A day after the Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras announced it would begin drilling for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River "immediately" after obtaining a license despite concerns over the impact on wildlife, an analysis on Tuesday revealed that banks have added $2 billion in direct financing for oil and gas in the biodiverse Amazon Rainforest since 2024.
It is good news but it is qualified good news, said Prof Oliver Phillips from the University of Leeds. Our results apply only to intact, mature forests, which is where we are watching closely. They suggest the Amazon forest is remarkably resilient to climate change. My fear is that may count for little, unless we can stop the deforestation itself.
"Last year, Brazil experienced its most intense and widespread drought in seven decades. Combined with high temperatures, this caused the fires to spread on an unprecedented scale throughout the country."
Looking back on it, the path with shamanism started off at a young age. When I was a child, it was around seeing spirits and hearing bits and pieces, but I didn't know what it was.
Conventional archaeology overlooked the Amazon, assuming its wilderness couldn't support significant human culture, but new discoveries are proving otherwise, revealing a rich, ancient civilization.
