Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon surged to record levels for the month of April, nearly doubling the area of forest removed in that month last year -- the previous April record -- preliminary government data showed on Friday, alarming environmental campaigners. In the first 29 days of April, deforestation in the region totaled 1,012.5 sq km (390 sq miles), according to data from national space research agency Inpe. The agency, which has compiled the monthly DETER-B data series since 2015/2016, will report data for the final day of April next week. April is the third monthly record this year, after new highs were also observed in January and February. FILE PHOTO: Billows of smoke rise over a deforested plot of the Amazon jungle next to the Transamazonica national highway, in Labre...
Read MoreCategory: ब्राजील
travelogues, travel articles and news from Brazil
Rio de Janeiro's famous Christ the Redeemer has competition. The small town of Encantado in southern Brazil has built a taller Christ to attract tourism. A new Brazilian statue, taller than Rio's, named "Protective Christ", is seen in the Morro das Antenas hill in the city of Encantado in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Diego Vara Christ the Protector is 43 meters (141 feet meters) high, compared to Rio's statue, which is 38 meters (125 feet), including in both cases their pedestals. Built with concrete over a metal structure, it has already been erected on a hill above the town, but the venue will only open to the public sometime next year, said Robison Gonzatti, vice president of the association that sponsored the statue. "It is the largest Christ in the...
Read MoreAs Rio de Janeiro's world-famous carnival holiday rolls around this year without official events due to Brazil's ongoing Omicron coronavirus wave, a slew of private parties are ensuring glitter-dusted revelers will have plenty of ways to celebrate. Rio's carnival was canceled in 2021 due to the pandemic. The public holiday will this year not coincide with the colorful samba school parade, held in the "sambodromo," or Sambadrome, which has been postponed to April. The city's free and wildly hedonistic street parties, known as blocos, have been scrapped. "Bate-bola" (slam the ball) revellers perform during the traditional carnival festivity in a suburb in Rio de Janeiro despite Carnival celebrations being postponed to April due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Rio de...
Read MoreBrazil recorded the most deforestation ever in the Amazon rainforest for the month of January, according to government data on Friday, as destruction continues to worsen despite the government's recent pledges to bring it under control. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon totalled 430 square kilometers (166 square miles) last month, five times higher than January 2021, according to preliminary satellite data from government space research agency Inpe. That's the highest for January since the current data series began in 2015/2016, equal to an area more than seven times the size of Manhattan. FILE PHOTO: aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino Environmental researchers said the...
Read MoreAt least seven people died and nine were seriously injured when a wall of rock collapsed on top of motorboats below a waterfall in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, the fire department said. A tower of rocks suddenly broke away from the canyon wall and came crashing down on several leisure boats, sending out a huge wave over the lake at Capitolio, in Minas Gerais state. A view shows the site where a wall of rock collapsed on top of motor boats below a waterfall as firefighters of Minas Gerais state (not pictured) seek for victims, in Capitolio, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil January 8, 2022. Fire Brigade of Minas Gerais/Handout via REUTERS Videos posted on social media showed tourists shouting as the column of rock crashed into the water, smashing two boats. Authorities said thr...
Read MoreRio de Janeiro has canceled street parades and parties during its world-famous Carnival for a second year due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and the threat from the arrival of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: A member of Beija-Flor samba school performs on a float during the second night of the 2020 Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes However, the spectacular parade by Rio's samba schools, which the public watches from the stands of the city's Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, will go ahead, unlike last year, with health precautions to prevent spreading the virus, he said. Rio mayor Eduardo Paes announced after a meeting with health authorities that the city would call of...
Read MoreThe mayor of Rio de Janeiro canceled New Year's Eve celebrations after Brazil confirmed the first known cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Latin America’s biggest country. Eduardo Paes tweeted on Saturday that he would follow the recommendations of Rio de Janeiro state to cancel the celebrations, despite the city's own view to the contrary. FILE PHOTO: People celebrate during New Year's Eve, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil January 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lucas Landau "We respect science," Paes tweeted, saying there are dissenting opinions between scientific committees in the city and the state, but he would rather stick with the most restrictive one. "The city's committee says it can go ahead and the state's says n...
Read MoreIndigenous groups urged world leaders on Sunday to back a new target to protect 80% of the Amazon basin by 2025, saying bold action was needed to stop deforestation pushing the Earth's largest rainforest beyond a point of no return. Amazonian delegates launched their campaign at a nine-day conference in Marseille, where several thousand officials, scientists and campaigners are laying the groundwork for United Nations talks on biodiversity in the Chinese city of Kunming next year. FILE PHOTO: Carlos Roberto Sanquetta, a forestry engineering professor at the Federal University of Parana, botanist Edilson Consuelo de Oliveira and Rioterra plant nursery worker Juciney Pinheiro dos Santos inspect a parcel of Amazon rainforest in Itapua do Oeste, Rondonia state, Brazil, November 4, 2020....
Read MoreBrazil’s gold medal performance in surfing did not just boost the country’s medal tally in Tokyo, it also gave a fillip to business in the small town where champion Italo Ferreira began his athletic career. Ferreira, who won the first ever Olympic gold in the surfing discipline last week, left Japan and headed straight to Baia Formosa, the small town on Brazil’s northeastern coast where he was born and grew up. Brazilian surfer Italo Ferreira, gold medalist at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, practices at Point Secret beach in his hometown Baia Formosa, in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, July 30, 2021. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer Business owners there said the attention has brought them a windfall as the media, tourists and surf enthusiasts congregate to soak up the winning atmosphere. “It’...
Read MoreIt will not be possible to host carnival celebrations in July, Rio de Janeiro’s new mayor said on Thursday, as Brazil’s second wave of coronavirus infections gathers steam with vaccine supplies still scare in Latin America’s biggest country. FILE PHOTO: A worker of the Estacio de Sa samba school walks past a carnival float at the empty samba school headquarters, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 27, 2020. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares/File Photo Eduardo Paes tweeted that he was aware of the economic and cultural benefits that the world-famous party, originally scheduled for next month, brings to the city. But he said there was no way it could be held even in the middle of the year. “It makes no sense to me to think at this point t...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.