Sergio Abranches
Logging of large areas in the Amazon region has dropped significantly, from August 2009 to July 2010. Both the Brazilian Space Agency, INPE, and Imazon, a non-governmental think-act tank, have captured this trend on their monitoring through satellite images. Imazon says that this trend holds for both large and medium sized plots with at least 12,5 ha. INPE’s head, Gilberto Camara, alerts that the satellite used, MODIS, can’t see logging in areas smaller than 100 ha. More »
Sergio Abranches
How can a supposedly communist legislator champion the interests of traditional landowners, and seek amnesty to illegal logging, often associated with violent land-grabbing and force-labor? The Brazilian House is right now discussing a bill proposing changes in the Forestry Code Law that does exactly that. The proposal under discussion was drafted by communist deputy Aldo Rebelo, a former Speaker of the House during President Lula’s first term in office. More »
Sergio Abranches
Amidst a judicial battle around the hydropower dam of Belo Monte, in the Brazilian Amazon region, the government has hastily auctioned the project. The 7-minute long bidding is being contested at the federal courts. More »
Preliminary satellite data points to the smaller amount of logging since measurement began. But can it be sustained?
Sergio Abranches More »
A paper to be presented to the Panel: “It’s Not Easy Going Green”of the Divisions on Science, Technology and Environmental Politics, and Comparative Politics of Developing Countries at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Political Association, Toronto, September 3-6, 2009.
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Sergio Abranches
The people of the forest know about our global predicament. But we seldom remember to ask them what they are experiencing.
