Gold miners invaded indigenous territory in Brazil‘s Amazon, killing one leader and prompting villagers to flee for safety, The New York Times reported Saturday. The violence confirms fears that right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro‘s promises to open protected lands to mining and other extractive industries will have devastating consequences for indigenous communities. “The president is responsible […]
By Reynard Loki On Feb. 27, hundreds of Indigenous Waorani elders, youth and leaders arrived in the city of Puyo, Ecuador. They left their homes deep in the Amazon rainforest to peacefully march through the streets, hold banners, sing songs and, most importantly, submit documents to the provincial Judicial Council to launch a lawsuit seeking […]
By Robert T. Walker Over the past 25 years that I have been conducting environmental research in the Amazon, I have witnessed the the ongoing destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest. Twenty percent of it has been deforested by now—an area larger than Texas. I therefore grew hopeful when environmental policies began to take effect […]
In his first major international speech, Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro told the politicians and business leaders gathered in Davos this week that he’s opening up his country and its natural resources to foreign investment, all while—somehow—preserving the nation’s environment and biodiversity. “It is now our mission to make progress in harmonizing environmental preservation and […]
By Kaamil Ahmed A pair of “French spies” had infiltrated India by sea to commit a “treasonous conspiracy,” an Indian minister claimed in late November. In reality, they were two visiting journalists, and their mission was an investigation into allegations of illegal sand mining in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They had merely tried […]
In his first day in office, right wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro realized the fears of environmentalists and Indigenous communities. They knew he would use his time in office to increase the access of extractive industries in the Amazon Rainforest. Within hours of taking power Tuesday, Bolsonaro transferred responsibility for recognizing Indigenous lands to the […]
“Avoiding forest carbon emissions is just as urgent as halting fossil fuel use.” That’s the message contained in a statement written by 40 scientists from five different countries urging the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to consider preserving and regrowing forests as an important part of limiting global warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial […]
Extreme floods have become more frequent in the Amazon Basin in just the last two to three decades, according to a new study. After analyzing 113 years of Amazon River levels in Port of Manaus, Brazil, researchers found that severe floods happened roughly every 20 years in the first part of the 20th century. Now, […]
By Doug Boucher I was recently invited by the editors of the journal Tropical Conservation Science to write an update of a 2013 article on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon that I had published with Sarah Roquemore and Estrellita Fitzhugh. They asked me to review how deforestation has changed over the past five years. The […]
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