ENVIRONMENTAL THREATENING FROM DESALINATION PLANTS

Reproduced from BBC News:
Concerns over increase in toxic brine from desalination plants http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46863146

BRAZILIAN CERRADO THREATENED BY AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION

Reported in BBC News:

Global hunger for soybeans 'destroying Brazil's Cerrado savanna' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-46022184

It's one of the most biodiverse places in world - 40% of animal and plant species there can be found nowhere else on the planet.
WWF says an area the size of Greater London disappeared every two months between 2013 and 2015, making the Cerrado one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet.
[...]

THE DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON DOES NOT STOP. REGARDLESS OF WHICH GOVERNMENT!!!

Reproduced from

https://imazon.org.br/publicacoes/boletim-do-desmatamento-da-amazonia-legal-agosto-2018-sad/

In my understanding, there is something of the type ‘factious declarations’:  "deforestation in the Amazon is diminishing".

Believed it, in a sequence of 10 news, for example, the deforestation would have been reduced to zero.

In August 2018, the SAD [in Portughese, deforestation alarm system] detected 545 square kilometres of deforestation in the Legal Amazon, with an increase of 199 compared to August of 2017, when deforestation totaled 182 square kilometers.
In August 2018, deforestation occurred in Pará (37), Mato Grosso (20), Amazonas (19), Rondônia (16), Acre (7), Roraima  (1) and Tocantins (1). Degraded forests in Legal Amazon totaled 118 square kilometers in August 2018, showing a reduction of 70 compared to August of 2017, when the forest degradation detected totaled 392 square kilometers. In August 2018 the degradation was detected in the States of Mato Grosso (89), Pará (10) and Rondônia (1).

Geography of Deforestation

In August 2018, the majority (55) of deforestation occurred in private areas or under various stages of possession. The remainder of the deforestation was registered in the agrarian reform Settlements (23), protected areas (18) and indigenous lands (4).

HELLO FOREIGNERS! FAKE NEWS FOR RIGHTWING SUPPORTERS AND “TRUTH” FROM LEFTWING,!!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/09/brazils-bolsonaro-would-unleash-a-war-on-the-environment?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Be careful when reading reports from everywhere about nature conservation in Brazil. Insane news are being spread as disgraceful for the possibility of a former Brazilian army Captain may win elections for Brazil presidency; as if the former leftwing government was really wonderful for the Amazon preservation!

DEFAUNATION IN THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF BRAZIL

Wish you were here: How defaunated is the Atlantic Forest biome of its medium- to large-bodied mammal fauna?

• Juliano André Bogoni ,
• José Salatiel Rodrigues Pires,
• Maurício Eduardo Graipel,
• Nivaldo Peroni,
• Carlos A. Peres

• Published: September 25, 2018
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204515

Abstract

Mammals represent the largest-bodied elements of the world’s surviving megafauna and provide several key ecosystems services, yet their populations are often under steep decline throughout the tropics. Anthropogenic defaunation is one the most important contemporary threats to modern mammal faunas. Although the Atlantic Forest biome of South America shows several clear signs of defaunation, the extent to which this biome has lost its mammal fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we collate and analyze a comprehensive body of secondary data to quantitatively assess the spatial patterns of defaunation of all medium- to large-bodied Atlantic Forest mammals which were then classed by morpho-ecological traits. We used a Defaunation Index, which was scaled-up to the entire biome using kriging interpolation, to examine the integrity of site-specific mammal faunas. We further use environmental and socioeconomic predictors to explain the drivers of defaunation. Our results show high levels of defaunation (>0.5) for most of the Atlantic Forest. Apex predators, other carnivores, large-bodied mammals and large herbivores were among the most defaunated functional groups. Remaining native vegetation cover, forest fragment size, and the largest neighboring forest remnant were the main negative predictors of defaunation. We conclude that medium- to large-bodied Atlantic Forest mammals are under high levels of threat due to historical population losses that continue today. A conservation action plan thus becomes imperative to prevent this biome from becoming an even “emptier forest”, severely compromising patterns of diversity, ecological processes and ecosystem functioning.

NEW RESEARCH FINDS: GLYPHOSATE DAMAGES THE GOOD BACTERIA IN HONEYBEE GUTS

Reported in THE GUARDIAN, London.

The world’s most used weedkiller damages the beneficial bacteria in the guts of honeybees and makes them more prone to deadly infections, new research has found.

Previous studies have shown that pesticides such as neonicotinoids cause harm to bees, whose pollination is vital to about three-quarters of all food crops. Glyphosate, manufactured by Monsanto, targets an enzyme only found in plants and bacteria.

However, the new study shows that glyphosate damages the microbiota that honeybees need to grow and to fight off pathogens. The findings show glyphosate, the most used agricultural chemical ever, may be contributing to the global decline in bees, along with the loss of habitat.

“We demonstrated that the abundances of dominant gut microbiota species are decreased in bees exposed to glyphosate at concentrations documented in the environment,” said Erick Motta and colleagues from University of Texas at Austin in their new paper. They found that young worker bees exposed to glyphosate exposure died more often when later exposed to a common bacterium.

Other research, from China and published in July, showed that honeybee larvae grew more slowly and died more often when exposed to glyphosate. An earlier study, in 2015, showed the exposure of adult bees to the herbicide at levels found in fields “impairs the cognitive capacities needed for a successful return to the hive”.

“The biggest impact of glyphosate on bees is the destruction of the wildflowers on which they depend,” said Matt Sharlow, at conservation group Buglife. “Evidence to date suggests direct toxicity to bees is fairly low, however the new study clearly demonstrates that pesticide use can have significant unintended consequences.”

Prof Dave Goulson, at the University of Sussex, said: “It now seems that we have to add glyphosate to the list of problems that bees face. This study is also further evidence that the landscape-scale application of large quantities of pesticides has negative consequences that are often hard to predict.”

Assumed safety of pesticide use is false, says top government scientist

However, Oliver Jones, a chemist at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, said: “To my mind the doses of glyphosate used were rather high. The paper shows only that glyphosate can potentially interfere with the bacteria in the bee gut, not that it actually does so in the environment.”

A spokesman for Monsanto said: “Claims that glyphosate has a negative impact on honey bees are simply not true. No large-scale study has found any link between glyphosate and the decline of the honeybee population. More than 40 years of robust, independent scientific evidence shows that it poses no unreasonable risk for humans, animal, and the environment generally.”

The new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that some of the key beneficial bacteria in bees’ guts have the enzyme that is targeted by glyphosate. It also found that the ability of newly emerged worker bees to develop a normal gut biome was hampered by glyphosate exposure.

Harm to gut bacteria by glyphosate exposure has also been shown in a pilot study in rats. “Gut bacteria play a vital role in maintaining good health, in organisms as diverse as bees and humans,” said Goulson. “The finding that these bacteria are sensitive to the most widely used pesticide in the world is thus concerning.”

People are known to widely consume glyphosate residues in food - such as children’s breakfast cereal - but the health impact is controversial. In August a US court ordered Monsanto to pay $289m in damages after a jury ruled that the weedkiller caused a terminally ill man’s cancer. The company filed papers to dismiss the case on 19 September.

The weedkiller, sold as Roundup, won a shortened five-year lease in the EU in 2017. In 2015, the World Health Organisation’s cancer agency, the IARC, declared glyphosate “probably carcinogenic to humans,” although several international agencies subsequently came to opposite conclusions. Monsanto insists glyphosate is safe.

ECOSYSTEMS DESTROYED AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE KILLED: THAT IS OUR ‘NEW BRAVE WORLD’

As reported in THE GUARDIAN:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/feb/27/the-defenders-recording-the-deaths-of-environmental-defenders-around-the-world?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

All who died in 2018

Eduardo Pereira dos Santos Brazil 
Bakary Kujabi Gambia 
Ismaila Bah Gambia 
Francisco Munguia Guatemala 
Dominador Lucas Philippines 
Suresh Oraon India 
Lando Perdicos Philippines 
Florencio Pérez Nájera Guatemala 
Alejandro Hernández García Guatemala 
Katison de Souza Brazil 
Ramón Choc Sacrab Guatemala 
Adrián Tihuilit Mexico 
Beverly Geronimo Philippines 
Shanmugam India 
Snowlin India 
Tamilarasan India 
Kanthiah India 
Gladston India 
Maniraj India 

Antony Selvaraj India 
 Ranjith Kumar India |

 Jayaraman India 

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Karthick India 

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Jancy Rani India 

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Selvasekar India 

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Mateo Chaman Paau Guatemala 

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José Can Xol Guatemala 

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Luís Arturo Marroquín Guatemala 

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S Jegadish Dura India 

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Mark Ventura Philippines 

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Carlos Hernández Honduras 

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Barthelemie Kakule Mulewa DRC 

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Théodore Kasereka Prince DRC 

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Liévin Mumbere Kasumba DRC 

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Kananwa Sibomana DRC 

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Ila Muranda DRC 

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Moustapha Gueye Senegal 

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Faustin Biriko Nzabakurikiza DRC 

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Sandeep Sharma India 

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Agudo Quillio Philippines 

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Poipynhun Majaw India 

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Paulo Sérgio Almeida Nascimento Brazil 

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Ricardo Mayumi Philippines 

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Ronald Manlanat Philippines 

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Luis Fernando Ayala Honduras 

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Kavous Seyed Emami Iran 

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Yolanda Maturana Colombia 

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Héctor Manuel Choc Cuz Guatemala 

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Teurn Soknai Cambodia 

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Sek Wathana Cambodia 

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Thul Khna Cambodia 

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Evaldo Florentino Brazil 

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Ricky Olado Philippines 

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Márcio Matos Brazil 

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Quintín Salgado Salgado Mexico 

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Robert Kirotich Kenya 

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Guadalupe Campanur Mexico 

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Ronal David Barillas Díaz Guatemala 

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Valdemir Resplandes Brazil 

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Jomo Nyanguti Kenya 

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B Sailu India 

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