Environment

• Friday, June 12th 2009 - 18:15 UTC

  Clearing the Amazon for cattle and soy a “boom-bust cycle”

  

  Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say. A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.

• Thursday, June 11th 2009 - 10:01 UTC

  Shell settles lawsuit in Nigeria to help “reconciliation process”

  

  Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the firm of complicity in the executions of human rights activists in Nigeria for 15.5 million US dollars, revealed families of those killed. The settlement agreement came this week as the more than decade-long dispute was due to go to trial in a district court in New York.

• Tuesday, June 9th 2009 - 09:33 UTC

  World celebrates “one ocean, once climate, one future”

  

  The world’s oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe, supply us with food, regulate our climate, clean the water we drink, and offer a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines.

• Monday, June 8th 2009 - 14:04 UTC

  World airlines 'face $9bn loss'

  

  The global airline industry has nearly doubled its expected losses for the year to $9bn amid what it calls an unprecedented crisis.

• Monday, June 8th 2009 - 13:51 UTC

  Hamburg-Sud largest container vessel tested Montevideo port’s efficiency

  

  Hamburg Sud “Rio de la Plata”, the first of a newbuilding series of six identical vessels with a slot capacity of 5.900 containers (and 1.365 reefer container plugs) called last month in Montevideo.

• Thursday, June 4th 2009 - 15:30 UTC

  FAO suggests climate change talks should include fisheries

  

  Sixteen international organisations asked that the protection and optimisation of marine ecosystems, fisheries and aquaculture be included in the discussions leading up to the sequel to the Kyoto Protocol.

• Monday, June 1st 2009 - 13:33 UTC

  Brazilian beef industry blamed for Amazon deforestation

  

  Boots and training shoes are not the first things that spring to mind when you think about the causes of rainforest destruction and climate change, but just because the connection isn't obvious doesn't mean it isn't realm, says Greenpeace in a new report, “Slaughtering the Amazon”.

• Monday, June 1st 2009 - 07:51 UTC

  Andean indigenous propose international tribunal for “environmental crimes”

  

  Latinamerican indigenous peoples are proposing the creation o fan international court to address actions which harm the environment, according to the regional representatives meeting in the Peruvian highlands city of Puno

• Saturday, May 30th 2009 - 16:15 UTC

  World: Climate change 'killing thousands'

  

  Climate change is killing about 315,000 people a year through hunger, sickness and weather disasters, according to a new report. The report, commissioned by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) and released on Friday, said the the annual death toll is expected to rise to half a million by 2030.

• Friday, May 29th 2009 - 05:04 UTC

  Brazil discovers the benefits of efficient cook stoves.

  

  Woodland in Brazil is being cut down, day after day. The local people say they need it to make a living. This is not the Amazon rainforest deforestation, but the woody landscape of Caatinga in the North Eastern corner of Brazil. Caatinga’s inhabitants are cutting wood for cooking.