In her 7th post from the front lines of Amazon deforestation, Rane Cortez witnesses a landmark moment for São Felix when indigenous groups join together with government agencies to achieve zero illegal deforestation.

In the final post of a four-part series, forest carbon scientist Bronson Griscom and a team from The Nature Conservancy go deep into the Amazon frontier and find a remnant of healthy rainforest with an abundant array of plant and animal life. View the videos and come along on the adventure!

In her 6th post from the frontlines of Amazon deforestation, Rane Cortez meets Wilton Batista, president of the Rancher’s Union in São Felix, to get the rancher’s perspective about stopping illegal deforestation in the Amazon.

In this third post of a four-part series, Bronson Griscom, Ph.D. and team, venture deeper into the forests of the Xingu River region of Brazil’s Amazon frontier and begin to see what they came for.

In the second of a four-part series, Nature Conservancy forest carbon scientist Bronson Griscom and his team hike through degraded areas of forest on the edge of ranchlands. And he wonders: is it too late for forest restoration in Brazil’s Amazon frontier?

In the first of a four-part series, Bronson Griscom, a Conservancy forest carbon scientist, brings us along on a trek through northern Brazil’s Amazon frontier, where patches of remaining rainforest – interspersed with cattle ranches – may hold the seeds for the future. Check out the video clips to join in the adventure.

In her 5th post from the frontlines of Amazon deforestation, Rane Cortez meets the indigenous Kayapo people that came to São Felix to dance and share their culture, perspectives and the impacts of climate change.

In her 4th post from the frontlines of Amazon deforestation, Rane Cortez interviews the Environmental Secretary of São Felix do Xingu, a northern Brazilian municipality about the size of Austria, where work is underway to slow the illegal burning and clearing of forests.

When I think about chocolate, in addition to thinking about brownies, I think about saving rainforests and fighting carbon pollution. This week I sat down to talk with leaders of a local agricultural cooperative in São Felix do Xingu, here in the Brazilian Amazon, that helps its members plant cacao – the fruit that eventually becomes the delicious treat we all crave.

The Nature Conservancy’s Rane Cortez blogs about her visit to the Amazon frontier town of São Felix do Xingu. Over the next eight weeks she will share her perspectives about how accelerated economic growth and the need for environmental conservation are meeting in one of the most dynamic parts of the Amazon.

The Nature Conservancy’s Rane Cortez blogs about her visit to the Amazon frontier town of São Felix do Xingu. Over the next eight weeks she will share her perspectives about how accelerated economic growth and the need for environmental conservation are meeting in one of the most dynamic parts of the Amazon.

REDD+ is a critical piece of the climate-change puzzle, and this forest solution also has the potential to be transformative in benefiting communities, ecosystems, and biodiversity.

At Natex, apparently, they’re not just churning out “rubbers” and providing decent livings for local people, they’re helping to save the forests too.

“Welcome to the only factory in the world that makes condoms using natural latex,” proudly states the hair-netted young woman as she begins our tour. “We currently make 100 million condoms a year, but we plan to double that beginning next year.” Clearly, business is booming for Natex, a condom factory in the small town of Xapuri (sha-pu-ree) in the state of Acre, Brazil.

We spent three full days travelling to this place deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, and three more searching: slashing though thick tangles of vines, braving legions of biting ants, and wading waist-deep through murky waters. The gold we’re searching for are the numbers that will help us determine the amount of carbon stored in the world’s rainforests.

In the short video at the top of this post, I provide a brief introduction to REDD+. Pay attention because there’s a quiz at the end! So tune in, and test your knowledge of this complex, but exciting, new idea. And, leave a comment on what you thought about the video below.

Voices from Brazil and Papua New Guinea, two places where The Nature Conservancy works closely helping local communities prepare for their changing environments, are represented in a new exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Will Brazil’s deforestation rate rise this year with uncertainty over forest laws?