Brazil

Charcoal prices are rising in the Brazilian region of Minas Gerais, according to new reports citing investment in infrastructure as the reason behind the increase.

MELBOURNE, Australia (8 June, 2011)_Market forces and policies encouraging economic growth are having a increasingly large influence in shaping forest landscape transformation in South America, according to a recent research paper.

Researchers in the US have, for the first time, quantified the indirect effect that changing pasture land over to soy or biofuel production can have on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

A controversial bill environmentalists say could increase deforestation in the Amazon rainforest moved a step forward to becoming law in Brazil after winning approval in Brazil's lower house of Congress.

The measure, which has been hotly debated for months, next goes to the Senate where it is expected to pass, before heading to President Dilma Rousseff, who has vowed to veto any bill that grants amnesty for illegal deforestation. The bill includes such a measure, although it could be subject to change before a final decision by the president.