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Oil
Steps taken by Shell Oil in Gabon to reduce access to their oil site are mentioned in Judah, T., "Rumbles in the Jungle," Mail and Guardian, 7/30/99.
The description of Shell's eco-friendly planning for their Peruvian oil project is from Friedland, J., "Oil Companies Strive To Turn A New Leaf to Save Rain Forest," Wall Street Journal, 7/17/97.
R.C. Rockwell explains how less developed countries can avoid the long term costs of pollution by adopting more advanced energy infrastructure in "From a carbon economy to a mixed economy: a global opportunity," Consequences, Vol. 4 No. 1 1998.
Despite the booming American economy of 1998, carbon dioxide emissions remained almost flat in the United States, while world emissions fell 0.5% as reported in Fialka, J.J. "Flat CO2 emissions give experts hope," The Wall Street Journal, 8/2/99.
Daniel Yergin, in The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, New York: Touchstone Books, 1991 notes that while the U.S. was 25% more oil efficient and 32% more oil efficient in 1985 than in 1973, the Japanese their energy efficiency by 31% and their oil efficiency by 51%. McDermott, D. ("Economists don't see a big inflation threat from oil"The Wall Street Journal 3/26/99) notes the U.S. is becoming less reliant on oil.
British Petroleum's carbon reforms are noted by Brown, L. et al., "Vital Signs 1998," Worldwatch Institute, 1998 and Rosen, Y., "BP Head Tells Oil Industry to Heed Emissions Issue," Reuters, 1/24/98
A brief overview of carbon reinjection is given in Schneider, D., "Burying the Problem?" Scientific American, Jan 1998.
In The Economist, "Science and Technology-War, Words," June 14-20, 1997, it is noted that government spending on renewable energy was only $878 million in 1995 compared with the $5 million spent on research for nuclear power.
Brown, L. et al. ("Vital Signs 1998," Worldwatch Institute, 1998) reported that wind power was up 26% in 1997.
Alternative fuel systems are mentioned in Tate, R. "Entrepreneur Drives to Sell Workable Substitute for Gas," the Wall Street Journal, 8/25/99; the Environmental News Network, "Cleaner Fuels on the Horizon," 1/12/98; and US Department of Energy, Carbon Management: Assessment of Fundamental Research Notes, Office of Energy Research, Department of Energy, Aug 1997.
Mining
Cleaner mining techniques are discussed in Coghlan, A., "Cleaner Gold Improves Miners' Prospects," New Scientist (April 6, 1996) and A. Coghlan, "Midas Touch Could End Amazon's Pollution," New Scientist (June 27, 1997).
Increasing Productivity and Rehabilitating Degraded Habitats
The backlash against genetically modified foods is outlined by the World Wildlife Fund and Kilman, S. and Burton, T.M., "Monsanto boss's vision of 'life sciences' firm now confronts reality," The Wall Street Journal 12/21/99.
Increasing productivity on degraded forest lands is discussed in Plucknett, Donald L. and N.L.H. Smith, "Sustaining agricultural yields: As productivity rises, maintenance research is needed to uphold the gains," Bioscience 36: 40-45, 1986; T. Nishizawa and J. I. Uitto, eds. (The Fragile Tropics of Latin America: Sustainable Management of Changing Environments, New York: United Nations University Press, 1995); Smith, N.J.H. et al., Amazonia - Resiliency and Dynamism of the Land and its People, New York: United Nations University Press, 1995; and Dobson, A.P., A.D. Bradshaw, A.J.M. Baker, "Hopes for the Future: Restoration Ecology and Conservation Biology," Science 277: 515-522, July 25, 1997.
The rehabilitation of the Mauritius Kestrel is discussed in Peregrine Falcon Fund 1996, D. Adams and M. Carwardine in Last Chance to See (New York: Harmony Books, 1991), and Quammen, D. (The Song of the Dodo, New York: Scribner,
1996).
The reforestation effort of the Rio de Norte Mining Company is reported in Astor, M., "Rio do Norte's reforestation effort in Amazon focuses on replenishment," A.P. August 19, 1999.
Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions by replanting and rehabilitating secondary forests is reviewed in Houghton, R.A., "Tropical deforestation and atmospheric carbon dioxide," in Tropical Forests and Climate Change, ed N. Myers, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1983; Houghton, R.A., "Converting terrestrial ecosystems from sources to sinks of carbon" Ambio Vol. 25 No. 4, June 1996; and Costa, P.M., "Tropical forestry practices for carbon sequestration: a review and case study from southeast Asia," Ambio Vol. 25 No. 4, June 1996. However this ability of forests to serve as a net carbon sink has been criticized of late by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) (B. Scholes, "Will the terrestrial carbon sink saturate soon?" Global Change NewsLetter No. 37:2-3, March 1999) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (R. Watson et al. IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Changes, and Forestry, 1999).
Costa, P.M. ("Tropical forestry practices for carbon sequestration: a review and case study from southeast Asia," Ambio Vol. 25 No. 4, June 1996) discusses the FACE project.
"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. "Jungle" is generally not used.
Recent news
Beef consumption fuels rainforest destruction (02/16/2009)
Nearly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results from cattle ranching, according to a new report by Greenpeace. The finding confirms what Amazon researchers have long known – that Brazil's rise to become the world's largest exporter of beef has come at the expense of Earth's biggest rainforest.
How to save the Amazon rainforest (01/04/2009)
Environmentalists have long voiced concern over the vanishing Amazon rainforest, but they haven't been particularly effective at slowing forest loss. In fact, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor funds that have flowed into the region since 2000 and the establishment of more than 100 million hectares of protected areas since 2002, average annual deforestation rates have increased since the 1990s, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 square miles) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004. With land prices fast appreciating, cattle ranching and industrial soy farms expanding, and billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure projects in the works, development pressure on the Amazon is expected to accelerate. Given these trends, it is apparent that conservation efforts alone will not determine the fate of the Amazon or other rainforests. Some argue that market measures, which value forests for the ecosystem services they provide as well as reward developers for environmental performance, will be the key to saving the Amazon from large-scale destruction. In the end it may be the very markets currently driving deforestation that save forests.
Amazon rainforest damage surges 67% in 2008 (12/20/2008)
The area of rainforest in the process of being deforested — razed but not yet cleared — surged in the Brazilian Amazon during 2008, according to new figures released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The announcement comes shortly after the Brazilian government reported a 4 percent increase in forest clearing for the year. Using an advanced satellite system that tracks changes in vegetation cover INPE found that 24,932 square kilometers of Amazon forest was damaged between August 2007 and July 2008, an increase of 10,017 square kilometers -- 67 percent -- over the prior year.
Cutting deforestation can fight climate change, reduce poverty and conflict (09/24/2008)
Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty, said a prominent group of politicians, development experts, and environmental NGOs meeting in New York City to discuss U.S. climate policy.
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest (07/31/2008)
Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This is a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
