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Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Scavengers Export Scrap

By the end of the month, the Argentine ecological cooperative Reciclando Sueños (Recycling Dreams) will have sent another two shipments to Spain, each containing 25,000 kilograms of scrap iron.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Aluminum Can Recycling Record Remains Firm

By IPS Correspondents and - -

In 2005 Brazil recycled 96.2 percent of its used aluminum cans, making it the world's leader in this activity for the fifth year in a row, according to the Brazilian Aluminium Association (ABAL).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Conservation Planned for Yojoa Lake

By IPS Correspondents and - -

The Honduran government has launched a three-year program to preserve the biodiversity of the northern lake of Yojoa -- the country's largest.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Geothermal Wells Being Drilled in Protected Area

By IPS Correspondents and - -

A Guatemalan company is drilling three geothermal wells in a protected reserve at the Pacaya Volcano, some 40 kilometers south of the capital, without authorization from the local municipality.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Tornado Destroys Thousands of Homes

By IPS Correspondents and - -

After the tornado swept through the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla on Sep. 15 -- affecting some 1,200 families -- 61,250 sheets of asbestos will be needed to rebuild houses, local infrastructure secretary Nyry Logreira told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Flood Insurance Measured

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have developed a method to estimate insurance costs for urban flooding, saying claims could eat up as much as 12 percent of the gross domestic product.

Illustration of what the ozone hole over the South Pole looked like on Sep. 10, based on data from a NASA satellite. - NASA)

60 Years to Restore the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica

By Stephen Leahy and - -

The ozone layer is recovering almost everywhere, but over Antarctica the process will take until 2065. "We cannot take the ozone layer for granted," says the director of UNEP, the global environmental authority.

An ethanol pump in the United States, which imports this biofuel from Brazil. - Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

Biofuel Boom Sparks Environmental Fears

By Mario Osava and - -

Many countries in Latin America seek to emulate Brazil's use of ethanol and biodiesel. But environmentalists warn that intense deforestation is often the result of the expansion of these otherwise more eco-friendly fuels.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Pesky El Niño Returns

By IPS Correspondents and - -

The cyclical climate phenomenon known as El Niño will return at the end of theyear, but will lack the strong intensity if had in 1997-1998, when it triggered droughts and devastating fires in Brazil, say meteorologists here.

Ecobreves – URUGUAY: The Return of the Aguará-Guazú

By IPS Correspondents and - -

The reappearance in Uruguay of an "aguará-guazú", or maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the first one sighted here in 16 years, could help finance a study of this canid species.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Volunteers Clean Up 300 Beaches

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Some 20,000 volunteers took part in a beach clean-up Sep. 16 in Venezuela, targeting 300 areas along the Caribbean, as well as around lakes and riverbanks, coinciding with the end of school vacation.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Indians Fight Garbage Dumps

By IPS Correspondents and - -

A dozen representatives of indigenous Mapuche communities in Chile's Araucanía region charged that they are the target of racism and discrimination by the authorities who set up 19 garbage dumps less than one kilometer from their homes.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Journalists Launch New Environmental Award

By IPS Correspondents and - -

A small association of journalists in the Honduran interior has announced the creation of the "Bellota de Oro" (Golden Acorn), an award to recognize efforts to defend the environment.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Eco-Gardens Outside Your Door

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Several vacant lots in central and heavily populated areas of 14 of Havana's 15 municipalities have been refurbished for "organoponic" gardening as part of an urban agriculture program for 2006 in the Cuban capital.

Ecobreves – ITALY: Ant Farming Is Good Business

By IPS Correspondents and - -

In the northern Italian hills of Ascoli, beekeeper Emidio Ferreti is raising ants to sell them at market. The ants are used for fighting other crop-destroying insects, pollinating olive trees, and even for filming movie scenes.

Children on the banks of the polluted Riachuelo River - Clarín Contenidos

A Flammable Neighborhood

By Marcela Valente and - -

Potentially explosive chemical storage sites threaten the lives of thousands of people in Argentina's Matanza-Riachuelo river basin. Officials are studying the possibility of relocating some communities.

Riding all-terrain vehicles is a popular form of recreation in the desert - Photo Stock

Dunes at the Center of All-Terrain Battle

By Haider Rizvi and - -

The U.S. government insists on allowing recreational activities in a fragile desert ecosystem on the U.S.-Mexico border. Environmentalists oppose efforts to open up protected areas to all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Energy Drink Formula Seeks Market

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Students at Mexico's National Polytechnic Institute developed a unique energy drink that combines sugarcane juice and an endemic plant that is also believed to be a sexual stimulant. In six months, it may be ready to compete on the market.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon Deforestation Still a Worry

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Although deforestation of the vast Brazilian Amazon region has seen an "encouraging" decline this year, the forested area destroyed is equivalent to more than half the territory of Belgium, according to the head of the Amazonian Institute of Man and the Environment, Carlos Souza Junior.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Calls for Highway's Environmental Impact Study

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Residents and environmentalists in the central Argentine province of Córdoba denounced that for the past six months a 25-km road project has been under way to unite two tourist towns, but that they haven't been given access to the environmental impact study.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Keeping an Eye on the Jaguar

By IPS Correspondents and - -

Fifteen research and photo stations deep in the jungles of the northern Guatemalan department of El Petén are tracking the behavior of jaguars, which face extinction due to deforestation and over-hunting.