Ecobreves – HONDURAS: First Trimester Sees 150 Forest Fires

Honduran officials reported 150 forest fires so far in 2008, most of them in the central department of Francisco Morazán, where the national capital is located.

CUBA SAYS GOODBYE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Recent confirmation that Cuban citizens living in Cuba can finally have their own cell phones and buy computers, microwave ovens, and DVD players with the local currency in local stores has provoked amazement among the less informed and an ironic chuckle among those familiar with the complex multiple realities of this Caribbean island, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, Padura writes that the possibility that the inhabitants of this magical, mythic, and always surprising island will now be allowed access to these goods leads automatically, however, to a formidable obstacle : all of these devices must be paid for in \'\'hard currency\'\'. A one or two-minute cell phone call would cost an entire day\'s wages for a person who works for the all-controlling state, which pays an average daily salary of 400 pesos, or 16 convertible pesos, equivalent to 16 dollars. But the people say that doesn\'t matter: in the end they will have cell phones. The fact that for the first time inhabitants of the island can legally have a telephone that was not \'\'assigned\'\' them by the state, watch on their DVD player something not broadcast by the government, or use a computer to produce or gather information beyond the reach of the state, is far more than a jump forward in time. It is a enormous and important increase in scope of free will in a country suffocated by systems of prohibitions and control.

ECONOMIC CRISIS – CAPITALISM AS USUAL

Every day we hear what sounds like old news about the economic crisis, and as usual the crisis is for the rich and involves the \"economy\" as an impersonal system; there is no mention of the misery that exists at the bottom of that \"system\", writes Johan Galtung, Professor of Peace Studies, is Founder of TRANSCEND, a global peace and development network. In this article, the author writes that underlying most of the current financial crisis is speculation, another expression of a sick economy that drives wealth upward so that people founder at the bottom but swim in liquidity at the top. When the real economy is sluggish, the wealthy turn to sectors that are growing quickly, flooding them with money and creating bubbles - the housing market today, just as it was the dot-com world a few years ago. People have poured money into housing partly to live, partly to speculate, only to see the bubble burst and lose money and their houses. The banks, in contrast, which have in cases acted criminally, are rewarded with bail-outs. The people, most of whom are honest, are punished for the misdeeds of the banks. This is abominable. Where is the outrage? Where are Obama and Clinton? But the name of the system is capital-ism, not human-ism. Capitalists benefits, not humans. Time to change that system.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: INVESTING IN SUSTENANCE

Without radical changes in the way the world produces its food, the planet will suffer lasting damage, writes Hans R. Herren, Co-Chair, International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) and President of the Millennium Institute. In this article, Herren writes that modern agriculture, as currently practised, is devouring our capital. It is mining the soil, our natural resource base, and it is unsustainable, because it is both fossil energy- and capital-intensive and because it is not based on a full accounting of the externalities. The developing world is headed in the same direction. In addition, new challenges -climate change, a growing population, and demands for better food quality and diversity- will affect agriculture, disproportionally in developing countries. Business as usual is no longer an option. The author argues that raising awareness of the need for science and technology to find better solutions will actually attract funding for the multifunctional agriculture we now realise we need.

Amazon Ghost Highway Revived

The decision of the Brazilian government to rebuild a highway nearly 900 kilometers long in the middle of the Amazon jungle has reopened a heated environmental debate.

In Search of Not-So-Toxic Mining

The decision of the Peruvian government to limit polluting emissions from the mining industry -- the engine of national economic growth -- is seen by health experts as a tepid effort.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Supermarkets Help Protect Ozone Layer

Brazil's supermarkets agreed to reduce emissions of substances that deplete the ozone layer, in cooperation with the Environment Ministry and the refrigeration industry.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Forestry Law in Limbo

The Honduran Forestry Law is adrift because the creation of the forestry conservation institute -- which would apply the law -- has yet to be defined. It would replace the governmental agency Honduran Corporation of Forest Development.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Internships Among Lobsters and Turtles

Lobsters, turtles and shellfish will be the subject of study beginning in April as part of the final stretch of the Venezuelan school year, through an internship program at the biology station that Los Roques Science Foundation maintains in the archipelago of the same name in the Caribbean.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Students Keep an Eye on Water

The Chilean Water and Energy Education and Culture Committee, involving the National Environment Commission and five other public agencies, launched the "Let's Take Care of Water" contest on Mar. 25, aimed at primary and secondary students in the capital.

PARALLEL LIVES : THE DALAI LAMA AND ANDREI SAKHAROV

The Dalai Lama has returned to centre stage because of the recent and now quelled uprising of the Tibetans against Chinese domination and the brutal response of the government in Beijing. This was a grave error on China\'s part, to say the least, just as it is preparing to host the 2008 Olympic games, writes Mario Soares, ex- president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this article , Soares writes that the Dalai Lama responded from Dharamsala, his place of exile, with his customary firmness, accusing China of \'\'cultural genocide\'\', an expression that has succeeded in stirring consciences across the planet. The rhetorical response of the Beijing government was to accuse him of provoking the riots in the hope of creating difficulties for China. The Dalai Lama calmly responded that as a pacifist he does not believe that the problem of Tibet can be solved with force, but rather through dialogue. Watching the Dalai Lama speak these words on television, I was reminded of an experience I had when I visited political dissident Andrei Sakharov, another Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1975), during an official visit I made as President of Portugal to what was still the Soviet Union. After I signalled to him that there were probably hidden microphones in the room where we met, he answered calmly, \'\'It doesn\'t matter, they know everything that I think. We\'re already used to it.\'\' Afterwards we spoke freely about everything we wished. The brutal intimidation and force had no effect on the civic conscience of Sakharov.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT – LIES

Until a short while ago, the major media were regaling us daily with cheery statistics about the success of international war against poverty, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguyan writer and journalist, and author of The Open Veins of Latin America, Memories of Fire, and Mirrors/An Almost Universal History. In this article, Galeano writes that the World Bank\'s International Comparison Programme has corrected a few of the errors present in earlier reports. Among other things, they inform us that the poorest of the world\'s poor, the so-called \'\'indigent\'\', number 500 million more than had been previously calculated. We also learn that the poor countries are quite a bit poorer than the earlier statistics indicated and that their condition deteriorated while the World Bank was selling them the free-market happy pills. And as if that wasn\'t enough, it turns out that the universal inequality between the rich and the poor was also incorrectly measured, and that planet-wide the abyss between the two is still deeper than that of Brazil, an unjust country if there is one.

Criticisms Multiply Against Binational Dam

Ecologists in Argentina and Brazil are sounding the alarm against the potential harm to the Uruguay River, shared by three countries, that could result from the planned Garabí dam.

Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis

Water crises are multiplying, from Darfur to Eastern Europe, warn experts.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Reports of Mistreated Cattle

Thirty percent of the livestock sold in the cattle market of San Bernabé, in the state of Mexico (neighboring the capital), are injured, ill and even in their last throes.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Study Proves Glyphosate Toxic

The herbicide glyphosate, used in Argentina to eliminate weeds in soybean fields, takes time to degrade and is not innocuous, says a study by researchers from various Argentine institutions.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Classifying Underground Waters

Underground waters in Brazil are already categorized according to their characteristics and degrees of contamination, and an indication of the appropriate use for each aquifer.

UNITED STATES: LEGITIMISING TORTURE

In a frightening turn, torture has made its way back into the public debate, with the governments that supposedly advocate democracy and freedom coming to its defence, writes Kumi Naidoo, former Secretary General of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. In this article, the author writes that President Bush recently all but acknowledged the use of torture against suspected terrorists and essentially condoned its practice by US officials when he vetoed a bill outlawing torture. This decision comes in the wake of recent testimony by CIA director Michael Hayden that the agency has used waterboarding techniques on detainees. For the US to publicly admit and condone torture undermines the efficacy of the Convention Against Torture, which the US ratified in 1984, and undermines the positive work of many American activists and progressive politicians who have advocated for political freedom and good treatment of detainees. The message this approach sends is clear: If you can justify it, torture is okay (look, even the Americans do it!).

Brazil on the Verge of “Clean” Petrochemical

A byproduct of biodiesel can be used in industries like plastics, cosmetics, medicines, pesticides, energy and manufacturing.

Privatize Wetlands to Protect Them?

The Argentine government has not been able to ensure the preservation of a wetland that was designated a protected area 25 years ago. A United States citizen is buying up the land in order to achieve the original aim.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fish at Risk of Reproductive Collapse

Thirty-two percent of the 142 species of marine fishes in southern Brazilian waters are at risk of reproductive collapse, says a new book.