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☆ In Brazil, Early Wildfires Break Records — and Raise Alarm
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-12 | by ( Ana Ionova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Brazil is still weeks away from its traditional fire season, but hundreds of blazes, fanned by searing temperatures, are already laying waste to the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetlands, and to parts of the Amazon rainforest. Scientists say the burning of such vast swaths of land may represent a new normal under rising global temperatures and uneven rain, making efforts to save some of the world’s most important ecosystems much harder. There were more wildfires in Brazil’s share of the Pantanal, an enormous trove of biodiversity stretching across three countries, between January and June of this year than during the same period in any other year, according to the National Institute for Space Research, which has been tracking fires in Brazil since 1998. The highest number of fires in at least two decades was also recorded in the Amazon and in the Cerrado savanna, a patchwork of shrubs, grasslands and gnarled trees encompassing 1.2 million square miles in Brazil’s central and northeastern regions.

Organizations: National Institute for Space Research Locations: Brazil, Brazil’s

☆ Fires in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland break June record
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Aditi Sangal | Mia Alberti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Brazil’s Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland on earth, is ablaze, with fires in June breaking historical records for that month. Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE) has detected 733 fires in the Pantanal biome so far this month, with the previous record for fires in Pantanal for June being 435 registered in 2005. A view of a burnt monkey amongst the burnt vegetation in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, June 11, 2024. This seasonal flooding makes the Pantanal a unique biome where large swaths of land regularly turn from terrestrial into aquatic habitats and back again. In 2020, the fires destroyed unique habitats and wrecked the livelihoods of many of the Pantanal’s diverse indigenous communities.

Persons: Brazil’s Pantanal, Cynthia Santos, Ueslei Marcelino, ”, Andre Luiz Siqueira, It’s, ECOA, –, Ivana Kottasová, Henrik Pettersson, Krystina Organizations: Reuters, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, National Meteorological Institute, Wildlife Foundation, WWF Brazil, Fund, Nature, World Wildlife Fund, CNN Locations: Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Sul, Brazil, Corumba, Wetlands, Canada, South America, Brazilian

☆ The Amazon has survived changes in the climate for 65 million years. Now it’s heading for collapse, a study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Rosa Rahimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“Our findings revealed how the Amazon forest system could enter a phase of self-reinforced collapse sooner than previously thought.”Previous studies had not predicted a collapse of this scale could happen in the 21st century. “The Amazon forest is a major pump of moisture into the atmosphere, contributing to circulation processes that transfer moisture across the globe,” Flores said. Douglas Magno/AFP/Getty ImagesThe authors of the study noted that water stress was a common factor in the disturbances to the Amazon. Water stress occurs when there is not enough water to meet human or ecological needs. Global warming is intensifying the effects of water stress by causing the Amazonian climate to become drier and warmer.

Persons: “, ” Bernardo Flores, ”, ” Flores, Douglas Magno, Richard Allan, Flores Organizations: CNN, Federal University of Santa, Paraguay —, South, Getty, Science, University of Reading Locations: Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, South America, Bolivia, Paraguay, Plata, Labrea, Amazonas, AFP

☆ Exclusive: World's top MDBs to launch debt-for-nature swap 'task force' - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The task force creation is the most significant step so far in showing that the global club of multilateral lenders, which between them have trillions of dollars worth of firepower, will significantly ramp up their support for these deals. Four sources involved in the plans, which are expected to be announced at the COP summit's 'finance day' on Monday, say the group will formally be called the "Task Force on Sustainability-linked Sovereign Financing for Nature and Climate". It will initially be chaired by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and U.S. government's Development Finance Institution (DFC), said three of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Both lenders have been involved in all the recent swaps which have also included Barbados and Gabon. At their simplest, the swaps work by buying up a country's bonds, often at a discount, and then replacing them with cheaper eco-labelled ones that come with the special MDB guarantees.

Persons: Chico Mendes, Amanda Perobelli, MDBs, Marc Jones, Christina Fincher Organizations: Chico, Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, Institute for, Environment, Resources, REUTERS, Reuters, Force, Sustainability, Nature, Inter, American Development Bank, government's Development Finance, World Bank, European Investment Bank, Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, ADB, Infrastructure Development Bank, Reuters Graphics, Conservancy, Thomson Locations: Pocone, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Belize, Barbados, Gabon, Beijing, U.S, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Colombia, Ecuador

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

☆ Fires in Brazil's Pantanal wetland surge to November record on lack of rain
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] An aerial view shows burnt trees near a river in The Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Pocone, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, August 28, 2020. The 2,387 fires recorded by Inpe in early November is already more than double October's figure and more than half of the total fires seen this year so far. Fires have more than tripled in the Pantanal compared with 2022, which was mild compared with the two previous years. Weather experts point to the El Nino phenomenon, aggravated by climate change, as being behind the sharp increase in fires. "There was sporadic rainfall at the end of October, but two or three days after it stopped, the fires came back," he added.

Persons: Amanda Perobelli, Inpe, El, Vinicius Silgueiro, Silgueiro, Lisandra Paraguassu, Gerry Doyle Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Centro de Vida Institute, El Nino, Thomson Locations: Pocone, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Rights BRASILIA, Brazil's Pantanal

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

☆ Brazil boosts bird flu defense to protect world's top chicken industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ana Mano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Per protocol, local veterinarians in Espirito Santo took samples from the birds on site and sent them to the reference lab in Campinas, Brazil. "The entire industry is mobilized to monitor the situation identified in Espirito Santo," national meat lobby ABPA said in a statement. In other countries, avian flu outbreaks in wild birds have frequently been followed by transmission to commercial flocks. Bird flu outbreaks have contributed to higher prices of poultry and eggs, normally an affordable source of protein. Since early 2022, wild birds have spread the highly infectious virus farther and wider around the world than ever before.

The plan would show how the food industry and farming can align with the world's goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, Food and Agriculture Organization Deputy Director Zitouni Ould-Dada said. More than forty investors managing a combined $18 trillion urged the FAO in June to create a plan to curb emissions in the sector, often overlooked in global warming debates yet one of the biggest sources of climate-damaging emissions. "There has never been this much attention to food and agriculture anytime before. Livestock accounts for nearly a third of the global methane emissions linked to human activity, released in the form of cattle burps, manure and the cultivation of feed crops. Reporting by Simon Jessop and Sarah El Safty; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Wealthy people are splurging on bucket-list trips, flying to the Arctic Circle for private-chef-catered meals, renting out African safari lodges, and spending $300,000 for a half-hour opera serenade
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Hard-to-access places like the Arctic Circle and Galapagos Islands are bucket-list travel hot spots. These well-off wanderlusters have helped create a travel-industry boom, with pent-up demand pushing bucket-list travel into this year's shoulder seasons. American Express Travel's 2022 Global Travel Trends report, which used polling data collected in early February 2022, confirms the move toward bucket-list travel this year. Quality time with loved ones matters above allBut not all bucket-list travel experiences need to be in far-flung corners of the world. Finnegan said traveling with his family made it a bucket-list trip.

☆ Fact Check-Viral video does not show crocodiles ‘invading’ a beach in Brazil, contrary to claims online
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A video showing a riverbank full of caimans in the Pantanal region of Brazil has been misrepresented in viral social media posts, with users falsely claiming the clip shows crocodiles crowding a beach in the South American country, leading to panic among locals. Experts said the scene resembles caiman activity in the Pantanal region. More information about the climate conditions in the Pantanal region can be found (here) (here) (here). This clip does not show crocodiles “invading” a “beach” in Brazil. According to experts, the footage shows Yacare Caiman in the interior Pantanal region of Brazil, clustering near a river due to seasonal drought.

☆ (foto) O îmbrățișare COVID-friendly câștigă titlul „Fotografia anului din presa mondială”. Descoperă pozele învingătoare și poveștile din spatele lor
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-16 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: +10 min

„Am citit vulnerabilitate, oameni dragi, pierdere și separare, dispariție, dar, mai important, și supraviețuire, toate s-au îmbinat într-o singură imagine. Într-o mare varietate de categorii, de la știri sport până la natură, fotografii au fost premiați fie pentru o singură fotografie, fie pentru o poveste foto. Conflictul dintre rebelii musulmani șiți houthi și o coaliție arabă sunnită, condusă de Arabia Saudită, datează din anul 2014 și a condus la ceea ce UNICEF a numit cea mai mare criză umanitară din lume “. Arta a devenit un mod de a prezenta și păstra cultura, tradițiile și poveștile Sakha. Explozia, care a obținut 3,3 pe scara Richter, a deteriorat sau a distrus în jur de 6 000 de clădiri, a ucis cel puțin 190 de persoane, a rănit încă 6 000 și a strămutat până la 300 000 ”.

Persons: danez Mads Nissen, Kevin WY Lee, șiți, Ignat, Maria, . Ignat, Lincoln, israeliană, Lydia Rimawi, Abdul Karim Rimawi, Abdul Karim, . Ollie, Torrell Jasper, Perigara, Karabakh, Azat, Flint Jaguars, . El, Richter, O, Rothschild, . Girafele Rothschild Organizations: Contest, UNICEF, Lincoln Park, Washington DC, Agenția, Securitate, Cuplul, Torrell, Motors Locations: Brazilia, Beirut, Rusia, Yemen, Azerbaidjan, Armenia, Fatima, arabă, Arabia Saudită, München, Sankt Petersburg, Washington, SUA, California, Monterey, palestinian, Securitate Israel, ISA, Ramallah, Palestina, Vlaardingen, Olanda, Geneva, Elveția, Schriever, Louisiana, american, Pantanal, São Francisco, zambile, Sakha, Federației Ruse, Nagorno, Lachin, Flint, Michigan, Libanului Beirut, Giraffa

☆ Brazilia: Aproape 8.500 de km2 din Pădurea Amazoniană au fost defrişate în 2020
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-08 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Situaţia poate fi comparată cu dispariţia în fiecare minut din Pădurea Amazoniană anul trecut a unei suprafeţe împădurite echivalente cu ceva mai mult decât două terenuri de fotbal (1,2 milioane în total), notează AFP. În luna decembrie a anului trecut, 216 kilometri pătraţi au fost defrişaţi, faţă de 190 de kilometri pătraţi în 2019, reprezentând o creştere de 14%. Cele mai devastatoare luni au fost, însă, la fel ca în fiecare an, cele din sezonul uscat, cu 1.658 de kilometri pătraţi defrişaţi în iulie şi 1.358 de kilometri pătraţi despăduriţi în august. Defrişările din Amazonia au doborât toate recordurile în 2019, primul an din mandatul preşedintelui Jair Bolsonaro, cu 9.178 de kilometri pătraţi despăduriţi. Pădurea Amazoniană, considerată vitală pentru combaterea încălzirii globale, având 62% din suprafaţă în Brazilia, şi Pantanal sunt cele mai valoroase ecosisteme din lume.

Persons: Situaţia, Bolsonaro Locations: Brazilia, Jair, Sao Paulo, ţară, Jamaica, Pantanal, Amazoniei

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