Posts Tagged "Amazon"

  • Mitigating the environmental impact of oil and gas extraction in the Peruvian Amazon

    [caption id="attachment_1146" align="alignleft" width="277"] A figure from Dr. Jenkins' PLoS paper shows consideration of key ecological and social factors for oil and gas extraction in Western Amazonia.[/caption] The Western Amazon is a vast stretch of tropical rainforest, teeming with life found nowhere else in the world. At the confluence of four countries, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil, it has some of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet. Unfortunately, the area

  • Amazon rainforest turning from a carbon sink to a source of carbon

    [caption id="attachment_1109" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The increased fire risk in the Amazon could turn the region from a carbon sink to a net source of atmospheric carbon. (Image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory.)"][/caption] Often cited as the lungs of the planet, it's well-known that the Amazon rainforest is under attrition. Agriculture, mining, urban development, hydroelectric dams and global warming each pose separate threats. It seems that the lungs are suffering from the equivalent of lung cancer or emphysema. But just how bad is it, and

  • Community-based Ecology Education and Resource Monitoring

    At the Pimm Group, our stated purpose is "A Future for Species Preservation and Conservation." And we understand that people are the key to long-term success. So we are very proud when one of our own is directly on the front lines -- in this case, Ciara Wirth. She is working with the Waorani, an indigenous people who live in one of the world's most biodiverse places, the Ecuadorian Amazon. We wholeheartedly offer our collective congratulations to Ciara who has just been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to spent the next year with the Waorani. She spent spent the last two summers

  • Researchers hail innovative plan to save rainforest, reduce greenhouse gas emissions

    An innovative proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect an untouched, oil rich region of Amazon rainforest is a precedent-setting and potentially economically viable approach, says a team of environmental researchers from the University of Maryland, the World Resources Institute and Save America's Forests. More

  • Will Ecuador’s plan to raise money for not drilling oil in the Amazon succeed?

    Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is full of wealth: it is one of the richest places on earth in terms of biodiversity; it is home to the indigenous Waorani people, as well as several uncontacted tribes; and the park's forest and soil provides a massive carbon sink. More