Amazon Monitoring

Scientists studying the world’s largest river turtles, a South American species that grows to a length of nearly a meter, or 3 feet, have found the largest nesting aggregation ever recorded. Using drones to conduct a population survey in the western Brazilian Amazon, researchers recorded a nesting area of the endangered giant South American river

- The Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) initiative is expected to be launched at Brazil’s COP30, in November, and has received attention due to potential financial support from China.- In July and August this year, BRICS leaders and Amazonian cooperating countries endorsed a Brazil-led initiative that seeks to reward states and investors in exchange for tropical forest preservation.- Despite bringing a new formula for a much-awaited solution to climate financing, the TFFF was criticized in a recent report as being a market-based approach that could monetize ecosystem services, ignoring the intrinsic value of forests and biodiversity.

- Researchers developed a cost-effective way to collect DNA from species high in the rainforest canopy: they hung umbrellas to collect rainwater that washed through the trees.- The method revealed 562 taxa across French Guiana’s Amazonian forests, capturing genetic signatures from elusive nocturnal mammals, poorly documented reptiles, and countless undescribed insects that traditional survey techniques consistently overlook.- Comparative analysis showed old-growth forests harbored 1.3 to 1.9 times greater species diversity than in nearby managed plantations.- This simple technique provides local communities and conservationists with a practical way to monitor their forests, as each raindrop carries genetic evidence of the species present in the area over time.

- A recent study reviewed 95 flawed carbon credit projects registered under Verra, the world’s largest voluntary carbon credit registry, and found signs of systematic flaws with the auditing process.- These issues suggest that carbon credits often fail to accurately represent actual emission reductions, thereby undermining global climate mitigation efforts.- The findings further erode trust in the carbon market, with specialists warning that its entire credibility relies on independent verifiers; “The voluntary carbon market is broken,” an expert said.

- The proposed Yavarí Mirim Indigenous Reserve would have protected an area a fifth the size of Ireland in the Peruvian Amazon, home to several Indigenous communities living in isolation.- Last week, a government commission voted 8-5 against the proposal, despite ongoing threats against the Matsés, Matis, Korubo, Kulina-Pano and Flecheiro Indigenous peoples.- A new study will have to be developed and proposed to the commission, which could take several more years, critics of the outcome said.- In the meantime, they warned, forest concessions in the area could expand and groups tied to mining, logging and drug trafficking could force the isolated groups off the land.