Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Whale Deaths Double

The unusual spike in the number of dead whales found on the beaches of the southern Argentine province of Chubut in October and November has caused concern at the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB).

Bali Forecast: Low Expectations

Don't expect clear actions to come from the climate conference in Bali. The mission is to hammer out an agenda for negotiations and a measurable threshold of commitments to fight global warming, say experts.

Pots and Pans Against Climate Change

To minimize its impact on the climate, a restaurant in Santiago is making more efficient use of heat and energy, purchasing "clean" electricity and carbon certificates.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Critics Aim at Genetic Resources Law

The public consultation for a legislative bill on genetic resources in Brazil only allows comments by mail or Internet, which impedes the participation of many traditional communities who possess vast knowledge on the use of biodiversity, criticize social justice groups.

ASEAN NEEDS TO TAKE A STAND ON BURMA

ASEAN\'s refusal to take a firm position on Burma has become its Achilles\' heel, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee who now lives in exile and is presently the information director of the National Coalition Government (in exile) of Union of Burma. In this analysis, the author writes that ASEAN recently cancelled UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari\'s scheduled briefing on the political situation of Burma at the ASEAN Summit in Singapore. ASEAN member countries\' lack of collective will to take a strong position against Burma is very disappointing and makes a mockery of the ASEAN Charter, which states that the region must be more responsive to human rights issues. According to Amnesty International, there have been fresh arrests by the junta-led Burmese government despite its promises. To date, up to 700 people arrested during and following the September protests remain behind bars, while 1150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released. It is the responsibility of the international community, especially regional players like China and India, to press the ruling junta to make changes and recognise the Burmese people\'s fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression.

GLOBALISATION, EQUITY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The pollution created by corporations must be recognised as their responsibility and liability, no matter where they create it. Transferring their pollution burden to the poor of the South is not equity, it is injustice, writes Vandana Shiva, author and international campaigner for women and the environment. In this analysis, Shiva writes that in times of globalisation, global corporations are the main economic players, not countries, and global corporations out-source their pollution to the developing world to save costs and maximise profits. The author coins the term \'\'equity schizophrenia\'\', by which corporate globalisers destroy equity to concentrate wealth and resources in the hands of a wealthy few, while they want the poor, whom they have dispossessed of their livelihoods and land, to share the responsibility for pollution, which the poor did not cause. This is hypercapitalism of wealth and resources and socialism of pollution. The poor lose their \'\'goods\'\' to the rich and inherit their liabilities.

Nascent Biofuel Market Has Congenital Defects

It will take a long time to root out the distortions caused by economic and political interests in the budding market for biofuels, say experts.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: National Plan Announced Against Climate Change

The National Plan for Climate Change to be elaborated by the Brazilian government is much welcome, though it should have been done and implemented long ago, say activists.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Fishers Save the Dolphins

Dolphins that are part of the Caribbean seascape of the Venezuelan coastline have won the respect of artisanal and sports fishers, ensuring that these mammals are enjoying good health, biologist María Gabriela Silva, of the environmentalist group Seavida, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Protecting Pets from Natural Disasters

The Cuban Animal Protection Association and the governmental Cuban Society for Veterinary Medicine will work together to devise ways to protect household pets during natural disasters or war.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Solar Energy for Sao Paulo's Public Buildings

Public buildings to be constructed in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state, with 40 million inhabitants, will have solar energy units to heat at least 30 percent of the hot water consumed.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Everyone Against Whale Hunting

Government, Parliament and non-governmental organizations in Chile rejected Japan's announcement of renewed hunting of more than 1,000 whales, for supposedly scientific purposes, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, near the costs of Australia and New Zealand.

NO WORLD PEACE WITHOUT RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

In principle, religion is against violence, yet historically intolerance has reigned, and without tolerance and respect for those who are different, conflict and war are inevitable. Thus it was in the past and probably will be so in the future unless there is a revolution in the thinking of religions and dialogue and peaceful co-existence prevail, writes Mario Soares, ex-President and ex-Prime Minister of Portugal, and President of the Commission for Religious Freedom of Portugal. In this article, Soares writes that we have a moral duty to fight against all forms of violence and to build a global culture of peace. Violence is harmful for religions, in the short term and the long term, as well as to relations between believers and non-believers, who necessarily live together in our modern societies. A world without violence could be our magnificent utopia of the 21st century - if we were able control the myriad forms of violence that daily enter our homes through the television, movies, and the Internet and if all religions were convinced that the fight for peace, for human rights, and respect for those who are different was the best way to express the love for God.

IS HUMANITY BRINGING ABOUT ITS OWN EXTINCTION?

Given the grim developments of our age, biologists, bioanthropologists, and astrophysicists are weighing the possibility that our species, homo sapiens/demens, may go extinct even in this century, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and member of the Earth Charter. In this analysis, Boff writes that their arguments should be taken seriously. The most substantial seems to be overpopulation aggravated by the difficulty of adapting to climate change. Population growth has been exponential. It took humanity a million years to reach a population of 1 billion in 1850; at the current ever-increasing rate, this figure is set to reach 10 billion in 2050. Is this a triumph of the species or a danger for all humanity? What could end is not human life but this unthinking human life that loves war and mass destruction. We have to bring about a humane world where true justice is practiced, which respects life, desacralises violence, loves and cares for all beings, and which venerates the mystery of the world we call the Originary Source, or God. Or simply, we must learn to treat all human beings humanely and with compassion and respect for all creation. Everything that exists deserves to exist. Everything that lives deserves to live. Especially the human being.

Hope-Filled Venom

Cuban scientists will conduct clinical trials of the anti-cancer properties of the venom from a scorpion native to the Caribbean island. They have administered it to more than 8,000 patients since 2000.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fish Farm Concessions for Government Dams

Brazil's Fisheries and Aquaculture Secretariat is offering concessions for raising fish in areas near dams and other public water bodies, with the aim of legalizing the status of clandestine fisherfolk.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Consumer Watchdog Blames Tobacco Companies

Corporate interests are feeding the "I Smoke" campaign in Mexico, an effort by smokers against reforms that would put stricter limits on cigarettes, according to the non-governmental organization Power of the Consumer (El Poder del Consumidor).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Activists Demand New Forestry Agency

The Olancho Environmentalist Movement (MAO) in eastern Honduras is urging the government to create the Institute of Forestry Conservation to execute the related law, approved two months ago.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Youth Concern for Water

More than 200 young people will gather in December in the eastern Argentine city of Chascomús to celebrate the first National Water and Youth Conference.

INDIA: LAND REFORM BACK ON AGENDA

The month-long march that brought 25,000 of India\'s poorest peasants and farmers to Delhi on October 29 was a dramatic indication that in the midst of its runaway economic growth, India is at war with itself over land and natural resources, writes Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, founder members and activists working with the MKSS - a peoples organisation in rural Rajasthan. They are also members of several National Campaigns human rights and democratic rights in India, including the Right to Information and Right to work campaigns. In this analysis, the authors writes that over 170 million are estimated to be landless in India, and another 250 million own less than a fifth of a hectare. Approximately 40 million people have been displaced by land acquisition. The marchers demands, encapsulated in a \"Draft National Land Reform Policy\", included distribution of land to the landless, protection the land rights of farmers affected adversely by the onslaught of development and industrial projects, implementation of land ceiling provisions, tenancy rights, the right to homestead land for all citizens, and women\'s rights to land titles. The government agreed to the adoption of a National Land Reform Policy and to the creation of a \"National Land Reforms Council\" headed by the prime minister. If the new land reform policy is enacted and its mechanisms work as they should, the October march will be a land mark remembered for turning the tide.

A NEW APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

This is a crucial moment for the fight against world poverty. Given how far we still are from success, it is essential that we make a critical and honest assessment of the strategies and lines of action we have used thus far, writes Patrizia Sentinelli, Italy\'s vice-minister for foreign affairs. In this article the author writes that while the international climate is not favourable to this endeavour, we have seen an evolution of global public awareness of the importance of intensifying the fight against poverty. These indications of a new sensibility should be, especially for donor countries, the departure point for building a more ambitious mode of international co-operation that transcends the sectorial logic that has limited it thus far, places it alongside the major public policies, and fully integrates it into foreign policy. Only in this way can international co-operation work to make dialogue a method not only of resolving disputes but also of preventing conflicts. Co-operation must provide support for pacifist activism, the protection of common goods, and the participation of civil society of the North and the South.