Extreme floods on the rise in the Amazon: study
Severe flood events have become five times more common over the last century as a result of natural atmospheric oscillations and human-driven climate change.
Articles by Claire Asher
Claire has been working as a freelance science writer for over 6 years and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, BBC Future, Nature, Science, and The Scientist, among others. Her main interests are in ecology, conservation, animal behaviour and evolution, and she has written extensively for Mongabay about deforestation and land-use change in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado.
Mega-dam costs outweigh benefits, global building spree should end: experts
It is time to move away from large hydroelectric dams in favor of micro-scale energy generation and sustainable alternatives, according to a new report.
Saving the Amazon has come at the cost of Cerrado deforestation: study
The benefits of zero-deforestation agreements in the Amazon are being offset by the spillover of deforestation and native vegetation loss into other biomes.
Deforestation-linked Brazilian beef still flowing into international markets: report
The Brazilian cattle industry’s lack of traceability allows deforestation-linked beef to reach retailers committed to eliminating it. Uruguay’s digital traceability system could be a solution.
A river runs through it — and keeps the Amazon’s bird species diverse
Amazonian rivers don’t often drive the creation of new species, but do help maintain distinct populations, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances last month. Amazonian rivers…
Trase.earth tracks commodities, links supply chains to deforestation risk
Report details soy supply chains, shows that just six traders control most of Brazil’s deforestation risk. Report is product of Trase, a powerful new Internet tracking tool.
Plant response to rising CO2 levels may alter rainfall patterns across tropics
Increases in greenhouse gas levels are closing plant stomata (tiny pores in leaves); the plants then retain more water, potentially altering tropical rain patterns: study.
Hunting, fishing causing dramatic decline in Amazon river dolphins
Both species of Amazon river dolphin declined by over 90 percent between 1994-2017 in an Amazonas state reserve, mostly due to hunting and fishing: study.
Brazil’s actual forest-related CO2 emissions could blow by Paris pledge
Brazil is reporting its CO2 emissions within U.N. guidelines, but the nation’s true carbon releases due to forest degradation, wildfires and other key sources could be far higher.
Andes dams twice as numerous as thought are fragmenting the Amazon
Study: 142 existing and under construction Andean dams are fragmenting the Amazon, putting ecosystems at risk and impacting up to 30 million people. Another 160 dams are planned.
Drought-driven wildfires on rise in Amazon basin, upping CO2 release
Forest fires are no longer driven mainly by deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with climate change induced drought now taking a major role.
Natural World Heritage Sites in trouble, especially in the Tropics
A new assessment of UNESCO Natural World Heritage Sites found 35 percent with significant conservation concerns, or worse. Most are in the Tropics.
Selective logging reduces biodiversity, disrupts Amazon ecosystems: study
A new study of dung beetles offers evidence for the need to adopt new forestry practices creating a patchwork of highly logged sites and intact forest reserves.
Andes dams could threaten food security for millions in Amazon basin
Study warns that six hydroelectric mega-dams proposed for Andean highlands would put environment and food security at risk in Amazon basin.
Zero tolerance of deforestation likely only way to save Amazon gateway
Conservationists call for total halt to deforestation and implementation of sustainable agroforestry in Brazilian state of Maranhão.
Illegal bushmeat trade threatens human health and great apes
Great apes should be humanity’s best bet for conservation — charismatic, intelligent, strikingly familiar, with big emoting eyes. It’s hard to think of creatures with whom the public empathizes more…
A dam shame: the plight of the Mekong giant catfish
Humanity rarely seems to get very excited about conserving fish species, maybe because they are largely invisible to us land-dwelling creatures — except when they arrive on a dinner plate.…
Malayan Sun bear: bile trade threatens the World’s smallest bear
he Malayan Sun bear may not be the most famous animal in Southeast Asia, but it is undoubtedly one of the most endearing — though its charm hasn’t served to…
Study: Drought impedes tree growth, shuts down Amazon carbon sink
he Amazon rainforest is popularly known as the “the planet’s lungs” — absorbing and storing 100 billion tons of carbon and preventing it from entering the atmosphere. Maintaining that vast…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Indigenous communities in Peru ‘living in fear’ due to deforestation, drug trafficking
- Indigenous community in Peru losing forests to timber, drug, land trafficking
- Bolivian protected areas hit hard by forest fires
- The protected area that isn’t: Bolivia’s Ñembi Guasu beset by fires, farms, roads
Oceans
- ‘It was a shark operation’: Q&A with Indonesian crew abused on Chinese shark-finning boat
- Fishers in Flores Sea opt to limit harvest of overexploited sea cucumbers
- As shark numbers plummet, nations seek ban on devastatingly effective gear
- Illegal bottom trawling widespread inside Mediterranean marine protected areas
Amazon Conservation
- To be effective, zero-deforestation pledges need a critical mass, study shows
- Indigenous youths lured by the illegal mines destroying their Amazon homeland
- U.N. report calls for the ban of mercury trade and its use in gold mining
- Following the impacts of palm oil alliance: Violated regulations and penalty proceedings
Land rights and extractives
- To replace Western food imports, Cameroon gives community lands to ‘no-name’ agro-industry
- Indigenous youths lured by the illegal mines destroying their Amazon homeland
- About 72% of gold miners poisoned with mercury at artisanal mining sites in Cameroon
- ‘We go in and take Indigenous lands back from cattle ranchers’: Q&A with activist Pablo Sibar
Endangered Environmentalists
- Worries and whispers in Vietnam’s NGO community after activist’s sentencing
- Scientists call for end to violence against Amazon communities, environmental defenders
- Indigenous advocates sense a legal landmark as a guardian’s killing heads to trial
- In Brazil, an Indigenous land defender’s unsolved killing is the deadly norm
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- Mangrove forest loss is slowing toward a halt, new report shows
- ‘South Asia needs its own tiger plan’: Q&A with Nepal’s Maheshwar Dhakal
- Nepal was supposed to double its tiger population since 2010. It tripled it
- In prioritizing conservation, animal culture should be a factor, study says
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Tunnel collapse at dam project in orangutan habitat claims yet another life
- Sulawesi nickel plant coats nearby homes in toxic dust
- Indonesia’s grand EV plans hinge on a ‘green’ industrial park that likely isn’t
- Java communities rally as clock ticks on cleanup of ‘world’s dirtiest river’
