Amazon Conservation Association, Our Work, Sustainable Livelihoods, Brazil Nut Program. From Brazil nuts to community forestry projects, ACA seeks out and supports initiatives that serve the dual purpose of protecting biodiversity while providing an income to local people. Programa Conservando Castañales Brazil nuts have a significant local and international market and are a natural link to conservation, since the trees only produce in a healthy rainforest ecosystem. Endemic to the Amazon basin, these towering canopy trees grow to 165 feet and have a lifespan of several hundred years. In Peru, areas of forest with dense stands of Brazil nut trees are known as castañales. These areas are given as concessions to local Brazil nut harvesters, called castañeros, who manage them under contracts with the Peruvian forest service.
Watch the video below about our work with Brazil Nut Harvesters produced by the Green Living Project» How We Help ACA and its sister organization ACCA do more than any other organization to support Brazil nut harvesters in Madre de Dios, Peru. Science/Nature | Tsunami: Mangroves 'saved lives' Healthy mangrove forests helped save lives in the Asia tsunami disaster, a new report has said.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant waves. Two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, while up to 6,000 people died in the village without similar vegetation. Many forests in the past were felled to build prawn farms and tourist resorts. The IUCN said it showed that healthy ecosystems acted as natural barriers.
"It saved a lot of lives as well as properties," said Vimukthi Weeratunga, the union's biodiversity coordinator in Sri Lanka. "We have carried an out ecological assessment of the damage caused by the tsunami. Research has shown mangroves are able to absorb between 70-90% of the energy from a normal wave. There is, however, no reliable data on how the trees mitigate the impact of a tsunami. Slow recovery Coral reefs were also in the direct path of the tsunami. Fishing fears. Biomimicry: Beaks on trains and flipper-like turbines. 28 October 2011Last updated at 00:00 By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News Nature has been designing the world for billions of years Since the dawn of time, nature has been working hard, engineering everyone and everything to the highest standards on Earth.
Dragonflies that can propel themselves in any direction, sharks with skin with tiny scales that help them swim faster, termites able to build dens that always keep a steady and comfortable temperature inside - those examples are just a drop in the ocean of amazing nature-designed solutions. Granted, there have been a few individual attempts to copy nature's designs. For instance, back in the 15th Century, Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci looked at birds' anatomy while sketching his "flying machine". His device never took off, but the Wright brothers did manage to build the first aeroplane in 1903 - after years of observing pigeons. Innovation and copycats Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteLisa Welch Ornilux. Arachnophobia (1990) - part 2. Arachnophobia (1990) - part 1.