Brazil Deserves Criticism for Awful Foreign Policy
by Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil, Latin America's biggest country, has received well-deserved praise in recent years for its responsible economic policies. There is hardly a dictator -- or repressive government -- that Brazil doesn't like, human rights groups say.

Brazil Stretching Clout to Central America
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's largely unnoticed trip to Central America last week underscored an interesting phenomenon: Brazil is making big inroads into a region that was traditionally seen as Mexico's backyard

Brazil, China & India Can Mitigate Global Crisis
Global Economic Viewpoint

Brazil, India and even China will not be able, by themselves, to correct the dysfunctions that produced the global crisis. But it is true that the economic power of these three countries can mitigate its negative consequences. ...

Latin America Foreign Investment Outlook Grim
Andres Oppenheimer

A new United Nations report predicts a 40 percent drop in foreign investments in Latin America this year. I hope I'm wrong about this, but the fall in foreign funds may be even steeper.

Gabriele Marcotti: Brazil shows why it's Brazil
JOHANNESBURG -- Pedigree matters. If it didn't, we might not have witnessed what happened at Ellis Park on Sunday, an unstoppable rally that gave Brazil the Confederations Cup title in a 3-2 win over the U.S. (RECAP). Heck, when was the last time you saw a team come back from two goals down at halftime in a major final? (Apart from the 2005 Champions League final, that is.)

IndyCar likely to open 2010 season in Brazil
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The IndyCar series is taking its season-opening race to one of its best training grounds next season -- Brazil.

Tim Vickery: Blue-collar Brazil is efficient, but it's still Kaká's team
Like many fans, my editor used the word "impressive" when he asked me to write about Brazil at the Confederations Cup. And it's hard to argue with the results. The Seleção won their three group-stage games by a combined 10-3.

Soccer America: The weak links who doomed the U.S. against Brazil
He went with his veterans against two of the best teams in the world and they let him, and the country, down with a crashing thud.

12 similar flights deepen Air France 447 mystery
At least 12 airplanes shared the trans-Atlantic sky with doomed Air France Flight 447, but none reported any problems, deepening the mystery surrounding the cause of the plane's disappearance.

U.S. dad's custody case returns to Brazilian appeals court
Brazil's highest court said Wednesday it does not have jurisdiction over who should have custody of a U.S.-born 9-year-old boy -- his Brazilian stepfather or his father in the United States.

Tim Vickery: Brazil chases off the ghosts of 1982 with efficient soccer
They say people only ever remember the winners. They can say it all they like -- it doesn't make it true, especially when it comes to soccer.

American father still hopes for custody of son in Brazil
A New Jersey man whose son is at the center of a five-year international custody fight that has attracted attention from high-level U.S. and Brazilian authorities expressed hope Wednesday that he will get his boy back.

American couple on Flight 447 loved life, relatives say
Anne and Michael Harris were an "extraordinary" couple with a zest for life, their niece said.

No survivors found in wreckage of Air France jet, official says
Debris located early Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil is wreckage from the Air France jet that disappeared Monday, Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said.

Former royal, Riverdance star among plane's missing
Friends and relatives of the 216 passengers and 12 crew members on Air France Flight 447 are coming to terms with the news that wreckage from the flight was found in the Atlantic Ocean.

Air France: Missing plane probably crashed into Atlantic
The jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that disappeared overnight as it entered an area of strong turbulence probably crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, the CEO of Air France said Monday.

Dam bursts after more rain in northern Brazil
A dam burst in the northeastern village of Cocal left a 12-year-old girl dead and three people missing, fire department officials said Thursday, according to Brazil's state news agency.

Plane crash in Brazil kills 15
A prominent businessman and his family were among the 15 people killed when a plane crashed on Friday in a northeastern resort area of Brazil, CNN affiliate Rede Globo and other Brazilian media reported Saturday.

As deaths mount in Brazil flooding, more rain is forecast
The death toll from flooding that has covered large parts of Brazil continued to rise Friday, with the government reporting seven new fatalities, bringing the total to 38.

At least 31 dead, 50,000 homeless in Brazil flooding
Rain-induced flooding over large parts of Brazil have killed at least 31 people and left another 500,000 homeless, the government's civil defense agency said Thursday.

Deadly floods strike northern Brazil
At least 18 people have died in heavy flooding across 11 states in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to a statement Tuesday from Brazil's national civil defense service.

Brazil's high-tech hub grows in Sao Paulo's Brooklin
As the "B" in BRIC (one of the world's fastest-growing economies alongside Russia, India and China), Brazil may very well owe its force to an emerging business and technology district in the heart of Sao Paulo, centered around an upscale avenue called Luis Carlos Berrini in the neighborhood of Brooklin.

Josh Gross: MMA's musical chairs: who sits where in the latest rankings?
Ranking mixed martial artists is, to be fair, an inexact science. Rules across the sport are dissimilar, weight classes don't always conform and fighters have been known to jump from division to division. And all such factors played into SI.com's latest MMA rankings.

World Soccer: State tourneys are hindering growth of Brazilian game
For the big clubs in São Paulo, Brazil, Christmas shopping and the January sales mean cherry-picking time in Rio de Janeiro. In the biggest coup of the festive period, Corinthians took Ronaldo from under the nose of Flamengo while also snapping up midfielder Túlio and striker Jorge Henrique from Botafogo, which also lost playmaker Lúcio Flávio and left back Triguinho to Santos.

Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana
Former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in tactics on the war on drugs, a Spanish news agency said.

Survivors recall escape from Brazil plane crash
A woman who survived a weekend plane crash in Brazil that killed 24 told Monday of struggling to reach a square of light in the submerged plane, while another said she had no doubt she owed her survival to God.

24 dead in Brazil plane crash, officials say
Twenty-four people died in a plane crash in Brazil's Amazon basin, civil defense authorities in western Brazil said Sunday.

Josh Gross: Who's No. 1, who's closing in? Here are your updated rankings
One month down, 11 more to go. If they're all as busy as January, we're in trouble. Of course, an active schedule means plenty of fights between ranked competitors, and as we pause to see how the world's best mixed martial artists stack up, a sense of stability seems to be setting in.

Tim Vickery: Brazil finally has made the Libertadores a national priority
The 50th version of South America's premier club competition is getting underway, and there's little doubt that it has been Argentina's show so far. Of the 49 versions of the Copa Libertadores, Uruguayan clubs have won eight (though none since 1988), Brazil has 13 and Argentina 21. Indeed, between '63 and '79, there was always an Argentine club in the final.

Brazil president defends decision to grant asylum to fugitive
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended his country's decision to free an Italian fugitive condemned to life in prison for murders he denies committing in the 1970s while a member of an extremist left-wing group.

Government fights slave labor in Brazil
Slavery may seem like a quaint notion in a 21st century world, but that distinction is lost on up to 40,000 Brazilians who find themselves toiling for no real wages and can't leave the distant work camps where they live.

Tim Vickery: Isolated Brazil is finally starting to let down its borders
It's just a few hours until the decisive match in the Argentine championship playoffs. Will Boca Juniors add to their 22 titles? Or will Tigre win its first?

Brazil flooding subsides after stranding motorists
Traffic returned to normal Tuesday in the industrial city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, a day after flooding from a strong rainstorm stranded hundreds of motorists.

Brazil to get nuclear sub technology from France
The presidents of France and Brazil are set to sign several bilateral agreements, including a defense accord that would make Brazil the first Latin American nation to possess a nuclear-powered submarine.

Gregory Sica: Inter deserved Sudamericana, but tourney needs help
After 210 minutes of nail-biting action, Sport Clube Internacional lifted the Copa Sudamericana for the first time on Wednesday, an achievement that cements its status as one of the leading clubs in South American soccer history.

Brazil officials track disease from flood-tainted water
The death toll in flood-ravaged southern Brazil has reached 116 and the first cases of a water-borne, potentially fatal disease are being investigated, the nation's Civil Defense agency reported.

Brazil flooding death toll rises
The death toll from historic floods in southern Brazil continued to creep upward Monday, with 112 reported dead, the state news agency said.

More flood victims found in Brazil
Search and rescue officials found nine bodies Saturday, bringing the death toll from flooding in southern Brazil to 109, the state news agency said.

Death toll climbs in Brazil flooding
The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil on Thursday climbed to 97, the state news agency said.

Brazil flooding leaves at least 86 dead
The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil continued to climb Wednesday, with officials reporting at least 86 dead, the state news agency said.

Brazil flooding blamed for 84 deaths
The number of deaths attributed to floods in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina rose Tuesday to 84, the state news agency reported.

At least 50 dead in Brazil flooding
Flooding in Brazil's Santa Catarina state has left at least 50 dead and more than 20,000 homeless, the state news agency reported Monday.

Penguins Ride Air Force Jet to South Atlantic
More than 370 penguins that mysteriously washed up on Brazil's equatorial beaches were flown south on a huge air force cargo plane and released closer to the frigid waters they call home

Lula, In His Own Words
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discusses his country's achievements and challenges with TIME's Tim Padgett and Andrew Downie

Gregory Sica: Five things we've learned from South America qualifying
We're nearly halfway through the marathon campaign of South American qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, and the past week of action has been one of the more wild and unpredictable so far. Here are five things we've learned after seeing all 10 countries in action:

Amazon Deforestation on the Rise
Amazon deforestation jumped 69% in the past 12 months -- the first such increase in three years -- as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees

US Beats Brazil 1-0 for Gold Medal
The defending champion United States has won the gold medal in women's soccer for the third time in four Olympics, beating Brazil 1-0 in overtime Thursday

Grant Wahl: The greatest on-field feat?
BEIJING -- If the U.S. women's soccer team can upset Brazil in Thursday's gold-medal game (USA, 9 a.m. ET), would it be the greatest on-field accomplishment in the history of the storied U.S. program?

Oil Exploration Threatens Amazon
Oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest represents the latest, perhaps greatest, threat to preserving what remains of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness, scientists said Wednesday

Brazil revives nuclear power plant
A government-controlled firm is forging ahead with plans to resume expansion of Brazil's nuclear power program.

Tim Vickery: Proposal to call in home-based Brazilians is lunacy
The Brazilian national team has gone three games without a goal and is currently in fifth place in South America's World Cup campaign -- outside the automatic qualification slots. The country's well-respected sports daily Lance! believes that the time has come to take a stand.

Dead Penguins Washing up in Brazil
More than 400 dead penguins, most of them young, have been washing up on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches

Baby Penguins Showing Up Dead in Brazil
Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday

Gregory Sica: Flamengo tries to ditch label as perennial underachievers
"Underachievers" is a label many clubs get saddled with these days as they spend millions in fruitless attempts to chase trophies. But there aren't many clubs who deserve the tag more than Brazilian giants Flamengo.

Brazil Wants its Soccer Team Back
They may be perennial World Cup favorites, but the fact that Brazil's national soccer team is dominated by players based in Europe has created an identity crisis for the country's fans

Making contact: Indigenous tribes' fight to survive
Last month photographs of the discovery of one of the world's last "uncontacted" tribes on the Brazil/Peru border made front covers across the world, vividly illustrating a way of life that is mostly unknown and ignored in the industrialized world.

Tim Vickery: Brazil has no time to dwell on poor U.S. tour results
Before last Friday's meeting in Foxborough, Mass., Brazil's all-time record against Venezuela read as follows: 17 games, 17 wins, 78 goals scored and four conceded.

Leaders clash on biofuels at food summit
Leaders gathered at a summit on the world's food crisis quickly laid out their disagreements on a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to soaring prices that are causing hunger and unrest worldwide.

'Uncontacted tribe' sighted in Amazon
Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world.

Behind the Scenes: Powering the planet
This was, to be honest, simply a different kind of journalism. I've never done anything quite like it.

Plane with 6 aboard missing off northeast Brazil
A small plane carrying four British businessmen and two Brazilian pilots has disappeared off the northeastern Brazil coast, officials said.

Brazil's Counterattack on Biofuels
As food prices soar, the world is looking askance at biofuels. Brazil's President Lula wants to change that

Developers, ranchers encroaching on many of world's forests
The Amazon rainforest is so vast and full of life that even its defenders don't know exactly what it is they are protecting.

Hedging their bets
By its very nature, jatropha is divisive. The poisonous, deep-rooted shrub is traditionally used as hedging to protect food crops from hungry animals.

Brazilian military joins battle against dengue epidemic
Soldiers and firefighters have joined the fight against dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease that has infected at least 55,000 people in Brazil this year.

Tim Vickery: Compared to Brazil, Argentine fan culture is top-notch
Some 15 years ago, an English club chairman -- I'll withhold his name because I'd hate to be remembered for the dumbest thing I ever said -- declared that the soccer fan was fooling himself if he believed that he was paying the players' wages.

Brazil dances with OPEC
OPEC, the 13-nation cartel that has a huge influence over oil prices, may be expanding farther into South America.

The Amazon Gets Less and Less Green
The demands of the global food and energy market may literally be eating away at the world's largest single natural absorber of carbon dioxide

Tim Vickery: Legendary Garrincha probably could've played today
This week marks 25 years since the sad, alcohol-sodden death of Garrincha, the bandy-legged genius rated as second only to Pelé in Brazil's pantheon. Over a period of eight years, while Garrincha and Pelé were both on the field, Brazil never lost a game.

Rare Albino Alligators Stolen in Brazil
Seven rare albino alligators disappeared from a Brazilian university zoo and authorities suspect animal smugglers stole them, officials said Friday

Tim Vickery: Premiership is helping Brazilians to be more Brazilian
I arrived in Brazil in 1994, just after the national team ended that long, 24-year wait for World Cup win No. 4. The style of that team had an enormous influence on the country's domestic soccer.

UN Rep Held Hostage in Brazil
Cinta Larga Indians have taken a U.N. representative and four other people hostage, officials said Monday

Children plan for planet's future
It's not easy to keep a group of 60 elementary school children seated, but when students from Canada and Burkina Faso gathered in a virtual classroom, they all sat, eyes eagerly glued to the computer screen as they listened to stories about the lives of their new peers.

Brazil investigates 15-year-old girl's jail horror story
The Brazilian government is investigating the case of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly was raped and tortured after being put in a prison cell with 20 male inmates, officials said.

Tim Vickery: Even in Cup loss, women move game ahead in Brazil
Last week, for the first time ever, a press conference given by the coach of Brazil's men's team was dominated by the progress of the women.

Mark Bechtel: What we learned in China
SHANGHAI, China -- A few final thoughts from the World Cup:

Mark Bechtel: U.S. readies for a physical semi showdown vs. Brazil
HANGZHOU, China -- If World B. Free had been a soccer player (and a South American woman), he would've fit right in the Brazilian national team. It doesn't really matter where they are on the field or what the situation is -- the Brazilians are going to shoot the ball. And there's a pretty good chance it's going in.

Tim Vickery: Brazil improving as South Africa '10 qualifying begins
Qualifying for the World Cup is no cakewalk, even for Brazil. Luiz Felipe Scolari's side struggled to make it to Japan and South Korea in 2002 -- indeed, without a couple of strokes being pulled, Brazil may well have missed out entirely on the competition it ended up winning.

Union chief: Poor tracks to blame in deadly Brazil rail crash
The president of Rio de Janeiro's train workers union said Friday that poorly maintained tracks and overworked engineers contributed to a collision between two commuter trains that killed eight people and injured 101.

Train crash in Brazil leaves 8 dead, dozens wounded, officials say
A speeding train carrying hundreds of commuters slammed into an empty train near Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, killing eight people and injuring more than 80, officials said.

Chris Mannix: Talented U.S. proves it won't let up
LAS VEGAS -- For a minute there, it looked like the mighty and powerful United States had become mortal.

Tim Vickery: Brazil, Argentina move on with eye on Cup qualifying
It was only just over a month ago that Argentina and Brazil squared off in Venezuela in the final of the Copa América. Brazil won 3-0, but soccer never stops.

Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future
Imagine a fuel that does not come from the Middle East, is about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.

Tim Vickery: Readers sound off on Brazil's tactics
"Brazil won. End of story!"

Tim Vickery: Brazil defends Copa title, but it isn't pretty
The standard explanation of soccer's global popularity is the fact that it's such a simple game. True, but it's also very complex.

Tim Vickery: Who can bust through Brazil-Argentina Copa duopoly?
The Copa Am�rica isn't strictly the Brazil and Argentina Show, though the intrigue surrounding South America's biggest powerhouses certainly suggests otherwise.

World trade talks break down
The future of World Trade Organization's Doha pact is under doubt, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Thursday, as talks between the United States, European Union, India and Brazil broke down.

The seductive dance
The Carnival drums are reverberating in my ears. What better time to examine the importance of music and rhythm to soccer in Brazil?

Brazilian IPOs: Hot, hot, hot
Brazilian IPOs are on fire this year, but some analysts warn the market may be too hot to handle.

Brazil leading world in effort to boost use of ethanol
In an agroindustrial complex ringed by fields of 12-foot-high sugarcane, a giant mechanical claw dumps stalks by the tons into an even larger crushing machine. Here's where the renewable fuel used to power seven of every 10 new Brazilian cars gets its start.

Letters
Grassing Up . . .

Brazil readies for commercial carnival
Ahead of carnival time, Brazil is abuzz with an optimism that is also reflected in the country's buoyant economy, but can the world's sixth most populous country fulfill its potential as a safe destination for global investment?

HERE COME THE NEW FUELS
Zooming gas prices, plus the usual bad news from the Middle East, naturally raise the question: What else can we do? Quite a lot, actually. And if the price of oil sticks above $40 a barrel, the dy...

Brazil envoy: No shooting cover-up
Brazil's ambassador has said he believes there was no cover-up by British officials in the fatal police shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist on the London Tube.

BRAZIL
In Brazil, a little know-how or "jeito" goes a long way

Viva Brazil!
Growing up, Rich Zirinsky, the co-founder of Adventure Music (adventure-music.com), never played an instrument, but he was passionate about music. To date, he has collected 17,000 albums and 18,000...

Sources: Brazil blocks nuclear inspectors
(CNN) -- The Brazilian government and U.N. nuclear inspectors are at odds over inspections of an under-construction, uranium-enrichment facility near Rio de Janeiro, sources close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday.

Brazil stocks sink on scandal
Stocks in Brazil fell another 4 percent in early trading Friday and the country's currency dropped past a five-month low as the markets continue to feel the fallout of an alleged political bribing scandal.

Investing in a Dangerous World It's scary going. But finding the right opportunities in emerging markets could
Investing in emerging markets in the 1990s required great fortitude--and a crate or two of Rolaids didn't hurt either. Betting that the small, emerging economies around the world would produce outs...

A Prayer for Brazil BANGKOK, SEOUL, MOSCOW...RIO?
The salvation of the world economy is a heavy burden to lay on a country beset by yawning government deficits, ghastly poverty, anemic economic growth, and a long history of hyperinflation and debt...

Brazil: Hanging by a Thread
Will Latin America be the next domino to fall in the great emerging market collapse? That's no idle question, because more than a fifth of U.S. exports, or some $70.8 billion, go to Latin America. ...

BRAGGING RIGHTS LATIN AMERICA TAMES PRICES
Three- or four-digit inflation used to run rampant in Latin America, but no more. Of the ten largest countries, Argentina had the lowest inflation in 1995. Fiscal policy is the real problem, says R...

NEW SIZZLE IN OVERSEAS STOCKS
Foreign stock markets are suddenly back. Bourses from Hong Kong to Brazil have already posted double-digit returns this year--even surpassing the scorching Dow--and beguiled U.S. investors are once...

ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE WHO'S READY FOR FREE TRADE?
The Readiness index is based on price and currency stability, budget discipline, external debt, political stability, market-oriented policies, and reliance on trade taxes. A 5 means "ready," a 0 "n...

Brazil: News & Videos about Brazil - CNN.com
Find stories, videos, and photos about Brazil from CNN.com.

 

French Continue Search for Clues to Jet’s Loss
Ships off the Brazilian coast are seeking the voice and data recorders from Air France Flight 447, which went down June 1.

Is the Beautiful Game's Ethic Money, Glory or Work?
Brazil Coach Carlos Dunga’s message to Ronaldinho, and thus to all his countrymen, is, “Show me you are willing to sweat for the shirt.�

U.S. Lets Confederations Cup Slip Away
Against the mighty Brazil, not even a 2-0 halftime lead was enough to see the United States secure its first major international tournament championship.

For Can-Do U.S. Team, No Time for Complacency
Anyone suggesting a week ago that the United States would be in the final of the Confederations Cup, or that it stood any chance against the five-time world champion Brazil, might have been thought a little crazy.

Body of Pilot of Doomed Air France Flight Identified
Medical examiners in Brazil have identified the bodies of the captain and a flight attendant of Air France Flight 447, Air France said Thursday.

Emerging Powers Prepare to Meet in Russia
The first summit meeting of the so-called BRIC group Brazil, Russia, India and China is intended to underscore its demand for more economic influence.

New Signs That Air France Jet Broke Up in Flight
Bodies have been recovered from locations that were more than 50 miles apart, according to Brazil’s Air Force.

Recovered Debris From Jet May Ease Data Search
Brazilian divers have recovered the distinctive red-and blue-striped stabilizer from the tail of the Air France jetliner that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

In a Busy World, Brazil Discovers the Will to Work
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is beginning to take shape. The first four nations to qualify for the tournament are Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea.

'Air France Village' Is in Mourning
In the French village of Ermenonville, a short commute to Paris-Charles De Gaulle Airport, three municipal councilors are missing in the crash of Air France Flight 447.

More Bodies Recovered Near Site of Plane Crash
Searchers pulled 15 more bodies from the Atlantic as French officials confirmed that their investigation was focusing on airspeed data.

More Bodies Recovered Near Site of Plane Crash
Brazilian ships picked three corpses from the water, bringing to five the number recovered from the area where an Air France Airbus disappeared.

No Wreckage Yet Recovered of Plane Lost Over Atlantic
Brazil said the only piece of debris recovered from the ocean thus far did not belong to the Air France plane that crashed earlier this week.

Clues Point to Speed Issues in Air France Crash
An Airbus warning offered a hint that malfunctioning airspeed indicators played a role in this week’s crash.

New Debris May Aid Search for Air France Data Boxes
The Brazilian military that search teams had spotted four more debris clusters some 55 miles south of the wreckage that was discovered on Tuesday.

NYT > Brazil
World news about Brazil, including breaking news and archival articles published in The New York Times.

 

Brazil's development bank to require beef-tracking system to avoid illegal Amazon deforestation
Responding to allegations that major Brazilian cattle producers are responsible for illegal forest clearing in the Amazon, Brazil's development bank BNDES will soon require processors to trace the origin of beef back to the ranch where it was produced in order to qualify for loans, reports Brazil's Agencia Estado. The traceability program aims to ensure that cattle products do not come from illegally deforested land.

NASA images show huge drop in Amazon fires in 2008

New NASA research shows a sharp decline in the amount of smoke over the Amazon during the 2008 burning season, coinciding with a drop in deforestation reported last week by Carlos Minc, Brazil's Environment Minister. Analyzing the aerosol concentrations over the Amazon each September from the past four burning seasons using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, atmospheric scientist Omar Torres of Hampton University and several colleagues found a dramatic decline in airborne particular matter in 2008, indicating reduced incidence of fire in the region. Fire in the Amazon is primarily used by humans for land-clearing to establish cattle pasture, which now accounts for the vast majority of land-use change in the world's largest rainforest.

Brazil's minister of ideas, nemesis of former environmental minister, resigns
Brazil's minister of strategic affairs, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, will resign his post in the next few days and resume his teaching career at Harvard, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Monday.

Tesco responds to allegations of causing Amazon deforestation
Tesco, one of Europe’s largest retailers, has sent a response to the British newspaper The Guardian in light of the paper's coverage of recent allegations that the chain store sells beef and leather products that caused deforestation of the Amazon.

Brazil approves land tenure law that grants 260,000 sq mi of rainforest to settlers, speculators
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last week signed a controversial law granting 67.4 million hectares (166 million acres) of Amazon rainforest land to more than 1 million illegal settlers, reports Reuters.

Brazilian cattle giant declares moratorium on Amazon deforestation

Marfrig, the world's fourth largest beef trader, will no longer buy cattle raised in newly deforested areas within the Brazilian Amazon, reports Greenpeace. The announcement is a direct response to Greenpeace's Slaughtering the Amazon report, which linked illegal Amazon forest clearing to the cattle producers that supply raw materials to some of the world's most prominent consumer products companies. Marfrig was one several cattle firms named in the investigative report.

Brazilian miner Vale signs $500M palm oil deal in the Amazon

Vale, the world's largest miner of iron ore, has signed a $500 million joint venture with Biopalma da Amazonia to produce 160,000 metric tons of palm oil-based biodiesel per year, reports Reuters. Vale says the deal will save $150 million in fuel costs starting in 2014, with palm oil biodiesel replacing up to 20 percent of diesel consumption in the company's northern operations. The biodiesel will be produced from oil palm plantations in the Amazon state of Pará. The move is likely to stir up criticism from environmentalists that fear palm oil production could soon become a major driver of deforestation in the region.

Amazon deforestation in 2009 declines to lowest on record

Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell below 10,000 square kilometers for the first time since record-keeping began, reported Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc. Yesterday Minc said preliminary data from the country's satellite-based deforestation detection system (DETER) showed that Amazon forest loss between August 2008 and July 2009 would be below 10,000 square kilometers, the lowest level in more than 20 years. Falling commodity prices and government action to crack down on illegal clearing are credited for the decline in deforestation rates.

Brazil to pay farmers $50/month to plant trees in the Amazon
Brazil will pay small farmers to plant trees in deforested parts of the Amazon under a plan unveiled Friday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Cattle giant JBS facing corruption probe
JBS, the world's largest beef processor, is under investigation by Brazil's federal prosecutor's office for corruption, reports Reuters.

Amazon could lose 60% of forest without triggering catastrophic die-off, claims new study

Brazil's setting aside of more than 500,000 square miles (1.25 million square kilometers) of rainforest in protected areas over the past decade may effectively buffer the Amazon from the effects of climate change, preventing Earth's largest rainforest from tipping towards arid savanna in the face of ongoing deforestation and rising temperatures, argues a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

World Bank revokes loan to Brazilian cattle giant accused of Amazon deforestation

The Work Bank's private lending arm has withdrawn a $90 million loan to Brazilian cattle giant Bertin, following Greenpeace's release of a report linking Bertin to illegal deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, report environmental groups, Friends of the Earth-Brazil and Greenpeace. The loan, granted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in March 2007, was to expand Bertin's meat-processing in the Brazilian Amazon. At the time, the IFC promoted the loan as a way to promote environmentally responsible beef production in the Amazon, although environmental groups — including Friends of the Earth-Brazil and Greenpeace — criticized the move.

Wal-Mart bans beef illegally produced in the Amazon rainforest

Brazil's three largest supermarket chains, Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar, will suspend contracts with suppliers found to be involved in Amazon deforestation, reports O Globo. The decision, announced at a meeting of the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras) this week, comes less than two weeks after Greenpeace's exposé of the Amazon cattle industry. The report, titled Slaughtering the Amazon, linked some of the world's most prominent brands — including Nike, Toyota, Carrefour, Wal-Mart, and Johnson & Johnson, among dozens of others — to destruction of the Amazon rainforest for cattle pasture.

Amazon deforestation doesn't make communities richer, better educated, or healthier

Deforestation generates short-term benefits but fails to increase affluence and quality of life in the long-run, reports a new study based an analysis of forest clearing in 286 municipalities across the Brazilian Amazon. The research, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, casts doubt on the argument that deforestation is a critical step towards development and suggests that mechanisms to compensate communities for keeping forests standing may be a better approach to improving human welfare, while simultaneously sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, in rainforest areas.

Lear’s Macaw: back from the brink

The 2009 IUCN Red List for birds broke records by listing more Critically Endangered birds than ever before. Despite this, there were individual species that bucked the global trend: Lear’s Macaw Anodorhynchus leari, a bright blue parrot from northeastern Brazil, was one of these. Due to effective conservation measures the parrot’s population has reached nearly a thousand birds (up from a low of just a hundred individuals in 1989), and therefore was moved down the list, from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

Brazil to sanction illegal colonization in 230,000 sq mi of Amazon rainforest
Brazil moved a step closer to passing a controversial law that would allow landowners who illegally deforested land in the Amazon to get legal title to these holdings. Environmentalists say HB 458 — which now only needs the signature of President Lula, an avid supporter — will legitimize years of illegal colonization and may promote new deforestation.

Brazil's plan to save the Amazon rainforest

Accounting for roughly half of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2005, Brazil is the most important supply-side player when it comes to developing a climate framework that includes reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). But Brazil's position on REDD contrasts with proposals put forth by other tropical forest countries, including the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, a negotiating block of 15 countries. Instead of advocating a market-based approach to REDD, where credits generated from forest conservation would be traded between countries, Brazil is calling for a giant fund financed with donations from industrialized nations. Contributors would not be eligible for carbon credits that could be used to meet emission reduction obligations under a binding climate treaty.

Brazil accounts for 74% of global land area protected since 2003
Brazil accounts for nearly three-quarters of land protected in conservation areas established since 2003, according to a new study published in the Biological Conservation.

Political infighting in Brazil threatens the Amazon rainforest

Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc accused other government agencies of working to undermine environmental laws in favor of Amazon development projects, report Reuters and the Associated Press. His charge comes a year after his predecessor, Senator Marina Silva, resigned due to the same opposition from development interests. Minc has taken an active role in battling Amazon deforestation, reducing credit access to illegal loggers and ranchers, seizing agricultural products and cattle produced on illegally deforested lands, and pushing for new protected areas. His efforts have angered powerful development interests and at times have put his at odds with President Lula, who is promoting new road and hydroelectric projects.

World governments to miss goal protecting 10 percent of every ecoregion by next year

It is unlikely that world government will keep their pledge to protect 10 percent of every ecological region by 2010, according to a new study published in Biological Conservation. This goal is just one of many agreed upon by world governments through the Convention on Biological Diversity. With less than a year to the goal’s deadline, the study found that half of the world’s ecoregions are currently below the 10 percent threshold.

Nike, Unilever, Burger King, IKEA may unwittingly contribute to Amazon destruction, says Greenpeace

Major international companies are unwittingly driving the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest through their purchases of leather, beef and other products supplied from the Brazil cattle industry, alleges a new report from Greenpeace. The report, Slaughtering the Amazon, is based on a three-year undercover investigation of the Brazilian cattle industry, which accounts for 80 percent of Amazon deforestation and roughly 14 percent of the world's annual forest loss. Greenpeace found that Brazilian beef companies are important suppliers of raw materials used by leading global brands, including Adidas/Reebok, Nike, Carrefour, Eurostar, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Honda, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, IKEA, Kraft, Tesco and Wal-Mart, among others.

Destruction of Brazil's most imperiled rainforest continues

More than 100,000 hectares of Brazil's most threatened ecosystem was cleared between 2005 and 2008, reports a study by the Fundação SOS Mata Atlãntica and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The "Atlas of Mata Atlântica Remnants", released May 26, assessed the extent of the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) across 10 of the 17 states where the coastal rainforest occurs. It found that an 102,938 hectares were destroyed during the three year period. The annual loss of 34,121 hectares per year was 2.4 percent lower than the 34,965 ha recorded from the 2000-2005 period.

Did Malaysia cancel plans for palm oil development in the Amazon?
The Malaysian government's federal land agency (FELDA) is now denying its well-documented plan to develop oil palm plantations in the Amazon rainforest, reports Ecological Internet, a forest advocacy group that carried out a campaign against the project.

Brazil moves closer to legitimizing illegal land-grab in the Amazon
Brazil moved a step closer to approving a controversial law that would grant land title to 300,000 properties illegally established across some 600,000 square kilometers (230,000 square miles) of protected Amazon forest, reports AFP. The move may improve governance in otherwise lawless areas, but could carry a steep environmental cost without safeguards.

Near-record flooding in the Amazon
Near-record flooding has displaced thousands of people in the Brazilian Amazon, reports the Associated Press.

Howler monkeys poisoned because of misinformed link to yellow fever

There have been numerous reports of howler monkeys poisoned in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul due to misinformation regarding the monkeys and the yellow fever virus. Some locals believed that the monkeys, which also suffer from yellow fever, were in fact the disease-carriers, but yellow fever is carried by mosquitoes not monkeys. A new campaign headed by Dr. Julio Cesar Bicca Marques wants to set the record straight. The campaign, entitled ‘Save Our Guardian Angels’, is working to inform the public of the actual and important role of howler monkeys in yellow fever outbreaks.

Indigenous people serve as guardians of forest carbon, must be involved in climate solutions
Efforts to create an international climate framework — including a carbon financing mechanism for forest conservation — must involve forest people, said indigenous leaders attending the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change meeting this week in Anchorage, Alaska.

New legislation in Brazil opens up road-paving across country, threatening Amazon
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved a measure that would speed up paving roads across the country, including paving a road that environmentalists have long-fought, BR-319. Environmental groups across the nation have warned of widespread deforestation if the measure passes the Senate and is signed by the president.

Mysterious decline of small mammals in Bolivia may be linked to burning Amazon

During ten years surveying small mammal populations in Bolivia's cerrado, Dr. Louise Emmons with the Smithsonian Institute found that the mammals were suffering precipitous declines, even local extinctions. After ruling out the usual suspects—local fires, rainfall, and flooding—Emmons formed a novel hypothesis regarding the decline. Could a sudden lack of nighttime dew caused by the burning of the Amazon be the cause of the mammal decline?

Brazil could triple agricultural output without touching the Amazon rainforest

Brazil could triple its agricultural without the needing to clear additional rainforest in the Amazon Basin, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Brazil's Minister of Strategic Affairs, told Bloomberg in an interview. The argument that Brazil can expand its agricultural production without harming the Amazon is a mantra among Brazilian officials. The country has vast tracts of pasture and agricultural land that are being underutilized or have been abandoned, but rapidly appreciating land prices, coupled with poor governance and inconsistent enforcement of environmental laws, means that it is often more profitable to clear new forest land than to rehabilitate pasture.

Rainforest soy moratorium shows success in the Brazilian Amazon

An industry-led moratorium on soy plantings on recently deforested rainforest land continues to show success in the Brazilian Amazon, reports a study released Tuesday by environmental groups and Abiove, the soy industry group that formed the initiative and represents about 90 percent of Brazil's soy crush. The satellite-based study showed that only 12 of 630 sample areas (1,389 of 157,896 hectares) deforested since July 2006 — the date the moratorium took effect — were planted with soy.

Reserves with roads still vital for reducing fires in Brazilian Amazon
Analyzing ten years of data from on fires in the Brazilian Amazon, researchers found that roads built through reserves do not largely hamper a reserve's important role in reducing the spread of forest fires. The finding is important as Brazil continues a spree of road-building while at the same time paving over existing roads.

Former environment minister Silva honored with prestigious environmental award
Brazil's former Environment Minister Marina Silva was awarded Norway's $100,000 Sophie Prize for her efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Brazil: 'Soy King', Environment Minister strike deal on Amazon deforestation
Meeting at the Katoomba payments-for-ecosystem-services conference in Cuiaba, Brazil, Carlos Minc, Brazil's Environment Minister, and Blairo Maggi, Governor of the State of Mato Grosso and the world's largest individual soy grower, put aside their ideological differences and agreed to grant a temporary reprieve for ranchers and farmers in the Amazonian state, allowing them up to four years to reforest their holdings to bring them up to legal code. Under Brazilian law landowners in the "legal Amazon" are required to maintain 80 percent forest cover on their holdings, but in practice, the regulation is widely ignored.

Amazonian region likely to become savannah due to burning, deforestation
A new analysis shows that the heavily-deforested Amazonian region of Mato Grosso is particularly susceptible to 'savannization' due to repeated burning that has likely depleted the region's soils of precious nutrients. According to the study, published in the Journal of Geophyscial Research, savannization, or the process of tropical ecosystems shifting to savannah, is likely in northern Mato Grosso even if no further deforestation occurs.

Malaysian palm oil targets the Amazon
Malaysia's Land Development Authority FELDA will soon break ground on a joint venture with a Brazilian firm to establish 30,000-100,000 hectares (75,000 - 250,000 acres) of oil palm plantations in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, reports the Malaysian Star.

Will palm oil drive deforestation in the Amazon?

Already a significant driver of tropical forest conversion across southeast Asia, oil palm expansion could emerge as threat to the Amazon rainforest due to a proposed change in Brazil's forest law, new infrastructure, and the influence of foreign companies in the region, according to researchers writing in the open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science. William F. Laurance, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama City, Panama, and Rhett A. Butler, founder of environmental science web site Mongabay.com, warn that oil palm expansion in the Brazilian Amazon is likely to occur at the expense of natural forest as a result of a proposed revision to the forest code which requires land owners to retain 80 percent forest on lands in the Amazon. The new law would allow up to 30 percent of this reserve to consist of oil palm.

Land rights victory for Amazon Indians in Brazil
In what is being hailed as a victory for indigenous groups in the Brazilian Amazon, Brazil's Supreme Court sided with Indians from the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation in a 30-year land dispute with large-scale farmers in the northern state of Roraima, near the border with Venezuela, reports the Associated Press.

Norway emerges as champion of rainforest conservation

While citizens in western countries have long paid lip service to saving rainforests, Norway has quietly emerged as the largest and most important international force in tropical forest conservation. The small Scandinavian country has committed 3 billion krone ($440 million) a year to the effort, a figure vastly greater than the $100M pledged — but never fully contributed — by the United States under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA). Norway now hopes it can help push to include forest conservation in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol by providing funding and fostering cooperation among international actors like the UN and World Bank, as well as developing countries, to fund the creation of an international architecture which makes it possible to incorporate deforestation and degradation into a post-2012 climate regime.

37,000 sq km of Amazon rainforest destroyed or damaged in 2008

Logging and fires damaged nearly 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of Amazon rainforest in the August 2007-July 2008 period, an increase of 67 percent over the prior year period, according to a new mapping system developed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The damage comes on top of the nearly 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq mi) of rainforest that was cleared during the year.

Amazon deforestation drops 70% for Nov 2008-Jan 2009 period
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to 291 square miles (754 square kilometers) in the November 2008-January 2009 window, a drop of 70 percent compared to the year earlier period when 976 sq mi (2,527 sq km), said Environment Minister Carlos Minc.

Amazon rainforest in big trouble, says UN

Economic development could doom the Amazon warns a comprehensive new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report — titled GEO Amazonia [PDF-21.3MB] — is largely a synthesis of previously published research, drawing upon studies by more than 150 experts in the eight countries that share the Amazon.

Beef consumption fuels rainforest destruction

Nearly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results from cattle ranching, according to a new report by Greenpeace. The finding confirms what Amazon researchers have long known – that Brazil's rise to become the world's largest exporter of beef has come at the expense of Earth's biggest rainforest. More than 38,600 square miles has been cleared for pasture since 1996, bringing the total area occupied by cattle ranches in the Brazilian Amazon to 214,000 square miles, an area larger than France. The legal Amazon, an region consisting of rainforests and a biologically-rich grassland known as cerrado, is now home to more than 80 million head of cattle. For comparison, the entire U.S. herd was 96 million in 2008.

Payments for eco services could save the Amazon

Paying for the ecological services provided by the Amazon rainforest could be the key to saving it, reports a new analysis from WWF. The study, Keeping the Amazon forests standing: a matter of values, tallied the economic value of various ecosystem services afforded by Earth's largest rainforest. It found that standing forest is worth, at minimum, $426 per hectare per year.

France's Suez liable for illegal deforestation, "dynamite fishing" in the Amazon rainforest
A consortium building the Jirau hydroelectric dam in Brazil near the Bolivian border has been ordered to pay roughly $3.5 million in fines for illegally logging nearly 50 acres (18.6 ha) of forest and using dynamite to kill 11 tons of fish in local rivers, reports the Spanish news agency EFE.

Amazon indian tribe accused of killing and eating farmer
Five members of the Kulina tribe in the Brazilian Amazon are on the run after allegedly killing and eating a farmer in a "ritual act of cannibalism", reports CNN.

Frogs can be used to predict biodiversity hotspots
Tree frogs may help scientists inexpensively predict biodiversity hotspots for conservation, report researchers writing in the journal Science.

Brazil to boost spending on infrastructure to counter economic crisis
Brazil will increase spending on infrastructure projects by 28 percent to in response to the global financial crisis, reports Bloomberg.

Amazon scientists awarded 'Nobel Prize' of conservation

Thomas Lovejoy of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and William F. Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have been awarded one of ecology's most coveted prizes for their work to understand and conserve the Amazon rainforest. The €400,000 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology is given annually to "honor contributions which significantly advance the stock of knowledge in this area for reasons of their importance and originality."

Beef drives 80% of Amazon deforestation

Nearly 80 percent of land deforested in the Amazon from 1996-2006 is now used for cattle pasture, according to new maps released today in a report by Greenpeace at the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil. The report, Amazon Cattle Footprint: Mato Grosso: State of Destruction, confirms that cattle ranching is the primary driver of deforestation in Earth's largest rainforest: the Brazilian Amazon.

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Brazilian News in Portuguese

 

República Federativa do Brasil (Portuguese) / Federative Republic of Brazil

Ordem e Progresso (Portuguese) / "Order and Progress"

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil is a country in South America. It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. The official language is Portuguese. Catholicism is the predominant religion.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometres. Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile: Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana are to the north, Colombia to the northwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, and Uruguay to the south. Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.

Brazil is crossed by both the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, and as such is home to a vast array fauna and flora, natural environments, as well as extensive natural resources. The Brazilian population is concentrated along the coastline and in a few large urban centers in the interior. While Brazil is one of the most populous nations in the world, population density drops dramatically as one moves inland.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal from its discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. Initially independent as the Brazilian Empire, the country has been a republic since 1889, although the bicameral legislature (now called Congress) dates back to 1824, when the first constitution was ratified. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federative Republic. The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities. There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities.

Brazil is the world's 8th largest economy in terms of purchasing power and the 10th largest economy at market exchange rates. The country has a diversified middle-income economy with wide variations in development levels and mature manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. Technology and services also play an important role and are growing rapidly. Brazil is a net exporter, having gone through free trade and privatization reforms in the 1990s. In spite of important economical achievements, many social issues still hamper development.

 

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