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 …
bacco off the shelf: Thailand has taken a strong step against tobacco sales in the country. They ordered vendors in September to remove all cigarettes from display or risk a US $50,000 fine. Activists say cigarette packets are also effectively an advertisement and so should be hidden from view. sa …
The pressing concern to save the Amazon acquired an additional dimension recently. Six Latin American countries decided to collaborate to fight unauthorised commercial exploitation of the native species of the rainforests. Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela will now share technical information included in patents and jointly formulate plans …
The Brazilian government is considering banning logging it the country's forests for a period of six months to one year to save the Amazon rainforests. This was announced by Brazil's environment minister Marina Silva on July 15, 2005. "What is being discussed in the government is what we call a
The Amazon basin countries recently launched a new initiative to help the region's inhabitants manage water, forests and wildlife more efficiently. Water will be the focus area of the project, announced at the Global Environment Facility's (gef's) Third Biennial International Waters Conference in Brazil. The basin accounts for 20 per …
Illegal logging has reached the hitherto uncontacted Jururei tribe in the Amazon forests of Brazil. The tribe has only eight to 10 members. It is the second "uncontacted' indigenous group in the area that has suffered increased threat from loggers after a recent court order permitted felling in a part …
• Conservationists have slammed media mogul Disney for its plans to serve shark's fin soup, sea cucumber and abalone in restaurants at its new theme park in Hong Kong in September. "Promoting these marine species is not responsible because they are not sustainably harvested. Disney should promote responsible consumption,' said …
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 …
countries wanting to escape their obligation of combating climate change have always projected the Amazon rainforests of Latin America as the key absorbers (sinks) of polluting greenhouse gases. But this notion may be disingenuous, indicate scientific discussions held during a recent international meet. During the mega-event a controversy raged about …
the Amazon rainforests give out more carbon dioxide (co2) than they absorb, indicates a new study. The findings are alarming because the rainforests have been projected as a major
October 21, 2003. High-level corporate lawyers from ChevronTexaco sit in the same packed muggy courtroom as bare-breasted Amazonian men and women at the start of what the media calls "The Trial of the Century.' In the ramshackle Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, the oil Titan stands accused of severely contaminating …
a bacterium commonly found in the Amazon rainforest promises to be a new source of ecofriendly plastic and life-saving medicines, if scientists who cracked its genetic code are to be believed. A consortium of 100 scientists, working for the Brazil National Genome Project, sequenced the genome of Chromobacterium violaceum. They …
Ecuadorean Indians have sued oil conglomerate ChevronTexaco for a billion dollars. They have accused ChevronTexaco's unit, Texaco Petroleum Company, of discharging water contaminated with oil and metal salts such as mercury and cadmium into Amazon rivers from 1972 to 1992. They also allege that toxins seeped into the soil because …
There's bad news for illegal loggers, diamond miners and drug runners. A huge radar system called System for the Vigilance of the Amazon or sivam would scan 5.2 million square kilometres of the dense Amazon rainforest and keep track of the activities going on inside it. A labyrinth of 25 …
Amazonian mahogany may literally be deadwood soon. Because at the current rate of deforestation, there may be no more of it in eight years. Despite these warnings, London's appeal court has allowed the import of a shipment of the precious endangered wood into the country. Two senior judges threw out …
The rivers and wetlands of South America's Amazon rainforest breathe out as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year as the dry regions of the forests absorb, shows a new research. This suggests that, as a whole, the Amazonian and other tropical forests are in a state of carbon …
Rates of forest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon have accelerated over the last decade, according to a latest research done by a team of Brazilian and US scientists. The team analysed deforestation estimates produced by Brazil's National Space Agency that were based on detailed satellite images of the Amazon since …
Human activities are releasing tiny particles (aerosols) into the atmosphere. These human-made aerosols enhance scattering and absorption of solar radiation. They also produce brighter clouds that are less efficient at releasing precipitation. These in turn lead to large reductions in the amount of solar irradiance reaching Earth's surface, a corresponding …
Destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest in 2000 was the highest since 1995. The National Institute for Space Research reports that 0.56 per cent of the total jungle was cut in 2000. But since 1999, the number of forest fires decreased by 86 per cent. The institute's officials attribute the deforestation …
