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 …
Farms, roads and towns are fast slicing up the world's wilderness, leaving 70 per cent of the world's remaining forested land less than one km from a forest edge, a US-led study showed. The report, by two dozen researchers on five continents and using data the covers the past 35 …
Members of Brazil's environmental police force IBAMA and the Para state police inspect logs discovered during "Operation Labareda," a raid against illegal logging, near Novo Progresso in the Amazon rain forest, August 18, 2012. After years of gains against destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil appears to be suffering from …
Without better local management, world's most iconic ecosystems are at risk of collapse under climate change, warn researchers. Protecting places of global environmental importance such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest from climate change will require reducing pressures like over-fishing, fertiliser pollution and land clearing, they said. …
The Amazon rainforest's ability to soak up greenhouse gases from the air has fallen sharply, possibly because climate change and droughts mean more trees are dying, an international team of scientists said on Wednesday. The world's biggest rainforest has soaked up vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Plants use the heat-trapping …
Research published in journal Science shows local protection of three world heritage sites is too weak and leaves them at risk of ‘unfolding diaster’ The world’s most prized ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, require stronger local management to reduce the enormous global threat posed …
Latin America has the planet's largest land reserves for agriculture and had the most rapid agricultural expansion during the twenty-first century. A large portion of the expansion replaced forests, as shown by many local and regional studies. However, expansion varied regionally and also replaced other land covers. Further, it is …
Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and …
The HadGEM2 earth system climate model was used to assess the impact of biomass burning on surface ozone concentrations over the Amazon forest and its impact on vegetation, under present-day climate conditions. Here the researchers consider biomass burning emissions from wildfires, deforestation fires, agricultural forest burning, and residential and commercial …
In 2005 and 2010 the Amazon basin experienced two strong droughts, driven by shifts in the tropical hydrological regime possibly associated with global climate change, as predicted by some global models. Tree mortality increased after the 2005 drought, and regional atmospheric inversion modelling showed basin-wide decreases in CO2 uptake in …
One of the largest area studies of forest loss impacting biodiversity shows that a third of the Amazon is headed toward or has just past a threshold of forest cover below which species loss is faster and more damaging. Researchers call for conservation policy to switch from targeting individual landowners …
NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil — This Sept 15, 2009 file photo shows damage done to the Amazon rainforest in a deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil’s northern state of Para. (PHOTO: AP) PARIS, France (AFP) — Gold mining has gobbled up some 1,680 square kilometres (650 square miles) of tropical …
Droughts in the Amazon are speeding up climate change: 'Lungs of the planet' are emitting more CO2 than they capture Worsening droughts in the Amazon - dubbed the 'lungs of the world' - are speeding up climate change, scientists have warned. Trees are absorbing up to a tenth less carbon …
Satellite images suggest tropical forests from the Amazon to the Philippines are disappearing at a far more rapid pace than previously thought, a University of Maryland team of forest researchers say. The annual rate of deforestation from 1990 to 2010 was 62 percent higher than in the previous decade, and …
An indigenous community in Peru's biggest oil block stopped its monthlong occupation of 14 wells, while protesters in another town in the Amazonian region took control of six different wells, a native leader said Wednesday. The Achuar community of Pampa Hermosa gave up control of 14 wells in oil block …
Kichwa communities bar River Tigre, an Amazon tributary, with cables to stop oil company boats from passing and accuse government of turning a blind eye to contamination from oil operations in the forest Hundreds of indigenous people deep in the Peruvian Amazon are blocking a major Amazon tributary following what …
Oil and gas access roads in western Amazon could open up ‘Pandora’s box’ of environmental impacts Oil and gas roads are encroaching deeper into the western Amazon, one of the world’s last wildernesses and biodiversity hotspots, according to a new study. Roads across Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and western Brazil …
The western Amazon is one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas, characterized by extraordinary species richness and large tracts of roadless humid tropical forest. It is also home to an active hydrocarbon (oil and gas) sector, characterized by operations in extremely remote areas that require new access routes. Here, …
The current global gold rush, driven by increasing consumption in developing countries and uncertainty in financial markets, is an increasing threat for tropical ecosystems. Gold mining causes significant alteration to the environment, yet mining is often overlooked in deforestation analyses because it occupies relatively small areas. As a result, we …
Falling prices and rising debt are driving some Latin American leaders to relax legislation aimed at protecting the environment A commodity boom has helped pull millions out of poverty across South America over the past decade. It has also unleashed a new scramble for oil, minerals and cropland that is …
The global number of dam constructions has increased dramatically over the past six decades and is forecast to continue to rise, particularly in less industrialized regions. Identifying development pathways that can deliver the benefits of new infrastructure while also maintaining healthy and productive river systems is a great challenge that …
