Environmental groups from four South American countries are organizing an ambitious initiative to spur ecological restoration of the Paraná River Basin, a 2.5 million square kilometer (965,000-sq.-mile) watershed shared by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. The effort, intended to reverse biodiversity loss, is named the Jaguar River Initiative because it focuses on the habitat of the continent’s largest feline, Panthera onca. It was presented Sept. 24 in New York, during Climate Week, by its four organizers: the Rewilding Argentina Foundation; Onçafari of Brazil; Nature, Land and Life (Nativa) of Bolivia; and the Moisés Bertoni Foundation of Paraguay. The groups say they have already raised US$26 million in donations toward their $79 million goal to fund initial work on the project from 2026 to 2028. Donors reportedly include the Rainforest Trust and the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. “In addition to the Paraná itself, the basin has five [other...
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Asphalt made with ash waste from sugarcane processing is far more durable and eco-friendly than conventional asphalt, Brazilian researchers say, citing the results of a successful highway trial they described in a recent study. The processing of sugarcane into sugar and ethanol, a renewable fuel, produces a large volume of a fibrous cane-pulp byproduct called bagasse. The bagasse is typically used as fuel for electric- and steam-power cogeneration, leaving large quantities of ash that is deposited on fields, disposed of in landfills and sometimes dumped illegally along roadsides. Researchers at Brazil’s State University of Maringá (UEM) report that the bagasse ash turns out to be a superior filler material when used in the production of asphalt, one which makes the asphalt more durable. Their findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest that this use of the ash would accomplish two goals at once. On one hand...
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An annual upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water failed to materialize for the first time in 40 years in the Pacific waters off Panama, potentially disrupting a cycle considered important to the health of the region’s fisheries and coral reefs. Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in September under the title “Unprecedented suppression of Panama’s Pacific upwelling in 2025.” Their ocean-temperature data showed that past upwellings, on average, began on Jan. 20, lasted 66 days and brought ocean temperatures as low as 19 degrees Celsius (66 Fahrenheit). This year’s upwelling, by contrast, began on March 4, lasted 12 days—82% shorter than average in duration—and reached a minimum temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (74 Fahrenheit). STRI marine ecologist Andrew Sellers, one of the study’s authors, explains that the annual cycle is driven by...
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