Brazil launches major push for sustainable palm oil in the Amazon

The palm oil program marks a new focus for Brazil, which currently produces about 110,000 metric tons of crude palm oil per year, a fraction of the amount produced by market leaders Indonesia (16.9 million metric tons in 2008) and Malaysia (15.8 m tons), according to the FAO.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Clark/Flickr

Amazon loses 76 km ² of forest in March

Amazon deforestation rose again, according to Imazon. In March, the forest lost 76 square kilometers (km ²) of vegetation, a 35% increase over the same month in 2009.

Please note: This article is in Portuguese.

Photo courtesy of Rodrigo Baleia/Greenpeace

Belo Monte: 12 questions without answers

Indigenous peoples were not adequately heard. Greenhouse gas emissions could be underestimated. Certain conditions set by IBAMA will only be checked years after completion of the plant.

Photo courtesy of International Rivers/Flickr

'Avatar' director lauds ruling on Brazilian dam

"It's a small victory for us, but I don't expect the battle is over," Cameron told The Associated Press by telephone from the small Amazon city of Altamira, where he was lending support to project opponents.

Photo courtesy of Kathy Willens/AP

Amazon loses 208 km2 in first two months of 2010

The states which registered the greatest amount of deforestation were Mato Grosso, which alone amounted to 143.4 km2 deforested, followed by Roraima, 26.9 km2, and Pará, with 17.2 km2.

Please note: This article is in Portuguese.

Photo courtesy of apoloniox70/Flickr

If it must, Brazil will build Belo Monte dam alone

Brazil's government will itself build the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon region if no private firms bid for the project, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of itupictures/Flickr

Brazil AG Office to Oppose Controversial Dam Project

The project would involve diverting a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of the Xingu river, an Amazon tributary, and directly affect 12,000 families, including residents of two indigenous hamlets whose survival would depend on the dam operator providing them excess water from the reservoir.

Photo courtesy of gustav_kra/Flickr

Two Brazil companies pull out of Belo Monte auction

The decision by the Camargo Correa and Odebrecht construction groups dents government hopes for a competitive auction that would push down the price of energy production at the planned 11,000-megawatt project.

Photo courtesy of Mahashiah/Flickr

A Brazilian Movement Appeals to the UN to Stop the Amazon's Belo Monte Dam

Delivered to the United Nations last Thursday, April 1st, a document claims that flaws in the environmental licensing process for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in Brazil were overlooked due to political pressure from the Lula administration.

Photo courtesy of Thiago Teixeira/REUTERS

James Cameron Returns from a visit to Belo Monte Dam Site on the Xingu River

Last week during his address at the International Forum on Sustainability in Manaus, Mr. Cameron expressed his concern about the project saying: "For people living along the river, as they have for millennia, the dam will end their way of life. I implore the Brazilian government, and President Lula, to reconsider this project."

Photo courtesy of Denise Gramelick/Flickr

Nuns face guns, impunity in trying to save Amazon

The main cause of deforestation, the government says, are ranchers who illegally clear jungle to graze cattle and grow soy — often using threats and violence to remove the poor farmers eking a living there.

Photo courtesy of Charles Thomas/Flickr

Auction date set for Belo Monte hydro project in Brazil

An auction to sell the rights to build and operate the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in Brazil's Amazon will take place on April 20, the Mines and Energy Ministry reported.

Photo courtesy of stephenk1977/Flickr

The majestic rivers of Amazonia

The Juruena River is one of Brazil's most stunning water courses, once running through pristine landscapes and gracing satellite images with its blue water. Now, agriculture has moved heavily into the area, the rains wash mud into its erstwhile clear waters and numerous small dams are being built along it. A sad demise. The photo shows the upper reaches of the river, on the Parecis plateau.

Photo courtesy of Margi Moss/O Eco Amazonia

Imazon records deforestation of 79 square kilometers in December and January

Imazon warns that deforestation data in this period may be underestimated, since in December 2009 and January 2010 there was a lot of cloud cover, hiding approximately 50% of the Amazon. The regions most affected by cloud cover were Amapá, Amazonas and Pará. In addition, part of Maranhão that make up the Amazon was not analyzed.

Please note: This article is in Portuguese.

Photo courtesy of Stacy/Google Picasa

Açaí, a Global Super Fruit, Is Dinner in the Amazon

In places like Cametá, a town of about 117,000, and Belém, the capital of Pará State, a bowl of açaí pulp is a filling side dish especially valued by poorer families.

Photo courtesy of Seth Kugel/NY Times

If World Wishes to Save Brazil's Amazon It Has to Trust the Forest's People

The Renascer Extractive Reserve was created as a conservation area within the ZEE on June 5, 2009 after a decade of struggle. The communities of the region began lobbying for the creation of a reserve when major logging companies such as Madenorte moved into the region in the late 1990s, occupied the territory, and policed its boundaries with threats and violence.

Photo courtesy of Alberto Cesar/Greenpeace

Deforestation in Amazon rainforest up 21% in November

The study by the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Imazon), a non-government organization, said the greatest deforestation was registered in the northern state of Para, which lost 51 square km of forests in November, 69 percent of the total newly deforested area.

[Photograph by: Alberto Cesar/Greenpeace]

Imazon detects 75 km ² of deforestation in the Amazon in November

The number of 75 km ² is 21% higher than in November 2008, when deforestation was 61 km ².

Please note: This article is in Portuguese.

[Photograph by: Leonardo Freitas]

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]

Brazilian Indians Threaten “River of Blood” if Amazon Dam Built

The Indians who live on the banks of the Xingu River on Monday threatened the Brazilian government with a “river of blood” if the construction of a large hydroelectric dam in Amazonia is not halted.

[Photograph by: Mahashiah]