
Paraguayan soybean producers warned this weekend that the La Niña weather phenomenon may affect this year's crop while the 2023/24 harvest is expected to reach a record in tons produced and exported, it was reported in Asunción.

Brazil's delegation before the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday pledged to abide by the new carbon reduction target set at the gathering, Agencia Brasil reported. South America's largest country was the second nation to submit a climate plan for the third generation of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which defines the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be achieved by 2035.

Brazil's Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva said Thursday that Argentina pulling its delegation from the Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, was “a process that goes against the demands that the world is making.” In her view, however, President Javier Milei's decision will not interfere with the ongoing negotiations to have the most advanced countries further finance the adaptation of the less developed ones to the environmental agreements, Agencia Brasil reported.

Following the public consultation for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Sea Lion Field Northern Development Area, Phase 1 and 2, submitted by Navitas Petroleum Development and Production Limited, the Executive Council (ExCo) considered the representations made, responses, and further information at an extraordinary meeting held on Thursday, November 7.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be making state visits to Argentina and Chile as part of his South American tour to attend the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it was confirmed in diplomatic circles. Macron will first get together with his Argentine colleague Javier Milei to discuss climate change and other bilateral issues between Nov. 16 and 17. Then, he will head for Brazil's gathering of world leaders on Nov. 18 and 19. And then he will travel to Santiago for talks with Gabriel Boric Font.

As the Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) opened in Baku, Azerbaijan, this week, Brazil assumed a leading position at the event by opening its Pathways to Ecological Transformation space to discuss the South American country's initiatives to tackle climate change, Agencia Brasil reported.

A Chubut provincial criminal court in the city of Rawson in Argentine Patagonia Thursday found agribusinessman Ricardo La Regina guilty of aggravated damage and animal cruelty in the so-called Punta Tombo Penguin Massacre. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday.

Four rivers in Amazonian indigenous territories were found to be at a high risk of mercury contamination, above levels considered safe, Agencia Brasil reported this week citing a study by the NGO WWF-Brazil.

Local authorities have left behind the rescue efforts and moved on the the body-retrieving and identification phase Wednesday after at least 62 people died in the Spanish Community of Valencia as a consequence of this week's severe flooding caused by the Isolated High-Level Depression (known for its Spanish acronym DANA, depresión aislada en niveles altos). Another person was reported dead in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres urged countries to set aside their business models and prioritize nature, which is neither infinite nor free. He made those remarks in the Colombian city of Cali during his appearance at the Global Biodiversity Conference (COP 16).