Ecobreves – CHILE: A Smelly Anniversary

On Oct. 29, 2003, La Farfana wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated in the Chilean capital. It is the country's largest such facility, but today is the center of conflict due to the foul odors emanating from the site.

MICROCREDIT WORKS: HELP THE POOR HELP THEMSELVES

Overcoming poverty, for many poor people in developing countries, depends on self-employment through microenterprises, writes Lennart Bage, president of IFAD, a United Nations agency fighting rural poverty. Unfortunately, Bage writes in this article, 70 percent of the world\'s poor lack access to services such as credit, savings, and money transfers. IFAD has been supporting microfinance institutions in their effort to tailor their services for rural clients. Some, for example, have adapted repayment schedules to coincide with crop growing cycles, and others are using shops and post offices for transactions. Poor families who have access to financial services are more likely to send their children to school, or obtain health insurance. Microfinance is a key element of development strategies that are not built on handouts, but on unleashing the capacity of poor people to find lasting solutions to their own challenges. Meeting poor people\'s growing demand for basic financial services will bring enduring benefits that are well worth the investment.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Ancient Plant Grows in Herbarium

A tiny, ancient plant, known in Spanish as palma corcho (Microcycas calocoma) is considered the world's oldest ''living fossil'' and grows in a village of Cuba's warm, arid east.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Channeling a Rain-Filled River

Under downpours during a rainy season that extended beyond the usual dates, dozens of workers are building a 150-meter slope to channel the Guaire River, which crosses through the Venezuelan capital.

FANATICISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE

George W. Bush is a political catastrophe both for the US and for the world, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. In the US we find the predomination of an uncompassionate conservatism, an inclination for retaliation and violence, disregard for human rights, unilateralism, religious fanaticism, irrationalism, and a blind drive to combat terrorism that does not seek to eradicate its many and complex causes, among which poverty and humiliation stand out in clear need of redress. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the cult of rationality and dialogue, multilateralism and respect for the United Nations, laicism, tolerance, and giving priority to human rights and sustainable development with social and ecological dimension. This is the gap that today separates us. If we do not have the courage to state the truth, sooner rather than later we will begin to slip towards the abyss the US is now headed for, surrounded by hatred and incomprehension, as its social fabric grows increasingly brittle and trapped in the quagmire of Iraq.

BUSH VICTORY ONLY HASTENS END OF AMERICAN EMPIRE

In the near term, the re-selection of Team Bush would seem to give neoconservatives free rein to pursue their imperial dreams. But a host of factors beyond their control threatens not only to slow their momentum but to bring the empire to an earlier end than even its opponents assume, writes Mark Sommer, who directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and hosts an award-winning syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities.\'\' The crux of the American empire\'s vulnerability is its a wilful and increasingly desperate denial of facts and a blindness to the limits to its own power. Some US analysts already doubt that the world will tolerate another \'\'American century\'\' and see a gradual waning of American power over the next thirty years as other great powers like the EU, China, and India challenge US dominance. But the American imperial project may not even last that long. The pace at which negative trends are moving both within and towards the American empire could greatly accelerate this time-line. Wealthy and powerful as it still appears, the Bush regime is pursuing self-destructive policies that together could create \'\'the perfect storm\'\' in a dynamic not unlike the collapse of the Soviet empire.

Chemical Industry Fights Regulation in Europe

The industrial lobby is putting the brakes on European Parliament debate of a bill for regulating and ultimately eliminating certain toxic chemicals. The U.S. government also opposes the initiative.

''Yes to nuclear energy''

Argentina's Secretary of Environment and Development, Atilio Savino, spoke with Tierramérica about his performance in office, which has come under fire from environmental groups.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Peasants Approve Anti-GM Corn Report

Indigenous communities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca applaud a report detailing how genetically modified maize has contaminated local cornfields. The study was prepared by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Mining Pollution Denounced

Ecologists, academics and concerned citizens will present a complaint to UNESCO in December against the Argentine federal government and the government of the western province of San Juan for permitting mining activity by the Canadian firm Barrick Gold.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Water Not Fit to Drink

Half of the water that Colombians drink is not fit for human consumption, according to a study released Oct. 19 by a group of lawmakers.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Reproducing Endangered Fish

A technical mission from Taiwan is helping Guatemalan officials in an effort to boost the population of the Petenia splendida, or red bay snook, typical of this country but in danger of extinction from overfishing, officials from the Taiwanese embassy told Tierramérica.

Furry Moths Invade Northern Venezuela

An explosion in the population of a moth species, fomented by Hurricane Ivan last month, has triggered allergic reactions in at least 3,000 Venezuelans.

''In Argentina there is environmental masquerading''

Argentine biologist Raúl Montenegro, winner of the ''Alternative Nobel Prize'', spoke with Tierramérica about his environmental achievements.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Chagas Disease Alters DNA

Chagas disease, which affects 18 million people in Latin America, can be lethal because it causes genetic alterations, according to the findings of scientists at the University of Brasilia.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Save the Native Trees!

The Chilean environmental group Fiscalía del Medio Ambiente presented a case before the capital's Court of Appeals to overturn a decree from Agriculture Minister Jaime Campos that authorizes the logging of native tree species, which have been declared national monuments.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Two Children Die from Bat Bites

Two Venezuelan children died of rabies last week after being bitten by blood-sucking bats in a settlement on the coast of the northeastern state of Sucre.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Warning on Forest Fire Risks

Hurricane Ivan's passage through Cuba's Guanahacabibes Peninsula in September left a danger of forest fire, which would be disastrous for the strategic biosphere reserve located there.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: To the Rescue of Chismuyo Bay

Local officials and residents of the Honduran department of Valle, on the southern border with El Salvador, this month launched a project to save Chisjuyo Bay, in the Gulf of Fonseca.

Indigenous Women Reclaim Traditional Medicine

Ancestral lands and knowledge are the focus of efforts by women in Colombia's indigenous communities.

Chile's Sleeping Beauties

The substitution of concrete for wood in the construction of sleeper cars for the Chilean railroad is worrying owners of native forest parcels.