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Bolivia's surging deforestation alarms environmentalists

17 July 2023

Bolivia accounts for 9 per cent of all primary forest lost across the globe, and conservationists fear deforestation will only increase due to the government’s desire to expand agricultural production


Amazon deforestation has begun to slow since Lula took over in Brazil

20 June 2023

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has made progress towards halting the illegal destruction of Amazon rainforest, but political opposition and the incoming El Niño will bring further challenges


A gold mine in Bolivar state in the south of Venezuela

Deforestation in Venezuela surges as gold miners ransack the Amazon

9 December 2022

The loss of pristine forest is estimated to be increasing by around 170 per cent annually in Venezuela - an even faster rate than Brazil - as a result of a state-sanctioned boom in gold mining


Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaking at COP27

COP27: Brazil's Lula promises zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030

16 November 2022

Brazil’s incoming president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vowed to reverse the environmentally damaging policies of his predecessor in a speech at the UN climate meeting


A group of peccaries

Herds of pig-like peccaries seem to disappear and reappear years later

9 November 2022

Massive herds of a hairy, pig-like creature known as a peccary sometimes disappear suddenly across much of the Americas, and now we know why – its populations go through 30-year cycles of boom and bust


Crowd of people cheering with flags and banners

Brazil election: Lula win hailed as victory for the Amazon

31 October 2022

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who campaigned to protect the rainforest, narrowly beat Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election


Soy plantation

Intensive farming of cleared land could save rest of Amazon rainforest

10 October 2022

Brazil has cleared large parts of the Amazon rainforest for use as farmland, encouraging economic growth but causing environmental harm. Now researchers suggest that making intense use of already cleared land could avoid the need to fell any more trees


2JT9956 SAO PAULO, SP - 28.08.2022: DEBATE COM CANDIDATOS A PRESIDENTE NA BAND - People follow the presidential debate at the Band headquarters, with candidates Lula and Bolsonaro, this Sunday (28) in Sao Paulo, SP. (Photo: Bruno Fernandes/Fotoarena)

Brazilian election will determine the future of the Amazon rainforest

26 September 2022

The re-election of president Jair Bolsonaro would severely harm the Amazon rainforest, while his rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is promising to reverse much of the recent environmental damage and meet climate change targets


Yanomami man standing in river holding fish

Half of fish tested in an Amazon river have unsafe levels of mercury

31 August 2022

At four locations close to the Yanomami Indigenous reserve in Brazil, many species of fish were found to have mercury levels considered unsafe for consumption


Rhinella unapensis was first identified on a campus of the National University of the Peruvian Amazon

New-to-science toad species discovered on university campus in Peru

28 June 2022

For the second time in his life, researcher Rommel Rojas Zamora has identified a new species of toad on the campus of the university where he is working


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