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News articles on Latin America

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Mongabay.com news articles on latin america 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."


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.


Organic solar cells will help spur viability of alternative energy
(10/10/2005) Organic solar cells being developed by a team of scientists from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest University could help spur viability of alternative energy. Unlike existing solar panels made of brittle silicon, these cells are made of plastic that can be wrapped around structures or even applied like paint. This flexibility could revolutionize the solar market.


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.


Poor aid response to storm damage in Central America
(10/5/2005) Tropical storm Stan has killed more than 120 people across Central America, including more than 60 in El Salvador and 50 in Guatemala, but international aid has been slow to arrive in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.


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.


El Salvador's tropical storm damage worsened by deforestation
(10/4/2005) Heavy rains and mudslides from Tropical Storm Stan have killed at least 30 people in El Salvador. Widespread deforestation has worsened in the impact of the storm by leaving barren hillsides vulnerable to mudslides and rivers susceptible to flooding.


Evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes revised -- study
(10/4/2005) Humans have cultivated potatoes for millennia, but there has been great controversy about the ubiquitous vegetable's origins. This week, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, a team led by a USDA potato taxonomist stationed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has for the first time demonstrated a single origin in southern Peru for the cultivated potato.


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.


Cocaine destroying rainforest parks in Colombia
(9/28/2005) Cocaine is killing the great nature parks of Colombia. Government spraying of coca plant killer is driving growers and traffickers out of their usual territory into national parks where spraying is banned. Here they are burning thousands of acres of virgin rain forest and poisoning rivers with chemicals.


Birds and Bats Responsible for Seed Dispersal in Tropical Forests
(9/27/2005) Restoring the rich diversity of trees that once characterized expansive tracts of tropical rainforest gets a helping hand from native birds and bats. Just how big a role these winged gardeners play is a question ecologists from the University of Illinois at Chicago and several Latin American universities are about to find out by setting up essentially a living laboratory in Mexico's gulf coast state of Veracruz.


European Space Agency analyzes Hurricane Rita
(9/23/2005) As Hurricane Rita entered the Gulf of Mexico, ESA's Envisat satellite's radar was able to pierce through swirling clouds to directly show how the storm churns the sea surface. This image has then been used to derive Rita's wind field speeds.


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.


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.


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.


Missing Gulfport dolphins rescued following Hurricane Katrina
(9/16/2005) Wildlife experts on Thursday began rescuing a group of eight bottlenose dolphins swept from their aquarium home into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina.


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.


NOAA posts photos from inside Hurricane Katrina
(9/2/2005) NOAA hurricane hunter WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV aircraft conducted ten long flights into and around the eye of Hurricane Katrina. Lt. Mike Silah, a P-3 pilot, got to see Hurricane Katrina up close and personal, especially when she was an extremely dangerous Category Five storm in the Gulf of Mexico. The day before the powerful and destructive storm made landfall on the USA Gulf Coast, Silah snapped a series of images capturing the eyewall of Katrina.


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.


Sex sells sea turtle conservation in Mexico
(8/19/2005) Mexican authorities announced they will use posters of scantily dressed young women to promote the protection of endangered sea turtles. The promotion comes just weeks after some 80 protected Olive Ridley sea turtles were found chopped to pieces on Escobilla beach in Oaxaca, Mexico.


Andes of South America are world's biodiversity champion says news study
(8/18/2005) The first full map of where the world's birds live reveals their diversity 'hotspots' and will help to focus conservation efforts, according to research published in Nature today (18 August).


Sea turtle massacre in Mexico
(8/11/2005) Using machetes, poachers killed some 80 protected Olive Ridley sea turtles on Escobilla beach in Oaxaca, Mexico last weekend. The poachers were believed to be after turtle eggs, thought to be an aphrodisiac among locals. The discovery of the massacre was accouned by Profepa, the government's environmental protection agency.


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.


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.


Sea turtles protected in Costa Rica are killed in Nicaragua
(7/26/2005) Sea turtles that receive the highest protection in Costa Rica and other neighboring countries are dying by the thousands at the hands of unregulated - and unsustainable - commercial fishing in Nicaragua, according to a study by the Bronx Zoo based Wildlife conservation Society.


Honduras wins aid pact tied to human rights, anti-corruption efforts
(7/10/2005) Last month Honduras became to second country to receive aid under the controlversial Millennium Challenge Account program when it signed a five-year $215 million funding deal. The Millennium Challenge Account gives grants to countries committed to respecting the rule of law and reducing corruption.


Global warming shrinks sacred glacier in the Andes
(7/6/2005) The melting of a glacier in the Peruvian Andes due to global climate change is impacting the religious practices of local people, according to an article run last month in The Wall Street Journal.


UN Atlas highlights changing environment in Latin America
(6/5/2005) UN Atlas highlights changing environment in Latin America


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.


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.


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.


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.


Collapsing vanilla prices will affect Madagascar
(5/9/2005) Surging vanilla production in countries from Papua New Guinea to Colombia is causing the price of vanilla beans and extract to plummet in markets around the world. The drop in vanilla prices is expected to hit Madagascar, the world's largest producer of vanilla beans, especially hard. Most affected will be growers in the tropical northeastern part of the island who have relied on the valuable crop for years.


Freshwater aquarium fish are important food source in many tropical countries
(5/5/2005) Those fish in your home aquarium may be important food sources in their native lands. According to figures recently released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Fisheries Department many fish typically kept by aquarium owners figure significantly in the daily nutrition of people in tropical Africa, Asia, and South America.


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.


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.


Honduran priest recognized as environmental hero with $125,000 award
(4/22/2005) On April 18th, 2005, Father José Andrés Tamayo Cortez was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to preserve and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives an award of $125,000, the largest of its kind.


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


The Next Costa Rica? Environmental activism takes root in Honduras
(4/18/2005) With its biodiversity, rich history, beautiful beaches, and stunning reefs, some believe Honduras could be the ecotourism hotspot in Central America. However, between growing gang violence linked to the drug trade in the United States and conflicts between developers and local communities, the country still faces many challenges in becoming the next Costa Rica. Special correspondent Tina Butler takes a look at changing attitudes about the environment in one of Central America's poorest countries.



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