Tag Archives: Amazon rainforest

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell for the second consecutive month in August, compared to a year ago, according to preliminary government data published on Friday, with year-to-date figures for 2021 also showing a slight decline. Forest clearances in August totaled 918 square kilometers (354 square miles), down 32% from …

Thick smoke billowed above Brazil’s Amazon jungle as fire tore through the butchered rainforest and discarded trees littered the scorched earth like dead matchsticks, burnt and black. A Reuters witness saw vast burned and clear cut areas on Wednesday and Thursday, as the arc of deforestation advanced deeper into the …

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell 10% in July from a year earlier, after four straight monthly increases, preliminary data showed on Friday, but destruction remains far higher than before President Jair Bolsonaro took office. Cleared forest in the month of July totaled 1,498 square km (578 square miles), nearly …

Researchers say ‘overexploitation of the Earth’ has seen many of its ‘vital signs’ deteriorate to record levels. Thousands of scientists have repeated calls for urgent action to tackle the climate emergency, warning that several tipping points are now imminent. The researchers, part of a group of more than 14,000 scientists …

The spooky-looking amphibian is less scary than it appears to be. But it might already be endangered, as deforestation rates continue to go up. Everything is dark. There’s no one around. The raindrops fall heavily. Suddenly, the call ― it’s time to dig. The man digs with his bare hands …

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro visited two indigenous reservations in the Amazon on Thursday for the first time as head of state, despite protests from some tribal leaders against his drive to open up their protected lands to commercial mining. Bolsonaro, flanked by army officers and a Tukano chieftain with feather …

Dry weather this year raises the risk of severe fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, scientists say, warning that drought could fuel the destruction of biomes critical to curbing climate change. Last year, dry weather helped fuel record fires in the Pantanal, while the Amazon experienced the worst …

Health officials in the Brazilian Amazon, still reeling from health system collapse, fear a third wave is on the way. When Rosa Dos Anjos was admitted to a COVID-19 intensive care unit in the Amazonian capital of Manaus for 15 days in January, she thought her fortunes could not possibly …

For a moment, the Brazilian firefighters were taken aback by the sudden rage of the climbing flames: the speed at which they grew and moved, carried by the evening wind. Under the supervision of firefighters from Brazil’s environment agency Ibama, a farmer in this remote part of the Amazon had …

The number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest jumped 28% in July from a year ago, official data showed on Saturday, as some environmentalists warned a jump this week could signal a repeat of last year’s surging destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. Brazil’s space research agency Inpe recorded 6,803 …

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rose for the 14th consecutive month in June, preliminary government data on Friday showed, heaping further pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under fire for worsening destruction of the rainforest on his watch. Destruction rose 10.7% percent for the month, compared to June 2019, according …

The number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose 20% in June to a 13-year-high for the month, government data showed on Wednesday, as researchers worry that it could signal a repeat of last year’s surge in forest fires. Health experts also fear the smoke that often blankets the region …

An Earth observation satellite jointly developed by China and Brazil was launched into space on Friday under a bilateral program seen as a template for broader cooperation among BRICS nations. The China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A was launched on a Long March-4B rocket in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, the …

Brazil’s President blamed an unusual candidate this week as a cause of the Amazon forest fires: actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. President Jair Bolsonaro made the claim Thursday on a webcast, arguing that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) contributed to the forest fires that ravaged the Amazon rainforest earlier this year. “The …

A group of Brazilian anthropologists and environmentalists has put forward Chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapó tribe as a candidate for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for a lifetime of work protecting the Amazon rainforest. Raoni, an unmistakable Amazon icon with his large lip plate, yellow macaw-feather headdress, and earrings, …

Call it a shocking discovery: DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt. The findings are evidence, researchers say, of the incredible diversity in the Amazon rainforest — much of it still unknown to science …

The Brazilian government has said it will reject G7 countries offer of aid from to help tackle fires in the Amazon rainforest. French President Emmanuel Macron – who hosted a G7 summit that ended on Monday – said $22m (£18m) would be released. But Brazilian ministers say the money is …

Gazing down with a vaguely orange tint at a new fire blossoming on the Earth where a fire should not be, the Moon confided that it felt sad and powerless watching the Earth destroy itself. “At first it was small things. Losing a species here or there. Just careless, really. …

European leaders on Friday threatened to tear up a trade deal with South America, reflecting growing international anger at Brazil as a record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest intensified an unfolding environmental crisis. Amid a global chorus of concern and condemnation, Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro pledged in …