location: Atlantic Forest

location: Atlantic Forest

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‘Our rights are on trial in Brazil’: Interview with Indigenous movement pioneer Brasílio Priprá
- In an interview with Mongabay, Brasílio Priprá, one of the pioneers of the Free Land Camp, the largest event of the Brazilian Indigenous movement, looks back on its 20 years of existence.
- Priprá, who has been active in the Indigenous movement for 40 years, has seen few changes, but enough to keep fighting for his rights.
- Land demarcation has been the main demand over the two decades of the Free Land Camp. Since 2019, marco temporal, a legal thesis that aims to restrict Indigenous land rights, has made this demand more pressing.
- Priprá shares his thoughts on the impacts of marco temporal on Indigenous rights, Brazil’s environmental goals and the future of the country for all citizens.

How to reward tropical forest conservation: Interview with Tasso Azevedo
- A new initiative led by Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment plans to financially reward conservationists of the planet’s tropical forests.
- In an interview with Mongabay, one of the system’s creators, Tasso Azevedo, details the financial instrument, called Tropical Forests Forever.
- Countries that join the system will receive a fixed amount for each hectare of forest preserved or recovered, but the amount will be deducted if they allow deforestation.
- The Brazilian government estimates that $250 billion is needed to kickstart the operation.

Outcry as Brazil Congress overrides president to revive anti-Indigenous law
- Brazil’s Congress has pushed through a new law that includes several anti-Indigenous measures that strip back land rights and open traditional territories to mining and agribusiness.
- It includes the controversial time frame thesis, requiring Indigenous populations to prove they physically occupied their land on Oct. 5 1988, the day of the promulgation of the Federal Constitution; failure to provide such evidence will nullify demarcated land.
- The decision provoked outrage among activists, who say the new law is the biggest setback for Indigenous rights in Brazil in decades.
- Both President Lula and the Supreme Court have previously called the measures in the bill unconstitutional and against public interests, and Indigenous organizations announced they will challenge the law.

‘Lost’ Brazilian holly tree species found again after nearly 200 years
- After nearly 200 years without a confirmed sighting, a rare Brazilian tree species called the Pernambuco holly has been found in northeastern Brazil.
- The team located four trees, two male and two female, in a forest fragment near a sugarcane plantation in the metropolitan region of the city of Recife.
- The trees live in an area that was once Atlantic Forest, but now less than 7% of its original forest biome remains, mostly in small fragments.
- Researchers plan to search for more trees, protect the rediscovered site, and collect seeds for germination, but say these efforts will be costly.

Translocation is a viable option for Brazil’s threatened porcupines: Study
- Brazil’s thin-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus) is a picky eater that lives only in dense coastal habitats with well-developed canopies that allow the animals to move between trees; however, these habitats are increasingly under threat due to coastal development.
- Researchers used radio telemetry to monitor three porcupines that had been translocated to a new, permanent preservation area, as well as one local resident; they determined that translocation is a viable conservation tool for protecting these animals.
- The research also highlights the importance of conserving the porcupines’ restinga forest habitat and its unique features.

Wild pigs threaten biodiversity hotspots across South America, study shows
- New research shows that the expanding range of wild pigs across South America poses a greater threat to protected areas and biodiversity hotspots than previously thought.
- A study published in the Journal for Nature Conservation indicates that significant portions of South America’s most biologically diverse places harbor habitats that can sustain wild pigs, with the Atlantic Forest topping the list, as 85% of its total terrain is deemed suitable for the animals.
- The increasing presence of wild pigs presents challenges for conservationists as well as local residents, whose crops are often destroyed as the pigs become accustomed to eating human foods.
- Researchers stress that scientists, local communities and managers of protected areas must work together to find appropriate means of controlling the wild pig populations.

Reconnecting ‘island habitat’ with wild corridors in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- This three-part Mongabay mini-series examines grassroots forest restoration projects carried out within isolated island ecosystems — whether those islands are surrounded by ocean as on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, or cloud forest mountaintop habitat encircled by lowlands in Costa Rica, or forest patches hemmed in by human development in Brazil.
- Reforestation of degraded island habitat is a first step toward restoring biodiversity made rare by isolation, and to mitigating climate threats. Though limited in size, island habitats can be prime candidates for reforestation because extinctions are typically much higher on isolated habitat islands than in more extensive ecosystems.
- Scientists mostly agree that the larger the forest island habitat, the greater its biodiversity, and the more resilient that forest system will be against climate change. Forests also store more carbon than degraded lands, and add moisture to soil and the atmosphere as a hedge against warming-intensified drought.
- The projects featured in this series are small in size, but if scaled up could become big forest nature-based climate solutions. In this third story, the NGO Saving Nature works to create wild corridors to reconnect fragmented patches of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

Restoration turns pastures into wildlife haven in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- After centuries of intensive deforestation, experts say fragmentation and degradation are worse in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest than in the Amazon.
- Experts say restoration can complement primary forest conservation by helping to reconnect fragments of original forest and to bring back lost biodiversity.
- The nonprofit Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve conserves 12,000 hectares (29,652 acres) of Atlantic Forest in the Guapiaçu River Basin, protecting both the environment and the water supply of 2.5 million people.
- In two decades, the nonprofit has planted 750,000 trees, seen a return of hundreds of birds, and reintroduced the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) to Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 100 years.

Restore linked habitat to protect tropical amphibians from disease: Study
- Amphibians across the tropics are facing a global decline, with disease caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) playing an especially significant role in losses.
- According to recent research, “habitat split” — when different types of habitat, such as terrestrial and freshwater areas, become separated — could play a role in exacerbating disease, potentially altering species’ microbiomes and weakening amphibian resistance.
- According to the study, an amphibian’s journey through altered habitat to complete its life cycle can change the composition of its microbiome (the bacterial makeup of the skin); induce chronic stress; and reduce immune gene diversity — all of which can impact disease resistance.
- Though further studies are needed, this research may offer another persuasive reason to actively restore and reconnect habitats, helping to “prime” amphibian immune systems against disease. There is also a possibility that habitat split findings among amphibians could extend to other families of animals.

Trouble in the tropics: The terrestrial insects of Brazil are in decline
- New research from Brazil shows terrestrial insects there are declining both in abundance and diversity, while aquatic insects are largely staying steady.
- Given a dearth of long-term data on tropical insects, the scientists took creative means to collect data, including contacting 150 experts for their unpublished data.
- Scientists believe the usual global suspects are behind Brazil’s insect decline: habitat destruction, pesticide use, and climate change.
- Experts say tropical countries need more resources, including long-term funding, to discover with greater certainty what’s happening to insects there. Large-scale insect loss threatens many of Earth’s ecological services, including waste recycling, helping to build fertile soils, pollinating plants, and providing prey for numerous other species.

The Fixers: Top U.S. flooring retailers linked to Brazilian firm probed for corruption
- New evidence uncovered by a yearlong investigation by Mongabay and Earthsight reveals the corrupt deals made by Brazil’s largest flooring exporter, Indusparquet, and its suppliers.
- The company was charged in two corruption lawsuits in Brazil over its use of public officials to gain access to timber supplies. Mongabay and Earthsight gained access to dozens of hours of wiretaps and video footage, along with thousands of pages of court records, revealing how the alleged bribery schemes were carried out.
- One of the court cases showed the company used a local official to secure the supply of bracatinga, a tree species native to the Atlantic Forest, for an unnamed “U.S. client.”
- We also found indications that the American client was Floor & Decor, America’s largest flooring retail chain, which was previously involved in illegal timber scandals with Indusparquet, while LL Flooring, fined for breaching the Lacey Act in 2013 over its illegal timber exports, is also an Indusparquet client.

Pumpkin toadlets can’t jump: The frog that gave up balance for size
- Pumpkin toadlets are very bad at jumping, often losing balance mid-air and crash landing awkwardly.
- Researchers have determined that this is due to the size of their inner ear canals, the area of the body that regulates balance and orientation: their semicircular ear canals are the smallest recorded in vertebrates.
- The toadlets live in the leaf litter of Brazil’s Atlantic forest, where being small enough to burrow is an advantage.
- But the frogs are so small that the balancing mechanisms in their ears can’t respond to quick movements, resulting in some ungraceful antics.

GM fish engineered to glow in the dark are found in Brazil creeks
- A recent study shows that genetically modified zebrafish, known as GloFish, have been found and are breeding in creeks in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
- GloFish, which are genetically engineered for fluorescence, are advertised for sale online in Brazil, even though they’ve been banned there since 2017.
- Brazilian biologists have called for measures to prevent these fish from escaping fish farms and entering into local bodies of water, where they compete with native species for food.
- But a U.S biologist whose own research showed that GloFish fail to compete reproductively against wild-type zebrafish says this new paper is “almost a study about nothing” and was published only because it was “sensational.”

In Brazil, a forest community fights to remain on its traditional land
- Traditional communities living within the limits of the Jureia-Itatins Ecological Station, a formally protected area in São Paulo state, are expecting a crucial ruling to decide whether they can remain on their traditionally occupied land.
- These communities, known as Caiçaras, were established centuries ago along the southern coastline of Brazil, but the state forestry foundation, which manages the protected area, demolished the houses of some inhabitants in 2019, alleging violations of the strong restrictions on human activity it had imposed.
- The ensuing legal battle has seen the Caiçara families win a decision to be allowed to rebuild their homes, but this was overturned just days later on environmental concerns raised by the forest foundation.
- However, several studies show that the presence of these communities in conservation areas helps protect biodiversity instead of destroying it, and other Brazilian government agencies already recognize the need to work with traditional communities as the best “guardians of the forest.”

Brazil’s agroforestry farmers report many benefits, but challenges remain
- Researchers asked agroforestry and conventional smallholder farmers in São Paulo state, Brazil for their views on the benefits of agroforestry — a farming technique that combines native vegetation with fruit trees, crops and sometimes livestock — and what they see as the barriers to switching.
- Consistent with benefits identified in past ecological studies, agroforestry farmers ranked bird abundance and soil moisture higher than conventional farmers and reported that trees on their farms cooled the air and reduced storm damage. These farmers were also more likely to be self-sufficient.
- Many smallholders who still rely on conventional crop and cattle monocultures say a lack of knowledge is holding them back from switching over to agroforestry, but technical support and environmental education could encourage them to adopt this restorative approach.
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s laser focus on offering support for large-scale commercial agribusiness has left smallholder farmers lacking in financial and technical assistance to make the switch to agroforestry. It also limits their access to markets for their diverse harvests.

Math campus multiplies threats to Rio de Janeiro’s dwindling Atlantic Forest
- A plan to create a new mathematics campus with student accommodation in Rio de Janeiro is being challenged by residents as it calls for the removal of 255 trees in a patch of the already severely diminished Atlantic Forest.
- A study shows the construction site sits on a slope that poses a high geological risk, leaving residents worried about flooding and landslides in an area already affected by intense rainfall.
- Experts say there are irregularities in the licensing granted to the construction, and environmental laws are not being respected.
- The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), which is building the new campus, says all its licenses are in order, that it will reforest the area, and that the educational and social benefits will be worth it.

Meet the kitten-sized, clown-faced monkey that’s leaping toward extinction
- The buffy-headed marmoset is down to no more than 2,500 individuals scattered across dwindling patches of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
- It faces a range of threats, from yellow fever to climate change, but the biggest one is hybridization with other marmoset species released into its habitat from the pet trade.
- Conservationists working to save the species warn that populations are declining rapidly, with little funding for studies or captive-breeding programs, and a lack of political will under the current government to act urgently.
- One possible conservation solution is to establish “safe haven” forests for unmixed buffy-headed marmosets that will exclude hybrid animals, but this will difficult and costly, experts say.

Soy and cattle team up to drive deforestation in South America: Study
- Between 2000 and 2019, the production of soybean in South America has doubled, covering an area larger than the state of California.
- Soybean farms are typically planted in old cattle pastures, and as soy encroaches, pasture is forced into new frontiers, driving deforestation and fires.
- Although soy was found to be largely an indirect driver of deforestation, policies addressing deforestation have to consider multiple commodities at once, such as the relationship between beef and soy.
- Increased commitments by companies to source from “zero-deforestation” supply chains are a promising strategy, but in order to work, the market needs to be more transparent.

With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty
- As lawmakers tussle over the future of Indigenous land rights in Brazil’s capital, Indigenous people in a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state are fending off attacks and threats by settlers who reject their ancestral land rights over the territory.
- Settlers opposed to the recognition of the Tekohá Dje’y Indigenous Reserve yanked off a new identification plaque marking the reserve, threatened Indigenous leaders and tried to run residents over with a vehicle, the community alleges.
- The Indigenous group in Paraty, a municipality a four-hour drive from Rio’s capital, blames farmers and land grabbers for the attacks and for not recognizing their rights to the land; the community says authorities are not doing enough to protect them from attacks.
- The attacks come amid ongoing violence in the Yanomami and Munduruku reserves, where illegal miners have invaded Indigenous lands in search of gold. Indigenous groups are protesting in Brasília this week against a host of anti-Indigenous bills that could weaken land rights and legalize the mining.

Fruit-eating, seed-pooping animals can help restore degraded forests
- Restoring degraded forests can be expensive and complicated, but Brazilian researchers may have a simple technique to add to the restoration toolbox: enlisting fruit-eating animals to spread seeds.
- A new study shows that many species of mammals and birds will consume seeds inserted into fruits at feeders and then excrete the seeds over wide areas.
- This novel proof-of-concept study highlights the importance of plant and animal interactions to restore the natural ecology of forests people have destroyed or degraded.

Indigenous agroforestry revives profitable palm trees and the Atlantic Forest
- Highly popular in Brazil because of its delicious heart, the jussara palm was eaten nearly to the brink of extinction.
- The Indigenous Guarani people from the São Paulo coast are traditional consumers of jussara palm hearts, and decided to reverse the loss by planting thousands of palm trees inside their reserve.
- With more than 100,000 jussara palms planted since 2008, the community now sells hearts and seedlings to tourists and beach house owners. The next step is to start extracting the pulp from jussara berries — similar to açaí berries, the popular superfood — which the group hopes will generate enough income to keep the palm trees standing.
- The palms grow among native trees in an ancient and increasingly popular agricultural technique called agroforestry, which combines woody trees with shrubs, vines, and annuals, in a system that benefits wildlife, builds water tables and soil, provides food, and sequesters carbon.

Marmosets trafficked as pets now threaten native species in Atlantic forest
- Decades of illegal trafficking have led to the movement of marmosets from Brazil’s Cerrado and Caatinga biomes into the southeastern Atlantic rainforest, where they now threaten the survival of native species.
- According to a study, the invasive marmosets crossbreed with native species, producing a hybrid population that could lead to the extinction of the endemic species.
- One of the native Atlantic rainforest species, the buffy-tufted-ear marmoset (Callithrix aurita), is one of the world’s 25 most endangered primate species.

Brazilian frog believed ‘extinct’ for 50+ years, found with eDNA testing
- A Brazilian frog species, Megaelosia bocainensis, thought to have gone extinct in 1968 has been found with eDNA testing, which picks up the traces of environmental DNA that are left behind by living organisms in soil, water and air.
- The missing frog’s eDNA was detected in the Atlantic Forest biome in Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina, its last known habitat in São Paulo state, Brazil.
- The researchers used metabarcoding — a form of rapid DNA sequencing — in order to monitor entire communities, rather than only specific rare target species.
- The innovative highly sensitive eDNA sampling technique provides a valuable tool for conservation scientists to evaluate the status of threatened species and to confirm the presence of species that are difficult to monitor and often go undetected using traditional methods.

Housing project puts São Paulo’s remaining Atlantic Forest at risk
- São Paulo gave Tenda construction company a permit to cut down 528 trees, part of native Atlantic forest in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It felled 522 trees on Jan. 30. In response, the Guarani Mbya people established a vigil to prevent more of what they call “environmental crime.”
- Tenda’s lot directly adjoins the Jaraguá indigenous reserve with 620 Guarani inhabitants. The Guarani charge that international law dictates their prior consultation, and demand an immediate environmental impact study with an indigenous component.
- Since January 30, the Guarani have maintained a vigil at the entrance of Tenda’s lot to prevent workers from entering and cutting down more trees; a public hearing on the subject is scheduled for May 6.

The next great threat to Brazil’s golden lion tamarin: Yellow fever
- Once critically endangered due to extremely high levels of poaching, the golden lion tamarin — a primate endemic to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest — was down to just a few hundred by the 1980s, holding out in forest fragments 80 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro city. Intensive conservation efforts restored that number to 3,700 by 2014.
- But now, yellow fever, transferred from people via mosquitoes, is putting the tamarin’s recovery at risk. In May 2018, the first tamarin death due to yellow fever was recorded in the wild following an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease across Brazil. An astonishing 32% of the population has disappeared in the year since.
- Dr. Carlos Ruiz, President of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association, told Mongabay that the disease could set back conservation efforts thirty years. However, another Brazilian researcher is pioneering a possible yellow fever vaccine for the primate. The approval application is currently being considered by the Brazilian government.
- While trafficking continues, that risk has been much reduced. Experts today believe that a combination of climate change and deforestation (drastically reducing tamarin habitat) is largely driving the devastating yellow fever epidemic.

A new mantis species rises from the ashes of Brazil’s National Museum
- Researchers have described a new species of praying mantis from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, adding to the 250 known mantis species native to the country.
- The new species, Vates phoenix, belongs to a genus previously only known to occur in the Amazon.
- The researchers named it in honor of the National Museum of Brazil, which caught fire in September of 2018, leading to the destruction of 20 million items, including part of the entomological collection.
- Months earlier, the researchers had borrowed mantis specimens from that very collection to help them confirm that they indeed had a new species.

On the prowl: Jaguar population rises in Iguazú Falls region
- After almost losing its jaguar population in the early 2000s, the Atlantic Forest area between Brazil and Argentina has seen the number of the big cats more than double to 105.
- It’s the only place in South America that has registered an increase in the jaguar population, thanks to joint law enforcement by Brazil and Argentina to tackle poaching, and planting of camera traps by researchers, which deter would-be poachers.
- Changing agricultural trends have also helped: livestock ranching used to be the predominant farming activity in the area, but the jaguars would prey on the cattle and sheep, prompting ranchers to kill them in retaliation.
- In the past decade, soybean and corn crops have taken the place of ranching, reducing conflicts between jaguars and farmers.

Extinct in the wild, a Brazilian bird makes a tentative return to the jungle
- Three pairs of Alagoas curassows (Pauxi mitu) were reintroduced in September in a 980-hectare (2,400-acre) area of the Atlantic Forest in the Brazilian state of Alagoas, more than three decades after being declared extinct in the wild due to hunting and habitat loss.
- The feat is the culmination of a project started in 1979, when a businessman rescued five of the remaining individuals of the species from a forest area that was about to be cleared.
- Kept in captivity, these birds and their offspring went on to spawn the nearly 100 Alagoas curassows that exist in Brazil today.
- The six birds released in the wild will be monitored with GPS tags to see how well they adapt to finding food and shelter, breeding, and evading predators in the wild; if they succeed, the plan is to introduce three more pairs a year into the wild until 2024.

Brazil adds deforestation monitoring for all biomes, so long as money lasts
- Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has long monitored the Amazon rainforest biome for deforestation; in 2014 the agency gained funding from the World Bank to pay for similar monitoring in Brazil’s Cerrado savanna biome, which is fast seeing its native vegetation converted to crop and pasture by industrial agribusiness.
- However, the government and others sources failed to fund monitoring in Brazil’s other four biomes — the Pantanal, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga and Pampa. Then, in 2018, the Amazon Fund (which is largely backed financially by Norway), allotted R$ 49.8 million (US$ 12.1 million) to perform deforestation monitoring in all Brazil’s biomes.
- That appropriation is expected to last until 2022. After that, funding again becomes uncertain, because at present Norway has frozen all Amazon Fund financing for future projects in protest over Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental policies.
- The first data sets for the four additional biomes (tracking forest loss between 2016 and 2019), are due to be released in December 2019. Annual reports will be published from 2020 forward.

Amazon fires trigger protests worldwide
- Tens of thousands of active fires are ravaging the Brazilian Amazon in recent weeks, sparking protests in cities across Brazil and around the world, urging effective action from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro to contain fires in the world’s largest rainforest.
- On August 23, demonstrators blocked off roads, shouting slogans and holding placards reading: “Stop killing our Amazon” in cities that included São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, London, Geneva, Paris, Berlin and Toronto. Protesters also demanded Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles to resign.
- An online petition in the UK asked the European Union to sanction Brazil for its increased deforestation. Within a day, it collected over 65,000 signatures. If it reaches the 100,000 signatures mark, the petition will be considered for debate in Parliament.
- French President Emmanuel Macron also have called for emergency talks at the G7 summit in Biarritz to discuss the record number of fires, calling the situation an international crisis and gaining the support of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Germany cuts $39.5 million in environmental funding to Brazil
- Germany has announced plans to withdraw some €35 million (US $39.5 million) to Brazil due to the country’s lack of commitment to curbing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest shown by the administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
- The funding loss will impact environmental projects in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.
- The cut will not, however, impact the Amazon Fund — a pool of some $87 million provided to Brazil each year by developed nations, especially Norway and Germany — to finance a variety of programs aimed at halting deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Some experts have expressed concern that Germany’s $39.5 million cut could cause other developed nations to withdraw Brazil funding, and even threaten the Amazon Fund, or the ratification of the recently concluded EU/Mercosur Latin American trade agreement.

Deforestation drops in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, but risks remain: experts
- A joint report from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and NGO Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica based on satellite imaging shows an annual reduction of 9.3 percent in deforested areas in the Mata Atlântica, the country’s most endangered biome.
- The cleared area in 17 Atlantic Forest states between October 2017 and April 2018 totaled 11,399 hectares (28,167 acres), which is 1,163 hectares (2,874 acres) less than over the same period a year earlier.
- However, intense pressure from agribusiness and the real estate market continues placing the Mata Atlântica’s ecosystems under threat, risks that include ongoing deforestation, losses in biodiversity, and potential extinction of species, experts warn.

Brazil sees growing wave of anti-indigenous threats, reserve invasions
- At least 14 indigenous reserves have been invaded or threatened with invasion, according to Repórter Brasil, an online news service and Mongabay media partner. Threats and acts of violence against indigenous communities appear to have escalated significantly since President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office.
- Indigenous leaders say Bolsonaro’s incendiary language against indigenous people has helped incite that violence, though the government denies this, with one official saying the administration will “stop the illegality.” Indigenous leaders point out that, so far, the government has failed to provide significant law enforcement assistance in the crisis
- Among recent threats and attacks: a top indigenous leader, Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva of the Tupinambá people, claims to have detected a plot by large-scale landowners and military and civilian police to murder him and his family. The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau and Karipuna reserves in Rondônia state have been invaded by land grabbers and illegal loggers.
- Another five indigenous territories near the city of Altamira in Pará state have also reportedly been invaded.

Massive loss of mammal species in Atlantic Forest since the 1500s
- A new study examined the loss of mammal species in the Atlantic Forest, which is currently only about 13 percent of its historical size.
- Forest clearing for agriculture, along with hunting, has cut the number of species living at specific sites throughout the forest by an average of more than 70 percent.
- The researchers call for increased restoration efforts in the Atlantic Forest to provide habitat and allow the recovery of these species.

Pleistocene climates help scientists pick out targets for conservation in Brazil’s forests
- A team of scientists looked for places in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest that have had stable weather patterns for a long time — going back to the Pleistocene Epoch — but that don’t fall within the boundaries of existing parks or reserves.
- They measured the efficiency of the current network of protected areas in these areas, and they also came up with a prioritization scale for conservation efforts that incorporated the locations of intact forest landscapes.
- The team reports that protected areas in the Amazon are four times as efficient at safeguarding these “climatically stable areas” as protected areas in the Atlantic Forest.

Carbon pricing could save millions of hectares of tropical forest: new study
- Recently published research in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that setting a price of $20 per metric ton (about $18/short ton) of carbon dioxide could diminish deforestation by nearly 16 percent and the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by nearly 25 percent.
- The pair of economists calculated that, as things currently stand, the world stands to lose an India-size chunk of tropical forest by 2050.
- In addition to carbon pricing, stricter policies to halt deforestation, such as those that helped Brazil cut its deforestation rate by 80 percent in the early 2000s, could save nearly 1 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles).

Betting on agroforestry in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- Guapiruvu is a rural neighborhood in the Vale do Ribeira, home to the largest remaining stretch of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, and listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
- The area has implemented a sustainable development plan, with many farmers opting for organic agriculture and agroforestry since they can sell their produce at a 30 percent premium.
- This system grows bananas in combination with “pé de ata” (Annona squamosa) and juçara, an endangered species endemic to the region.
- This is the second feature in a year-long series on agroforestry, an increasingly popular solution to challenges like climate change, food insecurity, and the biodiversity crisis. Agroforestry systems cover over a billion hectares of land worldwide.

Dogs, dung, and DNA: mapping multi-species corridors to conserve threatened carnivores
- Researchers enlisted dog sniffing power to locate the scat of five threatened carnivores across an increasingly fragmented Atlantic Forest landscape and identified the animals’ species through genetic analysis.
- The ability to collect and distinguish scat of jaguars, pumas, ocelots, oncillas, and bush dogs enabled the scientists to develop spatial models for species-specific movement corridors that connect the region’s protected areas.
- The researchers combined these species presence models with habitat and human factors to map and propose effective least-cost, multi-species biological corridors.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest increased almost 60 percent in the last year
- The Atlantic Forest is one of the richest and most threatened biomes in the world, but only 15 percent of its original extent is preserved.
- Although the Atlantic Forest extends over 17 Brazilian states, four of them account for 90 percent of the losses.
- Recent changes in legislation and the expansion of agribusiness are noted as among main drivers of deforestation.

In Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, conservation efforts drown in a sea of eucalyptus
- Since 2001, Brazil has almost doubled its area of protected land without increasing its conservation budget.
- In the central corridor of the Atlantic Forest, protected areas are scattered among large extensions of eucalyptus monocultures maintained by pulp companies.
- With limited resources and facing powerful companies, those in charge of protected areas are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

62M ha of Latin American forests cleared for agriculture since 2001

Forest conversion for agriculture in Colombia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Over 62 million hectares (240,000 square miles) of forest across Latin America — an area roughly the size of Texas or the United Kingdom — were cleared for new croplands and pastureland between 2001 and 2013, find a study published in Environmental Research Letters. […]
Newly discovered Brazilian bird may number fewer than 10 individuals

The cryptic treehunter lives the in highly threatened Atlantic forest, but researchers hold out hope that more might be found. The cryptic treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti). Photoart by Rolf Grantsau. In October 2002, a team of ornithologists at Murici in northeastern Brazil observed and recorded the call of a bird. At that time, the team believed […]
Endangered forests shrink as demand for soy rises

Researchers devise new method to track soy consumption Rainforest fragments in a sea of soyfields in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Sitting down at my favorite restaurant I decide to order a stir-fry loaded up with fresh vegetables and noodles. Choosing the more eco-friendly route, I opt for soy in my food, […]
Scientists reintroduce agoutis in rainforest in city of 12 million

One of the female reintroduced agoutis with a radio collar. Photo by: Rui Salaverry. When one thinks of Rio de Janeiro, one usually doesn’t think: rainforest. However, in the heart of the city sits a massive rainforest sprung over long-gone sugar and coffee plantations. The forest—protected today as the Tijuca National Park—is home to hundreds […]
New endangered bird species discovered in Brazil

The Bahian mouse-colored tapaculo has only just been discovered by scientists in the heavily logged Atlantic Forest of southeast Brazil — and it’s already believed to be endangered. Given the scientific name Scytalopus gonzagai to honor Brazilian ornithologist Dr. Luiz Antonio Pedreira Gonzaga, scientists previously considered the Bahian mouse-colored tapaculo to be a population of […]
Forest fragmentation’s carbon bomb: 736 million tonnes C02 annually

Scientists have long known that forest fragments are not the same ecologically as intact forest landscapes. When forests are slashed into fragments, winds dry out the edges leading to dying trees and rising temperatures. Biodiversity often drops, while local extinctions rise and big animals vanish. Now, a new study finds another worrisome impact of forest […]
Saving the Atlantic Forest would cost less than ‘Titanic’

Brazil can protect and restore Mata Atlântica for 6.5 percent of what it spends on agricultural subsidies Want to save the world’s most imperiled biodiversity hotspot? You just need a down payment of $198 million. While that may sound like a lot, it’s actually less than it cost to make the film, Titanic. A new […]
Only 15 percent of world’s biodiversity hotspots left intact

Green under siege: world’s biodiversity hotspots 85 percent impacted With only 3.5 percent intact vegetation left in the Atlantic Forest, it is the world’s most imperiled biodiversity hotspot. This is an image of intact forest in Intervales State Park. Photo by: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Creative Commons 3.0. The world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots—which harbor 75 percent of […]
Will yellow fever drive brown howler monkeys to extinction in Argentina?

The brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans) is listed as Critically Endangered in Argentina, where a small number persist in the northeastern portion of the country. Although habitat loss and other human impacts have contributed to the populations’ decline, a new report published in mongabay.com’s
Scientists: well-managed forest restoration benefits both biodiversity and people

In November this year, the world was greeted by the dismaying news that deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon jumped 28% in the past year. The year 2013 also holds the dubious distinction of being the first time since humans appeared on the planet, that carbon concentrations in the atmosphere rose to 400 parts per million. […]
Odd porcupine hugely imperiled by hunting, deforestation

The thin-spined porcupine, also known as the bristle-spined rat, is a truly distinct animal: a sort of cross between New World porcupines and spiny rats with genetic research showing it is slightly closer to the former rather than the latter. But the thin-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus), found only in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, is imperiled by […]
Scientists discover new cat species roaming Brazil

As a family, cats are some of the most well-studied animals on Earth, but that doesn’t mean these adept carnivores don’t continue to surprise us. Scientists have announced today the stunning discovery of a new species of cat, long-confused with another. Looking at the molecular data of small cats in Brazil, researchers found that the […]
Forest fragmentation leading to higher extinction rates

The world’s species are in worse trouble than widely-assumed, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which reevaluates how scientists estimate extinction rates. The new model takes into account the impact of forest fragmentation on extinction rates for the first time, filling in a gap in past […]
Little NGO takes on goliath task: conserving the vanishing ecosystems of Paraguay

Landlocked in the navel of South America, the forests, wetlands and savannahs of Paraguay boast rich biodiversity and endemic species, yet the unique landscapes of Paraguay also face increasing threats, primarily from agricultural expansion. Controlled burns and clear cutting have become common practice as wildlands are converted for soy and cattle production. In some areas […]
On guard: protecting wildlife in a heavily hunted Brazilian forest

The Brazilian government offers tax relief to landowners who set aside areas for preservation. While this has expanded the system of private ecological reserves considerably, the Brazilian government currently lacks funding to enforce the protection of these lands from threats such as hunting, leaving the responsibility to the landowners. To address the question of how […]
Loss of big fruit-eating birds impacting trees in endangered rainforests

The extinction of large, fruit-eating birds in fragments of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest has caused palm trees to produce smaller seeds over the past century, impacting forest ecology, finds a study published in the journal Science. The researchers — led by Mauro Galetti from Brazil’s Universidade Estadual Paulista — looked at Euterpe edulis palm seeds in […]
New insect discovered in Brazil, only third known in its bizarre family (photos)

A new species of forcepfly named Austromerope brasiliensis, was recently discovered in Brazil and described in the open access journal Zoo Keys. This is the first discovery of forcepfly in the Neotropics and only the third known worldwide. The forcepfly, often called the earwigfly because the male genital forceps closely resemble the cerci of the […]
New species tree-dwelling porcupine discovered in critically threatened Brazilian habitat

Scientists in Brazil have described a new species of tree-dwelling porcupine in the country’s most endangered ecosystems. The description is published in last week’s issue of Zootaxa. A team of researchers led by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes [2009 interview], a biologist at the Federal University of Pernambuco, found the porcupine in a small forest fragment […]
Nest of one of world’s rarest birds discovered for the first time

A nest belonging to one of the world’s rarest birds has been discovered by researchers for the first time in Brazil, reports the American Bird Conservancy. On October 30, 2012, Brazilian researchers Dimas Pioli and Gustavo Malacco discovered a nesting tunnel in Fundação Biodiversitas’ Mata do Passarinho Reserve. After analysis they concluded the six-foot-deep nest […]
Recovery of Atlantic Forest depends on land-use histories

The intensity of land-use influences the speed of regeneration in tropical rainforests, says new research. Tropical rainforests are a priority for biodiversity conservation; they are hotspots of endemism but also some of the most threatened global habitats. The Atlantic Forest stands out among tropical rainforests, hosting an estimated 8,000 species of endemic plants and more […]

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