Subscribe to My Feed
Loading ...Brazil Will Monitor All Its Biomass by Satellite
Thursday, November 20th, 2008Synopsis in English: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is financing a project by the Brazilian Environment Ministry (MMA) and environment agency (IBAMA) that will expand satellite monitoring to detect deforestation from just the Amazon region (which has been underway since 1988) to all its biomass. Thus monitoring will be added for the Cerrado, Caatinga, […]
Climate Change May Hit Andean Nations Hard
Thursday, June 12th, 2008In early May the Andean Community (CAN) released its report on the probable impact of global climate change on its four member states (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). One of the key conclusions of El Carmbio Climático no tiene fronteras (“Climate Change Does Not Have Borders”) is that by 2025 the impacts of global climate change […]
Mexico Takes Stock of its Wetlands
Saturday, May 31st, 2008Mangroves matter. Why? Among other reasons: Their dense root systems keep sediment from rivers and off the land from going out to sea. This helps stabilize the coastline and provides some protection from hurricanes and tropical storms. [Studies have shown storm damage is usually greater in coastal areas where mangroves have been cleared.] It also […]
Gas Flaring, LAC & Climate Change
Thursday, October 4th, 2007Take a look at the two images to the right. The first is of an offshore platform flaring gas. The second (click to enlarge) is a computer-enhanced satellite photo of gas flaring off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. Yes, if you use the right technique, you now can document flaring from space. Why is […]
The Changing Face of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007With much fanfare a collection of Brazil’s Ministers — Environment (MMA), Agrarian Development (MDA), Agriculture (MAPA) — and the chief of President Lula’s Civil Cabinet held a joint press conference a few weeks ago to announce the latest deforestation data and projections for the Brazilian Amazon (“Amazônia Legal” as Brazil calls it, comprises 9 states […]
Combatting Deforestation I: How Bad Is It in LAC?
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007In my “confession and foreword” to the series on deforestation in LAC, I promised to begin with a look at the current state of knowledge about the rate and magnitude of deforestation in in the region. Here is my stab at this topic, building on an entry I originally sketched out last November regarding the […]
Mapping Brazil’s Basins to Prepare Against Oil Spills / Atlas de bacias sedimentares vão garantir segurança contra vazamento de petróleo
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007Synopsis in English: In the year 2000, a major oil spill in Rio’s Guanabara Bay finally stirred Brazil out of complacency about planning, preparing and protecting against such releases, whether from tankers or platforms. In addition to normative work (such as Law 9966 and recent National Environment Council work on discharges from maritime platforms), the […]