In the state of Acre, a remote corner of the western Brazilian Amazon, lies the staple of the rubbertappers’ livelihoods, latex. This milky fluid is released when the rubber tree is cut and hardens once it’s exposed to the air.
Availability of quality data is essential to solving environmental problems and monitoring impacts. Furthermore, ecosystem service analysis, which is used more and more to address environmental management challenges, is often data intensive, requiring information from multiple sectors, at different scales, and with spatial and temporal qualities. Unfortunately, collecting primary data is often costly and labor intensive, resulting in a shortage of such information.
Es bien conocido el valor de los bosques para la humanidad. Los bosques tienen un alto valor por la madera y otros bienes no-maderables como las frutas y otros alimentos, productos medicinales, artesanías e innumerables productos de alto valor estético y espiritual.
New infrastructure often requires space, and many development projects have to destroy or modify habitats in order to make that space. Even with the most careful planning, the reality is that trees may need to be bulldozed and wildlife may be killed.
May 13, 2015 marked the first year of the enactment of Law 1715 of 2014, which established the legal framework for the integration of non-conventional renewable energy (FNC) to the Colombian energy system in order to promote the development and the use of these sources. Colombia has a clean electricity generation matrix, and about 68% of its installed capacity comes from small and large scale hydropower. However, this dependence on water resources creates a vulnerability to climatic events.En el planeta tierra, tenemos 35 millones de km3 de agua dulce para 7000 millones de habitantes. Si una persona consume en promedio 1000 m³ por año, tendríamos para vivir durante 10 mil años. Pero la realidad es otra. Hoy más de 750 millones de personas en el mundo no tienen agua potable. Y se estima que en el año 2025, dos tercios de la población mundial vivirán en países que sufrirán escasez de agua.
Urban expansion has changed the earth's surface and, at the same time, its biodiversity. Within just 40 years the world’s urban population will double. By 2050, 70% of the population will live in cities and an additional area the size of South Africa will have been developed. Much of this urbanization will be carried out in the most biodiverse areas on the planet. Between 1950 and 2010, the urban population in Latin America grew from 40 to 80%.
Daily, millions of homes in Latin America and the Caribbean lose energy in the process of cooling or heating. In the case of dry climates, as in Mexicali, Mexico, households can consume more than 1,000 kWh / month for electricity in the warmer months due to the excessive use of air conditioning.