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The Pantanal holds thousands of plant and animal species, including 159 mammals, and it abounds with jaguars, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In the dry season, wildlife enthusiasts flock to see the normally furtive jaguars lounging on riverbanks, along with macaws, caimans and capybaras. Political Cartoons View All 1256 ImagesMuch of the Encontro das Aguas (Meeting of the Waters) park, located at the border of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states — known for its large jaguar population — had turned from emerald green to dark brown. “This is so atypical,” said Renata Libonati, who coordinates the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's alert system for fires in the Pantanal. The neighboring state of Mato Grosso said it had also strengthened its workforce, with about 200 federal and state firefighters on the ground.

Persons: —, they’ll, Leonisio da Silva, ”, Renata Libonati, ” Libonati, Angelo Rabelo, Mato Grosso, Enderson Barreto, “, ” Barreto, Barreto Organizations: — Firefighters, Facebook, Federal University of Rio, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, World Wildlife Fund, Mato Grosso, Associated Press, ” Jaguars, Firefighters, El, Environment, Federal Highway Police, Waters, ” Locations: POCONE, BRAZIL, Brazil's, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Waters, Mato Grosso, Mato, Sul, Brazil, Porto Jofre

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s still spring in Brazil, but a dangerous heat wave is sweeping across large swathes of the country, forcing Rio de Janeiro’s vendors off the streets due to health alerts and driving up energy demand amid reports of power outages. Most Brazilian states face “great danger” from the heat, according to the National Institute of Meteorology. Actual temperatures dropped slightly on Wednesday, but were forecast to rise again to 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) on Thursday. In Sao Paulo, temperatures reached 37.7 degrees Celsius (99.9 F), just short of a record, according to meteorology company MetSul. In Brazil, El Niño has historically caused droughts in the north and intense rainfall in the south, Ferreira said.

Persons: — It’s, Cariocas, Núbia Beray, “ Cariocas, ” Beray, Danielle Ferreira, ” Ferreira, El Niño, Ferreira, hydrologist Javier Tomasella, ” Tomasella Organizations: RIO DE, Rio de, National Institute of Meteorology, Mato Grosso, Federal University of Rio, National Institute for Space Research Locations: RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Rio’s, Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso, Sul, Portuguese, Mato, Cyprus, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, South America, Equatorial Pacific, Inmet, El, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia

☆ Record wildfires and drought hit the Amazon, drying up rivers and smothering Brazil in smoke
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Smoke from a fire rises into the air as trees burn amongst vegetation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, August 3, 2023. The Amazon has experienced record number of wildfires this October after a severe drough. In the first half of 2023, 3.6 million acres of the Amazon have been burned by wildfires, according to the Rainforest Foundation. The drought has disrupted cargo shipping along the region's rivers and depleted food, water and medical resources for Amazonian indigenous communities. Meanwhile, the fires have generated clouds of smoke that have brought the air quality to surrounding areas to dangerous levels.

Organizations: Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, Rainforest Foundation, Manaus Locations: Humaita, Amazonas, Brazil, Port, Manaus, Brazilian

☆ Over 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden in the Amazon, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Known as earthworks, they were shaped by indigenous peoples who lived in the area around 500 to 1,500 years ago. Many Amazonian earthworks that predate the arrival of European colonizers are revealed in deforested areas. Heckenberger, who was not involved in the study, has conducted research in the Brazilian Amazon since the 1990s, working with indigenous peoples of the Xingu region. These findings further demonstrate that the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples in the Americas and elsewhere is “remarkably dynamic and innovative,” he added. So the scientists also mapped 937 known earthworks, instructing the model to highlight locations for potential earthworks that shared similar topographic features with previously detected sites.

Persons: it’s, ”, Vinicius Peripato, Peripatos, Michael Heckenberger, ” Heckenberger, Peripato, ” Peripato, lidar, Dr, Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz, ” Fernandez Diaz, “, Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, University of Florida, Brazilian Amazon, University of Houston, Scientific Locations: São Paulo, Brazilian, Americas, Brazil, Amazonia

MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Communities dependent on the Amazon rainforest's waterways are stranded without supply of fuel, food or filtered water. These are just the first grim visions of extreme drought sweeping across Brazil’s Amazon. Raimundo Silva do Carmo, 67, makes his living as a fisherman, but these days has been struggling to simply find water. Like most rural residents in Brazil's Amazon, do Carmo typically retrieves water untreated from the biome's abundant waterways. The drought has affected most of the main rivers in the Amazon, the world’s largest basin, which accounts for 20% of the planet’s fresh water.

Persons: Raimundo Silva, Carmo, ” Joaquim Mendes da Silva, ”, Edvaldo de Lira, Ana Paula Cunha, Marcus Suassuna Santos, Brazil’s, Ane Alencar, Alencar, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s, Geraldo Alckmin, Ayan Fleischmann, Fleischmann, Flávia Costa, Fabiano Maisonnave, Eléonore Hughes, Diane Jeantet Organizations: Associated Press, Geological Survey, Amazon Environmental Research Institute, Bolsa, Sustainable Development Institute, National Institute for Space Research, National Institute of, AP Locations: MANAUS, Brazil, Brazil's, Puraquequara, Amazonas state's, Manaus, “, CEMADEN, Amazonas, Parana, Lake Puraquequara, Equatorial, Rio Grande do Sul, Madeira, Bolivia, Porto Velho, Santo Antonio, Negro, Bolsa Familia, Solimoes, Madeira —, Lake Tefe, rocketed, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been advocating for a common regional policy to end deforestation by 2030, promising his country will reach zero deforestation. However, the failure to agree on a common policy to end deforestation in the Amazon is concerning, as the fate of the rainforest is critical to the health of the planet. It is home to a unique array of animal and plant life, and is crucial to maintaining a global climate balance because it stores a huge amount of carbon and strongly influences global weather patterns. According to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil, Guyana, Suriname and Bolivia left the meeting refusing to agree on a goal. On Monday, Colombia backed an indigenous-led global pact to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025.

Persons: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula da Silva’s, Jair Bolsonaro, haven’t, ” Lula da Silva, Evaristo Sa, Susana Muhamad Organizations: CNN, Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, Brazilian Amazon, Peoples of, Getty, Amazon Alliance, CNN Brasil, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Colombian Locations: Brazil, Brazilian, Belém, Para State, AFP, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Amazonia

Nearly 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of rainforest were cleared in July, a significant fall from the 1,487 square kilometers (574 square miles) cleared last July. There has been a sharp decline in deforestation since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as president in January. Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, said government policies, including increasing surveillance and fining perpetrators, has played a big role in bringing rates of deforestation down. The reduced rate of deforestation is positive news at a time when the Amazon remains critically vulnerable. In 2022 an area of global tropical forest the size of Switzerland was lost as forest destruction rose by 10% compared to the previous year, according to a recent report from the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch.

Persons: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula, Jair, Marina Silva, ” Silva, Moraes Almeida, Nelson Almedia Organizations: CNN, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Getty, Resources, Watch Locations: Brazilian, Para, Brazil, AFP, Belem, Switzerland

☆ Replanting the Amazon could slow global warming. Here’s why it’s hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Milton da Costa Junior nosed his pickup through a remote stretch of the western Brazilian Amazon to check on his babies. Local authorities said the September 2021 incident, which Da Costa outlined in a police report that was reviewed by Reuters, is being investigated. Out of dozens of reforestation initiatives in the country, Rioterra and The Black Jaguar Foundation, a Brazilian-European group, are among the largest. Illegal invaders destroy in hours what it takes Rioterra or Black Jaguar a year to plant. In all, Black Jaguar has signed contracts with 26 farms and planted 326 hectares (806 acres) to date.

Persons: Milton da Costa, Da Costa, Carlos Nobre, Alexis Bastos, Rioterra, ”, Nobre, “, Bastos, Jamari, Dejesus Aparecido Ramos, it’s, ” Bastos, Jair Bolsonaro, Germany –, Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Black, Ben Valks, Valks, Leandro Silveira, Silveira, São, ” Valks, aren’t, Cristina Banks, Leite, Marcos Mariani, Araguaia, Mariani, Tânia Irres, ” Irres, Regina Molke, I’ll, Clovis, Black Jaguar, Aquaverde, Renato Franklin, “ Ben, ” Franklin, L’Oreal, da Costa, ” Da Costa, da, Spring, Clare Trainor, Catherine Tai, Lais Morais, Ilan Rubens, Lucy Ha, John Emerson, Marla Dickerson Organizations: Milton da Costa Junior, Toyota, Reuters, Black Jaguar Foundation, National Institute for Space Research, Rioterra, Cultural, Environmental Studies, Petrobras, “, Amazon Fund, Environment Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, São Paulo, Global, Farmers, Brazil’s Central Bank, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Imperial College London, Santana, Bolsonaro, United Nations, Space Agency, Copernicus, Sentinel Locations: Machadinho, Rondônia, Brazil, Germany, Brazilian, European, Manhattan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Bastos, Porto Velho, droves, Rio, Black, Itapuã, Oeste, Norway, United Arab, Pará, Caixa, “, Costa, Syria, Paris, Santana, Araguaia’s, Clovis, Regina, United States, South, Geneva, Rio Preto, da Costa

☆ 7 photos that show the climate crisis is not a distant threat — it's already here
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A line marks deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, which increased under BolsonaroAerial view of a burnt area in Brazil, on September 17, 2022. MICHAEL DANTAS/AFP via Getty ImagesUnder former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil cleared large swaths of the Amazon rainforest for farmland, accelerating deforestation. In 2019 alone, the first year of the Bolsonaro administration, 2.4 million acres — a section of the forest about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined — was cleared, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. About 60% of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil. As the Bolsonaro administration winds down, incoming President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promises to reverse the environmental damage done in the Amazon.

☆ One graph shows how Brazil's election could speed up destruction of the Amazon rainforest — and imperil the planet
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro faces former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a runoff election on October 30. The outcome of the election may determine the fate of the Amazon rainforest. The fate of the Amazon rainforest — the planet's largest — is on the ballot. Under Bolsonaro, Brazil has cleared large swaths of the Amazon rainforest for farmland, accelerating deforestation there. MICHAEL DANTAS/AFP via Getty ImagesAbout 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil.

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