A new era of forest monitoring is quite literally taking off, ushering in what scientists are calling the ‘forest space age’. On April 29, ESA will launch its revolutionary Biomass mission the first satellite to carry a P-band radar into space – technology that is set to transform how we understand forests and the carbon they store Along with other space agencies’ instruments already in orbit or soon to be launched there has never been so many ‘eyes in the sky’ focused on forests the work of people on the ground –often in the most remote and challenging forest regions – also remains essential This is where the global network of forest scientists botanists and technicians comes in – many of whom work in challenging under-resourced and often dangerous conditions The photograph shows measurements being taken of a tree in forest close to Nova Xavantina Read full story: A new space age for forests – but groundwork still matters (ANS – Campo Grande) – On 6 and 7 November 2024, Fr Gabriel Romero, Regional Councillor for America South Cone, went to Barra do Garças, in the State of Mato Grosso, to continue his Extraordinary Visitation to the St Alphonsus Liguori Province of Campo Grande, Brazil. He then continued his journey with a new stage at the Nova Xavanatina mission. The Rector of the local Salesian presence, Fr Slawomir Bronakowski, welcomed the Regional Councillor together with the other members of the community, including Fr Klemens Deja, Fr Miguel Paes da Silva and Br Laurí Dornelles. During the visit, Fr Romero met with the Salesian community and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians at their Madre Marta Cerutti institute; then he visited the Salesian Social Work in the city and the Dom Bosco youth centre, where he spoke with the children and educators; finally, he celebrated Mass in the Santo Antônio parish and attended a meeting of the Administrative Pastoral Council. At the end of this stage, Fr Romero left some indications for the continuity of the Salesian community's pastoral work. "The community feels more strengthened by this visit," said Fr Bronakowski at the end of the two days, evaluating the visit positively and stressing its nature, rich in activity and with a strong impact. The Councillor also visited the picturesque town of Lagoa Encantada and concelebrated Mass in the village of São Pedro, located in the Terra Indígena Parabubure. The Mass, presided over by Fr Tseré ub 'õ Tsirui 'à, was celebrated in the Xavante language as a sign of respect for the local culture and during the celebration, Fr Romero interacted with the children and teenagers of the village, who offered him handicrafts typical of the area. Fr Gabriel Romero's Extraordinary Visitation continues this week with the visit to the Salesian presence in Coxipó da Ponte. ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007. 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All rights reserved A federal court in Brazil ordered a rancher to pay more than $50 million for destroying part of the Amazon rainforest the court froze the assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay for the damage he caused to the environment through illegal deforestation The civil case against Kruger was brought by Brazil’s attorney general’s office representing the Brazilian institute of environment and renewable resources (Ibama) Kruger had been forced to pay damages by Ibama for destroying 5,600 hectares (13,838 acres) in the Amazon that was on public land belonging to the federal government and the state of Amazonas Last week’s ruling was the largest civil case brought for climate crimes in Brazil to date and the start of a legal push to repair and deter damage to the rainforest Prosecutors argued the rancher used chainsaws to clear vegetation then set fires to clear the land and finally planted grass to establish pasture for raising cattle Satellite images showed the scale of the damage and Kruger admitted having caused it on film prosecutors argued that Kruger’s actions damaged the climate in two ways: burning vegetation directly emits greenhouse gases and removing plants means they can no longer draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere the court relied on evidence introduced in court that damaging the rainforest emits an average of 161 tonnes of carbon per hectare leading to a total of 901,600 tonnes of carbon released by Kruger’s actions The court assessed the value of that damage at $65 per tonne a number derived from averaging the social cost of carbon calculated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Money from Kruger’s fine will go to Brazil’s national climate emergency fund Kruger’s assets have been frozen and he is banned from receiving government finance or tax benefits He is also forbidden from selling cattle and agricultural products or buying machinery such as chainsaws and tractors Kruger will have to restore the land he degraded so it can become a valuable carbon sink again Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado prompting scientists on Monday to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna a major carbon sink that helps to stave off climate change which is spread across several states of Brazil and is one of the world’s largest savannas is often called an “upside-down forest” because of the deep roots its plants sink into the ground to survive seasonal droughts and fires grasses and other plants in the Cerrado is a major source of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions although it is far less densely forested than the more famous Amazon rainforest that it borders Deforestation and other clearances of native vegetation in the Cerrado rose 8% to 8,531 square kilometers in the 12 months through July Brazil’s official period for measuring deforestation according to national space research agency Inpe That is more than 10 times the size of New York City’s land area of 783.84 square km “It’s extremely worrying,” said Mercedes Bustamante an ecologist at the University of Brasilia Bustamante also criticized the government for a lack of transparency for announcing the deforestation data on New Year’s Eve The added destruction is particularly concerning when considering that roughly half of the Cerrado has been destroyed since the 1970s “You’re transforming thousands of square kilometers annually,” said Manuel Ferreira a geographer at the Federal University of Goias “Few other places on earth have seen that rapid of a transformation.” Ferreira said that new plant and animal species are regularly being discovered in the Cerrado and that many are probably being eradicated before they can be studied After falling from highs in the early 2000s deforestation in the Cerrado has been creeping up again since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 calling for more farming and development in sensitive ecosystems a Brazilian soy lobby group said that data showed farmers were increasingly using previously cleared land in the Cerrado rather than deforesting wholly new areas to plant the cash crop More than half of Brazil’s soy farmland is in the Cerrado Bustamante and other scientists blame Bolsonaro for encouraging deforestation with his pro-development rhetoric and for rolling back environmental enforcement Bolsonaro’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment He has previously defended his policies as a means to lift the interior of the country out of poverty and pointed out that Brazil has preserved far more of its territory than Europe or the United States “Deforestation is the most naked and raw indicator of the terrible environmental policy of this government,” said Ane Alencar the science director at the non-profit Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Reporting by Jake Spring; editing by Grant McCool and Rosalba O’Brien) Markets are on the Move to Start the Month of May 15 Indigenous women made the thousand-mile journey from their home of Rolim de Moura in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Rondônia They went as representatives of the 146 seed collectors from Reseba an organization founded in mid-2021 by members of the Aikanã they reached the region where the Amazon gives way to the Cerrado savanna and met with Brazil’s oldest association of seed collectors Such networks of seed collectors are a foundational part of the ecological restoration chain and will play an essential role in enabling Brazil to reach its goal of restoring 12.5 million hectares (30.9 million acres) of native vegetation by 2030 including 4.8 million hectares (11.9 million acres) in the Amazon and 2.1 million hectares (5.2 million acres) in the Cerrado In the absence of a government-led program exchanges between existing grassroots groups have been the best way to help newer networks gain expertise and consolidate themselves as organizations “It’s very important for us to gain this knowledge from other people who teach us how to produce clean and harvest seeds,” said Rubithem Suruí a member of Reseba and representative of the 56 collectors from the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Territory is a leader among the women of her village of Gamir whose previous knowledge of the economic potential of seeds was limited to the species used for making handicrafts This changed when members of the group Guaporé Ecological Action (Ecoporé) proposed the creation of the state of Rondônia’s first network of seed collectors Ecoporé is a nonprofit NGO that has supported restoration efforts in the Amazon for 35 years It grows 600,000 saplings a year at its nursery in the municipality of Rolim de Moura a large part of which are used for restoration projects “Reseba was created to coordinate the buying and selling of seeds with Indigenous groups and to supply both the nursery’s needs and the state’s demand,” said Aline Smychniuk one of Reseba’s socioenvironmental analysts Reseba’s seed collectors and technical staff were introduced to the parent trees of the urban seed collectors in Nova Xavantina I’ll go around the feet of different species and collect everything that I can and that is in season,” said Milene Alves a biologist and seed collector who has worked with the Xingu Seed Network since she was 16 “The role of a collector is to monitor the flowering Alves pointed out parent trees of species such as angelim (Dinizia excelsa) remnant specimens of jatobás-do-cerrado (Hymenaea stigonocarpa) and baru (Dipteryx alata) trees can still be found on some rural properties with the landowners granting access to the trees — something that can often prove to be a major challenge for urban seed collectors “This is what is left of the rainforest for us,” Alves said looking over a landscape dominated by livestock farming as is the case for some 60% of the municipality’s land the Indigenous members of Reseba were taught how to properly select fruit from the baru tree that had fallen to the ground they collected jatobás-do-cerrado using a bamboo pole with an iron hook at the end the group stopped at a square to look for caroba or Brazilian jacaranda (Jacaranda brasiliana) Alves and her mother and fellow seed collector taught the visitors different techniques for processing the seeds They left caroba seeds to dry out in the sun which allows them to remove the tip of the fruit and cut it open with a machete With seeds from the garapa (Apuleia leiocarpa) a tree found in several Brazilian biomes and that can grow to a height of 40 meters (130 feet) in the Amazon they rubbed them in a sieve with a flip-flop to separate the small seeds using a brush cutter to speed up the process To extract the seeds of the jatobás-do-cerrado they placed them on a tarpaulin on firm ground and drove over them with a car to break them up The different seeds were then divided into batches and taken to the seed houses That’s [what] a quality seed [looks like],” Alves said “The seed collector’s eye has to be meticulous.” “I really enjoyed it,” said Lucilene Maparoka Tupari a seed collector from the village of Colorado located in the Rio Branco Indigenous Territory “We got to see a lot of trees that we don’t have in our village Now I’m going to talk to my daughter about it Reseba anaysts Aline Smychniuk and Joana Gomes have visited five Indigenous territories in Rondônia to help structure Reseba as an organization They held theoretical and practical workshops before later going into the rainforest to identify potential species such as the Brazilian firetree (Schizolobium parahyba) and diesel tree (Copaifera langsdorffii) During the presentations by the Xingu Seed Network one element caught the attention of the women from Rondônia: that of the elo or “link,” the leader who represents each group of collectors “The link is the one who communicates between the group and the network,” said Roberizan Tusset who has been the elo for Nova Xavantina for three years Tusset spoke of the responsibilities of the elo is the one who “receives the potential lists from the collectors They then hold meetings and divide up the requests among the collectors which they then receive and pass onto the person in charge of the [seed] house They receive their payment and then divide it up among the collectors.” “In every territory there are representatives with whom we engage directly so that they can then relay [the information] to the rest of the community,” Gomes said The Xingu Seed Network was founded in 2007 and today is made up of some 600 members spread across 25 Indigenous groups as well as family farmers and urban inhabitants the network collected 294 metric tons of seeds contributing to the restoration of 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) of land in the Amazon and the Cerrado the network’s collectors have earned a cumulative total of 5.3 million reais ($1.05 million) Milene Alves attributed the success of the network to a number of factors including its appreciation of the different Indigenous cultures of those involved its partnership with the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and its pioneering use of the muvuca method in which a mix of seeds from up to 80 species is sown directly into the soil such as workshops on seed quality and management a coordinating body for 24 different networks across Brazil Redário advocates for issues such as better governance There’s a lot of technical dependence from the groups In the Tubarão/Latundê Indigenous Territory a lack of knowledge dampened the residents’ first experience with seed collection a resident of the village of Tubarão Gleba “We just collected the seeds and handed them over We didn’t know what you had to do to keep seeds This experience discouraged many of the village’s 26 families from becoming Reseba members but Dorvalina was excited to return to the community and get her relatives involved we learned a lot and could contribute in the village so that we didn’t hand over seeds that were all spoiled [and] full of bugs and we learned how to take care of things.” Brazil’s government drew up its National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation (Planaveg) Though later shelved by the administration of Jair Bolsonaro some of the commitments of the plan include the provision of technical training “structured and relevant” forest extension and the improvement of the seed and sapling production chain “Forestry extension will be fundamental to the success of these restoration projects,” Rita de Cássia Mesquita forests and animal rights in the current administration’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Mesquita said the administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is working to reestablish Conaveg the commission that oversaw restoration policies The national plan of action also outlined market stimulus and financial mechanism development to incentivize the recovery of native vegetation The fate of this front of the bioeconomy depends on rural landowners “willingness to restore,” Mesquita said is currently the only law that requires landowners to address their environmental liabilities there are more than 20 million hectares (49.4 million acres) of land eligible for restoration across the country according to the Forestry Code Observatory all rural properties should have had their registrations regularized by Dec Brazil’s Congress made the deadline for joining the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) individual The change means that once a landowner has been summoned by the responsible state agency they have one year in which to join the PRA This change has had a destabilizing effect on the seed collector networks “The [landowner] has a piece of land that needs to be restored but holds onto it and waits for a change in the Forestry Code “It also creates uncertainty for us with regard to the sale of seeds,” said Marcos Vinícius Lima head of commercial operations for the Xingu Seed Network “We’re facing problems now that are very similar to the [seed] networks that are only just starting out.” The lack of action on the part of landowners is also being felt in Rondônia Ecoporé is part of a joint project with the Rondônia state government that seeks to restore 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of degraded forested land along the BR-429 highway Much of the target area lies within small landholdings whose self-declared registrations haven’t yet been regularized identifies what’s needed to restore the land “We aren’t managing to get producers on board,” Joana Gomes said “There need to be more incentives and [also] more pressure from the government We have already carried out projects on public land but we now need to turn our attention to private properties monitoring by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows 8.24 million hectares (20.4 million acres) of deforestation in the Amazon and 9 million hectares (22.2 million acres) in the Cerrado which together make up an area of land the size of Uruguay said the government’s goal of eliminating deforestation by 2030 may not be enough to prevent climatic collapse in the Amazon — the notorious “tipping point” at which the world’s greatest rainforest unravels into a dry savanna Studies indicate that this will take place if deforestation reaches 20-25% of the entire Amazon The current figure of the original forest cover that’s been lost to deforestation stands at 17% “We’re heading ever faster toward collapse It’s not just about stopping deforestation we also have to restore the forest that has been lost,” Gatti said She added restoration efforts must be focused on areas where the rates of vegetation loss exceed rates of growth The extent of the challenge is laid bare by the fact that parts of the Amazon now emit more carbon dioxide than they absorb “Deforestation levels in states such as Mato Grosso Rondônia and Acre are already more than 50% so these areas need to be restored,” Gatti said which helps to restore rainfall and reduce the temperature This will make it easier for the forest to survive and for us to be able to avoid reaching the point of no return.” 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of savanna and rainforest have been converted for agriculture Some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of degraded pasture have been replaced by soybean monocultures with the area of land dedicated to the production of this crop tripling since 2000 “Right here just around the street we used to collect a lot of mother seeds — it’s all gone now,” said Vilmar Tusset a small-scale farmer and seed collector who has worked with the Xingu Seed Network since 2012 “Now we have to plant in order to collect [seeds] otherwise we won’t be able to do it anymore Soybean [plantations] are coming on strong The couple are going through something of a transition Their plan is to dedicate themselves solely to seed collecting and the restoration of the land by planting species that are native to the Cerrado region The seed collectors of Rondônia have faced threats from a number of hostile actors land grabbers and rural estate owners,” according to Reseba’s Rubithem Suruí Rainforest covers 96.7% of the territory’s 248,000 hectares (613,000 acres) it lost 2,718 hectares (6,716 acres) to deforestation To carry out their work and collect seeds from mother trees the seed collectors of the Sete de Setembro Indigenous Territory must pass through land occupied by invaders The women of the Suruí Indigenous group are waiting for the first order from Reseba to come through “We’ve already been to see the mother trees to see how many trees have seeds ready to harvest and we will collect whatever they request,” Rubithem said The seed harvest will contribute to the fight to avoid the collapse of the Amazon Rainforest yet Rubithem also sees it as having an important impact on a local level too: it will allow the women of the community to gain an income as well as autonomy in turn helping the restoration of the land they live on This story was reported by Mongabay’s Brazil team and first published here on our Brazil site on Sept. 27, 2023. The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa, as protected areas become battlegrounds over history, human rights, and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss. Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins, and trying to forge a path forward […] we can't find the page that you are looking for Don't let that stop you from visiting some of our other great related content protected by reCAPTCHA.css-trhdh3::after{background-color:#fa9000;}EXPLORE MOREblinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, ‘Blackmail tool’: Hamas rejects Israeli plan to bypass Gaza aid agenciesUN and humanitarian aid groups say Israel proposed ‘dangerous’ ration ‘scheme’ after nine-week siege Francis-era reforms that saw a diverse group of cardinals join the mix make his successor nearly impossible to call The attack comes as Moscow prepares to welcome foreign leaders from China and Brazil Reports say Israel now eyeing occupation of entire enclave control of aid and possible expulsion of Palestinians the California federal penitentiary has been shut for more than six decades A study gives clues to cosmic origin of gold and heavy elements and they were created earlier than we thought Attack claimed by Houthis temporarily halts air traffic at Israel’s busiest airport and triggers air raid sirens US president makes claim after Mexican leader says her country’s sovereignty ‘not for sale.’ Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe says the ‘ongoing’ discussions are ‘still in the early stages’ An aerial view shows deforestation near a forest on the border between Amazonia and Cerrado in Nova Xavantina where two ecologists have spent so long studying the forests that they’ve befriended many of the trees Some scientists fear we are nearing a point of no return in the Amazon rainforest which exerts power over the carbon cycle like no other terrestrial ecosystem on Earth Evidence is mounting that in certain areas localized iterations of irreversible damage may already be happening Reuters has tracked three decades-long observations of the region to give a real-world view of degradation once only predicted by computer simulations By STEPHEN EISENHAMMER in OURO PRETO DO OESTE, BRAZIL Gertrudes Freire and her family came to the great forest in search of land and rain. They found both in abundance on that day half a century ago, but the green wilds of the southwestern Amazon would prove tough to tame. When they reached the settlement of Ouro Preto do Oeste in 1971, it was little more than a lonely rubber-tapper outpost hugging the single main road that ran through the jungle like a red dust scar. Sitting on the porch of the family farmhouse in the sweltering heat of the Amazon dry season, Gertrudes, now 79 with neat gray hair tucked behind her ears and a smile that shows half a dozen stubborn teeth, recalls the hardship and hope. Her children remember the fear. Fear of forest jaguars, indigenous tribes and the mythological Curupira: a creature with backward-turned feet who misleads unwelcome visitors to leave them lost among the trees. The family carved their home from the forest. They built their walls from the tough trunks of the cashapona tree and thatched a leaky roof from the broad palms of the babassu. There was no electricity, and some days the only food was foraged Brazil nuts. At night, in hungry darkness they would listen to the cascading rain. Life was damp. Near the Freire home, there was a stream so wide that the children – aged between 5 and 12 when they arrived – would dare each other to reach the other side. They called it Jaguar’s Creek. Now it’s not a meter wide and can be cleared with a single step. The loss of such streams, and the wider water problems they are a part of, fill scientists with foreboding. Covering an area roughly the size of the contiguous United States and accounting for more than half of the world’s rainforest, the Amazon exerts power over the carbon cycle like no other terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. The tree loss from an extremely dry year in 2005, for example, released an additional quantity of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere equivalent to the annual emissions of Europe and Japan combined, according to a 2009 study published in Science magazine. As more and more of the forest is cut down, researchers say the loss of canopy risks hitting a limit – a tipping point – after which the forest and local climate will have changed so radically as to trigger the death of the Amazon as rainforest. In its place would grow a shorter, drier forest or savannah. The Amazon tipping point would mark a final shift in the rainforest’s ability to sustain itself. The consequences for biodiversity and climate change would be devastating, extinguishing thousands of species and releasing such a colossal quantity of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that it would sabotage attempts to limit global climate change. The Amazon tipping point would mark a final shift in the rainforest’s ability to sustain itself, an inflection point after which the trees can no longer feed traversing clouds with enough moisture to create the quantities of rain required to survive. Brazil’s military fails in key mission: defending the Amazon One Brazilian farmer tried – and failed – to ranch more responsibly in the Amazon Amazon fires surge anew in Brazil as cleared forest burns Two-thirds of tropical rainforest destroyed or degraded globally, NGO says Over 10,000 species risk extinction in Amazon, says landmark report Climate models have foreseen other so-called tipping points disrupting Earth’s long-balanced systems, for example warming that causes Siberian permafrost to thaw and release huge amounts of emissions, or Greenland’s Ice Sheet melting at such a rate that annual snowfall can no longer make up for the loss. Exactly where that point is in the Amazon, science is not yet decided. Some researchers argue that current modeling isn’t sophisticated enough to predict such a moment at all. But evidence is mounting that in certain areas, localized iterations of the tipping point may already be happening. Reuters has tracked three extended experiences of the Amazon to give a real-world view of degradation once only predicted by computer simulations. Even as science learns more about the far-reaching impact of destruction that began many years or even decades ago, deforestation has surged under President Jair Bolsonaro, who supports further opening the Amazon for mining and agriculture. Last year, an area larger than Lebanon was cut from the rainforest, and though preliminary data for 2021 points to a slight year-on-year decline, deforestation remains at a level not seen in Brazil since 2008. Ecologist Paulo Brando, one of the leading scientists studying the changing health of the Amazon rainforest, sums it up: “There’s a limit to how much shit the system can take.” Year after year, the Freire family hacked and sawed farther into their patch of forest on Brazil’s western frontier. In 1976, after clearing a couple of hectares and getting permission to use some of their neighbor’s pasture too, they invested in 10 heifer calves and a bull – the start of a dairy business that would over the years grow into a successful herd of about 400 head. But a fear of drought haunted their work. They had come from the Vale do Jequitinhonha, 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) to the east, where decades of slash-and-burn agriculture had dried and degraded the land, plunging its people into poverty. The semi-arid strip became notorious as the “Valley of Misery.” Even while water was plentiful, they sensed the same could happen in their new home. Soil erosion, like that which plagued the Vale do Jequitinhonha, often follows rapid and chaotic agricultural expansion. Land stripped of native vegetation, especially when transformed into pasture and pounded hard by grazing cattle, loses ability to retain water in soil and foliage. Rain runs off the altered surface in sudden surges, dragging topsoil into streams and rivers that then clog and dry. Brazil is blessed with the largest freshwater reserves in the world. But the relentless rise of one of the world’s agricultural powerhouses combined with changes in global climate are helping to drive a loss of this vital resource. Data released this year by MapBiomas, a collaboration between universities, nonprofit groups and technology companies, found Brazil lost 15% of its surface water in the three decades prior to 2020. For the Freires, the last bits of doubt about the drying of the land seeped away on a parched day in 1991. A cowhand told Gertrudes the cattle were so thirsty, they were nuzzling the bottom of dried-out springs, sucking the sand in search of moisture. She acted swiftly and put in a complex system of pipes and pumps to draw water for the cattle from springs that had not yet gone dry. Controversially, she began reforesting too. Gertrudes had little idea of what she was doing but trusted her instincts, sharpened by years of drought in the homeland she’d abandoned. Her neighbors – and husband – thought she was crazy as she planted trees around water sources and along streams and vowed that the last remaining patch of virgin forest, at the far end of the property, should remain intact. Her words weren’t always heeded. “I came back from one short trip away and my husband had cleared another patch” for pasture, she remembers, shaking her head. Gertrudes sensed that rainfall was changing too. Several scientific studies have found the same. Because tropical forests influence rainfall, deforestation can change their pattern. One influential 2011 paper looking at 30 years of precipitation data found that the onset of rains in Rondonia state, where the family lives, had been delayed by up to 18 days. Research since then has backed up this trend. A major report this year, which brought together around 200 scientists, said available data pointed to a dry season that “has expanded by about one month in the southern Amazon region since the middle 1970’s.” The drier climate makes reforesting harder too. Twenty years ago, rainforest species could be planted straight into the bare soil. Deuseminio says he must now first plant drought-resistant trees, and only once these have grown enough to provide shade and improve the soil, after five years or so, can he follow up with classic Amazon species. Rainforest saplings now struggle to survive, he says, in this part of the Amazon. Decades of farming have made the Freires sensitive to the changing rains. But to the untrained eye, the slow shifts in surviving forests - like the one at the end of the family’s farm - are harder to see. Detecting these changes can require years of methodical study, sweaty painstaking work, with tape measures and walking boots and notebooks. Ecologists Ben Hur Marimon Jr. and Beatriz Marimon have spent so long in their forest plots that they’ve befriended many of the trees. They’re saddened by those they have lost over the years. Of late, they are losing more and more. The couple conduct research at the local campus of the Mato Grosso State University in Nova Xavantina, a soy town of 20,000 people located about 1,200 kilometers east from the Freire farmhouse. The surrounding area is a biome borderland, an in-between space where the Cerrado savannah transitions into the Amazon rainforest. The trees that remain, they say, offer a vision of the future. “This is tomorrow, today,” Beatriz says, crunching through a dry patch of forest on the edge of town. Ben Hur finishes the thought. “This is the border of the Amazon, its protective wall, and it’s dying.” “This is the border of the Amazon, its protective wall, and it’s dying.” If the tipping point marks the irreversible march of savannah over rainforest, scientists predict the process would first occur in forests where savannah and rainforest are already intertwined. Ben Hur is 58, with a neatly trimmed white beard and frayed walking boots – a chewed victim of their dog. Beatriz, 55, has long gray hair tied back in a practical ponytail. The couple met in the 1980s while studying forest engineering in the state capital, Cuiaba. The two have basically worked together ever since. “He likes to talk; I like to do,” jokes Beatriz. To monitor the forests, the couple tag trees of varying sizes and species across their plots with bits of metal that look like military dog tags. They return at regular intervals – anything from three months to three years – and measure tree circumference, height and carbon dioxide respiration. Trees that haven’t made it are added to a list of the dead. But large-scale deforestation disrupts this process, reducing the number of trees to such an extent that precipitation levels fall or become more concentrated over a shorter wet season. In some parts of wide-ranging Nova Xavantina over the past 30 years, Ben Hur says, rainfall has fallen by as much as 30%. As precipitation changes, streams and sources disappear, and the remaining forest turns drier. Local temperatures also increase – particularly on edges where forest and farmland meet. Those vast flat agricultural clearings increase the strength of winds, which can rip through woodland and tear down the tallest, oldest trees. The drier forest is also more vulnerable to fire, which is still widely used for clearing farmland here. As more trees die – from wind, drought and fire – their deaths increase the likelihood of such extreme weather in the future, creating a deadly feedback loop. Early experiments that mimicked extreme drought in the Amazon had led scientists to think the drier climate would kill older trees first, but what Ben Hur and Beatriz have found is the opposite. With longer roots, the largest trees are usually the most resilient – at least to drought. Instead, says Ben Hur, pointing to the brown leaves of a nearby plant, it’s the saplings that die. The forest loses its future. For Ben Hur and Beatriz, the degrading forests around Nova Xavantina demonstrate that the tipping point may already be happening there on a local level. The major question remains whether this same process could occur on a huge scale over entire swaths of the Amazon basin – and if so, when? Celebrated Brazilian climatologist Carlos Nobre, who has helped popularize the idea of the tipping point over the past decade, puts the precipice at between 20% and 25% deforestation of the original Amazon canopy. We are currently at about 17%, according to the major report with 200 scientists published this year. Nobre believes we could see mass dieback across eastern, southern and central Amazonia within as little as 15 years. Marina Hirota, an earth system scientist who worked on models before switching to field work, says current simulations oversimplify the diverse vegetation, soil type and topography found across the Amazon basin. In her view, there’s not yet enough evidence to say where the tipping point is or even if such a single threshold exists for sure. The models need to be improved first, she says. “We know there’s a cliff out there... we’re rushing towards it with our eyes closed.” Hirota considers it more likely that deforestation would trigger multiple smaller tipping points in different locations across the Amazon, similar to what Ben Hur and Beatriz have seen in Nova Xavantina. But many scientists think putting a single number on the tipping point is still important as a clarion call, even if it’s too complex to currently prove. Once you’re able to prove it, ecologist Brando argues, it will already be too late. “We know there’s a cliff out there, and so even if we’re not exactly sure where it is, we need to slow down,” Brando says. “Instead, we’re rushing towards it with our eyes closed.” In the decades that Ben Hur and Beatriz were listing trees and wrapping them with tape measures, the atmospheric chemist Luciana Gatti was mastering how to catch carbon dioxide from the skies. While the view from the ground found trees struggling under hotter and drier temperatures, Gatti wanted to understand what these changes meant for the Amazon’s role in global climate change. Since the Industrial Revolution, scientists estimate that roughly a quarter of all fossil fuel emissions have been absorbed by forests and other land vegetation and soils, chief among them the Amazon. Through the 1980s and 1990s, as mass human migration to the Amazon was just beginning, the rainforest drew down some 500 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year, more than the current annual emissions of Germany, Britain, Italy and France combined. Photosynthesis by the forests’ billions of trees, using carbon dioxide to live and grow, served as a vital buffer against climate change. “We are losing the southeastern part of the forest.” As migration increased and more of the Amazon was cleared for agriculture, scientists knew the forest’s ability to suck in carbon would be hit. But no one knew quite how much. To try and get an answer, Gatti squeezed into a roaring single-engine four-seater plane armed with a padded suitcase packed with glass flasks. From up over the canopy, she could sometimes see the scale of destruction, the gray smoke billowing from burning trees and the yellow patches of earth shorn of the forest green. Gatti’s earliest air samples date back to 2000, from a single point in the eastern Amazon. But she found the data too narrow and volatile to give a picture of the carbon balance for the whole basin, so over the following years she expanded the work, training teams and contracting light aircraft to fill flasks of forest air from four parts of the Amazon: Santarem and Alta Floresta in the east and Tefe and Rio Branco in the west. She changed her methodology. Changed it again. And again. In total, she went through seven methodologies before eventually accepting what had seemed impossible. The southeastern Amazon is not only a net producer of carbon, but even when you strip out the fires, the forest alone – or the non-fire net biome exchange – is a carbon source. Scientists widely regard the results, recently published in Nature, as the most definitive so far on the changing carbon fluxes of the rainforest. The western part of the Amazon, protected by its remoteness, is in better health and can still absorb substantial amounts of carbon, the study shows. But it’s not enough to compensate for the polluting east, where ranching and soy farming have cut deep into the rainforest. The so-called lungs of the Earth are coughing up smoke. “We are losing the southeastern part of the forest,” Gatti says. “It is a path without return,” Gatti says. Back in Ouro Preto do Oeste, the Freires bemoan the driest dry season any of them can remember. It is mid-August, and the first rains used to come by now, they say. The dry season, once just three months, now stretches for four or five. Across the whole country, reservoirs are dangerously low as Brazil suffers one of its worst droughts in a century. The family is diversifying to try and shield their business from drought, building out capacity in breeding and beef cattle to complement their milk production. They’ve also started an organic soap business and want to plant corn. Water is a constant worry. Some nearby farmers have already sold their land – mostly to larger cattle ranchers who address the problem by digging deep wells or piping water over long distances. “It’s going to get even drier,” says Gertrudes, looking out over her farm’s yellow grass as two cats laze comatose in the stifling afternoon heat. In the distance, smoke hazes the horizon as newly slashed forest burns. “The water will finish.” More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives Got a confidential news tip? Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters Photos by Ricardo Moraes and Amanda Perobelli Video: Amanda Perobelli and Ricardo Moraes Video editing: Sergio Queiroz and Francesca Lynagh Satellite data shows rainforest cleared for cattle and maize on farms growing soya undermining claims crop is deforestation-free farmers have been able to sell the crop as deforestation-free To map the deforestation, researchers from the Brazilian NGO Instituto Centro de Vida, along with Greenpeace’s Unearthed and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism looked at satellite data of land where soya was being grown in Mato Grosso state which stretches across the southern part of the Amazon The state grows more soya than anywhere else in Brazil They found that while studies show the moratorium had successfully stopped rainforest being directly converted into soya fields Farmers were clearing land to grow commodities other than soya with 450 sq miles of rainforest – equivalent in size to Greater Manchester – felled in Mato Grosso between 2009 and 2019 professor of geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US said: “At the same time that soy farmers comply with the moratorium they continue to deforest illegally for other purposes.” (MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries are concerned about child malnutrition in the Xavante villages in the municipality of Nova Xavantina in Campinápolis, Brazil hygiene conditions and the length of distance to travel to urban centers were identified as the causes that most affect the situation regional coordinator for Pastoral Care of Children in the state of Mato Grosso the kits contained food purchased by volunteers and sent by benefactors from the Immaculate Conception Parish in the city of Bilac The most worrisome cases of malnutrition were recorded in the village of Teihidzatsé where children were checked for weight Vitamins were administered in the most severe cases “Through all the partners who join the Salesian mission we can reach the villages and distribute food and clothes.” a soup kitchen was set up in Santa Helena to provide meals with vegetables and hygiene materials for infants prepared by the Campinápolis Children’s Pastoral Care team were distributed The AMA (Mobile Missionary Assistance) project team is providing maintenance and efficiency of water wells Salesian missionaries in Brazil provide education and social services throughout the country and specifically focus on children with disabilities within several programs Missionaries help to meet the basic needs of poor youth and provide them with an education and life skills to gain employment the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on Brazil with poverty tripling in 2021 Nearly 17 million people fell into poverty in the first quarter of the year and the poverty rate now is higher than it was a decade ago Researchers estimate that 12.8 percent of Brazil’s population ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) ANS – Brazil – Child malnutrition in Nova Xavantina’s Xavante villages worries Salesian missionaries Salesian Missions – Brazil World Bank – Brazil Women restore forests and lives: discover stories of the struggle of seed collectors telegram Join our Telegram channel! telegram Women are the majority in seed collection and through detailed No Redário articulation between networks and groups of native seed collectors that drives the market and enables the distribution of the best seeds for the restoration of each ecosystem groups of seed collectors present in five biomes overcome problems and strengthen networks to combat gender-based violence establish themselves as local leaders and seed guardians This union forms the basis of a large-scale restoration chain whose lives were positively impacted by ecological restoration.  A collector for the Xingu Seed Network for 12 years she says that it was through her work with species such as cashew and mirindiba that she was able to buy her house and motorcycle in addition to noting the changes in her quality of life She is currently part of this network and collects seeds in Nova Xavantina This is a special series of videos produced by ISA and Redário highlighting stories of struggle and transformation of seed collectors.Watch the first video below: A post shared by Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (@socioambiental) an indigenous woman from the Pataxó people who has been collecting fruits from the forest protected by the Boca da Mata Village in the Barra Velha Indigenous Land for 11 years: A post shared by Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) (@socioambiental) The most relevant news for you to form your opinion on the socio-environmental agenda LAST ISSUE Today's print edition Home Delivery Brazil will stop monitoring deforestation in the Cerrado a government researcher said on Thursday citing a lack of funds days after data showed destruction hitting a 6-year high in 2021 which neighbors the Amazon rainforest and stretches across several Brazilian states is a major bulwark against climate change due to the carbon it absorbs It is often likened to an upside-down forest because its plants sink roots deep into the ground.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Deforestation rose 8% to 8,531 square kilometers in the Cerrado for the 12 months through July data from national space research agency Inpe showed on Friday In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Brazil-April 2023 - In two ceremonies presided over by the Bishop of Primavera do Leste-Paranatinga youth and adults from the Xavante villages served by St Dominic Savio Personal Parish received the sacraments of Baptism First Eucharist and Confirmation in the villages of the municipality of Campinápolis (MT) The first celebration was held on Saturday They came from different villages in the region such as the village of Tseredzatse itself and from the villages of Xavante Salesian missionaries were represented by the pastor Aquilino Tseré ub'õ Tsirui'á the celebrations were an event that deeply marked the life of the parish and also the villages telling the missionaries that they need Baptism This is the fruit of the work of the missionaries who have been traveling these lands for years together with the Xavante people," he said ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements (ANS - Campinápolis) - The Salesians of Don Bosco the Children's Pastoral and the Center for Indigenous Health (CASAI) are working in collaboration to overcome the serious problem of malnutrition of indigenous children in the area covered by the parish "São Domingos Sávio" in the municipalities of Nova Xavantina and Campinápolis in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso Salesian deacon José Alves accompanied the coordinator of the Children's Pastoral on a visit to the villages inhabited by the indigenous Xavante people of São Pedro The main objective was to monitor cases of underweight children in the São Pedro health micro-area guiding parents and referring the most serious cases to the responsible health unit "This collaborative work is very good because when people leave here they already have a list of children in the villages who have already been identified as underweight very underweight or already suffering from malnutrition and who must be accompanied because of this Transmitting this data is the health team that is in the area and informs the nutritionist in the city," reveals the Salesian deacon The visit is very simple: the nutritionist takes note of the child's low weight or malnutrition and guides the family so they can be sent to the CASAI in Campinápolis for hospitalization better monitoring of meals is done with food being given several times a day with the nutritionist monitoring the child so they can get out of that low weight situation One of the difficulties encountered by the team in this work is that there is resistance from some indigenous parents to allow their children to be sent to CASAI due to the structural conditions of the place where the children's chaperones are housed There is also a fear that the child or the accompanying adult may have contact with patients with other diseases "In cases where parents don't want to bring their children we give them a kit offered by the Children's Ministry This is a 'soup kit' that contains vegetables which are passed on to the family so that the child receives a little more nutrition each day The challenge is that often food is scarce and there are many people in the family and then not all families allocate that food to the child who really needs it," explains Fr José Alves in addition to children previously identified as underweight and malnourished These are children from 0 to 6 years old who undergo periodic evaluation by technicians from CASAI and the Children's Pastoral "This collaboration with CASAI is very positive because health personnel are involved the nutritionist and also nurses who already work in the area and they can tell us the most serious cases so that we can intervene with the families and responsible bodies here in the city of Campinápolis The Salesian mission in the parish 'São Domingos Sávio' is grateful to the coordinator Deusmira and also to the health team that works with the indigenous children," concludes the Salesian (ANS - Nova Xavantina) - As in the entire Amazon region the Indigenous people of Brazil are among - or segments of - the population most at risk for coronavirus The Indigenous people of this area live far from hospitals and often have very few basic infrastructures The only thing left for the Salesian missionaries to do is "prevent" contagion and the risk of death they have produced a video in the Salesian spirit The 15-minute video was produced and directed by the Salesian Fr Aquilino Tseré'ub'õTsirui'á The audiovisual tells the story of the origin of the virus speaks of the general guidelines of transmission and prevention and the Superior of the Province of Brazil-Campo Grande (BCG) The editing was handled by the indigenous director of the Sangradouro mission with the intention that the material be shared by the locals through apps and social networks That Covid-19 is aggressive and dangerous to the health of the Xavante is beyond doubt: in Brazil official data published by the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health reported From the news of the arrival of Covid-19 in Brazil the Salesian missionaries immediately realized that the materials that spoke of prevention measures and behavior guidelines were all in Portuguese A part of the indigenous population even refused to take preventive measures Thus was born the idea of ​​producing the video in the Xavante language whose focus would not have been simply prevention but the demonstration of the existence of the disease its origins and the fact that it is a pandemic One of the Xavante's mistakes was thinking that this disease would only affect non-indigenous people of the cities "The video explains that coronavirus attacks everyone and that it is not enough to have Christian faith or culture to be immunized," clarifies Fr Eloir de Oliveira Gonçalves Due to the community's resources and technological access the distribution of the video initially took place via DVD Some Xavante have already realized the serious risks of this pandemic and are convinced of the need to follow the general rules of prevention: to reduce contacts with the non-indigenous people of cities as much as possible; avoid gatherings; use masks and other personal hygiene measures Although many continue to insist on wanting to protect themselves only by performing healing rituals and invoking the good spirits the broadcast of this video will help to stop indigenous people from being infected and dying (ANS - Nova Xavantina) - The territory inhabited by the Xavante of Mato Grosso The flora consists of tropical forest and wormwood This natural environment is their "cosmic house" and inspiration of ritual and religious symbolism The Xavante procure food through four types of activity: hunting agriculture and gathering; the first two are exclusively masculine activities The two basic foods in their cuisine are meat and corn and two varieties of coconut whose pulp and seed Living in an unspoiled natural environment the "science of the concrete" with a rich variety of shades and innuendo Sometimes the language assumes an onomatopoeic musicality as in the case of the phrase "rain is falling" translated as "tã tet'ta à" which seems to reproduce the sound of raindrops on the ground The richness of their culture and the beauty of their near-pristine territories does not eliminate the problems they are facing: especially from the health and nutritional point of view there is a need for help and interventions The Salesian Mission Office of Turin is currently committed to supporting an expansion and renewal program of the small local pharmaceutical laboratory the plan is to start a more structured production of herbal remedies that are based on locally available herbs which would then be distributed in the villages by specialized personnel within a Health Ministry Program launched with CIMI which deals with the protection of the ethnic groups of Mato Grosso the Salesians take care of about 280 villages and 20,000 Xavantes through the three missions of San Marcos The village of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the main villages of the San Marcos mission Fr Silvio da Silva and Fr José Marcos de Oliveira celebrated the centenary of the Marian apparitions of Fatima on May 13 with a solemn Eucharist There was a large participation of the people Marian devotion and expressions of Xavante culture The Mato Grosso mission to the Bororos (at Meruri and Rondonópolis) and the Xavantes continues to be a priority for the Campo Grande Province Brazil - July 2021 - The parish priest of the Immaculate Conception of Bilac led a missionary activity in the villages of Teihidzatsé and Novo Teihidzatsé located in the Campinápolis area and populated by the Xavante natives Accompanied by two lay people from his parish he was also able to enjoy the support of the Salesian deacon José Alves de Oliveira the Salesian Cooperator Célia Coimbra and the Claretian Sister Cecília of Nova Xavantina During the week the missionary delegation shared meals with the indigenous people and animated the various activities of the communities