The scale and nature of pre-Columbian human impacts in Amazonia are currently hotly debated. Whereas pre-Columbian people dramatically changed the distribution and abundance of species and habitats in some parts of Amazonia, their impact in other parts is less clear.
A decades-long tug of war between environmental and indigenous groups on one hand and the Brazilian government on the other came to a close yesterday when a Brazilian energy consortium won the right to build what will become the world's third-largest dam.
Forest clearing and degradation account for roughly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, trains, planes, ships, and trucks on earth. This is simply too big a piece of the problem to ignore; fail to reduce it and we will fail to stabilize our climate.
The sensitivity of Amazon rainforests to dry?season droughts is still poorly understood, with reports of enhanced tree mortality and forest fires on one hand, and excessive forest greening on the other. Here, we report that the previous results of large?scale greening of the Amazon, obtained from an earlier version of satellite derived vegetation greenness data ? Collection 4 (C4)
A drought that happens once in a hundred years had little negative or positive effect on the Amazon rainforest according to this study led by Arindam Samanta from Boston University. Its results are different from 2007 IPCC report which stated that 40 percent of the Amazon rainforest was threatened by climate change.
CREDIBILITY issues continue to dog the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The UN climate change body is now being charged that its claim on disappearing Amazonian forests is based on a report by environmental activists while that on disappearing ice from the world
The threats facing Ecuador's Yasuní National Park are emblematic of those confronting the greater western Amazon, one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas. Notably, the country's second largest untapped oil reserves—called “ITT”—lie beneath an intact, remote section of the park. The conservation significance of Yasuní may weigh heavily in upcoming state-level and international decisions, including whether to develop the oil or invest in alternatives.
This UN report leaked from the Copenhagen climate talks suggests that global temperature will rise by an average of 3 degree celsius even if all the emission cuts offered so far are implemented. Is based on the most recent emission scenarios presented in the IEA 2009 World Energy Outlook and information from Parties on pledges, voluntary actions and policy goals.
