Sanitation a Reality on Paper Only

An enormous sanitation project, with the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre at its epicenter, so far has seen 12 years pass, an investment of 220 million dollars, and no results.

Emergency Brakes Needed to Stop Climate Crash

The only mention of goals for reducing emissions of climate-changing gases was eliminated from the document that will serve as the basis for the world's governments to take action.

Chile in Search of Its Energy Treasure

Chile's efforts to develop its non-conventional energy resources are well under way, but are still insufficient, say experts and environmentalists.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Bio-Pesticides for Export

Cuba will soon begin production of bio-pesticides effective against disease vectors. The products will be available on the domestic market and for export, according to sources from the business group Laboratorios Biofarmaceúticos.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Rio Prepares for Climate Change

Rio de Janeiro, threatened with losing its beautiful beaches as sea levels rise, will be the first Brazilian state to complete a plan to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Dead Cattle Contaminate Beaches

Decomposing remains of dozens of cattle floated near beaches and coastline of Triste Gulf, in the Venezuelan Caribbean, in the days following the Nov. 5 shipwreck of the DM Spiridon, sailing under Lebanese flag, in the port of Cabello.

SANITATION SAVES LIVES AND HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECONOMY

Recognising how fundamental sanitation is to children\'s health, social and economic development, and environmental sustainability, The UN General Assembly has declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), writes Therese Dooley, Senior Advisor for Hygiene and Sanitation at UNICEF In this article, Dooley writes that every year, diarrhoea from inadequate sanitation and unsafe hygiene practices kills more than 1.5 million children under five, or one child every 20 seconds. Improved sanitation can also reduce illness due to diarrhoea by 35 percent, averting up to 190 million cases each year. Hand washing with soap, another key issue linked to sanitation, can decrease diarrhoea by over 43 percent. Improved sanitation and hand washing would also have significant impact on cholera, dysentery, worms, and trachoma. The economic cost of not having toilets and not practising good hygiene is also significant. Lost productivity and time, preventable health costs, lost school fees, and the longer term costs of environmental impacts can seriously affect a country\'s growth and economic development. It is estimated that every dollar spent on sanitation yields approximately nine dollars in benefits; thus investing in sanitation makes good economic sense.

CUBAN FUTUROLOGY

The recent hardening of Bush\'s policy towards Cuba comes at a time when there are discussions underway on the island of what might accurately be called a possible transition: the search for structural and conceptual changes that Raul Castro himself demanded in an exhortation that spurred a population reticent about expressing its opinions to reject obsolete policies and propose possible changes, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author asks whether the government of Cuba, in an atmosphere of belligerence from the US and serious economic problems at home, has the possibility (and the will) to make these changes and how far it will go with them if the conservative forces opt for immobility. In a country where for decades no solution has been found to shortages and the lack of housing, where the leaders have recognised that interest in work has fallen in direct proportion to the impossibility of meeting daily needs with one\'s salary, and where there has been for years ethical deterioration, corruption, prostitution, etc, the introduction of \'\'structural and conceptual\'\' changes is clearly advisable if not already indispensable.

Lightning in the Sky Fed by Underground Methane

The lightning of the Catatumbo, in the north of the South American continent, is one of the biggest natural regenerators of the atmospheric ozone that protects life on Earth from the Sun's harmful rays.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mining Companies Accused of Pressuring Lawmakers

The Honduran Civic Alliance for Mining Law Reforms has accused mining companies operating here of putting pressure on Congress to postpone approval of legislative changes.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sugarcane Expansion Rejected

The population of the Brazilian town of Uberaba, in the eastern state of Minas Gerais, has mobilized against the expansion of sugarcane fields.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: 50 Projects for Achieving the MDGs

Some 50 projects of public policy and of civil society actions aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Argentina were presented at a course for promoting the goals, adopted in 2000 by the United Nations.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Mangroves in Danger

Before year end, Mexican lawmakers could pass a bill that would dismantle protection of mangrove forests, a type of ecosystem that today covers a total of 650,000 hectares -- 306,000 less than in 1993.

SUBSIDIES DRIVE US CORN ETHANOL BOOM DESPITE MAJOR DRAWBACKS

The fuel source the US has chosen to start replacing petroleum, corn-based ethanol, is expensive, inefficient, and both environmentally and economically destructive, writes Mark Sommer, who hosts the award-winning, internationally-syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. In recent years, giant agricultural commodity distributors like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland have successfully pressured both the White House and Congress to extend lavish, long-standing corn subsidies largely benefiting their corporate farming partners. But corn-based ethanol turns out to be a bad bargain: it causes just 13 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum, and a recent OECD report found that \'\'the overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biofuel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel\'\'. The pressure on corn supplies exerted by ethanol demand has contributed to a 50 percent rise in the price of tortillas in Mexico in the past year, sending this staple food beyond the reach of the poor. China and India are starting to suffer from food price inflation rippling out from rising corn and soybean prices. Food is fundamentally a human right, not a mere commodity to be traded like any other at the expense of those who can\'t afford it. Not until we acknowledge this fact will we design both a fuel and a food system driven more by human values than shareholder value.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Illegal Sand Removal Threatens River

The illegal extraction of sand for industry from the natural barrier that separates the sea from the Toa River, Cuba's biggest, threatens the ecosystem in the area of the eastern city of Baracoa.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Threatened Fauna on New Currency

The bills for two, five, 10, 20, 50 and 100 bolívares fuertes, Venezuela's currency, will debut in January to replace the existing bolívar, and on their reverse side will show native animal species that are in danger of extinction, confirmed the Central Bank.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Court Says OK to Building in Nature Reserve

The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice upheld the construction of housing in the area of La Tigra National Park, a preserve that serves as the capital's environmental lungs.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Labor Risks on Salmon Farms Denounced

Environmental and workers' organizations have criticized the labor conditions of the salmon farms and processing plants during the "Global Week of Action" of the Pure Salmon Campaign, celebrated Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in seven countries, including Chile.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Electric Cars Hit the Streets

Several Brazilian companies are testing the Palio Elétrico car, a battery-run version from the Italian manufacturer Fiat.

Biofuel Revolution Reaches Aviation

An alternative fuel for aviation should be shared internationally and free of protectionism, says the Brazilian inventor of biokerosene and biodiesel.

A Blind Eye to Environment – O Canada!

In the past 15 years, all of Canada's environmental indicators have suffered, say experts who distribute the blame among local and national governments, businesses and the public.