News of environment

Global pandemic

Experts look to solve Andean virus resistance puzzle

23-06-2020 23:02 The inhabitants of the Andean heights of Bolivia and Peru have resisted the new coronavirus better than their compatriots of the low lands, which has called experts' attention.

Global pandemic

Antarctica's splendid isolation keeps coronavirus at bay

19-05-2020 15:23 Antarctica remains the only Covid-19-free continent – thanks in the main to strict security and not a little luck.

environment

Uruguay renegotiates US$3-billion pulp plant deal with Finland's UPM

17-05-2020 08:27 Environmentalists have raised concerns over the plant's impact on Uruguay River, while Argentina lost a challenge in the International Court of Justice.

Virus impact on nature

As people stay home, Earth turns wilder and cleaner

22-04-2020 14:12 When people stay home, Earth becomes cleaner and wilder.

Environment

'Green favela' fights to live sustainably in Brazil

10-03-2020 21:40 On the outskirts of São Paulo, a concrete jungle of 12 million people, the impoverished community of Vila Nova Esperanca is fighting to be a model of sustainable living.

Bloomberg

Green Bonds are selling like ‘ice cream’ – Latin America wants in

24-02-2020 15:39 At least five Latin American governments and several companies are considering debt sales to fund environmentally friendly projects in what is expected to be the region’s most active year for issuance of so-called green bonds since 2017.

WHISTLEBLOWERS

Website for Latin American whistleblowers launched

20-02-2020 17:45 A secure internet site designed to "train whistleblowers" as well as to facilitate anonymous complaints of corruption and damage to the environment in Latin America where they often face retaliation.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope voices 'outrage' over Amazon exploitation

12-02-2020 12:35 In a highly anticipated text, Argentine pontiff on Wednesday pleaded for social justice and environmental respect for the Amazon basin – but failed to recommend the controversial idea of married priests.

BLOOMBERG - OPINION

Latin America’s trash brims with hidden cash

24-01-2020 13:42 "Where there’s waste, there’s also opportunity. Latin Americans, belatedly, seem to be catching on," writes Marc Margolis.

by Mac Margolis

ENVIRONMENT

Climate crisis spawns tsunami of greenwashing

22-01-2020 16:52 From big tech to big oil, global corporations are churning out climate action plans to reduce carbon footprints – but many of their ambitious pledges are more greenwashing than green, experts caution.

world

Australia to pay 'whatever it takes' to fight wildfires

07-01-2020 12:38 Firefighters raced to contain massive bushfires in southeastern Australia Tuesday, taking advantage of a brief drop in temperatures and some much-needed rainfall before another heatwave strikes later this week.

AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES

Australian bushfire cloud visible in Chile and Argentina

06-01-2020 19:33 The cloud of smoke caused by raging bushfires in Australia has been spotted more than 12,000 kilometres (7,400 miles) away in Chile and Argentina, weather authorities said on Monday.

ENVIRONMENT

Mendoza's governor asks legislature to repeal changes to Law 7722

29-12-2019 23:56 Mendoza Governor Rodolfo Suárez asks provincial Legislature to repeal modifications to Law 7722 when they meet on Monday. The reform had been approved just a week ago, prompting massive protests called by environmentalist groups.

ENVIRONMENTAL FEARS

Mendoza government puts brakes on controversial mining law

26-12-2019 18:47 Mendoza Province Governor Rodolfo Suárez says he will hold a "broad debate" with all sectors of society on issue. UCR leader refuses to rule out popular vote on modifications to Law 7722.

ENVIRONMENTAL FEARS

Tensions rise in Mendoza as protesters reject modifications to mining law

23-12-2019 16:49 Demonstrators take to streets after lawmakers in famed wine-producing province adjust legislation to smooth way for mining projects. Critics charge it will weaken water protections.

GUEST COLUMN

Anger and environmental idealism

19-10-2019 08:30 The thrust of our political, economic and environmental systems must be urgently changed because their divergence is catastrophic.

by Ricardo Lorenzetti

Climate Change

Scientists brave crisis to continue research at Venezuela's last glacier

24-09-2019 18:29 The rapid pace of glacial retreat over the past century and a half, accelerated by human activities and burning of fossil fuels, creates new urgency for scientists to understand how freshly exposed rock forms new soil and eventually new ecosystems.

ENVIRONMENT

Chilean Patagonia: an open-air lab to study climate change

04-09-2019 12:50 In one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, scientists are studying whales, dolphins and algae in order to help predict how climate change will affect the world's oceans.

ENVIRONMENT

Australian government agency lowers Great Barrier Reef outlook to 'very poor'

30-08-2019 12:26 The government agency that manages Australia's Great Barrier Reef has downgraded its outlook for the corals' condition from "poor" to "very poor" due to warming oceans.

AMAZON IN FLAMES

Bolsonaro's son heads to Washington to thank Trump for Amazon support

30-08-2019 12:15 Eduardo Bolsonaro, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's son and hopeful ambassador to the United States, will travel to Washington Friday to thank Donald Trump for his support during the crisis surrounding the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

AMAZON AFLAME

Bolsonaro says Amazon nations should decide region's future

29-08-2019 11:31 A September conference in Colombia is now set for all Amazon nations except Venezuela to discuss the crisis.

ENVIRONMENT

Vast fires sweep across Bolivia as well as Brazil

27-08-2019 17:35 President Evo Morales, who has been under criticism for an allegedly slow response to the fires, was in the region on Tuesday overseeing firefighting efforts involving more than 3,500 people, including soldiers, police and volunteers.

AMAZON AFLAME

New fires rage in Amazon as Brazil warplanes battle flames

26-08-2019 13:38 Hundreds of new fires have flared up in the Amazon in Brazil, data showed Monday, even as military aircraft dumped water over hard-hit areas and G7 nations pledged to help combat the blazes.

AMAZON AFLAME

Pope Francis expresses fears for Amazon, the planet's 'vital lung'

25-08-2019 17:49 "We are concerned about the vast fires that have developed in the Amazon," the pope told the faithful at the Vatican. "That forest lung is vital for our planet."

AMAZON IN FLAMES

Global outrage forces Bolsonaro to act, sending Army to contain Amazon fires

23-08-2019 16:01 Under increasing international pressure to contain record numbers of fires in the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he might send the military to battle the massive blazes.

AMAZON IN FLAMES

Ireland may withold EU-Mercosur deal support over Amazon fires

23-08-2019 14:03 "There is no way that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments," says Prime Minister Leo Varadkar

OPINION

Leonid Bershidsky: The EU can push Bolsonaro to save the Amazon

23-08-2019 13:59 It’s appropriate for Macron, Merkel and other European leaders to reconsider the Mercosur trade agreement in response to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s behaviour.

BLOOMBERG – FEATURE

Chile's glaciers may have a bigger problem than climate change

15-08-2019 10:34 Chile has one of the world’s largest reserves of fresh water outside the north and south poles, but the abundant glaciers that are the source of that precious commodity are melting fast. That’s not just an ecological disaster in the making – it’s rapidly becoming an economic and political dilemma for the government of Latin America’s richest nation.

Environment

Greenpeace crashes Rural Society event with anti-deforestation protest

05-08-2019 10:30 Security Ministry lays charges against environmental organisation over cunning anti-deforestation protest just metres from President Mauricio Macri.

Bolsonaro's Brazil

Brazil's space research chief says he was sacked over Bolsonaro deforestation spat

02-08-2019 17:34 Ricardo Galvao told the press that "My words about the president have caused annoyance, so I'm going to be fired."

ENVIRONMENT

Chile's Navy confirms diesel oil spill of 40,000 litres in Patagonia

29-07-2019 14:19 Navy says it has deployed ships to Guarello island to control damage from the spill, and that an investigation had been launched.

Environment

Macri gov't to push mine closure regulatory bill in Congress

20-07-2019 08:06 The bill would seek to ensure orderly financial and environment management of mine closures.

EU-Mercosur

Macron has 'questions' about various aspects of EU-Mercosur deal

10-07-2019 17:54 A spokesperson for the French government said that the French president still had lingering questions about “environmental” and “health” provisions as well as conditions regarding “sensitive sectors.”

ENVIRONMENT

Chile to close eight coal-fired power stations amid renewables push

04-06-2019 22:54 Chile, a net importer of energy, has relied increasingly on coal-powered electricity generation over the last decade, driven largely by the end of imports of natural gas from Argentina.

ENVIRONMENT

Supreme Court throws out mining giants' claim against Glacier Protection Law

04-06-2019 13:27 Justices vote unanimously to uphold the law's validity on constitutional grounds, determining that the plaintiffs did not provide sufficient evidence to support claims that the law infringed their right to mine Argentina's natural resources.