The Central American Water Tribunal is conducting its second session of hearings Mar. 15-19 in the Costa Rican capital to debate nine cases involving the countries of the region. The Tribunal is a civil society organization that seeks moral condemnation of individuals and institutions responsible for jeopardizing water resources, biologist Ricardo Valverde, the group's technical advisor, told Tierramérica.

Among the cases to be heard is one involving the Minerales de Occidente company, which engages in open pit mining in Honduras, and another about excessive exploitation of water resources in northern Costa Rica.

The debate will also take up the issue of contamination from radioactive material in the Panama Canal, harm caused by highway construction in El Salvador, and the potential negative consequences for Lake Nicaragua of a tilapia fish farm.