Dams planned for the Amazon and its tributaries could do irreversible harm to fish migrations and to wildlife — but energy solutions ranging from run-of-the-river dams to a shift to solar and wind power could safeguard the forest.
Mongabay
With more than one million unique visitors per month, Mongabay.com is one of the world’s most popular environmental science and conservation news sites. The news and rainforests sections of the site are widely cited for information on tropical forests, conservation, and wildlife. Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development.
Major expedition uncovers new species in Madid Park, Bolivia
ID Madidi will explore 14 sites throughout Madidi National Park over the next year and a half. At their first study site, the researchers found a new species of frog. With two sites under their belt, they’ve recorded 60 vertebrates not known to inhabit the park.
Bolivia’s Morales pushes controversial TIPNIS highway forward, again
Bolivian President Evo Morales seems determined to build highway through heart of national park, threatening protected rainforest and violating indigenous lands.
Scientists discover new primate in the embattled heart of the Amazon
Rivers create species. Now, scientists have discovered a new primate that also appears to follow this rule, blocked off from his cousins by a confluence of rivers in the Peruvian Amazon.
David & Goliath: Locals resist multinational dams, mines—sometimes win
Across Peru, the central government and multinational corporations have come up against fierce resistance from local, typically rural, communities opposed to large dam and mining projects.
Amazon Headwaters Under Siege: 19 dams slated for Napo watershed
Fed by snow from the glaciated volcanic peaks of the Andes Mountains, and by rainwater falling on steamy lowland Ecuadorian rainforests, this vast stretch of Amazonia supports diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, with significant unstudied flora and fauna.
Mega-dams doing drastic harm to tropical biodiversity: study
Researchers with the University of East Anglia say the full extent of impacts to biodiversity of large hydroelectric dams in lowland tropical forest regions have been “severely overlooked”.
Colombian indigenous reserve gets big expansion after 20 years
The expansion of the Inga people’s Yunguillo Indigenous Reserve was first requested in 1983, but after 20 years of struggles, the efforts of those involved finally paid off as the reserve was quintupled from its original 4,320 hectares to 22,395 hectares.
Researchers find ‘hidden tapestry’ of plant chemicals in Amazon forest
The Amazon rainforest might seem like a massive expanse of monotonous green. However, a recent study has found that within this monotony lies a kaleidoscope of chemicals unique to all the different plant species of the forest.
Brazilian police and scientists team up to crack down on illegal timber trade
In 2011, officers inspected nearly 350 trucks and more than 60 lumberyards in just two days. Discovering an array of violations, they responded by delivering issuing USD $1.4 million in fines.