A Brazilian judge has ordered a suspension of the controversial Belo Monte dam project, saying that local indigenous people who will be affected by the massive hydroelectric project were not sufficiently consulted during the environmental assessment process.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Souza Prudente of (more…)

Recent policies enacted by the Brazilian government — including changes to its Forest Code and a push to build 30 new dams in the Amazon region — threaten to undermine critical environmental progress made by the nation over the last two decades, scientists say.

In a declaration published after its annual meeting (more…)

A new analysis calculates that vegetation in the world’s tropical regions stores about 229 billion tons of carbon, which is about 21 percent more carbon than previously believed.

Using remote sensing satellite data — including cloud-penetrating LiDAR — and field observations (more…)

A drought that affected large areas of the Amazon rainforest in 2010 triggered the release of about 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than the total annual CO2 emissions of India, according to a new study.

After combining a NASA carbon cycle simulation (more…)

After years of fierce opposition and heated debates, the Brazilian government won the arm wrestling contest and is pushing ahead with the building of the Belo Monte Dam. The dam is expected to generate 11,200 MW of hydroelectric power when it’s completed in 2019 and will cost US$11 billion. (more…)

The world’s second-biggest palm oil company has agreed to preserve critical Indonesian rainforest and peatland as a result of pressure from major food processors and conservationists.

While Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) will still be able to exploit some areas of forest, company officials have vowed to spare (more…)

Restoring damaged rainforest is a more effective way of capturing carbon than cultivating industrial, single-species tree plantations, according to a new study. After testing three types of plantations in northeastern Australia — monoculture plantations of native conifers, mixed plantations, and restored rainforests containing a diversity of trees — Australian (more…)