Posted by Rachel
This week, Brazil’s three biggest retailers announced that they will not purchase beef from blacklisted ranchers in the Amazon. According to a recently released report from Greenpeace, certain ranchers in the state of Pará are responsible for deforesting the Amazon and are causing destruction at a rapid rate. In fact, the report shows that ranching is the number one cause of Amazon deforestation.
In turn, CBD (the Pão de Açucar chain), Carrefour, and Walmart, along with 72 other retailers will stop buying meat from the offending ranchers. Also, the big three companies have decided to monitor their beef shipments closely and to conduct an assessment to make sure no meat comes from the deforesting ranchers. CBD reported a total of 11 banned companies.
The Greenpeace faults the Brazilian government for failing to live up to its commitment to reducing Amazon deforestion.
Posted by Rachel
The Secretary of Science & Technology of Tocantins state, along with research groups from the states of Amazonas, Pará, and Maranhão are launching a R$6.9 million study to examine the cosmetic properties of Amazon fruits and plants, including the andiroba, copaíba, castanha and babaçu. 
The study intends to create a network of groups that will identify the best ingredients for products like soaps, shampoo, and lotions. The organizers hope to bring scientists together with researchers throughout the Amazon to work on the study.
The other purpose of the study is to eventually bring profits to the people of the Amazon, since products are often sold or exported as primary materials rather than finished goods. Researchers hope the study will enable small businesses to create Amazon-based cosmetics and sell the goods directly.
There are already several companies that make cosmetics with Amazon fruits and natural ingredients. Here are your best bets:
- Natura: One of the best, if not the best for Amazon cosmetics, this Brazilian-based company has a wide variety of products and ingredients. The Ekos line is especially good, which uses a variety of Amazon fruits, like cupuaçu, pitanga, and castanha do brasil.
- Granado: A Rio-based cosmetics company, they use both Amazon and foreign ingredients in their simple and excellent products.
- Amazon Herb Co: This American-based company sells cleansers and creams with Amazon ingredients.
- Brazilian Beauty Products: Also American-based, this company sells lotions and soaps using a variety of Amazon fruits, like guaraná and açaí.
Posted by Rachel
A group of volunteers in a remote corner of the Amazon, on the Japurá River near the Colombian border, helped save nearly 8,000 endangered turtles.
Run by the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, the project required volunteers to carefully watch and monitor nearly 300 turtle egg nests for six months. Later, the eggs were brought to a safe location to hatch, so they wouldn’t be eaten by animals or humans.
Three of the local turtle species, including the iaçá, tracajá and tartaruga, are endangered, especially because local inhabitants hunt and eat them.
To see photos of the project, click here.
Posted by Rachel
Brazilian biologist Ricardo Braga-Neto was driving on the highway from Manaus to Porto Velho when he noticed something glowing in the forest. When he stopped his car to inspect the source of the light, he discovered that it was a mushroom.
Although there are 64 known species of bioluminescent mushrooms in the world, and the species the biologist found was a discovered species, no one knew that this particular species was bioluminescent. By accident, Braga-Neto discovered the first bioluminescent mushroom in the Amazon.
The biologist believes there are similar species waiting to be discovered and hopes to get other scientists involved in the study of fungi, which are important for recycling nutrients on the Amazon floor. He noticed that the mushroom emits light even during the day, unlike some other bioluminescent species, but he’s not sure what purpose it serves. It could be to attract insects, or to ward off predators, or to attract the predators of animals that eat mushrooms.
For the full story in Portuguese, see here.
Posted by Rachel
This week, two albino turtles were born on the Abufari animal reserve in Amazonas state. In the second half of 2008, over 381,000 turtles were born on the reserve. According to the director of the reserve, one or two albinos are born for every hundred thousand turtles.
Via Globo/ICMBio
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