How does one estimate the number of tiny, cryptic "galling" insects without finding and describing every one (a task that could take centuries of taxonomic work)? According to a new…
Lowland tapir in Yasuni National Park in Ecuador. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. Patricia Medici will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 1st, 2011.…
Clare Raybould at the Auckland Zoo where she volunteers. Photo courtesy of Clare Raybould. As more and more people demand companies to become sustainable and environmentally conscious, many corporations are…
Soy expansion in areas neighboring the Amazon rainforest is contributing to loss of rainforest itself, reports a new study published in Environmental Research Letters. The research, which analyzed changes in…
Despite environmentalists' efforts to combat "rainforest beef" in the 1980s, pasture expansion for cattle is still the primary cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, says a new report produced…
The Dutch food and feed industry has bought the first soy produced under the principles of the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), a body that aims to bring more…
Converting cattle pasture and cropland in Brazil to sugar cane helps cool local climate reports research published in Nature Climate Change. Scientists with the Carnegie Institutions’s Department of Global Ecology…
Destruction of Brazil's cerrado, a woody savanna that covers 20 percent of the country, slowed during the 2008-2009, reports Brazil's Ministry of Environment. Data from Brazil's National Space Research Institute…
Continuous versus rotational grazing. Photo courtesy of: Eaton, D. P., Santos, S. A., Santos, M. C. A., Lima, J. V. B. and Keuroghlian, A. 2011. Rotational Grazing of Native Pasturelands…
With commodity prices surging, lending to Brazilian farmers for tractors, harvesters and plows reached 8.2 billion reais ($4.8 billion) for the July through November 2010 period, a 64 percent increase…
Banco do Brasil, Brazil's largest state-owned bank, announced it has joined a zero deforestation pact for soy grown in the Amazon. The bank will now require farmers applying for credit…
Brazil announced a plan to protect the cerrado, the vast woody savanna that covers 20 percent of the country but has become the nation's biggest single source of carbon emissions…
75 percent of birds and dung beetles remain even after a forest is logged twice. The United States will cut Brazil's debt payments by $21 million under a debt-for-nature that…
Business-as-usual agricultural expansion to meet biofuel production targets for 2020 will take a heavy toll on Brazil's Amazon rainforest in coming years, undermining the potential emissions savings of transitioning from…
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation [REDD] programs that include landowners will conserve more habitat and ensure greater ecosystem services function than programs that focus solely on protected areas, report…
Damage to Brazil's vast cerrado grassland results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said Carlos Minc, the country's Environment Minister. Speaking on…
Brazil will try to reduce deforestation of the cerrado, a wooded grassland ecosystem in Brazil that is being destroyed twice as fast as the Amazon rainforest, according to the country's…
As the world's biggest cattle producer, Brazil braces for change While you're browsing the mall for running shoes, the Amazon rainforest is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Perhaps…
Five to nine percent of the Amazon's 40,000 known species of plants will be at risk of extinction by 2050 should current deforestation trends continue, report researchers writing in the…
During ten years surveying small mammal populations in Bolivia's cerrado, Dr. Louise Emmons with the Smithsonian Institute found that the mammals were suffering precipitous declines, even local extinctions. After ruling…
An industry-led moratorium on soy plantings on recently deforested rainforest land continues to show success in the Brazilian Amazon, reports a study released Tuesday by environmental groups and Abiove, the…
Nearly 80 percent of land deforested in the Amazon from 1996-2006 is now used for cattle pasture, according to a report released today by Greenpeace at the World Social Forum…
Biofuels can reduce emissions, but not when grown in place of rainforests Biofuels can reduce emissions, but not when grown in place of rainforests mongabay.com July 22, 2008 Biofuels meant…
Photos of legless lizard and other newly discovered species in Brazil's Cerrado An expedition to Brazil's Cerrado has turned up more than a dozen undiscovered species. Conservationists say the discoveries…
Amazon deforestation surging due to oil, soy prices Amazon deforestation surging due to oil, soy prices mongabay.com January 17, 2008 A Brazilian scientist has confirmed that forest clearing in the…
Tree resprouting offers hope in former pastures of Brazil's cerrado Tree resprouting offers hope in former pastures of Brazil's cerrado Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com September 6, 2007 Deforested landscapes in…
Biofuels driving destruction of Cerrado savanna in Brazil Biofuels driving destruction of Brazilian cerrado Rhett Butler, mongabay.com August 21, 2007 Demand for biofuels is driving the destruction of Brazil's cerrado,…
Since the early 1970s, environmental groups have spent billions of dollars on conservation efforts in the Amazon, but have failed to slow the destruction of its rainforests – the Brazilian…
Globalization could save the Amazon rainforest An interview with Dr. Daniel Nepstad: Amazon rainforest at a tipping point But globalization could help save it Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com June 4,…
Two unknown 'dragon' species discovered in Brazil Two unknown 'dragon' species discovered in Brazil mongabay.com January 24, 2007 Two previously unknown species of lizard that are said to resemble miniature…