Private firms will pay soy farmers not to deforest Brazil’s Cerrado
A new initiative by Nutreco, Tesco and Grieg Seafood pledges $13 million to pay soy growers not to deforest the savanna for new soy fields. More are hoped to join the fund.
Articles by Sarah Sax
Sarah Sax is an journalist with over 3 years experience reporting on
environmental issues around the world. She has experience in TV and
production and previously worked for VICE News Tonight on HBO's climate
desk. Sarah has a masters in environmental science, and has spent almost 10
years researching the nexus of forests, agriculture, and land rights.
Cerrado in crisis: One Brazilian farm family commits to sustainable soy
Soy-driven deforestation is destroying Brazil’s savanna; the Bergamaschi family is committed to sustainable soy, but the EU government and consumers aren’t — so far.
Covering environmental defenders can put journalists in dangerous situations (insider)
In April at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, I was listening to a panel where Sônia Guajajara, the general coordinator of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil…
EU/Chinese soy consumption linked to species impacts in Brazilian Cerrado: study
Meat and dairy consumption in Europe are contributing disproportionately to habitat destruction of charismatic species like the giant anteater in Brazil's Cerrado savanna.
Private sector could play outsized role in Cerrado conservation: study
Though large soy traders are resistant, research shows that full participation by Cargill and other firms in a Cerrado soy moratorium could help save the savanna.
Amazon deforestation and development heighten Amazon fire risk: study
Land use, more than climate change, predict how the Amazon burns. Deforestation, and new road building, could expand Amazon wildfire risk by over 70 percent by 2100.
Making room for wild foods in forest conservation
Earlier this year, the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet and Health published its version of a sustainable diet that could feed the nearly 10 billion people expected to inhabit the…
New initiative aims to jump-start stalled drive toward zero deforestation
In 2010, some 400 companies grouped under the Consumer Goods Forum agreed to the goal of achieving zero net deforestation by 2020 for the four commodities responsible for the majority…
Cargill rejects Cerrado soy moratorium, pledges $30 million search for ideas
In a letter to Brazilian soy farmers, Cargill promises not to back Cerrado soy moratorium, but offers $30 million for ideas to limit savanna biome forest losses.
For Ecuador’s Sápara, saving the forest means saving their language
NAPO, Ecuador — Gloria Ushigua, president of the Sápara women’s association, stops by a large, thin, spindly tree that looks almost dead, and breaks off a thin branch. Running her…
Climate change threatens to water down Cerrado’s rich biodiversity: Study
Climate change threatens to push endemic species in the Cerrado, Brazil’s vast tropical savanna, into extinction while allowing the spread of species already commonplace elsewhere, a new study says. This…
UK supermarkets implicated in Amazon deforestation supply chain: report
Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Lidl accused of buying corned beef sourced from Brazilian supplier JBS, a firm notorious for large-scale corruption and Amazon deforestation.
Pressure mounts on EU to curb Brazilian deforestation, human rights abuses
A new report urges the EU — a major Brazilian trading partner — to pressure the Bolsonaro government to end its regressive indigenous and environmental policies.
Amazon could be biggest casualty of US-China Trade war, researchers warn
If Brazil alone were to cover the US-China soy deficit, land area dedicated to soy in Brazil could increase by 39 percent, with a loss of up to 13 million hectares of forest.
Cargill pledges to stop forest to farmland conversions, but no results yet for the Cerrado
Cargill’s recent announcement of policies to achieve zero-deforestation in its supply chains comes at a crucial moment for the Brazilian Cerrado, which is being destroyed at a breakneck rate, primarily…
Brazil to receive first-ever results-based REDD+ payment, but concerns remain
The United Nations’ Green Climate Fund (GCF) has accepted the first proposal for REDD+ results-based payouts from Brazil, effectively paying the country for reducing its deforestation rates in 2014 and…
Fears of a dire precedent as Brazil seeks results-based REDD+ payment
Almost a decade after it was founded, the Green Climate Fund is ready to start paying tropical countries for emission reductions from REDD+. A proposal from Brazil has been submitted…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- On anniversary of nun’s murder Amazon land rights activists at high risk
- Iran upholds heavy sentences for conservationists convicted of spying
- Two deaths trigger alarm at Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- BR-319 illegal side road threatens Amazon protected area, indigenous land (commentary)
- Barrage of mining requests targets Brazil’s isolated indigenous peoples
- Database offers new details on the dams that hold mining waste
Asian rhinos
- Indonesia-WWF split puts rhino breeding project in Borneo in limbo
- Indonesian officials wield sharia law in defense of Sumatran rhinos
- Love triangle complicates efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos
