Posts tagged with "Environment"

Brazilian Retailers Punish Deforesting Ranchers

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Jun 15 2009

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.

Global Forest Fund to Aid Amazon

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Apr 6 2009

Last Wednesday, world leaders met to discuss the formation of a fund to protect the world’s rainforests. The meeting included US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, as well as other leaders and environmental officials. The meeting, which took place in London, was at the request of Prince Charles, who is actively involved in the campaign against global warming.

Brazilian Tasso Azevedo, the head of the Brazilian Forest Service, one of the government bodies responsible for protecting the Amazon, attended the meeting. He reported that the proposed fund would raise US$10 – 15 billion per year, beginning in 2010. Brazil would be the largest beneficiary, and would receive up to US$4 billion per year to protect the Amazon.

According to Azevedo, the fund would include financing from both governments, companies and private donors. He also mentioned that the funding for each country would depend on the results of each country’s conservation efforts. An official proposal for the fund will be presented at the G-8 meeting in June.

Brazil Environmental News

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Dec 24 2008

Let’s take a look at headlines from this week related to the environment and the Amazon.

Endangered Species in Brazil on the Rise

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Nov 6 2008

This week, the Brazilian government released a list of endangered animals, and the report shows that the number of endangered species has tripled in only two decades. The Minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc, points to deforestation and overdevelopment caused by industry and agriculture as the culprits.

The list includes 489 new species, including the blue whale, the albatross and the northeastern uru. The complete list includes 627 animals, but fortunately, 79 species were taken off the 1989 list. The government blames illegal loggers and ranchers, and claims it has been unable to stop rapid deforestation.

Also, animal trafficking in Brazil is a a billion dollar industry, and also plays a role. The majority of the species in danger of exintinction live in the Amazon and the Pantanal, the regions most affected by development.

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