The new Colombian government shows interest in expanding mining activities in the Amazon without any environmental guarantees.The Amazon river has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years in north-eastern Peru, causing severe economic disruption in a region where it is the main transport route.
News
BBC: Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam
Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam.
BBC: Peru battles rabid vampire bats after 500 people bittenPeru launches a forest conservation program
Peru’s health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.According to the government, 54 of its 72 million hectares will be protected. However, there are still some legal loopholes and threats to the Amazon Rainforest.
Illegal land occupation in Terra Legal
A land regulation program launched last year by Lula’s government has been the target of controversies involving an increase in illegal occupation of Amazon Rainforest estates.
Ecuador shows the political will to save the Yasuní
The government of Ecuador turns back and accepts a partnership with the UN to create a fund against the exploitation of oil in one of the most preserved regions in the Amazon Rainforest.
Forest fires in the Bolivian Amazon
After years of forest fires ravaging vast regions, official and environmental agencies begin to take action to avert the worst during the dry season in the Bolivian forest.
Yasuní, a place that inspires
The most biodiverse place on Earth has inspired a generation of conservationists and photographers to register the richeness and the importance of the National Park in Ecuador. Click to see image gallery
The “2005”: drought and storms in the Amazon Rainforest
Five years ago, the tropical forest not only suffered the stiffest drought ever heard of but new research shows that a major storm felled thousands of trees, a sample of just how vulnerable the Amazon Rainforest is becoming to extreme climatic phenomena.
Forest’s ugly duckling to the rescue
From being cut down for firewood and garden fences to serving as pasture ground for goats, mangroves have never really been seen as a legitimate member of the forest family. Now,Guyana’s mangrove forest takes on a new look
Renewed moratorium, reinforced monitoring
The new term of the agreement that forbids the planting of soy in deforested areas in the Amazon Rainforest will be jointly monitored in partnership with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).