Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Ayahuasca Consumption to Be Regulated

Brazil's National Anti-Drugs Council decided to create a multidisciplinary work group to draft norms and create a list of the institutions that use in religious rites the Amazonian plant ayahuasca, which has hallucinogenic properties.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Million-Dollar Losses in Lumber Trafficking

An annual average of 145,000 cubic meters of latifoliate and 600,000 cubic meters of conifer lumber are illegally traded in Honduras, costing the country 18 million dollars a year in lost revenues, according to an official source.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Opposition to Four Mega-Dams

An international offensive led by the U.S.-based International Rivers Network seeks to prevent financial agencies from funding the Spanish transnational Endesa for building four huge hydroelectric dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers, 1,800 km south of the Chilean capital.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Peasants Prevent Disasters

Drought and hurricanes are the greatest climate challenges for small farmers in Cuba, who are reducing the impact of disaster through preventive measures, technology, and cultivating crops that require less water.

AL JAZEERA EXPANDS

With Al Jazeera poised to launch its international service for broadcast outside of the Arab region, the time seems right to examine the reasons for its remarkable expansion, its considerable influence, and the innovations that make it stand out in the world of the media, writes Mario Lubetkin, Director General of IPS news agency. In this article, Lubetkin writes that Al Jazeera is different from all of its predecessors in the Arab world. While its reporters trained at the BBC, it was Al Jazeera that inspired Dubai\'s Al Arabiya and the Arab Emirates\' Abu Dhabi Television. Whether or not one agrees with the new network\'s approach, it must be acknowledged that its style of reporting has unleased a cultural revolution in the region. One important development is the recent signing of an agreement between Al Jazeera and Telesur, the Latin American TV network promoted by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. This might signal an incipient tendency towards the interlinking of previously unconnected regional networks thus far dependent on US and European material.

REVITALISING THE RURAL WORLD: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF POVERTY

Today millions of families are still living in poverty because of a lack of access to land, the most basic production resource, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The reasons for this injustice have to do with the value that land has had throughout the ages. Land is an essential economic asset in rural societies, but its monetary value is not the only, or even the most important, consideration for millions of people. For indigenous peoples, land is the basis of their identity; it is their home and that of their ancestors, their pharmacy, and their place of work and leisure. In most societies, land means power, status, and membership in a social class. For many women, land is essential to their autonomy. Some of the agrarian reforms implemented in recent years have sought to offer solutions to these problems, with varying degrees of success, but we are still far from having solved the agrarian issue. New worldwide challenges, such as the globalisation of trade, the massive rural exodus to the cities, environmental degradation and civil strife (in many instances caused by the lack of access to, and control over, natural resources) demand urgent, global-level responses.

SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY SOFTENS IN US

Support for capital punishment is starting to soften even among some long-time death penalty advocates, writes Mark Sommer, director of the US-based Mainstream Media Project and host of the award-winning internationally-syndicated radio programme \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. In this article Sommer writes, alongside Iraq, Iran, and China, the US remains the sole advanced democracy still cleaving to what much of the world views as state-sponsored homicide. At 64 percent, Americans\' support for the death penalty is 20 percent higher than Canada and 40 percent higher than Australia. Nonetheless, it is at its lowest level in 27 years and is lowest among youth, indicating that a shift may be in the offing. Surprisingly, this shift is occurring most of all among some of those who until now have been adamantly opposed to abolishing the death penalty: Republican officeholders. The reason they are changing their minds is less ideological than pragmatic -- a realization that too often the wrong man is executed and the exorbitant cost of prosecution is stealing resources from law enforcement programmes of more proven effectiveness.

THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF R&D

Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows increased in 2004, following three years of decline, as reported in the World Investment Report 2005, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference onTrade and Development (UNCTAD). In this article the author writes of a new trend in the global economy that could be considered one such \"new form\" of Foreign Direct Investment -- namely, the internationalisation of research and development (R&D). Some developing countries in Asia and transition economies are now attracting highly-advanced R&D activities. And this trend appears to be on the upswing. More than half of the world\'s top R&D spenders already conduct R&D activities in China, India, and Singapore. And what do developing countries in particular stand to gain from this sort of investment? It opens the door to the transfer of the actual process of technology creation and enables them to engage in important technological learning. In addition, it creates new job opportunities for local engineers and scientists, helping to mitigate the risk of \"brain drain\".

Anxiety in Europe Over Avian Flu

In France, people are excluding chicken from their diet, and they even fear the pigeons on their balconies. Meanwhile, in Germany there are calls to cancel the soccer World Cup scheduled to take place there beginning in June.

New Studies Back Benefits of Organic Diet

Foods grown organically protect the body from the harmful chemicals in pesticides, but they are also more nutritious, say researchers.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Youths Organize “Faunival”

Around 100 young people paraded Feb. 25 at the start of Carnival in this northern Colombian city, wearing costumes representing animal species that are threatened or on their way to extinction.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: EU Promotes Environmental Protection

The European Union will launch a program in March to protect ecosystems in the Caribbean, including the coral reefs shared by Honduras, Guatemala and Belize, said a government source.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: A Reserve for Springs

The Guatemalan government plans to build bridges and paths in the Cerro San Gil Spring Reserve, in the eastern department of Izabal, to promote ecotourism.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Focus on Climate Change

Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay have agreed to draw up a joint program for evaluating the impacts of climate change in the Rio de la Plata basin and preventing potential natural disasters.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Transgenics on the Table

The international small farmers' group Vía Campesina has pledged to stage a broad protests against genetically modified crops at the world conference on agrarian reform to be held Mar. 7-10 in Porto Alegre, and another on biosecurity, Mar. 13-17 in Curitiba.

Satellites Uncover Maya Secrets

Images taken from outer space by NASA helped locate previously unknown ruins of the ancient Maya culture in Guatemala.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VS. FANATICISM: NOT THE REAL ISSUE

What is being attacked in the Muslim reaction to the publication of cartoons of Mohammed is not the freedom of expression but its abuse, writes Augusto Zamora, professor of International Public Law and International Relations at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. In this article, the author states that the vehemence of the reaction cannot be attributed solely to religious feeling. The cartoons seem to have been the last straw after decades of wrongs that have grown increasingly frequent in recent years. Though no one is admitting as much, this vast and populous Muslim region is undergoing a new and intense process of colonialist reoccupation which has turned it into the most fragile area in the world. Though the US and its allies justify the military occupation in the context of the war against terrorism and promoting democracy and human rights, the real motive is winning geopolitical control of the region and its energy resources. It is thus not surprising that terrorism has intensified and that so many Muslims loathe the West. The future course of the Near and Middle East will be determined by the policy the West decides to pursue in the coming months and years. If it persists in its current approach of unrelenting militarism, the number of wrongs will continue to mount and trigger more and more conflicts, which could build into a major war.

Government Claims a Stake in Mining

Greater government participation in gold and diamond mining in Venezuela doesn't worry the foreign mining companies, but local environmental groups are apprehensive.

Pulp Mills Pit 'Greens'Against Labor

Two pulp mills being built along the Uruguay River are fueling hopes for jobs, but are also stirring up fears about environmental harm and threats to human health.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Alert for Loss of Forests

The environmental group Finis Terrae has denounced the "irrational" forest management in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's southernmost province, and warned that if things continue as they are, there will be no forest left in seven years.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Studies Planned for Petén

Geologists from Germany, Guatemala, Switzerland and the United States have just begun environmental studies of Guatemala's Petén Itzá lake, located 510 km north of the capital.