After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium.

Critics say the project will damage the local ecosystem and make homeless 50,000 mainly indigenous people.

But the government says it is crucial for development and will create jobs.

Bidding for the project had to be halted three times before a final court appeal by the government allowed Norte Energia, led by the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, to be awarded the contract.

The proposal to build a hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, has long been a source of controversy.

The initial project was abandoned in the 1990s amid widespread protests both in Brazil and around the world.

Environmental groups say the 6km-long (3.75-mile) long dam will threaten the survival of indigenous groups, and the lives of up to 50,000 people could be affected as 500 sq km (190 sq miles) of land would be flooded.

Officials have dismissed the criticism and promised the winning consortium will pay US$800m to protect the environment.

“The government has signed a death warrant for the Xingu river and condemned thousands of residents to expulsion,” local Indian leaders said on Thursday.

The 11,000 MW dam would be third largest in the world, after the Three Gorges in China and Itaipu, which is jointly run by Brazil and Paraguay.

It is expected to cost between US$11bn and US$17bn, and provide electricity to 23 million homes.

With Brazil’s economy continuing to show signs of growth, ministers say hydro-electric plants are a vital way to ensure power supplies over the next decade – and at least 70 dams are said to be planned for the Amazon region.

Critics say the Belo Monte plant will be hugely inefficient, generating less than 10% of its capacity during the three to four months of the year when water levels are low.

The image used in this post shows Kayapó Indians at a protest against the Belo Monte dam.

According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in the northeast city of Iquitos fell to 105.97 meters (347.67 feet) above sea level, 50 cm (1.6 feet) lower than it was in 2005, so far the lowest reference point in four decades.

Low levels have brought economic havoc in areas of Peru that depend on the Amazon for shipping, by denying boats a navigable river as well as usable ports and harbors.

At least six boats became stranded for lack of river flow over the last three weeks and several shipping companies have been forced to suspend service, said regional civil defense chief Roberto Falcon.

River trips between Iquitos and other Amazon towns that normally take around 12-15 days now last twice as long, officials said.

According to the national meteorological service, the level drop – which is forecast to slide another 20 cm (0.6 feet) until mid-September – has been caused by a lack of rain and high temperatures in the region.

The Amazon is the second-longest river in the world, after the Nile, but discharges far more water at its mouth than any other.

It also drains more territory than any other, from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Venezuela before running across Brazil and into the Atlantic.

Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in the Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.

But they also rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American country.

“The method we are using to study the jaguars here in Guatemala is an invasive method which is based on photographing the individuals by using camera traps,” Moreira told Reuters Television.

“It has been very useful using Obsession (for Men) to get the jaguars in front of these camera traps … and that allows us to estimate with greater confidence the genders and the numbers that live in each studied site.”

The discovery that Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment by the WCS’s Bronx Zoo in New York.

The WCS was looking for ways to get cheetahs in front of camera traps, and, after several years of testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the cats for longer than other scents.

They also tried out about 23 other fragrances but Obsession for Men kept the cats’ attention for longest with Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps coming second.

The practice made its way down to Guatemala, where Garcia and Moreira said they have been recording similar success in the wild since 2007, allowing them to track jaguars and even record their mating rituals.

Garcia said the results will be invaluable to conservation efforts.

“These camera traps help us to identify how many jaguars are living in this area … (and) helps us to have control over the population and lets us say to the government, to the public, that Laguna del Tigre still deserves conservation,” he said.

The WCS said it tentatively plans to expand the use of the cologne in programs in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in coming years.

The axolotl, also known as the “water monster” and the “Mexican walking fish,” was a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived until now amid Mexico City’s urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco, now a Venice-style destination for revellers poled along by Mexican gondoliers, or trajineros, in brightly painted party boats.

But scientists are racing to save the foot-long (30-centimeter-long) salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch – and its babies.

The name “Axolotl” comes from the Aztec language, “Nahuatl.” One of the most popular translations of the name connects the Axolotl to the god of deformations and death, Xolotl, while the most commonly accepted translation is “water-dog” (from “atl” for water, and “xolotl”, which can also mean dog).

Prior to the growth of Mexico city in the basin of Mexico, the Axolotl was native to both Lake Xochimilco, and Lake Chalco. Of these two high altitude freshwater lakes, only the remnants of Xochimilco as canals can be seen today.

The IWC meets in Agadir, Morocco to consider a controversial “peace plan” proposed on 22 April by Cristian Maquieira, the chairman of the 88-nation commission, to legitimize but reduce whaling.

Under the draft proposal Japan, Iceland and Norway would reduce their whale kills over the next decade, subject to tight monitoring, with Japan eventually cutting its Antarctic whale culls by three quarters.

Maquieira, a native of Chile, will address the 11 anti-whaling countries from Latin America that form the so-called Group of Buenos Aires, organizers said.

“Our country maintains a solid conservationist position against the hunting of whales,” said Costa Rica’s representative to the IWC, Javier Rodriguez.

Latin American environmental groups also began a meeting in San Jose on Monday to define their position ahead of the June meeting.

Elsa Cabrera of the Cetacean Conservation Center in Chile said there is “great concern” over the IWC proposal “because it lifts a de facto moratorium on commercial whale hunting, destroying the largest advance in the history of international environmental rights.”

The IWC said in an April statement that the “10-year peace plan” would save thousands of whales and present “a great step forward in terms of the conservation of whales and the management of whaling.”

But it was roundly criticized by anti-whaling nations and environmental groups, which charged that it would end the moratorium in all but name and risked reviving a dwindling industry in whale meat.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay make up the Buenos Aires group.

Viva Latin America!

What made this event striking was not the large number of flight cancellations or the lack of effective measures for tackling the crisis but the clear disengagement between people and nature. There has been a belief that the forces of nature can’t impact the functioning of technologically advanced societies. The artificial environment we have constructed around us (exemplified by the global airline system) presumes a benign natural environment. The current eruption is an example of the environment’s true colours. Perhaps we should stop looking at the most unexpected disasters and focus instead on common geologic events that have the potential to wreak havoc on our lives simply because of the technological framework that we have overlaid on the natural environment.

People can delude themselves into thinking that we can control nature but the forces that shape this planet are much stronger than ourselves. We must respect the natural world and be conscious of its undeniable power and beauty. The choking plumes of ash that Eyjafjallajökull is spewing out may have slowly diminished, but the volcano is still managing to mount some spectacular displays against dramatic backdrops of lightning showers and the Northern Lights. The stunning image above shows the heavenly phenomenon of green aurora ripples above Eyjafjallajokull’s fire fountains.

The Belo Monte project on the Xingu river, an Amazon tributary, was started in the 1990s but abandoned amid widespread protests at home and abroad. The rock star Sting led a campaign against the plan with tribal leaders, and revisited Brazil in November last year to urge the Government to consider the impact of deforestation on greenhouse gas levels and global warming.

The US$17 billion (£11 billion) dam in the northern state of Pará will be the world’s third-largest and could provide electricity to 23 million homes, a supply that the Government says is vital to the country’s economic growth. Critics argue that the flooding of 500 sq km of rainforest will damage fish stocks and wildlife and force the displacement of indigenous peoples.

Carlos Minc, the Environment Minister, said on Monday that the land flooded would be a fraction of the 5000 sq km originally planned. “The environmental impact exists but it has been weighed up, calculated and reduced,” he said. “Not one Indian on indigenous land will be displaced.”

However, groups on land not demarcated as tribal territory – a distinction often labelled a get-out clause by indigenous campaigners – still stand to lose their homes. Mr Minc said that they would be compensated. Indigenous groups complain that they were not properly consulted over the project, which Megaron Tuxucumarrae, a chief of the Kayapo tribe, said would destroy the environment that his people had taken care of for millennia. “We are opposed to dams on the Xingu, and will fight to protect our river,” he said.

The state-run company Eletrobrás is said to be eyeing the project, but a contract has not yet been awarded. The winning company will have to spend US$803 million on measures to minimise its impact and resettle an estimated 12,000 people.

Critics said that the Government had underestimated the potential impact in its attempt to meet political ends in an election year. Even within the Government, the project has been so contentious that in November two senior officials from Ibama, Brazil’s environmental agency, resigned, citing political pressure.

With general elections looming in October, the Government is under pressure to deal with energy infrastructure problems that resulted in large swathes of the country, including São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, being plunged into darkness in November.

Engineering experts have questioned the efficiency of the 11-gigawatt dam, which would be outstripped in size only by China’s Three Gorges and Itaipu on the Brazil-Paraguay border.

Francisco Hernández, an electrical engineer and joint co-ordinator of a group of 40 specialists who analysed the project, said that the dam would generate little electricity during the three to four-month dry season. Describing it as a scheme of “doubtful engineering viability”, he said Belo Monte was an extremely complex project “that would interrupt the flow of water courses over an enormous area, requiring excavation of earth and rocks on the scale of that carried out for digging the Panama Canal”.

Up to 70 dams, roads, gas pipelines and power grids worth more than US$30 billion are to be built to tap the region’s raw materials and transport agricultural products.

The announcement drew a furious reaction from environmental groups around the world. Aviva Imhof, the campaigns director of International Rivers, described it as a “foolish investment”, and said that by investing in energy efficiency, Brazil could cut demand by 40 per cent over the next decade and save US$19 billion. “The amount of energy saved would be equivalent to 14 Belo Monte dams,” she said.

Fiona Watson, research director of the UK-based Survival International, said the dam would be a catastrophe for indigenous people. “The Brazilian Government has driven through the dam with a cavalier disregard to indigenous peoples’ rights,” she said. “Development in Brazil comes at an unacceptable price – the destruction of whole tribes.”

The snake belongs to a small group of serpents that specialise in eating gastropods – snails and slugs – and the closest relative of this intriguing snake is found in Peru. Another snake, a snail-sucker, just discovered by the researchers may even be a new species. The snail-sucker was first encountered by a 15-year-old volunteer working with the scientists.

The new frogs have an extraordinary life-cycle. Instead of laying eggs in water which hatch into tadpoles, later to metamorphose into the adult form, they lay eggs in trees. The eggs then hatch out into miniature versions of the adults, some barely larger than a pinhead.

Other animals found include a gecko so small that it can perch with ample room to spare on the top of a pencil and three species of lungless salamanders.

A majority of the new species were found in Cerro Pata de Pajaro, a samall mountain just a few minutes from the Pacific Ocean and sitting right atop the Equator. Pata de Pajaro is surrounded by a type of rainforest and capped in cloud forest. The extent of cloud forest on the site is only a couple miles wide, yet houses at least 14 of the 30 new species known nowhere else on Earth.

“There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear even before, they are formally described by science”, said expedition leader Paul Hamilton of RAEI.

Indeed, sites like Pata de Pajaro are under siege from countless ecological disturbances, from widespread deforestation for cattle grazing to timber harvesting and hunting. Climate change models actually predict that many of these mountaintop cloud forests – along with the animals that depend on them – will disappear altogether if something is not done to save them. The rain frogs just discovered are particularly susceptible to climate change since they rely on moist trees to lay their eggs which may dry up with rising temperatures.

Previous work by the scientists in the area yielded an amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians, over 140 species in number. Incidentally, the team has found four new species of stick insect (casually known as stick bugs), just from taking photos of these fascinating creatures in the course of research.

“There are countless gaps in our knowledge of tropical animals; this study just scratches the surface of what we know about this region alone, much less what is happening to global patterns of extinction”, said Hamilton.

“The good news is, the animals are still there and alive, so there is still time to save them from extinction,” said Kerry Kriger, Executive Director of the NGO Save the Frogs.

Nicholas Stern, the author of an influential 2006 review of climate change, said methane emissions from cows and pigs were putting “enormous pressure” on the world and people needed to think about what they ate.

“Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It put enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better,” he said.

The former World Bank chief economist was speaking ahead of the climate change conference in Copenhagen this December, which is expected to be attended by thousands of delegates from around the world.

Stern said a successful conference would result in higher costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.

He also compared his stance on meat to the change in attitudes to drink-driving.

“I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he added.

“I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student.

“People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and it has been estimated that livestock accounts for a fifth of the global warming impact.

Stern said if business continued as usual, then temperatures could increase by 5C by early next century.

Sadly, less is known about another ethical issue related to the jewellery trade and investment market, namely, the environmental impact of mining and processing precious metals. Ten of thousands of gold miners (small-scale miners and mining transnationals) are wreaking havoc on Latin America’s rainforests and its inhabitants because of their destructive mining techniques. Mining activities cause deforestation and irreversible damage to the ecosystem. There is also the accompanying regional pollution by mercury. Mercury has been found in unsafe quantities in the livers of Amazonian fish which are consumed by indigenous Indian populations and other people. Furthermore, the effects of gold mining threaten the survival of one of the most dominant predators in Latin America – the giant river otter. We should also mention the effect mercury pollution could be having on dolphins, the manatee, the capybara, the anaconda, caiman, river turtles and numerous species of birds. Even without considering mercury pollution, gold mining frequently encroaches on lands legally belonging to indigenous tribes, creating conflict and sometimes violence between miners and Indians.

We are limited in what we can do to minimise this impact but as consumers we do have the power to decrease demand. If you are still determined to buy your loved one a gold ring this Christmas please try and source gold that has been recycled within the trade.

We encourage you to read Brook Larmer’s excellent article “The Real Price of Gold’ on the National Geographic website.