Rain forests

Brazilian deforestation increasing

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Illegally logged timber floating in BrazilHere are some bad news I read last week : deforestation in Brazil is increasing again. For the past years, it had been decreasing steadily, reaching its lowest levels in two decades.

But over the last year, deforestation increased by 28 percent over the previous one. As the BBC noted : ” The government is working to reverse this “crime”, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said.”

This takes place as on a global scale, the world has lost a staggering 900,000 square miles (2.3 million square kilometers)  of forests between 2000 and 2102 to deforestation or fire.

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Amazon deforestation drops to lowest in 22 years

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Last year the deforestation of the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest was slowing dramatically. It keeps doing so: ” Brazil’s government says deforestation in the Amazon rain forest has dropped to its slowest pace in 22 years.” ” Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira says satellite imagery of the National Institute for Space Research shows that … Read more

How deforestation in Brazil keeps slowing down

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I wrote about it before : deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest – aka the lungs of Earth – decreased by no less than 46 percent and is at record low levels in the past two decades.

These are surely good news as deforestation is a predominant part in Brazilian greenhouse gases emissions. TreeHugger explains how this was achieved, partly thanks to satellites.

As a science fiction fan I like it when space technology helps solving Earth matters. This isn’t the first time it happens.

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Putting deforestation in perspective

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We have seen it throughout this blog, deforestation is a key environmental issue but it is sometimes hard to grab for people in developed nations as they aren’t directly concerned by this phenomenon.

How much time would it take for Central Park or the Champs de Mars to be destroyed if deforestation were to occur in New York or Paris ? This brilliant and short video answers these questions.

This is typically the kind of document that I believe anyone should watch to finally understand that deforestation concerns us all.

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Brazil and Indonesia committed to slow down deforestation

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The year is beginning with many good news. After the huge wind energy plan in the UK, another good sign that climate change mitigation slowly but surely surfaces as a key preoccupation at a global scale.

Indeed the Brazilian goverment signed a National Policy on Climate Change bill which is due to help the country cut its emissions by 39 percent by 2020 from a business as usual scenario. (cf. my previous post on that topic)

On the other side of the Planet, Indonesia is also willing to act on deforestation and start reforesting. Both countries need the help of developed nations to reach their ambitious objectives.

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Saving rainforests with the UN-REDD program

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time-magazine-banking-on-treesWhile in the train going to Paris to attend the Green Job forum I read an interesting article on how banking on trees could enable us to fight off climate change and give money to enable developing nations to protect their forests.

The United Nations REDD program – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries – may enable us to do just that by financing the protection of existing rainforests.

Time Magazine investigated in Indonesia’s Aceh province as the country is the third greenhouse gases emitter behind China and the United States because of its massive deforestation.

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Deforestation in Brazil decreases by 46 percent

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amazonian-rainforest-brazilTo the pictures taken by satellites the annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest have dropped by no less than 46 percent this year. If these figures were confirmed by ground data this would prove significant.

These figures are the lowest since record keeping begun 21 years ago and can be explained by the increased police patrols as the Brazilian government is willing to cut the deforestation rate by 70 percent by 2018.

Less than three months before the Copenhagen meeting these news are sure to help in reaching in agreement among the world’s leaders.

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Local populations don’t profit from deforestation

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Science Magazine published an interesting article on how deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest provides only a temporary increase of living conditions to local populations. To the article: (…) on the basis of an assessment of 286 municipalities in different stages of deforestation, we found a boom-and-bust pattern in levels of human development across the … Read more

The deforestation of the Amazon in pictures

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Deforestation in the Rondonia State, western Brazil, from 2000 to 2008. Photo credit: NASAImages are worth thousands of words. So when I found on VeoVerde a series of photographs from the NASA depicting the deforestation of the Amazonian rain forest I thought I should share them with you.

The picture on the left (0.4 Mo ; 465*3000 px) is a collage of  nine photographs and shows the horrifying process at work between 2000 and 2008 in the western State of Rondonia, Brazil.

It’s high time we find an alternative economic model that would allow the preservation of the rainforest and the subsistence of the populations.

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Japan lends $120 million for Peruvian forests

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Japan is lending $120 million (88 million euros) to Peru to enable the country to protect 55 million hectares of forests (nearly the equivalent area of France). This is done to stop the deforestation in the country by the next ten years. To Ecoworldy, this initiative will store 20 million tons of carbon dioxide per … Read more

Amazon at risk even with best case scenario

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Amazon rainforest as seen on Google EarthThe Amazon rain forest may lose 40 percent of its area even with the two degrees, lowest estimates of rising temperatures. These are the dramatic conclusions of a recent study carried out by UK Met Office.

Three degrees Celsius would destroy up to 75 percent. This is a huge problem as the Amazon rain forest, sometimes referred to the lung of the planet, are already threatened by deforestation.

These findings were presented in margin of the United Nations which are preparing the Copenhagen climate change conference which will occur this December.

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Rain forests suffer from climate change

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amazon-forest-riverRain forests around the world already suffer largely from deforestation. Now, another large threat is appearing as climate change leads to less water and thus less trees.

Both the Indonesian and the Amazonian rain forests are at threat. This phenomenon will lead to even more climate change. This article will show how critical sound forests management are in the mitigation of global warming.

This occurs as I finished Guns, Germs and Steel which reminded me of the fate of the Fertile Crescent, a now semi desertic place. Will our rain forests suffer the same fate ?

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