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 …
A stream originating in Nevado Mismi, a mountain in southern Peru, is said to be the exact source of the Amazon river, the National Geographic Society reported. Global Positioning System (gps) equipment was used by a five-nation expedition to take measurements. The countries that participated in the expedition included the …
The forest fires of 1997 and 1998 created enormous ecological damage and human suffering and helped focus world attention on what is an increasing problem. This report is a follow-up to the WWF International Discussion Paper The Year the World Caught Fire which was published in December 1997. However, eighteen …
Environmentalists in Brazil won a major victory when a legislative proposal to open more areas to logging and harvesting was put on hold till March. If the Congress approved the bill, it would have been "the largest known setback for Brazilian environmental laws", said Andre Lima, a representative from Brazil's …
the lush green Amazonian forests have always left scientists wondering how such a variety was possible. This ecological booty is almost three times more than the flora and fauna found in other parts of the world. Now, a new study, conducted by two American scientists, suggests that this diversity has …
it is an attempt to achieve environmentally-friendly logging. Mil Madeireira, a Brazil-based forestry company, has evolved a way to cut trees in such a way that when a tree is cut, it falls in an area where few other trees would be affected. The company's logging method has been acknowledged …
To mark World Environment Day, Greenpeace launched a campaign to save the Amazon rainforest with the cooperation of the government of Brazil ( Down To Earth , Vol 8, No 2). Thilo Bode, executive director of Greenpeace International said, "The fight against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest will be …
Environmentalists have consistently raised the demand that urgent steps are needed to protect the Amazon rainforests in Brazil. The significance of their demand is reinforced by a recent study that shows that the forests are being damaged at twice the speed as normally believed. This was revealed in a study …
thirty-one years ago, Science magazine published the famous article on the tragedy of the commons by Garrett Hardin. The commons were defined as an expanse of land under collective or open use. Hardin's article argued that the commons necessarily collapse because of the inherent selfishness of people over shared resources. …
The Shaman tribe of the Amazon rainforest have sought to revoke a patent granted to businessperson from the us on their most sacred plant, a vine called ayauasca , which has medicinal and ceremonial qualities. The tribe uses ayuhuasca to make a potent hallucinogenic brew for religious rituals. "The vine …
Dutch primatologist Marc Van Roosmalen of the national Amazon research institute has discovered four previously unknown types of monkey while combing the Amazon forests. One of the new monkeys belongs to the callthrix genus and has been baptised "manicore marmoset' by the Dutch primatologist. The squirrel-sized manicore has a greyish …
THE Amazon region in SouthAmerica is being invaded inhordes by huge Asian loggingcompaniesscaring environmentalists and local loggingoutfits. ProceedingfromMyanmarIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippines and Korea -where they have already devastated more than 50 per cent ofthe original wood areas -these companies are said tohave bought at least 1.5 million ha of forest lands in theBrazilian …
In an attempt to check the degradation of the Amazonian rainforests, Brazil's Chamber of Commerce will soon begin a nine-month investigation into various Asian logging companies operating there. Brazilian greens have for long maintained that logging has increased manifold and was primarily financed by companies which had poor environmental records. …
A recent nine-day investigation led by Polish explorer and scientist Jacek Palkiewicz, has revealed that the Amazon, one of the world's largest rivers, has its source in an underground glacier in the southern Peruvian Andes. The Apachita crevice, an icy creek 16,958 ft above sea level near the city of …
The Amazon jungle may have actually been the handiwork of humans rather than a natural feature. This startling find is the result of a recent exploration of a cave - Caverna da Pedra Pintada - in Monte Alegre in the north bank of the Amazon in Brazil, which has revealed …
Amazon apocalypse For the handful of surviving Yanomami tribals left in the Amazonian rainforests of Brazil and Venezuela, the recent moves to end their rights over their home - the forests - could very well sound their death knell From June this year the pressure started building on both sides …
The mythical univer5e of the Yanomami i5 extremely complex. U5ing it5 ideal5, 5haman (prie5t) David Yanomami from Demeni village gave a moving te5timony of the trauma hi5 people are going through a5 a re5ult of the invasion of their land5. In hi5 test imony to anthropologi5t Bruce Albert in 1990, …
The Yanomami are not the only tribal communities among Brazil's Indians facing a dark future. The Guarani Kaiowa Indians in the state of Mato Grosso do Sui are showing signs of mass frustration, and incidence of suicides among them have shot up recently. The figure of 30 suicides this year …
Between 1968 and 1978, anthropologists and missionaries petitioned the Brazilian government 11 times for a protect- ed ayea for the Yanomami, but to no avail. Finally, in 1978, outraged by the ever-worsening situation of the Yanomami people, a group of concerned citizens in Brazil (including anthropologists, ecologists, lawyers, clerics, and …
