Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Airports as Source of Solar Energy

A project for airports to generate solar energy is the upcoming initiative of the new Institute for the Development of Renewable Energy in Latin American (its Spanish acronym is IDEAL).

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Tourists and Fishers on the Tail of the Orcas

The Venezuelan ecological society Vida Marina has called on tourists and fisherfolk to help track the killer whales coming from the North Atlantic Ocean and arriving in the South Caribbean Seas.

Ecobreves – CUBA: A Windy Hand from India

A Cuban program for developing wind energy is among the beneficiaries of a broad cooperation agreement signed in Havana by India's minister of renewable energy, Vilas B. Muttemwar, and Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

COLUMN RELATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT DAY, JUNE 5: 15 YEARS AFTER THE RIO EARTH SUMMIT, PRACTICAL ACTION IS NEEDED

Fifteen years after the Rio Earth Summit later, the consequences of the changes made by humans to Earth\'s natural systems have never been clearer, write Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity and Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change. In this article, the authors write that climate change is now recognized as an issue of extreme global importance. This year\'s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) served to remove lingering doubts about the human role in global warming. As a result, in the last few months there has been a sea change in international public and political awareness and resolve to take action. Equally important but still less prominent in the public eye and on the political agenda is the continuing loss of biodiversity, which is a significant threat to human well-being. In terms of the intergovernmental climate change process, this year is critical for moving parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change towards the next phase of multilateral climate change abatement. A strong framework needs to be in place by 2010 to ensure that there is no gap between the end of the Kyoto Protocol\'s first commitment period in 2012 and the entry into force of a future regime. A comprehensive agenda on the future needs to be agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali in December this year. A new global alliance for life on Earth is urgently needed. We can no longer afford to miss any opportunity to turn the objectives of the Rio Earth Summit of fifteen years ago into practical action that will safeguard the planet\'s life support systems. We owe this to ourselves, to our children, to future generations, and to life on Earth.

COLUMN RELATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT DAY, JUNE 5: BIODIVERSITY: OUR REAL CAPITAL, OUR REAL INSURANCE

Fifteen years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on Climate Change were signed. While they have evolved totally independently, they are intimately connected, writes Vandana Shiva, author and international campaigner for women and the environment. In this article, Shiva writes that while reducing climate impact, biodiversity also increases climate adaptation. Decentralised biodiverse systems are more resilient to climate change than centralized monoculture systems. Biodiversity provides an important adaptation strategy for climate chaos, and yet it is not even included in the discussion on climate change, which is focussed on pseudo-solutions such as industrial biofuels and carbon trading. We need to put biodiversity at the centre of climate solutions. Biodiversity conservation protects the diverse species that maintain the web of life on the planet. Biodiversity conservation removes poverty. And biodiversity conservation reduces the risks of climate change. These ecological and economic reasons should propel us to commit ourselves to the protection of biodiversity everywhere.

Brazilian Agro-Power Heats Up

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture is already restricting planting of some farmland in the southern part of the country, the most affected by climate shifts in recent years.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Expedition to Identify Amazon's Birthplace

Brazilian researchers are in the Peruvian Andes to determine where the Amazon River begins, and to collect local geographical and environmental data.

Ecobreves – CENTRAL AMERICA: Financing Micro-Enterprise to Protect Environment

The United Nations Development Program and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration will provide support to the tune of 27.9 million dollars to micro-business in the region that protect the environment.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Claims Against Shell for Oil Spill

Eight years after an oil spill along the Rio de la Plata coast, Argentine residents who were affected are demanding that the transnational Shell Oil company clean up the river and pay for damages.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Database for Assessing Water Services

Academics are preparing the first database in Mexico to analyze the performance of public and private suppliers of water services.

GREEN LIGHT FOR A UNIVERSAL MORATORIUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY

During the last European Union Council on General Affairs on May 14-15, the Italian government and the German Presidency of the EU received a mandate to present a proposal for a universal moratorium on the death penalty in the UN General Assembly, writes Elisabetta Zamparutti, a leader in the Radical Party who prepared the annual report on the Death Penalty in the World for Hands Off Cain. In this article, Zamparutti writes that the conditions for approval of the proposal in the Assembly have existed for some time but until now the EU has blocked such a move. Thanks to the non-violent campaign of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party, the preparation of a text of the moratorium resolution now has the green light and the search by the Italian government and the Presidency of the EU for co-sponsors has begun. The latter step is crucial to avoid leaving an initiative of such importance only in the hands of the EU.

THE POLITICS OF FEAR

A wall is being built in Baghdad, a fence/wall already exists in Israel and the Occupied Territories, another one is coming up in the border between Mexico and the USA, another one is in place between Ceuta and Morocco and between Melilla and Morocco and a barrier on water is being built by Frontex patrol boats. The walls and barriers of the world in 2006 are reminiscent of the divisions that existed at the time of the Cold War. Like in the Cold War times, the agenda is being driven by fear instigated, encouraged and sustained by unprincipled leaders. For this reason, fear is at the centre of the Amnesty International Report 2007, writes Irene Khan, Secretary General of A.I. Fear can be a positive imperative for change, as in the case of the environment, where alarm about global warming is forcing politicians belatedly into action. But fear can also be dangerous and divisive when it breeds intolerance, threatens diversity and justifies the erosion of human rights. Today far too many leaders are trampling freedom and trumpeting an ever-widening range of fears: fear of being swamped by migrants; fear of “the other” and of losing one's identity; fear of being blown up by terrorists; fear of “rogue states” with weapons of mass destruction. Fear thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership. There are indeed many real causes of fear but the approach being taken by many world leaders is short-sighted, promulgating policies and strategies that erode the rule of law and human rights, increase inequalities, feed racism and xenophobia, divide and damage communities, and sow the seeds for violence and more conflict.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FOURTH ESTATE

Should the media, which shape public opinion and orient a major part of our actions --political, commercial, social. cultural-- share the same responsibilities as civil society organisations that fight for human rights and discriminated-against minorities around the world? asks Mario Lubetkin, director general the IPS News Agency. In this article the author writes that more and more media feel an identification with a mission that cannot be reduced to transmitting information and feel bound by a sense of social responsibility. We think that the code of conduct voluntarily adopted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which was written by themselves, contains elements that may be appropriate for the oversight and analysis of the media given the nature of their respective missions. The universal values of human rights, independence, freedom from discrimination, transparency, an ethic of self-financing, the practise of critical vision and evaluation, are some of the concepts that might be accepted by and applied to the media themselves. This might establish a common ground between these two major actors in the contemporary world.

Sierra Gorda Reserve Hit Hard by Climate Change

Less rain and more heat seem to be the cause of the persistent pests afflicting the trees of the unique Sierra Gorda reserve in Mexico.

Putting a Human Face on Biodiversity

If current trends continue, 30 percent of known species will disappear before the end of the century, says Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in an exclusive interview with Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Dams Can Make Use of Methane

The hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon could generate 30 to 50 percent more energy by making use of the methane gas found in the waters, says a study by the National Institute of Space Research.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Chimney Controversy in the Capital

The Intendant of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Adriana Delpiano, criticized the use of wood-burning stoves in the Chilean capital, which on Saturday, May 12, recorded its worst level of air pollution since 1999.

Ecobreves – CUBA: A Drill Against Hurricanes

Practice in evacuation of people and property, and clean-up of rooftops and drainage systems were some of the activities of the Meteoro 2007 operation, a drill carried out May 19-20 aimed at reducing the damages caused by hurricanes in Cuba.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Release of Crocodiles and Turtles

With the arrival of the first rains this month in Venezuela, 343 Orinoco crocodiles (Crocodylus intermedius) and some 5,000 young giant South American river turtles (Podocnemis expansa), raised in captivity since they hatched a year ago, were released in rivers and marshes.

MERCOSUR: GIVING SMALL FARMERS A VOICE IN POLICY DIALOGUE

What does MERCOSUR, the world's fourth largest trading block, have to do with the plight of poor rural people small farmers, landless workers, herders, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples? A lot, writes Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Economic development and advances in technology are creating an ever-richer world for many. But millions of poor people in developing countries are at risk of being left behind and further marginalized. Poor rural people remain poor because they lack the basic assets to overcome poverty, such as access to markets and to the information and political power they need to advocate on their own behalf and take advantage of opportunities. Agriculture is one of the leading economic sectors in most MERCOSUR countries. It provides income and employment for millions of farmers and livestock herders. However, many of the poorest and most vulnerable people are not benefiting from global market opportunities.

THE REVEALING SILENCES OF POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Benedict XVI\'s statements during his visit to Brazil were mined with significant silences: only once did he refer to the grassroots ecclesiastical communities, to choices for the poor, and to liberation, and never to liberation theology and social ministry or to the grave problem of global warming, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian writer and theologian. In this article Boff writes that instead the Pope went back in time 50 years with the traditional and ambiguous language of charity and helping the poor. These silences are a way to obscure and deny. Such lazy reason, particularly that of major institutions like the Catholic Church, is myopic and harmful, always returning to the old ways (more catechism, more celibacy, more obedience, more adhesion to Church teachings). If Brazilian and Latin American Catholicism is to rise to the challenges of this age, it needs the courage that the first Christians had to leave behind the terrain of Judeo Christianity and enter the land of pagan Hellenism. It was from this encounter that today\'s Christianity emerged. What we need is a Catholicism with an Indian-black-Latin American face that is not against but in communion with Roman Catholicism.