Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Distance Dispute Between GM and Traditional Maize

A distance of a minimum of 100 meters between a commercial field of genetically modified corn and another field of conventional or organic corn is enough to prevent genetic contamination, says a proposal by Brazil's National Technical Commission on Biosafety.

Argentina Aims to Expand Its Maritime Frontier

The sea floor of the South American continental platform holds vast energy, mineral and genetic wealth. Argentina wants to claim its share.

Amazon Fruit Gatherers Face Biofuel Dilemma

Babaçú fruit gatherers in the Brazilian Amazon must decide if they will join or reject the biodiesel production boom, which will alter the economy of this traditional activity.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Mapuches Win Battle Against Dump

The municipal government of the southern Chilean city of Temuco backed away from a project to construct a new sanitary landfill which came under fire from indigenous Mapuche communities and the University of the Border.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Tighter Regulations for Mines

The reforms of the Honduran Mining Law, expected to be approved in August, entail stricter controls over the mining companies, ranging from higher taxes to potential fines of more than one million dollars, legislative sources told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Electricity for Rural Guantánamo

Peasant farmers who live near the hydroelectric dam of the Guaso River in the eastern Cuban province of Guantánamo will see their living conditions improve as a result of a project to take place in the second half of 2007.

THE ALIGNMENT OF FORCES IN THE ETHANOL WAR

For Brazil, the development of its ethanol production and exports represents the possibility of becoming the world\'s new energy power in the most promising fuel; the consumer that expects to benefit from the global development of ethanol is the US, writes Alberto Garrido, a journalist and professor of the theory and history of the labour movement at the University of the Andes. In this analysis, Garrido writes that the US-Brazil strategic alliance, finalised in the Camp David agreement signed by Bush and Lula on March 31, is in line with the strategic interests of both states, which have proposed to march together to create the \'\'Ethanol Age\'\' and stimulate and control production of the fuel on a global scale. Bush\'s hope is to create, together with Brazil, an ethanol OPEC capable of competing with the oil OPEC and the future gas OPEC that Russia is pushing for. Brazil, the king of cheap ethanol, stands to benefit the most from the biofuel boom. Brazil will project itself as a world player, with ethanol as its geopolitical, economic, and energy weapon. But it will only be able to do this hand-in-hand with the United States, the great consumer. The political potentiality of the strategic Brazil-US axis will influence Brazil\'s foreign policy more and more.

BIOFUELS: MORE BENEFITS THAN JUST ENERGY

Many economic, social, and environmental goals could be fulfilled by increased production, use, and international trade of biofuels, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The author writes in this analysis that biofuels could slow global warming and provide an opportunity for developing countries to diversify agricultural production, raise rural incomes, and improve the quality of life. They could also enhance energy security, reduce expenditures on imported fossil energy, and foster other technological developments. But it is also important to consider the possible economic and environmental impacts of biofuels, the compatibility of biofuels with existing fuel delivery infrastructures, and competing uses for arable land. For example, the amount and type of primary energy consumed in producing biofuels - and the related emissions of greenhouse gases - vary enormously. And as long as current technology is used, the fast-growing demand for biofuels will mean devoting an increasing amount of arable and pasture land to the production of energy crops, which implications for food security.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: List Released of Slave-Labor Businesses

In a study released this month by Brazil's Labor Ministry, 192 individuals and businesses were found to be exploiting workers in conditions similar to slavery. In the past few years, more than 20,000 workers have been freed.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Campaign Against Misleading Food Ads

The Mexican non-governmental group Consumer Power, whose complaint won the removal of children's breakfast cereal advertising from television, is now preparing action against similar ads and pushing for legislative regulation.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Alternative Energy for Rural Schools

A project by ecologist and civil society groups in Argentina launched this month will bring wind and solar energy to 125 rural schools across the country that lack access to the electrical grid.

A Crack in Safety of Argentina's Dams

Argentina may face a human and environmental disaster if it doesn't pass a law on dam safety that takes into account the appropriate risk factors, warn experts.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: A Push for Small Hydroelectric Dams

Four communities in the Río Plátano biosphere reserve, which connects the eastern Honduran departments of Olancho, La Mosquitia and El Paraíso, are promoting renewable energy projects to develop their communities.

Unknown State of Caribbean's Whales and Dolphins

Accidents involving fishing nets, which kill 300,000 cetaceans -- whales, dolphins and porpoises -- each year, are difficult to estimate in the Caribbean, where artisanal fishing is the norm.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Organic Oranges for the World

Of every 10 glasses of organic orange juice consumed in Europe and the United States, 8.5 are produced from fruit grown in groves in the north of Brazil's Sao Paulo state that are members of Grupo Montecitrus.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Preparing Mangroves for Climate Change

Experts and residents of Cuba's Ciénaga de Zapata, one of the largest marshes in the Caribbean islands, are preparing for the impacts of climate change on the area's mangroves, coastal vegetation that provides a home to a great array of animal life.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Financing for Indigenous Farming

From August and for the next five years, the Honduran government will grant loans totaling 15 million dollars to 45,000 indigenous families in the western part of the country in an effort to promote sustainable development projects.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Mysterious Oil Spill

An oil spill of unknown origin and quantity has since Jun. 29 affected nine beaches along about 50 kilometers of the northeastern Venezuelan peninsula of Paria, near Trinidad and Tobago.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Garbage Collectors, Unite!

On Jul. 11 in Chile, the National Movement of Garbage Collectors was born. With more than 200 members, the celebrated by marching under the slogan "Organized collectors will never be stepped on".

AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE BIOFUEL REVOLUTION

Biofuels should be at the centre of a planetary strategy to preserve the environment and spur sustainable development, writes Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil. In this article, the author writes that developing countries stand to benefit significantly from biofuels. Given their enormous potential for creating jobs and generating income, they offer a real option of sustainable development, especially in countries that depend on the export of scarce natural resources. At the same time, ethanol and biodiesel open up new paths of development, especially in the bio-chemical industries, in the form of social, economic, and technological alternatives for countries that are economically poor but rich in sun and arable land. However, this revolution can only occur if the rich countries open their markets to the poorest and eliminate agro-subsidies and barriers to the import of biofuels. Agreements like that signed by Brazil and the US and now being negotiated with European countries would provide for the creation of three-way projects in Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa, combining Brazilian technology with these regions\' favourable climates and soils. The Brazilian government and business class are already offering bilateral technical co-operation in the production of biofuels in Mozambique in a marriage of Brazilian technology and British financing. This formula could be adapted throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

EUROPE MOVES FURTHER FROM ITS CITIZENS

The European Council met recently in Brussels to restart the European Union process, but the meeting was far from a success, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. For a start, Soares writes in this analysis, they are putting into effect the previous treaties (which the Constitutional Treaty should replace) and two clauses that significantly alter the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which will now be called the Treaty on the Operation of the Union. The word \'\'constitution\'\' is now taboo and has been flatly banished from the two texts as if a curse. It is indefensible that European governments, out of fear and shallowness, are opposed to assuming a European identity. Federalism, as understood in the old Constitutional Plan, simply disappears. If this is the case, how will it be possible to stimulate and develop a real European citizenship? The gap between European citizens and institutions has broadened considerably. This is a dramatic shift the negative consequences of which will be felt very soon. Meanwhile all the European states know --however much they may deny it-- that by themselves, whoever they are, including the largest, like Germany, they have neither the influence nor the size to compete successfully in today\'s globalised world. The European Political Union (with Turkey, of course) is indispensable and represents the most original and promising political project of the 20th century for the 21st century, and one day it will eclipse short-sighted nationalist egoism and win over certain European politicians.