Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Network Against Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

Environmental organizations in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and a group of scientists have created a network against short- lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone and hydrofluorocarbons.

Gangs and Government Put Their Cards on the Table in El Salvador

The two main youth gangs in El Salvador and the government have exchanged the main points they would like to discuss in talks aimed at bringing to an end to two decades of spiraling criminal violence. But the media, legislators and the public at large remain hostile to the possible start of negotiations.

Whose Timber is it Anyway?

With Pakistan’s last major stands of deodar (cedar) threatened by a ‘timber mafia’, the local people in the Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are resorting to direct action to stop the denudation of their picturesque alpine homeland.

GA President Says Culture of Peace Path to Dialogue & Human Solidarity

Speaking at an international forum here, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, President of the General Assembly, said it was unfortunate that in some parts of the world there is growing intolerance, xenophobia, and incitement to hatred.

Activists Protest Shell’s Arctic Oil-Drilling Plans

By mid-September, the Royal Dutch Shell Oil (Shell) group hopes to begin exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of northern Alaska, provided it can secure federal permission from the U.S. government and overcome other logistical obstacles. But a prominent environmental group warns that drilling will do “irreparable damage” to the area.

Washington’s War Drums Drown out Opportunities for Peace in Syria

As violence in Syria spikes after a short lull, the prospect of international military intervention appears to be growing by the day. Earlier this week, almost exactly one year after President Barack Obama first called on Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad to step down, Obama warned of “enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons”.

Shelters for Undocumented Migrants under Threat in Mexico

Two years after the massacre of 72 migrants in Mexico, shelters for undocumented migrants are facing challenges and threats, due to the rise in the number of people seeking assistance, the lack of solidarity on the part of local communities, pressure from organised crime, and a lack of adequate public policies addressing the problem of migration.

Argentine Locals Want Power Transformers Out of Neighborhoods

Scientific uncertainty about the health impacts of electromagnetic fields is fueling worries among people in the Argentine capital who are demanding that energy power transformers be located far from their neighborhoods.

Beating the Weather With Sustainable Crops

Narrow, cobblestoned lanes separate the rows of mud houses with cool interiors and mud-smoothened patios, some with goats tethered to the wooden posts. This is Tajpura village, deep in this water-stressed, drought-prone region of northern India.

Immigration Policies Wreak Unseen Havoc on U.S. Communities

Deportation is a devastating experience for a family, breaking it apart and leading to emotional and mental stress for its members. But a new report from the Centre for American Progress shows that such duress extends beyond families and into the larger community as a whole.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Promoting Wind Energy

Cuba is striving to develop wind power and contribute to its expansion in the rest of the Caribbean, said energy specialist Conrado Moreno, organizer of a world conference on this energy source to be held for the first time ever in Latin America.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Government to Build Aerodrome in Maya Archeological Area

The government of Honduras plans to build an aerodrome near Copán Archeological Park, but will ensure that it has no environmental impacts on the Amarillo River, which flows through the area.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Pascua Lama Announcement Criticized

Chilean environmentalists have criticized an announcement by the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold that it will postpone the execution of the Pascua Lima binational mining project by one year and increase initial investment by three billion dollars.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Women Entrepreneurs Learn to Recycle

Some 200 women in eastern Caracas will benefit from a program that will provide them with training in recycling and the manufacture and sale of clothing, bags, ornaments, cards and various crafts.

Donors Turn Their Backs on Taliban

For the past five years Sharifullah Shah, a local doctor from the conflict-ridden North Waziristan province in Pakistan, has handed over 500 dollars to the Taliban during the month of Ramadan. But this year, he is putting his money straight into the Edhi Welfare Centre, where he knows it will reach those in need.

Food Security and the Failure of Mechanisation in DRC

Mechanisation was expected to transform agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central province of East Kasaï. But a project to offer tractors for ploughing land has fallen flat. Meanwhile, many households don’t have enough to eat because agricultural production in this mineral-rich province is too low.

Treating Doctors for Corruption

Slovak doctors have launched an unprecedented campaign to rid their own profession of what is widely perceived as endemic bribery.

U.S. Breaks Silence on Bahrain Crackdown

The U.S. State Department released a statement Friday urging the Bahraini government to reconsider a ruling that sentenced the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, to a three-year jail term for organising opposition rallies.

Book Exposes Violent Role of Paramilitaries in Haiti

Haiti’s brutal army was disbanded in 1995, yet armed and uniformed paramilitaries, with no government affiliation, occupy former army bases today.

Colombian President Meets with Nasa Indians

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos travelled to a native reserve in the southwest of the country Wednesday to meet with thousands of indigenous people who had gathered there for nearly a week, demanding an end to fighting in their territory.

Belo Monte Dam Can No Longer Ignore Native Communities

A judicial order to halt construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest may be just one more battle in a long-drawn-out war in the courts over the controversial hydroelectric project.