Several non-government organizations (NGOs) focused on environmental issues Wednesday launched an accusation against the government of Brazil for violating international treaties and devastating the Amazon.
Austria’s coalition government has confirmed it will block the landmark EU-Mercosur trade agreement – which should create the biggest free-trade area in the world – saying it goes against the EU’s environmental ambitions set out in the European Green Deal.
French supermarket chain Casino is being sued by indigenous groups from the Amazon, for allegedly selling beef linked to deforestation. The 11 indigenous groups, backed by NGOs in the US and France, are seeking €3.1m in damages.
A new poll shows that the grand majority of Europe’s people favors implementing effective protections of the Brazilian Amazon, ending deforestation there, before the EU agrees to ratify the free trade agreement with Mercosur (composed of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).
More than 43 million hectares of forest - an area bigger than Germany - have been lost in a little over a decade in just a handful of deforestation hot spots, conservation organization WWF said on Wednesday.
Some of the world’s largest food companies and grocers urged commodity suppliers including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co. to stop trading soybeans associated with deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a savanna that is a hive of biodiversity and one of the country’s most important carbon sinks.
Instead of a manger in Bethlehem, Jesus will arrive this Christmas in a badly burned clearing in the Amazon rainforest as a black baby born to a black virgin with indigenous cherubs looking on.
Until Brazil makes a political commitment to curb deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur trade bloc will not advance toward ratification in Europe, the EU’s envoy in Brasilia said.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday his government in coming days will name countries that are importing wood illegally extracted from the Amazon.
Brazil's carbon emissions surged last year because of rising deforestation in the Amazon, jeopardizing the country's commitments under the Paris climate accord, an environmental group warned on Friday.