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travelingonvacation · 3 months

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Certainly! Brazil is a vast and diverse country known for its stunning landscapes, vibrant culture, and friendly people. Here's a travel guide to help you explore some of the highlights:

1. Rio de Janeiro:

Christ the Redeemer: Visit the iconic statue atop Corcovado Mountain for breathtaking views of the city.

Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar): Take a cable car ride to the summit for panoramic views of Rio and its coastline.

Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches: Enjoy the sun, sand, and vibrant beach culture.

Tijuca National Park: Explore the lush rainforest within the city limits.

2. São Paulo:

Paulista Avenue: The heart of São Paulo, lined with museums, shopping centers, and cultural institutions.

Ibirapuera Park: A large green space with museums, walking trails, and a lake.

Vila Madalena: A bohemian neighborhood known for its street art, bars, and nightlife.

3. Amazon Rainforest:

Manaus: Gateway to the Amazon, explore the meeting of the waters, and visit the Teatro Amazonas.

Amazon River Tours: Take a boat trip to experience the incredible biodiversity of the rainforest.

4. Salvador:

Pelourinho: The historic district with colorful colonial architecture, music, and lively markets.

Capoeira Shows: Experience the traditional Brazilian martial art and dance form.

5. Iguazu Falls:

Marvel at the spectacular Iguazu Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage site, located on the border with Argentina.

6. Pantanal:

Explore the world's largest tropical wetland area, known for its diverse wildlife, including jaguars and exotic birds.

7. Florianopolis:

Enjoy beautiful beaches, sand dunes, and hiking trails on this island known for its natural beauty.

8. Brasília:

Visit the capital city, known for its modernist architecture and unique urban planning.

9. Bahia:

Explore the Afro-Brazilian culture, enjoy local cuisine, and relax on the beaches of Bahia.

10. Beaches in the Northeast:

Visit stunning beaches like Porto de Galinhas, Jericoacoara, and Praia do Forte for sun, sand, and water activities.

11. Carnival:

If possible, experience the world-famous Rio Carnival, a vibrant celebration of music, dance, and culture.

12. Local Cuisine:

Try Brazilian dishes like feijoada, açaí bowls, coxinha, and various regional specialties.

13. Safety Tips:

Be cautious in large cities and tourist areas regarding personal belongings.

Stay informed about local safety conditions and follow local advice.

14. Language:

Portuguese is the official language, so it's helpful to know a few basic phrases.

15. Local Culture:

Brazilians are known for their warm hospitality, so embrace the local culture and enjoy the diverse music and dance scenes.

Remember to check travel advisories and health guidelines before planning your trip. Brazil offers a rich tapestry of experiences, from the bustling cities to the pristine natural wonders. Enjoy your travels!

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tohucapy · 4 years

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Capybara-Brazil2010f-2606.jpg by Dagget2

#Baby #Brazil #Pantanal #Pantanal Wildlife Center #capybara #カピバラ #水豚 #animals

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 2 years

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A Human Fingerprint on the Pantanal Inferno One of the world’s largest freshwater wetlands—the Pantanal—spreads across a bowl-shaped plain where Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. During the rainy season in most years, floodwater drains from several swollen South American rivers into this vast inland delta, replenishing swamps and marshes. The region is home to thousands of plant and animal species, including rare and endangered jaguars, hyacinth macaws, and giant river otters. But in both 2019 and 2020, with the region gripped by severe drought, those refreshing floodwaters never came. Come June and July, fires did instead. They burned sporadically at first, but by August and September, they raged with such ferocity that they left vast swaths of the Pantanal blackened. The fires blanketed cities near and far with a pall of smoke. The burning was severe in 2019, charring roughly 16,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles). But in 2020, the scale was catastrophic, burning one-third of the whole biome. A remarkable 39,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) burned in 2020, an area about the size of Switzerland. In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 fires, the simple explanation for the extensive fires was that unusually dry, hot weather had fueled them. But a new study led by NASA scientists suggests that human activity played a critical role in exacerbating them. The study was published in Scientific Reports in January 2022. “It is certainly true that extreme heat and drought in 2020 worsened the fires, but that’s not the whole story,” said Sujay Kumar, a hydrologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It is also clear, based on a range of data, that these fires would not have happened in the absence of human activity. We even saw a very specific pattern of fire activity that suggests people allowed or even encouraged fires to burn in forested areas.” Together with colleagues from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Cardiff University, and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Kumar analyzed land cover and burned area data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, and soil moisture data from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. The team also considered the density of cattle operations. “With over 52 percent of natural areas burned compared to only 6 percent of regions with high-cattle density, it is clear that natural, not human-dominated landscapes were most affected by the 2020 fires,” said study co-author Niels Andela, a remote sensing scientist at Cardiff University. “The sensitivity of natural landscapes to fire-driven degradation has been a concern across the southern Amazon for years. With this research, we provide the first large-scale evidence that the same mechanisms may be applicable across the tropics, including in the Pantanal.” The researchers also looked for signs that the fires may have changed the ecosystem in lasting ways. They examined the region's hydrology—how water flows across the landscape—using a data assimilation model called the Land Information System. The LIS combines satellite- and ground-based observations with modeling techniques that characterize land surface conditions. “Several months after the fire, we saw clear evidence of decreased evapotranspiration and more surface runoff, trends that can trigger or accelerate desertification,” said NASA hydrologist Augusto Getirana, one of the study’s co-authors. Scorched soils with less vegetation can mean less rainfall being soaked up by plants, more water and sediment running off the land into streams, and less moisture exchange with the air above. “All of this adds up to increased land degradation.” Changes like these could cause new challenges for the region’s wildlife, which have already been hit hard by the burning and may struggle under new environmental conditions. One group of biologists that surveyed the Pantanal soon after the fires estimated that at least 17 million vertebrates were likely killed, including millions of snakes, rodents, and birds. While conservation areas and indigenous territories have been set up to limit development in parts of the Pantanal, the human fingerprint on the landscape is sizable and growing. Another recent study estimated that the amount of the Pantanal devoted to agriculture—typically cattle pasture—has increased by 3.5 percent per year since the mid-1980s. Some 3.8 million cattle are now spread among 3,000 farms, according to one estimate. Ranchers in the Pantanal regularly use fire to maintain pastures and sometimes to clear areas to establish new pastures. The expansion of pasture is evident in the pair of natural-color Landsat images above, which show part of Mato Grosso do Sul near Morrinho. While the area had minimal development and was mostly natural in 2000 (left image), much of it had been converted into pasture by 2021 (right image). Clearings for pastures appear as light green and brown rectangles. Surface water is dark blue. “As in other parts of the Amazon Basin, we are essentially seeing an arc of deforestation and land cover change spread along the Upper Paraguay River,” said Renata Libonati of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. “There is little that is natural about these fires. Some were probably lit intentionally to maintain pastures on or near ranches. Others were accidental but associated with human activities—things like campfires, burning trash, electrical wires, motor vehicles, hunting, and beekeeping.” Lightning sometimes ignites fires in the Pantanal, but these fires tend to be small, causing just 5 percent of the total burned area on average. Also, lightning-triggered fires generally burn in the austral summer (December-February) not the winter (June-August). Further encroachment, combined with climate change and fires, is worrisome to Libonati. "We know that compound drought-heatwaves like we saw in 2020 are likely to become more common in the future due to climate change," said Libonati. “It’s become obvious that we’re going to need long-term management strategies to protect the Pantanal from future fire outbreaks like this.” NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using data from Kumar, Sujay, et al. (2022) and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

#space #science #earth observatory #nasa #news #bolivia

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freenewstoday · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2020/12/08/wildfires-fraser-island-is-just-one-unesco-heritage-site-threatened-by-climate-change-dw-08-12-2020/

Wildfires: Fraser Island is just one UNESCO heritage site threatened by climate change | DW | 08.12.2020

On the small sandy paradise of Fraser Island, or K’gari, off the east coast of Australia, the indigenous Butchulla people have maintained the delicate ecosystem of the rainforest on the sand dunes with controlled fires — known as “cool burns” — for generations.

But there was nothing controlled about the enormous bushfire that began spreading across the island more than seven weeks ago. Believed to have been started by a tourist campfire in October, the blaze reached its peak this weekend when it tore through the island’s rainforest and forced many residents to evacuate their homes.

So far, the houses of the island’s 200 residents have been spared the flames — but the same cannot be said of the natural landscape on the World Heritage-listed island. Over half the rainforest — 8,500 square kilometers (3,282 square miles) according to dpa news agency — has been destroyed by the fires.

The devastation comes at the beginning of Australia’s wildfire period. Last year, in what became known as “Black Summer,” some of the most deadly and widespread fires the country has ever witnessed killed 1.25 billion animals according to conservation organization, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), burned houses to the ground and destroyed hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of bush.

On Fraser Island, the rainforest grows on sand dunes

The fire has left much of the rainforest destroyed

“Fire seasons are lengthening worldwide, and we know that in Australia our fire seasons are starting earlier and finishing later, with more dangerous fire days occurring earlier in the season than they have previously,” Richard Thornton, CEO of the Melboure-based non-profit Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Center, told DW by email.

“Climate change plays a role in this — Australia is now one degree Celsius warmer compared to the long-term average, which means that the variability of ‘normal’ events sits on top of that,” he added.

UN report blames climate change

The destruction of the island’s natural heritage comes as a new UN-backed report names climate change as the top threat to natural World Heritage sites. Researchers found one third of sites on the UNESCO list are now threatened by global heating.

The report — the World Heritage Outlook 3 — was authored by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a government and civil society group that advises UNESCO, the UN’s culture agency.

“Natural World Heritage sites are among the world’s most precious places, and we owe it to future generations to protect them,” Bruno Oberle, IUCN director general said in a statement.

“As the international community defines new objectives to conserve biodiversity, this report signals the urgency within which we must tackle environmental challenges together at a planetary scale.”

Among the threats to 83 of the 252 World Heritage Sites are shrinking glaciers, an increase in the incidence and ferocity of fires, floods and droughts and coral reef bleaching — an impact of ocean acidification, which is caused by high levels of CO2 emissions.

The Great Barrier Reef, which is situated near Fraser Island, was singled out as one of the sites most at risk. The world’s largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal Conservation Area in Brazil, was badly damaged by extensive fires in 2019 and 2020, while the melting of the Kaskawulsh Glacier caused by rising temperatures in Canada’s territory of Yukon has depleted fish populations in Kluane Lake. A lack of of glacial run-off means large swathes of the lake are drying up.

“The findings of the report point to a dire need for adequate resources to manage our irreplaceable natural areas,” said Peter Shadie, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Program in a statement.

According to the study, which is the third following previous assessments in 2014 and 2017, 16 of the nature sites have deteriorated in the last three years. Only eight have improved. Over a third of sites were also assessed as being at risk: 30% were of “significant concern” and 7% are “critical.” These include the Great Barrier Reef, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra in Indonesia and the Lake Turkana National Park in Kenya.

Fires devastated parts of Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands earlier this year

The Great Barrier Reef has lost around half its corals since the 1990s

‘Our extremes are more extreme’

Among those sites with a more positive outlook are the Comoe National Park in Ivory Coast which Shadie identifies as an “inspiring example.” After concentrated conservation efforts to counter the effects of climate change in the park, populations of chimpanzees, elephants and buffaloes are stable and rare bird populations are on the rise.

For Fraser Island, the opposite may be true. Though the report was published before the current fire started burning, the authors noted that an increase in fires posed the greatest threat to the sandy island.

“Changes in the plant communities (on Fraser Island) may be driven by future climate change and accelerated by the increase in fires,” the IUCN report says. “It is felt that modern regimes driven by climate change will result in a decrease in native biodiversity with a possible increase in pyrogenic invasive plant species.”

“Our extremes are more extreme — hotter and windier, and when it does rain, it rains more intensely,” Australia bushfires expert Richard Thornton explained.

“It is extremely difficult to attribute any one bushfire, flood or cyclone to climate change,” he added. “But climate change is changing our underlying weather conditions, and causing more severe weather,” he added.