As the naked, painted young men of the Kamayurá tribe prepare for the ritualized war games of a festival, they end their haunting fireside chant with a blowing sound — “whoosh, whoosh” — a symbolic attempt to eliminate the scent of fish so they will not be detected by enemies. For centuries, fish from jungle lakes and rivers have been a staple of the Kamayurá diet, the tribe’s primary source of protein.
But fish smells are not a problem for the warriors anymore. Deforestation and, some scientists contend, global climate change are making the Amazon region drier and hotter, decimating fish stocks in this area and imperiling the Kamayurá’s very existence. Like other small indigenous cultures around the world with little money or capacity to move, they are struggling to adapt to the changes.
“Us old monkeys can take the hunger, but the little ones suffer — they’re always asking for fish,” said Kotok, the tribe’s chief, who stood in front of a hut containing the tribe’s sacred flutes on a recent evening. He wore a white T-shirt over the tribe’s traditional dress, which is basically nothing.
Chief Kotok, who like all of the Kamayurá people goes by only one name, said that men can now fish all night without a bite in streams where fish used to be abundant; they safely swim in lakes previously teeming with piranhas.
Responsible for 3 wives, 24 children and hundreds of other tribe members, he said his once-idyllic existence had turned into a kind of bad dream.
“I’m stressed and anxious — this has all changed so quickly, and life has become very hard,” he said in Portuguese, speaking through an interpreter. “As a chief, I have to have vision and look down the road, but I don’t know what will happen to my children and grandchildren.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that up to 30 percent of animals and plants face an increased risk of extinction if global temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in coming decades. But anthropologists also fear a wave of cultural extinction for dozens of small indigenous groups — the loss of their traditions, their arts, their languages.
“In some places, people will have to move to preserve their culture,” said Gonzalo Oviedo, a senior adviser on social policy at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland. “But some of those that are small and marginal will assimilate and disappear.”
To make do without fish, Kamayurá children are eating ants on their traditional spongy flatbread, made from tropical cassava flour. “There aren’t as many around because the kids have eaten them,” Chief Kotok said of the ants. Sometimes members of the tribe kill monkeys for their meat, but, the chief said, “You have to eat 30 monkeys to fill your stomach.”
Living deep in the forest with no transportation and little money, he noted, “We don’t have a way to go to the grocery store for rice and beans to supplement what is missing.”
Tacuma, the tribe’s wizened senior shaman, said that the only threat he could remember rivaling climate change was a measles virus that arrived deep in the Amazon in 1954, killing more than 90 percent of the Kamayurá.
Cultures threatened by climate change span the globe. They include rainforest residents like the Kamayurá who face dwindling food supplies; remote Arctic communities where the only roads were frozen rivers that are now flowing most of the year; and residents of low-lying islands whose land is threatened by rising seas.
Many indigenous people depend intimately on the cycles of nature and have had to adapt to climate variations — a season of drought, for example, or a hurricane that kills animals.
But worldwide, the change is large, rapid and inexorable, heading in only one direction: warmer. Eskimo settlements like Kivalina and Shishmaref in Alaska are “literally being washed away,” said Thomas Thornton, an anthropologist who studies the region, because the sea ice that long protected their shores is melting and the seas around are rising. Without that hard ice, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to hunt for seals, a mainstay of the traditional diet.
Some Eskimo groups are suing polluters and developed nations, demanding compensation and help with adapting.
“As they see it, they didn’t cause the problem, and their lifestyle is being threatened by pollution from industrial nations,” said Dr. Thornton, who is a researcher at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. “The message is that this is about people, not just about polar bears and wildlife.”
At climate negotiations in December in Poznan, Poland, the United Nations created an “adaptation fund” through which rich nations could in theory help poor nations adjust to climate change. But some of the money was expected to come from voluntary contributions, and there have been none so far, said Yvo De Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “It would help if rich countries could make financial commitments,” he said.
Throughout history, the traditional final response for indigenous cultures threatened by untenable climate conditions or political strife was to move. But today, moving is often impossible. Land surrounding tribes is now usually occupied by an expanding global population, and once-nomadic groups have often settled down, building homes and schools and even declaring statehood.
The Kamayurá live in the middle of Xingu National Park, a vast territory that was once deep in the Amazon but is now surrounded by farms and ranches.
About 5,000 square miles of Amazon forest are being cut down annually in recent years, according to the Brazilian government. And with far less foliage, there is less moisture in the regional water cycle, lending unpredictability to seasonal rains and leaving the climate drier and hotter.
That has upended the cycles of nature that long regulated Kamayurá life. They wake with the sun and have no set meals, eating whenever they are hungry.
Fish stocks began to dwindle in the 1990s and “have just collapsed” since 2006, said Chief Kotok, who is considering the possibility of fish farming, in which fish would be fed in a penned area of a lake. With hotter temperatures as well as less rain and humidity in the region, water levels in rivers are extremely low. Fish cannot get to their spawning grounds.
Last year, for the first time, the beach on the lake that abuts the village was not covered by water in the rainy season, rendering useless the tribe’s method of catching turtles by putting food in holes that would fill up, luring the animals.
The tribe’s agriculture has suffered, too. For centuries, the Kamayurá planted their summer crops when a certain star appeared on the horizon. “When it appeared, everyone celebrated because it was the sign to start planting cassava since the rain and wind would come,” Chief Kotok recalled. But starting seven or eight seasons ago, the star’s appearance was no longer followed by rain, an ominous divergence, forcing the tribe to adjust its schedule.
It has been an ever-shifting game of trial and error since. Last year, families had to plant their cassava four times — it died in September, October and November because there was not enough moisture in the ground. It was not until December that the planting took. The corn also failed, said Mapulu, the chief’s sister. “It sprouted and withered away,” she said.
A specialist in medicinal plants, Ms. Mapulu said that a root she used to treat diarrhea and other ailments had become nearly impossible to find because the forest flora had changed. The grass they use to bound together the essential beams of their huts has also become difficult to find.
But perhaps the Kamayurá’s greatest fear are the new summer forest fires. Once too moist to ignite, the forest here is now flammable because of the drier weather. In 2007, Xingu National Park burned for the first time, and thousands of acres were destroyed.
“The whole Xingu was burning — it stung our lungs and our eyes,” Chief Kotok said. “We had nowhere to escape. We suffered along with the animals.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/science/earth/25tribe.html?hp
rainforestpower Headline Animator
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Amazon River on New 7 Wonders of Nature top list
The Amazon Rainforest/River has reached the final stage of an international online competition to name the world's seven natural wonders, the New 7 Wonders Foundation announced today.
The 28 official finalists also include Angel Falls (Venezuela), Galapagos (Ecuador), Grand Canyon (The United States), Iguazu Falls (Brazil/Argentine), Bay of Fundy, Black Forest, Bu Tinah Shoals, Cliff of Moher, Dead Sea, El Yunque, and Great Barrier Reef.
Halong Bay, Jeita Grotto, Jeju Island, and Kilimanjaro, Komodo, Maldives, Masurian Lake District, Matterhorn/Cervino, Milford Sound, Mud Volcanoes, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Sundarbans, Table Mountain, Uluru, Vesuvius and Yushan, were also added to the list.
Competition organizers expect more than a billion people to participate in the online voting, which will continue into 2011, when the finalists by categories will be announced.
A panel of experts chose the finalists among the 77 nominees that gained the most votes in an early round of polling. People had suggested 261 landmarks in countries all over the world.
The panel chaired by Federico Mayor, former chief of Unesco, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, picked the finalists depending on geographical balance, diversity and the importance to human life.
The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres), located within nine nations: Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana; Suriname and Venezuela.
The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.
The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total flow greater than the top ten rivers worldwide combined.
It accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.
http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=TjV3xvhBG6M=
The 28 official finalists also include Angel Falls (Venezuela), Galapagos (Ecuador), Grand Canyon (The United States), Iguazu Falls (Brazil/Argentine), Bay of Fundy, Black Forest, Bu Tinah Shoals, Cliff of Moher, Dead Sea, El Yunque, and Great Barrier Reef.
Halong Bay, Jeita Grotto, Jeju Island, and Kilimanjaro, Komodo, Maldives, Masurian Lake District, Matterhorn/Cervino, Milford Sound, Mud Volcanoes, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Sundarbans, Table Mountain, Uluru, Vesuvius and Yushan, were also added to the list.
Competition organizers expect more than a billion people to participate in the online voting, which will continue into 2011, when the finalists by categories will be announced.
A panel of experts chose the finalists among the 77 nominees that gained the most votes in an early round of polling. People had suggested 261 landmarks in countries all over the world.
The panel chaired by Federico Mayor, former chief of Unesco, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, picked the finalists depending on geographical balance, diversity and the importance to human life.
The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres), located within nine nations: Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana; Suriname and Venezuela.
The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.
The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total flow greater than the top ten rivers worldwide combined.
It accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.
http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=TjV3xvhBG6M=
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A smooth way to extra nutrients
Prepared properly, smoothies are a tasty way to pack extra nutrients into your diet
Including fresh, local fruit, such as strawberries, in your smoothies is a great way to both increase the quality of your diet and decrease the size of your carbon footprint. Peter J. Thompson, National Post Including fresh, local fruit, such as strawberries, in your smoothies is a great way to both increase the quality of your diet and decrease the size of your carbon footprint.
How do you build a better smoothie? A question that plagues post-modern society, to be sure. All kidding aside, however, smoothies have become big business, with a bevy of products and specialty shops available to satisfy your every desire for drinkable fruit. And while blending up a few berries sounds like a simple enough way to eat a more healthful diet, as with so many things in our world today, we've managed to turn something that was once simple into an increasingly complex science.
So whether you're an athlete looking for a drink to help with muscle recovery, a busy professional who needs to get out the door in a hurry or a parent looking for a nutritious snack for kids on a hot day, here is a primer for building a better smoothie for both health and taste.
THE FRUIT
When it comes to picking the ingredients for a smoothie, you really can't go wrong by starting with any kind of fruit, whether fresh or frozen. Bananas are probably the most common choice, partially for the taste, but also because they add a rich texture, especially if they've been frozen before blending. As for the calorie content, don't be afraid:While they are one of the more energy-dense fruits, the roughly 110 calories a banana provides is quite low compared with many other snack foods -- and few foods of any kind are as rich in blood pressure-lowering potassium.
Aside from bananas, berries of any kind are a great choice for their antioxidant and fibre content, as well as their relatively low calorie content. So if you're a fan, then now is the time of year to load up on strawberries, raspberries and wild blueberries, or any other locally grown fruit, which will not only up the quality of your diet, but also eliminate the carbon footprint that comes with choosing more exotic fruits from overseas.
If you want to step beyond bananas and berries, however, then consider fresh or frozen peaches, melons, pineapple, oranges or mangos. Not only will they add a twist of flavour, also a blend of potentially disease-fighting nutrients, known as flavonoids, that is unique to each fruit.
THE "SUPER FRUIT"
If you're a fan of the growing number of smoothie bars popping up across North America, then you're probably familiar with the various "super fruits" that are added to pump up your drink of choice. One of the most popular is the acai (pronounced a-sigh-EE) berry, a product of the Brazilian rainforest that peaked in popularity after being featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2008. Despite a limited body of research, acai supporters argue that it is a powerful, antioxidant-rich superfood that can be useful for everything from weight loss to colon cleansing. While a number of dubious companies have sprung up selling purported acai-based weight loss products, the berry itself--like all berries -- is nutritious, even though it probably won't live up to the hype it has generated.
THE PROTEIN
If you combine fruit and ice cream or sorbet and call it a smoothie, you're probably better off calling it dessert. Not only will you be including a chunk of added sugar in your diet (which is to be expected if it is dessert, but not so much if you're using it as a meal or snack), it also lacks a source of protein, which means you are more likely to feel hungry shortly after eating it. Likewise, many of the so-called smoothie products available at grocery stores today are simply fruit purees, which means you're not only missing the protein, but they're often blended with mixture of fruit juices that simply don't have the same nutritional value as the whole fruit.
If you want to build a smoothie that will satisfy you and can serve as a meal or substantial snack, then use whole fruit whenever possible, and include a source of protein. Yogourt, milk and soy beverages are all good places to start (all three contain about eight grams of protein per cup), but you can ramp up the protein even more with a scoop of whey protein powder (one scoop of which usually provides around 20 to 25 grams of protein).
THE CALORIES
While smoothies can undoubtedly be a highly nutritious meal or snack, they can also pack a serious caloric punch if you're not careful. At the popular juice bar Booster Juice, for example, most smoothies contain between 375 and 425 calories -- enough to serve as a small meal for most people. While not an issue if you use it to replace a 600 calorie burger, it can be a problem if you pick a smoothie over ice cream or frozen yogourt, thinking you are saving yourself a few calories (most single-scoop ice cream cones contain between 250 and 300 calories, cone included).
Likewise, if you are making your own smoothie at home, then be careful not to add too many extra calories, particularly from fats and oils. While they are certainly good for you, high-fat ingredients like peanut or almond butter, flaxseed or hemp oil can pack a major caloric punch (about 90 calories per tablespoon of nut butters, or 120 calories per tablespoon of oils) that can turn your seemingly harmless drink into a caloric bonanza before you know it. The bottom line: Use careful portion control, or save the nuts for a snack instead.
http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=1788953
Including fresh, local fruit, such as strawberries, in your smoothies is a great way to both increase the quality of your diet and decrease the size of your carbon footprint. Peter J. Thompson, National Post Including fresh, local fruit, such as strawberries, in your smoothies is a great way to both increase the quality of your diet and decrease the size of your carbon footprint.
How do you build a better smoothie? A question that plagues post-modern society, to be sure. All kidding aside, however, smoothies have become big business, with a bevy of products and specialty shops available to satisfy your every desire for drinkable fruit. And while blending up a few berries sounds like a simple enough way to eat a more healthful diet, as with so many things in our world today, we've managed to turn something that was once simple into an increasingly complex science.
So whether you're an athlete looking for a drink to help with muscle recovery, a busy professional who needs to get out the door in a hurry or a parent looking for a nutritious snack for kids on a hot day, here is a primer for building a better smoothie for both health and taste.
THE FRUIT
When it comes to picking the ingredients for a smoothie, you really can't go wrong by starting with any kind of fruit, whether fresh or frozen. Bananas are probably the most common choice, partially for the taste, but also because they add a rich texture, especially if they've been frozen before blending. As for the calorie content, don't be afraid:While they are one of the more energy-dense fruits, the roughly 110 calories a banana provides is quite low compared with many other snack foods -- and few foods of any kind are as rich in blood pressure-lowering potassium.
Aside from bananas, berries of any kind are a great choice for their antioxidant and fibre content, as well as their relatively low calorie content. So if you're a fan, then now is the time of year to load up on strawberries, raspberries and wild blueberries, or any other locally grown fruit, which will not only up the quality of your diet, but also eliminate the carbon footprint that comes with choosing more exotic fruits from overseas.
If you want to step beyond bananas and berries, however, then consider fresh or frozen peaches, melons, pineapple, oranges or mangos. Not only will they add a twist of flavour, also a blend of potentially disease-fighting nutrients, known as flavonoids, that is unique to each fruit.
THE "SUPER FRUIT"
If you're a fan of the growing number of smoothie bars popping up across North America, then you're probably familiar with the various "super fruits" that are added to pump up your drink of choice. One of the most popular is the acai (pronounced a-sigh-EE) berry, a product of the Brazilian rainforest that peaked in popularity after being featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2008. Despite a limited body of research, acai supporters argue that it is a powerful, antioxidant-rich superfood that can be useful for everything from weight loss to colon cleansing. While a number of dubious companies have sprung up selling purported acai-based weight loss products, the berry itself--like all berries -- is nutritious, even though it probably won't live up to the hype it has generated.
THE PROTEIN
If you combine fruit and ice cream or sorbet and call it a smoothie, you're probably better off calling it dessert. Not only will you be including a chunk of added sugar in your diet (which is to be expected if it is dessert, but not so much if you're using it as a meal or snack), it also lacks a source of protein, which means you are more likely to feel hungry shortly after eating it. Likewise, many of the so-called smoothie products available at grocery stores today are simply fruit purees, which means you're not only missing the protein, but they're often blended with mixture of fruit juices that simply don't have the same nutritional value as the whole fruit.
If you want to build a smoothie that will satisfy you and can serve as a meal or substantial snack, then use whole fruit whenever possible, and include a source of protein. Yogourt, milk and soy beverages are all good places to start (all three contain about eight grams of protein per cup), but you can ramp up the protein even more with a scoop of whey protein powder (one scoop of which usually provides around 20 to 25 grams of protein).
THE CALORIES
While smoothies can undoubtedly be a highly nutritious meal or snack, they can also pack a serious caloric punch if you're not careful. At the popular juice bar Booster Juice, for example, most smoothies contain between 375 and 425 calories -- enough to serve as a small meal for most people. While not an issue if you use it to replace a 600 calorie burger, it can be a problem if you pick a smoothie over ice cream or frozen yogourt, thinking you are saving yourself a few calories (most single-scoop ice cream cones contain between 250 and 300 calories, cone included).
Likewise, if you are making your own smoothie at home, then be careful not to add too many extra calories, particularly from fats and oils. While they are certainly good for you, high-fat ingredients like peanut or almond butter, flaxseed or hemp oil can pack a major caloric punch (about 90 calories per tablespoon of nut butters, or 120 calories per tablespoon of oils) that can turn your seemingly harmless drink into a caloric bonanza before you know it. The bottom line: Use careful portion control, or save the nuts for a snack instead.
http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=1788953
The Brazilian Dilemma
A nation struggles not to exploit its own greatest resource.
Seen from the height of 36,000 feet aboard a Brazilian Air Force jet, the Amazon rainforest looks tranquil as we approach our destination, the town of Tabatinga, a jungle outpost in the state of Amazonas where Brazil meets Colombia and Peru. A dark green velvet blankets the land as far as we can see through the fluffy clouds below us. The monotone is free of vehicle tracks, broken only by muddy threads of rivers flowing into the Upper Solimões, as the main branch of the mighty Amazon River is called where it enters the country on its 4,000-mile descent from the Peruvian Andes to the Atlantic.
But if this five-hour flight from São Paulo offers a glimpse of a vast and untouched Amazon, it also highlights the checkerboarding created by recent development. To reach the wilderness from the south, we first fly over countless towns, coffee and sugar cane plantations, and processing plants covering the state of São Paulo. Then the flight continues northward over immense cattle areas that lay siege to the unique, biologically diverse floodplain called the Pantanal, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Passing over Rondônia state, an hour or so before we land, we see how soybean plantations—prominent newer stars in the country’s growing array of exports—have replaced whole swaths of Amazon rainforest.
In sum, the flight gives the passenger a quick snapshot of a massive ecological dilemma. Of the original 1.5 million square miles of Brazilian Amazon forest, far and away the world’s largest, some 82 percent remains intact. This entire area, roughly the size of India, is home to only twenty-four million people and is endowed with incredible biodiversity of global significance. But it continues to give way to logging, cattle, and soy plantations.
The big question is whether this southern giant will follow the development path favored by many Brazilians, once again plundering Amazonia’s natural capital and suffering the severe consequences of deforestation. Or will it learn from unsustainable prior experience along its Atlantic coast, and resist dragging the Amazon rainforest into the same trap?
The recent news has been good. According to satellite photos taken by Brazil’s highly regarded National Institute for Space Research, deforestation rates have been dropping steadily since 2004. That was the year that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, responding to increasing pressure from the international community and a growing contingent of ecologically minded Brazilian voters, revealed the Amazon Deforestation Action Plan. The plan involves tighter controls over loggers and ranchers, including fines and even imprisonment, and the refusal of credit by official banks to farmers who are not able to document that they abide by environmental regulations. Chief among these is the Forestry Code, which requires the preservation of at least 80 percent of forest cover on Amazonian properties.
Another piece of good news is Brazil’s Amazon Fund, an innovative idea first announced by former Environment Minister Marina Silva at the United Nations climate conference in Bali in 2007. The fund, newly operational this year, collects voluntary contributions from other nations, companies, and even individuals: the government of Norway has pledged $1 billion to it, of which a first installment of $110 million was deposited at the end of March. Another $18 million is expected to come from Germany soon. Fund officials working at the National Economic and Social Development Bank, a federal agency, then channel these funds to conservation groups and projects—but only after a country-wide reduction in deforestation has been achieved and documented.
The emergence of this government-run fund, a spinoff from international discussions about Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), constitutes an advance in several important ways. First, by retaining Brazilian control over how the money is spent, the fund’s structure counters nationalist objections to receiving foreign funds in exchange for forest conservation and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Control over the national patrimony has been a strongly valued concept in Brazil ever since the bad old days of the mid-twentieth century, when foreign interests owned local electric power and oil companies. Dreams of Amazonian prosperity arouse similar feelings. Second, for the first time after decades of resistance, the fund commits Brazil to deforestation targets. The goal is to achieve an 80 percent reduction in Amazon deforestation by 2020. Third, the willingness of Norway and other countries to hand over substantial monies to Brazil, for projects chosen by Brazil only, reflects growing international confidence in the country’s ability to measure deforestation rates and select anti-
deforestation controls.
But even as Brazil pursues policies to slow deforestation, it advances others that could speed it up. In particular is the government’s $328 billion Accelerated Development Plan, an ambitious long-term national effort to strengthen Brazilian infrastructure and ties with neighboring countries by means of new highways, bridges, airfields, and electric power installations. Support for such initiatives comes from powerful farming and mining interests. Each new mile of road in the Amazon creates new opportunities to exploit the forests. Meanwhile, agribusiness leaders and sympathetic members of Congress have launched an offensive against the Forestry Code and some of its more restrictive provisions. They are, for example, trying to restore the 80 percent reserve rule in the Amazon to the 50 percent level previously required.
The bottom line: the battle is far from over when it comes to balancing Amazonian economic growth and conservation, and in Brasilia the tug of war continues. The severe effects of Amazonian deforestation on regional weather and the global climate are becoming ever better understood. The forest’s biodiversity remains impressive, and there are still countless plant and animal species yet to be analyzed for their possible benefits to all of us. Still, the reality is that if Brazilians were forced to choose today between forest and development, many would favor the latter, matching the amount of forest that has already been lost and abandoning another 18 percent or more to development, exports, and short-term prosperity for some. Most would gladly retrace the path the nation followed along the coast while eradicating the no less diverse Atlantic forest—thus replicating the fate of most of the temperate forests in the developed world.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0907.leite.html
Seen from the height of 36,000 feet aboard a Brazilian Air Force jet, the Amazon rainforest looks tranquil as we approach our destination, the town of Tabatinga, a jungle outpost in the state of Amazonas where Brazil meets Colombia and Peru. A dark green velvet blankets the land as far as we can see through the fluffy clouds below us. The monotone is free of vehicle tracks, broken only by muddy threads of rivers flowing into the Upper Solimões, as the main branch of the mighty Amazon River is called where it enters the country on its 4,000-mile descent from the Peruvian Andes to the Atlantic.
But if this five-hour flight from São Paulo offers a glimpse of a vast and untouched Amazon, it also highlights the checkerboarding created by recent development. To reach the wilderness from the south, we first fly over countless towns, coffee and sugar cane plantations, and processing plants covering the state of São Paulo. Then the flight continues northward over immense cattle areas that lay siege to the unique, biologically diverse floodplain called the Pantanal, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Passing over Rondônia state, an hour or so before we land, we see how soybean plantations—prominent newer stars in the country’s growing array of exports—have replaced whole swaths of Amazon rainforest.
In sum, the flight gives the passenger a quick snapshot of a massive ecological dilemma. Of the original 1.5 million square miles of Brazilian Amazon forest, far and away the world’s largest, some 82 percent remains intact. This entire area, roughly the size of India, is home to only twenty-four million people and is endowed with incredible biodiversity of global significance. But it continues to give way to logging, cattle, and soy plantations.
The big question is whether this southern giant will follow the development path favored by many Brazilians, once again plundering Amazonia’s natural capital and suffering the severe consequences of deforestation. Or will it learn from unsustainable prior experience along its Atlantic coast, and resist dragging the Amazon rainforest into the same trap?
The recent news has been good. According to satellite photos taken by Brazil’s highly regarded National Institute for Space Research, deforestation rates have been dropping steadily since 2004. That was the year that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, responding to increasing pressure from the international community and a growing contingent of ecologically minded Brazilian voters, revealed the Amazon Deforestation Action Plan. The plan involves tighter controls over loggers and ranchers, including fines and even imprisonment, and the refusal of credit by official banks to farmers who are not able to document that they abide by environmental regulations. Chief among these is the Forestry Code, which requires the preservation of at least 80 percent of forest cover on Amazonian properties.
Another piece of good news is Brazil’s Amazon Fund, an innovative idea first announced by former Environment Minister Marina Silva at the United Nations climate conference in Bali in 2007. The fund, newly operational this year, collects voluntary contributions from other nations, companies, and even individuals: the government of Norway has pledged $1 billion to it, of which a first installment of $110 million was deposited at the end of March. Another $18 million is expected to come from Germany soon. Fund officials working at the National Economic and Social Development Bank, a federal agency, then channel these funds to conservation groups and projects—but only after a country-wide reduction in deforestation has been achieved and documented.
The emergence of this government-run fund, a spinoff from international discussions about Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), constitutes an advance in several important ways. First, by retaining Brazilian control over how the money is spent, the fund’s structure counters nationalist objections to receiving foreign funds in exchange for forest conservation and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Control over the national patrimony has been a strongly valued concept in Brazil ever since the bad old days of the mid-twentieth century, when foreign interests owned local electric power and oil companies. Dreams of Amazonian prosperity arouse similar feelings. Second, for the first time after decades of resistance, the fund commits Brazil to deforestation targets. The goal is to achieve an 80 percent reduction in Amazon deforestation by 2020. Third, the willingness of Norway and other countries to hand over substantial monies to Brazil, for projects chosen by Brazil only, reflects growing international confidence in the country’s ability to measure deforestation rates and select anti-
deforestation controls.
But even as Brazil pursues policies to slow deforestation, it advances others that could speed it up. In particular is the government’s $328 billion Accelerated Development Plan, an ambitious long-term national effort to strengthen Brazilian infrastructure and ties with neighboring countries by means of new highways, bridges, airfields, and electric power installations. Support for such initiatives comes from powerful farming and mining interests. Each new mile of road in the Amazon creates new opportunities to exploit the forests. Meanwhile, agribusiness leaders and sympathetic members of Congress have launched an offensive against the Forestry Code and some of its more restrictive provisions. They are, for example, trying to restore the 80 percent reserve rule in the Amazon to the 50 percent level previously required.
The bottom line: the battle is far from over when it comes to balancing Amazonian economic growth and conservation, and in Brasilia the tug of war continues. The severe effects of Amazonian deforestation on regional weather and the global climate are becoming ever better understood. The forest’s biodiversity remains impressive, and there are still countless plant and animal species yet to be analyzed for their possible benefits to all of us. Still, the reality is that if Brazilians were forced to choose today between forest and development, many would favor the latter, matching the amount of forest that has already been lost and abandoning another 18 percent or more to development, exports, and short-term prosperity for some. Most would gladly retrace the path the nation followed along the coast while eradicating the no less diverse Atlantic forest—thus replicating the fate of most of the temperate forests in the developed world.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0907.leite.html
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
NEW Jungle Love and Diet Amazon Energy
Sambazon has launched two new flavors of the Amazon Energy beverage you all know and love.
First off, they have added a lighter alternative - Amazon Energy Diet.
A touch of organic stevia (no artificial sweetener here) gives this energy drink all the flavor you want without the burden of unwanted sugars and calories.
Boasting only 40 calories and 9 grams of sugar per serving, this diet puts a guilt free spring in your step. And Sambazon's Amazon Energy Jungle Love and Diet are launching nationwide.
Second, Jungle Love is added to the mix. For this unique beverage, start with açaí, and add powerful love herbs and rainforest botanicals like guarana and yerba mate, giving you an organic passion potion that goes way beyond giving you an energy boost.
Jungle Love delivers 1000mg Jungle LoveTM Herb Blend per can including maca, catuaba, damiana, and passion flower.
Like original, Diet and Jungle Love don't skimp on the antioxidants and also deliver over 200% of your daily vitamin C and 80mg of natural caffeine per can.
First off, they have added a lighter alternative - Amazon Energy Diet.
A touch of organic stevia (no artificial sweetener here) gives this energy drink all the flavor you want without the burden of unwanted sugars and calories.
Boasting only 40 calories and 9 grams of sugar per serving, this diet puts a guilt free spring in your step. And Sambazon's Amazon Energy Jungle Love and Diet are launching nationwide.
Second, Jungle Love is added to the mix. For this unique beverage, start with açaí, and add powerful love herbs and rainforest botanicals like guarana and yerba mate, giving you an organic passion potion that goes way beyond giving you an energy boost.
Jungle Love delivers 1000mg Jungle LoveTM Herb Blend per can including maca, catuaba, damiana, and passion flower.
Like original, Diet and Jungle Love don't skimp on the antioxidants and also deliver over 200% of your daily vitamin C and 80mg of natural caffeine per can.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ready for Business in the Amazon
FIAM 2009 - Amazon International Fair (Feira Internacional da Amazonia), will take place once more take in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas State, from November 25 to 28, 2009. It will be the largest display of products, services, and business opportunities in the Brazilian Amazon region this year.
FIAM is sponsored by the SUFRAMA (Superintendence of Manaus Free Trade Zone), an independent institution linked to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. It is part of the Brazilian government official event schedule, and is aimed at fostering economic, social, scientific and technological developments, in addition to sustainability proposals for the Amazon.
Right now, you need to start getting ready to visit this show. November is at hand for those of you that need to plan an international trip, right? You may read more about the show at Suframa’s web site in Portuguese, English or Spanish here.
So in four months, next November, FIAM 2009 will take place in the heart of the Amazon rainforest? Manaus. To help out I interviewed Mr. Jorge Vasques, responsible for the organization of FIAM and at present the manager of the “Nucleo de Promocao Comercial at Suframa” in Manaus.
Dear Mr. Vasques, thank you very much for granting us this special interview. First, why people should come to FIAM 2009?
Vasques: In all approximately 300 booths of both companies and government institutions will be exhibiting products and services. Also during the show a series of academic and scientific events will take place, business rounds and also tourism. So this is an exceptional time to come to Manaus and check all the potential and business opportunities offered in the Brazilian Amazon.
Besides exhibiting innovative products and services in areas such as the electronics, information-technologies, and automobile industries, as well as environmental services, FIAM 2009 will also include several international seminars to discuss strategic regional issues, as well as business and tourism in round-table sessions, projects rooms, scientific exhibitions, technically-oriented visits, among other activities, for both investors and the general public.
Regarding the show itself and also accommodation in the city of Manaus, what can the exhibitor and the visitor expect?
Vasques: The attractions of the state of Amazonas are countless. Manaus is a city with almost two million inhabitants in the middle of the rain forest. Manaus has an excellent network of hotels of all categories and rates. Visitors may check Amazonastur website here. It offers all the necessary information.
What was the volume of business generated during the last fair?
Vasques: Fiam 2008 Business Rounds have generated something closed to US$ 10 million in business immediately, with excellent prospects for other major businesses over the medium and long term in the field of regional products such as herbal and fruit cosmetics derived from plants, flowers and fruits of region, including the already famous acai; craft pieces made from natural fibers, boxes for packing wine made from recycled wood fiber, seed and vegetable peelings. Moreover, companies in the Industrial Pole of Manaus also made great business, but these numbers are considered confidential by them.
Who should definitely come to visit or exhibit products and services at FIAM 2009?
All entrepreneurs wishing to visit the event may contact the coordinators of the event via e-mail: fiam@suframa.gov.br. Only businesses located in one of nine states of the Brazilian Amazon (Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins, Maranhao, Para and Mato Grosso) may expose the International Fair of the Amazon. Visitors are all very well received, and on the 25th and 26th only special guests will have access to the exhibit. On the other two days 27th and 28th, the Fair will open to the public.
Why are so many companies attracted to Manaus?
By granting tax incentives, areas for installation of plants have exceptionally low prices, good logistics, a nice city, safe and with good infrastructure, universities, research centers and a huge field for investment, with competitive advantages to meet the large Brazilian market, South American neighbors and other countries such as North America and Europe, great importers of our products. The 550 plants in operation meet more than $6 billion in total investments focused on production. Together, these companies still produce around 500 thousand direct and indirect jobs. In the area of bioindustry, the Center for Biotechnology of the Amazon (CBA) has been an important partner for the development of this segment, which is in the Amazonian biodiversity vast source of wealth. Thus, investing in the Industrial Pole of Manaus (PIM) is part of a regional development model of success that contributes to the preservation of the Amazon forest.
Is FIAM a doorway for companies interested in Brazil, how and why?
The International Fair of the Amazon is the largest showcase of Amazon's businesses. It is certainly an attractive alternative for companies to invest in Brazil, and for investors to have access to products manufactured in the region. Come to Manaus and we will be glad to welcome any visitor and provide at the very least, a great experience visiting Brazil and the Amazon region.
Very nice and what help foreign exhibitors and visitors may receive from Suframa?
In addition to the information in our website by e-mail and telephone, the staff of the Center for Trade Promotion SUFRAMA is available to provide all information requested. These services will be available from now and throughout the event.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=385415&rel_no=1
FIAM is sponsored by the SUFRAMA (Superintendence of Manaus Free Trade Zone), an independent institution linked to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. It is part of the Brazilian government official event schedule, and is aimed at fostering economic, social, scientific and technological developments, in addition to sustainability proposals for the Amazon.
Right now, you need to start getting ready to visit this show. November is at hand for those of you that need to plan an international trip, right? You may read more about the show at Suframa’s web site in Portuguese, English or Spanish here.
So in four months, next November, FIAM 2009 will take place in the heart of the Amazon rainforest? Manaus. To help out I interviewed Mr. Jorge Vasques, responsible for the organization of FIAM and at present the manager of the “Nucleo de Promocao Comercial at Suframa” in Manaus.
Dear Mr. Vasques, thank you very much for granting us this special interview. First, why people should come to FIAM 2009?
Vasques: In all approximately 300 booths of both companies and government institutions will be exhibiting products and services. Also during the show a series of academic and scientific events will take place, business rounds and also tourism. So this is an exceptional time to come to Manaus and check all the potential and business opportunities offered in the Brazilian Amazon.
Besides exhibiting innovative products and services in areas such as the electronics, information-technologies, and automobile industries, as well as environmental services, FIAM 2009 will also include several international seminars to discuss strategic regional issues, as well as business and tourism in round-table sessions, projects rooms, scientific exhibitions, technically-oriented visits, among other activities, for both investors and the general public.
Regarding the show itself and also accommodation in the city of Manaus, what can the exhibitor and the visitor expect?
Vasques: The attractions of the state of Amazonas are countless. Manaus is a city with almost two million inhabitants in the middle of the rain forest. Manaus has an excellent network of hotels of all categories and rates. Visitors may check Amazonastur website here. It offers all the necessary information.
What was the volume of business generated during the last fair?
Vasques: Fiam 2008 Business Rounds have generated something closed to US$ 10 million in business immediately, with excellent prospects for other major businesses over the medium and long term in the field of regional products such as herbal and fruit cosmetics derived from plants, flowers and fruits of region, including the already famous acai; craft pieces made from natural fibers, boxes for packing wine made from recycled wood fiber, seed and vegetable peelings. Moreover, companies in the Industrial Pole of Manaus also made great business, but these numbers are considered confidential by them.
Who should definitely come to visit or exhibit products and services at FIAM 2009?
All entrepreneurs wishing to visit the event may contact the coordinators of the event via e-mail: fiam@suframa.gov.br. Only businesses located in one of nine states of the Brazilian Amazon (Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins, Maranhao, Para and Mato Grosso) may expose the International Fair of the Amazon. Visitors are all very well received, and on the 25th and 26th only special guests will have access to the exhibit. On the other two days 27th and 28th, the Fair will open to the public.
Why are so many companies attracted to Manaus?
By granting tax incentives, areas for installation of plants have exceptionally low prices, good logistics, a nice city, safe and with good infrastructure, universities, research centers and a huge field for investment, with competitive advantages to meet the large Brazilian market, South American neighbors and other countries such as North America and Europe, great importers of our products. The 550 plants in operation meet more than $6 billion in total investments focused on production. Together, these companies still produce around 500 thousand direct and indirect jobs. In the area of bioindustry, the Center for Biotechnology of the Amazon (CBA) has been an important partner for the development of this segment, which is in the Amazonian biodiversity vast source of wealth. Thus, investing in the Industrial Pole of Manaus (PIM) is part of a regional development model of success that contributes to the preservation of the Amazon forest.
Is FIAM a doorway for companies interested in Brazil, how and why?
The International Fair of the Amazon is the largest showcase of Amazon's businesses. It is certainly an attractive alternative for companies to invest in Brazil, and for investors to have access to products manufactured in the region. Come to Manaus and we will be glad to welcome any visitor and provide at the very least, a great experience visiting Brazil and the Amazon region.
Very nice and what help foreign exhibitors and visitors may receive from Suframa?
In addition to the information in our website by e-mail and telephone, the staff of the Center for Trade Promotion SUFRAMA is available to provide all information requested. These services will be available from now and throughout the event.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=385415&rel_no=1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
