Sambazon, World Leader in Acai, Stands up for the Amazonian Fruit's True Nutritional Properties
Sambazon, the pioneer and global market leader in acai, with certified organic food and beverage products sold in 10,000 retailers nationwide from Whole Foods to Publix, Kroger and Safeway, announces factual acai nutrition information in light of current false claims by acai scam campaigns and consumer watchdog organizations alike.
Acai, an Amazon palm berry historically consumed by locals for centuries, is a highly nutritious fruit scientifically found to be rich in powerful antioxidants and healthy omega fats. Sadly, the acai scams today are clearly misleading consumers with outrageous health claims from rapid weight loss to enhanced sexual performance. Sambazon urges consumers to be wary of claims made by online diet scams as well as those made by organizations discrediting the many true benefits of acai -- and for those consumers unfortunately caught up in a scam, we encourage them to contact the BBB.
There is an increasing amount of misleading information in circulation comparing packaged products to whole fruit or juice in an inaccurate attempt to discredit the true properties of acai. Years of tests conducted by accredited organizations in Brazil and the U.S. prove that when comparing pure fruit to pure fruit, or pure juice to pure juice, the antioxidant capacity of acai reigns superior to pomegranate, blueberry, blackberry and most fruits available.
"Acai is one of the few fruits that are rich in heart-healthy omega-9 fats, like the type you would find in olive oil," says David Grotto, RD, author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. "A four-ounce portion of pure acai is only 100 calories, is low in sugar and contains powerful antioxidants including anthocyanins which may help fight inflammation."
Over the course of 8 years, as part of their quality assurance standard operating procedures, Sambazon has spent over $500,000 dollars routinely testing the acai processed at their proprietary facility in the Brazilian Amazon to ensure that they continually are delivering the most nutritionally potent and highest quality acai available.
"Our acai products are packed with powerful antioxidants along with healthy fats -- claims that have been validated through years of scientific data," states Ryan Black, CEO, Sambazon. "It's a shame that the extravagant and unfounded claims made by illegal scam businesses are undermining the public's understanding of the true benefits of the fruit. With testimonials from renown athletes and nutritionists, and products that are consumed by millions of satisfied consumers worldwide, we're proud to offer the highest quality acai products made with integrity in every step of the process -- the 'real deal.'"
About Sambazon
Sambazon is the global market leader in Acai -- a delicious and powerfully nutritious purple berry that grows on palm trees in the Amazon Rainforest. Sambazon's product portfolio of Organic Acai beverages, frozen Acai berry products and Acai supplements are enjoyed by both world-class athletes and health-conscious consumers, and available at major retailers across North America including Whole Foods Market, Jamba Juice, Krogers and thousands of grocery chains, specialty stores and juice bars across the country.
Sambazon's market-driven conservation business model in the Amazon Rainforest promotes forest stewardship, creates new jobs, improves living conditions and educational opportunities for thousands of small family farmers through the sustainable management of the Acai palm tree.
In 2006, Condoleezza Rice named Sambazon winner of the "Secretary of State Award for Corporate Excellence" for helping to create worldwide awareness and demand for the Acai fruit while supporting local indigenous communities in Brazil.
To learn more about Sambazon Acai and creating positive change in the Amazon and beyond please visit www.sambazon.com.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/sambazon-world-leader-acai-stands-amazonian-fruits-true-nutritional-properties/
rainforestpower Headline Animator
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Norway emerges as champion of rainforest conservation
Scandinavian country with population 1.5 percent that of the United States is the biggest international funder of rainforest conservation.
While citizens in western countries have long paid lip service to saving rainforests, Norway has quietly emerged as the largest and most important international force in tropical forest conservation. The small Scandinavian country has committed 3 billion krone ($440 million) a year to the effort, a figure vastly greater than the $100M pledged — but never fully contributed — by the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). Norway now hopes it can help push to include forest conservation in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol by providing funding and fostering cooperation among international actors like the UN and World Bank, as well as developing countries, to fund the creation of an international architecture which makes it possible to incorporate deforestation and degradation into a post-2012 climate regime.
Norway's leadership on forest conservation arose from its concern over the impacts of climate change and what it sees as an attractive source for cuts in carbon dioxide emissions: reducing deforestation and forest degradation, which together account for roughly 20 percent of emissions caused by human activity or more than all the world's trucks, cars, ships and airplanes combined. The country, which is the world's third-largest gas exporter, the fourth-biggest oil exporter, and has some of the highest emissions per capita in Europe, aims to be carbon neutral — in terms of compensating for all remaining domestic emissions through emission reductions in other countries — by 2030. Although Norway was among the first countries in the world to adopt a carbon tax (in 1991) and hydropower is the source of nearly 99 percent of its electricity, it needs to aggressively reduce n emissions to meet its targets.
Norway's intention to support forest conservation as a mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions was announced by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at the 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia. At the time, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), was still a somewhat esoteric idea for curtailing emissions; one championed by a handful of major conservation groups, a coalition of tropical nations led by Papua New Guinea, and the World Bank. Today the landscape has changed. REDD — in various forms — is backed by a broad range of interests, from politicians to business leaders to environmental groups. Still, few have ventured forth with the funds needed to jumpstart REDD projects. The United States for example has not directly committed money to the initiative. Norway hopes its commitment will prod other countries to follow its example.
"The Norwegian government realized REDD was a field which needed leadership in order to kick start the process," Hans Brattskar, ambassador and director of the Norwegian government's International Climate and Forest Initiative, told mongabay.com. "Norway, by making significant initial contributions, could be catalytic in the sense that we could start building the international framework needed to make it easier for other countries to follow."
"Our main goals are to include emissions from deforestation and degradation in a new climate regime and to reduce emissions from forests—but we also recognize that this may have added value in terms of protecting biodiversity, strengthening indigenous people's interests and improving local livelihoods," he continued.
The Norwegian government cites these multiple benefits — a "triple dividend" — as the critical reason for supporting REDD. It also sees REDD as an opportunity to engage developing countries in climate negotiations set to resume in Copenhagen this December.
"We think it is important to underline that REDD is more than development aid, and more than combating climate change," Brattskar said. "It might seem ambitious but we strongly hope that the work with reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation can create deep, substantial, lasting partnerships between developed and developing countries to help put the latter on the path to genuine, sustainable, low-carbon development."
Oil palm plantation border rainforest. Oil palm has arisen as an important driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia
Norway is optimistic about the potential of REDD to simultaneously reduce the risk of dangerous climate change, alleviate rural poverty, and protect ecosystem services and biodiversity. But it notes that daunting challenges need to be overcome, including building capacity for developing nations to reduce deforestation, thus ensuring equitable distribution of benefits to stakeholders including forest people, verifying reductions in emissions, and providing the long-term funding needed to compete economically with the primary drivers of deforestation, among them agriculture and logging.
"REDD is recognized as a cost-effective and relatively fast way to reduce emissions," Brattskar said, but added that it will be neither cheap nor easy. "Our main goal and challenge is the inclusion of REDD in a future climate regime, in a form that ensures cooperation and predictable financing for REDD in developing forest countries."
Norway has demonstrated its willingness to commit substantial sums for forest conservation — provided recipient countries honor their commitments to reduce deforestation. Last year Norway pledged up to a billion dollars to Brazil's Amazon Fund, an initiative that seeks to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 70 percent relative to a 1996-2005 baseline. It also announced NOK 500 million ($73 million) towards the development and implementation of a national REDD strategy in Tanzania over the next five years, millions of dollars for the South American country of Guyana, and more than $100 million to Congo Basin countries. It continues to seek new partnerships and opportunities in countries committed to developing national strategy plans for REDD. Most of the support is channeled through multilateral organizations such as the African development bank (which administers the Congo Basin Forest Fund), the World Bank (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility) and the UN (UN Redd Programme) that support countries in drafting national strategies for REDD.
Norway is counting on other industrialized nations to eventually join the effort initiative by supporting multilateral processes for REDD. Brattskar said Britain is already providing financial backing for the Congo Basin Forest Fund while Germany is supporting forest conservation through its international climate initiative. He said other donor countries are showing "great interest".
"In addition to our contributions to the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which is also supported by a number of other countries, Norway is financing the first phase of the United Nations' REDD program," which is run by three UN agencies, UNEP, FAO and UNDP. "In the long run, this needs to be supplemented by funding from other donors. We do not want this to be seen as a 'Norwegian project'."
"We are certainly not alone in this field. At the same time, we would strongly appreciate more countries' getting involved and providing support to REDD efforts."
Norway has demonstrated its willingness to commit substantial sums for forest conservation — provided recipient countries honor their commitments to reduce deforestation. Last year Norway pledged up to a billion dollars to Brazil's Amazon Fund, an initiative that seeks to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 70 percent relative to a 1996-2005 baseline. It also announced NOK 500 million ($73 million) towards the development and implementation of a national REDD strategy in Tanzania over the next five years, millions of dollars for the South American country of Guyana, and more than $100 million to Congo Basin countries. It continues to seek new partnerships and opportunities in countries committed to developing national strategy plans for REDD. Most of the support is channeled through multilateral organizations such as the African development bank (which administers the Congo Basin Forest Fund), the World Bank (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility) and the UN (UN Redd Programme) that support countries in drafting national strategies for REDD.
Norway is counting on other industrialized nations to eventually join the effort initiative by supporting multilateral processes for REDD. Brattskar said Britain is already providing financial backing for the Congo Basin Forest Fund while Germany is supporting forest conservation through its international climate initiative. He said other donor countries are showing "great interest".
"In addition to our contributions to the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which is also supported by a number of other countries, Norway is financing the first phase of the United Nations' REDD program," which is run by three UN agencies, UNEP, FAO and UNDP. "In the long run, this needs to be supplemented by funding from other donors. We do not want this to be seen as a 'Norwegian project'."
"We are certainly not alone in this field. At the same time, we would strongly appreciate more countries' getting involved and providing support to REDD efforts."
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319-norway_forests.html
While citizens in western countries have long paid lip service to saving rainforests, Norway has quietly emerged as the largest and most important international force in tropical forest conservation. The small Scandinavian country has committed 3 billion krone ($440 million) a year to the effort, a figure vastly greater than the $100M pledged — but never fully contributed — by the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). Norway now hopes it can help push to include forest conservation in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol by providing funding and fostering cooperation among international actors like the UN and World Bank, as well as developing countries, to fund the creation of an international architecture which makes it possible to incorporate deforestation and degradation into a post-2012 climate regime.
Norway's leadership on forest conservation arose from its concern over the impacts of climate change and what it sees as an attractive source for cuts in carbon dioxide emissions: reducing deforestation and forest degradation, which together account for roughly 20 percent of emissions caused by human activity or more than all the world's trucks, cars, ships and airplanes combined. The country, which is the world's third-largest gas exporter, the fourth-biggest oil exporter, and has some of the highest emissions per capita in Europe, aims to be carbon neutral — in terms of compensating for all remaining domestic emissions through emission reductions in other countries — by 2030. Although Norway was among the first countries in the world to adopt a carbon tax (in 1991) and hydropower is the source of nearly 99 percent of its electricity, it needs to aggressively reduce n emissions to meet its targets.
Norway's intention to support forest conservation as a mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions was announced by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at the 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia. At the time, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), was still a somewhat esoteric idea for curtailing emissions; one championed by a handful of major conservation groups, a coalition of tropical nations led by Papua New Guinea, and the World Bank. Today the landscape has changed. REDD — in various forms — is backed by a broad range of interests, from politicians to business leaders to environmental groups. Still, few have ventured forth with the funds needed to jumpstart REDD projects. The United States for example has not directly committed money to the initiative. Norway hopes its commitment will prod other countries to follow its example.
"The Norwegian government realized REDD was a field which needed leadership in order to kick start the process," Hans Brattskar, ambassador and director of the Norwegian government's International Climate and Forest Initiative, told mongabay.com. "Norway, by making significant initial contributions, could be catalytic in the sense that we could start building the international framework needed to make it easier for other countries to follow."
"Our main goals are to include emissions from deforestation and degradation in a new climate regime and to reduce emissions from forests—but we also recognize that this may have added value in terms of protecting biodiversity, strengthening indigenous people's interests and improving local livelihoods," he continued.
The Norwegian government cites these multiple benefits — a "triple dividend" — as the critical reason for supporting REDD. It also sees REDD as an opportunity to engage developing countries in climate negotiations set to resume in Copenhagen this December.
"We think it is important to underline that REDD is more than development aid, and more than combating climate change," Brattskar said. "It might seem ambitious but we strongly hope that the work with reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation can create deep, substantial, lasting partnerships between developed and developing countries to help put the latter on the path to genuine, sustainable, low-carbon development."
Oil palm plantation border rainforest. Oil palm has arisen as an important driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia
Norway is optimistic about the potential of REDD to simultaneously reduce the risk of dangerous climate change, alleviate rural poverty, and protect ecosystem services and biodiversity. But it notes that daunting challenges need to be overcome, including building capacity for developing nations to reduce deforestation, thus ensuring equitable distribution of benefits to stakeholders including forest people, verifying reductions in emissions, and providing the long-term funding needed to compete economically with the primary drivers of deforestation, among them agriculture and logging.
"REDD is recognized as a cost-effective and relatively fast way to reduce emissions," Brattskar said, but added that it will be neither cheap nor easy. "Our main goal and challenge is the inclusion of REDD in a future climate regime, in a form that ensures cooperation and predictable financing for REDD in developing forest countries."
Norway has demonstrated its willingness to commit substantial sums for forest conservation — provided recipient countries honor their commitments to reduce deforestation. Last year Norway pledged up to a billion dollars to Brazil's Amazon Fund, an initiative that seeks to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 70 percent relative to a 1996-2005 baseline. It also announced NOK 500 million ($73 million) towards the development and implementation of a national REDD strategy in Tanzania over the next five years, millions of dollars for the South American country of Guyana, and more than $100 million to Congo Basin countries. It continues to seek new partnerships and opportunities in countries committed to developing national strategy plans for REDD. Most of the support is channeled through multilateral organizations such as the African development bank (which administers the Congo Basin Forest Fund), the World Bank (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility) and the UN (UN Redd Programme) that support countries in drafting national strategies for REDD.
Norway is counting on other industrialized nations to eventually join the effort initiative by supporting multilateral processes for REDD. Brattskar said Britain is already providing financial backing for the Congo Basin Forest Fund while Germany is supporting forest conservation through its international climate initiative. He said other donor countries are showing "great interest".
"In addition to our contributions to the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which is also supported by a number of other countries, Norway is financing the first phase of the United Nations' REDD program," which is run by three UN agencies, UNEP, FAO and UNDP. "In the long run, this needs to be supplemented by funding from other donors. We do not want this to be seen as a 'Norwegian project'."
"We are certainly not alone in this field. At the same time, we would strongly appreciate more countries' getting involved and providing support to REDD efforts."
Norway has demonstrated its willingness to commit substantial sums for forest conservation — provided recipient countries honor their commitments to reduce deforestation. Last year Norway pledged up to a billion dollars to Brazil's Amazon Fund, an initiative that seeks to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 70 percent relative to a 1996-2005 baseline. It also announced NOK 500 million ($73 million) towards the development and implementation of a national REDD strategy in Tanzania over the next five years, millions of dollars for the South American country of Guyana, and more than $100 million to Congo Basin countries. It continues to seek new partnerships and opportunities in countries committed to developing national strategy plans for REDD. Most of the support is channeled through multilateral organizations such as the African development bank (which administers the Congo Basin Forest Fund), the World Bank (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility) and the UN (UN Redd Programme) that support countries in drafting national strategies for REDD.
Norway is counting on other industrialized nations to eventually join the effort initiative by supporting multilateral processes for REDD. Brattskar said Britain is already providing financial backing for the Congo Basin Forest Fund while Germany is supporting forest conservation through its international climate initiative. He said other donor countries are showing "great interest".
"In addition to our contributions to the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which is also supported by a number of other countries, Norway is financing the first phase of the United Nations' REDD program," which is run by three UN agencies, UNEP, FAO and UNDP. "In the long run, this needs to be supplemented by funding from other donors. We do not want this to be seen as a 'Norwegian project'."
"We are certainly not alone in this field. At the same time, we would strongly appreciate more countries' getting involved and providing support to REDD efforts."
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319-norway_forests.html
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Amazon Rainforest damage and destruction
37,000 sq km of Amazon rainforest destroyed or damaged in 2008
New satellite system provides a more detailed look at forest degradation and may help Brazil stop deforestation before it occurs.
Logging and fires damaged nearly 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of Amazon rainforest in the August 2007-July 2008 period, an increase of 67 percent over the prior year period, according to a new mapping system developed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The damage comes on top of the nearly 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq mi) of rainforest that was cleared during the year.
The increase in activity has been attributed to the sharp rise in commodity prices over the past two years. While grain and meat prices have plunged since last March, higher prices have provided an impetus for converting land for agriculture and pasture. Accordingly, the burning season of 2007 (July-September) saw record numbers of fires in some parts of the Amazon as farmers, speculators, and ranchers set vast areas ablaze to prepare for the 2008 growing season. The high levels of degradation relative to deforestation for 2007-2008 may be an indication that some of the area slated for development was abandoned — before clearing — as commodity prices fell.
Mato Grosso and Pará, states on Brazil's agricultural frontier, saw the highest levels of deforestation and degradation. Large swathes of forest land and cerrado (tropical savanna) in both states have been converted for large cattle ranches and mechanized soy farms in recent years.
Monitoring deforestation before it occurs
The new system, dubbed DEGRAD, is based on special processing of satellite images provided by LANDSAT and the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS). DEGRAD may allow Brazil to become the first rainforest nation to accurately track carbon dioxide released during deforestation and forest degradation, the source of roughly two-thirds of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions. Such monitoring capacity is critical to REDD, a proposed mechanism for compensating countries for reducing such emissions. Brazil expects to enhance the system when it launches the Amazon-1, an advanced satellite that will use cloud-penetrating technology to allow more detailed monitoring of the Amazon.
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319-brazil_inpe_degrad.html
New satellite system provides a more detailed look at forest degradation and may help Brazil stop deforestation before it occurs.
Logging and fires damaged nearly 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of Amazon rainforest in the August 2007-July 2008 period, an increase of 67 percent over the prior year period, according to a new mapping system developed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The damage comes on top of the nearly 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq mi) of rainforest that was cleared during the year.
The increase in activity has been attributed to the sharp rise in commodity prices over the past two years. While grain and meat prices have plunged since last March, higher prices have provided an impetus for converting land for agriculture and pasture. Accordingly, the burning season of 2007 (July-September) saw record numbers of fires in some parts of the Amazon as farmers, speculators, and ranchers set vast areas ablaze to prepare for the 2008 growing season. The high levels of degradation relative to deforestation for 2007-2008 may be an indication that some of the area slated for development was abandoned — before clearing — as commodity prices fell.
Mato Grosso and Pará, states on Brazil's agricultural frontier, saw the highest levels of deforestation and degradation. Large swathes of forest land and cerrado (tropical savanna) in both states have been converted for large cattle ranches and mechanized soy farms in recent years.
Monitoring deforestation before it occurs
The new system, dubbed DEGRAD, is based on special processing of satellite images provided by LANDSAT and the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS). DEGRAD may allow Brazil to become the first rainforest nation to accurately track carbon dioxide released during deforestation and forest degradation, the source of roughly two-thirds of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions. Such monitoring capacity is critical to REDD, a proposed mechanism for compensating countries for reducing such emissions. Brazil expects to enhance the system when it launches the Amazon-1, an advanced satellite that will use cloud-penetrating technology to allow more detailed monitoring of the Amazon.
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319-brazil_inpe_degrad.html
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
New report confirms uncontacted tribe has been fleeing to Brazil
A report published today by Survival International confirms that some of the world’s last uncontacted Indians have been fleeing from Peru to Brazil in order to escape illegal logging.
The report details evidence found by employees of the Brazilian government’s Indian Affairs Department (FUNAI) since 2004. The evidence consists of numerous sightings of the Indians and includes photos of arrows belonging to them and houses built by them. It also includes mahogany boards which have floated past the FUNAI team’s protection post on the remote Envira River, coming downriver from Peru where uncontacted Indians are known to live.
‘(There has been a) forced migration of autonomous groups in Peru, caused by mahogany exploration in the headwaters of the Jurua, Purus and Envira (rivers in Peru),’ says Jose Carlos Meirelles, head of the FUNAI team, in the report. ‘The collection of arrows (belonging to the Indians) on my table is piling up. . . The situation will only be resolved when the Indians are left alone on the other side of the border.’
Download Survival's new report
(.pdf format)
Loggers have illegally invaded the uncontacted Indians’ land in Peru in search of some of the last commercially-viable mahogany trees in the world. They are often armed and expose the Indians to diseases to which they have no immunity. After loggers forced first contact with members of the Murunahua in 1996, an estimated half of the tribe were wiped out.
Survival’s report urges Peru’s government ‘to protect uncontacted Indians’ land by removing all loggers and prohibiting the entry of any other outsiders and any form of natural resource extraction in areas where they live. . . At present, uncontacted Indians are at huge risk and face extinction.’
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4333
The report details evidence found by employees of the Brazilian government’s Indian Affairs Department (FUNAI) since 2004. The evidence consists of numerous sightings of the Indians and includes photos of arrows belonging to them and houses built by them. It also includes mahogany boards which have floated past the FUNAI team’s protection post on the remote Envira River, coming downriver from Peru where uncontacted Indians are known to live.
‘(There has been a) forced migration of autonomous groups in Peru, caused by mahogany exploration in the headwaters of the Jurua, Purus and Envira (rivers in Peru),’ says Jose Carlos Meirelles, head of the FUNAI team, in the report. ‘The collection of arrows (belonging to the Indians) on my table is piling up. . . The situation will only be resolved when the Indians are left alone on the other side of the border.’
Download Survival's new report
(.pdf format)
Loggers have illegally invaded the uncontacted Indians’ land in Peru in search of some of the last commercially-viable mahogany trees in the world. They are often armed and expose the Indians to diseases to which they have no immunity. After loggers forced first contact with members of the Murunahua in 1996, an estimated half of the tribe were wiped out.
Survival’s report urges Peru’s government ‘to protect uncontacted Indians’ land by removing all loggers and prohibiting the entry of any other outsiders and any form of natural resource extraction in areas where they live. . . At present, uncontacted Indians are at huge risk and face extinction.’
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4333
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Prince of Wales continues tour of the Amazon
Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, toured the Amazon in Brazil, home to the world's biggest rain forest, British broadcaster Sky News reported on Sunday.
Charles and his wife arrived on Friday in the state capital, Manaus, as part of their four-day visit to Latin America's biggest country.
The couple's trip culminated in Manaus, the Amazon's biggest city with a population of two million, where he and Camilla have been staying.
Charles met with the Maguari people as he traveled down the Amazon River, dancing with locals and playing music instruments.
The prince has been traveling in South America for a week to raise awareness about climate change and the problem of deforestation of rainforests.
Prince Charles is a known environmentalist and has spent more than 20 years campaigning on climate matters.
On Friday he was named "Friend of the Forest" by the Governor of the Amazonas state for his efforts.
Carlos Miller, of the Amazon Permaculture Institute said the Prince was one of his idols "because he has been pushing this sustainable agenda for years."
On Thursday, Prince Charles told a group of business leaders in Rio de Janeiro that mankind has 100 months or less to save the planet from a climate-caused disaster.
The British royal couple will next be in Ecuador and its Galapagos Islands, the final stop on their tour of South America.
http://www.necn.com/Boston/World/2009/03/15/Prince-of-Wales-continues-tour/1237134939.html
Charles and his wife arrived on Friday in the state capital, Manaus, as part of their four-day visit to Latin America's biggest country.
The couple's trip culminated in Manaus, the Amazon's biggest city with a population of two million, where he and Camilla have been staying.
Charles met with the Maguari people as he traveled down the Amazon River, dancing with locals and playing music instruments.
The prince has been traveling in South America for a week to raise awareness about climate change and the problem of deforestation of rainforests.
Prince Charles is a known environmentalist and has spent more than 20 years campaigning on climate matters.
On Friday he was named "Friend of the Forest" by the Governor of the Amazonas state for his efforts.
Carlos Miller, of the Amazon Permaculture Institute said the Prince was one of his idols "because he has been pushing this sustainable agenda for years."
On Thursday, Prince Charles told a group of business leaders in Rio de Janeiro that mankind has 100 months or less to save the planet from a climate-caused disaster.
The British royal couple will next be in Ecuador and its Galapagos Islands, the final stop on their tour of South America.
http://www.necn.com/Boston/World/2009/03/15/Prince-of-Wales-continues-tour/1237134939.html
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Amazonian amphibian diversity traced to Andes
Study of poison frogs the first to show that the Andes Mountains have been a major source of diversity for the Amazon basin
Colorful poison frogs in the Amazon owe their great diversity to ancestors that leapt into the region from the Andes Mountains several times during the last 10 million years, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin suggests.
This is the first study to show that the Andes have been a major source of diversity for the Amazon basin, one of the largest reservoirs of biological diversity on Earth. The finding runs counter to the idea that Amazonian diversity is the result of evolution only within the tropical forest itself.
"Basically, the Amazon basin is a 'melting pot' for South American frogs," says graduate student Juan Santos, lead author of the study. "Poison frogs there have come from multiple places of origin, notably the Andes Mountains, over many millions of years. We have shown that you cannot understand Amazonian biodiversity by looking only in the basin. Adjacent regions have played a major role."
Santos and Dr. David Cannatella, professor of integrative biology, published their findings this month in the journal PLoS Biology.
It has been assumed that much of the evolution of biodiversity in the Amazon basin occurred over the last one to two million years, a mere snapshot in time.
Santos and Cannatella peered about 45 million years into the past using novel biogeographical techniques to create a deep evolutionary history of poison frogs in space and time. Because of the lack of an extensive fossil record for the tropical forest, their work used DNA sequences to discover the frogs' evolutionary history.
The poison frogs, or dendrobatids, are diverse and widely distributed across the Neotropics, an area that includes Central and South America. The scientists created an evolutionary tree, or phylogeny, using 223 of the 353 species of poison frogs known from throughout this region.
In analyzing the evolutionary relationships among the poison frogs, they discovered that Amazonian diversity is the result of at least 14 dispersals of ancestral frogs into the region beginning about 23 million years ago.
All living Amazonian poison frogs evolved from these ancestors, most of which (11 dispersals) came from the Andes Mountains.
The Amazon basin has changed dramatically over that long time. A large inland system of water has come and gone, the Andes Mountains started their uplift (about 15 million years ago) and the Amazon River was formed (about nine million years ago).
Most of the frog dispersals from the Andes occurred between one and seven million years ago, when the modern tropical rainforest of the Amazon River basin was forming.
"There was a repeated dispersal of frogs from the foothills of the Andes after the extensive inland wetlands retreated from the Amazon," says Santos.
These frogs then evolved into about 70 species found today in the Amazon basin.
The scientists also discovered that frogs have historically immigrated out of the Amazon basin to adjacent areas, and to and from other regions within the Neotropics.
Evolution and diversification of the poison frogs is ongoing, especially in the Amazon rainforest, the Chocó (a narrow region of tropical forest along the northwest Pacific Coast of South America) and in adjacent Central America.
Cannatella says many other tropical plants and animals in the Amazon may share this more complex geographical and temporal history with the poison frogs.
"The Amazon rainforest is not just gradually accumulating diversity over time," says Cannatella. "Ancestral frog species moved into and out of the area, and we can predict that other organisms restricted to these wet tropical forests may show a similar pattern of dispersal, evolution.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/uota-aad030309.php
Colorful poison frogs in the Amazon owe their great diversity to ancestors that leapt into the region from the Andes Mountains several times during the last 10 million years, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin suggests.
This is the first study to show that the Andes have been a major source of diversity for the Amazon basin, one of the largest reservoirs of biological diversity on Earth. The finding runs counter to the idea that Amazonian diversity is the result of evolution only within the tropical forest itself.
"Basically, the Amazon basin is a 'melting pot' for South American frogs," says graduate student Juan Santos, lead author of the study. "Poison frogs there have come from multiple places of origin, notably the Andes Mountains, over many millions of years. We have shown that you cannot understand Amazonian biodiversity by looking only in the basin. Adjacent regions have played a major role."
Santos and Dr. David Cannatella, professor of integrative biology, published their findings this month in the journal PLoS Biology.
It has been assumed that much of the evolution of biodiversity in the Amazon basin occurred over the last one to two million years, a mere snapshot in time.
Santos and Cannatella peered about 45 million years into the past using novel biogeographical techniques to create a deep evolutionary history of poison frogs in space and time. Because of the lack of an extensive fossil record for the tropical forest, their work used DNA sequences to discover the frogs' evolutionary history.
The poison frogs, or dendrobatids, are diverse and widely distributed across the Neotropics, an area that includes Central and South America. The scientists created an evolutionary tree, or phylogeny, using 223 of the 353 species of poison frogs known from throughout this region.
In analyzing the evolutionary relationships among the poison frogs, they discovered that Amazonian diversity is the result of at least 14 dispersals of ancestral frogs into the region beginning about 23 million years ago.
All living Amazonian poison frogs evolved from these ancestors, most of which (11 dispersals) came from the Andes Mountains.
The Amazon basin has changed dramatically over that long time. A large inland system of water has come and gone, the Andes Mountains started their uplift (about 15 million years ago) and the Amazon River was formed (about nine million years ago).
Most of the frog dispersals from the Andes occurred between one and seven million years ago, when the modern tropical rainforest of the Amazon River basin was forming.
"There was a repeated dispersal of frogs from the foothills of the Andes after the extensive inland wetlands retreated from the Amazon," says Santos.
These frogs then evolved into about 70 species found today in the Amazon basin.
The scientists also discovered that frogs have historically immigrated out of the Amazon basin to adjacent areas, and to and from other regions within the Neotropics.
Evolution and diversification of the poison frogs is ongoing, especially in the Amazon rainforest, the Chocó (a narrow region of tropical forest along the northwest Pacific Coast of South America) and in adjacent Central America.
Cannatella says many other tropical plants and animals in the Amazon may share this more complex geographical and temporal history with the poison frogs.
"The Amazon rainforest is not just gradually accumulating diversity over time," says Cannatella. "Ancestral frog species moved into and out of the area, and we can predict that other organisms restricted to these wet tropical forests may show a similar pattern of dispersal, evolution.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/uota-aad030309.php
Acai Berry
As part of the Organic-Acai-Berry.com ongoing effort to help consumers select the highest quality acai berry products with the highest potency, the company has published on it's website an Acai Berry Buyers Guide. This guide provides a simple overview of some of the critical criteria that consumers should look for, when shopping for acai products.
The reason to buy acai berry products is to get the nutritional benefits that this remarkable fruit offers. But there are wide differences in nutritional value from product to product.
In order to reap the benefits of acai you must buy the most potent products.
We like freeze dried the best because the freeze drying process captures the nutritional properties of the fresh fruit.
acai berry is an excellent source of nutrition but consumers should understand that they are getting little more than aggravation when something is advertised as free.
According to company spokesperson Charlie Lynch, "The reason to buy acai berry products is to get the nutritional benefits that this remarkable fruit offers. But there are wide differences in nutritional value from product to product." He adds "In order to reap the benefits of acai you must buy the most potent products."
Unlike most acai berry related websites, the Organic-Acai-Berry.com website explains how consumers can distinquish between the highest quality acaiberry products and those of lesser quality. According to Lynch, acai is widely accepted to be a remarkably nutritious fruit with an unusually high level of antioxidants but many companies are going overboard by making outrageous health claims. And many of these companies fail to disclose the amount of acai in their products, or exactly which ingredients are contained in the products they offer.
The company website explains the different forms of acai that are available outside of the rainforest region of Brazil. The acai berry grows only in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. And within a short time after harvesting the fruit begins to lose nutritional potency, which is the case with many other fruits as well. Therefore, the fresh acai fruit is not available outside of Brazil. If the fresh fruit was shipped to the US, for instance, it would be nutritionally worthless by the time it was purchased from a supermarket shelf.
Since buying fresh acai fruit outside of Brazil is not feasible, consumers must select from other forms of the fruit. Company spokesman Lynch says "We like freeze dried the best because the freeze drying process captures the nutritional properties of the fresh fruit." Lynch says the company's favorite freeze dried acai product is the product called Perfect Acai which is available through the company website.
In order to help consumers avoid rip-offs and time consuming entanglements, the company has been aggressively warning consumers to reject free offers for acai products, as well as free offers for most other products too since most of free offer promotions are essentially marketing ploys in which consumers requesting the free samples are unwittingly placed in monthly auto-shipment programs. These programs automatically ship products and they are often extremely difficult to cancel. Victims have reported great difficulty cancelling these programs as a result of hard to find customer service phone numbers, disconnected phone lines, and excessively long hold times. These free offer schemes often bury the disclosure about the auto shipment programs behind links titled 'Terms' or 'Terms and Conditions' which many people don't read. The company advises consumers to simply avoid websites promoting free offers altogether and to realize that it is not realistic to expect to get something for nothing. They have placed an acai berry scam alert prominently on the website to help consumers avoid these problems. When something is advertised as being free there is usually a catch. They also advise consumers to read product labels in order to make sure they are getting the best product available at a fair price. Flynn says "acai berry is an excellent source of nutrition but consumers should understand that they are getting little more than aggravation when something is advertised as free."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/acai/berry/prweb2210504.htm
The reason to buy acai berry products is to get the nutritional benefits that this remarkable fruit offers. But there are wide differences in nutritional value from product to product.
In order to reap the benefits of acai you must buy the most potent products.
We like freeze dried the best because the freeze drying process captures the nutritional properties of the fresh fruit.
acai berry is an excellent source of nutrition but consumers should understand that they are getting little more than aggravation when something is advertised as free.
According to company spokesperson Charlie Lynch, "The reason to buy acai berry products is to get the nutritional benefits that this remarkable fruit offers. But there are wide differences in nutritional value from product to product." He adds "In order to reap the benefits of acai you must buy the most potent products."
Unlike most acai berry related websites, the Organic-Acai-Berry.com website explains how consumers can distinquish between the highest quality acaiberry products and those of lesser quality. According to Lynch, acai is widely accepted to be a remarkably nutritious fruit with an unusually high level of antioxidants but many companies are going overboard by making outrageous health claims. And many of these companies fail to disclose the amount of acai in their products, or exactly which ingredients are contained in the products they offer.
The company website explains the different forms of acai that are available outside of the rainforest region of Brazil. The acai berry grows only in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. And within a short time after harvesting the fruit begins to lose nutritional potency, which is the case with many other fruits as well. Therefore, the fresh acai fruit is not available outside of Brazil. If the fresh fruit was shipped to the US, for instance, it would be nutritionally worthless by the time it was purchased from a supermarket shelf.
Since buying fresh acai fruit outside of Brazil is not feasible, consumers must select from other forms of the fruit. Company spokesman Lynch says "We like freeze dried the best because the freeze drying process captures the nutritional properties of the fresh fruit." Lynch says the company's favorite freeze dried acai product is the product called Perfect Acai which is available through the company website.
In order to help consumers avoid rip-offs and time consuming entanglements, the company has been aggressively warning consumers to reject free offers for acai products, as well as free offers for most other products too since most of free offer promotions are essentially marketing ploys in which consumers requesting the free samples are unwittingly placed in monthly auto-shipment programs. These programs automatically ship products and they are often extremely difficult to cancel. Victims have reported great difficulty cancelling these programs as a result of hard to find customer service phone numbers, disconnected phone lines, and excessively long hold times. These free offer schemes often bury the disclosure about the auto shipment programs behind links titled 'Terms' or 'Terms and Conditions' which many people don't read. The company advises consumers to simply avoid websites promoting free offers altogether and to realize that it is not realistic to expect to get something for nothing. They have placed an acai berry scam alert prominently on the website to help consumers avoid these problems. When something is advertised as being free there is usually a catch. They also advise consumers to read product labels in order to make sure they are getting the best product available at a fair price. Flynn says "acai berry is an excellent source of nutrition but consumers should understand that they are getting little more than aggravation when something is advertised as free."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/acai/berry/prweb2210504.htm
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Prince Charles: 100 months to save the world
Prince Charles: 100 months to save the world
The Prince of Wales is to issue a stark warning that nations have "less than 100 months to act" to save the planet from irreversible damage due to climate change.
Prince Charles will say that the need to tackle global warming is more urgent than ever before and that, even in a global recession, the world must not lose sight of the "bigger picture".
His warning will be delivered on Thursday in a keynote speech in Rio de Janeiro.
Aides believe it will echo one he gave in Sao Paulo in 1991 at the start of the last recession, when he warned that caring for the world's long term welfare must not become a "luxury".
The intervention will help to put the environment at the top of the political agenda ahead of the meeting of G20 leaders in London next month.
The Prince starts a ten-day tour of South America today during which he will be playing an elevated role as an international statesman working on behalf of the Government to support British interests on key issues.
Senior sources have revealed that Gordon Brown's Government wants to make more use on the foreign stage of Prince Charles's experience, expertise and contacts, particularly on climate change.
Government officials believe that the Prince's passion to protect the environment is hugely respected abroad and that he can play an increasing important role as he inevitably moves closer to becoming king.
Some believe he is an "asset" that has been underused in the past and they want to use him more in a role of "soft diplomacy".
In Thursday's speech, the Prince will warn that a failure to act in the next eight years will have catastrophic effects for the planet.
In the country that is home to the world's largest rainforest, Prince Charles will urge world unity to combat deforestation in the run-up to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December this year.
He will say there is not necessarily a clash between the needs of big business and the environment. He will argue that being green can be good for businesses and can create jobs.
The Prince will say that tackling deforestation in the 3.5 billion acres of rainforest on the planet is a key priority.
According to royal aides, Prince Charles will tell business leaders that he is in South America to "listen and learn" and that he believes that Brazil and other neighbouring countries must lead the way in moves to save the rainforests.
The Prince will also visit the Amazon rainforest, the world's largest rainforest, on Saturday.
The Prince's tour to Chile, Brazil and Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), when he will be accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, will see a greater emphasis than ever before on him becoming involved in talks with prime ministers, presidents and senior politicians, in a move aimed at promoting British interests abroad.
It is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), not the Prince himself, which chooses the location for his royal tours and South America is considered the ideal platform for his views.
One Government source said: "The Prince's visit to South America is very much in tune with the priorities that we have.
"Given both the Prince's position as a future head of state and his personal commitment to protecting the environment, we believe he can have a real impact abroad"
In a possible sign of his elevated role, Prince Charles will meet Barack Obama when the new US President comes to Britain next month for the G20 London summit.
They will meet at, or even before, a Buckingham Palace reception when the Prince is expected to raise climate change issues with the President.
Royal aides have welcomed the opportunity for the Prince to expand his role on behalf of the Government. One senior official said: "It could be argued that he has already established a role as an international statesman, especially on green issues.
"This is one of the reasons why Government has asked him to go to South America. He will be conducting Government business and one of his roles is to support the UK's environmental objectives."
This is the major royal overseas tour for the first half of the year. He will be meeting the presidents and heads of governments in each of the three countries for talks.
"In Chile and Brazil, he will host a "round table" meeting for corporate leaders aimed at encouraging businesses to do more to tackle climate change.
"This is about soft diplomacy," said a senior aide. "The Prince of Wales is not a politician who sits down with a world leader and hammers out an agreement.
"But what he can do is show support and get over the message that Britain wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with these countries in the fight against climate change, and bring his own experience and knowledge to bear."
Courtiers at Clarence House dislike suggestions that the Prince of Wales, who was 60 last year, is a "shadow king" keen to take on duties from his mother, who is 82.
However, one Government source said: "There is no plan for Prince to take over specific duties from the Queen but common sense dictates that as she gets older her diary will be tailored accordingly."
The Prince is likely eventually to take on more of the long, arduous overseas tours stand in for her at more investitures.
One senior FCO official said: "We are hugely supportive of this visit. The Prince's commitment to sustainable development is very much in line with one of our main priorities.
"The Prince's visit will advance that agenda in terms of both UK interests and the engagement of other countries in pursuing it.
"The real personal commitment that Prince Charles has to environmental issues and his interest in sustainable development really resonates with people, both at Government level and ordinary individuals."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/4952918/Prince-Charles-we-have-100-months-to-save-the-world.html
The Prince of Wales is to issue a stark warning that nations have "less than 100 months to act" to save the planet from irreversible damage due to climate change.
Prince Charles will say that the need to tackle global warming is more urgent than ever before and that, even in a global recession, the world must not lose sight of the "bigger picture".
His warning will be delivered on Thursday in a keynote speech in Rio de Janeiro.
Aides believe it will echo one he gave in Sao Paulo in 1991 at the start of the last recession, when he warned that caring for the world's long term welfare must not become a "luxury".
The intervention will help to put the environment at the top of the political agenda ahead of the meeting of G20 leaders in London next month.
The Prince starts a ten-day tour of South America today during which he will be playing an elevated role as an international statesman working on behalf of the Government to support British interests on key issues.
Senior sources have revealed that Gordon Brown's Government wants to make more use on the foreign stage of Prince Charles's experience, expertise and contacts, particularly on climate change.
Government officials believe that the Prince's passion to protect the environment is hugely respected abroad and that he can play an increasing important role as he inevitably moves closer to becoming king.
Some believe he is an "asset" that has been underused in the past and they want to use him more in a role of "soft diplomacy".
In Thursday's speech, the Prince will warn that a failure to act in the next eight years will have catastrophic effects for the planet.
In the country that is home to the world's largest rainforest, Prince Charles will urge world unity to combat deforestation in the run-up to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December this year.
He will say there is not necessarily a clash between the needs of big business and the environment. He will argue that being green can be good for businesses and can create jobs.
The Prince will say that tackling deforestation in the 3.5 billion acres of rainforest on the planet is a key priority.
According to royal aides, Prince Charles will tell business leaders that he is in South America to "listen and learn" and that he believes that Brazil and other neighbouring countries must lead the way in moves to save the rainforests.
The Prince will also visit the Amazon rainforest, the world's largest rainforest, on Saturday.
The Prince's tour to Chile, Brazil and Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), when he will be accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, will see a greater emphasis than ever before on him becoming involved in talks with prime ministers, presidents and senior politicians, in a move aimed at promoting British interests abroad.
It is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), not the Prince himself, which chooses the location for his royal tours and South America is considered the ideal platform for his views.
One Government source said: "The Prince's visit to South America is very much in tune with the priorities that we have.
"Given both the Prince's position as a future head of state and his personal commitment to protecting the environment, we believe he can have a real impact abroad"
In a possible sign of his elevated role, Prince Charles will meet Barack Obama when the new US President comes to Britain next month for the G20 London summit.
They will meet at, or even before, a Buckingham Palace reception when the Prince is expected to raise climate change issues with the President.
Royal aides have welcomed the opportunity for the Prince to expand his role on behalf of the Government. One senior official said: "It could be argued that he has already established a role as an international statesman, especially on green issues.
"This is one of the reasons why Government has asked him to go to South America. He will be conducting Government business and one of his roles is to support the UK's environmental objectives."
This is the major royal overseas tour for the first half of the year. He will be meeting the presidents and heads of governments in each of the three countries for talks.
"In Chile and Brazil, he will host a "round table" meeting for corporate leaders aimed at encouraging businesses to do more to tackle climate change.
"This is about soft diplomacy," said a senior aide. "The Prince of Wales is not a politician who sits down with a world leader and hammers out an agreement.
"But what he can do is show support and get over the message that Britain wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with these countries in the fight against climate change, and bring his own experience and knowledge to bear."
Courtiers at Clarence House dislike suggestions that the Prince of Wales, who was 60 last year, is a "shadow king" keen to take on duties from his mother, who is 82.
However, one Government source said: "There is no plan for Prince to take over specific duties from the Queen but common sense dictates that as she gets older her diary will be tailored accordingly."
The Prince is likely eventually to take on more of the long, arduous overseas tours stand in for her at more investitures.
One senior FCO official said: "We are hugely supportive of this visit. The Prince's commitment to sustainable development is very much in line with one of our main priorities.
"The Prince's visit will advance that agenda in terms of both UK interests and the engagement of other countries in pursuing it.
"The real personal commitment that Prince Charles has to environmental issues and his interest in sustainable development really resonates with people, both at Government level and ordinary individuals."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/4952918/Prince-Charles-we-have-100-months-to-save-the-world.html
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Amazon's Carbon Sink Under Threat
Researchers monitoring the long-term health of the Amazon tropical rainforest have made a startling discovery. A severe drought in 2005 not only restricted the rainforest's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but also, in some cases, killed off so many trees that it made areas net CO2 emitters. The findings, to be reported in tomorrow's issue of Science, suggest that not even rainforests can be considered fail-safe when it comes to sequestering greenhouse gases.
When the world's tropical rainforests are growing, they can absorb a huge amount of CO2 from the atmosphere--on the order of 1.8 billion metric tons annually, or nearly one-fifth of global emissions from fossil-fuel combustion. But when trees are not healthy, they don't use nearly as much CO2, and in some cases they can even be a net emitter.
RAINFOR, a team of scientists from 13 nations, has been tracking forest health in the Amazon for the past 25 years by surveying 136 plots scattered across 44 sites in the region. When the drought struck in 2005, the researchers raced across the Amazon Basin to assess the potential damage. They managed to remeasure 55 of the plots that year. Before the drought, trees on 76% of those plots had been sequestering about 0.5 tons of carbon per year per hectare, while the remainder were growing less rapidly and therefore packing away less carbon. During the drought, however, only 51% continued to sequester carbon, while the rest lost carbon--as much as 6 tons per year per hectare--the result of rot and digestion by soil microbes.
"We found the Amazon surprisingly sensitive to drought," says ecologist and lead author Oliver Phillips of the University of Leeds in the U.K. The 2005 event "was strong enough to switch the forest from being a long-term absorber of CO2 ... to being a temporary source of CO2." Because some climate models point to increased incidences of drought in the Amazon Basin this century, he adds, the loss of tropical rainforests as a carbon sink could cause CO2 levels to rise even faster.
Ronald Neilson, a bioclimatologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon, says the study shows that drought in the rainforest "can have a very significant impact on the planetary carbon balance." But he points out that because droughts tend to produce fewer cloudy days, increased sunlight may encourage growth even in dry weather.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/305/1
When the world's tropical rainforests are growing, they can absorb a huge amount of CO2 from the atmosphere--on the order of 1.8 billion metric tons annually, or nearly one-fifth of global emissions from fossil-fuel combustion. But when trees are not healthy, they don't use nearly as much CO2, and in some cases they can even be a net emitter.
RAINFOR, a team of scientists from 13 nations, has been tracking forest health in the Amazon for the past 25 years by surveying 136 plots scattered across 44 sites in the region. When the drought struck in 2005, the researchers raced across the Amazon Basin to assess the potential damage. They managed to remeasure 55 of the plots that year. Before the drought, trees on 76% of those plots had been sequestering about 0.5 tons of carbon per year per hectare, while the remainder were growing less rapidly and therefore packing away less carbon. During the drought, however, only 51% continued to sequester carbon, while the rest lost carbon--as much as 6 tons per year per hectare--the result of rot and digestion by soil microbes.
"We found the Amazon surprisingly sensitive to drought," says ecologist and lead author Oliver Phillips of the University of Leeds in the U.K. The 2005 event "was strong enough to switch the forest from being a long-term absorber of CO2 ... to being a temporary source of CO2." Because some climate models point to increased incidences of drought in the Amazon Basin this century, he adds, the loss of tropical rainforests as a carbon sink could cause CO2 levels to rise even faster.
Ronald Neilson, a bioclimatologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon, says the study shows that drought in the rainforest "can have a very significant impact on the planetary carbon balance." But he points out that because droughts tend to produce fewer cloudy days, increased sunlight may encourage growth even in dry weather.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/305/1
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Amazon Rainforest Carbon Sink Threatened By Drought
The Amazon is surprisingly sensitive to drought, according to new research conducted throughout the world's largest tropical forest. The 30-year study, published in Science, provides the first solid evidence that drought causes massive carbon loss in tropical forests, mainly through killing trees.
"For years the Amazon forest has been helping to slow down climate change. But relying on this subsidy from nature is extremely dangerous", said Professor Oliver Phillips, from the University of Leeds and the lead author of the research.
"If the earth's carbon sinks slow or go into reverse, as our results show is possible, carbon dioxide levels will rise even faster. Deeper cuts in emissions will be required to stabilise our climate."
The study, a global collaboration between more than 40 institutions, was based on the unusual 2005 drought in the Amazon. This gave scientists a glimpse into the region's future climate, in which a warming tropical North Atlantic may cause hotter and more intense dry seasons.
The 2005 drought sharply reversed decades of carbon absorption, in which Amazonia helped slow climate change.
In normal years the forest absorbs nearly 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The drought caused a loss of more than 3 billion tonnes. The total impact of the drought - 5 billion extra tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - exceeds the annual emissions of Europe and Japan combined.
"Visually, most of the forest appeared little affected, but our records prove tree death rates accelerated. Because the region is so vast, even small ecological effects can scale-up to a large impact on the planet's carbon cycle," explained Professor Phillips.
Some species, including some important palm trees, were especially vulnerable", said Peruvian botanist and co-author Abel Monteagudo, "showing that drought threatens biodiversity too."
The Amazon accounts for more than half of the world's rainforest, covering an area 25 times as great as the United Kingdom. No other ecosystem on Earth is home to so many species nor exerts such control on the carbon cycle.
The study involved 68 scientists from 13 countries working in RAINFOR, a unique research network dedicated to monitoring the Amazonian forests.
To calculate changes in carbon storage they examined more than 100 forest plots across the Amazon's 600 million hectares, identified and measured over 100,000 trees, and recorded tree deaths as well as new trees. Weather patterns were also carefully measured and mapped.
In the wake of the 2005 drought the RAINFOR team took advantage of this huge natural experiment, and focused their measurements to assess how the drought had affected the forest.
The study found that for at least 25 years the Amazon forest acted as a vast carbon sink. A similar process has also been occurring in Africa.
In fact, over recent decades the tropical forests have absorbed one fifth of global fossil fuel emissions.
But in 2005 this process was reversed. Tree death accelerated most where drought was strongest, and locations subject even to mild drying were affected. Because of the study, we now know the precise sensitivity of the Amazon to warming and drought.
If repeated, Amazon droughts will accelerate climate warming and make future droughts even more damaging.
The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305141625.htm
"For years the Amazon forest has been helping to slow down climate change. But relying on this subsidy from nature is extremely dangerous", said Professor Oliver Phillips, from the University of Leeds and the lead author of the research.
"If the earth's carbon sinks slow or go into reverse, as our results show is possible, carbon dioxide levels will rise even faster. Deeper cuts in emissions will be required to stabilise our climate."
The study, a global collaboration between more than 40 institutions, was based on the unusual 2005 drought in the Amazon. This gave scientists a glimpse into the region's future climate, in which a warming tropical North Atlantic may cause hotter and more intense dry seasons.
The 2005 drought sharply reversed decades of carbon absorption, in which Amazonia helped slow climate change.
In normal years the forest absorbs nearly 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The drought caused a loss of more than 3 billion tonnes. The total impact of the drought - 5 billion extra tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - exceeds the annual emissions of Europe and Japan combined.
"Visually, most of the forest appeared little affected, but our records prove tree death rates accelerated. Because the region is so vast, even small ecological effects can scale-up to a large impact on the planet's carbon cycle," explained Professor Phillips.
Some species, including some important palm trees, were especially vulnerable", said Peruvian botanist and co-author Abel Monteagudo, "showing that drought threatens biodiversity too."
The Amazon accounts for more than half of the world's rainforest, covering an area 25 times as great as the United Kingdom. No other ecosystem on Earth is home to so many species nor exerts such control on the carbon cycle.
The study involved 68 scientists from 13 countries working in RAINFOR, a unique research network dedicated to monitoring the Amazonian forests.
To calculate changes in carbon storage they examined more than 100 forest plots across the Amazon's 600 million hectares, identified and measured over 100,000 trees, and recorded tree deaths as well as new trees. Weather patterns were also carefully measured and mapped.
In the wake of the 2005 drought the RAINFOR team took advantage of this huge natural experiment, and focused their measurements to assess how the drought had affected the forest.
The study found that for at least 25 years the Amazon forest acted as a vast carbon sink. A similar process has also been occurring in Africa.
In fact, over recent decades the tropical forests have absorbed one fifth of global fossil fuel emissions.
But in 2005 this process was reversed. Tree death accelerated most where drought was strongest, and locations subject even to mild drying were affected. Because of the study, we now know the precise sensitivity of the Amazon to warming and drought.
If repeated, Amazon droughts will accelerate climate warming and make future droughts even more damaging.
The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305141625.htm
World Bank Approves $1.3 Bln for Brazil Environment
The World Bank approved today a $1.3 billion loan to help Brazil curb deforestation in the Amazon region and expand renewable energy.
The loan will be disbursed in two parts, with the second $500 million portion delivered upon fulfillment of goals set by Brazil that reconcile environmental protection with faster economic growth, the World Bank said in an e-mailed statement.
Deforestation in the Amazon region increased last year for the first time since 2004 to 7,341 square kilometers as surging prices for cattle and soybeans lured illegal land grabbers deeper into the world’s largest rainforest.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc announced last year a plan to slash deforestation 70 percent by 2017, a target contained in Brazil’s broader climate-change plan supported by the World Bank loans.
Ten environmental groups in Brazil had urged the World Bank to postpone a decision on the loan, arguing in a public letter that prior loans aimed at mainstreaming environmental considerations in economic growth policies have failed.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created last year an international fund that will seek to raise $21 billion in donations over the next 13 years to finance conservation and sustainable development projects in the Amazon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=algDrFzOfOMw&refer=latin_america#
The loan will be disbursed in two parts, with the second $500 million portion delivered upon fulfillment of goals set by Brazil that reconcile environmental protection with faster economic growth, the World Bank said in an e-mailed statement.
Deforestation in the Amazon region increased last year for the first time since 2004 to 7,341 square kilometers as surging prices for cattle and soybeans lured illegal land grabbers deeper into the world’s largest rainforest.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc announced last year a plan to slash deforestation 70 percent by 2017, a target contained in Brazil’s broader climate-change plan supported by the World Bank loans.
Ten environmental groups in Brazil had urged the World Bank to postpone a decision on the loan, arguing in a public letter that prior loans aimed at mainstreaming environmental considerations in economic growth policies have failed.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created last year an international fund that will seek to raise $21 billion in donations over the next 13 years to finance conservation and sustainable development projects in the Amazon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=algDrFzOfOMw&refer=latin_america#
Monday, March 2, 2009
Shallow clouds track deforestation
Shallow clouds tend to form over deforested areas of the Amazon while deep clouds are more prevalent above the remaining forest. Now researchers from the US and Brazil have studied the mechanism behind this phenomenon and found that the mix of forested and deforested patches in damaged areas causes local atmospheric circulations that affect cloud distribution.
"The radiosonde data prepared by my collaborators made it possible to directly study the environmental conditions under which shallow and deep clouds occurred," Jingfeng Wang of MIT told environmentalresearchweb. "In fact, we have refuted several initial thoughts on the possible explanations of the observed cloud patterns as the research progressed."
Wang and colleagues believe they have assembled by far the most direct evidence that local atmospheric circulations driven by the inhomogeneous land cover due to deforestation in the Amazon basin are responsible for the distributions of clouds. "A common explanation would be that more active shallow clouds over the deforested area were caused by the boundary layer turbulence, which is more intensive due to stronger surface heating over grassy surfaces than over dense intact forest," he said. "We found this is not true in the deforested Amazon."
Together with colleagues at MIT, the University of Michigan, the Instituto Nacional Presquisa Espaciais, Brazil, and the University of California, Irvine, Wang studied an area of rainforest in the Rondonia, Brazil using radiosonde data taken in 1994 as part of the Rondonian Boundary Layer Experiment (RBLE-3) under the Anglo-Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observation Study (ABRACOS). Cloud information was provided by ivisible and infrared images from two NOAA satellites – GOES-7 and GOES-8. The area of deforestation studied contained a typical “fishbone” pattern of strips of tree removal.
While partially deforested areas exhibited a less unstable atmosphere than the neighbouring dense forest, the team found that shallow clouds formed over them. The researchers believe this was most likely due to mesoscale circulations developing from the contrast between forested and unforested strips and acting as a lifting mechanism. Boundary layer turbulence appeared to play a secondary role. Over the forest, a lack of lifting mechanism suppressed convective activity even though the atmosphere was more unstable. Those shallow clouds that did develop over forested areas eventually became deep clouds.
"The Amazon rainforest has some resilience in response to human-related disturbances - deforestation, fire etc. – but only to a certain degree," said Wang. "The clouds-landcover interplay may provide a negative feedback mechanism to restore the lost forest as long as the forest over a large domain is not completely removed. Whether the Amazon ecosystem is able to recover from the deforestation, in my opinion, depends on the size and shape of the land-cover caused by the deforestation."
Wang reckons this study is a step towards finding the threshold for deforestation beyond which the "green-ocean" of the Amazon – so-called because of the similarity in behaviour of the atmosphere above it to that above the oceans – will collapse.
Now the researchers plan to study other areas in the Amazon where deforestation has created much more uniform land cover to find out whether mesoscale circulations still play a major role in cloud climatology.
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/research/38055
"The radiosonde data prepared by my collaborators made it possible to directly study the environmental conditions under which shallow and deep clouds occurred," Jingfeng Wang of MIT told environmentalresearchweb. "In fact, we have refuted several initial thoughts on the possible explanations of the observed cloud patterns as the research progressed."
Wang and colleagues believe they have assembled by far the most direct evidence that local atmospheric circulations driven by the inhomogeneous land cover due to deforestation in the Amazon basin are responsible for the distributions of clouds. "A common explanation would be that more active shallow clouds over the deforested area were caused by the boundary layer turbulence, which is more intensive due to stronger surface heating over grassy surfaces than over dense intact forest," he said. "We found this is not true in the deforested Amazon."
Together with colleagues at MIT, the University of Michigan, the Instituto Nacional Presquisa Espaciais, Brazil, and the University of California, Irvine, Wang studied an area of rainforest in the Rondonia, Brazil using radiosonde data taken in 1994 as part of the Rondonian Boundary Layer Experiment (RBLE-3) under the Anglo-Brazilian Amazonian Climate Observation Study (ABRACOS). Cloud information was provided by ivisible and infrared images from two NOAA satellites – GOES-7 and GOES-8. The area of deforestation studied contained a typical “fishbone” pattern of strips of tree removal.
While partially deforested areas exhibited a less unstable atmosphere than the neighbouring dense forest, the team found that shallow clouds formed over them. The researchers believe this was most likely due to mesoscale circulations developing from the contrast between forested and unforested strips and acting as a lifting mechanism. Boundary layer turbulence appeared to play a secondary role. Over the forest, a lack of lifting mechanism suppressed convective activity even though the atmosphere was more unstable. Those shallow clouds that did develop over forested areas eventually became deep clouds.
"The Amazon rainforest has some resilience in response to human-related disturbances - deforestation, fire etc. – but only to a certain degree," said Wang. "The clouds-landcover interplay may provide a negative feedback mechanism to restore the lost forest as long as the forest over a large domain is not completely removed. Whether the Amazon ecosystem is able to recover from the deforestation, in my opinion, depends on the size and shape of the land-cover caused by the deforestation."
Wang reckons this study is a step towards finding the threshold for deforestation beyond which the "green-ocean" of the Amazon – so-called because of the similarity in behaviour of the atmosphere above it to that above the oceans – will collapse.
Now the researchers plan to study other areas in the Amazon where deforestation has created much more uniform land cover to find out whether mesoscale circulations still play a major role in cloud climatology.
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/research/38055
Climate forum: Water, wind and fire bombard Earth
Stronger but maybe fewer hurricanes. Larger storm surges from ever-rising seas. More fires from intense lightning bolts.
Scientists and economists plan to explore those and other predicted consequences of global warming during Tuesday's forum at Florida Tech.
The changes could happen faster than many think because global warming is not linear, said Mark Bush, a Florida Tech biologist and speaker. He has found geological evidence of drastic species extinction in the Amazon rainforest and other hotspots of biological diversity as a result of past abrupt climate shifts.
"Amazonia is going to become very flammable," Bush said at another recent climate change forum at Florida Tech. Long term, "Brazil will basically lose its Amazon forest, and that will be a huge extinction event. We hit tipping points. We're very close to them."
Global warming could fuel more lightning, resulting in more forest fires, especially in the tropics, researchers have found.
Lightning bolts, like tailpipes and smokestacks, form nitrogen dioxides, a chemical compound that contributes to lung damage and acid rain. Scientists want to know how climate change might affect lightning intensity and contribute to nitrogen dioxides in the atmosphere.
Joseph Dwyer, a world authority on lightning, will talk about his research into thunderstorm physics and X-rays and gamma-ray flashes from lightning.
Recent studies show wave heights have increased over the past few decades because of more hurricanes and more powerful storms.
Randy Parkinson, a Melbourne consultant with the Brevard County Climate Change Group, plans to present evidence of the accelerating rise in sea level.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090302/NEWS01/903020314/1006
Scientists and economists plan to explore those and other predicted consequences of global warming during Tuesday's forum at Florida Tech.
The changes could happen faster than many think because global warming is not linear, said Mark Bush, a Florida Tech biologist and speaker. He has found geological evidence of drastic species extinction in the Amazon rainforest and other hotspots of biological diversity as a result of past abrupt climate shifts.
"Amazonia is going to become very flammable," Bush said at another recent climate change forum at Florida Tech. Long term, "Brazil will basically lose its Amazon forest, and that will be a huge extinction event. We hit tipping points. We're very close to them."
Global warming could fuel more lightning, resulting in more forest fires, especially in the tropics, researchers have found.
Lightning bolts, like tailpipes and smokestacks, form nitrogen dioxides, a chemical compound that contributes to lung damage and acid rain. Scientists want to know how climate change might affect lightning intensity and contribute to nitrogen dioxides in the atmosphere.
Joseph Dwyer, a world authority on lightning, will talk about his research into thunderstorm physics and X-rays and gamma-ray flashes from lightning.
Recent studies show wave heights have increased over the past few decades because of more hurricanes and more powerful storms.
Randy Parkinson, a Melbourne consultant with the Brevard County Climate Change Group, plans to present evidence of the accelerating rise in sea level.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090302/NEWS01/903020314/1006
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