EU SUGAR REFORM A BITTER PILL FOR POORER PRODUCERS

For more than three decades, the EU has maintained an extremely costly supply management scheme for its domestic sugar market which insulates domestic producers from international market forces with price supports and tariffs and has resulted in domestic prices triple world market prices and a major production surplus. At the same time, the EU has granted duty free market access for guaranteed quantities to some of its former colonies at guaranteed prices, writes David Kleimann, a German expert on International Law and International Relations. In February 2006, the EU adopted a radical reform programme of its sugar regime which is having severe effects. Some ACP high-cost producers are very likely to cease production because of the price reductions, while others will face a sharp reduction in their export earnings, and only a small group of competitive LDCs will be able to comfortably continue to supply the EU market after the price reductions have been implemented and the preferences terminated. The EU has the moral and legal obligation to provide the small and vulnerable ACP economies with market access for sugar that is worth no less than the previous trade arrangement and that continues to contribute to the realisation of ACP countries economic development and poverty reduction.

BIOFUELS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A CURE THAT MAKES THE DISEASE WORSE

False solutions to the climate crisis, like biofuels, will actually aggravate the problem while exacerbating inequality, hunger, and poverty, writes Vandana Shiva, author and international campaigner for women and the environment. In this article Shiva writes that biofuels contribute to the very global warming that they are supposed to reduce. And yet these biofuels are treated as a clean development mechanism for reducing emissions in the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol totally avoided the material challenge of stopping activities that lead to higher emissions and the political challenge of regulating the polluters and making them pay in accordance with principles adopted at the Rio Earth Summit. Instead, Kyoto introduced a system of emissions trading which in effect rewards the polluters by assigning them rights to degrade the atmosphere and allowing trading in these rights. Today, the emissions trading market has reached USD 30 billion and is expected to reach USD 1 trillion. Meanwhile carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, as do profits from polluting industrial activities.

A Hellish Life for Dolphins

Except for a few notable exceptions, dolphins in captivity in Latin America face mistreatment from humans and the ills associated with being kept far from their natural habitat.

Pantanal Indians Assailed by Deforestation

Aggressive farming and industry are advancing over the lands of the indigenous people of Mato Grosso do Sul in actions that are as insidious as they are devastating.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: International Tribunal for the Amazon

The president of Brazil's lawyer association, Cezar Britto, proposed the creation of a tribunal to try crimes against the Amazon, with the participation of all countries that are part of the Amazon Basin.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Civil Society Stands Up Against Mining

A network of civil resistance against mining aims to prevent open-pit mines and environmental contamination in Honduras.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Cultivating Sponges

With the creation of its first farm, CESAM, an environmental research center, began a project for the sustainable production of sponges on the north coast of Cuba's Villa Clara province.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Plan to Curb CO2 Emissions

There are already six institutions taking part in the citizen initiative "Zero CO2" in Chile, and the goal is to inventory, reduce and compensate for emissions of carbon dioxide -- the main greenhouse-effect gas -- by changing people's daily habits.

IRAQ IMPASSE AND ECONOMIC SLUMP MARK DEMISE OF AMERICAN DOMINANCE

Less than a decade after neo-conservatives gained ascendancy in the White House and announced a \'new American century\', that unrivalled supremacy has been challenged by a titanic haemorrhaging of American economic dominance, military readiness, and political influence, writes Mark Sommer, host of the award-winning, internationally-syndicated radio programme, \'A World of Possibilities.\'. In this article, Sommer writes that the fact that the \'family jewels\' of American capitalism are being sold off to \'sovereign wealth funds\' controlled by national governments is an ominous development for a nation that until now has seldom had to worry about its solvency or sovereignty. US decline is neither inevitable or irreversible. The emergence of an African American and a woman as viable candidates for president has energised not only American voters but observers from around the world who despite its egregious recent record still yearn for re-inspired American leadership.

CUBA: TO CHANGE OR NOT TO CHANGE

The mystery novel into which Cuban life has been transformed has entered a climactic phase of its development. In the upcoming chapters we may find evidence regarding the question we are asking: Will Cuba change or not? writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, Padura asks, What will change on the island when the top ranks of decision-makers have a clear understanding of the frustrations and complaints expressed by the Cuban people in massive volume in a July public forum? How will Cuban domestic policy change in response to the government\'s recent commitment to respect two UN pacts safeguarding rights whose limitation on the island for a wide range of reasons, circumstances, and historical factors has been outstripped by reality (the right to travel freely is one of the most frequently mentioned). People\'s expectations are now focused on the decision that must be taken in a few weeks by the Cuban parliament regarding the confirmation of Fidel Castro as the head of the Cuban state and government. Would he be in condition to carry out his previous responsibilities? What would or wouldn\'t change with Fidel Castro in charge again, or definitively removed from power (at least officially)?

Border Wall Condemns Jaguars to Extinction

In announcing that they are giving up efforts to help the jaguar population recover, U.S. authorities have handed a death sentence to the big cat that was once plentiful along the border with Mexico.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Official Environmental Indifference

Citizen and ecologist groups have accused the Honduran government of failing to take an interest in the environmental problems afflicting the northern department of Colón.

Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Ministers Against Environmental Vulnerability

Latin America and the Caribbean and climate change, the cross-cutting nature of environmental policies, and integrated management of ecosystems will be the key issues at the 16th meeting of the region's Environment Ministers Forum, Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 in Santo Domingo.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Initiative for Commercial Recycling

A small shop that sells food in Argentina provides its clients with reusable cloth bags for their purchases, with the aim of reducing the volume of household garbage.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Environmental Authority Designation Disappoints

The Mexican Environmental Prosecutor's Office is condemned to remain on the sidelines for the next few years, say environmentalists, following the designation of Patricio Patrón as its new leader.

SMALL-SCALE TOURISM YIELDS LARGE-SCALE BENEFITS

Innovative national leaders and forward-looking planners from around the world have proven that tourism that features authentic culture, nature, and experiences creates more opportunities in local communities than any other type of tourism, writes Gülden Türköz Cosslett, UN Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Albania. In this article, the author writes that at the village or town level, nature and culture-oriented tourism permits small-scale businesses to be successful tourism operators based on their own knowledge and experience, and with relatively low capital investment. Tourist spending is local, and tends to stay in the community, spread across a number of individuals in the community, and circulating in the local economy - the so-called \'\'economic multiplier effect\'\'. A study carried out in Costa Rica found that the positive economic impact of nature and culture tourism on a small community can be 5 to 10 times greater per dollar of tourist spending than for an all-inclusive mass tourism destination. Nature and culture tourism requires less public infrastructure and lower levels of private investment, per visitor.

NEPAL NEARS THE POLLS, PART REPUBLIC, PART MONARCHY

After much bargaining and dithering Nepal\'s governing alliance, which includes the former Maoist guerrillas, has finally agreed to hold its twice-postponed elections in April, writes Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepali Times newspaper in Kathmandu and the author of the book, A People War. In this article, Dixit writes that a lot of things can go wrong between now and then. Maoist hardliners could try to sabotage polls in which they feel they will have a poor showing. The radical right, still loyal to sidelined King Gyanendra, could provoke violence. Militant groups in the plains bordering India may prevent voting. Or all of the above. It looks likely that although Nepal is a republic on paper, the monarchy will still be an issue in elections. This would distract voters from the real issues of a new constitution. But many Nepalis now think the king is just not worth the trouble to keep any more. April\'s elections will bring closure to this prolonged transition, and hopefully clarity to the political process so that Nepal\'s new rulers can at last turn their attention to lifting the living standards of Asia\'s poorest people.

Government Finances Mapuche Medical Service

The residents of a region in southern Chile can choose from a menu of medical services at a state-run center, including Western medicine or indigenous medicine.

Science Shows the Way to Cleaner Mining

An invention of Mexican university researchers could put an end to the toxic waste that the mining of gold and silver leave behind.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New System to Recycle Sewer Water

A system to make use of a portion of domestic wastewater in cities with water shortages was developed at the International Water Reutilization Center, based at the University of Sao Paulo.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Illegal Mining Aggravates Malaria

Illegal mining in the southeastern Venezuelan state of Bolívar -- 238,000 square kilometers and a jungle border with Brazil and Guyana -- is increasing the spread of malaria, which in 2007 totaled 28,800 cases in the area, and 40,500 across Venezuela (population 27 million).