brazil

Bolsonaro Welcomes Big Business to Brazil, Alarming Environmentalists and Indigenous Groups

Bolsonaro Welcomes Big Business to Brazil, Alarming Environmentalists and Indigenous Groups

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 […]

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    Brazil’s New Environment Minister Is Bad News for the Amazon and the Climate

    Brazil’s New Environment Minister Is Bad News for the Amazon and the Climate

    When right-wing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October, environmental groups raised concerns about what his presidency could mean for the future of the Amazon rainforest and the global fight against climate change. Now, Bolsonaro’s choice for environment minister appears to justify those concerns. In a tweet Sunday, Bolsonaro announced he would […]

    60,000 Liters of Oil Spills From Pipeline Into Brazilian Bay

    60,000 Liters of Oil Spills From Pipeline Into Brazilian Bay

    About 60,000 liters (15,850 gallons) of oil spilled from a pipeline into the Estrela River and spread to Rio de Janeiro’s famed Guanabara Bay over the weekend, according to Reuters and local reports. The pipeline is owned by Transpetro, the largest oil and gas transportation company in Brazil, and a subsidiary of Petroleo Brasileiro (commonly […]

    3 Ways the ‘Trump Effect’ Puts the Brakes on International Climate Action

    3 Ways the ‘Trump Effect’ Puts the Brakes on International Climate Action

    As representatives of around 200 countries kicked off the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland this week to develop a rulebook for implementing the Paris agreement, a new study looked at how U.S. President Donald Trump‘s decision to withdraw has affected the landmark climate accord. The verdict? The so-called ‘Trump Effect’ has significantly slowed the momentum […]

    Amazon Rainforest Deforestation Hits Highest Rate in 10 Years

    Amazon Rainforest Deforestation Hits Highest Rate in 10 Years

    About 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles) of forest was cleared in the Brazilian Amazon between August 2017 and July 2018, the worst annual deforestation rate in a decade, according to government data. That’s a 13.7 percent jump from the same period last year. As Greenpeace Brazil noted, approximately 1.185 billion trees cut down in […]

    5 Countries Control 70% of the World’s Remaining Wilderness

    5 Countries Control 70% of the World’s Remaining Wilderness

    This week began with the disturbing news that human activity has caused a 60 percent decline in wildlife since 1970. Now, a group of researchers from the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have released a stunning map showing that just five countries are home to more than 70 percent of the […]

    Brazil’s New President Could Spell Catastrophe for the Amazon, Indigenous Rights and Global Climate

    Brazil’s New President Could Spell Catastrophe for the Amazon, Indigenous Rights and Global Climate

    Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro, whose hostile campaign rhetoric has earned him comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump, won Brazil’s presidential election Sunday, a development that has raised concerns about the future of human rights and environmental action in the world’s sixth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, CNN reported. Like Trump, Bolsonaro has made homophobic, sexist and racist […]

    Investigators Find Slave Labor on Starbucks-Certified Brazil Coffee Plantation

    Investigators Find Slave Labor on Starbucks-Certified Brazil Coffee Plantation

    By Daniela Penha and Roberto Cataldo, Translator This story was produced via a co-publishing partnership between Mongabay and Repórter Brasil and can be read in Portuguese here. At first sight, the Córrego das Almas farm in Piumhi, in rural Minas Gerais state, seems to be a model property. “No slave or forced labor is allowed,” […]

    Amazon Deforestation in Brazil: What Does It Mean When There’s No Change?

    Amazon Deforestation in Brazil: What Does It Mean When There’s No Change?

    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 […]