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Deforestation in Brazil Amazon falls, more Indigenous reserves approved
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 66 percent in August versus the same month last year, the government said Tuesday, while also announcing the demarcation of two new Indigenous reserves. "In August, we had a reduction of 66.11 percent in deforestation" in Brazil's share of the world's biggest rainforest, Environment Minister Marina Silva told a ceremony marking Amazon Day. That followed a similar year-on-year drop of 66 percent in July -- both crucial months in the Amazon, where deforestation typically surges this time of year with the onset of drier weather. According to satellite monitoring by Brazil's space research institute, INPE, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon wiped out 1,661 square kilometers (641 square miles) in August 2022, the last year of far-right Jair Bolsonaro's term. Bolsonaro (2019-2022), an ally of the powerful agribusiness industry blamed for driving the destruction, presided over a sharp increase in deforestation in the Amazon. "These results show the determination of the Lula administration to break the cycle of abandonment and regression seen under the previous government," Silva said. "If we don't protect the forest and its people, we'll condemn the world to a brutal increase of CO2 emissions and, as a result, accelerating climate change." New indigenous reserves Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, returned to office in January vowing to protect the threatened Amazon, whose carbon-absorbing trees are a vital buffer against global warming. Key to that pledge, researchers say, are Indigenous reserves, considered bulwarks against deforestation. "If there is no future for the Amazon and its people, there will be no future for the planet either," Lula said in his announcement of the two new reserves. His government in April already issued decrees recognizing six new Indigenous territories, authorizing Indigenous peoples to occupy the land and have exclusive use of its resources. Another six could be demarcated by the end of the year, the government said Tuesday. The country has some 800 reserves, but around a third of them have not been officially demarcated, according to Brazil's Indigenous Affairs agency. No new reserves had been demarcated under Bolsonaro. The demarcations -- of the 187,000-hectare (462,000-acre) Rio Gregorio reserve and the 18,000-hectare (44,000-acre) Acapuri de Cima reserve -- come as the country awaits a key Supreme Court decision that could derail or enshrine Indigenous gains. The law currently only recognizes ancestral territories that were occupied by Indigenous communities at the time Brazil's constitution was promulgated in 1988. But Indigenous leaders say certain territories were no longer occupied at that point because communities had been expelled from them, particularly during the military dictatorship from the 1960s to the 1980s. The case will either validate or invalidate the 1988 cut-off. So far, six of 11 judges have voted -- four against the cut-off, and two in favor. Voting is set to resume on 20 September. Indigenous reserves occupy 13.75 percent of Brazil's territory, with most -- like the two approved Tuesday -- in the Amazon. The post Deforestation in Brazil Amazon falls, more Indigenous reserves approved appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Acai craze: Threat for the Amazon?
ABAETETUBA, Brazil (AFP) — Working in the sweltering heat of the Brazilian Amazon, Jose Diogo scales a tree and harvests a cluster of blackberries: Acai, the trendy “superfood” reshaping the world’s biggest rainforest — for better and worse. Diogo, 41, who lives in a poor, remote community founded by escaped slaves, is a world away from the upscale supermarket aisles of New York or Tokyo, where berries like these are sold in sorbets, smoothies, juices, powders and pills, popularized by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Meghan Markle. But he has a front-row seat of the changes the acai craze is bringing to the Brazilian Amazon. Since acai rose to international fame in the 2000s, touted for its rich nutritional and antioxidant properties, it has unleashed an economic boom for traditional farmers in the Amazon region, and been lauded as a way to bring “green development” to the rainforest without destroying it. But experts say it is also threatening the Amazon’s biodiversity, as single-crop fields of acai palms become increasingly common. Diogo, who lives in the village of Igarape Sao Joao, in the northern state of Para, is building himself a brick house thanks to the money he has made from acai. “Things get a lot better for us every harvest season,” he says, scraping the small berries into a large basket. He can fill 25 such baskets on a good day, bringing home between 300 and 625 reais ($60 to $128), he says. The berries are brought by boat to Belem, the state capital, where sweating workers carry huge loads of them to market to be sold as quickly as possible, before the fragile fruit goes bad. Long eaten by Indigenous groups, acai is a culinary mainstay in northeastern Brazil, eaten with manioc flour or used to accompany fish and other dishes. Its deep-purple pulp shot to popularity across Brazil over the past two decades, often drunk as juice or made into a sweetened sorbet and served with fruit and granola. From there, acai went on to win fans worldwide, from the United States to Europe, Australia and Japan, where it can sell for around $5 per bowl to upwards of $20 for a 100-gram packet of organic acai powder. Brazilian exports of acai and its derivatives surged from 60 kilograms in 1999 to more than 15,000 tons in 2021. Para, the source of 90 percent of Brazil’s acai, produced almost 1.4 million tons of it in 2021, worth more than $1 billion for the state’s economy. But studies show the expansion of acai palms in the Amazon is causing a loss of biodiversity in some regions by replacing other species. “Leave nature to its own devices, and you get 50 or maybe 100 acai plants per hectare,” says biologist Madson Freitas of the Museu Goeldi research institute in Belem. The post Acai craze: Threat for the Amazon? appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Lula says ‘world must help’ Brazil save the Amazon
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday the "world must help" Brazil protect the Amazon, ahead of a summit next week on the world's biggest rainforest, a key buffer against climate change. "We know we have a responsibility to convince the world that investing is cheap if it's a matter of saving the rainforest," the veteran leftist told a breakfast meeting with AFP and other international media. "The world needs to help us preserve and develop the Amazon," he said, in response to a question on how to balance the need for economic development in the Amazon region with protecting the forest. Lula and leaders of other countries with territory in the sprawling Amazon are set to meet next week in the Brazilian city of Belem on developing policies to protect the rainforest, which is being badly damaged by deforestation. It will be the first meeting of the eight-member Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization since 2009. Deforestation in Brazil's 60-percent share of the Amazon fell by 33.6 percent year-on-year from January to June, the first six months of Lula's term, according to official figures. The destruction of the rainforest had surged under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who presided over an increase of more than 75 percent in annual deforestation versus the previous decade. Lula said he planned to work with other Amazon basin leaders to "share research on the region's biodiversity" and seek ways to enable people there to "work without destroying" the fragile ecosystem. Lula, 77, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, also reiterated his desire to help forge a peace deal for Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine "are in the 'I'm going to win' stage. Meanwhile, people are dying," he said. He also spoke in favor of expanding the BRICS group of emerging economies, formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. He said the group should discuss inviting new members at its upcoming summit in South Africa later this month, suggesting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina as possibilities. The post Lula says ‘world must help’ Brazil save the Amazon appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Priscilla Meirelles proud of Brazilian heritage
Miss Earth 2004 Priscilla Meirelles shares some photos on Instagram showing her wearing a blue headdress made of dyed feathers and sporting colorful tribal face paint. The photos were taken at the Amazon Rain Forest during her travel to her hometown in Brazil. "Proud of my heritage. Proud of my culture. Proud of my people," she captioned her post. The post Priscilla Meirelles proud of Brazilian heritage appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Last photos of Amazon murder victims Phillips, Pereira found
The last photos of murdered British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who disappeared a year ago in the Amazon rainforest, have been found on a cell phone recovered in the jungle. The pictures, shown in a documentary about the men's lives and work that premiered Friday, were taken in the hours before Phillips and Pereira were killed on 5 June 2022 -- a crime that triggered international outcry and drew attention to the lawlessness fueling the destruction of the world's biggest rainforest. Investigators say Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, were shot by a group of illegal fishermen in what appeared to be retaliation for Pereira's work fighting environmental crimes in the far-flung Javari Valley Indigenous reservation, in northern Brazil. The pictures were recovered by an Indigenous patrol team that Pereira had trained to protect the reservation from illegal gold miners, loggers and poachers. The patrol from Indigenous-rights group UNIVAJA, which played a crucial role in helping the authorities find the men's remains, continued searching for clues in the region in the months after the double murder. The documentary, produced by streaming service Globoplay, shows the search team using a metal detector to sweep the area where the remains were found, which had been covered in water during the rainy season. Working painstakingly in the muck, they managed to dig up Phillips's notebooks and press card, then found Pereira's phone -- potentially a key piece of evidence. The mud-encrusted phone, recovered in October, was given to forensics experts to extract the images and data. The last picture, taken the morning the men were killed, shows Phillips sitting in a small boat on the Itaquai river, one of the brown waterways that snake across the region, speaking with a local resident near shore. There are also videos of one of the three suspects currently on trial in the case, local fisherman Amarildo "Pelado" Costa de Oliveira, crossing paths with Phillips and Pereira as he traveled down the river. Indigenous patrol members said Oliveira had threatened them a day before the killing. Pereira had received repeated death threats for his work. UNIVAJA leaders said they hoped the images would help bring justice to the case. The post Last photos of Amazon murder victims Phillips, Pereira found appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Amazon scientists simulate how warming may impact jungle
Deep in the Amazon, an experiment unfolds that may allow a peek into the future to see what will happen to the world's largest rainforest when carbon dioxide levels rise. It is a simulation to see how the lungs of the world will endure global warming. The AmazonFACE project, co-financed by Brazil and the United Kingdom, is "an open-air laboratory that will allow us to understand how the rainforest will behave in future climate change scenarios," says Carlos Quesada, one of the project coordinators. Quesada stands at the foot of a soaring metal tower that protrudes through the rainforest canopy at a site 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Manaus in northwest Brazil. Sixteen other towers arranged in a circle around it will "pump" CO2 into the ring, replicating levels that may happen with global warming. "How will the rainforest react to the rising temperature, the reduction in water availability, in a world with more carbon in the atmosphere?" asks Quesada, a researcher at an Amazon research institute that is part of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology. The technology known as FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment) has already been used to study the impact on forests in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, but never in a tropical rainforest. By 2024, there will be six "carbon rings" pumping CO2 -- one of the causes of global warming -- at a concentration 40 percent to 50 percent higher than today. Over a decade, researchers will analyze the processes occurring in leaves, roots, soil, water and nutrient cycles. "We will have more accurate projections on how the Amazon rainforest can help combat climate change with its ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Also, it will help us understand how the rainforest will be impacted by these changes," says David Lapola, a researcher at the University of Campinas, who coordinates the project with Quesada. The carbon increase in the atmosphere may lead to the creation of grassy plains, or savanna, where the Amazon rainforest once flourished, with vegetation better adapted to higher temperatures and longer droughts. But CO2 could also "fertilize" the forest and make it temporarily more resistant to these changes. "This is a positive scenario, at least for a short time, a period for us to get to zero emission policies, to keep temperature increases to only 1.5 degrees Centigrade," Quesada says. The project "is a window to the future. You open the window and look at what might be happening 30 years ahead," he says. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urged ambitious action to counter global warming again this year. According to its latest March report, global warming will surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius in the decades after 2030, leading to irreversible loss of ecosystems. Coinciding with global warming is the impact of human-caused deforestation in the Amazon. A landmark 2018 study by scientists Thomas Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre found that the Amazon is hurtling toward a tipping point where savannas begin to replace rainforest. They said that would happen with deforestation of 20 to 25 percent of Amazon territory. Currently, deforestation stands at 15 percent. AmazonFACE, coordinated by University of Campinas and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, has the support of the Foreign Office and the British Meteorological Service (MET office). British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited the facilities this week and announced a new contribution of 2 million pounds (US$2.4 million) to the project, which since 2021 has already received 7.3 million pounds from the United Kingdom. Brazil, for its part, has invested 32 million reais (US$6.4 million). The post Amazon scientists simulate how warming may impact jungle appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon falls in first month under Lula
In mid-January, Brazilian environmental agents launch their first anti-logging raids under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has pledged to end surging destruction under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.....»»
Statement | We unite in the struggle for life
The death of the Amazon and other Brazilian unique biomes, such as Cerrando and Pantanal, will not only impact its frontline communities; in the accelerating collapse of our climate, the extinction of the rainforest will endanger ecosystems everywhere. In this way, the fate of Brazil's Indigenous peoples is entwined with the fate of our world The post Statement | We unite in the struggle for life appeared first on Bulatlat......»»
La Nación / IMA The “Mercedes Jané” auditorium has a capacity of 100 spectators
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon broke the fourth consecutive monthly record in June and swept 3,609 square kilometers in the first six months of the.....»»
Brazilian pilot survives 38 days in Amazon after crash
Brazilian pilot survives 38 days in Amazon after crash.....»»
Brazilian Amazon fires near level of 2019 crisis
The number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon last month was the second-highest in a decade for August, nearing the crisis levels that unleashed a flood of international condemnation last year, official figures showed Tuesday......»»
Brazilian military plane flew illegal Amazon miners
Brazilian prosecutors alleged Friday that a military airplane was inappropriately used to fly a group of illegal miners operating in the Amazon rainforest to meet with Environment Minister Ricardo Salles in Brasilia......»»
Brazilian Amazon fires surge in July
The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon last month rose 28 percent from July 2019, satellite data showed Saturday, fueling fears the world's biggest rainforest will again be devastated by fires this year......»»
Study finds dangerous mercury levels in Amazon fish
Sao Paulo, Brazil | Nearly one-third of the fish in the Brazilian Amazon state of Amapa have such high levels of mercury caused by illegal mining that they are dangerous for human consumption, according to a new study......»»
Money lending firm collector killed in Zamboanga del Sur ambush
Gunmen killed a collector of a local money lending firm in a daytime ambush in Barangay Lutlutan in Dimataling town, Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday......»»
Thousands join Porac town earthquake drill
Thousands join Porac town earthquake drill.....»»
Pause
Like the biblical exodus, the Holy Week period has always ushered in so much travel of people going out of town, or trips abroad for the rich ones......»»
3 suspected rebels killed in clash in Philippines Batangas
MANILA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Three suspected rebels were killed in a clash with government forces in Batangas province, south of Manila, on Tuesday, the Philippine military said. The military said a 30-minute gunfight broke out around 6:30 a.m. local time after the troops ran into a group of New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Rosario town. The troops recovered three rifles, six jungle packs, and some mater.....»»
Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, March 26
MANILA -- Three suspected rebels were killed in a clash with government forces in Batangas province, south of Manila, on Tuesday, the Philippine military said. The military said a 30-minute gunfight broke out around 6:30 a.m. local time after the troops ran into a group of New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Rosario town. (Philippines-Clash) - - - - BEIRUT -- Two people were killed and nine other civ.....»»
Man shot dead while answering phone call in Minglanilla town
Man shot dead while answering phone call in Minglanilla town.....»»