Once you catch bird watching fever, the completion of your life list will become a dream. In that dream, there is little doubt that you will see the famous Amazon Rainforest.

Bird Watching Prospects in the Amazon Rainforest

Encompassing about 1,500 species in the land where the world's second longest river flows, the Amazon Rainforest is a unique birding habitat . This region of South America from the Peruvian Andes to the South Atlantic in Brazil is known as Amazonia.

The Amazon River and shoreline is a major destination for bird watchers with 4,000 miles of shoreline. It is estimated that about 15 percent of all known bird species in the world have their habitat here, which represents only 4 percent of the planet's land surface.

The Amazon Rainforest is a 7 million km square (1.2 billion acres) moist broad leaf forest from 9 nations, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil, the country which encompasses 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest. The range of nations and the characteristics of the forest contribute to making this region home of the world's tiniest hummingbirds. The area includes such rare species as the hoatzin, toucan, and the umbrella bird.

Amazonia forest also represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, one of the few areas where bird watchers can find such life list necessities as exotic parrots, umbrella birds and trogons. The high diversity of Amazon species includes resident species, wintering in, migrating birds, or just passing though the region.

Few of the species are found throughout the vast rainforest. Instead, each has particular habitats in particular areas. Species at the base of the Andes are far different than those found closer to the vast Amazon River basin. In short, one has to have a thorough knowledge of specific species before simply heading down to South America on a birding expedition.

The Amazon Rainforest represents one of the last great ecological environments on our planet. Alas, humanity is encroaching on it every day, slashing and burning acre after acre. While it is nice to imagine this destruction will soon stop, it is best to pursue any birding trip in the next ten years or so. After all, the planet is changing and they think there may be trees growing on Antarctica in the next hundred years or so!

Rick Chapo is with NomadJournals.com - makers of bird watching journals. Visit us to read more articles about bird watching.

You may have noticed a new kid on the chilled fruit juice block at your local supermarket or at your favourite smoothie bar, it's called Acai, pronounced ah-sigh-ee and it comes from the Amazon region of Brazil where it is known as 'The Tree of Life'.

This fantastic tree, a member of the palm family and related to the saw palmetto, grows in the flood plains of the mighty Amazon river where it reaches over 20 meters high. The berries grow prolifically along branches that spring out of the top and look a bit like 'Sideshow Bobs'' hair and are gathered by the indigenous people who scramble up the trunk to cut the berry laden boughs and then take them to the market.

Speed is of the essence because the berries start to loose their potency as soon as they get picked so they need to be frozen as soon as possible.

It had been a popular drink in the Amazon district for hundreds of years but came to light when a cafe in Rio de Janeiro started selling it. Across the street was a Jujitsu school, run by Carlos Gracie, who tried some and insisted on his pupils drinking it to boost their performance. The pupils were very fit looking people and they said that it was because they drank acai. The surfers picked up on this and its reputation grew and grew until it went international.

The berries are not the only good thing on this tree, the Brazilians also use the stems of the leaves which are harvested as palm hearts and the bark and roots are used in medicine for a wide variety of ailments from anemia to muscle pains and worms.

This little purple berry is packed with anti oxidants such as phytochemicals, polyphenols and anthocyanins, fatty acids omega 6 and 9, calcium, proteins and fibre which are all great for a healthy life. It is the anthocyanins that are, perhaps, creating the most interest because of large amounts present in the fruit. These are the chemicals that are found in the dark purple colour in plants and came to prominence as the healthy ingredient in red wine that helps to protect the heart and there are so many anthocyanins in acai berries, they haven't all been researched yet.

Early research has shown it has been able to destroy large numbers of leukaemia cells in the laboratory but a lot more investigation is needed before any conclusions can be drawn over its full medicinal properties.

As with most of the purple berries they are useful in the fight against a wide range of ailments such as cancer, heart disease, cholesterol, macular degeneration, Alzheimers' disease, infections of the urinary tract and have anti bacterial and anti fungal properties. Unlike other berries, these are just packed with an abundance of health giving ingredients which really does allow them to use the name super food.

Something this good usually turns out to taste like old socks, but acai juice is really nice, a berry flavour with an after taste tinged with chocolate although when sold it is mixed with other fruit juice. To ensure you are getting a good quantity of this wonder berry, check the list of ingredients and buy the one with acai listed as the highest constituent. It will probably be more expensive but well worth the extra cost.

Another way of buying acai berries is to get it as a frozen paste which you can use in making your own smoothies or as a topping for your breakfast cereal or even ice cream.

Many foods have been hyped as the greatest but the acai really does appear to have earned the name super food.

Ian Richards is the webmaster of the http://www.yourpower2be.com stable of websites

November 28, 2006 — By Maggie Fox, Reuters

WASHINGTON — Chopping up the dense forests of the Amazon lets hot winds blow in and around ancient trees, killing them off hundreds of years early, researchers reported Monday.

Many species of trees, and other plants and animals that depend on them, are disappearing more quickly than most experts anticipated, William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and colleagues said.

"Rain forest trees can live for centuries, even millennia, so none of us expected things to change too fast," Laurance said in a statement. "But in just two decades -- a wink of time for a thousand year-old tree -- the ecosystem has been seriously degraded," he said.

Read more from ENN.com.

Source: The Rainforest Solutions Project

First Nations will be allowed to open fishing lodges and eco-tourism operations in the newly protected areas along B.C.'s North and Central Coast under new legislation being introduced by the provincial government.

Environment Minister Barry Penner has announced that more than 1.2 million hectares of the protected sections of the area, widely known as the Greater Bear Rainforest, will be classified as "conservancies."

That's a level of protection that stops short of park status.

The area includes one of the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world, and is home to one of the world's last large populations of grizzly bears and a rare, white variation of the black bear – the Kermode or Spirit Bear.
Penner said the new legislation will not permit heavy industrial use such as commercial logging, mining or large-scale hydroelectric projects.

However, the government will allow fishing lodges, wilderness tourism operations or power projects – if they're consistent with conservation values and the interests of First Nations.

"Any economic activity or proposal for activity in the conservancy has to be consistent with the principles in the legislation which is to preserve the conservancies for future generations." said the minister, who noted the conservancies were created in consultation with First Nations.

Art Sterritt, executive director of the Coastal First Nations, says the new designation will permit aboriginal people to pursue economic opportunities in their traditional territory.

"It was important that we not be seen as just some curiosity within our traditional territories; that we actually get involved in the economy," he said.

Penner said there are no plans to convert any existing provincial parks to conservancies.

September 11, 2006 — By Carey Gillam, Reuters

OVERLAND PARKK, Kan. — Coming soon to a movie screen near you: prayers, politics and a feature-length film, united in an effort to mobilize religious groups around global warming concerns in time for the U.S. midterm election.

With a new documentary titled "The Great Warming" as their chief campaign tool, a coalition of religious leaders, environmentalists and businesses are spreading copies of the film into churches around the country. Voter guides and themed sermons are also part of the plan.

The aim of the screenings, like one held in Kansas last week, is to turn the large and powerful conservative Christian constituency into a voting block united behind making the reduction of greenhouse gases a top priority among politicians.

Evangelical Christian leaders have embraced the cause and are now helping spur momentum before both midterm elections in November and the 2008 presidential election.

"In the past, white evangelicals have been largely Republican and the environment has traditionally been a Democratic issue ... so there are political implications in terms of alliances," said Joel Hunter, who serves on the National Association of Evangelicals board and as senior pastor of the 12,000-member Northland Church in Longwood, Florida.

"But there is no doubt about the mandate of scripture here. We need to do what we can to care for the Earth," Hunter said by telephone. "We want to lead people into the arena where it will have an affect on how they vote."

The movement by faith communities to become more active on environmental issues has been growing over the last several years with many undertaking energy-saving and energy-education projects that they describe as "creation care."

Indeed, according to a July survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more than 70 percent of people of faith polled believed global warming was occurring.

But the movement to turn that devotion into a political power base on global warming is only now getting under way. Advocates said they intended to put pressure on both Republicans and Democrats to be more active in seeking to reduce global warming.

A national rollout of "The Great Warming" at U.S. cinemas starts in October. The plan also calls for more than 500 sermons on global warming and lists of questions for church members to ask political candidates.

FROM TALK TO ACTION

The National Council of Churches, with an estimated 45 million members, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation and leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals are helping develop online promotions, newsletters and campaign materials for film screenings, including one planned for Sept. 30 at the Washington National Cathedral.

African-American mobilization is part of the agenda as well, with a Sept. 21 screening led by the Rev. Gerald Durley, a former civil-rights activist who leads a large Baptist congregation in Atlanta.

"We're hoping to get this in before the elections," said Karen Coshof, the independent Canadian documentary maker who produced "The Great Warming." "It's time to get beyond talk to action."

Global warming concerns stem from scientific evidence that layers of carbon dioxide heat -- generated in part by power plants and automobiles -- is altering the climate and leading to deadly heat waves, drought and disastrous flooding.

Many conservative political and business groups, which generally support the same politicians as white evangelicals, challenge the conclusions as faulty and alarmist, however, and say efforts to rein in CO2 emissions will hurt the economy.

Still, "Great Warming" backers say the tide has turned in their favor amid overwhelming scientific data and growing public concern. And they say, many businesses are recognizing action is needed, including Zurich-based Swiss Re, one of the world's leading reinsurance companies and a chief financial backer of the film.

"I am what you call a green Republican ... and there are a number of us out there," said Troy Helming, founder of the Kansas-based Krystal Planet alternative energy company, which also backs the film. "It is unfortunate that the party ... has kind of lost its way in terms of environmental issues."

Source: Reuters

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged better care for the environment, saying it was being endangered by lifestyle choices causing its deterioration.

Such deterioration, the pontiff said during his traditional Sunday blessing, "make the lives of poor people on earth especially unbearable."

Benedict remarked that the Italian Catholic Church has chosen Sept. 1 to celebrate it first Earth Day.

"Along with Christians from all denominations, we must commit to taking care of creation, without squandering its resources and sharing them in a convivial manner," the pope said.

Source: Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Police arrested 46 people, including 16 agents of the federal environmental protection agency, for allegedly operating illegal logging operations in the Amazon rainforest and in southern Brazil, the environment ministry said Wednesday.

The group is accused of selling an estimated 32 million cubic feet of illegally logged tropical hardwoods, worth an estimated $25 million, the ministry said in a statement.

The environmental agents are accused of selling permits that allowed loggers to cut down and transport trees while breaking Brazil's strict environmental laws. Other members of the ring included loggers and lobbyists, the ministry said.

Federal police carried out arrests in four states. Police were still searching for eight more suspects.

Police called it the second-largest operation to crack down on illegal logging. The biggest was in June, when federal police and environmental officials broke up a ring involving 74 suspects in five states.

Environment Minister Marina Silva said joint operations by the environment ministry and federal police had reduced deforestation by 31 percent in 2005 compared with the previous year.

Read more at Environment News Network.