Despite confirmation this week that the deforestation rate in the Amazon rainforest is at its highest in more than a decade, far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to take the problem seriously. When confronted with findings from Brazil‘s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) that deforestation between August 2018 and July 2019 was at its […]
If current deforestation rates in the Amazon rainforest continue, the forest could be two years away from the “tipping point” after which it will no longer be able to sustain itself by making its own rain. That’s the warning issued by Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIEE), […]
By Vincent J. Miller The Catholic Church “hears the cry” of the Amazon and its peoples. That’s the message Pope Francis hopes to send at the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting at the Vatican that ends Oct. 27. Images from Rome show tribal leaders in traditional feather headdresses alongside Vatican officials in their […]
The night before Indigenous Peoples’ Day, an Indigenous-led movement in Ecuador won a major victory. On Sunday, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno agreed to repeal an austerity package that ignited 11 days of protests led by an indigenous movement that also wants to end mining and oil extraction, Amazon Watch explained. “I’m so happy I don’t […]
By Jessica Corbett In an open letter to Brazilian society and right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, a group of experts warned that a “genocide is underway” against uncontacted tribes because of Bolsonaro’s efforts to strip away Indigenous peoples’ rights and lands and open up more of the Amazon rainforest to agribusiness and mining. The letter, released […]
By Joel E. Correia The fires raging across the Brazilian Amazon have captured the world’s attention. Meanwhile, South America’s second-largest forest, the Gran Chaco, is disappearing in plain sight. The Gran Chaco, which spans from Bolivia and Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina, is extremely bio-diverse, with more than 3,400 plant and 900 animal species — […]
By Shreya Dasgupta The fires ravaging the Amazon forest in Brazil and Bolivia this year have burned key habitats of at least 500 adult, resident jaguars as of Sept. 17, rendering them dead or homeless, say experts at Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. “The number of homeless or dead jaguars has undoubtedly increased […]
By Tara Smith Fires in the Brazilian Amazon have jumped 84 percent during President Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in office and in July 2019 alone, an area of rainforest the size of Manhattan was lost every day. The Amazon fires may seem beyond human control, but they’re not beyond human culpability. Bolsonaro ran for president […]
By Torsten Krause Many of us think of the Amazon as an untouched wilderness, but people have been thriving in these diverse environments for millennia. Due to this long history, the knowledge that Indigenous and forest communities pass between generations about plants, animals and forest ecology is incredibly rich and detailed and easily dwarfs that […]