Meeting on deforestation boosts morale, budget

"We entered the meeting with $3.5 billion. It went to $4.5 billion (here) and we want to arrive in Oslo with $6 billion," Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said after the closed-door talks.

Photo courtesy of Roberto Jayme/REUTERS

Rainforest pact: Brazil and the U.S. agree to cooperate

The deal, signed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Brasilia on Wednesday, marks the first time the two countries have formally agreed to work together on deforestation.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Embassy Brasilia/Flickr

Biodiversity: The Amazon Is Not Eternal

Lovejoy, head of the committee responsible for this major scientific investigation, said the Amazon has already lost 17 to 18 percent of its forests. Furthermore, "it has a remarkable hydrogeological system where the forest generates at least half of its own rainfall."

Photo courtesy of Lalo de Almeida/NY Times

Increased conflict in tropical forests projected despite Copenhagen Accord

The authors of the report cite numerous studies suggesting that in 2010, the potential for enormous profits will lead to increased competition over forest resources between powerful global governments and investors on the one hand, and local actors on the other, resulting in new and resurging violent conflict.

Photo courtesy of Andre Penner/AP

Rainforest allies make headway

International climate negotiators failed last month in Copenhagen to agree on ways to preserve tropical rainforests. But they came closer to crafting a global system to reduce deforestation — an achievement that environmentalists, businesses and nongovernmental organizations attribute to the progress they’ve made over the past year.

Photo courtesy of David Bryngelsson/Flickr

Guyana seeks to protect Amazon, delay mine permits

Guyana's government is seeking to establish a six-month waiting period for new mining operations to allow for environmental impact studies, a move it hopes will persuade other nations to fund rain forest preservation.

Photo courtesy of Guanohappens/TravelPod

Yasuni Park Trust Fund Will Keep Ecuador's Oil Underground

As a result of its unique location, Yasuni contains what are thought to be the greatest variety of tree and insect species anywhere on the planet. In just 2.5 acres, there are as many tree species as in all of the United States and Canada combined.

[Photograph by: Joshua Bousel]

Forest plan gets ax at UN climate talks

A plan to protect the world's biologically rich tropical forests was shelved early Saturday after world leaders failed to agree on a binding deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

[Photograph by: Peter Dejong/AP]

Suriname president calls for 'unequivocal incentives' to preserve rainforests

Suriname is part of the Amazon rainforest region, with its large tracts of intact natural tropical forests, and have already protected thirteen percent of its territory and through longstanding and consistent conservation policy, Suriname has forest cover of over ninety percent and a minimal deforestation rate.

[Map by: The World Atlas Guide]

U.S. pledges $1B towards rainforest conservation

The U.S. will contribute $1 billion towards an effort to reduce emissions from deforestation, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

[Photograph by: Romeo Ranoco/REUTERS]

Indigenous Peoples Own Carbon Credits, Group Says

Indigenous peoples living in the Amazon Basin would make effective use of the funding that forest credits could generate, says Beto Borges with the conservation group Forest Trends.

[Photograph by: Leo Wery]

Barack Obama backs Norway-Brazil forest protection plan

Speaking after he accepted the Nobel peace prize in Oslo, Norway, Obama said: "I am very impressed with the model that has been built between Norway and Brazil that allows for effective monitoring and ensures that we are making progress in avoiding deforestation of the Amazon.

[Photograph by: Lise Aserud/AP]

Brazil moves to cut Amazon destruction by ranchers

Brazil took a step forward in protecting the Amazon rainforest on Wednesday, starting satellite surveillance of the cattle ranches that are among the chief culprits in the forest's destruction.

[Photograph by: leoffreitas]

Brazil working to reclaim Amazon rainforest

``We must add economic value to the forest,'' said Amazonas state Gov. Eduardo Braga, whose eco-subsidies, environmental endowment and plans to sell carbon credits to California have made the area around Manaus a public lab for sustainable forestry.

[Photograph by: Roosewelt Pinheiro/ABr]

Reducing forest loss at home, Brazil may be driving deforestation elsewhere

When people think about preserving the Amazon rainforest, captivating animals may come to mind such as the jaguar, toucan or manatee. But while wildlife must be safeguarded there are now other urgent reasons to protect the jungle.

[Photograph by: Gavriel JECAN]

Faces of the Amazon

Often lost in glossy picture books about the Amazon, is the fact that 21 million people in Brazil alone live in the Amazon territory. To be exact 20,998,731 according to the latest census.

[Photograph by: Survival International]

Brazil unveils first foreign-funded Amazon projects

The Amazonas state government will receive 20 million reais for a fund that pays rubber tappers and other forest dwellers a stipend to help protect and regenerate the forest.

[Photograph by: iStockphoto]

Brazil could halt Amazon deforestation within a decade

Funds generated under a U.S. cap-and-trade or a broader U.N.-supported scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation ("REDD") could play a critical role in bringing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to a halt, reports a team writing in the journal Science.

[Photograph by: Alberto Cesar/Greenpeace]

Clicks to help save Amazon

The same day the conference begins on Dec. 7, web users can start using a new green search engine called Ecosia. The new application, powered by Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing search engines, will allow internet surfers to protect about 2 square meters of Amazon rainforest just by clicking on sponsored links.

Please try Ecosia today!

[Logo by: Ecosia search engine]

Rethinking Deforestation – A Copenhagen Challenge

Some of the poorest people in the world reside in the regions in and around the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. To survive, they cut down the trees and sell them. Although there have been attempts to ‘block’ this wood from international markets, these efforts have not been successful. Once the trees are cut down, cattle farmers move in and once the land has been over-grazed and the cattle move on, farmers often begin growing soybeans.

[Photograph by: Rhett Butler/Mongabay]