Article - Spot Luck: Great wildlife encounters in Brazil

From the Amazon jungle to the wetlands of the Pantanal, Brazil is home to an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life

It’s a nose. A very long nose. It swings back and forth in our direction, combing the breeze for our scent like some animated Hoover nozzle. Finding nothing amiss, the owner continues her meandering path towards us. What now?

The long grass parts as her outlandish form emerges into full view. Fifteen metres, 10 metres, eight metres. Surely she has seen us. But the wind is in our favour and those stuck-on currants of eyes are fooling nobody. Now we can see her pickaxe front claws and metre-long witch’s broom of a tail. And, best of all, her passenger: a mini-me clinging gamely to mum’s back like some myopic clanger.

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Article - Reducing Deforestation (and CO2) in Brazil

Brazil is among the globe’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters - largely due to burning of forest land for other uses.

So the country’s pledge last week that it would seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 36 percent or more over levels projected for 2020, puts the spotlight on its beef ranching sector - the biggest contributor to the deforestation there.

Brazil has been working to discourage the sale of commodities like beef, soybeans and sugar from ranches and farms built on deforested land.

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News - U.S. sees progress with Brazil on climate talks

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil has the clout and credibility to assert itself as a leading voice in world climate talks to help ensure the success of any new treaty aimed at reducing global warming, the top U.S. environmental diplomat said on Thursday.

Already a pioneer in clean energy and the use of biofuels such as cane-based ethanol, Brazil could cement its pro-environment credentials if it succeeds in slowing the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, U.S. climate change envoy Todd Stern said after a three-day visit to the South American nation.

“They have a huge challenge but also a huge opportunity with respect to the Amazon,” he told a small group of reporters in Sao Paulo before departing for the United States.

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Article - Q&A: Brazil’s Lesson to the World: Invest in Family Farming

Mario Osava interviews KANAYO F. NWANZE, president of IFAD

IFAD president Kanayo F. Nwanze with small farmers in Nova Russas. Credit:Mario Osava/IPS

NOVA RUSSAS, Brazil, Jul 29 (IPS) - Kanayo F. Nwanze chose Brazil for his first official visit as the recently elected president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and was pleased to personally attest to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s commitment to family farming.

As well as meeting with government representatives in Brasilia, Nwanze, a Nigerian national, was able to learn firsthand about the lives of poor rural farmers and witness the changes being brought about by two IFAD-supported projects in the semi-arid Northeast, Brazil’s poorest region.

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News - Technology transfer key to climate deal: Brazil

GENEVA (AFP) — An international agreement against climate change could hinge around steps to ease the transfer of green technology to developing countries, a Brazilian official said on Monday.

His comments at a World Intellectual Property Organisation conference came amid signs of a rift between rich and poor nations over the best approach to take on patented technology that can be used to tackle global warming.

“The key message is that a fair agreement on technology transfer is crucial to seal the deal in Copenhagen,” said Haraldo de Oliviera Machado Filho, a senior advisor in Brazil’s government committee on climate change.

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