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Monday, August 31, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
ENVIRONMENT: Tierramerica Centre Born in Heart of Amazon Jungle
The Tierramérica International Centre for Sustainable Development and Environmental Defence held its founding assembly Thursday in Manaus, a city in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, during a seminar on the world’s big environmental challenges.BRAZIL: Biodiesel to Bring Electricity to Amazon Villages
Oil from native tucuma, ouricurí and murumurú palm trees will be used to provide electricity to isolated communities in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon, which are too remote to supply with power by conventional means.ECONOMY: Oil Not Costly Enough to Prompt Needed Changes – Experts
Just about everyone is complaining about the high price of oil, but it does not even reflect the environmental costs and is still insufficient to promote the changes needed to ensure a less catastrophic future for humanity, experts warn.BRAZIL: Doha Failure a ‘Triumph of Protectionism’, Say Trade Sources
"Protectionism has triumphed," said the vice president of Brazil’s Foreign Trade Association, José Augusto de Castro, referring to Tuesday’s collapse of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks in Geneva.
BRAZIL: Market Access – Key to Autonomy for Rural Black Community
From the 16th century onward, the densely forested, mountainous terrain of the Ribeira River Valley made it an ideal area for runaway slaves to establish settlements of their own, known in Brazil as "quilombos". But the geographical isolation that once offered refuge has now become an obstacle to the development of these Afro-Brazilian communities.BRAZIL: Controversy Over DWI Law Despite Reduced Deaths
Although Brazil’s tough new drunk driving law has been applauded for cutting traffic deaths in its first month, and is bringing about a change in habits, it continues to face opposition by restaurant and bar owners who will challenge it as unconstitutional in order to get it revoked or at least limit its effects.
BRAZIL: Livelihoods Vs. Environment – Afro-Descendants Caught in the Middle
"They won’t let us plant our crops," says Leonila Costa Pontes, referring to the laws that require an environmental permit for her to cultivate her small plot of land.
“Reproductive Rights Can Overcome the Conservative Wave”
Access to birth control is in keeping with the rights of women and helps keep population growth in check, making development policies more feasible and improving food security, says family planning expert Carmen Barroso in this Tierramérica interview.
ENVIRONMENT: Afro-Brazilian Communities Recover Jucara Palm
The juçara, a palm tree in danger of becoming extinct due to over-exploitation of its edible heart, is beginning to recover thanks to sustainable management by the Afro-Brazilian communities of the Atlantic tropical forest, Brazil's most deforested biome.
Afro-Brazilian Communities Recover Juçara Palm
Residents of what were once communities escaped slaves known as "quilombos" in Brazil are no longer cutting down the juçara palm to extract its tasty heart, and are seeking other ways to make their livelihood from this tree.BRAZIL: Bringing Development to Poverty-Stricken Maranhão State
The construction of what will be Latin America’s biggest oil refinery and of a large steel mill, as well as the promotion of food production, are among the initiatives aimed at pulling the state of Maranhão in northeast Brazil out of decades of poverty.
SOUTH AMERICA: How to Atone for Beef’s Sins
The global food crisis and climate change have cast the spotlight on negative aspects of the cattle industry, such as the high consumption of vegetable protein to generate relatively little meat, and the sector’s role in global warming.BRAZIL-JAPAN: One Hundred Years of Migration
One hundred years ago, 781 Japanese immigrants arrived at the Brazilian port of Santos on the steamship Kasato Maru, marking the start of a labour flow that gave rise to the ethnic group with the highest levels of education and per capita income in Brazil - a migration that reversed direction in the 1980s.BRAZIL: Delivery Boy Newshounds Show Life in Sao Paulo
Cleyton Perroni’s motorbike has been a part of his life since he was 12. But 19 years later, its role changed from recreation to an essential working tool as, equipped with a cell phone, he became a reporter of daily life in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.
How to Atone for Beef's Sins
Cattle consume many kilos of feed for each kilo of meat they produce and they are an enormous source of greenhouse gases in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.BRAZIL: Agroenergy Can Boost Food Production – Experts
The web of truth and lies surrounding the controversy over agrofuels has led to the distortion or oversight of certain facts. For instance, making biodiesel from soybeans does not reduce food production, but increases it, according to experts.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Paramilitary Militias Contaminate Politics
The results of the October municipal elections "will not be legitimate" in this Brazilian city, because 1.7 million local residents live in communities where the conditions are not in place for them to vote freely, city councillor Andrea Gouvea Vieira told IPS.BRAZIL: Climate Change Will Weaken Renewable Energy Sources
To Brazil's credit, 45 percent of its energy comes from renewable sources, three times as much as in industrialised countries, but for that very reason it will be more vulnerable to climate change, according to a new study.BRAZIL: Landowning-Military Front Against Indigenous Policy
The battle to defend Brazil’s Amazon region "began in Roraima," according to Paulo Cesar Quartiero, a central figure in land conflicts in the indigenous border territory of Raposa Serra do Sol (RSS) which are prompting politicians and military officers to organise an opposition front.AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Fertiliser Prices Hinder Expansion
A simple imbalance in agricultural supply and demand can be corrected in less than a year, the time it takes to sow and harvest grains, but the present global food crisis cannot. The shortage of fertilisers and their consequent rise in cost are standing in the way of quick solutions.
The Divorce of Agriculture and Biodiversity
Latin America's vast biological diversity has contributed little to the region's commercial agriculture, despite being the birthplace of two of the world's four most widely consumed food crops: maize and potatoes.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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