Agribusiness desperately wants Grainrail built, but it poses a clear threat to 20 indigenous territories, and to the livelihoods of Amazonia’s truckers. A battle could be brewing.
The Brazilian government’s fraternization with Amazon dam building consortiums, mining firms, and agribusiness can leave little room for local people’s rights: analysis.
Nearly 70 percent of all investigated foreign capital going to 9 major soy and beef firms responsible for major Amazon deforestation was transferred through tax havens between 2000-2011.
The biodiverse Amazon rainforest between the Purus and Madeira river basins was once deemed safe, but rapid deforestation is moving up the improved BR-319 highway.
A Cerrado accord breakthrough could be at hand, conserving Brazil’s biodiverse savanna, and setting a new conservation precedent protecting not just forests but a mosaic of ecosystems.
President elect Jair Bolsonaro signals his government will be strongly pro-business, likely bringing major setbacks for the environment, indigenous groups and social movements in Brazil.
The benefits of zero-deforestation agreements in the Amazon are being offset by the spillover of deforestation and native vegetation loss into other biomes.
The president elect’s plan to fuse the ministries has met with staunch resistance from environmentalists, scientists, and even some in the bancada ruralista agribusiness lobby.
Brazil has plans for an expansive Amazon and Cerrado rail network, including two transcontinental Atlantic to Pacific lines, but development likely depends on China.
Alcoa, Vale Mining, Suez Energy, Camargo Corrêa Energia, and Brazil’s government promised the town of Formosa mega-dam reparations, a pledge never fulfilled.
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.
Over 3,000 Quilombos, rural communities established by runaway slaves, are seeing their legal land claims denied and settlements whittled away by Brazilian government policies, say critics.
Brazil’s elections have brought an apparent surge of violence, with indigenous groups, quilombos and rural minorities fearful as the right’s rhetoric grows more hostile.
A group of Latin American early-career Earth system scientists are concerned over the possibility of a Jair Bolsonaro presidency in Brazil.
Soy farmers see Grainrail as salvation; traders ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Amaggi see it as profit; but the Amazon railway could harm habitat and indigenous communities.
Brazil is on the verge of electing a president who, supported by a new Congress, could escalate Amazon deforestation and pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement: analysis.
In the early 21st century, Brazil greatly reduced Amazon deforestation. A Jair Bolsonaro presidency would again put forests and the global climate at risk: study.
Last month, S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s leading financial market index providers, released its annual listing of sustainable companies. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) considers its…
Land-based options offer the best solutions to help nations meet their Paris carbon reduction goals and limit warming to 1.5 degrees C, says study in response to new IPCC climate report.
Interviewed by Mongabay in 2016, Aluisio Sampaio is the most recent victim in a growing wave of Amazon violence against socio-environmental activists.
