Brazil: Deforestation sees biggest drop in 20 yrs

The Associated Press, 11/12/09
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped nearly 46 percent from August 2008 to July 2009 — the biggest annual decline in two decades, the government said Thursday.
Analysis of satellite imagery by the National Institute for Space Research shows an estimated 7,008 square kilometers (2,705 square miles) of forest were cleared during the [...]

Lula calls on leaders to attend climate talks

Ed Crooks in London and Fiona Harvey-Financial Times, 11/05/09
Brazil’s president has challenged other world leaders to attend next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen to break the deadlock in negotiations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Financial Times he would speak to Barack Obama, US president, next week to urge him [...]

Brazilian Wind Power Gets a Boost

Robert Walzer-The New York Times, 11/09/09
Early this decade, a drought in Brazil that cut water to the country’s hydroelectric dams prompted severe energy shortages. The crisis, which ravaged the country’s economy and led to electricity rationing, underscored Brazil’s pressing need to diversify away from water power.
One result of that introspection will climax on Dec. 14, [...]

Swine flu reaches Yanomami Indians in the Amazon

Ian James-The Washington Post, 11/04/09
Swine flu has appeared among Venezuela’s Yanomami Indians, one of the largest isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon, and a doctor said Wednesday that the virus is suspected in seven deaths, including six infants.
The deaths happened in forest villages near Venezuela’s border with Brazil over the past 2 1/2 weeks, said [...]

Sugar and ethanol: A perfect storm of troubles

Samantha Pearson-Financial Times, 11/04/09
Between 2014 and 2017, manual harvesting will be phased out completely in the state of São Paulo, which accounts for most of the country’s sugar and ethanol production.
This is because the government is to ban the burning of cane fields – a practice necessary when cutting the crop by hand. It is [...]

Brazil raises cane over U.S. ethanol tariff

Chris Kraul-The Los Angeles Times, 11/04/09
“Brazilian sugar producers say sugar-based fuel is more environmentally sound than electricity or corn ethanol as an alternative for powering cars. But the odds are long for a change.”
The Los Angeles Times investigates the U.S. tariffs on ethanol, the impact of biofuel on the environment, and the possibility of electric [...]

Report: Reducing Emissions Growth in Emerging Economies Could Be Cheap

Elizabeth Malkin-The New York Times, 11/03/09
How much would it cost to stop increasing greenhouse gas emissions in Mexico? According to a new study from the World Bank, not very much.
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The report is one of six studies on low-carbon growth in emerging economies that the bank has been carrying out — though it is the only [...]

Brazil should set multi-sector GHG target: senator

Point Carbon reports on the conference “The Road to Copenhagen: Perspectives on Brazil, China, and India,” which was sponsored by the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund.
The conference hosted speakers: Marina Silva, Senator for the Brazilian Amazon state of Acre; Kenneth G. Lieberthal, Director, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution; and [...]

Brazil eyes deeper CO2 cuts, backs UN forest plan

Raymond Colitt-Reuters, 10/27/09
* Minc sees 19 pct cut from 2005 CO2 levels
* Farm and power sector account for 45 pct of emissions
* Brazil backs forest preservation scheme REDD
Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Tuesday that the government is studying deeper emissions cuts than than previously announced and that it favors a U.N.-backed forest preservation [...]

Want Clean-Energy Investment? Offer More TLC, Deutsche Bank Says

Keith Johnson-The Wall Street Journal, 10/26/09
…In a nutshell, Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors conclude in a big new report out today, investors want TLC—“transparency, longevity, and certainty”–in government energy policies. Countries that offer that—Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, and Japan—will attact capital. Countries that don’t—including the U.S. and the U.K.—will struggle….
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