Greening the Desert

Reviving the spirit of Rio

The idea was proposed in 2007 by Brazil's President Lula da Silva at the UN General Assembly.

It was clear to President Lula and to a growing number of others that the world has changed enormously since 1992, when the world agreed to Agenda 21 - the blueprint for creating a sustainable way of life in the 21st Century.

Rio 2012 could provide much-needed new momentum to international co-operation, not only on environment and sustainable development, but also on the problems that underpin the global financial crisis.

How interfering humans helped Amazon diversity

Don't tell Sting, but human activity may not be all bad news for the Amazon. A study of South American savannahs suggests that even before Europeans arrived, farmers were changing ecosystems with a landscaping method previously unrecognised in the region. What's more, the pre-Columbian alterations may have increased biodiversity.

"Human actions cannot always be characterised as bad for biodiversity," says Doyle McKey of the University of Montpellier 2, France. "Some might be good."

McKey and his colleagues came to their conclusion after studying some strange features of the savannahs of French Guiana. These plains are flooded during the rainy season, dry and parched in the summer, and often burned by fires. It was while walking through this landscape that McKey started wondering about undulations in the terrain.

Brazilian cattle giants move toward zero deforestation in the Amazon

Brazilian cattle companies are making progress in their effort to map their supply-chains in the Amazon but are still falling short of their commitment to zero deforestation in the region, reports Greenpeace after a meeting at the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters (ABIEC) in Sao Paulo.

Brazilian cattle giants last October signed a zero deforestation agreement following consumer uproar over a Greenpeace report that linked cattle products used in some of the world's leading brands to forest destruction in the Amazon. Under the agreement, the companies pledged to register and map all the ranches supplying cattle from the Amazon directly to slaughterhouses by April 1, 2010. The registry would make it possible to assure consumers that cattle products were not the result of Amazon deforestation.

But neither of the beef giants at the meeting met their commitment. Both Marfrig and Minerva asked for a three-month extension.

"Marfrig... reported that 80% of their suppliers operating in the Amazon has been registered, but the proper maps of the farms are still missing," reported Greenpeace on its web site. But both Marfrig and Minerva "reaffirmed their interest in cleaning up their supply chains."

Greenpeace also met with JBS — the world's largest slaughterhouse but no longer a member of ABIEC. JBS said that 80% of its Amazon production will be mapped by the end of April and asked for a three-month extension of the deadline.

The April deadline applies only to direct cattle suppliers. The companies have agreed to map and register their indirect suppliers by November 2011.

Greenpeace notes that deforestation for cattle ranching is still occurring despite the moratorium. It says that from October 2009 to January 2010 140 square kilometers of forest have been destroyed in "areas under direct influence of these slaughterhouses." The clearing accounts for 40 percent of all deforestation in the period.

Cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. In recent years cattle pasture has been the fate of about 80 percent of deforested land, making ranching the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

Brazil is now the world's largest producer and exporter of beef. Its herd in the Amazon is nearly the size of the entire U.S. herd.

By Rhett A. Butler