In a world of higher electricity demand growth, clean electricity is stepping up to the challenge. Spearheaded by exponential solar expansion, clean power is set to grow faster than demand, marking the start of a permanent decline in fossil generation. 2024 both clarified and consolidated the shape of the global …
The Amazon rainforests have a new enemy: soya bean. According to deforestation figures released by the Brazilian government recently, a huge forest area of 26,130 square kilometres (sq km) was destroyed in the year ending August 2004, mainly by soya bean farmers. The destruction was almost six per cent higher …
The native Indians of Brazil's Roraima state have won a crucial battle against non-indigenous farmers and other settlers in their area. Despite intense lobbying to stall the move, on April 14, 2005, the government announced the long-pending creation of a reserve for around 15,000 Indians in a fiercely disputed remote …
Brazil's ministry of environment (moe) has objected to the go ahead given to the use and sale of transgenic seed major Monsanto's genetically modified (gm) cotton variety
pantanal threatened: The world's largest wetland, The Pantanal, spread across areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, is under the threat of destruction by farming, urban development and climate change. A UN report says use of pesticide and fertilisers for soybean farming in Brazil's Mato Grosso state poses the biggest danger. …
The us defeat is final now. On March 3, 2005, the World Trade Organization (wto) appellate body upheld a ruling that condemned the us government for providing illegal export subsidies to its cotton producers. The us had appealed against a 2004 ruling of the wto dispute settlement body, made while …
brazil, the world's largest food exporter with a ban on genetically modified (gm) crops, has decided to legalise these. The step is aimed at checking their expanding black market in the country. The move defeats years of efforts of environmental and consumer groups that have won several court cases against …
Prevention is always better than cure, whether it is a disease or a conflict. The army was recently sent to Brazil's Amazon rainforest region to quell violent clashes between peasants and loggers over the area's natural resources. The move followed the killing of Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old nun who tried …
The objective of this article is to study the implications of changes in land use induced by economic growth, economy-wide policies, and governance on deforestation and forest-induced atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions. Economic growth, democracy, and trade policy explain an important share of the variation in two key determinants of deforestation: …
as world leaders and prominent personalities gathered at Davos, a Swiss resort, on January 26-30, 2005, for the World Economic Forum (wef), the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre hosted the fourth annual World Social Forum (wsf). The wsf was set up to protest the wef and oppose "neo-liberalism and a …
Brazilian farmers, who have already caused considerable monetary loss to Monsanto Company, have given another blow to the agrochemical giant. Following a recent court order, the Cooperativa Triticola Mista Campo Novo, a group of about 8,700 farmers in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, will not pay royalty to …
With the help of a thriving bovine genetics business, Brazil is on the way to become the world's largest cattle exporter. The country recently witnessed the Opera and Bilara Auction, an event of prime importance for cattle breeders. Ranchers spent US $1.5 million to buy 33 fertilised cattle eggs. Ranchers …
a meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity (cbd) will be held in February in Bangkok to discuss rules for international transfer of biological resources. In preparation, ministerial delegations of a group of developing countries called the Like Minded Megadiverse Countries (lmmc) met January 20-21 in New Delhi to develop a …
The street children in Brazil's capital city of Rio De Janeiro fought hunger with shoe glue; its narcotic properties suppressed hunger. Children sniffing glue from plastic bottles were a common sight in the crime-infested city. But the sale of the glue has been banned now. "Shoe glue is an extremely …
Brazil's government is trying to resolve the conflict between indigenous communities and people involved in illegal mining activities in Indian reserves. It is submitting a bill to the Congress to make mining in these reserves legal. "The law
Brazil has won a major battle towards securing its right to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. After months of struggle, it has reached a pact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (iaea), the un's nuclear watchdog, which would allow it enrich its own uranium at its Resende plant. Brazil …
The much-awaited Kyoto Protocol will enter into force on February 16, 2005, becoming legally enforceable on all parties that have ratified the treaty. The treaty aims to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases (ghg) into the atmosphere, which is believed to cause global warming. The enforcement of the treaty was …
a community similar to the European Union will soon be created in South America. The Rio Group, a cluster of 18 South American nations, has agreed to form the "South American Community of Nations' to foster political, economic and infrastructural integration. The decision was taken by the foreign ministers of …
