deforestation

Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:15:05 -0500

by Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES - Touted as "harvested forests," single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say.

According to critics, corporations are logging natural forests in these South American countries and transforming their grasslands to plant eucalyptus, pine and other non-indigenous fast-growing trees - which consume enormous quantities of water and degrade the soil - to develop large-scale wood, pulp and paper production.

Shooting Itself in the Foot, Brazil Spreads Concrete Through the Rainforest

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:32:52 -0500

by Stephanie Brault

Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world’s most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. Brazil houses the largest expanse of tropical wilderness remaining on the globe, claiming 60% of the Amazon Rainforest. This is a vast and remote stretch which thirty years ago only Indians and wild animals roamed.

Canada Sets Aside Its Boreal Forest as Giant Carbon Vault

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:20:07 -0400

by Suzanne Goldenberg

In the far north latitudes, buried within a seemingly endless expanse of evergreen forests, the authorities in Canada are building up one of the world's best natural defences against global warming.

Forests Count in Climate Change

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:45:03 -0400

by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola

In 1992, I attended an event that filled me with hope.

Canada and the rest of the world had just signed a climate change treaty at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

I remember being optimistic that the world could come together to fight the greatest threat to our planet and our own survival. We had done it before in overcoming other threats, like defeating Nazism in Europe and beating back horrific diseases like polio.

Cargill and the Priest: Priest Stands Up Against BigAg and Deforestation

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:50:29 -0400

by Polly Cook

Father Edilberto Sena arrives at Rural Radio station and takes up his position behind the microphone. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his script for today's show. One question is scribbled on it for the daily debate: ‘Why is this happening?'

World Bank Loan Withdrawn From Brazilian Cattle Corporation

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:18:39 -0400

by Frank McDonald

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), private lending arm of the World Bank, has withdrawn a $90 million (€57 million) loan to Brazilian cattle industry giant Bertin, following complaints that it was using the money to expand further into the Amazon region.

"It is good news that the World Bank is withdrawing these funds, yet scandalous that it was feeding a company that causes Amazon deforestation and climate change in the first place," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Brazil's Amazon campaign director.

Peru Suspends Decrees That Fueled Amazon Violence

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:11:21 -0400

LIMA - Peruvian lawmakers suspended a controversial law that eased restrictions on lumber harvesting in the Amazon rain forest, days after it sparked clashes between police and indigenous protesters, killing dozens of people.

The legislature agreed by a 59 to 49 vote to suspend Decree 1090 -- dubbed the "Law of the Jungle" -- that covers forestry and fauna in Peru's northeastern Amazon rain forest, said Javier Velasquez, the head of Peru's single-chamber Congress.

A decree related to governing private investment also was suspended.

The Amazon is Dying

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:42:48 -0400

by John Sauven

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, writing in the Guardian in March, offered us these words of hope: "No country has a larger stake in reversing the impact of global warming than Brazil. That is why it is at the forefront of efforts to come up with solutions that preserve our common future." Lula's words are fine. But we are still waiting for real action.

Oil Firms and Loggers 'Push Indigenous People to Brink of Extinction'

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:53:25 -0400

by John Vidal

Five "uncontacted" tribes are at imminent risk of extinction as oil companies, colonists and loggers invade their territiories. The semi-nomadic groups, who live deep in the forests of Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, are vulnerable to common western diseases such as flu and measles but also risk being killed by armed gangs, according to a report by Survival International, which identifies the five groups as the most threatened on Earth.

Amazonian Indigenous Protest Provokes Peruvian Government Reprisals

Wed, 27 May 2009 11:35:55 -0400

by David Dudenhoefer

LIMA, Peru - After more than six weeks of protests by Peru's Amazonian indigenous groups that have included blockades of major roads and waterways and the shutting down an oil pipeline pumping station, the Peruvian government has begun to crack down.

During the past two weeks, the administration of President Alan Garcia has declared a state of emergency in the country's Amazon provinces, issued a decree allowing the military to help the national police maintain order there, and charged the protest's leaders with crimes against the state.