naturalnews--2019-01-31--Researchers create wood sponges that can absorb oil from water

(Natural News) Oil and water don’t mix, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to clean up an oil spill. Despite many technological advances that make life easier in this day and age, experts are still trying to develop efficient and eco-friendly ways to clean up bodies of water contaminated with industrial discharge. A team of researchers from the Department of Wood Modification, Research Institute of Wood Industry at the Chinese Academy of Forestry has discovered a way to make “wood sponge” that can soak oil from water.  It can be difficult to clean up oil spills and industrial discharge, especially since this kind of pollution will contaminate water with greasy substances that can harm living organisms.  In the past few years, researchers have developed several techniques that can be used to clean up oily water. These techniques include bioremediation, burning, and gravity separation. However, most of these methods come with limitations, such as high cost, low efficiency, or even secondary pollution. (Related: Breakthrough: Researchers use nanoparticles to separate oil from water.)  Recent developments in the same field include the exploration of 3D porous materials like aerogels or sponges. These 3D porous materials were based on different building blocks such as cellulose nanofibers, silica, or synthetic polymers. But these options are usually burdensome.  Some of them are difficult to create while some lack mechanical robustness. Others are made from nondegradable and non-renewable materials, which can be counterproductive if they’re used to address pollution.  Support our mission and protect your health: Organic Seeds of Life combines Red Raspberry Seed Power, Black Cumin Seed Power and Red Grape Seed Powder into the most potent nutrient-rich supplemental superfood powder you've ever experienced. Loaded with flavonoids, antioxidants, anthocyanins, OPCs, ALA and a vast array of vital nutrients. Learn more here.  In their study, which was published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers were able to successfully create wooden sponges that can selectively absorb oil. Like regular sponges, these wooden sponges can be squeezed dry and reused.  Xiaoqing Wang et al. were inspired to develop the unique sponges because they wanted a sponge made from a renewable resource, like balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) wood, that can absorb oil and be squeezed repeatedly without structural failure.  Balsa, also known as balsa tree, is a fast-growing tropical tree that belongs to the mallow family (Malvaceae). Balsa wood is extremely lightweight and light-colored. The tree is a common plant throughout much of its range. Balsa seed fiber is used as stuffing for mattresses and cushions. This tree produces wood that is commonly used in various commercial applications like flotation devices, insulation, model-building, and packing.  The researchers made the wood sponge by treating natural balsa wood with chemicals that removed lignin and hemicellulose. This process left behind a cellulose skeleton. They proceeded to add a hydrophobic coating to this highly porous structure which attracted the oil from the water.  To test the wooden sponge, the researchers placed it in a mixture of water and silicone oil. The scientists incorporated the wood sponge into an oil-collecting device in their lab that repeatedly separated oils from the water surface.  The wood sponge removed all of the red-dyed oil while leaving clean water behind. Additionally, the sponge could withstand at least 10 cycles of absorption and squeezing.  The researchers observed that depending on the oil tested, the sponge could absorb at least 16 to 41 times its own weight. This is comparable to other reported absorbents.  With continued research, this revolutionary discovery can be used to develop eco-friendly methods of effectively cleaning up oil spills before they can cause further harm to the environment.


tass--2019-07-01--Scientists to study how Arctics oil-polluted soil reacts to climate change

Scientists to study how Arctic’s oil-polluted soil reacts to climate change

ARKHANGELSK, July 1. /TASS/. Scientists will analyze how the climate changes influence oil-contaminated soils on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. The studies will be conducted on the islands, where oil spills occurred in the past at military and polar stations, the Russian Arctic National Park’s Director Alexander Kirilov told TASS.  "We shall have studies to see how oil products have spread into the soil on Franz Josef Land," he said. "This work will be done by the park and the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geography."  "We want to understand whether and how the climate changes influence the pollution, how the oil products migrate at the levels to which the permafrost thaws," the director said. "Those contaminated areas formed when the islands hosted military and polar stations."  Cleaning continues on Franz Josef Land since 2012 - more than 45,000 tonnes of waste have been removed from the islands, and soil has been revegetated in the areas of oil products’ spills.  "The revegetation has been done well, but we want to improve what has been done," the director said. In summer, as the permafrost thaws, remaining oil products may go deeper into the soil. "We want to study this problem, which is going to be typical for the entire Arctic."  "We are trying to see how those processes develop," he added.  Cleaning has been completed on Franz Josef Land’s Alexandra Land, Hooker, Heiss and Graham-Bell Islands. Cleaning is due on the Rudolf and Hofmann Islands.  The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia’s northernmost and biggest nature reserve, which takes the area of 8.8 million hectares. It was organized on June 15, 2009. The Park includes a northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago’s Severny Island and the entire Franz Josef Land Archipelago.


thedailymirror--2019-03-22--Remembering the Exxon Valdez oil disaster - the day hell broke loose in paradise

Thirty years ago today, Mike Webber went to bed early ready for a 4am start.  The third-generation fisherman wanted to be up ahead of the rest of the fleet to harvest spring herring in Prince William Sound, one of earth’s most pristine ecosystems.  But it was only when he woke that his nightmare — and that of the whole of Cordova, Alaska — began to unfold.  For 45 miles away the giant oil tanker Exxon Valdez had run aground on the well-marked Bligh Reef.  Her captain, Joseph Hazelwood, not on the bridge at the time, alerted coast guards just after midnight and said the ship was “evidently leaking some oil”.  His alleged slurred words could not have been further from the truth.  For as he tried to free the ship, his actions led to more than 11 million gallons of crude oil leaking into the sound’s frigid waters, blackening 1,500 miles of coastline and setting off one of history’s worst man-made disasters.  Now, on the 30th anniversary of the spill, Mike and the local community find themselves still piecing together their lives... lives blighted not only by the oil but also by greedy oil barons’ lack of proper redress.  The sound and the once-abundant herring, though, have not been so lucky.  Nor have the killer whales that once thrived in these waters.  And despite a multi-million dollar clean-up, Exxon Valdez’s shameful legacy still haunts the area.  The herring have never returned and the pods of killer whales, which once numbered 25, continue to die.  Only seven remain — so shocked by the disaster they have not given birth since.  Marine expert Katrina Hoffman says they face “extinction by attrition”.  The director of the Oil Spill Recovery Institute and head of Prince William Sound Science Centre tells the Mirror: “This one pod is going to experience extinction by attrition, natural mortality and lack of live birth.  “It’s most likely because of toxicity from the spill. Some bird species, too, have not recovered. Pigeon guillemots are one of them.”  Today Prince William Sound looks a stunning landscape of mountainous fjords, blue-green waters and thickly forested islands.  However, pick up a stone on a rocky beach or dig a little deeper and it is possible to find pockets of oil.  In March 1989 the 2,200 souls in isolated Cordova were highly dependent on commercial fishing.  Since a 1964 earthquake destroyed the road, the only way in was by air or a six-hour summer ferry trip.  So bad was the impact of the spill, the town became known throughout the world as the “ground zero” of the disaster.  When the ship with its faulty radar and sleepy crew hit the reef, it wasn’t just wildlife that was decimated... the heart was torn out of the town as well.  Drug and alcohol abuse went up, as did domestic violence and depression. The ex-mayor, along with many fishermen, killed himself.  The town also descended into civil war as the ship’s owners Exxon paid some fishermen to mop up the spill.  They were jealously labelled “spillionaires” as they made a fortune while others received nothing.  Mike says: “This once close-knit community changed. People couldn’t look to their neighbours to help.  “You didn’t trust your neighbour. You didn’t trust your family. It was very, very sad.”  Mike, 58, should know. The spill cost him his first marriage to his childhood sweetheart while six of his friends took their own lives.  “It was brutal,” he says.  “The community itself suffered because people left town they got so depressed. A decade later, 20% had gone.  “Schools got smaller. It was a ghost town. We didn’t get compensated for one year of commercial fishing that we missed out of the 18 years it took for the settlement to come through.  “In the end, we got maybe what we might’ve made in one season.”  Because the oil company and government agencies were ill-prepared, oil from the Exxon Valdez stretched for 11,000 square miles, killing fish birds whales, seals and otters.  Deer were affected, too, as they ate oil-covered vegetation.  Environmentalist Dave Janka, of Auklet Charters, says: “You could smell the oil before you even saw it.  “From an area once teeming with life you could sit by the water and hear nothing. Everybody called it the dead zone.”  Dave is still takes samples from the beaches showing how much oil is still present.  He says: “If you had a leaking fuel tank in your yard, you’d be forced to the point of bankruptcy to clean that up.  “Yet one of the most profitable corporations in the universe gets to walk away from this.”  Asked why Exxon never cleared up all the beaches, he adds: “Nobody forced them to do it and clearly they haven’t felt it was right.”  Today there is still a great anger towards the firm. It paid £2 billion for the clean-up and £229 million to 11,000 fishermen and others affected.  But some claim they hardly saw a cent. A joint lawsuit against Exxon wasn’t resolved until 2008 when the Supreme Court slashed an initial award of £3.8 billion to £388 million.  Exxon — unavailable after we contacted them for comment — fund ongoing research into why the herring have never returned.  The fisherman, who continue to catch salmon, are now trained to use the latest technology within hours of any new spill.  However, they know only too well the area is never far from disaster.  Right now the Exxon Valdez’s remaining oil lies motionless in the icy water. But the area’s susceptibility to earthquakes means it can be stirred at any moment.  “We are at the mercy of Mother Nature,” says Mike.  “It was she the Exxon Valdez damaged. She is the one who lost the most.”


theguardianuk--2019-07-23--Experts fear deserted oil tanker off Yemen could explode

A deserted oil tanker described as a “floating bomb” that is currently anchored off the coast of war-torn Yemen has the potential to create an environmental disaster, according to experts.  A byproduct of the battle between the Saudi-backed UN Yemen government and the Houthis, the tanker, containing over 1m barrels of oil, is said to be eroding fast, but UN officials’ plans to visit the ship this week to assess the scale of the damage have been blocked. There are fears that gases have built up in the storage tanks, which means the ship could explode.  Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told the UN security council last week an inspection team had again been refused permissions by Houthis to visit the ship moored several kilometres outside the Red Sea port of Ras Isa, north of Hodeidah.  The two sides in the conflict in conversation with the UN blame each other for failing to reach a solution about what to do about the ship, and its valuable cargo.  The Houthis want guarantees that they will be able to control the revenues from the oil on the ship valued at $80m (£64m), a move that might require a new oil export mechanism.  The UN-recognised Yemen government has warned in a letter to the UN of a “bad and deteriorating situation” that threatens an “imminent environmental and humanitarian catastrophe in the Red Sea”.  It has also produced a video warning of an environmental disaster that could dwarf any previous oil spillage.  Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, said the cause for concern was genuine. He told the Guardian: “Until a UN technical inspection takes place it is difficult to determine the precise risk that the vessel poses, however the potential for a serious environmental emergency is clear. An explosion leading to a spill would have a severe effect on the Red Sea marine environment, and on both biodiversity and livelihoods, an emergency made worse because the ongoing conflict would hamper efforts to control and respond to the pollution it would cause.”  The ship itself, known as the Safer floating storage and offloading terminal, is a testament to a time when the Yemen economy was functioning. Owned by the Yemen oil company, Safer allows vessels to moor offshore and transfer oil extracted and processed from operations in the Marib oil field in central Yemen. The tanker contains 34 crude oil tanks of different sizes and volumes, amounting to a total capacity of around 3m barrels.  In effect, a mini-oil export terminal, the ship has not been operational since March 2015 when the region fell under the control of the Houthi rebels.  Built in Japan involving a single hull, experts say is likely to be at particular risk from corrosion and in spite of the production interruptions caused by the conflict, it is thought that it may still contain around 1.14m barrels of crude. The Yemen government points out this is four times the amount of oil released in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, generally seen as as one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history.  An increasingly frustrated Lowcock told the UN security council last month “If the tanker ruptures or explodes, we could see the coastline polluted all along the Red Sea. Depending on the time of year and water currents, the spill could reach from Bab-el-Mandeb to the Suez Canal, and potentially as far as the strait of Hormuz,” he added.  The unavailability of diesel fuel has meant that Safer FSO’s engines have not been started for several years, and the structure has been exposed to humidity and corrosion with little maintenance.  With restricted water circulation, and delicate marine ecosystems, the Red Sea, home of corals and 600 species of fish and invertebrates, is seen as particularly vulnerable to oil pollution.


theguardianuk--2019-10-09--Oil contaminating Brazil's beaches 'very likely from Venezuela', minister says

Thick crude oil that has stained hundreds of miles of pristine Brazilian beach in recent weeks probably originated in Venezuela, the Brazilian government has said, in an accusation likely to further strain relations between the two countries.  Brazilian authorities have been investigating the growing disaster for more than a month, as the oil has spread to more than 130 beaches across nine states.  On Wednesday, the country’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, told a congressional hearing that a study by the state oil company Petrobras had concluded that the oil “is very likely from Venezuela”.  He said that a foreign ship near Brazil’s coastline appeared to have caused the spill “accidentally or not”.  Salles said that more than 100 tonnes of oil had already been collected from the coastline since 2 September, but said that the disaster was proving “enormously difficult to contain”.  There was no immediate response from Venezuela, but the Brazilian assertion is likely to further escalate tensions between the two countries. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president, is a longstanding critic of Venezuela’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro, and has close relations with rightwing Venezuelan groups seeking his overthrow.  Earlier this week, Bolsonaro dismissed speculation that the spill had been released by a sinking ship. “If it was a shipwreck, oil would still be coming up. It is more probable that something was dumped there criminally,” he told reporters.  Bolsonaro said he did not want to blame another country without proof, but hinted darkly: “We have a country on our radar screen that could be the origin of the oil.”  Petrobras’s chief executive, Roberto Castello, said on Tuesday that the amount of oil spilled so far – approximately 500 barrels – was far too much to have been from the result of a routine tank cleaning.  Social media users have shared shocking images of the spill, showing kilometers of white sand stained with oil blotches and dead, oil-covered turtles and dolphins. One video shows thick black oil lapping up against a rocky jetty.  The oil’s appearance came shortly after Brazil became the focus of international criticism over record wildfires and deforestation in the Amazon rainforest – both of which have surged since Bolsonaro came to office.  Environmentalists and indigenous leaders say that Bolsonaro’s stripping back of environmental legislation and protections has stoked a fresh assault on the country’s ecosystems.  “The oil spill that’s reached over 132 beaches in the north-east is criminal. Removing the residue from the ocean can take 10 to 20 years,” said the former environment minister Marina Silva in a tweet. “This is a warning that we need to strengthen and not suffocate the environmental monitoring institutions in the country.”

Anna Jean Kaiser in Rio de Janeiro and agencies


theguardianuk--2019-12-06--'This place used to be green': the brutal impact of oil in the Niger Delta

Almost every day, Udengs Eradiri is informed of another oil spill in Bayelsa state, in the Niger Delta. Most of the time, little or nothing is done to clean up the mess, says Eradiri, the state’s commissioner for the environment.  “You just need to take a tour to understand the magnitude of the environmental abuse,” he adds. “[Bayelsa] used to be green, you could go to farm or fish. We used to have very impressive harvests. You would spend just an hour in the water and you have a lot of fish.”  Today, he added, you can spend the whole day without catching anything.  Oil was first pumped in Bayelsa in 1956 by Shell. Since then, several international oil companies have extracted oil from across the Niger Delta.  In Bayelsa and elsewhere, communities have faced an environmental catastrophe. About 40 million litres of oil are spilled every year across the Niger Delta, according to the Rise for Bayelsa campaign.  Air, land and water have all been contaminated, with studies reporting devastating effects on residents’ health and livelihoods. Vast areas of the state’s waterways and mangrove swamps – one of the most diverse ecosystems in Africa – have been destroyed or put at risk. Farmland has been cloaked in oil, contaminating crops and exposing people to high levels of heavy metals such as chromium, lead and mercury. • None Rather than processing gas, oil companies resort to the cheaper option of burning it as a waste product  Meanwhile, gas flares – where natural gas associated with petroleum extraction is burned off in the atmosphere – have filled the air with pollutants, and created acid rain.  “It’s really telling on the people,” says Eradiri. Of Bayelsa’s estimated population of 2 million people, three-quarters rely on fishing or farming to support themselves. “Those communities are getting involved in other ways of surviving. And that’s why there’s been a lot of upsurge in criminal activities as well as artisan refining, all to survive.”  Shell, one of the international oil companies operating in Bayelsa, says that oil spills due to crude oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage cause the most environmental damage in the Niger Delta.  “Our aim is to run a responsible business, which means operating safely without harm to people and protecting the local environment. In Nigeria, we operate to the same standards as other Shell-operated ventures globally. No spill is acceptable, and we work hard to prevent them,” Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria said in a statement.  “We work closely with the regulators, local communities and other stakeholders to address this challenging issue and, irrespective of cause, we clean up and remediate areas affected by spills from our facilities or pipeline network,” the statement added.  It said that in the case of operational spills, compensation is paid to people and communities impacted.  The company says its efforts to clean up areas have at times been hampered by instability, as its employees are unable to safely access affected areas.  “If you want to resolve the issues in the Niger Delta, if you want to totally eradicate the compromise on infrastructure, you must involve communities in the contractual agreement,” says Eradiri. “That means it is not just owned by other people with other interests.”  The effect of the oil industry on people’s health in Bayelsa is still emerging. “Life expectancy is cut short – as low as 45. We used to have a very old population but, right now, that’s not as visible as it used to be,” says Eradiri. “You see premature babies, you see all kinds of funny illnesses, cancer, that [are] not normal for young people.” • None ‘All we see is oil in the forest. No more periwinkles to pick. No more crabs at the river. What is happening to our creeks?’: Pelepre Newton, fisher and farmer  A recent study estimated that, in 2012 alone, 16,000 babies died within the first month of life because of oil pollution in the Niger Delta. • None ‘When we complain, they attach negative labels to us like militants and vandals, to reduce the validity of our complaint’: Nyinama Amos, youth leader  Separate research, cited by the interim report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, has found that pollution is placing communities at heightened risk of kidney damage, as well as diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Campaigners report increased cases of diarrhoea and child malnutrition.  The commission’s interim report concluded that communities suffered life-changing health consequences as a result of oil pollution. The report added that they have also found it almost impossible to secure fair redress.  The Rise for Bayelsa campaign, launched in March, is calling on international oil companies to clean up spills immediately, provide swift compensation to all communities affected, and develop long-term solutions to avoid spills. The campaign is also calling for oil companies to invest in sustainable projects in all communities in which oil companies operate.  “There is no concerted effort by [international oil companies] to ensure that a proper cleanup is done,” added Eradiri. “The law is not being adhered to.”


theindependent--2019-07-30--Millions will go without drinking water if decaying oil tanker explodes

Tens of millions of people could lose access to clean drinking water if a decaying oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen is left to collapse or explode, experts have said.  The Yemeni state-owned vessel Safer, which holds over one million barrels of crude oil, is stationed permanently around five nautical miles off the rebel-held port of Ras Isa.  Since the late 1980s, it has served as an offshore oil storage platform, and is directly connected to a nearby pipeline in the central Yemeni province of Marib. But since war erupted in Yemen in 2014, few maintenance crews have been given access to the 43-year-old ship. Last week, the United Nations said the Houthis had once again barred experts from assessing the vessel.  Experts now fear that the buildup of volatile gasses released by the oil could cause a huge explosion, or the corrosion to the vessel could see it completely disintegrate – both leading to one of the world’s largest oil spills.  Yemen’s recognised authorities told The Independent they had submitted multiple urgent appeals to the UN to pile pressure on the Iran-backed rebels.  In a new evaluation of the impact of such a disaster, experts at IR Consilium – a consultancy focusing on maritime law and security – warned that any such incident would force multiple desalination plants across the surrounding Red Sea area to shut, depriving millions of access to drinking water.  The oil spill would destroy marine ecosystems and potentially strangle traffic on one of the world’s busiest waterways – the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.  It could also shutter Hodeidah port, the gateway for 90 per cent of Yemen’s food, medical and aid supplies.  “Such an incident could have a far-reaching and highly destructive range of effects: desalinisation plants contaminated, depriving tens of millions of people, some already on the brink of famine, of access to clean drinking water; the loss of marine ecosystems… millions of desperate Yemenis literally starved for international aid because port facilities are unusable,” the group said in a report published by the Atlantic Council think tank this week.  That could see a tangible impact on the world economy as well as “armed conflict over basic necessities; and a downward spiral in an already fragile region”, the report added. The Atlantic Council lists the UAE embassy in the US and the British Foreign Office among its major donors.  Mohammed al-Hadhrami, vice minister of foreign affairs for the recognised Yemen government, said the authorities were making urgent appeals to the UN and other international bodies.  “If something happens to the tanker it would be a problem for the whole region – even the world,” ambassador al-Hadhrami told The Independent, calling it “an ethical obligation for the UN” to act.  “We don’t want to see it get that far. No one knows the full potential of the spill, if it happens it would set a precedent in the region. This goes well beyond Yemen,” he added.  The Houthis could not be immediately reached for comment.  Before the conflict, the tanker had acted as a storage facility for the main Marib-Ras Isa pipeline in Yemen, which has no onshore facilities in the area.  The ship now lies along a part of coast controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis, who want guarantees that they will have access to the revenues of the oil, thought to be worth $80m (£65m).  The cash-strapped rebels swept control of the country in late 2014, forcing the recognised Yemeni president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.  Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a bombing campaign in the spring of 2015 to reinstate their ally Mr Hadi. Four years on there is little hope of an end to the fighting.  The tanker is so contentious that it was named in a peace agreement signed by both the Houthis and the Saudi-backed recognised government in Stockholm last year, involving withdrawals from key Red Sea ports.  But so far peace talks have stalled and the last time a maintenance crew was given access to the tanker was two years ago.  IR Consilium said that earlier this year the vessel was so corroded that a piece of it fell off – fortunately missing the submarine pipeline that feeds it.  The pipeline may contain another one million barrels of oil, which could also be dumped into the Red Sea if the vessel collapses, doubling the size of the oil spill. At least in terms of numbers of barrels, it is akin to when Saddam Hussein dumped millions of barrels in the Persian Gulf in 1991.  “There is no more critical infrastructure than these [desalination] facilities. After all, safe drinking water is second only to oxygen as a necessity for human life,” Dr David Soud, head of research at IR Consilium and a co-author of the Atlantic Council report told The Independent.  “There are quite a few [plants] and having one or more shut down due to contamination from an oil spill could have dire consequences for the region’s people, millions of whom are already on the brink,” he added.  He compared the devastation to a recent diesel spill off the coast of Patagonia which made international headlines despite only involving 250 barrels of fuel.  “If the Safer were to leak all its oil, the spill would be over four and a half thousand times larger – and that’s the Safer alone, not the submarine pipeline that connects with it,” he said.  Dr Ian Ralby who also worked on the report said that despite the alarming potential consequences of the spill, the crisis “has not inspired sufficient action”.  He warned of the violence that would likely ensue from lack of access to drinking water, as well as the effect of the spill “global marine biodiversity, the loss of livelihoods and food sources from the degraded marine environment, and the threat to coastal tourism”.


theindependent--2019-10-11--Iran oil tanker on fire after 'being hit by rockets in terrorist attack' off Saudi coast

Two rockets have struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, causing a major explosion, according to officials in Tehran.  “Two missiles hit the Iran-owned ship near the Jeddah port city of Saudi Arabia,” state television reported.  “The oil tanker ... sustained damages to the body when it was hit by missiles 96km from the Saudi port city of Jeddah.”  The foreign ministry said the tanker had sustained damage from the explosion.  “Experts believe it was a terrorist attack,” the agency reported, adding that oil spilled out into the sea after the blast.  The leak was later stopped.  “Those behind the attack are responsible for the consequences of this dangerous adventure, including the dangerous environmental pollution caused,” a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said.  The vessel was on fire in the Red Sea following the blast, which occurred early on Friday morning.  The Nour news agency reported that all crew members were safe.  “None of the crew members were injured at the explosion... the situation is under control,” the news agency, which is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported.  A spokesperson for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which oversees the region, said authorities there were “aware of reports of this [latest] incident,” but declined to comment further.  State news agencies, quoting the country’s national tanker company, identified the vessel as the Sabity.  “We are watching the news closely but are relieved that early reports indicate that the crew are safe and there are no injuries,” said Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping.  “The safety of seafarers is of paramount importance,” Mr Platten added.  Tensions in the gulf are particularly high after Iran allegedly carried out a series of attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.  On 14 September drones also attacked Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities, devastating two production sites and halving the kingdom’s output.  The US believes Iran is responsible for the attack but Tehran denies any involvement.  Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed the Aramco attack, though analysts say the missiles used could not have crossed the distance from Yemen to Saudi Arabia.  Russia’s foreign ministry said it was too early to assign blame for the explosion.  Officials from Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.  Iran said the tanker was in the Red Sea but that officials had planned to change its route as it travelled to the port of Larak, off the Iranian coast.


thesun--2019-07-24--Deserted oil tanker in Red Sea could EXPLODE and dump one million barrels of oil into ocean experts

Deserted oil tanker in Red Sea could EXPLODE and dump one million barrels of oil into ocean, experts warn

A DESERTED oil tanker described as a "floating bomb" could explode and dump one million barrels of oil into the ocean, experts have warned.  The vessel, named FSO Safer, has been abandoned in the Red Sea off the western coast of Yemen since March 2015 when Houthi rebels took over the region.  Yemen has been crippled by a fractious civil war following the Iran-backed Houthi uprising that swept the pro-Western government into exile in 2015.  A standoff over the Safer and its £64million-worth of oil has meant it has been left to decay - leading to fears it is on the verge of blowing up.  Explosive gasses are thought to have built up in the decrepit tanker's storage tanks that could rupture any minute, experts said.  The blast would create an "environmental and humanitarian catastrophe" as it sends oil pumping into the sea, according to the UN-recognised Yemeni government.  In a letter to the UN, the government warned that the disaster is "imminent" unless the Houthi allow inspectors on to the ship.  But the Houthi have blocked access to the Safer - demanding they receive assurances that any revenue from the oil goes to them.  Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told The Guardian: "Until a UN technical inspection takes place it is difficult to determine the precise risk that the vessel poses, however the potential for a serious environmental emergency is clear.  "An explosion leading to a spill would have a severe effect on the Red Sea marine environment, and on both biodiversity and livelihoods, an emergency made worse because the ongoing conflict would hamper efforts to control and respond to the pollution it would cause.”  Proxy conflict: What is the civil war in Yemen? IN January 2015, Houthi rebels - Shiite Muslims backed by Iran - seized control of the much of the country including the capital Sana'a. But he managed to escape to safety in Saudi Arabia before returning to recaptured Aden - which he declared the new capital. His government is still internationally recognised. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-majority nations are supporting government forces in the bloody civil war. Tribal groups seeking autonomy have also become embroiled in the conflict. And US forces are reported to be in Yemen targeting Al-Qaeda fighters. Saudi Arabia has been fiercely criticised for launching air strikes which have killed or maimed thousands of civilians. In August 2018 around 40 schoolboys aged six to 11 were killed when a laser-guided bomb hit their bus in the Houthi-controlled north. Yemen is the Gulf's poorest nation and supplies of basic goods and humanitarian aid have been badly affected by the fighting. Violence has forced farmers to abandon their crops, and hospitals have been overwhelmed by sick, wounded and malnourished children. In January 2017, a leading UN official said the civilian death toll in the conflict had exceeded 10,000 - with another 40,000 wounded. It was almost certainly an underestimate, experts warned at the time.  The Yemen government released a chilling video in which it warns the Safer - moored near the port of Ras Isa - is thought to have 1.14m barrels of crude in its tanks.  That is four times the amount of oil released in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill - widely seen as one of the worst man-made natural disasters in history.  A report for the Atlantic Council think-tank said: "Though a photograph reveals only a ship, known as the Safer, its explosive potential renders it a floating bomb - permanently moored in the Red Sea off Ras Isa."  Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told the UN security council last week: "If the tanker ruptures or explodes, we could see the coastline polluted all along the Red Sea.  "Depending on the time of year and water currents, the spill could reach from Bab-el-Mandeb to the Suez Canal, and potentially as far as the Strait of Hormuz."  He added: "I leave it to you to imagine the effect of such a disaster on the environment, shipping lanes and the global economy."  The Red Sea has a delicate ecosystem that is home to corals and around 600 species of fish - making it vulnerable to pollution.  The Yemen conflict - seen as a proxy war between Iran through the Houthi and Saudi Arabia through the exiled government - has sparked a humanitarian crisis.  Over 14m Yemenis depend on international aid - more than half the country's 24m population.  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thetorontostar--2019-06-25--New estimate for an oil leak a thousand times worse than rig owner says

New estimate for an oil leak: a thousand times worse than rig owner says

WASHINGTON—A new federal study has found that an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began more than 14 years ago has been releasing as much as 4,500 gallons a day, not 3 or 4 gallons a day as the rig owner has claimed. The leak, about 12 miles off the Louisiana coast, began in 2004 when a Taylor Energy Co. oil platform sank during Hurricane Ivan and a bundle of undersea pipes ruptured. Oil and gas have been seeping from the site ever since.  Taylor Energy, which sold its assets in 2008, is fighting a federal order to stop the leak. The company asserts that the leaking has been slight — between 2.4 and 4 gallons per day. Oil plumes from the seafloor, Taylor executives have said, are from oil-soaked sediment that has formed around the platform, and any gas rising from the bottom is the natural product of living organisms. “The results of this study contradict these conclusions,” the report, issued Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Florida State University, concluded. Using sonar technology and a newly developed method of analyzing oil and gas bubbles rising through the water, scientists determined that the plumes are the result of oil and gas released from multiple wells. They also found that as many as 108 barrels of oil, or just over 4,500 gallons, have spilled into the Gulf each day as a result of the episode.  “While it is feasible that the heavily oiled sediments in and around the erosional pit could be contributing to oil in the water column, the chemical nature and volume of oil and gas measured precludes sediments from currently being the major source of oil to the marine environment,” the report says. The researchers also noted that their findings indicated lower levels of leakage than a handful of other recent estimates. Government attorneys in a federal court filing last year, for example, estimated that up to 30,000 gallons were leaking daily from the destroyed wells. The study comes as the Trump administration works to roll back a key offshore-drilling safety regulation that was put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. That disaster, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, killed 11 people and released an estimated 4.9 million barrels into the sea. The administration also has moved to significantly expand offshore drilling in U.S. waters. Last year, the Interior Department proposed opening almost the country’s entire coastline to drilling, although that plan now faces delays while court challenges are addressed. The Taylor Energy spill had remained largely out of the national spotlight until researchers monitoring satellite images of the Deepwater Horizon zone noticed “persistent oil slicks that appeared unrelated to the 2010 spill,” according to the report.  Taylor Energy said in a statement that it had not been able to study the underlying data in the new government report and that the company wanted “verifiable scientific data about the leak and a scientifically and environmentally sound solution.” Daniel Jacobs, an associate professor of management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who wrote BP Blowout: Inside the Gulf Oil Disaster, said the findings showed that the Trump administration “should be treading lightly” on its aggressive efforts in favour of drilling. “This is an unresolved, ongoing leak 14 years later,” Jacobs said. “This is yet another indication that we are not ready to expand offshore drilling.”


thetorontostar--2019-10-09--Brazil minister says oil on beaches likely from Venezuela

RIO DE JANEIRO - The oil that has been polluting Brazil’s northeastern beaches since early September is likely coming from Venezuela, according to a report by Brazil’s state oil company cited by the country’s environment minister.  The oil sludge has now reached 61 municipalities in nine Brazilian states, contaminating over 130 beaches — a disaster that Brazilian officials called “unheard of.”  The oil “very probably comes from Venezuela, as says the Petrobras study,” Brazilian environment minister Ricardo Salles told members of the lower house of Congress’ environmental commission.  Salles said the oil was transported on a foreign boat navigating close to the Brazilian coast, but he stressed that the cause of the spill remained unknown.  As of late Monday, authorities had retrieved over 130 tons of sludge, which has killed at least 10 turtles.  Brazil’s environmental protection agency said that could just be small fraction of the oil spilled, noting there are some 2,000 kilometres (about 1,242 miles) of coastal line to monitor.  Environmental experts fear that the oil has come into contact with many more marine animals and that it will damage coral and marine life. Studies are underway.  “In such cases of emergency, it is fundamental to identify the source, and then try and mitigate contamination,” said Marcelo Amorim, who is part of the environmental agency’s emergency co-ordination unit.  Speaking from the state of Sergipe, one of the hardest hit, Amorim said there was no way to know how much more oil could make its way to Brazil’s shores.  Sergipe authorities declared a state of emergency and recommended that swimmers as well as fishermen stay away from polluted beaches.  Testifying in congress Tuesday, Petrobras president Roberto Castello Branco called the oil spills a “very worrying disaster” with no signs of receding.  Officials say the oil has been particularly hard to track as it floats under the surface of the water and can’t be easily detected from planes. Clouds in the area have also limited the use of satellites images, Amorim said.  Brazil’s navy is in charge of the investigation into the origin of the oil spills, while the federal police force is looking into possible criminal charges.  Petrobras has been helping authorities in their investigations, examining oil samples and cleaning up beaches.


thetorontostar--2019-11-19--California puts brakes on fracking permits in oil crackdown

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom cracked down on oil producers Tuesday, halting approval of hundreds of fracking permits until independent scientists can review them and temporarily banning new wells using another drilling method that regulators believe is linked to one of the largest spills in state history.  The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources announced it will not approve new wells that use high-pressure steam to extract oil from underground. It’s the type of process Chevron uses at an oil field in the Central Valley that leaked more than 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million litres) of oil and water this summer.  That process is different from fracking, which uses water and other chemicals at high pressure to extract oil. California has 263 pending fracking permits but has not approved any of them since July. That’s when Newsom fired California’s top oil and gas regulator after learning the state had increased fracking permits by 35% since he took office in January, angering environmental groups.  Newsom, a Democrat, called the crackdown necessary to strengthen the state’s oversight of oil and gas extraction “as we phase out our dependence on fossil fuels and focus on clean energy sources.”  “This transition cannot happen overnight; it must advance in a deliberate way to protect people, our environment and our economy,” Newsom said.  California has been a leader on environmental issues, with Newsom’s Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown, making climate change his signature effort. Brown was criticized for failing to ban fracking or oil drilling, arguing that the state needed to tackle demand before moving on to supply.  The oil industry called Newsom’s changes “disappointing,” with the Western States Petroleum Association saying California’s environmental regulations already lead the world.  “Every barrel delayed or not produced in this state will only increase imports from more costly foreign sources that do not share our environmental safety standards,” group president Catherine Reheis-Boyd.  California is one of the top five states for oil production, producing more than 161 million barrels last year. Fracking occurs in some of the state’s largest oil fields, mostly in the Central Valley.  The steam method is less prevalent but accounted for 8 million barrels of the state’s oil production in 2018, according to the Department of Conservation. But regulators believe it is linked to the oil spill at a Chevron well that began in May.  It was the largest oil spill in California since 1990, when a tanker unleashed more than 400,000 gallons (1.5 million litres) of crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach.  But despite its size, the Chevron spill has had minimal effects on the environment.  The oil spilled into a dry creek bed, and the company cleaned it up before rains could wash it into fresh water. It also did not significantly harm wildlife, with just a “handful of birds” needing to be euthanized, according to Jason Marshall, chief deputy director of the California Department of Conservation.  A second well at the oil field about 35 miles (55 kilometres) west of Bakersfield has been leaking intermittently since 2003. State officials ordered Chevron to stop the leak in April, and the company has been making progress, Marshall said.  Regulators have fined the energy giant $2.7 million for the leaks. A Chevron spokeswoman referred comment to the Western States Petroleum Association, whose leader said, “There is nothing more important than the health and safety of the communities where the women and men of our industry work, live and raise their families.“  The moratorium will be in place while two national laboratories — Lawrence Livermore and Sandia — study the high-pressure steam process to see what regulations, if any, can make it safer. Other wells in California use the steam method and have not had any spills.  “These oil leaks cannot be the cost of doing business,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said. “There needs to be a clear trajectory to eliminate them. Not reduce them in number, but fully eliminate them.”  The moratorium will not affect existing wells, which will be assessed individually. Some existing wells have been using high-pressure steam for so long that stopping it could weaken the geology and cause more spills, Crowfoot said.  Officials said they would seek an independent audit of California’s permitting process for fracking and other types of oil extraction.  In July, advocacy groups Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker revealed the state’s fracking permits had doubled during the first six months of Newsom’s administration. The groups said that of those permits, 45% benefited companies where state officials owned stock.  Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, called Newsom’s new orders “an important step toward reining in the most high risk extraction techniques.”  “The ultimate test of his tenure for climate change and the public will be simple math about how many fewer permits are issued and how many existing wells are closed,” Court said. “Net zero wells should be his goal.”


hitandrun--2019-08-28--Forget the Amazon Fires State-Sanctioned Deforestation Is the Bigger Problem

Forget the Amazon Fires. State-Sanctioned Deforestation Is the Bigger Problem.

"Amazon burning at record rate" and variations of the same headline have run on CNN, The Hill, Time, UPI, and The Daily Beast during the last week. Reacting to the dire news reports, French President Emmanuel Macron declared, "The Amazon forest is a subject for the whole planet." He added, "We cannot allow you to destroy everything."  At the urging of Macron, the G7 countries meeting in Biarritz, France, offered a $20 million aid package to help fight the fires. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro initially rejected the aid, but now says that his country may accept it if Macron withdraws his "insults."  Celebrities also rushed to help. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's Earth Alliance pledged $5 million to aid various Brazilian nonprofits associated with indigenous peoples in protecting the Amazon rain forest. Good for him. Helping indigenous folks to assert and protect their property rights is certainly a worthy goal.  So why are there so many fires burning now in the Amazon region? Chiefly, because local farmers and ranchers have set them to control pests and weeds and to encourage new growth, according to University of Maryland geographer Matthew Hansen. The increase in fires every August to October coincides with the season when farmers begin planting soybean and corn.  "The first thing is that they're not wildfires. Almost all of the fires have been set, so they're anthropogenic in origin. A minority are actually in the rainforest," explains Hansen, head of a NASA satellite project that tracks changes in earth's vegetation and forests in an interview in Maryland Today. "The vast majority look like maintenance fires set on already cleared land, which farmers might be burning to reduce vegetation cover in expanding land use, pastures in most cases."  Hansen adds, "Overall, fires inside standing rainforest are similar to recent years, the difference being that most have occurred in the last few weeks, leading to a concentrated spike in emissions."  Interestingly, the Global Fire Emissions Database, citing a satellite record that begins in 2012, "confirm[s] that the 2019 fire season has the highest fire count since 2012 across the Legal Amazon." The Legal Amazon consists of the nine states that essentially encompass Brazil's rain forests. According to records beginning in 1998, from Brazil's National Space Research Institute, the number of active fires (33,405) detected by satellites for the month of August are indeed more than double what they were in the previous year (15,001). On the other hand, the number of current fires is way down from earlier years. Since 1998, fires exceeded the current number in eight prior years, with 73,683 fires in the peak year of 2005.  The bottom line is that the current fires are not a significant threat to the Amazon rain forest, but state-sanctioned deforestation is.  Although some fires set by farmers do get out of hand and burn down nearby rain forests, the much bigger problem has been deforestation. The most recent peak year of 2004 saw the loss of 27,772 square kilometers (10,722 square miles) of rain forest. That's an area about the size of Maryland. As always, environmental commons like the Amazon rain forest are vulnerable to shifts in the fickle winds of politics.  For example, under the left-leaning administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003, the deforestation trends began to decline, reaching a record low in 2012 of 4,571 square kilometers (1,765 square miles). That's about the size of Delaware. During that period, the Brazilian government expanded protected areas and, importantly, stepped up   against illegal deforestation.  However, Brazil revised its Forest Code in 2012 such that it included an amnesty program for illegal deforestation on "small properties" that occurred before 2008. It also reduced forest restoration requirements. Some landowners near the rain forest evidently interpreted the amnesty as a green light for further land clearing. Consequently, under the administrations of Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer, deforestation rates began trending somewhat upward, rising to 7,000 square kilometers last year (3,050 square miles).  As I  earlier, a 2012 study on forest transitions found, after parsing data from 52 developing countries between 1972 and 2003, that deforestation increases until average income levels reach about $3,100 per capita. Similarly, a 2016 study by French researchers focusing on Amazonian deforestation calculated that "the point when deforestation starts to decrease, corresponds to an income around 4,600 in [2005 U.S. dollars]." That's about $6,000 currently.  As it happens, Brazilian per capita incomes reached $3,600 per capita in 2004, and more than $7,000 per capita in 2007, coinciding with the beginning of downward trending deforestation rates.  However, a 2019 article by Colorado State University economist Edward Barbier specifically analyzed how institutions such as the rule of law and greater voice affect deforestation and reforestation trends in tropical countries. Not too surprisingly, the strengthening of the rule of law accelerates the speed with which an economy transitions from deforestation to forest recovery.  Somewhat paradoxically, Barbier finds that better voice and accountability diminishes rather than increases the likelihood of a forest transition in tropical countries. He observes that large state-funded settlement projects have been replaced by decentralized decision-making by farmers, land speculators, agri-business enterprises, and ranchers. These local private enterprises join together into an effective lobby.  "Evidence for some developing countries has shown that such lobbying efforts may enhance private agents' legal claims to forested land, encouraging land-use policies more favorable to their interests, and thus the profitability of their land clearing activities," suggests Barbier. "The result may well be further postponement of the transition to forest recovery in many tropical developing countries." According to media reports, this dynamic is happening in the Bolsonaro administration.  Sadly, crony capitalism can delay the forest transition, but in the long run, rising incomes and urbanization will strengthen the rule of law and deforestation of the Amazon rain forest will likely reverse, as it has already in most of the rest of the world.


npr--2019-08-21--Tens Of Thousands Of Fires Ravage Brazilian Amazon Where Deforestation Has Spiked

Tens Of Thousands Of Fires Ravage Brazilian Amazon, Where Deforestation Has Spiked  Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest are proliferating at an alarming rate.  That's the gist of an announcement this week by the country's National Institute for Space Research, or INPE. According to the agency, there have been 74,155 fires in Brazil so far this year — most of which erupted in the Amazon. That represents an astonishing leap of more than 80% over last year and by far the most that the agency has recorded since it began compiling this data in 2013.  About half those fires, or nearly 36,000 of them, have ignited in just the past month. That's nearly as many as in all of 2018. Smoke from the fires has darkened the skies over major Brazilian cities, such as São Paulo.  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signaled unconcern about the situation. The far-right leader, who took office in January, has repeatedly lambasted Brazil's environmental regulations as an impediment to economic development, and under his tenure environmental agencies have seen diminished staff and funding. That includes INPE itself, whose leader, Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão, was canned this month because — according to Galvão — he questioned how Bolsonaro was using his agency's data.  Asked about the fires by local media, Bolsonaro baselessly suggested that nongovernmental organizations have been setting the fires themselves as retaliation for the scaling back of Brazil's usual funding support for them. He posited that these groups are trying to increase international pressure on his government — but when reporters pressed him on the point, he didn't name any specific NGOs or offer any proof for his assertion.  "So, there could be ... I'm not affirming it, criminal action by these 'NGOers' to call attention against my person, against the government of Brazil. This is the war that we are facing," he said Wednesday in a Facebook Live video, according to a translation by the BBC.  He added that his government is "not insensitive" to the fires and that his government may look into measures to combat them. In a tweet Tuesday, Brazil's environment minister, Ricardo Salles, attributed the fires to "dry weather, wind and heat" and said federal officials and equipment are available to help and "already in use."  But a lot of deforestation has less to do with natural factors and more to do with human activities. INPE says the amount of land that was deforested last month alone represented a nearly 300% surge over deforestation in June 2018.  As NPR reported in 2015, deforestation such as this is often tied to subsistence farming and ranching, which uses more than two-thirds of Brazil's deforested land — and which has tripled the number of cattle in the country in the past three decades.  "We estimate that the forest areas in the Brazilian Amazon have decreased something between 20 and 30% compared to the last 12 months," Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the University of São Paulo, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.  Fluvio Mascarenhas, who works at a government agency called the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, told NPR's Philip Reeves that operations that the agency usually carries out against illegal loggers and ranchers have been drastically scaled back this year. And that, he says, together with Bolsonaro's comments, only encourages further illegal activity in the rainforest.  And that has him afraid.  "Every time you look at a satellite image of the forest," he tells Reeves, "you see another little piece missing."


prepareforchange--2019-08-17--Amazon Deforestation Rate Hits 3 Football Fields Per Minute Data Confirms

Amazon Deforestation Rate Hits 3 Football Fields Per Minute, Data Confirms

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being clear cut so rapidly — a rate of three football fields per minute — that it is approaching a “tipping point” from which it will not recover, according to the Guardian.  As trees are lost, researchers said there is a risk that large areas could transition from rainforest to savannah as they lose the ability to make their own rainfall from evaporation and from plants giving off water vapor, according to Newsweek.  A transition on that scale could have significant implications for global warming since the rainforestabsorbs vast amounts of atmospheric carbon. Recent research has shown the potential for massive tree plantings to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere. “It’s very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away,” said Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research, as the Guardian reported. “We can’t see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem.” The alarming rate of deforestation and its acceleration confirms suspicions that new president Jair Bolsonaro has allowed illegal land invasion, logging and burning. Bolsonaro has called his own government’s satellite data lies. The president’s comments followed preliminary satellite data that showed more than 400 square miles of the rainforest had been cleared in the first half of July — an increase of 68 percent from the entire month of July last year, according to the BBC. Bolsonaro, the far right politician who has said he is fulfilling a mission from God, dismissed concerns expressed by European Union members and called it hypocritical since so many European forests have been wiped out. “You have to understand that the Amazon is Brazil’s, not yours,” Bolsonaro said, as the Guardianreported. “If all this devastation you accuse us of doing was done in the past the Amazon would have stopped existing, it would be a big desert.”  The DETER-B satellite system that the Brazilian government started to use in 2015 to track deforestation has shown that the record setting July deforestation is on pace to clear enough forest to fit New York City twice by the end of the month. The DETER satellite data is considered preliminary. Detailed figures are released at the end of the year when data from other satellites and observatories is also collected, according to Newsweek. “Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies,” said Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups, as the Guardian reported. After years of conservation, Brazil’s environmental track record has nose-dived in the first seven months of Bolsonaro’s administration. He has given environmental oversight to the agriculture minister, who is the leader of a farming lobby. His foreign minister called climate science a part of a global Marxist plot. The government has invited businesses to register land counter-claims in areas that are protected nature reserves, indigenous territories and areas dedicated to sustainable production by native forest people, according to the Guardian.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


theguardianuk--2019-07-28--The Guardian view on Amazon deforestation Europe must act to prevent disaster Editorial

The Guardian view on Amazon deforestation: Europe must act to prevent disaster | Editorial

If there is a glimmer of light amid the darkness of recent reports from the Brazilian Amazon, where deforestation is accelerating along with threats to the indigenous people who live there, it could lie in the growing power of climate diplomacy, combined with increased understanding of the crucial role played by trees in our planet’s climate system. The deal agreed a month ago between the EU and the Mercosur bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Venezuela is suspended) enhances European leverage with its South American trading partners. Already, the prize of access to EU markets is credited with having convinced Brazil not to follow Donald Trump’s lead by withdrawing from the Paris climate deal. Now the EU must strengthen its environmental commitments, as a letter from 600 scientists demanded before the deal was agreed.  Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, made no secret of his plans to promote development, and drew powerful support from Brazil’s agribusiness and mining interests before last year’s election. He scorns conservation and indigenous rights, claiming recently that his foreign opponents want Amazon tribes to live “like cavemen”. Satellite data shows the message is getting through, with clearances up sharply and this month set to be the first in five years in which Brazil has lost an area of forest bigger than Greater London. Illegal gold mining too is spreading. Last week one of the leaders of the Waiãpi people, Emyra Waiãpi, was found stabbed to death on a remote reserve in the state of Amapá, after armed men raided his village.  The situation is of critical importance, and all the more disturbing given recent climate projections. Protecting the world’s largest tropical rainforest, thought to contain 30% of all species, has rightly been an important focus for Brazilian and global environmental policies for two decades. But less than a year after Mr Bolsonaro’s election, the national environment agency appears significantly weakened, with enforcement actions during the first half of 2019 down 20% on the same period in 2018. Prosecutors and activists have been intimidated, while public opinion is mostly engaged elsewhere (for example, on pension reforms).  Mr Bolsonaro’s pitch to domestic and foreign audiences is the same: the Brazilian Amazon is none of anyone’s business but Brazil’s. With this in mind, the forest’s international defenders must tread carefully. Denunciations of the new government’s pro-business policies in the name of biodiversity could prove counterproductive. Instead, environmentalists, including Green politicians, should work through European political institutions, in the knowledge that the EU is the second-biggest market for Brazilian exports. Firm pressure must be brought to bear in the form of strong environmental regulations, and a refusal to compromise on transparency. Beef or soya farmed on illegally cleared land must not be imported to Europe.  At the same time, Brazilian civil society organisations need support to challenge and resist illegal incursions, and to champion their country’s existing commitments – including to reforestation of cleared areas. Climate education must be promoted globally, so that people can better understand what is going on (the murder of a journalist linked to rainforest exploitation is already the subject of a drama on Brazilian TV). Forest clearances may produce short-term gains, but in the longer term they can only bring disaster. Brazil is in a strong position, at the next round of UN climate talks (moved to Chile after Mr Bolsonaro withdrew an offer to host), to demand increased international aid for the vast Amazon region. If we claim this tropical wilderness as a green lung for the world, we cannot expect Brazil to conserve it alone.


theguardianuk--2019-11-18--Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade'

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, according to new government data which highlights the impact the president, Jair Bolsonaro, has made on the world’s biggest rainforest.  The new numbers, showing almost 10,000 sq kms were lost in the year to August, were released as emboldened farm owners scuffled with forest defenders in Altamira, the Amazonian city at the heart of the recent devastation.  The assault on the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink by land-grabbers, agribusiness, miners and loggers is accelerating. In the year until 30 July 2019, 9,762 sq kms were lost, an increase of 29.5% over the previous 12 months, the Brazilian space agency INPE said.  The clearance rate – equivalent to about two football fields a minute – is the fastest since 2008, pushing Brazil far off course from reaching its Paris agreement goals to cut carbon emissions.  The annual numbers are compiled with information from the Prodes satellite system, which is considered the most conservative measurement of deforestation. Although less steep than the rise suggested by monthly alerts from the Deter system, it confirms an upward trend that Bolsonaro and his ministers said was a “lie”, which the former head of the space agency was fired for repeating.  Environmental groups blamed the government for “every inch of the increase because it weakened environmental protections, supported loggers and encouraged land-grabbing”.  “It is no surprise this is happening because the president has defended environmental crime and promoted impunity,” said Adriana Ramos of the Socio-environmental Institute.  The monitoring NGO, the Climate Observatory, said the rise was the third highest in history (after 1995 and 1998), and was likely to continue.  “Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the coming years will be even worse,” Carlos Rittl, its executive secretary, said. “The question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed and environmental laws are shattered.”  The increasingly confrontational tactics of rightwing ruralistas (farming, timber and mining interests) were evident at a civil society gathering in Altamira, in Pará state, on Monday morning.  The meeting – titled Amazon: Centre of the World – brought together hundreds of forest guardians and their supporters, including indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, riverine communities, quilombolas, environmental activists, academics, artists, Catholic bishops, nuns and European visitors from Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future. They aim to draw up a forest manifesto that would put nature and the Amazon at the heart of the international debate about the climate and biodiversity crisis.  Many powerful interests in this region do not want global attention on their activities.  “I call upon landowners, loggers and businessmen to block this document,” said a rallying message from one of the organisers of a counter-demonstration. “This is very important for Brazil.”  Dozens of farmers and landowners attempted to disrupt the opening by surging forward, waving Brazilian flags and chanting nationalist slogans. They were rebuffed by indigenous warriors in war paint and women’s groups who formed a human barrier between the speakers and the hecklers. Police intervened to calm the situation, but with the protesters hoping to boost their numbers later in the day, tensions continued.


theindependent--2019-05-28--Deforestation in Amazon has risen by 20 this year monitoring group warns

Deforestation in Amazon has risen by 20% this year, monitoring group warns

Deforestation of the Amazon has increased by 20 per cent in the past year, according to a non-governmental group that has been monitoring the rainforest for two decades.  Uncontrolled logging and land invasion has been blamed by analysts for much of the loss, some of which occurred in protected areas and Indigenous reserves.  Environmental group Imazon said satellite imagery showed the region lost 2,169 square kilometres (837 square miles) of forest between August and April. This is up from 1,807 square kilometres lost over the same period the previous year.  The group's monitoring year begins with August, to match Brazil's dry season, when logging rates are usually at their highest.  The country's president Jair Bolsonaro and his environment minister Ricardo de Aquino Salles have questioned the reality of climate change and spoken in favour of expanding mining and industrial farming into the Amazon and protected areas.  Both believe environmental laws and activist groups often work to hinder Brazil’s economic potential.  Mr Salles said earlier this month that he wanted to overhaul the Amazon Fund, an initiative created to contain deforestation in an area of nearly seven million square kilometres (2.7 million square miles).  He was scheduled to meet with representatives of the German and Norwegian governments, two of the fund’s main contributors, this week.  Mr Salles has said his ministry reviewed 103 contracts awarded by the fund to non-profit groups, about a third of all contracts signed since its launch in 2008. He said the inquiry found “irregularities” in all 103 contracts, but he did not give any specific cases, citing confidentiality clauses until a review by auditors.  He reiterated his intention to shake up the fund by tightening rules and supervision over the allocation of contracts and the choice of projects that can get funding in a recent interview with Globo TV.  “We want better results to reverse the rise in deforestation,” Mr Salles said, adding that he wanted “measurable” results and a “return on investment.”  He could not give more details about the ministry’s proposed changes before discussing them with Norway and Germany, he said. Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, is the fund’s third biggest contributor.  The fund was created to receive donations to help prevent, monitor and combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, a vast area rich in biodiversity and whose preservation is seen as essential to curbing climate change.


theindependent--2019-08-25--Amazon fires Brazil sends in 44000 troops to tackle blazes as Bolsonaro is accused of ignoring ill

Amazon fires: Brazil sends in 44,000 troops to tackle blazes as Bolsonaro is accused of ignoring illegal deforestation

Tens of thousands of Brazilian troops are being sent into the Amazon in an “unprecedented” operation to fight wildfires as new analysis points the finger at Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro for causing the escalating environmental crisis.  Backed by military aircraft, some 44,000 troops will be available to put out the fires which have created a layer of smoke 1.2 million square miles wide and devastated large swathes of valuable pristine forest.  New analysis has revealed that the number of fines handed out to people for unlawful environmental destruction has fallen to a 10-year low.  Between 1 January and 23 August, Mr Bolsonaro’s government handed out 6,895 fines, a drop of 29.4 per cent from the previous year, according to an in-depth analysis by BBC Brazil.  Yet there have been more than 70,000 fires this year –  nearly double the number in the same period last year.  Throughout his leadership campaign, Mr Bolsonaro declared support for clearing the jungle to make way for cattle pastures and soybean farms. It seems he has delivered on his promise, according to Mike Barrett, executive director of conservation and science at WWF UK.  “The reason why [the number of fires] is higher than before is I think it’s very clear that there has been a change in the political rhetoric within Brazil, and that has led to those who wish to deforest feeling empowered to do so,” he said.  “Because of the size of the Amazon, the Amazon actually stores more carbon than any other living body, any other living ecosystem on the planet, so that’s why it plays such a crucial role in tackling climate change. If we lose the Amazon then we will almost certainly lose the fight against climate change,” Mr Barrett said.  Brazilian prosecutors are now investigating whether lax enforcement of environmental regulations may have contributed to the surge in the number of fires.  In the face of fierce environmental criticism Mr Bolsonaro tried to temper global concern, saying that previously deforested areas had burned and that intact rainforest was spared. Brazil’s justice ministry also said federal police will be deployed in fire zones to assist other state agencies and combat “illegal deforestation”.  The military’s first mission into the Amazon will be carried out by 700 troops around Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia, Brazil’s defence minister Fernando Azevedo said. The military will use two C-130 Hercules aircraft capable of dumping up to 12,000 litres of water on fires, he added.  An Associated Press journalist flying over the Porto Velho region reported hazy conditions and low visibility. The reporter saw many already deforested areas that were burned, apparently by people clearing farmland, as well as a large column of smoke billowing from one fire.  The municipality of Nova Santa Helena in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state was also hard-hit. Trucks were seen driving along a highway as fires blazed and embers smouldered in adjacent fields.  The Brazilian military operations came after widespread criticism of Mr Bolsonaro’s handling of the crisis. On Friday, the president authorised the armed forces to put out fires, saying he is committed to protecting the Amazon region.  Despite international concern, Mr Bolsonaro told reporters that the situation was returning to normal. He said he was “speaking to everyone” about the problem, including US president Donald Trump, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and several Latin American leaders.  The Amazon fires have become a global issue, escalating tensions between Brazil and European countries who believe Mr Bolsonaro has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity. Protesters gathered outside Brazilian diplomatic missions in European and Latin American cities on Friday, and demonstrators also marched in Brazil.  “The planet’s lungs are on fire. Let’s save them!” read a sign at a protest outside Brazil’s embassy in Mexico City.  The dispute spilled into the economic arena when French leader Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a European Union trade deal with Brazil and several other South American countries.  “First we need to help Brazil and other countries put out these fires,” Mr Macron said on Saturday.  The goal is to “preserve this forest that we all need because it is a treasure of our biodiversity and our climate thanks to the oxygen that it emits and thanks to the carbon it absorbs,” he said.  In a weekly video message released on Saturday, German chancellor Angela Merkel said the G7 leaders “cannot be silent” and should discuss how to help extinguish the fires.  Bolivia has also struggled to contain fires that swept through woods and fields. A US-based aircraft, the B747-400 Supertanker, is flying over devastated areas in Bolivia to help put out the blazes and protect forests.  On Saturday, several helicopters, along with police, military troops, firefighters and volunteers on the ground, worked to extinguish fires in Bolivia’s Chiquitania region, where the woods are dry at this time of year.  Farmers commonly set fires in this season to clear land for crops or livestock, but sometimes the blazes get out of control.


theindependent--2019-11-18--Amazon deforestation accelerates by almost a third in year since far-right Bolsonaro took power, spa

Amazon deforestation accelerates by almost a third in year since far-right Bolsonaro took power, space agency reveals

Figures from Brazil’s space agency show levels of deforestation in the Amazon have hit their highest rate in more than a decade.  Loss of forest between August 2018 and July this year is up by 30 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to official data released on Monday by the Brazilian Space Research Institute (Inpe).  The total level of deforestation recorded was 9,762 km² – the greatest area of rainforest levelled since 2008 – amounting to over 2,000 football pitches a day.  However, the data refers to a period ending just before this year’s unprecedented fires were at their height.  Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president of Brazil, has previously described Inpe’s reports as a “lie”. Ricardo Galvao, the former director of Inpe, left his position “involuntarily” in August following publications of reports critical of the government’s handling of deforestation.  Mr Bolsonaro’s policies include loosening regulations and protections governing natural reserves and indigenous lands as a means of spurring economic growth.  However, environment ministry officials have said they will meet the Amazon region’s governors later this week to discuss ways they can reduce deforestation.  In July, the rate of deforestation equated to roughly an area the size of Manhattan every day, with experts warning the vital rainforest is nearing a “tipping point” in which one-third of its ecosystem could be irreversibly damaged, as the region will become permanently drier.  In a statement, Greenpeace Brazil’s Cristiane Mazzetti, said: “President Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental agenda favours those who practice environmental crimes, and encourages violence against forest people. His administration is trashing practically all the work that has been done in recent decades to protect the environment and end deforestation.  “High deforestation rates and lack of governance costs lives and positions the country against the fight to tackle climate change. It also damages the economy, as the international market does not want to buy products contaminated with environmental destruction and violence.”  The world’s largest rainforest is an enormous repository for carbon, which is released back into the atmosphere when trees are felled and burnt.  Deforestation is almost always followed by fire as the cut vegetation is left to dry before being incinerated.  The new figures come shortly after research into the devastating fires contradicted the Bolsonaro administration’s claims that the blazes were “below the historical average”.  More than 72,000 fires were detected across Brazil between January and August – the highest number since records began in 2013 and an 83-per-cent increase on the same period last year.  According to the paper published in Global Change Biology Deforestation, scientists found deforestation in July was four times higher than the average in the previous three years. They also found that the number of active fires was three times higher than they were in 2018, reaching their highest levels since 2010.  Professor Jos Barlow, lead author of the paper, said: “The marked upturn in both active fire counts and deforestation in 2019 therefore refutes suggestions by the Brazilian government that August 2019 was a normal fire month in the Amazon.”


thetelegraph--2019-08-07--Amazon deforestation increases by 278 in a year institute warns climate skeptic president Bolsonar

Amazon deforestation increases by 278% in a year, institute warns climate skeptic president Bolsonaro

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon increased 278 percent year-over-year in July, according to official data released Tuesday by a government institute embroiled in a row with President Jair Bolsonaro over the scale of the problem.  The National Institute for Space Research, known by its initials INPE, said that deforestation had cleared 870 square miles (around 2,250 square kilometers) of rainforest over the month.  The Brazilian president, a climate change sceptic, and his environment minister Ricardo Salles have previously accused the INPE of publishing misleading data, claiming the figures "don't correspond to the truth" and were damaging to the institute and the country.  Data from INPE, an institution of international repute, shows that deforestation has increased 40 per cent in the last twelve months compared with the same period a year ago.  Amazon rainforest deforestation had increased 88 per cent on-year in June alone.  Last week, INPE president Ricardo Galvao was sacked following disagreements with Bolsonaro over deforestation in the Amazon, fueling criticism of the president from environmental groups.  The president suggested Galvao was "in the service of some NGOs" before dismissing him on Friday.  Bolsonaro was helped in his election last year by support from the powerful agriculture lobby.  He has previously floated the idea of opening up protected rainforest areas to agriculture, a highly controversial move given the existing level of deforestation.


thetelegraph--2019-08-12--Amazon emergency two-thirds of species are under threat from deforestation dispatch

Amazon emergency: two-thirds of species are under threat from deforestation – dispatch

When Marco Aurelio Zapata first built his farm named La Flor Del Amazonas (The Amazon Flower) deep in the Colombian rainforest nearly half a century ago, the only sound from his surrounding 288 hectares was that of the wild: howler and capuchin monkeys, macaws, and immeasurable birds, insects and amphibians striking up a cacophony of noise.  The modern era has violently interrupted this natural chorus. During the country’s long civil war which ended with a ceasefire in 2017 low flying crop-dusting planes would roar overhead dousing the forest canopy with herbicide in a bid to stem the guerilla’s cocaine production, much of it centred in Guaviare province where Zapata lives and tends to his smallholding.  Now it is the distant buzz of chainsaws, growing nearer all the time. Machete in hand hacking a path through the rainforest, the 62-year-old Zapata leads us to a clearing the size of several football pitches recently levelled by a neighbour to sell as cattle pasture.  “I feel sad and also angry to see it,” Zapata says. “This is a beautiful place and we want to protect the land but here anybody can do what they want.”  This swathe of jungle on the edge of Colombia’s Chiribiquete national park, declared a world heritage site in 2018 and championed by the Prince of Wales as a vital lung of the earth, is part of a rapidly unfolding environmental crisis stretching right across the Amazon basin.


thetelegraph--2019-12-14--Amazon deforestation hits new high according to latest official figures

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon jumped to the highest level for the month of November since record-keeping began in 2015, according to preliminary government data published on Friday.  Destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest totaled 563 square km (217.38 square miles) in November, 103% more than in the same month last year, according to the country's space research agency INPE.  That would bring total deforestation for the period from January to November to 8,934 square km, 83% more than in the same period in 2018 and an area almost the size of Puerto Rico.  The data comes as a 15-year-old became the latest indigenous person to be murdered on the edge of heavily deforested fringe of the Amazon rainforest.  Erisvan Soares, the fourth from the Guajajara tribe to be killed in recent weeks was found with knife wounds on Friday in Amarante do Maranhão.  Murders of indigenous people have risen since hard-Right president Jair Bolsonaro came to power in January on a promise to deregulate and open up the Amazon to farmers and loggers.  Deforestation usually slows around November and December during the Amazon region's rainy season. The number for last month was unusually high.  Researchers and environmentalists blame Mr Bolsonaro for emboldening ranchers and loggers by calling for the Amazon to be developed and for weakening the environmental agency Ibama.


thetorontostar--2019-05-27--Monitoring group Deforestation up 20 in Brazils Amazon

Monitoring group: Deforestation up 20% in Brazil’s Amazon

Imazon said satellite imagery showed the region lost 2,169 square kilometres (837 square miles) of forest from August through April, up from 1,807 square kilometres lost over the same period the previous year.  RIO DE JANEIRO - A non-governmental group that has monitored the Amazon rainforest for two decades said Monday that the pace of deforestation increased 20% in the most recent nine months.  Analysts blame uncontrolled logging and land invasion for much of the loss, some of which occurred in protected areas and Indigenous reserves.  The group’s monitoring year begins with August, to match Brazil’s dry season, when logging rates are usually at their highest.  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his environment minister have questioned the reality of climate change and spoken in favour of expanding mining and industrial farming, including in the Amazon and protected areas. Both believe environmental laws and activist groups often work to hinder Brazil’s economic potential.  Environment minister Ricardo Salles said earlier this month that he wanted to overhaul the Amazon Fund, an initiative created to contain deforestation in an area of nearly 7 million square kilometres (2.7 million square miles). He was scheduled to meet Monday with representatives of the German and Norwegian governments, two of the fund’s main contributors.  Salles has said his ministry reviewed 103 contracts awarded by the fund to non-profit groups, about a third of all contracts signed since its launch in 2008. He said the inquiry found “irregularities” in all 103 contracts, but he did not give any specific cases, citing confidentiality clauses until a review by auditors.  Interviewed before Monday’s meeting by Globo TV, Salles reiterated his intention to shake up the fund by tightening rules and supervision over the allocation of contracts and the choice of projects that can get funding.  “We want better results to reverse the rise in deforestation,” Salles said, saying he wanted “measurable” results and a “return on investment.”  Salles said he could not give more details about the ministry’s proposed changes before discussing them with Norway and Germany. Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, is the fund’s third biggest contributor.  The fund was created to receive donations to help prevent, monitor and combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, a vast area rich in biodiversity and whose preservation is seen as essential to curbing climate change.


wakingtimes--2019-06-20--Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Surges to Record High Further Devastation Looms

Environmentalists fear that the trends will accelerate as the Bolsonaro government and its environmental ministry continue to act on behalf of mining and industrial agricultural interests, who have enjoyed free rein to expand their exploitation of the Amazon and protected areas. This has included Indigenous reserves that have ceased being demarcated since Bolsonaro came to power in January.  The radically far-right president and his officials have blamed environmental laws, activist groups, and indigenous peoples for hindering Brazil’s economic potential, showing scant signs that they are willing to halt the accelerated deforestation of the Amazon.  The 2 million-square-mile rainforest is a vital repository of carbon dioxide and plays a crucial role in the fight against climate change, a reality the president denies. The Amazon is also home to 10 percent of all known plant and animal species. Over the course of the past four decades, the jungle has lost a staggering 18 percent of its territory, according to Greenpeace.  Regardless, officials like Bolsonaro’s most senior security adviser, General Augusto Heleno Pereira, have shown little regard for outside concerns, remarking:  The president has also blasted the main government monitoring agency as a “fines industry,”forcing it to issue fewer penalties than at any time other over the last 11 years while inspections have reduced by 70 percent from last year.  The environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has also failed to appoint regional officials and destroyed morale in the ministry with the sacking of veteran inspectors. Folha reported that Salles plans to privatize the satellite monitoring of the forest.  Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the president’s oldest son, introduced a bill last month that would remove the obligation of farmers to designate a minimum percentage of their property to natural vegetation. The measure would open up an area of over 412 million acres—an area larger than Iran—to the extractive industry.  A statement from Flavio Bolsonaro and Marcio Bittar, another senator backing the proposal, said:  Brazil has also become victim of a “radical, fundamentalist and irrational” environmental movement, they added, noting that “there’s no sense in the ecological clamor manufactured by Europeans, North Americans and Canadians and imposed on the country and its rural producers.”  Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, said:  Like Waking Times on Facebook. Follow Waking Times on Twitter.  **This article (Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Surges to Record High, Further Devastation Looms) was originally published at The Mind Unleashed and is re-posted here with permission.**


wakingtimes--2019-07-30--Scientists Warn Amazon Is Reaching Deforestation Tipping Point

According to the latest data, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being cleared at an alarming rate. The numbers suggest that deforestation has increased in the past few years, and things are projected to get even worse under the rule of the new president Jair Bolsonaro.  Experts warn that such rapid deforestation could destabilize the entire rainforest since the trees are a vital part of the ecosystem.  Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research, called the current situation a “tipping point.”  “It’s very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away. We can’t see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem,” Fearnside said, according to the Guardian.  The numbers come from the National Institute for Space Research, which president Bolsonaro accused of spreading lies. Bolsonaro said that the ministry of science and technology should have checked over the numbers and shown them to him before they were made public so he was not “caught with his pants down,” when they were released.  The rainforest in Brazil was already in danger when president Bolsonaro came into power. The region’s rainforest saw an 80% reduction between 2006 and 2012. In 2018, deforestation levels rose to the highest in a decade, with a 13% increase that year alone. Researchers are expecting 2019 to be even worse.  Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups, pointed to the policies of the new president.  “Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies,” said Rittl.  Rittl said that new leadership has stopped enforcing environmental protections, and have allowed logging corporations to clear the rainforest with impunity.  This month, the leader of an Amazonian tribe was killed under suspicious circumstances, just before the area was invaded by gold miners.  The policies of Brazil’s government were also blamed for encouraging such attacks, which have also been growing more frequent.  The new administration has been very clear that they don’t have any interest in protecting the rainforest, and that they see the indigenous population as something that is holding them back from economic progress.  John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast. Read More stories by John Vibes.  **This article (Scientists Warn Amazon Is Reaching Deforestation “Tipping Point”) was originally published at Truth Theory and is re-posted here with permission.**


wakingtimes--2019-11-19--Amazon Deforestation Rate Highest in 11 Years

The deforestation rate in Brazil‘s Amazon rainforest is at its highest in more than a decade, CNN reported Tuesday.  The latest figures come from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Using satellite data, the agency concluded that the forest lost 9,762 square kilometers (approximately 3,769 square miles) in the year leading up to July 2019. The number represents a 29.5 percent increase compared to the previous year and the highest deforestation rate since 2008.  It is also the most conclusive proof to date that deforestation is on the rise under far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, The New York Times reported. Bolsonaro has cut funding for key agencies that help protect the rainforest and reduced enforcement against illegal mining, logging and ranching.  Brazilian environmental group Climate Observatory said that the increase was the third highest in Brazil’s history, following spikes in 1995 and 1998, The Guardian reported. But this time, the government seemed less likely to act on the data.  In a break with previous denials, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles did acknowledge the deforestation increase and promise action, Reuters reported. He blamed illegal mining, logging and ranching for the rise, and said he would meet with the governors of Amazon states on Wednesday to discuss strategies for fighting deforestation. But he did not outline any detailed plans for curbing illegal forest-clearing, The New York Times pointed out.  The news follows a global outcry this summer after INPE reported a record number of fires burning in the forest this August. The new figures do not account for forest lost from August to October, Reuters pointed out, when initial data indicates deforestation rates more than doubled compared to the same time period last year.  The Amazon rainforest is considered crucial for fighting the climate crisis because it stores massive amounts of carbon. Some scientists fear that if enough forest is cleared, a tipping point will be reached and the forest will transform into savanna, which does not store as much carbon.  However, Climate Observatory Executive Secretary Carlos Rittl told The Guardian he was concerned deforestation would only increase under Bolsonaro.  “Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the coming years will be even worse,” he said. “The question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed and environmental laws are shattered.”