Brazil boycotts OAS meeting after sharp human rights rebuke over giant Amazon dam

October 27, 2011
Source: mongabay.com


Brazil refused to attend a hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS) over the the controversial Belo Monte dam, reports Amazon Watch, a group campaigning against the hydroelectric project.

The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, "was intended to foster dialogue toward resolving conflict and discuss failures in protecting the rights of indigenous peoples threatened by the proposed Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon Basin's Xingu region of Brazil", says Amazon Watch, which said the snub sets a "chilling precedent for human rights and sustainable development throughout the Americas."

IACHR has requested explanation as to why the Brazilian government failed to show up at the meeting.

Jacob Kopas, an attorney with the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) which is representing affected communities, said Brazil's action could cast a pall over the anticipated Rio+20 biodiversity conference to be held next June.

"This flies in the face of the image Brazil promotes of a regional leader and host of important international environmental events like Rio +20 next year," he said in a statement.

Sheyla Juruna, a leader of the Juruna indigenous people who would be affected by the proposed dam and traveled for days from the Xingu region to voice her concerns at the closed hearing, expressed disgust.

"The government's constant refusal to dialogue and its undiplomatic posturing shows its negligence as it sidesteps the law and ignores the rights of local peoples," she was quoted as saying. "I am appalled by the way in which we are treated in our own land without even the right to be consulted on this horrific project."

Meeting of Kayapo leaders. © Cristina Mittermeier/ International League of Conservation Photographers (iCLP).

Belo Monte has proven extremely controversial. The $11-17 billion project, which would block most of the flow of the Xingu River and inundate thousands of hectares of rainforest, has been fiercely opposed by indigenous groups and environmentalists. Critics say the dam will operate well below capacity for much of the year when river levels are low. It will also disrupt fish migration patterns, affecting local livelihoods.

The concerns have triggered two legal setbacks in the past month. Last week a federal judge ruled the dam's environmental license violates the constitutional rights of indigenous communities and is therefore illegal. Last month another judge ordered a halt to construction activities due to concerns over the impact on local fisheries.

Belo Monte is funded by Brazil's development bank BNDES as well as a consortium of private companies, including mining behemoth Vale and meat processing giant Bertin.

The Last Tribes Standing

October 29, 2011
Source: Wall Street Journal

SEARCH PARTY A thatch-covered canoe heading downriver during the 2002 expedition to the Javari Valley Indigenous Land.

For the native peoples of the Amazon, the beginning of the end arrived one day early in 1500, when Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón eased his small ship into the mouth of the great river. The waterway was so incomprehensibly grand that Pinzón sailed 200 miles upstream before realizing he had left the ocean.

Forty-one years later, conquistadors Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana dared the rainforest in search of El Dorado, the fabled land of gold, only to encounter starvation and violence at the hands of the indigenous tribes. Then, beginning in the 18th century, European scientists such as Charles Marie de La Condamine and Alexander von Humboldt ventured into the Amazon, taking only measurements and specimens.

All these outsiders kept to the principal rivers, and most of Amazonia remained a vast unknown. But that began to change in the late 1800s, when the demand for rubber lured outsiders deeper into the forest, where they terrorized and enslaved the native peoples (and prompted a British diplomat to coin the expression "crime against humanity"). Early in the next century came explorers such as Teddy Roosevelt and Percy Fawcett, bent on discovering and mapping, and anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Napoleon Chagnon, keen to contact and study far-flung tribes.

From the start, the most dangerous baggage carried by these invaders wasn't guns or metal axes but microbes. With no resistance to European diseases, the Indian populations plummeted, and the survivors abandoned their traditional lands and fled farther into the rainforest.

In the 1970s, Brazil, which has the lion's share of the Amazon basin, began building the Trans-Amazon Highway to spur economic development. Loggers and farmers rushed in, and the ensuing 40 years have seen more destruction of the forest than the previous 500.

The people of the forest have also suffered. For much of the 20th century, Brazil sought to incorporate the tribes into mainstream society. But the rising economic tide never lifted the Indian canoes, and fresh contact with outsiders continued to kill. The government relocated some indigenous groups to more remote areas, but by the late 1980s it was clear something more was needed.

In 1987, the Department of Isolated Indians, under its founder, Sydney Possuelo, began to create and police large reserves surrounding uncontacted tribes. Though the policy was resisted by those who sought to exploit the Amazon's riches, Mr. Possuelo was tireless. "I fight for the human rights of those who do not even know that human rights exist," he said. His attempt to gauge the success of his strategy with an expedition deep into the Amazon is the subject of Scott Wallace's "The Unconquered."

Mr. Possuelo's mission penetrated the vast Javari Valley Indigenous Land, 33,000 square miles of dense forest in the Upper Amazon where aerial reconnaissance showed at least 18 uncontacted tribes. Very little is understood about these people, including what ethnic groups they belong to and what languages they speak. One mysterious band is known by neighboring Indians as the flecheiros, Portuguese for "arrow people," for their rumored mastery of that weapon and their supposed ferocity.

Unlike the anthropologists, Mr. Possuelo didn't want to study the flecheiros, since contact would only begin the process of their destruction. But he did want to know that his isolationist policy was working, and he wanted the political and financial support that such a demonstration would bring. So in summer 2002, he led his expedition into the valley to check for signs of outside encroachment and to probe the flecheiros' well-being—without making contact. Mr. Wallace, a writer for National Geographic, went along.

The expedition would consume three grueling months in some of the most dangerous territory in the world, so thickly wooded and remote that satellite phones were often useless and helicopter rescue was impossible. And so Mr. Wallace's book is above all a rousing adventure tale, told in vivid, day-by-day detail. Not only do we experience the miseries of gnats, mosquitoes and ants and the perils of snakes, caimans and jaguars, but we see how quickly one becomes inured to filthy clothes and hands and how a steady diet of monkey meat can make even electric eel seem a delicacy. No wonder Mr. Wallace shed 33 pounds over the course of the journey.

We also see the internecine scheming that can arise on a long, Conradian slog through hostile territory, especially when aggravated by the leader's erratic discipline and mercurial moods. And, as the expedition begins to encounter signs of the flecheiros—a hastily abandoned village, human figures melting into the woods—we realize the risks posed by the very people the enterprise is meant to protect: Having come to associate outsiders with danger, the flecheiros have a reputation among the other tribes for shooting their curare-tipped arrows first and asking questions later.

From all evidence, the flecheiros are thriving in their protected homeland, as are other isolated Amazon groups. But nearly 10 years after Mr. Possuelo's expedition, they are still besieged, not only by loggers and farmers but also by gold miners, oil drillers and drug traffickers, who erode the margins of the reserves. Mr. Possuelo implores: "The isolated Indians must live. They are our purest essence, out most vital impulse." But it is uncertain how much longer the native peoples, and the rainforest itself, can survive the long slide to oblivion instigated by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón half a millennium ago.

600 activists clear huge Brazilian dam site

28 October 2011
Source: AFP

Activists have left the site of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam after occupying it to demand a stop to construction (AFP/Illuminati Films, Ivan Canabrava)

Hundreds of indigenous people and environmentalists have left the site of Brazil's $11 billion Belo Monte hydroelectric dam after occupying it to demand a stop to construction.

"We left peacefully, just like we came in. It was a peaceful action to bring attention on this deadly project for the Amazon," Eden Magalhaes, spokesman for Indigenous Missionary Council linked to the Catholic Church, said Friday.

Some 600 activists at the site of what would be the third biggest dam in the world -- after China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay -- had vowed to stay indefinitely.

But late Thursday, prosecutors in western Para state ordered the activists off the site following their day-long occupation and roadblock, in response to a request by the Norte Energia consortium that is building the dam.

"A judge arrived with shock troops. After consulting with one another, we decided to leave, but we are now more united than before in our opposition to the dam," Magalhaes told AFP.

"This project benefits big business. Local populations are suffering from the consequences and they are making a sacrifice of the forest."

The occupation sought a total halt to work on the project in Para, or at least a suspension of construction until local residents can be consulted.

A spokesman for the Xingu Forever Alive movement grouping indigenous peoples and locals of the Xingu basin vowed to plan more protest actions.

Construction on Belo Monte -- which would produce more than 11,000 megawatts, or about 11 percent of Brazil's current installed capacity -- has been the subject of legal wrangling for decades.

A federal court ordered construction halted last month, a decision hailed by the project's opponents as a "partial victory" pending a government appeal.

Environmentalists and Amazon Indian tribes say the dam will cause massive destruction of Brazilian fauna and flora in the area.

The project also has drawn international criticism, including from Oscar-winning movie director James Cameron of "Avatar" fame, who said rainforest indigenous tribes could turn to violence to block dam construction.

But the administration of President Dilma Rousseff has insisted the project should be allowed to go ahead, making it the centerpiece of government efforts to boost energy production in the rapidly growing economy.

Google to map Amazon rainforest in 3D

25 October 2011
Source: Pocket-lint.com


For some time now we've all had the benefits of the controversial Google Streetview, giving us instant access to streets all over the world. And now Google has announced that it will be mapping the Amazon hamlet of Tumbira to hopefully educate as well as inform.

The remote village has been visited by some of the Google team, invited by the Foundation for Sustainable Development who help families within its reserves develop sustainable industries, like tourism and managed lumbering.

"One thing we always want people to know is that the Amazon is not only about trees and biodiversity," says Raquel Luna, FAS's education coordinator. "OK, this is a lot and this is huge, but it's also about people, and communities here and sustainable living of these communities."

And this is where Google comes in, by recording images the project will raise awareness of some of the challenges of conservation.

Once taken, the images will be placed together and be posted on Google Earth Outreach, offering a wide range of viewpoints and panoramas of endangered ecosystems around the planet.

Let's just hope that they haven't underestimated the impact and reach of a Google backed initiative - there can be such a thing as too many tourists.

Amazon time as Eilidh swaps Kirky for the rainforest!

Friday 28 October 2011
Source: Kirkintilloch Today


IT’S not every day that you meet a one-eyed monkey called Chico in one of the most amazing places on earth.

But that’s what happened when art student Eilidh Morris swapped Kirkintilloch for the Amazon Rainforest in Peru.

The life-changing experience was the first time the 20-year-old had been away so far without her family. She spent just under two months in Peru in June and July.

Eilidh, from Kirkintilloch, had always wanted to go to the South American country and with a passion for nature and an interest in animals it was the perfect opportunity.

Planting trees to tackle de-forestation and looking after animals in a rescue centre were just two of the tasks Eilidh got involved with.

She also helped with plant and tree monitoring, ventured into the jungle, and became friends with a monkey with a missing eye called Chico.

Despite living in basic accommodation, including sharing a dorm with other volunteers and having no electricity and hot water, Eilidh loved the experience.

The former Lenzie Academy pupil said: “I had a fantastic time and met some amazing people. I grew really attached to Chico, I always held and cuddled him.

“I was given the nickname Pajarillo by the other volunteers, because they thought I was very shy and quite inquisitive. It means ‘Little Bird’.

“One of my favourite birds was an oropendolas. It’s a brown bird with yellow wings and its call sounded like a video game.”

The amazing experience also opened Eilidh’s eyes to the ongoing threat to the Amazonian rainforest.

She said: “People are abusing the resources. Big food companies are cutting down trees to create grazing land for animals, and many native tribes have been kicked off their land to make way for a dam.

“We planted palm trees, which are good for monkeys, and cleared the bamboo which grows over areas.”

Eilidh’s visit to Peru wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Machu Picchu, a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site.

The fourth-year University of Dundee student hopes to return to Peru at some point in the future. She is also keen to visit a rainforest in India, after winning flight tickets to Delhi in a competition.

Another anti-logging activist killed in Brazil

October 28, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

Another opponent of logging in the Brazilian Amazon was gunned down in the state of Pará, reports AFP.

Joao Chupel Primo, 55, was shot and killed Saturday after receiving death threats due to his outspoken advocacy against illegal clearing of rainforests in Itaituba, a region in southeastern Pará. The Pastoral Land Commission says that Primo was shot in the head as he worked in a machine shop.

Primo became the eighth illegal logging activist killed since May in Pará and Rondonia. Few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.

Conflict over land in the Brazilian Amazon is common. According to the Pastoral Land Commission, 383 people were killed in land conflicts between 2000 and 2010.

Tensions are especially high in the Brazilian Amazon due to high commodity prices, which boost land values and make land-grabbing — and associated deforestation — more profitable. Nevertheless deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is expected to be below normal for the 2010-2011 year.

Colombia declares tracts of Amazon protected from mining

Thursday, 27 October 2011
Source: Colombia Reports


Extensive tracts of the Amazon rainforest were declared National Security Zones by Colombia's Institute of Geology and Mining (Ingeominas) on Thursday in an attempt to control mining operations.

Oscar Paredes, the president of Ingeominas, made the announcement during the launch of the Great Survey on the Perception of the Amazons in Bogota.

According to the current land registry, only 0.26% of the Amazon territories coincide with mining titles, however, that figure rises to 10.13% if all mining requests not yet granted are taken into account.

Paredes acknowledged that there is a complex problem of overlapping titles and applications in national parks, indigenous reservations and "paramos," neo-tropical ecosystems above 10,000 feet where mining is prohibited.

"The idea is that Colombia will not have one centimeter of overlapping titles in areas of biological interest," Paredes said.

Overlapping mining titles, however, have been identified in 37 instances in national parks, and 160 titles have been applied in paramos areas.

Ingeominas has met with mining company representatives, and together they have made between 80 and 90 title cuts to protect the paramos.

Breakthrough technology enables 3D mapping of rainforests, tree by tree

October 24, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

This image shows a small deforested patch with individual trees, colored by height. The densest biomass is red, while deforested areas — with low biomass — are shades of blue. Image courtesy of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory. Click picture to enlarge.

High above the Amazon rainforest in Peru, a team of scientists and technicians is conducting an ambitious experiment: a biological survey of a never-before-explored tract of remote and inaccessible cloud forest. They are doing so using an advanced system that enables them to map the three-dimensional physical structure of the forest as well as its chemical and optical properties. The scientists hope to determine not only what species may lie below but also how the ecosystem is responding to last year's drought—the worst ever recorded in the Amazon—as well as help Peru develop a better mechanism for monitoring deforestation and degradation.

The system—conceived by Greg Asner, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science—has the potential to transform how tropical research is conducted. It could also help alleviate uncertainty about carbon emissions from deforestation and different forms of forest management, both of which are critical to REDD, a U.N. program designed to compensate tropical countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation. Finally, the system may substantially improve understanding of tropical ecosystems.

Soyuz rocket prepares for first launch from French Guiana

Wednesday 19 October 2011
Source: guardian.co.uk

Soyuz, the most dependable space rocket ever built, on the launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana. Photograph: Esa/Stephane Corvaja/EPA

The French Guianan jungle will resonate to an unexpected noise on Thursday – the deep-throated blast of a Russian space rocket as it soars into the morning sky. The Soyuz launcher will be making its first flight outside the former Soviet Union, carrying two European navigation satellites into orbit.

The mission marks a major shift in thawing relations between the two powers. Success for the launch will also bring considerable relief to the 350 Russian engineers and technicians who have grafted for four years to carve a £500m launch site out of the sticky rainforest on the coast of France's outpost in Guiana. Malaria and yellow fever are endemic here and building of Russia's Sinnamary site has been a colossal undertaking. A half-mile railway has been installed along with a special gantry to house rockets and satellites, protecting them from the equatorial humidity and heavy rain.

The stakes are high, Russian and European space officials admit, because they want Soyuz, the most dependable space rocket ever built, to be used to ferry humans into space in a few years' time.

"Now that we are about to launch our first Soyuz, we have begun looking at the idea of flying humans into space from French Guiana," said Patrick Loire, vice-president of Arianespace, which runs the main spaceport. "We are definitely thinking about it, though we haven't got a mission in mind yet."

The new launch site uses exactly the same techniques that Russia has perfected over the past 50 years. Soyuz's three stages are put together horizontally and then the whole vehicle is raised to the vertical by four huge metal arms that will hold it in place until just before launch.

Power will be switched to the rocket's internal batteries and at 11.34am UK time its engines are scheduled for ignition. A vast fiery plume will shoot into the 28-metre-deep flame trench that has been carved below the launchpad as the rocket, it is hoped, rises above French Guiana.

The creation of Russia's Sinnamary launch site – built just north of the Kourou base used by Europe's workhorse launcher, the Ariane 5 – has been an extraordinary endeavour involving hundreds of engineers. In effect, a replica of Russia's Baikonur base has been built on the edge of the Amazon.

To reach the complex involves a drive deep into the Amazon jungle along a road lined with mangrove swamps, thickets of palm trees and endless security posts. The main station is surrounded by a tall, electrified fence and coils of barbed wire.

Fuel dumps, stores and administration buildings dot the site. In the main integration building – where launchers are put together after being shipped from Russia – technicians have already put together the second Sozuz scheduled to lift off from the site on 16 December, carrying two French Earth observation satellites.

It may seem an extraordinary venture – the interplanetary equivalent of Fitzcarraldo's plans to build an opera house in the Amazonian jungle – but the benefits of a launch site here are straightforward. Guiana lies on the northern Atlantic coast of South America between 2 and 4 degrees north, and launching rockets from a site near the equator brings enormous advantages. Earth's rotational speed is greatest at the equator and so gives launchers a kick into space, reducing fuel use. Hence Russia's desire to build a launch site in French Guiana in order to complement its existing cosmodromes at Baikonur in Kazahkstan and Plestesk in Russia, both at relatively high northerly latitudes.

In addition, Soyuz has put more satellites into orbit than any other rocket on the planet. Early versions put Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin into orbit. Russia, with its European partners, expects to find a whole new market for its operations as a result, one of these being the launch of European astronauts and Russian cosmonauts from the unlikely starting point of this Amazonian rainforest space centre.

European space scientists – who have provided the home for the new Russian launch site – will also be watching the liftoff anxiously. Soyuz's double cargo will form the basis of Galileo, a new satellite navigation system that will free Europe from reliance on America's GPS satellites.

The creation of this multi-satellite project has been mired in controversy since its inception. Spiralling component costs and technical problems have seen the costs of Galileo – which is backed by the European Commission – soaring from €1.8bn to more than €5bn, cash that has been provided entirely by Europe's taxpayers. The project has also infuriated American defence officials, who claimed it would help their enemies direct attacks on the US and who once threatened to blow Galileo satellites out of the sky if they felt it necessary.

Feelings have calmed in recent years. Nevertheless, for both Europe and Russia a great deal is riding on today's launch. "No one here is talking about the possibility of failure," said one Esa official. "This is a very big mission."

Galileo will free European business from reliance on America's GPS system. The new system – which will be made up of more than 30 satellites orbiting at 23,000 kilometres – was expected to have been operational a year ago but ran into a maze of technical and political obstacles and came very close to being abandoned in 2007. In the end, the public-private partnership that had been put in place to build and run the project collapsed and EU member states had to agree to fund the entire project from the public purse.

In addition, the ability to launch satellites on Soyuz rockets will provide both Russia and Europe with a new tool for their joint space endeavours. Europe's Ariane 5 and Vega rockets represent the heaviest and lightest launchers on the market. Soyuz will give it a medium-lift launcher of incredible reliability. Almost 2,000 Soyuz have been blasted into space over the past 50 years, with very few failures.

It will be a track record that both space powers hope will be maintained on Thursday.

Brazil pulls out of OAS meet over Amazon dam dispute

24 Oct 2011
Source: AFP

Brazil will not take part in the annual meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington on Wednesday due to a dispute over a giant hydroelectric plant, said opponents of the scheme.

"We received a statement from the permanent mission to to OAS on Friday evening and reports that Brazil will not be represented at the meeting," said lawyer Andressa Calgas, director of support group Global Justice, at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro.

In the statement, Brazil reiterated that all social and environmental protection measures related to the $11 billion project in western Para state, along the Xingu river in Brazil's Amazon rainforest project should be met.

The decision not to appear at the meeting "shows the cowardice of the government" that "wants to avoid being publicly blamed," Calgas said.

Environmentalists and activists for Brazil's indigenous peoples on September 29 cheered a federal court order halting construction at the controversial dam.

Government officials said they would appeal the decision on the project, which is a centerpiece of efforts to boost energy production in the rapidly growing economy but has drawn criticism both at home and abroad for its impact.

The Belo Monte dam would be the third biggest dam in the world, after China's Three Gorges construction and the Itaipu dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay.

It would produce more than 11,000 megawatts, or about 11 percent of Brazil's current installed capacity.

The project is expected to employ 20,000 people directly in construction, flood an area of 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) along the Xingu river and will displace 16,000 people.

Bolivian road project through Amazon reserve canceled

October 23, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

Following a violent crackdown on protestors which deeply embarrassed the Bolivian government, president Evo Morales has thrown-out plans to build a road through an indigenous reserve, reports the BBC. Protestors marched 310 miles (498 kilometers) from the Amazon to La Paz to show their opposition to the road, saying that the project would destroy vast areas of biodiverse rainforest and open up their land to illegal settlers.

But the peaceful march turned violent when riot police attacked protestors about halfway to La Paz. Captured on video, which soon went viral, protestors were tear-gassed and beaten with batons. The violence from an administration that has long linked itself to environmentalism, the poor, and indigenous rights (Morales himself is indigenous), led several top government officials to step-down in solidarity with the protesters. It also led Morales himself to ask for 'forgiveness' from the Bolivian public for the police response, though he denied giving any order for police to breakup the march.

Following the backlash, Morales initially stated the road would be put on hold, but has now said it will not go through the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park (Tipnis). The announcement comes just as around 1,000 protestors have reached La Paz from their march.

The road would have been funded and built by Brazil, which is eyeing another route from East to West in South America. Critics of the road had charged it would have done little to help Bolivians, but Morales had argued it would bring additional infrastructure and economic development to the country. At one point he stated the road would be built regardless of indigenous concerns.

Indigenous people in the reserve stated they had not been consulted on the road project and feared encroachment by settlers if the road was built. In the Amazon, roads bring deforestation, illegal settlements, poaching, among other impacts.

The struggle may not yet be over as protesters have 15 other demands for the Morales government.

Bolivia Axes Plans to Build a Highway in the Amazon

October 23, 2011
Source: Treehugger


It was a plan met with controversy from the start: to build a 185-mile long highway through Bolivia's Isibore Secure Reserve, an ecological gem in the Amazon rainforest. For months, thousands of mostly indigenous protesters marched from throughout to Bolivia to the capital of La Paz to draw attention to what they saw as a threat to the park's wealth of biodiversity and a harbinger of deforestation. Last week, a following demonstrations outside the presidential palace, President Evo Morales announced that the highways plans would be canceled, adding that he is "governing by obeying the people."

The proposed highway through the Amazon was to be funded by a $332 million loan from Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development, largely as a means of connecting Brazilian industry with ports along Bolivia's Pacific coastline. The area to be impacted by the road's construction, known as TIPNIS, is home to four important rainforest ecosystems, along with more than 50 distinct indigenous communities.

President Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous-born leader, had long enjoyed popular support for his defense of environmental issues, but since giving the green light for the Amazon highway this summer saw his approval ratings slide. In the face of mounting protests, however, Morales announced that the road plans would be scrapped, reports The Guardian:

Friday's U-turn represented a dramatic change-of-heart from a president who as recently as June had declared: "Whether they like it or not, we will build that road."

Jorge Lazarte, a political analyst from La Paz's Universidad Catolica, said Morales's retreat was the result of "enormous pressure from the indigenous protesters".

"He had to yield to this pressure. The president's announcement is what he should have done long ago, when the march began two months ago," he said.

In announcing that the Amazon road through TIPNIS would be canceled, Morales said that the region would now be designated and "untouchable zone."

Tourist Threat to Isolated Indigenous Community

23 October 2011
Source: Cool Earth

In a Peruvian rainforest National Park, close to the area being protected against logging by three Ashaninka communities in collaboration with the UK NHO Cool Earth, a group of voluntary isolated Mashco-Piro Indians have been spotted several times by tourists and park rangers. On one occasion an arrow was fired at and hit a park ranger. Fortunately, the arrow tip had been broken off before firing, a clear indication that it was a warning shot.

The National Park and Biosphere Reserve of Manu has always been part of the roaming territory of this traditionally semi-nomadic group of hunter gatherers, now one of the last remaining communities choosing to live beyond the frontiers of western industrial culture.

The Government authorities in Peru have responded to a call by Survival International to protect these Indians who have recently appeared on riverbanks near what it effectively a popular eco-tourist destination. Survival have written to Sernanp, the government ministry responsible for protected areas, following reports that tourists had left clothes on the riverbanks to lure the Indians out of the forest.

Uncontacted Indians lack immunity to common diseases, which can be spread by any contact with outsiders, including via clothing or bags. This week Sernanp wrote to Survival to report on measures taken to protect the tribe, including vaccinating the local population against influenza and alerting local health posts of a possible epidemic. The river area where the Indians have been appearing has also been declared a restricted zone. Sernanp is unsure why the Indians are appearing in the area, but illegal logging, which is presently rife in the Peruvian Amazon, is a string possibility.

"The policy of this government is one of permanent inclusion of indigenous peoples, of commitment to their social demands, including territorial demands, education, and health care," said Roger Rumrill, a special advisor to the Environment Ministry. With the present Peruvian government still well within its first 6 months of power, there is significant hope for the future of indigenous peoples and their rights in this rapidly developing Latin American rainforest country. After years of hostility toward indigenous groups by Peru's previous administration under Alan Garcia-who referred to indigenous people as 'savages'-the new administration under Ollanta Humala appears to be turning over a new leaf. However, indigenous people remain threatened by logging, gold mining, gas or oil exploration and a string of proposed mega-dam projects. Over he last few years, around 70 percent of Peru's Amazon has been opened up to oil and gas operations in a bid to develop the region.

The Braz-alien rainforest: Is this creature pictured in the Amazon jungle a visitor from outer-space?

21st October 2011
Source: Daily Mail

As biologically diverse as the Amazon is, this peculiar creature would not appear to be a natural inhabitant of the Brazilian jungle or, indeed, Earth for that matter.

Standing just a few feet from a mesmerising flashing light, this unidentified being could offer proof that we are not alone in the universe.

The image comes from a video obtained by noted paranormal writer Michael Cohen and is claimed to have been filmed by two British tourists visiting the Mamaus region of the Amazon.

Proof? A still from a video apparently taken by British tourists in Mamaus region of the Amazon showing an alien-like creature standing in the jungle

Alien environment: Children pose for the camera while, behind them, a bright light flashes (circled right) and what looks like a small being stands to the right of a tree (circled left)

While the camera is focused on some young children, seen in the distance behind them is a silvery light.

However, it is only when the eyes are diverted to the surrounding jungle does it become apparent that there is a small being standing side-on just to the right of a tree, appearing to arch its back.

It is the 'unmistakable' form of an 'alien'. No explanation is offered as to what the light may be.
While for many the images can simply be dismissed as a well-executed hoax, Mr Cohen, who runs the noted paranormal website allnewsweb.com, suggests the photos go some way to proving the existence of aliens.

He said: 'This is highly compelling footage that will be hard to discredit.

Just leaving his craft? The lone figure appears to arch its back, perhaps stretching, as the light flashes nearby

Unexplained activity: The bright light is undoubtedly linked to the extraterrestrial, but what could it be? The area has been known for an intense UFO presence

'It comes from an area known for experiencing intense UFO activity. It is rather apparent that aliens are interested in this region due to its biological diversity.

'The area was also the focus of a high-level Brazilian government investigation known as Operation Prato, where the army was sent in to monitor and confirm an alien presence in the region.'

He said the Brazilian government denied there was an Operation Prato for years before conceding it did occur and released large amounts of files associated with it.

Having obtained the footage, Mr Cohen, who is well known within UFO and paranormal circles, was inundated with requests from Hollywood producers keen to use his proof.

'This footage will be used in direct collaboration with an American film and will serve to highlight this as proof of this footage's veracity,' he said.

Bolivian president Evo Morales scraps plans for Amazon highway

Friday 21 October 2011
Source: guardian.co.uk

Evo Morales, second from left, has lunch on Friday with leaders of the ethnic group that campaigned against the Amazon highway. Photograph: Jose Luis Quintana/Getty

Bolivia's under-fire president, Evo Morales, has announced he will scrap plans to plough a controversial highway through an indigenous and ecological reserve in the Amazon.

Two days after several thousand protestors converged on La Paz, to oppose the construction of a 185-mile road through the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (Tipnis), Morales met with indigenous campaigners who had been marching on Bolivia's main city since August.

Speaking at a press conference before the meeting, Morales announced the Tipnis would be spared. "The Tipnis issue is resolved," he said. "This is governing by obeying the people."

Morales said he would push measures through Congress to prevent the road passing through the bio-diverse region in Bolivia's portion of the Amazon. The park would be declared an "untouchable zone", he said.

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, won a landslide re-election in December 2009 but recent months have seen his popularity ratings slide, largely because of plans for the road that was intended to improve trade links between neighbouring Brazil and the Pacific ports.

Friday's U-turn represented a dramatic change-of-heart from a president who as recently as June had declared: "Whether they like it or not, we will build that road."

Jorge Lazarte, a political analyst from La Paz's Universidad Catolica, said Morales's retreat was the result of "enormous pressure from the indigenous protesters".

"He had to yield to this pressure. The president's announcement is what he should have done long ago, when the march began two months ago," he said.

"This is a defeat for the president," Lazarte added, claiming Morales had "shown great weakness" in his handling of the situation.

Outcry over the planned highway began growing in mid August, when a group of more than 1,000 indigenous protesters began marching from Trinidad in eastern Bolivia to La Paz, to draw attention to the road, which they feared could lead to an influx of illegal loggers, oil and gas companies and coca growers, spelling disaster for the region. In September dozens of protesters were injured after police attempted to break-up the march using teargas and batons.

On Wednesday, when the exhausted marchers finally arrived in La Paz, they were joined by tens of thousands of locals on the streets. Protesters flocked to Plaza Murillo, outside the presidential palace, waving flags and demanding to be received by Morales.

"We are trying to show them that they have our support," said Gabriela Villaroel, a local resident who was carrying a sign reading: 'La Paz welcomes you.'

"We are against the building of this highway, just like them, because this is a protected area that we should defend, not only for our country but also for the world."

So far the protests in La Paz have been relatively peaceful but on Thursday night riot police fired teargas at a group of people who were trying to get into the square. Two police officers were injured.

The British Foreign Office updated its travel advice for the city, warning travellers: "You should avoid all demonstrations of any kind."

The protest's leaders reacted cautiously to Morales's announcement and said stopping the road's construction was just one of 16 vindications involving environmental and social issues. Further talks were planned for Friday evening.

"What we are seeing is that he's showing political will. But until we sit down to dialogue, this is just a political proposal," said Fernando Vargas, one of the protest's leaders.

World's largest beef company breaks commitment on avoiding Amazon deforestation

October 19, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

In a campaign launched in Italy on Wednesday, Greenpeace accused Brazilian beef giant JBS-Friboi of breaking its commitment to exclude cattle connected with illegal deforestation and slave labor from its supply chain.

Greenpeace says it has uncovered evidence of JBS breaking its 2009 commitment on responsible cattle sourcing. The agreement signed by JBS commits it to avoid buying cattle from properties that have been blacklisted by the Labor Ministry, embargoed by Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA, or are situated within indigenous territories.

Greenpeace says the discovery "demonstrates weaknesses in the supply chain for responsible leather and meat products."

"Consumers buying products originating from JBS’ supply chain cannot be assured their products are responsibly sourced, meaning not contributing to deforestation and slave labour," said Greenpeace in Broken Promises: How the cattle industry in the Amazon is still connected to deforestation, slave labour and invasion of indigenous land [PDF], a report launched as part of the campaign.

Greenpeace is calling upon JBS to honor its commitment under the 2009 Cattle Agreement signed by other cattle majors. The environmental group wants JBS to sever ties with ranches exposed in its new report and establish a "transparent and efficient" monitoring process for implementation of its commitment. It is also asking JBS and other Brazilian cattle giants to "publicly support strong comprehensive laws that seek to decrease and eliminate deforestation caused by cattle ranching in Brazil."

Greenpeace chose to launch its campaign at a fashion show in Bologna, Italy. The Italian fashion industry is a high-profile buyer of Brazilian leather, making it an attractive target for activists.

Greenpeace's cattle campaign began in June 2009 and met immediate success. Within three months of launching the campaign, major supermarkets and shoes companies demanded their suppliers provide them with deforestation-free beef and leather. The major slaughterhouses — including JBS, Bertin, Marfrig, and Minerva — responded by signing the Minimum Criteria for Industrial-Scale Operations With Cattle and Bovine Products in the Amazon Biome Agreement, which commits them to cleaning up their supply chains.

Cattle ranching is the largest driver of deforestation in the Amazon. According to a study published earlier this year by the Brazilian government, more than 60 percent of deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon is used as cattle pasture. Most of this is low-intensity ranching, with less than one head of cattle per hectare. While financial returns from such operations are low, cattle ranching is often used as a vehicle for land speculation. Forestland has little value—but cleared pastureland can be used to produce cattle or sold to large-scale farmers.

Belo Monte dam license 'illegal' rules Brazilian federal judge

October 19, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

The environmental license for the controversial Belo Monte dam violates the constitutional rights of indigenous communities and is therefore illegal, ruled a federal judge in Brazil on Monday.

Judge Selene Maria de Almeida concluded that the 2005 decree that authorized the dam is illegal because Congress failed to carry out a consultation process with communities that will be affected by the dam. The consultation process is a right guaranteed to indigenous communities under Brazil's constitution.

A statement from International Rivers and Amazon Watch, groups campaigning against the dam, explains Almeida's ruling:

Almeida’s decision cited the need for Brazil to comply with its commitments to ILO Convention 169 and other international agreements that require free, prior and informed consent among indigenous peoples regarding projects that significantly affect their territories and livelihoods. Almeida’s decision spotlights a major gap between domestic and international legal frameworks regarding indigenous rights and their effective implementation within current practices of dam-planning and licensing in Brazil.

In Monday’s federal court hearing, Almeida’s decision discarded arguments by lawyers representing the Brazilian government that the Belo Monte Dam infrastructure and reservoirs would not be physically located on indigenous lands and, as a result, there was no need for consultations with indigenous peoples. Citing overwhelming evidence from official sources and independent researchers, Almeida concluded that the diversion of 80% of the Xingu River into artificial channels and reservoirs would have devastating impacts downriver for the Arara, Juruna and Xikrin Kayapó indigenous peoples, given inevitable losses to the tribes' ability to catch fish, raise crops, and navigate freely. As such, prior consultations by the Brazilian Congress with indigenous communities are required before the dam project can be legally authorized.

Judge Almeida concluded that the Brazilian Congress should have also based its decision concerning authorization of Belo Monte on the conclusions of the project’s environmental impact assessment, including anthropological studies on its consequences for indigenous peoples.

Almeida's decision comes less than three weeks after another judge ordered a halt to construction activities due to concerns over the impact on local fisheries.

Amazon Watch says that despite the recent rulings, the case is far from over. It will likely end up in Brazil's Supreme Court.

Belo Monte has proven extremely controversial. The $11-17 billion project, which would block most of the flow of the Xingu River and inundate thousands of hectares of rainforest, has been fiercely opposed by indigenous groups and environmentalists. Critics say the dam will operate well below capacity for much of the year when river levels are low. It will also disrupt fish migration patterns, affecting local livelihoods.

Peru Releases Dramatic Footage of Uncontacted Indians

October 18, 2011
Source: National Geographic

he Peruvian government has released dramatic new footage showing a near-encounter with a group of uncontacted Indians along a riverbank in the Amazon rain forest. The video was taken by travelers on the Manu River in southeastern Peru in recent months, according to officials from Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, who released the images on Monday.

In the video, travelers appear to be playing a game of cat and mouse with the naked tribesmen, drifting close to shore only to flee in panic in their motorboat as the natives approach. Some of the Indians brandish bows and arrows, and at one moment, one of them prepares to launch an arrow at the boat. The travelers are heard debating among themselves whether to approach, whether to back off, and if they should leave gifts of food or clothing on the shore for the Indians to take.

Officials said there have been multiple sightings in recent months of nomadic bands of Mashco-Piro Indians in the area of Manu National Park. Isolated Indians are known to travel extensively by foot during the dry season, now at its height, appearing along the riverbanks as they search for turtle eggs buried in nests along the sandy beaches of the western Amazon. But mounting pressure from logging crews, wildcat gold prospectors, and seismic teams exploring for oil and gas are flushing isolated indigenous out of the forests as well, according to Roger Rumrill, a special advisor to the Environment Ministry. “There is very strong pressure on their territories,” Rumrill said.

Brazilian explorer Sydney Possuelo on a mission to protect uncontacted tribes near the border of Peru, 2002. Photo by Scott Wallace

The video and other accounts of recent sightings and near-encounters prompted officials to issue a stern warning to those traveling along the rivers and backwoods of the Amazon to avoid forcing contact with isolated groups, for the safety of all involved. Travelers were also urged to refrain from leaving behind gifts of food or clothing, which could transmit devastating illnesses to immunologically defenseless isolated Indians.

In releasing the video on Monday, Peruvian officials noted a sharp turn in national policy toward the estimated 4,000-5,000 indigenous people living in near-complete isolation from the outside world, promising to adopt a series of measures aimed at bolstering protection for isolated indigenous tribes and those in the initial stages of contact. The previous government, led by ex-president Alan Garcia, had auctioned off vast tracts of the Amazon to oil and logging concessions. Elected with the broad support of Peru’s indigenous population earlier this year, the government of president Ollanta Humala is moving quickly to distance itself from the policies of its predecessor.

“The policy of this government is one of permanent inclusion of indigenous peoples, of commitment to their social demands, including territorial demands, education, and health care,” Rumrill said. ”It’s diametrically opposed to the previous government.” Those words mark a dramatic departure from the Garcia administration, whose officials denied the very existence of uncontacted nomads in the pristine rainforest regions opened up to development in the past few years. One state oil executive famously likened the elusive natives to the Loch Ness monster, claiming them to be a phantom concocted by environmentalists to hold back development.

Indigenous scout in the Peru-Brazil border region, home to the largest concentration of uncontacted tribes in the world. Photo by Scott Wallace

Carlos Soria, the newly appointed head of the National Service for Protected Natural Areas (SERNANP), the agency with jurisdiction over Peru’s national parks, said the government was in the process of updating protocols and recommendations for how best to deal with unexpected contingencies arising from contact with isolated indigenous populations. All new policy decisions would be guided regarding the isolated tribes, said Soria, by a commitment to better environmental management, a respect for human rights, and a “fulfillment of our obligations to our indigenous populations.”

Bolivian crowds greet road protesters in La Paz

19 October 2011
Source: BBC News

Demonstrators reach La Paz in Amazon protest

A protest by indigenous Amazonians has reached Bolivia's main city La Paz to a triumphant welcome.

Thousands of people turned out to support them as they arrived at the seat of government.

The two-month march was made by 1,000 men, women and children campaigning against plans to build a road through a rainforest reserve.

As they reached the edge of La Paz, President Evo Morales sent a message offering direct talks.

Mr Morales has already ordered a temporary halt to the project, but campaigners want it scrapped altogether.

The government argues that the road will boost economic development and regional integration.

The protesters say the project - which is being funded by Brazil and built by a Brazilian company - will encourage illegal settlement and deforestation in their rainforest homeland.

About 1,000 men, women and children set off in August on a 500km (310-mile) march from the Amazon town of Trinidad to La Paz in the high Andes.

The marchers, many of them from the humid lowlands and unused to the high altitude and cold of the Andes, made a triumphal entry into La Paz on Wednesday, being greeted as heroes as they entered the city, accompanied by groups of workers and students.

They received the demonstrators with food, blankets and music, cheering as they marched into the city centre.

The protesters say they will not return home until the government scraps the project, which they say will destroy their way of life.

They want the government to reverse plans to build a highway through the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park - known by its Spanish acronym Tipnis.

Under pressure

During their weeks on the road, they were blocked and then dispersed by riot police using batons and tear gas - scenes which provoked an outcry in Bolivia.

Two ministers resigned amid the outrage.

In response, President Morales, whose popularity has been dented by the protest, suspended construction of the highway and promised a local referendum on whether it should continue.

On the eve of the demonstrators' arrival in La Paz, Mr Morales offered talks.

"This dialogue would aim to iron out and build consensus on their demands in the framework of broader political action," the president's spokesman, Carlos Romero, said in a statement.

But the protesters voiced determination to stay until their demands were met.

"We will stay for as long as it takes, we have no intention of going back to our land empty-handed," indigenous deputy Pedro Nuni told Bolivian media.

Recent weeks have been a testing time for Mr Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.

About 45% of voters spoiled their ballot papers in Sunday's election for top judges, which was a key policy of the president.

However, there have been demonstrations in support of the road project from indigenous groups that remain loyal to the president.

Malibu's ‘Erin Brockovich of the Amazon' makes legal history

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Source: Malibu Times

Local resident Atossa Soltani is the founder of Amazon Watch, an organization that was behind a recent major environmental legal victory.

By Bibi Jordan / Special to The Malibu Times

The organization Amazon Watch, founded by Malibu resident Atossa Soltani, spearheaded a recent legal victory in which for the first time an American energy company has been found legally liable in a foreign court for environmental crimes committed abroad.

Since its launch 15 years ago, Amazon Watch has been an advocate for 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorians in a lawsuit demanding that Chevron be held accountable for dumping 18 billion gallons of crude waste that left an environmental and public health catastrophe in the Amazon. Despite Chevron's denial of all responsibility in a legal battle that has lasted for more than a decade and has been fought in three continents, an Ecuadorian court ruled in favor of the Amazonian communities early this year. Chevron was ordered to pay $9 billion to clean up the widespread oil contamination and another $9 billion in punitive damages. The $18 billion judgment against Chevron ranks second in environmental damage cases after the $20 billion fund established in the wake of BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as reported by Bloomberg News.

However, Chevron appealed to the Ecuador court's ruling and won a temporary victory when a United States District Court's injunction barred the plaintiffs from claiming the damages in the United States. But, in a recent ruling, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that this injunction be lifted.

“With this recent development, there is now hope that the Ecuadorians will receive the damages levied on Chevron for these massive crimes against the environment in the Amazon,” Soltani said.

This legal accomplishment marks a major change from Amazon Watch's launch 15 years ago by one woman with a bullhorn. Well-informed about conservation programs after working as a campaign director for Rainforest Action Network, Soltani was determined to confront President Cardosa of Brazil about deforestation issues when he was in the U.S. to address the United Nations in 1996. As Cardosa was leaving, she managed to stop him and protest his plans to build roads through the Amazon. She said he listened for about 20 seconds before leaving in his limousine.

Soltani recalled that moment: “Turning around, I was confronted by about 30 journalists and cameras. ‘Who are you? Who are you with?' they yelled. I took a deep breath and announced, ‘Amazon Watch!' The next day, it was all over the headlines, and Amazon Watch was born.”

Since then Soltani, who serves as the organization's executive director, has taken on everyone from oil company executives to Hollywood titans in her effort to protect the Amazon. For example, following the enormous success of the film “Avatar,” which depicted the forest of an imaginary planet being destroyed by resource-hungry corporations, Amazon Watch joined indigenous groups to lobby director James Cameron to focus on the “real Pandora.” They were referring to a controversial development project in the Brazilian Amazon, the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Coined as the “Monster Dam,” it will be the third largest dam in the world if built, and it will be the gateway dam to more than 60 additional dams proposed in the Brazilian Amazon.

Soltani accompanied Cameron to Brazil where he met the Xingo tribe and experienced the forest the dam will destroy if it is constructed. The experience made such an impression on Cameron that he produced a special feature called, “A Message from Pandora,” about the battle to stop the Belo Monte Dam.

“Opposing Belo Monte will be a critical battle in the fight for the Amazon and for the planet,” Soltani said. “The Amazon is the global rain machine and lungs of the earth. Our future survival depends on the continued existence of the Amazon rainforest.”

Internationally renowned ecologist Dr. Philip Fearnside at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon in Manaus, Brazil explained that while large dams like Belo Monte are often promoted as clean renewable energy, this is a myth. In the tropics, vegetation decomposing under a large man-made reservoir acts like a methane factory, Fearnside said. As methane is 25 to 50 times more potent than CO2, it means emissions from large dams in the tropics like Belo Monte are on a par with those of a coal power plant and generate significant global warming gas emissions.

Soltani said at the current rate 50 percent of the Amazon could be lost or severely degraded in the next 10 years. With global deforestation contributing around 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, preventing devastation of the Amazon is more critical than ever.

“This coming year will be a time of deep transformation on our planet,” Soltani said. “Amazon Watch will be scaling up our work to further safeguard the rain forest.”

In spite of all these challenges, Soltani remains dedicated to Amazon Watch's advocacy campaigns to advance indigenous rights and preserve the Amazon. Reflecting on the organization that started 15 years ago in Malibu, Soltani said, “I truly believe that our actions over the next four years are going to determine the course of history for the next 1,000 years. Amazon Watch is standing together with the indigenous communities who have been preserving the rain forest for thousands of years. Our savvy team of campaigners can operate in remote jungles, the halls of power, in Hollywood and in the streets to mount pressure on companies and get results. From providing training to our partners to hard-hitting campaigns, I'm proud of the way we've been able to leverage limited resources to have extraordinary impact.”

Brazil plans $120 billion in infrastructure investments in the Amazon by 2020

October 19, 2011
Source: mongabay.com

Brazil's push to expand infrastructure in the Amazon region will require at least 212 Brazilian reals ($120 billion) in public and private sector investment by 2020, reports Folha de Sao Paulo.

Dozens of large-scale projects — including dams, high-speed rails, roads, electricity transmission systems, mines, and industrial farms — are planned or already in progress in the nine states that make up the "Legal Amazon" in Brazil. By 2020, the government aims to more than double the Amazon's share of power generation to 23 percent of national output, up from 10 percent today. The target represents 45 percent of planned energy expansion during the period.

According to Folha de Sao Paulo, the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC) will likely require weakening of existing social and environmental laws, potentially antagonizing environmentalists.

"To accelerate the implementation of projects, the federal government is considering a series of legal changes," reports the newspaper. "Among them are expressly granting of environmental licenses, the creation of laws that allow mining on indigenous lands, and changing the system of administration of environmentally protected areas."

"The advance on the Amazon generates controversy among environmentalists, who accuse the government of repeating a model of unsustainable development... that leads to social collapse."

Brazilian companies also have ambitions in the Amazon outside of Brazil. Oil and gas development, dam projects, gold mines, industrial agriculture, and roads are major areas of investment for Brazilian firms in neighboring countries, including Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Suriname.

Tropical Forest and Savannah Tipping Points

October 19, 2011
Source: PlanetSave.com

Tipping points are always a hotbed issue in climate science, but in a new study it has been found that a region with tropical tree cover will jump quickly between a forested state to a savannah or treeless state.


The research was conducted by scientists from Wageningen University and published this week in the journal Science.

The study shows that the strength a forest or a savannah has of staving off becoming treeless – it’s resiliency – is related to rainfall in an almost universal way across all three of the continents that were studied; Africa, Australia and South America.

Based on a massive satellite dataset, the authors used the empirical model that they built from the data to predict where existing forest is most fragile. However, the model, in showing where forest is at it’s most fragile, also shows where a treeless or savannah situation may be tipped into a savannah or forest situation respectively.

“Tree cover is one of the most defining aspects of landscapes” says Milena Holmgren, one of the authors and a specialist on plant ecology. “It is therefore remarkable how poorly we understand what determines where we have forest, and where savanna or desert. Obviously rain is important. Deserts are found in the driest places and rainforest in the wettest. However, what happens in between has been very puzzling for scientists.”

The model showed that instead of a gradual increase in tree cover with increased rainfall, there appeared a ‘forbidden’ state around 5% and around 60% of treecover. Thus, the system jumps between three contrasting states” forest, savannah (which equates to roughly 20% tree cover), and a completely treeless state.

“This is one of the most convincing lines of evidence for the existence of large scale alternative stable states in nature” says Marten Scheffer, who leads the research program on tipping points. “We were surprised ourselves how well the data supported this influential, but radical theory.”

“As the system approaches a tipping point, it becomes increasingly fragile, in the sense that a small perturbation, such as a dry year or some small scale deforestation, may invoke a critical transition to the other state” says Scheffer, commenting on the studies ability to determine not only where a system is most fragile, but also where we can start regaining ground.

“Understanding potential impacts of climate change on the Amazon forest is one of the major challenges for scientists in the region today” explains author Marina Hirota. “Our study now shows that the forest is most fragile precisely in the areas where pressure from human activities is also the highest. This kind of information should allow governments to make better decisions, as it shows the risks and opportunities that are inherent to the stability properties of these ecosystems that still cover massive parts of the Earth.”

Brazil's Petrobras Plans Pipeline To Open Isolated Amazon Gas Field

October 18, 2011
Source: Fox Business

--Brazil's Petrobras plans pipeline to open the Jurua natural gas find, discovered in 1978

--Project part of $3.4 billion in investments planned for Amazon region

--Pipeline will link Jurua to the Urucu oil-and-gas field about 140 kilometers away

--Chibata field test output was 2,500 BOE/day, double Urucu's average well production

URUCU, Brazil -(Dow Jones)- A natural gas field discovered more than 30 years ago deep in Brazil's Amazon rain forest could finally be linked to the outside world, according to plans detailed by federal oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR).

Petrobras, as the energy giant is also known, has won regulatory approval for a 140 kilometer pipeline from the Jurua natural gas discovery in Amazonas state to the Urucu oil-and-gas field, said Urucu general manager Luiz Ferradans during a site visit Monday.

Senior management still needs to give its final approval for the project, but site planning is already under way and the pipeline is expected to be up and running by 2013, Ferradans said.

Jurua and newer prospects in the remote rainforest region such as Chibata have become commercially viable since Petrobras completed a pipeline linking the 25-year-old Urucu field to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, in 2009. That pipeline had been delayed for years over cost and environmental concerns, and Petrobras examined a number of alternatives over the years, including transporting the gas by barge, before finally winning approval for a pipeline.

Now that Urucu is in place, Petrobras will use it as a hub to connect production at new fields that could significantly boost the 3 million cubic meters of natural gas which are transported every day from Urucu to Manaus. The pipeline can carry 5.5 million cubic meters a day, while new compression stations are being added to increase that to 7.5 million cubic meters a day, Ferradans said.

Tests on four renovated wells left from when Jurua was first discovered in 1978 on average produced between 600,000 and 800,000 cubic meters a day, Ferradans said.

Jurua is part of $3.4 billion which Petrobras will spend in an effort to tap reserves in this part of the Amazon, which were pegged at more than 800 million barrels of oil equivalent at the end of last year. The firm is carrying out early seismic surveys at some blocks in the Amazonas and Solimoes basins, and is drilling a second well at the Chibata oil discovery, about 34 kilometers from Urucu, Ferradans said.

Tests at the first Chibata well produced about 2,500 barrels of crude oil per day, about double the average production rate at Urucu's 60 production wells. In September, Urucu produced about 54,000 barrels of low-sulfur crude and more than 11 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, Urucu operations manager Joao Roberto said.

Illegal Mining Rises in Amazon Rainforest as Gold Prices Reach Records

Tue, Oct 18, 2011
Source: Gold Investing News

With gold prices hitting a record this year as a debt crisis drives investors into commodities, illegal mining of the precious metal has risen in the mineral-rich rainforests of South America, especially in Peru, Brazil, Guyana, Colombia and Venezuela, according to a September report in the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,633.90 an ounce on Oct. 18, after reaching a record of $1,923.70 on September 6.

“Illegal gold mining is affecting nearly every Amazon country where gold is present,” said Rhett Butler, who founded mongabay.com in 1999, a website dedicated to wild lands and wildlife and the impact of technology on them. “Brazil might be the exception to some degree, because it has better law enforcement. It’s a pretty big problem. Mining causes deforestation and water and air pollution from mercury. It is often associated with other illegal activities, like illegal ranching, logging, and drug-trafficking.”

Jennifer Swenson, assistant professor of the practice of geospatial analysis at Duke University, said a study she conducted earlier this year found that deforestation in parts of the Peruvian Amazon had risen six-fold in recent years as small-scale miners blast and clear more of the lowland rainforest.

“These are small-time miners; there is no big ‘Goliath’ mining company to blame,” Swenson said. “The miners often lack modern technology, have limited knowledge of mining’s environmental or human health effects and rarely have safeguards to limit the release of the mercury they use to process their gold into the air, soil or water.”

Mongabay’s Rhett said he has not seen any data that exists on the number of illegal mines operating in the Amazon region. But the presence of concrete data does not take away from the reality of the existence of such mining. “The main thing governments can do is to enforce the law by shutting down illegal operations and restricting access to areas where illegal mining is occurring,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to detect illegal gold mining these days using satellite imagery and flyovers. But the political will is often lacking. In fact in Peru, politicians who have the support of illegal miners are now trying to regularize some of the illegal mines.”

An article in August reported that the newest place for mining gold illegally is the Peruvian Amazon, with more than 400,000 miners along the Madre de Dios river. The report said these miners bring in nearly a fifth of Peru’s annual 175 metric tons of gold.

“The main culprits of illegal mining are diverse,” Rhett said. “They range from the small-scale wildcat miners to the well-capitalized large-scale operators. The miners themselves are usually poor, but the backers and investors are often wealthy. Impacts are often felt downstream in areas that see almost no benefits from mining. Mercury ends up in waterways and finds its way into the fish people eat. Mining also silts up rivers, affecting water quality and transportation.”

In the Madre de Dios region, Swenson’s study found, roughly 7,000 hectares, or about 15,200 acres, of forest and wetlands were cleared at two large mining sites between 2003 and 2009. “Artisanal mining has occurred in the region since the time of the Incas, but the recent record-setting rise in gold prices has shifted its pace into hyper-drive,” Swenson said. The mining “is now plainly visible from space.”

This toxic activity, however, may become cleaner, thanks to an initiative launched last year by the UK-based Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), which requires companies to pay sustainable prices to combat the injustices of conventional trade that hurt the poorest and weakest producers, and the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), an independent initiative established in 2004 to enhance equity and well-being in artisanal and small-scale mining communities.

New Fairtrade and Fairmined gold standards mean that globally over 100 million artisanal and small-scale miners, who produce 15 percent of the world’s gold but make up 90 percent of the labor in gold extraction, will get a better price with the Fairtrade guaranteed minimum price set at 95 percent of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). These miners will have the opportunity to form groups to give themselves better bargaining power with traders, to get a fairer return for their produce (the FLO says that once everyone takes their percentage, the small miner may receive as little as 70 percent of the LBMA) and gain greater control over the jewellery supply chain.

Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation said in a statement released last year when the standard was introduced: “The launch of Fairtrade and Fairmined standards for gold provides a lifeline for communities who find themselves at the mercy of unbalanced markets. Many face exploitation from middle men who pay below market prices and cheat them on weight and purity of the gold content. Our research shows that customers believe buying jewellery for a special occasion holds greater value and significance if it carried the Fairtrade and Fairmined hallmark.”

UN to investigate Bolivia repression

Sat Oct 8, 2011
Source: PressTV

The Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB) marches against the proposed Amazon highway (file photo)

The UN and other rights groups are ready to investigate Bolivia's repression of indigenous people amid protests to block a proposed highway which cuts through the Amazon rainforest.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) have accepted a request to probe the violent police repression of indigenous peoples, said Bolivia's anti-corruption minister, Nardy Suxo, Reuters reported.

Ongoing demonstrations have recently become violent, with police firing teargas and injuring 74 people in a September 25 government crackdown.

On Friday, during the second day of a partial 48-hour strike, thousands of Bolivian union workers, miners and teachers took to the streets and chanted slogans against President Evo Morales.

They criticized the president, calling the highway a massacre that would not only endanger the environment of the Amazon, but would also encourage illegal settlements.

Angry protesters carried a coffin symbolically showing the death of Morales and his ruling MAS party. During Morales' election campaign, MAS advocated indigenous rights and the protection of "Mother Earth."

Meanwhile, indigenous protesters are continuing their march from the eastern Amazon lowlands to the Bolivian capital, La Paz.

Defense Minister Cecilia Chacon resigned in protest at the police action.

Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti and his deputy Marcos Farfan have also stepped down to protest “police brutality.”

The Bolivian government claims that the road is necessary for the development of the country by linking remote areas to market towns.

The 300-kilometer (185-mile) highway would run through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), home to around 50,000 natives hailing from different indigenous groups.

The high price of gold: death and destruction in Amazon mineral rush

Monday 26 September 2011
Source: guardian.co.uk

Gold miners in El Ingenio, Peru. Artisan mining accounts for the livelihood of more than 40,000 Peruvian families. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Elton Thompson was out drinking when he was bludgeoned to death by a miner called Frank. He was 14. Arturo Balcazar was a shopkeeper. He was gunned down on a riverboat as his wife looked on. Alan Welch was 54. He was clubbed to death with tree trunks and branches after being accused of theft.

Three men, three murders but apparently one common cause: the global economic crisis that has sent gold prices through the roof and aggravated an already cut-throat scramble for gold in the South American Amazon.

Across the Amazon all-time record gold prices, which are the result of investors seeking a safe haven from the US and European economic slump, are reportedly adding fuel to a chaotic jungle gold rush. This has brought violence, disease and conflict to the mineral-rich rainforests of Brazil, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela.

"There is a direct correlation between the price of gold and what we have to deal with these days," David Ramnarine, a Guyanan police commander, told the Demerara Waves news website after a string of gold-related killings in his country, including those of Thompson, Balcazar and Welch.

Guyana's top police official, Henry Greene, also linked the ballooning price of gold to an upsurge in killings and lynchings in remote mining camps where prostitution, gun-slinging and drug abuse is also rife. "It is all related and has a lot to do with the price. A lot more people than normal are going to the interior as there is a lot of money in gold right now," he told the Caribbean Life website.

A front-page story in Guyana's Kaieteur News last month warned of chaos in the country's "deadly gold bush" – the same region where British explorer Walter Raleigh unsuccessfully sought a mythical city of gold in the late 16th century.

"A toxic mix of gold, greed and alcohol has resulted in a spate of brutal murders in the interior," the newspaper reported, cataloguing killings involving miners, jewellers and shopkeepers working at the gold mines.

Over the border in the Brazilian Amazon, indigenous communities are also increasingly alarmed at the presence of wildcat miners on their lands.

Nearly two decades after 2,000 Yanomami Indians lost their lives during the last big gold rush, indigenous leaders in Brazil's Roraima state fear history may be repeating itself.

More and more impoverished miners are pouring on to their lands in search of gold, leaving a trail of environmental and human destruction.

"I'm worried – my people are suffering," said Dário Vitório Kopenawa Yanomami, health co-ordinator for the tribe's Hutukara association, who believes there could now be as many as 2,000 illegal miners operating inside the Yanomami reserve.

"The miners are hiring planes to come into the reserve. Their entry is constant," he said. "It is dangerous to go where they are. They are all armed.

"If we go near them they will kill us. We are getting information that the invaders are getting close to our lands. The Yanomami are asking for support," he added.

In an interview last month, Dario's father, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, the Yanomami's best-known leader, warned: "Every day an average of six unauthorised flights take off for the Yanomami reserve. Shops are selling lots of equipment for mining. Illegal runways have been reopened."

At 2,000, the number of illegal miners currently operating in the reserve would still be a fraction of the estimated 40,000 that brought death and destruction during the 1980s and 1990s.

But activists fear the price of gold, which has been as much as 40% higher than last year, is luring more adventurers, who are reactivating illegal airstrips on Yanomami land in order to ferry miners in and out of the region's goldmines.

Last month the Folha da Boa Vista newspaper, from Roraima's state capital, reported that on "Gold Street", a dusty city centre mining hub where much of the illegal gold is sold, prices have risen from 48 Brazilian reais (£16.80) a gram two years ago to as much as 96 reais now.

"The high price of gold is increasing the thirst for mineral reserves in our indigenous territories," said Janete Capiberibe, an Amazon MP who is petitioning police and indigenous officials in Brasilia on the Yanomami's behalf. She hopes to set up a public hearing to discuss the impact of the gold rush on them and other Amazon tribes.

Capiberibe warned that as well as violence and illness, contact between indigenous people and miners could lead to "alcoholism and prostitution – a change in behaviour that profoundly damages the indigenous culture".

In neighbouring countries the effects of the surge in gold prices are also being felt. Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos has claimed that members of leftist guerrilla group Farc are turning their attentions to gold mining, as a result of a government offensive against its cocaine production operations. The rising price of gold means mining has become a lucrative and alternative source of revenue for the group.

Meanwhile, a recent study by academics from Duke University in North Carolina found that between 2003 and 2009 mining-related deforestation rose six-fold in Peru's Madre de Dios region. This area is home to perhaps the biggest single gold rush in South America.

The study, which linked the growing destruction to rising gold prices, said native forests and wetlands were being transformed into a "vast wasteland of ponds".

In mid-August, the price of gold approached a record high of $1,830 an ounce, amid speculation that it could reach $2,000 by the end of the year.

In Guyana the killing went on. Daniel Higgins, 48, and his 22-year-old son were reportedly shot and hacked to death before being buried in a mining pit by an excavator.

Their murders were recorded in the latest gory dispatch from the Kaieteur News: "The motive seems to be greed," the story suggested. "The high price of gold has made tempers short."