Amazon Rainforest

Rainforest Gets Greener During a Drought

2007-09-25T12:06:00.001-04:00

During the drought in the Amazon Rainforest in 2005, many areas actually got greener. Researcher Scott Saleska, of the University of Arizona, explained

"And what we saw was that there was more photosynthesis going on, more capacity to take up carbon dioxide than in an average year"

While this drought was not prolonged, there is no evidence that such results would continue if there were a prolonged drought. People believed that that stressed trees in drought conditions would try to conserve their water by decreasing loss through leaves (transpiration). This in turn would lead to a decrease photosynthesis.
People then believed that the drought be made worse since there was an interuptionby the supply of water into the atmosphere.

It appears that the trees roots were able to obtain water deep underground, much further than the models predicted they could. However more frequent droughts or climate changes could deplete the deep-water stores, thus thwarting the trees ability to survive a drought.

Free Trade With Peru May Endanger the Amazon Rainforest

2006-10-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

The Bush administration is pushing for a free trade agreement with Peru. This may have drastic consequences for the Amazon Rainforest. This may enable multi-national companies to aggresively take the natural assets from the rainforest at an accelerated pace.

Greenwatch Today Reports:

But because the basin is also rich in timber, oil and other valuable resources, powerful multinational corporations are extracting these commodities at an increasingly destructive pace. A key example is mahogany, an endangered species central to the rainforest ecosystem. Rainforest mahogany is currently being imported into the U.S. in clear violation of international agreements.

The administration's proposed Peru Free Trade Agreement fails to halt this illegal trade. Further, as with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Peru deal gives industries such as logging, oil and gas the right to challenge environmental and public health laws by alleging that such protections undermine their ability to make a profit.

Such investment rules accord rights to foreign companies that are considerably broader than what the Supreme Court has mandated in the U.S. And, corporations have wasted no time in capitalizing on this opening: more than 40 lawsuits have already been brought to NAFTA's tribunals, which have repeatedly ruled in favor of the companies.

For more information see http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000319.php

It would truly be a travesty if the short term gain for corporations destroyed one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.

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Amazon Deforestation Rate Slowing

2006-09-08T17:37:00.000-04:00

While the Amazon Rainforest is still being destroyed at an alarming rate, Brazil's environmental minister said the rate is declining. Reports show that 6,450 square miles were destroyed this year. This is a decrease of 11 percent from last year. To put this in perspective this is the size of Hawaii.

This shows it wasn't just a cyclical reduction," Environment Minister Marina Silva told a news conference.

The official deforestation report, based on a more detailed satellite reading, will be ready by year's end.

Brazil's chaotic legal system and its large informal economy have not helped the fight against deforestation. Illegal loggers often use fake permits and land titles to harvest trees and then sell the cleared land to farmers or ranchers.

Silva, whose parents were rubber-tappers in the rainforest state of Acre, pledged to fight illegal logging when she became environment minister in 2003.

But deforestation surged during her first year in office as local demand for timber and global demand for soy and beef tempted people deeper into the rainforest.

Nearly 10,620 square miles -- an area about the size of Massachusetts and Albania -- were cleared from August 2003 to July 2004.

Corruption inside Brazil's park service IBAMA has been part of the problem. Some 100 IBAMA employees have been arrested since mid-2003 in raids that have uncovered more than a dozen illegal logging rings.

The latest bust was announced on Tuesday. Police dismantled a group using front companies to harvest timber from protected areas in the western states of Rondonia and Mato Grosso. Seven IBAMA employees were involved.

Environmental groups in Brazil largely applaud Silva's efforts, although some say they would like to see more attention given to replanting already deforested land.

To date, nearly 270,290 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been cleared, said Joao Paulo Capobianco, the Ministry's secretary of biodiversity. That represents about 17.5 percent of the rainforest, or an area equal to Texas in size and somewhat bigger than Turkey.

For more information see http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060906/sc_nm/environment_brazil_amazon_dc_1

Perhaps the rate is slowing, but is it slowing enough?

What is the fate of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon

2006-08-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

The The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online has release a study of what happens to a forest when it is logged.

The long-term viability of a forest industry in the Amazon region of Brazil depends on the maintenance of adequate timber volume and growth in healthy forests. Using extensive high-resolution satellite analyses, we studied the forest damage caused by recent logging operations and the likelihood that logged forests would be cleared within 4 years after timber harvest. Across 2,030,637 km2 of the Brazilian Amazon from 1999 to 2004, at least 76% of all harvest practices resulted in high levels of canopy damage sufficient to leave forests susceptible to drought and fire. We found that 16 ± 1% of selectively logged areas were deforested within 1 year of logging, with a subsequent annual deforestation rate of 5.4% for 4 years after timber harvests. Nearly all logging occurred within 25 km of main roads, and within that area, the probability of deforestation for a logged forest was up to four times greater than for unlogged forests. In combination, our results show that logging in the Brazilian Amazon is dominated by highly damaging operations, often followed rapidly by deforestation decades before forests can recover sufficiently to produce timber for a second harvest. Under the management regimes in effect at the time of our study in the Brazilian Amazon, selective logging would not be sustained.

It should come as no surprise that the outcome is dire.

For more information visit http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/103/34/12947

Amazon Deforestation is Increasing Caribbean Hurricanes

2006-07-23T17:05:00.000-04:00

Scientists are predicting dire consequences if the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is not stopped soon. Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, has said that cutting the forests will result in a disruption of the warm air flow in the atmosphere. This will in turn lead to an increase in the hurricanes in the Caribbean as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

LeLaulu said the description of the Amazon as "the lungs of the planet" may not be totally accurate as the region re-absorbs some 80-percent of the oxygen it generates.

"Climate scientists, however, have compiled studies which conclude the vast Amazonia is more the "heart of the planet" for its role in pumping moisture and rain to South America and beyond," asserts LeLaulu.

"Basically, the scientists are telling us forest destruction of the Amazon leads to a failure of forest transpiration, the forest pumps, leaving heat in the southern north Atlantic which in turn gives birth to more extreme hurricanes in the Caribbean," he cautioned. It also means the bread baskets of southern Brazil and Argentina could be turned to desert without the rain generated by the Amazon, he added.

Quoting from submissions made by top Brazilian scientists and their colleagues from the leading European and American academies of science to a high-level meeting on the Amazon, LeLaulu asserted, "we are now able to explain why the sea temperature of the southern north Atlantic has been rising, giving birth to more extreme hurricanes which ravage the Caribbean and North America."

Tom Spencer, vice chairman of the Institute for Environmental Security in the Hague, said this is the missing link and holds out the possibility of a new deal in the international climate negotiations such as the Kyoto Protocol. "The scientists are telling us we are running out of time as the forests struggle to survive. We in the political sphere have to approach international meetings such as the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Nairobi this November with a new sense of urgency," said Spencer former head of the British Conservative Party at the European Parliament.

For more information:http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000024/002420.htm

While it seems there is definately an increase in the severity and quanity of Caribbean Hurricanes the last few years, others argue it is just a natural weather cycle. They state we have entered a period of high activity for the next few years.

Brazil Protects Three New Areas in the Amazon Rainforest

2006-06-22T16:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decreed three new protected areas in the Amazon. This makes 1.84 million hectares (4.55 million acres) of pristine rainforest off-limits for development.

Silva signed the decrees creating the 880,000 hectare (2.2 million acre) Campos Amazonicos National Park and two extractive reserves at a ceremony in Brasil. Extractive reserves are areas where local communities can exploit the rainforest in a sustainable manner, harvesting its fruits, nuts and rubber without logging.

The national park straddles Amazonas and Rondonia states. The Rio Unini and Arapixi reserves are both in Amazonas.

Since taking office in 2002 Silva has created 57 protected areas in the Amazon preserving some 19.3 million hectares (47.6 million acres) of rainforest, the environment ministry said.

But in truth, many of these protected areas exist only on paper.

Even when the parks have some degree of infrastructure, they rarely have enough forest rangers to patrol vast expanses. According to the environmental group Vitoria Amazonica, Brazil has one forest ranger for every 650 square miles at its 278 federal preserves.

That number falls sharply in the Amazon, which many rangers shun because of the isolation and threats from loggers.

The United States parks department has some 32,000 full-time employees compared with around 1,100 full-time staff in Brazil's parks.

The Brazilian Amazon sprawls over 1.6 million square miles (4.2 million square kilometers), the area of western Europe. Experts say as much as 20 percent of the forest has been destroyed by development, logging and farming. Last year the forest lost a near-record 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers).

While the new laws seem to add protection, we'll see how well they are enforced.

An Amazon Stonehenge found in Brazil

2006-05-22T15:42:00.000-04:00

Archaeologists have discovered a pre-colonial astrological observatory possibly 2,000 years old in the Amazon basin near French Guiana, a report has said.

"Only a society with a complex culture could have built such a monument," archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral, of the Amapa Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA), told O Globo newspaper.

The observatory was built of 127 blocks of granite each three metres high and regularly placed in circles in an open field, she said.

Ms Cabral said the site resembles a temple which could have been used as an observatory, because the blocks are positioned to mark the winter solstice.

In December, the path of the sun allows rays to pass through a hole in one of the blocks, possibly to calculate agricultural activity and religious rituals.

Its exact age has been difficult to determine, but based on ceramic fragments found nearby, archaeologists estimate it between 500 and 2,000 years old.

The discovery is in Calcoene, 390 kilometres from Macapa, the capital of Amapa state, near Brazil's border with French Guyana.

Archaeologists said the find holds mysteries similar to Stonehenge, in Salisbury, England, another monument of huge stones, whose purpose is also unclear.

Oil Road in Ecuadorian Amazon Canceled

2006-04-25T16:56:00.000-04:00

Brazilian oil company Petrobras has suspended its plans to build a new access road into Yasuni National Park, that is located in the Ecuadorian Amazon. They have not given up oil development within the park, but claim they will use helicopters to access the site.

"For nearly two years, Ecuadorian and international conservation, indigenous, and scientific groups have been fighting to stop the road into the park, which is a designated UNESCO Biosphere and is currently roadless. They fear a road would allow land development of all kinds to penetrate the pristine rainforest that shelters a rich diversity of species as well as indigenous peoples who prefer to avoid contact and retain traditional ways.

In a written statement last week from Petrobras to Save America’s Forests, a conservation group based in Washington, DC, the company explained that it will follow the advice of the Ecuadorian government not to build the road.

or nearly two years, Ecuadorian and international conservation, indigenous, and scientific groups have been fighting to stop the road into the park, which is a designated UNESCO Biosphere and is currently roadless. They fear a road would allow land development of all kinds to penetrate the pristine rainforest that shelters a rich diversity of species as well as indigenous peoples who prefer to avoid contact and retain traditional ways.

In a written statement last week from Petrobras to Save America’s Forests, a conservation group based in Washington, DC, the company explained that it will follow the advice of the Ecuadorian government not to build the road.

For more information see http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2006/2006-04-24-02.asp

Amazon Rainforest logging operation shut down

2006-04-11T15:16:00.000-04:00

In the Amazon rainforest town of Novo Aripuana the Norte Wood logging company was operating without a license. The town is located 1,600 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro. Their operations were shut down yesterday, and dozens of tropical hardwood trees were taken from them. About 500 cubic meters was taken, making it the largest seizure this year.

The logging was discovered by an overhead flight, in an area where a new species of monkeys was just discovered.

"During the past three years, loggers from the neighboring state of Para have been moving to Novo Aripuana after having largely deforested the southern edge of their home state.

"It's one of the biggest problems, people from Para coming and cutting down everything. They are buying up land from the locals who live along the river and cutting down the most valuable trees," Alencar said by phone from the Amazonas state capital Manaus.

Brazil's environmental regulations require landowners to maintain 80 percent of Amazon's forested areas. Logging is permitted in the forest reserve, but companies must file management plans to show their logging is carried out in a sustainable manner, with minimal damage to the forest.

Alencar said the company had submitted a management plan, but it had not been approved by the state.

Rubens Pereira, manager of the federal environmental authority in Amazonas state, said many of the companies that have cut down the forest in southern Para were now coming to his state in hopes of avoiding stiff enforcement of environmental regulations.

"Three years ago there was only one sawmill in Nova Aripuna. Now you have around a dozen," said Pereira.

Scientists say the deforestation reduces the area's rich biodiversity and contributes to global warming. Burning in the Brazilian Amazon releases about 370 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year, about 5.4 percent of the world total."

From CNN.com

The destruction of the rainforest has ongoing for years. Scientists believe as much as 20 percent of the amazon rainforest has been desroyed so far. While controlled logging should prevent a disaster, it is too soon to tell what the long term affects will be on the forest.

Greenpeace claims McDonald's is Destroying the Amazon Rainforest

2006-04-07T13:24:00.000-04:00

Greenpeace has made claims that McDonald's is destroying the Amazon rainforest, by encouraging soya farmers to cut down the forest and plant massive soya monocultures. The soya that they grow is then shipped to Europe to feed the animals that are turned into McNuggets.

They claim they have evidence with satellite images, and a year long study.

"What we found was a global trade in soya from rainforest destruction in the Amazon to McDonald's fast food outlets and supermarkets across Europe.

"This crime stretches from the heart of the Amazon across the entire European food industry. Supermarkets and fast food giants, like McDonald's, must make sure their food is free from the links to the Amazon destruction, slavery and human rights abuses"
Greenpeace forests campaign co-ordinator, Gavin Edwards.

Most of the global trade in soya is controlled by a small number of massive traders: Cargill, Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). In Brazil, this cartel plays the role of bank to the farmers. Instead of providing loans they give farmers seed, fertiliser and herbicides in return for soya at harvest: Bunge alone provided the equivalent of nearly US$1 billion worth of seed, fertiliser and herbicides to Brazilian farmers in 2004.

This gives the companies indirect control over huge areas of land that used to be rainforest. Together, these three companies are responsible for around 60 percent of the total financing of soya production in Brazil.

The state of Mato Grosso is Brazil's worst in terms of deforestation and forest fires, accounting for nearly half of all the deforestation in the Amazon in 2003-04. In Mato Grosso, the governor, Blairo Maggi, is known locally as the 'Soya King'. His own massive soya company Grupo Andre Maggi controls much of the soya production in the state and since his election in 2002, forest destruction in Mato Grosso has increased by 30 percent. "

They later also claim that international banks are funding such operations. For more information on this matter please see: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/mcamazon-060406

Brazil Increases Protection for the Amazon Rainforest

2006-04-03T17:29:00.000-04:00

Brazil has announced that it is increasing the area of the Amazon Rainforest that is protected. In the next three years it will declare 210,000 sq. kilometers a protected area. This will help slow the destruction of the forest.

"The project is part of the Amazon Protected Areas Program, which has banned development in some regions and created sustainable development zones in others to preserve the Amazon region, which covers 4.1 million square kilometers in Brazil and extends into Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

During three days of high-level talks at the eighth biannual Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity, cabinet ministers face a major test of their commitment to provisions of the 1993 treaty as well as their support for the Global Fund for the Environment.

"In a sense we are at a crossroads," said Marcelo Furtado of the environmental group Greenpeace. "If concrete measures don't emerge from this conference, the convention could lose its credibility.

"If that happens, pressing environmental issues could end up being dealt with at other forums like the World Trade Organization, where economic considerations take greater priority."

Organizers said 93 government ministers were expected to participate in the conference, which began last Monday in Curitiba, 650 kilometers southwest of Rio de Janeiro, and runs until Friday.

The Convention on Biological Diversity arose from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where more than 100 world leaders recognized that the world's environment was in danger and pledged to take steps to protect it. This biannual event is aimed at reviewing progress made toward goals set out at the Earth Summit.

"The (ministers') meeting is strategically placed during the second week. That way the high-level meetings can address the most controversial issues of the past week that have been ironed out by their delegations," said Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva, who is presiding over the conference.

"It's a key political moment when the leaders of the global agenda commit themselves to work toward the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity," Silva said. "

While there is still rampant descruction of the forest for economic gains, at least this is a step in the right direction.

Amazon Rainforest Grows faster in the Dry Season

2006-03-22T14:28:00.000-05:00

Contrary to previous beliefs, new evidence suggests that the Amazon Rainforest actually grows more during the dry season. Contrary to most of the vegetation around world when the rain stops growth slows, it appears the opposite is true for parts of the Amazon Rainforest. However it appears this only occurs in regions of the forest that are undisturbed. Those regions that have been used for other reasons due get browner, as would be expected.

"Huete, a UA professor of soil, water and environmental science.

Huete suggests the deep roots of trees in the undisturbed forest can reach water even in the dry season, allowing the trees to flourish during the sunnier, drier part of the year. In contrast, plants in areas that have been logged or converted to other uses cannot reach deep water in the dry season and therefore either go dormant or die.

Figuring out the metabolism of the Amazon rainforest, the largest old-growth rainforest on the planet, is crucial for understanding how rainforests and other tropical biomes function and how deforestation affects biodiversity and sustainable land use in the tropics. It will also help scientists better understand the global carbon cycle, which affects the natural sequestration and release of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.

The finding that converted forests grow differently from undisturbed forests has implications for understanding fire regimes in the tropics, including the fires that sometimes rage in tropical areas during El Nino years, which bring drought to many tropical areas, including the Amazon.

The research team figured out when the intact forest grows by analyzing five years of satellite images from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument mounted on NASA's Terra satellite and by cross-checking with information from local sites on the ground. The research was funded by NASA and is part of the Brazilian-led Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in AmazÃ´nia (LBA).

The paper by Huete, Scott Saleska, a UA assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and their colleagues, "Amazon Rainforests Green-Up with Sunlight in Dry Season," is scheduled for the March 22 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. NASA funded the research. A complete list of authors can be found at the end of this release.

The MODIS instrument began collecting data in 2000. Once a day, MODIS takes a picture of each spot on the Earth. Each pixel in the images represents a square of about 820 feet (250 meters) on a side. If it's too cloudy at one spot one day, the next day's picture may be fine. Five years' worth of pictures means the scientists have at least one good image of every spot for every month of the year.

To be able to figure out when the Amazon rainforest is growing, Huete's lab used a new measure, called Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), for detecting greenness in MODIS images of very highly vegetated rainforests. Greenness is an indicator of active plant growth.

Plants are green because they contain the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll. Growing plants generate more chlorophyll and therefore look greener."

The increase in greenness is a way of looking at the Amazon's health.

The researches next steps include looking at other rainforests around the world to see if they behave in a similar manner.

Amazon Rainforest Destruction may be Irreversible

2006-03-13T16:30:00.000-05:00

A US scientist from Pennsylvania State University, claims the Amazon Rain forest could disappear within the next half century. Admitably his estimate suggests a rate much faster than other experts. He believes the danger lies in the complex feedback process. His model is based on mathematical formulas and calculations.

"Research published in the journal Science earlier this year suggesting that deforestation rates in the Amazon could reach 42% by 2020 were based on unreliable facts and "ecological futurology", Brazil's science and technology ministry said.

But Professor Alcock's forecast, based on a mathematical model of human-driven deforestation, is starker still.

Without immediate and forceful action to change current agricultural, mining and logging practices, he says, the forest could pass the point of no return in 10 to 15 years.

Boat on Amazon BBC
Human pressures on the forest are growing
And the model indicates that the forest, far from having 75 or 100 years to reach total collapse as other researchers predict, could essentially disappear within 40 or 50 years.

Professor Alcock is presenting his findings at a conference in Scotland being held jointly by the Geology Societies of America and London.

He hopes to develop his research with fieldwork in the Amazon, although he argues that his model is also a useful predictor of what could happen in the other great tropical forest systems, in south east Asia and the Congo river basin in Africa.

Professor Alcock, who says the size of the Amazon river basin has already been reduced by about 25%, believes the threat lies in a process known as evapotranspiration, in which the rain that falls on a forest is retained and then returned to the atmosphere.

But without a healthy vegetation base, he says, there is little to stop the water running off, and this creates the potential for a highly unstable forest system."

For more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1406567.stm

To the contrary many other experts believe that the numbers are inflated and that as much as 87% of the Amazon forest may still be intact. They claim some forget to factor in secondary generation, which is not included in the models.

Brazil opens parts of the Amazon forest to logging

2006-03-04T20:46:00.000-05:00

On March 2, 2006 Brazil's president approved a measure that offered huge chunks of the Amazon jungle to timber companies that were willing to comply with tough restrictions. The goal was to preserve the world's largest rain forest.

The new law lets the government tender 40-year contracts that allow the highest bidder to log trees in accordance with a sustainable development plan.

About 32 million acres (13 million hectares), which is roughly three percent of the Amazon rainforest, will be available for foresting to private Brazilian companies. Logging is not allowed in the nature reserves and territories marked for the local Indians.

The goal is to curtail the renegade lumber companies that don't comply by the rules.

" "We are authorizing sustainable development, that is the opposite of deforestation," Tasso Azevedo, forestry undersecretary at the Environment Ministry, told Reuters.

Only five or six trees can be harvested over 10 years in an areas the size of a football field, he said.

Lula's advisers said the law's controls, frequent inspections, and an end to legal uncertainty over land rights would reduce deforestation. The measure calls for the demarcation of public forests and should make private lands claims on them impossible.

Speculators have used legal loopholes and graft to illegally buy and resell land to timber companies, cattle ranchers or farmers.

So far, the administration's policies have produced mixed results, including the second-highest deforestation rate ever in 2004, as well as rising land-related violence in the region."

Several environmental groups have praise the law, and hope the both parties interests can be met.

Two new National Parks created in the Amazon Rainforest

2006-02-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

In Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has just created two new national parks in the Amazon rain forest. Additionally he has expanded another park to protect an environmentally sensitive region where the government has plans for a major highway project. The decree puts 3.7 million acres of rainforest under protection of development.

"The protected land lies in an area where President Silva declared a logging moratorium after the killing last year of Dorothy Stang, an American nun and environmental defender.

Stang, who spent the last 23 years of her life defending poor communities against the loggers and land grabbers who abound in the Amazon, was killed in a land dispute with a local rancher on Feb. 12, 2005.

Her killing sparked an international uproar, and within days the government declared the creation of two national parks and two reserves areas where people can live as long as they do not damage the forest, along with the logging moratorium along the BR-163.

Two gunmen have been convicted for Stang's killing and two ranchers are awaiting trial on charges of ordering her death."

Environmentalist weren't as excited about the anouncement.

""The moratorium proved to be effective because it gave the state power to act against those who thought they could illegally seize public lands," said Claudio Maretti, coordinator of protected areas for the World Wide Fund for Nature in Brazil. "But the government should be quicker to declare protected areas in other regions." "

After the decree the total area in the Amazon under some form of federal protection is now about 113 million acres.

The Brazilian Amazon spreads over 1.6 million square miles, about the size of western Europe. Experts proclaim that as much as 20 percent of the forest has been destroyed by farming, logging and development. They estimate that last year the forest lost a near-record 10,000 square miles.

Malaria increases as the Rainforest Shrinks

2006-02-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

It was recently reported in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene that Anopheles darlingia, a malaria-transmitting mosquito, is up to 278 times more likely to bite people in the heavily deforested areas of the rainforest than in the jungle areas.

The changes in the vegetation following deforestation results in "optimal conditions for the breeding of mosquitoes with malaria."

"Vittor’s study reported that the A. darlingi mosquito is “the primary malaria vector in the Amazon” and prefers to feed on humans. The study, which Vittor led while at Johns Hopkins University, took place in the Peruvian Amazon.

According to Vittor, most of the deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon has been due to subsistence agriculture, where locals slash and burn the forest to grow crops like plantain and cassava. After approximately five years, the land is often abandoned, and shrubs and other secondary growth take over.

Since A. darlingi prefers to live and breed in farmland and shrubby areas, its numbers are increasing as more of the forest is cut down. Vittor said other species of mosquito prefer the jungle or are equally present in forested and deforested areas. A. darlingi, however, seems to be “newly emerged” in the studied region, and its numbers are increasing.

Malaria has also been on the rise in recent years. According to Vittor, the major epidemic has passed, but in the late 1990s cases of malaria skyrocketed.

She said the deforestation of the area “may have contributed [to the malaria epidemic], it may have caused it. But certainly, I think it’s aggravating the situation.”"

The key it seems is to strike a balance between clearing the forest for economic purposes, and preserving the forest for health and biodiversity reasons.

Oil and Gas in the Peruvian Amazon

2006-02-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

The northwest and southern parts of the Peruvian Amazon forest have been identified as having large reserves of oil and gas. Subsequently the area has been zoned for oil and gas activity. Currently there are 29 oil "blocks" in Peru, and 75% of these have been created or leased within the last three years. This has caused a deep concern for those who fear further destruction of the forest.

"One of the major fears conservationists have," he says, "since virtually all of the blocks are in roadless rainforest, is that oil and gas companies will have to build new road networks and pipeline right-of-ways to access drilling platforms. These new corridors would provide unprecedented access to previously remote rainforest, leading to colonization of indigenous territories and accelerated deforestation rates."

"The Peruvian Amazon, a region that still holds some of the most pristine biodiverse rainforests on Earth, is facing an unprecedented wave of new oil and gas exploration.

“Around 54 million acres of remote and intact rainforest is now zoned for oil and gas activities in Peru,” said Dr Matt Finer, staff ecologist at Save America’s Forests in Washington, DC. “This amounts to more than 25 per cent of the entire Peruvian Amazon.”

After Peru had not had any new major oil discoveries in decades, the government lowered royalties on exploration in 2003. This move sparked a resurgence of interest in Peru among foreign oil companies."

For more information go to: http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2653

For a map of the oil blocks go to: http://mirror.perupetro.com.pe/exploracion01-e.asp

Connection in the Brazilian Rainforest

2006-01-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

A nine year old Gransts, NM girl recently returned from a working vacation in the Brazilian Rainforest. An eco-sponsored trip by Earthwatch Institute, allowed Jennifer Scott and her family to help with field work and interact with the indigenous people of the region.

Scott and her mother have been studying the rain forest for three years during home school classes and they decided they wanted to see it for themselves. ÂI was so excited about the possibility of seeing the animals, plants and people of the Brazilian jungle,Â Scott said.

The young girl became fast friends with a native girl and they are now actually e-mailing one another. ÂWe were able to take one of those new wind-up computers that donÂt need electricity and I spent a lot of time teaching her how to use it,Â Scott reported.

Most of the time the family worked with a botanist from Switzerland who was frantically trying to catalog the indigenous plants. ÂHans (the botanist) said it is very important to identify the plants and their characteristics before they all get destroyed,Â Scott said. ÂHe told us that many of the plants could possibly lead to new medicines and it was important to save as many as possible,Â she added.

For more information: http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2006/01/27/news/news3.txt

Quite an experience for someone to actually explore a topic they are studying not just in a book, but firsthand.

Amazon Gas pipeline worries Environmentalists

2006-01-25T20:57:00.000-05:00

The plan run a gas pipeline through the Amazon Rainforest has caught environmentalists off gaurd. Environmentalists fear that the pipeline will pollute waterways, destroy trees, and create roads that will allow for easier access to loggers.

"There are some aspects of the project that are, let's say, worrisome," said Roberto Smeraldi, of the Friends of the Earth-Brazil.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez says the pipeline is a central part of his efforts to reduce dependence on the United States and its pressure for free-market policies known as the Washington Consensus.

It's "the beginning of the South American consensus", Chávez has said. "This pipeline is vital for us."

At a meeting in Brazil's capital in mid-January, the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil promised to prepare in-depth studies for the 10 000km pipeline, stretching from Venezuela to Argentina, by mid-year.

Smeraldi said the short timetable seems unworkable.

"A government like Brazil's can't do similar studies for projects covering 500km after 10 years of discussion, and now they are going to manage in-depth studies for a 10 000km project in six months?" he said.

Smeraldi said he believes the pipeline theoretically could be built with minimal impact to the environment, but the cost would be prohibitive.

Glenn Switkes, of the International Rivers Network, said if the pipeline were ever built, it would inevitably foul the environment.

"There are a lot of issues involved: direct construction, the question of drainage, all the roads that need to be built," Switkes said.

Roads are particularly devastating to the Amazon rainforest. They allow ranchers, loggers and miners to flood into areas that previously were inaccessible. Environmentalists estimate that each road cut into the rainforest causes destruction of the forest for 50km on each side of the road within a few years.

"They always say they're going to fly in the pipes and not build roads, but they never do that," Switkes said. "Then they say that the pipeline will go around important ecological areas, but they never do that either because it gets too expensive."

For more information see: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=262387&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

Time will tell what the real outcome will be to the environment.

Munduruku tribe of the Amazon understands geometry

2006-01-20T20:09:00.000-05:00

The Munduruku people, an isolated tribe in the Amazon rainforest have an intuitive grasp of basic geometry which shows that it is part of humans innate toolkit. When tested tribe members achieved scores similar to those achieved by school children in the United states.

The findings offer strong evidence that the human mind has evolved a fundamental ability to understand geometrical forms and principles.

“The spontaneous understanding of geometrical concepts and maps by this remote human community provides evidence that core geometrical knowledge is a universal constituent of the human mind,” said Elizabeth Spelke, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a lead author of the study.

The experiments confirm the conclusions reached by the Greek philosopher Socrates, who is described by Plato as testing an uneducated slave to determine if he understood geometry. The slave’s answers so impressed Socrates that he concluded that “his soul must have always possessed this knowledge”, Plato wrote in the Meno, in the 4th century BC.

If geometry is not learnt simply from culture, but rather rests on the architecture of the brain, geometrical skills can be improved by formal education in the subject. Though the abilities of American children were comparable with those of Munduruku of all ages, the Amazonians were easily outshone on the tests by American adults.

The Munduruku live along the Cururu river that is found deep in the rainforest.

For more information visit:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2001139,00.html

Natural Gas pipeline cutting through the Amazon rainforest moves forward

2006-01-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said today that the proposed pipeline that will cut through the Amazon rainforest will move forward. The 5000 mile pipeline is supposed to spread "economic prosperity" throughout South America. Leaders from Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina will meet again on March 10, 2006.

Chavez says the pipeline will be completed in seven years.
Apparently several asian companies, including some from China have agreed to invest in the pipeline. Their goal is to convert the automobiles to natural gas therefore allowing for more oil exports.

"The pipeline would stretch from Caracas, Venezuela, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, cutting through Brazil's Amazon rain forest. It would also link to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Chavez played down concerns that the pipeline would create competition for Bolivian natural gas and called on that country's president-elect, Evo Morales, who takes office Sunday, to sign on to the plan."

More information can be found at:http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/19/brazil.summit.ap/

Time will tell how this all plays out. There are many barriars, but in this day and age anything can be overcome.

Proposed natural gas pipeline to cut through the Amazon rain forest

2006-01-13T21:28:00.000-05:00

In an effort to achieve regional self sufficiency a natural gas pipeline may be run through the Amazon rain forest from Venezuela to Argentina. The project may take seven years and has an estimated cost of $20 Billion.

Officials from Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil will meet in March to discuss the issues.

The idea to include Bolivia has been suggested as well, since they are South America's second largest supplier of natural gas, after Venezuela.

The question is how will all this construction affect the animals and plants in the forest?

Amazon Rainforest Oilspill Controlled

2006-01-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Ecopetrol reported that the oil spill in the Amazon Rainforest caused by a guerrilla attack has been controlled.

A total of 10,000-barrels of oil spilled into the rivers of Guamuez and Putumayo when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) blew up eight oil wells and three pipelines in the Amazon rain forest over New Year.

Jesus Libardo Rebelo, governor of Putumayo state, said the environmental damage was severe. "We flew over the area and were able to confirm that it is a very serious disaster," he added

More information: http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=405097

People living near the spill should avoid using the rivers waters as they are now contaminated.

Female eco-trekkers to journey through the Amazon

2006-01-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

Led by expedition leader, Rachel Kelsey, a group of seven international woman will trek through the Amazon. They started their journey on December 31, 2005. It is expected to take one month.
The goal:

"The aim is to create a route which other eco-trekkers can follow on guided tours in the future, bringing the benefit of eco-tourism to the country while maintaining the forest's status as one of the last five remaining pristine rainforests in the world."

They will be traveling from the Orunduik Falls in Guyana to the Kaieteur Falls. Kaieteur Falls is the worlds largest single drop waterfall.

The team will have to walk, hike and canoe across the treacherous and dangerous terrain.
For More information check out their site: http://www.girlsgoguyana.com/

Brazils Plans to Reduce Deforestation

2005-12-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

New policies in Brazil seem to be leading to a reduction in the deforestation of the Amazon. This was done by increasing inspections as well as increasing the fines rendered.

The minister of Environment, Marina Silva, points to the current Administration's policies to combat deforestation as responsible for the 31% reduction in the deforested area registered this year in the Amazon. In an interview, Wednesday (28), on TV Nacional, the minister affirmed that the change in approach to the problem was fundamental for the country to reduce deforestation.

"In our country deforestation has always been a serious problem, causing embarrassment here and abroad and demanding an effective policy to reduce deforestation to a sustainable level," Silva remarked. According to the minister, prior to the current Administration, between 2001 and 2002, deforestation had increased 27%, from 18 thousand square kilometers to 23 thousand square kilometers. "We perceived the seriousness of the problem and suggested to the core of the Administration another approach, involving other ministries as well as the Ministry of Environment," she explained.

As a result, she affirmed, an inter-ministerial group was set up in 2004 to draft the National Plan to Prevent and Combat Deforestation. "The ministries of Environment, Justice, and Defense, the IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the federal and highway police, and state governments began to work together. We increased our inspection capacity 60% and expanded our application of fines by more than 80%," she commented.

Source Agencia Brasil

By increasing the number of licenses granted there is less transparency of who is cutting trees. Therefore the forest can be monitored more carefully.