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Amazon rainforest activist shot dead | World news
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva had predicted his own murder six months before he was killed and received frequent death threats. Six months after predicting his own murder, a leading rainforest defender has reportedly been gunned down in the Brazilian Amazon. José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo, are said to have been killed in an ambush near their home in Nova Ipixuna, in Pará state, about 37 miles from Marabá. According to a local newspaper, Diário do Pará , the couple had not had police protection despite getting frequent death threats because of their battle against illegal loggers and ranchers. On Tuesday there were conflicting reports from about whether the killing happened on Monday night or Tuesday morning. A police spokesperson said there were reports of a "double homicide" at the settlement called Maçaranduba 2.
Stop the Belo Monte Monster Dam!
We've already delivered half a million signatures to Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, but we're just getting started. Help us stop the Belo Monte Dam by signing the petition here! Please help us defend our river and future generations by signing this petition. – Sheyla Juruna, Juruna Tribal Leader Dear Brazilian Government:
Brésil : le bilan des inondations pourrait dépasser 1 000 morts
Le nombre des victimes des pluies torrentielles de la semaine dernière près de Rio pourrait dépasser les 1 000, selon les derniers bilans officiels communiqués, vendredi 21 janvier, par la défense civile et le ministère de la santé, qui confirment 759 morts et 400 disparus. Les villes les plus touchées sont Nova Friburgo , avec 365 victimes, et Teresopolis, avec 308. Le bilan s'alourdit au fur et à mesure que les secours dégagent des corps dans la mer de boue qui a submergé cette région montagneuse, à une centaine de kilomètres au nord de Rio.
Brésil : Les pluies diluviennes font des centaines de morts | International
Glissement de terrain à Nova Friburgo Photo : AFP/Shana Reis Plus de 520 personnes ont péri dans la région montagneuse près de Rio de Janeiro après les pluies diluviennes des derniers jours, selon un nouveau bilan des autorités. C'est ce que rapportent les médias brésiliens. Ils parlent maintenant de « la plus grande catastrophe naturelle » du pays.The chief Raoni cries when he learns that brazilian president Dilma released the beginning of construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte, even after tens of thousands of letters and emails addressed to her and which were ignored as the more than 600,000 signatures. That is, the death sentence of the peoples of Great Bend of the Xingu river is enacted. Belo Monte will inundate at least 400,000 hectares of forest, an area bigger than the Panama Canal, thus expelling 40,000 indigenous and local populations and destroying habitat valuable for many species - all to produce electricity at a high social, economic and environmental cost, which could easily be generated with greater investments in energy efficiency. There's a petition you can sign against the building of the dam - here via
Photo of the day: chief Raoni crying
Rainforest activist asks for protection after death threats | Environment
Raimundo Francisco Belmiro dos Santos, a defender of the Amazon jungle, has requested urgent protection from the authorities in Brazil after reporting that a number of hired gunmen are looking for him, because landowners in the northern state of Pará have offered a 50,000 dollar contract for his death. Belmiro dos Santos is a 46-year-old "seringueiro" or rubber tapper who fears for his life and the lives of his family, after receiving numerous threats for his activism against the destruction of the Amazon jungle. "My life is really complicated today, because they have put a price on my head, and say that I will be killed before the end of the year," the activist told IPS in an anguished voice by telephone from the Riozinho do Anfrísio reserve, where he lives. It takes several days to reach the reserve by river from the nearest city, Altamira, which is 800 km from Belém, the capital of the state of Pará.
Third environmentalist killed in a week in Brazil's Amazon Rainforest region
A Brazilian environmentalist was killed Friday in the Amazon Rainforest region, three days after the murders of two other environmental activists in the area, authorities said. Adelino Ramos, known as Dinho and a leader among local impoverished farmers, was killed Friday morning while selling vegetables produced in the farming settlement in Porto Velho in the state of Rondonia. He was shot six times by an unidentified man on a motorbike.