Coca role in deforestation downplayed in studies

June 2017

Region

Latin nations, U.S. states collaborating on climate

More than 1,000 miles apart, Mexico and the U.S. state of Washington nevertheless have close ties. Like the humpback whales that depart the U.S. Northwest ......

Ecuador

Logging, poaching causing tension in Yasuní Park

Penti Baihua was a child in the 1970s when his father, Ahua, his grandfather, Mipo, and other indigenous Waorani warriors armed with spears prevented “white ......

Brazil

Veto of Brazilian protected-area bills questioned

Brazilian President Michel Temer this month unexpectedly vetoed two highly controversial bills that would have substantially downsized two protected areas, thereby allowing more land clearing ......

Region

Coca role in deforestation downplayed in studies

For years, U.S. and Andean-nation policymakers have viewed the production of coca for cocaine as a major driver of deforestation in such countries as Bolivia, ......

Costa Rica

Short of rangers, Costa Rican parks in disarray

On Feb. 19, buses and cattle trucks lumbered into Los Patos, on the edge of Costa Rica’s remote Osa Peninsula on the country’s southern Pacific ......

Around the Region

Norway blunt with Brazil on forest-protection concerns

Norway expressed concern this month that Brazil’s forest-protection efforts “might be in retreat,” then announced its 2017 donations to a Brazilian-run forest conservation fund would ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

Baja mining push draws broad opposition

The mineral-rich Baja California peninsula is no stranger to gold fever and its environmental cost. During the 19th century, miners burrowed into its rocky ground ......

Q&A

Sarukhán: humans must recognize dependence on other species

José Sarukhán Kermez, one of the world’s foremost ecologists, is the 2017 recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an award administered by the ......

Coca role in deforestation downplayed in studies

Region

For years, U.S. and Andean-nation policymakers have viewed the production of coca for cocaine as a major driver of deforestation in such countries as Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. In addition to citing coca’s role in drug addiction and the growth of criminal organizations, they have blamed its growers for clearing prodigious amounts land to bring ever-more acreage under cultivation, speeding species loss and contributing to global warming. Two recent studies, however, do not count coca as a principal driver of deforestation in the biodiverse western Amazon regions of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru where cultivation of the crop occurs. The prime causes of land clearing, they argue, have been colonization and road building begun in the 1960s to expand legal agriculture into the Amazon... [Log in to read more]

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June 2017

Region

Latin nations, U.S. states collaborating on climate

More than 1,000 miles apart, Mexico and the U.S. state of Washington nevertheless have close ties. Like the humpback whales that depart the U.S. Northwest ......

Ecuador

Logging, poaching causing tension in Yasuní Park

Penti Baihua was a child in the 1970s when his father, Ahua, his grandfather, Mipo, and other indigenous Waorani warriors armed with spears prevented “white ......

Brazil

Veto of Brazilian protected-area bills questioned

Brazilian President Michel Temer this month unexpectedly vetoed two highly controversial bills that would have substantially downsized two protected areas, thereby allowing more land clearing ......

Region

Coca role in deforestation downplayed in studies

For years, U.S. and Andean-nation policymakers have viewed the production of coca for cocaine as a major driver of deforestation in such countries as Bolivia, ......

Costa Rica

Short of rangers, Costa Rican parks in disarray

On Feb. 19, buses and cattle trucks lumbered into Los Patos, on the edge of Costa Rica’s remote Osa Peninsula on the country’s southern Pacific ......

Around the Region

Norway blunt with Brazil on forest-protection concerns

Norway expressed concern this month that Brazil’s forest-protection efforts “might be in retreat,” then announced its 2017 donations to a Brazilian-run forest conservation fund would ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

Baja mining push draws broad opposition

The mineral-rich Baja California peninsula is no stranger to gold fever and its environmental cost. During the 19th century, miners burrowed into its rocky ground ......

Q&A

Sarukhán: humans must recognize dependence on other species

José Sarukhán Kermez, one of the world’s foremost ecologists, is the 2017 recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an award administered by the ......