PORTO VELHO, Brazil — Cruising north in a speedboat along the Madeira River, the signs of Brazil’s illegal gold mining boom are everywhere: mounds of sand extracted from the riverbed…
TERRA FIRME, Brazil — Growing up, Maria de Fátima Batista often studied in the dark, using a candle or lantern for light because the riverine community where she lives in…
NOVA CALIFÓRNIA, Brazil — Hamilton Condack smiles and points to a towering ipê tree rooted in the plot of land where he lives and produces food. “When I first got…
The climate in the Amazon has been changing over the last few decades. The average temperature in the basin rose about 1º Celsius (1.8° Fahrenheit) between 1979 and 2018, with…
Some 400 indigenous people displaced from an informal settlement in Manaus have struggled to make a living amid scarce jobs and limited income sources during the COVID-19 crisis. The capital of Amazonas state, Manaus accounts for Brazil’s fourth-highest number of deaths due to COVID-19; authorities warn that the state’s health system is close to its limit.
Forest fires in Brazil jumped 85 percent this year in the wake of soaring deforestation rates, environmentalists say. In the afternoon of August 19, São Paulo’s skies suddenly turned black, spurring discussion about the linkage between the fires and the phenomenon.
When I was growing up, I always thought I would become a writer. I loved reading and writing, and excelled at both from a young age. But when I was…
Every year, millions of wildebeests, gazelles and zebras migrate between Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, in one of the most iconic wildlife shows…
Life is not easy for seeds. Avoiding ending up as food for animals and finding the right time and spot to germinate are two common problems. Until recently, scientists studying…
ELDORADO — The first time that somebody mentioned collecting seeds to Seu João Motta, he thought it was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard. Living in the middle of Atlantic Forest,…
RIO DE JANEIRO — The botanical garden here sits just below Corcovado hill, at the feet of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. Boasting 54 hectares (133 acres) and more…
ANCHIETA ISLAND, Brazil - From a distance, Anchieta Island is a mosaic of different shades of green. The lighter ones correspond to areas where ferns and a handful of broad-range…
UBATUBA, Brazil - A strip of land in southeast Brazil that straddles the space between the mountain range of Serra do Mar and the Atlantic Ocean is arguably one of…
Brazil's Atlantic Forest is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. However, over the last 500 years its extension has been dramatically decreasing, and today it occupies roughly 15 percent of…
As the world heads toward more frequent and severe droughts, forests will increasingly suffer from water scarcity. In this scenario, finding ways to predict how trees will respond to water…
GUAPIRUVU, Brazil – To reach Guapiruvu one has to drive 20 kilometers (12 miles) on a gravel road. The first houses are big, solid, holiday homes for the wealthy people…
SAO PAULO, Brazil - On May 29 the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais released their annual report on the Atlantic Forest with some worrying…
SAO PAULO – In the Brazilian state of São Paulo, the relationship between the Environment Secretariat and environmentalists has proved to be tense and problematic. Just a few months after taking…
CORREGO GRANDE, Brazil - The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is the most threatened biome in Brazil and has been subjected to the harsh consequences of human development. But despite having lost…
CORREGO GRANDE RESERVE, Brazil - Brazil’s southeast coastal state of Espírito Santo is rapidly heading toward desertification. In just a few decades, the region has gone from being one of…