News of environment

'We don't eat lithium': Latin America longs for benefits of metal boon

27-10-2022 18:08 Global demand has exploded for lithium – the "white gold" found in huge quantities in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. But in Latin America's "lithium triangle," there are growing concerns about the impact on regional groundwater sources and doubts about whether the benefits of a metal bonanza will truly local communities near plants, many of whom live in poverty.

Severe storms swell Iguazú falls to 10 times normal flow

13-10-2022 17:09 Closures as famed Iguazú waterfalls on the border between Argentina and Brazil have registered 10 times their usual water volume after heavy rains.

Chile to vote on overhauling dictatorship-era constitution

02-09-2022 09:30 Chileans will vote on their country’s future Sunday, for the third time in two years, choosing whether to replace Pinochet-era constitution with new one with aims to enact social change.

Authorities demand action against ‘criminal’ Paraná fires

17-08-2022 22:46 Wildfires, believed to have been started intentionally rip through wetlands on islands of Paraná Delta, with heavy smoke hitting provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, as well as the capital.

Chile President Boric receives draft constitution

04-07-2022 13:22 Chile's constitutional convention on Monday handed its proposed new constitution to President Gabriel Boric ahead of a planned September referendum on adopting the text.

Brazil sets new six-month Amazon deforestation record

04-07-2022 13:06 Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon reached a record level during the first half of 2022, national space agency reveals.

Jubilant Gustavo Petro elected Colombia's first leftist president

20-06-2022 14:35 Ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro elected Colombia's first ever left-wing president after defeating millionaire businessman rival Rodolfo Hernández in run-off.

Ex-guerrilla takes on maverick in race to be Colombia's president

18-06-2022 01:20 A former leftist guerrilla and a millionaire businessman will go head-to-head on Sunday hoping to become the new president of Colombia.

Colombian outsider makes run-off with real shot at presidency

31-05-2022 11:18 Rodolfo Hernández, who was little known at the start of the year, surged into Colombia’s presidential run-off – and he now has a real chance at winning against leftist rival Gustavo Petro.

Deforestation surges in Brazil Atlantic Forest: report

26-05-2022 20:20 Deforestation surged 66 percent last year in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, according to a new report, compounding fears over the rampant destruction of the Amazon rainforest further north.

Earth's degraded land at 'breaking point,' warns UN expert

06-05-2022 00:23 Decades of unsustainable agriculture have depleted soils worldwide and accelerated both global warming and species loss, says UN official Ibrahim Thiaw.

Bolsonaro responds after DiCaprio urges Brazil youth to vote

30-04-2022 15:30 Jair Bolsonaro fires back after US actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio urged Brazilian youth to register to vote in the country's October elections – implying they should vote against the far-right president.

Indigenous lands block Brazil deforestation, concludes study

20-04-2022 16:26 Brazil's indigenous reservations have acted as a barrier against deforestation over the past three decades, although destruction of the Amazon rainforest has accelerated recently under President Jair Bolsonaro.

Dung power: India taps new energy cash cow

20-04-2022 16:12 India is tapping a new energy source that promises to help clean up smog-choked cities and is already providing a vital revenue stream for poor Indian farmers: truckloads of bovine manure.

The new energy crisis could suit Argentina

11-03-2022 11:30 Fossil fuels are back in fashion. Western leaders are now searching frantically for exploitable oil and gas deposits that are beyond Putin’s reach.

by James Neilson

Melting glaciers, fast-disappearing gauge of climate change

24-02-2022 22:36 A crack widens in the San Rafael glacier in Chile's extreme south, and a ten-story iceberg crashes into the lake by the same name – a dramatic reminder of the impacts of global warming.

Unprecedented drought fuels devastating fires in Corrientes Province

16-02-2022 22:26 Fires fuelled by an unprecedented drought are ravaging hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in the northeastern province of Corrientes, causing serious economic and environmental damage.

Atafona: the Brazil resort town disappearing into the sea

14-02-2022 13:53 Atafona, a Brazilian resort town of some 6,000 people, has long suffered from extreme erosion – now the problem is being exacerbated even more by global warming.

Argentina wants to triple mining exports, despite social conflicts

12-01-2022 22:31 Government introducing new incentives to grow the sector over next decade, but social and environmental organisations warn of impact.

by Javier Lewkowicz, Diálogo Chino

Chile awards two multi-million dollar lithium contracts

12-01-2022 21:58 Chile shunned two of the world's biggest lithium producers when awarding extraction contracts worth a total of US$121 million to a local firm and a Chinese company, the country's minerals ministry said Wednesday.