "uncontacted" tribe in Amazon rain forest threatened by loggers
(5/27/2005) A Brazilian Indian tribe armed with bows and arrows and unseen for years has been spotted in a remote Amazon region where clashes with illegal loggers are threatening its existence.


Prize recognizes largest contributor to Amazon rainforest destruction
(5/27/2005) The environmental group Greenpeace nominated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and five others for its first "Golden Chainsaw" prize -- to be awarded to the Brazilian deemed to have contributed most to the Amazon's destruction.


Paving of road brings change in the Amazon rainforest
(5/27/2005) Two articles on the effects of the BR163 highway from the AP.


Green party quits government to protest Amazon deforestation
(5/24/2005) According to a report from Reuters, legislators for Brazil's Green Party have quit the government in protest of its failure to slow deforestation in the Amazon.


Rainforest loss in the Amazon tops 200,000 square miles, new figures from Brazilian government
(5/20/2005) New figures from the Brazilian government show that 10,088 square miles of rain forest were destroyed in the 12 months ending in August 2004. Deforestation in the Amazon in 2004 was the second worst ever as rain forest was cleared for cattle ranches and soy farms.


Vampire Fish discovered in the Amazon
(5/19/2005) A new species, dubbed the 'vampire fish,' was recently discovered in the Araguaia River of the Amazon Basin.


Farming the world's largest fish - an alternative to deforestation
(5/19/2005) Integrated aquaculture offers great potential for sustainable poverty allievation in the Amazon region. It reduces the need to clear land for subsistence agriculture while generating significant economic and nutritional benefits for poor Amazonian colonists.


How did rainforest shamans gain their boundless knowledge on medicinal plants?
(5/14/2005) For thousands of years, indigenous people have extensively used rainforest plants for their health needs -- the peoples of Southeast Asian forests used 6,500 species, while Northwest Amazonian forest dwellers used 1300 species for medicinal purposes. Perhaps more staggering than their boundless knowledge of medicinal plants, is how shamans and medicinemen could have acquired such knowledge. There are over 100,000 plant species in tropical rainforests around the globe, how did indigenous peoples know what plants to use and combine especially when so many are either poisonous or have no effect when ingested. Many treatments combine a wide variety of completely unrelated innocuous plant ingredients to produce a dramatic effect.


Surfing in Paradise: Surf Trip to Bahia, Brazil
(4/27/2005) Surfing in Bahia is great even with the aguaviva jellyfish.


Amazon rain forest continues to fall; 200,000 square miles gone since 1978
(4/24/2005) Forest loss may worsen as Brazil seeks to expand agricultural production and fires threaten stressed ecosystem.


Drought, fire called biggest threats to Amazon rainforest ecosystem
(4/23/2005) A prolonged drought in the Amazon could lead to a massive die-off in the world's largest rainforest according to a study released in Science last week.


Farmers and landless poor battle over the Amazon
(4/22/2005) Land battles in Brazil's countryside reached the highest level in at least 20 years in 2004 as activists clashed with farmers and loggers advancing on savanna and Amazon rain forest, a nongovernmental group said Tuesday.


Studying the rainforest canopy
(4/21/2005) The Global Canopy Programme, a groundbreaking new project dedicated to studying rainforest canopies, is about to enter the implementation stage in five tropical forests across the globe. Headed by Dr. Andrew Mitchell of Oxford University, the project will place giant cranes in Brazil, Ghana, India, Madagascar and Malaysia


Chinese economy drives road-building and deforestation in the Amazon
(4/17/2005) Chinese economy drives road-building and deforestation in the Amazon


Smoke from forest fires reduces rainfall and spells trouble for the Amazon rainforest
(4/14/2005) Smoke from forest fires reduces rainfall and spells trouble for the Amazon rainforest


American Forest Peoples
(3/1/2005) The American rainforests were once home to some of the world's most developed civilizations of antiquity including those of the Incas (Andes), Mayas (Central America), and Aztecs (Central America). These peoples created vast metropolises and made great developments in agriculture and the sciences. However all this changed with the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.


Biogeographical Forest Realms--Where Rainforests Are Located
(3/1/2005) The majority of tropical rainforests are found in four biogeographic realms: the Afrotropical (mainland Africa, Madagascar, and scattered islands), the Australian (Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands), the Indomalayan (India, Sri Lanka, mainland Asia, and Southeast Asia), and the Neotropical (South America, Central America, and the Caribbean islands).


Brazil: Environmental Profile
(2/15/2005) An overview of tropical rainforets found in Brazil. Includes forest cover and deforestation statistics.



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