At the Gates of the Polar Year

The Argentine city of Ushuaia is preparing to welcome hundreds of scientists who will study the South Pole beginning in March 2007.

Elephant Overpopulation Keeps Cull Debate Simmering

Local communities participate in elephant management in Zimbabwe. But the authorities aren't ruling out the possibility of returning to culling to control the herd size -- a practice that was abandoned 17 years ago.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Opposition Rises Against Amazon Dams

The potential negative effects of hydroelectric dams have strengthened opposition against the Brazilian government's plan to build two on the Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon and which starts in the Bolivian Andes.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Residents Reject Sulfuric Acid Factory

Residents of the city of Palpalá, in the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy, are protesting the operations of Sulfhaar, a sulfuric acid factory that already has approval from government authorities.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Exchanging Debt for Forest

The United States has forgiven 24 million dollars of Guatemala's bilateral debt, with the condition that it be used to preserve tropical forests over the next 15 years.

DEATH PENALTY: A FAILURE OF JUSTICE

A man is in court on trial for murder. He does not understand the language in which he is being tried. He has no defence lawyer. Because he does not know what is being said, he is unaware that he has been sentenced to death, writes Piers Bannister, a researcher on the death penalty at Amnesty International Secretariat. Some time goes by in prison. He speaks to his brother by phone and tells him that everything is all right and he is doing fine. A few hours later, he is led from his cell, taken to a public square and beheaded. This is not a fictional story, it happened to a Somalian man in Saudi Arabia in 2005. It is yet another example of the unacceptable use of the death penalty. In the few countries that continue to execute people, the death penalty is arbitrary; used disproportionately against ethnic minorities or other disadvantaged sections of society. It is administered after unfair trials, inflicted upon the innocent, the mentally ill and child-offenders. In short, the manner in which the death penalty is deployed is a failure of justice.

GATES HUNGER PLAN IN AFRICA IS WRONG APPROACH

The Gates-Rockefeller initiative to bring a \'new\' Green Revolution to Africa ignores the lessons of the failures of the first Green Revolution, which caused worse hunger and environmental degradation, writes Peter Rosset, author of World Hunger: Twelve Myths, Food is Different, and A New Green Revolution for Africa? (forthcoming), and Visiting Scholar in Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California at Berkeley. In this article, Rosset writes that free-trade agreements have made it easier for private traders to import subsidised food from the US and the EU than to negotiate with local farmers, driving local farm prices below the cost of production and farmers into urban slums in search of low wage jobs. African farmers could easily produce far more food than they do at present but don\'t because they cannot get credit to cover production costs, obtain fair prices that would give them a minimum profit margin, or find buyers. Under such circumstances, what difference could a new \'\'technology package\'\' make? They still could neither afford the inputs, sell what they grow, nor make a living as farmers. Not to mention the severe environmental and human health risks of genetic engineering technology.

HAS THE EU REACHED ITS LIMIT?

In the wake of the announcement that Rumania and Bulgaria will be admitted into the European Union, the new anti-enlargement code words --\'\'indigestion\'\' and \'\'capacity of absorption\'\'-- are echoing across Europe, writes Joaquin Roy, Jean Monnet professor and Director of the European Centre at the University of Miami, and currently Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona. In this analysis, Roy writes that the true mandate for this enlargement is not a recent decision, nor the Nice Treaty of 2003, but rather the offer made on May 9, 1950 by French foreign minister Robert Schuman, drafted by his associate Jean Monnet. It proposed \'\'that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed under a common High Authority\'\'. But, immediately after, it adds that this entity should be placed \'\'within the framework of an organisation\'\', and finally, and most important, that the latter should be \'\'open to the participation of the other countries of Europe.\'\' That is the original \'\'contract\'\': the EU at its birth was the property of all European countries that comply with the essential conditions of \'\'membership\'\'. As for the voices that today claim that \'\'indigestion\'\' was caused by enlargement of 2004 and will be made worse by future additions, it\'s simply too late.

Nuclear Energy Reborn

Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have announced construction of new atomic reactors for generating electricity. Environmentalists warn about safety risks.

Eco-Friendly Computers Still But a Dream

In Italy, only 15 percent of electronic waste is recycled. The country is not yet prepared to comply with the European Union's regulations in this area.

Forest Controversy Simmers On

An international consultancy became involved in the implementation of Colombia's new forestry law, and unleashed a flood of criticism

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Protection Sought for Eco-Bishop

The Honduran national human rights commissioner, Ramón Custodio, has called on the authorities to provide protection for Catholic bishop Luis Alfonso Santos, in the western city of Copán, who has received death threats for his opposition to an open-pit mine in the area.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Hair Stylists Most Exposed to Cancer-Causing Agents

Hair stylists run the greatest risk of alterations of their DNA and, as a result, of developing cancer, due to their exposure to chemicals like formol and aromatic amines, found in products for straightening or coloring hair, according to a study presented in Sao Paulo.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Santiago Loses Thousands of Native Trees

The Chilean government's National Forestry Corporation approved the cutting of 2,700 native trees in the Santiago Metropolitan Park, the capital's biggest "green lung", in order to make way for a 21.5-km highway.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Alert on Toxic Sludge

The waste ponds used by the state-run metals company Bauxilum, which contain red sludge (silica sands, caustic soda, iron oxides and aluminum oxides), "are at the limit of their capacity and could filter into the surroundings," says the Aluminum Workers' Syndicate in southeastern Venezuela.

Ecobreves – URUGUAY: Observatory for Renewable Energy Proposed

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is planning to open a regional observatory in the Uruguayan capital to promote renewable energy.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Lake Amatitlán Clean-Up Continues

Guatemalan environmental authorities will complete construction in November of the second water purification plant on the Villalobos River, which carries some 500,000 tons of sediment to Lake Amatitlán, 35 km south of the capital.

Fossils Reveal Ancient Biodiversity

A fascinating amber deposit in Peru containing fossilized flies, wasps and spiders proves that the rich diversity of Amazon species dates back much further than previously thought. Tierramérica spoke with the international team that made the discovery.

Scientists Set Sights on 'Green' Chemistry

New technologies are being employed to curb the use of toxic materials in productive processes and prevent tragic accidents that can potentially claim the lives of thousands of people.

Canada Faces Pressure to Promote Sustainable Mining

Activists have demanded that the Stephen Harper administration impose mandatory social and environmental standards on Canadian mining companies operating in Latin America.

Ecobreves – MEXICO:: Proposed Nuclear Plants Under Fire

The Mexican government’s announcement of its plan to build one or two nuclear power plants has environmentalists opposed to atomic energy up in arms.