This publication shows that carbon prices exceeding US$ 20 per ton of CO2 captured by the natural regeneration of deforested areas in the Amazon would be truly transformative for the region’s landscape. Offsets for captured carbon would ensure forest integrity, inducing extensive forest restoration and the capture of 16 Gt …
Transparent, consistent, and accurate national forest monitoring is required for successful implementation of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) programs. Collecting baseline information on forest extent and rates of forest loss is a first step for national forest monitoring in support of REDD+. Peru, with the second largest …
Unprecedented wet conditions are reported in the 2014 summer (December–March) in South-western Amazon, with rainfall about 100% above normal. Discharge in the Madeira River (the main southern Amazon tributary) has been 74% higher than normal (58 000 m3 s−1) at Porto Velho and 380% (25 000 m3 s−1) at Rurrenabaque, …
Deforestation in the Amazon rain forest dropped 18% over the past 12 months, falling to the second-lowest level in a quarter century, Brazil’s environment minister said on Wednesday. Izabella Teixeira told participants at a news conference that 4,848 square kilometers (1,870 square miles) of rain forest were destroyed between August …
Brazil extended on Tuesday a moratorium on buying soy grown in illegally cleared land in the Amazon rainforest as the government tries to protect the region, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said. Satellite imagery presented by Teixeira showed the area of soy grown on illegally deforested land grew 61 percent to …
The Peruvian environmental activist had appealed to his government for help after receiving death threats from the illegal loggers that plagued the area around his village, deep in the Amazon rainforest. And yet, in September, he and three other prominent members of the Peruvian Ashéninka community were ambushed and shot …
Javier Gomez sucks the last morsels of meat from the leg bone of an agouti, a large Amazonian rodent, his creased face belying his 44 years. ‘We’re just happy to have the work,” he shrugs wearily. “Here the only work is timber, that’s it. It’s heavy work but we’re used …
As deforestation continues in tropical rainforests, more and more carbon is being released. Now, scientists have found that far more common has been lost than previously thought, which could affect models that predict carbon emissions. In this case, the effect of degradation has been underestimated in fragmented forest areas, which …
Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important limiting nutrients for the growth of oceanic phytoplankton and terrestrial ecosystems, which in turn contributes to CO2 sequestration. The solid-phase speciation of P will influence its solubility and hence its availability to such ecosystems. This study reports on the results of X-ray …
With the United Nations Climate Summit underway in New York, Brazil's environment minister suggested world leaders take a page from the famously blunt locals. "This is New York, so cut the crap," Izabella Teixeira said in an interview with Bloomberg News yesterday. Brazil reduced deforestation in the Amazon to record …
The Nature Climate Change journal has reported that Indonesia lost 840,000 hectares of natural forest in 2012 compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil despite their forest being a quarter of the size of the Amazon rainforest. Indonesia and the Amazon rainforest are deforestation hotspots where thousands of hectares of natural …
Norway plans to spend as much as $300 million to support a program in Peru to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the destruction of the world's fourth largest tropical forest, the two countries announced on Tuesday. Norway pledged to pay for verified reductions in emissions generated by projects in Peru …
The Amazon rainforest is responsible for absorbing tonnes of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere Construction has begun on a giant observation tower in the heart of the Amazon basin to monitor climate change. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory is expected to rise 325m from the ground. Its instruments will gather …
Since the recognition that allopatric speciation can be induced by large-scale reconfigurations of the landscape that isolate formerly continuous populations, such as the separation of continents by plate tectonics, the uplift of mountains or the formation of large rivers, landscape change has been viewed as a primary driver of biological …
A study published in Nature presents a 'global roadmap' for prioritising road building across the planet and balancing development with nature conservation. "Roads often open a Pandora's Box of environmental problems," said Professor William Laurance of James Cook University in Australia, the study's lead author. "But we also need roads …
The authorities in Brazil say they have dismantled a criminal organisation they believe was the "biggest destroyer" of the Amazon rainforest. The gang is accused of invading, logging and burning large areas of public land and selling these illegally for farming and grazing. In a statement, Brazilian Federal Police said …
Brazil has made good progress in safeguarding the Amazon rainforest but Indonesia's plans for its forests could face setbacks under a new government, a report commissioned by top forest aid donor Norway said on Monday. Norway, rich from offshore oil and gas, paid 10.3 billion crowns ($1.7 billion) to slow …
This study contributes to the discussions on the future of the Amazon rainforest under a projected warmer-drier climate from the perspectives of land hydrology. Using IPCC HadGEM2-ES simulations of the present and future Amazon climate to drive a land hydrology model that accounts for groundwater constraint on land drainage, we …
Indigenous people crossed from Peru into Brazil looking for help to combat illegal loggers and drug traffickers, researchers say Isolated native people likely to be fleeing attacks in Peru have turned up in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest where they made contact with the outside world, according to a video released by …
Parables help us make sense of a mysterious world. Slow and steady, the tortoise teaches the hare a lesson in overconfidence. David has a surprise for towering Goliath. Lawyers and environmental activists fighting Chevron (CVX) in a closely watched oil pollution case in Ecuador invoke an inherently appealing theme of …
