The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the debt vulnerabilities of many low- and medium-income sovereigns. Debt levels were already high for many even prior to COVID outbreak, but are now exacerbated because government revenues have declined as a result of limited economic activity – while the timing and the quantum of …
The quiet collapse of the most basic principle of UN climate negotiations in Doha - that all decisions should be taken only with complete consensus of 194 countries party to the convention -- has troubled India and other developing countries. Decisions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change can …
Angry With A Critical Issue Like Equity Being Junked Abruptly Doha: The second week of the UN climate negotiations began with fireworks, led by a unanimous and angry G77 warning of collapse of talks because a critical issue like equity was abruptly junked on Monday morning. At the Doha talks …
Soy farmers in Bolivia are urging leftist President Evo Morales to reconsider a ban on genetically modified seeds contained in a package of environmental regulation called the Mother Earth law. The Andean nation is a small producer of soybeans compared with its giant agricultural neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, but output …
We present a unique proxy for the reconstruction of variation in precipitation over the Amazon: oxygen isotope ratios in annual rings in tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata). A century-long record from northern Bolivia shows that tree rings preserve the signal of oxygen isotopes in precipitation during the wet season, with weaker …
An update to one of the most comprehensive maps of the Amazon basin shows that forest cover across the world's largest rainforest declined by about six percent between 2000 and 2010. But the map also reveals hopeful signs that recognition of protected areas and native lands across the eight countries …
Growing conflicts over development in South America have come to a head in Bolivia, where indigenous groups are resisting a highway project that would slice through a national park. How Bolivia resolves this showdown could point the way for other regions seeking to balance economic growth and the environment. Carmelo …
A biofuels company set up in Brazil by oil giant Shell has signed a landmark agreement giving up plans to buy sugar cane grown on indigenous lands. The company, Raizen, was obtaining some of the raw material for ethanol from farmers who encroached on the lands of the Guarani people …
Bolivia encashes another $18-m bank guarantee from JSPL for not meeting contractual terms. Naveen Jindal-controlled Jindal Steel & Power’s ambitious Bolivian project to mine 20 billion tonnes of iron ore is at risk after the Bolivian government encashed yet another $18-million bank guarantee from the Indian firm for not meeting …
Colonial cinnabar mining and refining began in Huancavelica, Peru, in 1564. With a local source of mercury, the amalgamation process was adopted to refine silver in Potosí, Bolivia, in the early 1570s. As a result, large quantities of mercury were released into the environment. Original Source
Due to rising energy demands and abundant untapped potential, hydropower projects are rapidly increasing in the Neotropics. This is especially true in the wet and rugged Andean Amazon, where regional governments are prioritizing new hydroelectric dams as the centerpiece of long-term energy plans. However, the current planning for hydropower lacks …
President Evo Morales said Tuesday that he was rescinding a contract awarded to the Brazilian company OAS to build a road through the Amazon, casting further doubt on a project that set off fierce antigovernment protests last year. Mr. Morales partly halted work on the most controversial stretch of the …
This report introduces the National Adaptive Capacity (NAC) framework, a tool to help governments bring institutional capacity development into their adaptation planning processes. The NAC framework enables its users to systematically assess institutional strengths and weaknesses that may help or hinder adaptation. National adaptation plans may then be better designed …
Eight South American countries pledged Tuesday to boost cooperation to protect one of the planet’s largest natural reserves from deforestation and illegal trafficking in timber and minerals. Representatives of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela gathered in Manaus, northern Brazil, also vowed to speak with one voice …
A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake rattled Bolivia on Tuesday and was also felt in Peru and Chile, but the epicenter was deep underground and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The US Geographical Survey said the quake's epicenter was 345 miles (556 kilometers) underground and located 37 miles …
Tropical South America is rich in different groups of pollinators, but the biotic and abiotic factors determining the geographical distribution of their species richness are poorly understood. We analyzed the species richness of three groups of pollinators (bees and wasps, butterflies, hummingbirds) in six tropical forests in the Bolivian lowlands …
Biological invasion and climate change pose challenges to biodiversity conservation in the 21st century. Invasive species modify ecosystem structure and functioning and climatic changes are likely to produce invasive species' range shifts pushing some populations into protected areas. The American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is one of the hundred worst invasive …
Indigenous protesters are targeting a new road in the Bolivian Amazon, reports the BBC. The 190-mile highway under construction in the Bolivian Amazon will pass through the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park (Tipnis), a 4,600-square mile (11,900 square kilometers) preserve which boasts exceptional levels of rainforest biodiversity, including endangered …
The causes and timing of tropical glacier fluctuations during the Holocene epoch (10,000 years ago to present) are poorly understood. Yet constraining their sensitivity to changes in climate is important, as these glaciers are both sensitive indicators of climate change and serve as water reservoirs for highland regions. Studies have …
