Ecobreves – MEXICO: Activists Condemn 'Illegal' Pier

The Mexican government faces an international lawsuit if it does not order the demolition of a large pier built ''illegally'' just 50 meters from a reef along what is known as the Mayan Riviera.

Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: A Boost for Sustainable Tourism

Aboard a vessel anchored off the river port of Iquitos, capital of the Peruvian Amazon, representatives from 17 Latin American countries and Spain pledged on Sep. 3 to promote tourism activities that do not harm the environment.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS:: Ecologists Still Not Satisfied

The Olancho Environmentalist Movement (MAO), based in northeast Honduras and led by Roman Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, is considering staging yet another ''march for life''.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Plague of Locusts

Locusts have inundated several communities in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, east of the capital; an unprecedented event for that region.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Development with a Dose of Conservation

Productive projects and environmental conservation efforts will be carried out in parallel in at least 80 communities in the desert south of Honduras, along the El Salvador border, presidential spokeswoman Armida López Contreras told Tierramérica

Small Companies Far from Meeting 'Green' Standards

Pressure is rising in Mexico for small industries to be incorporated into a new initiative for measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Foreign Prices for Local Petroleum

Demands have been revived in Bolivia for nationalizing a valuable natural resource: hydrocarbons.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Exotic Insect Attacks Local Crops

Dozens of Venezuelan plantations of cacao (Theobroma cacao) and guanábana, or soursop (Annona muricata), and greenhouse-grown cayenne (Capsicum frutescens) have been hit in recent weeks by a plague of pink hibiscus mealybug (Maconellicoccus hirsutus).

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Banana Trees Resistant to Sigatoka Fungus

Two banana varieties developed by Brazil's agricultural research agency Embrapa are providing hope for farmers in fighting black sigatoka, the most destructive disease afflicting this fruit.

Ecobreves – CUBA: More Hurricanes Feared

Even before recovering from the damages caused by Hurricane Charley, the people of Cuba were crossing their fingers with the approach of September and October, the months of greatest cyclone activity.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Rangers Lacking to Protect Resources

There are just 240 rangers in Guatemala to protect thousands of hectares of biological reserves that Congress has declared national natural heritage sites.

THE SHADOW OF 9/11 OVER GLOBALISATION

One of the consequences of the September 11 attacks was to stall the process of globalisation, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this analysis, Ricupero writes that underlying the logic of globalisation was the idea that national borders were losing relevance as the quantity of cross-border transactions rose dramatically. Since September 11 there has been a reversal of this idea. National boundaries are again a central concern. Worldwide, there are many more obstacles to the movement of the people and goods and even services. In the long and middle term, globalisation and the reinforcement of national boundaries are incompatible. The latter tendency, of course, is a mere three years old, so it is premature to predict that it will bring about the end of globalisation. We are seeing to some extent in the US the emergence of a new war economy, like that of the Vietnam era when the combination of a war economy with considerable pressure on oil --which we see today as well-- led the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, setting off the foreign debt crisis. While it cannot be argued that the same is going to happen now --largely because in contrast to the 1970s we no longer have high inflation -- nonetheless there are elements which are disturbingly similar.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE FATHER

The complex social division of labour, the participation of women in public life, and their harsh criticism of the patriarchy and machismo have thrown the father figure into crisis. In a sense, what has emerged is a fatherless society, or one in which the father is absent, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian writer and theologian. In this article, Boff writes that the eclipse of the father figure has destabilised the traditional family. The increase in divorce brought with it considerable and at times dramatic consequences. According to recent official statistics from the US, 90 percent of children that run away from home come from fatherless families; 70 percent of juvenile crime is committed by youth from homes without fathers; 85 percent of juveniles in prison and 63 percent of juvenile suicides grow up without fathers. It is the father figure that provides an understanding of the difference between the world of the family and the social world, where there is not only well-being but also work; where there is both kindness and conflict; where there is both winning and losing. The absence of a father figure deprives children of structure, leaves them adrift, and erodes their desire to commit to a life plan. We have to bring the father back.

EXCHANGING DEBT FOR DEVELOPMENT – A NEW WEAPON AGAINST POVERTY

Speaking on September 20 at the Summit against Poverty, in New York, Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that his government will be actively involved in exchanging debt for social development initiatives, and especially in the field of primary education, writes Antonio Vereda del Abril, president of the Iberoamerican Foundation for Development (FIDE). In this article, the author writes that exchanging foreign debt for development co-operation amounts to freeing up resources so that poor countries can invest in the education and health of their citizens, fund microcredit operations that can result in the creation of great numbers of jobs, and in general, have the resources to spur their own development. Through foreign debt, finance has become an instrument of domination and inequality. Many countries have to channel 30 percent of their budgets to service their foreign debt, thus becoming exporters of capital, which prevents them from investing in their own development.

RECONCILIATION IS THE BEST CURE FOR TERRORISM

South Africa has never enjoyed the peace it enjoys today nor been as stable and as free of the risk of unacceptable political conflict. The extent and depth of reconciliation within our diverse nation have never been as pronounced, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. In this analysis, the author writes that in his country, change came about as a result of a settlement negotiated by antagonists that had stood at the barricades for 350 years, each unable to defeat and destroy the other. This peaceful outcome culminated in the equally peaceful general elections of 1994, which surprised the cynics and sceptics, who were convinced that our people, black and white, were incapable of solving their problems peacefully. But the doomsters had not understood that as the first and principal victims of violence and war, the masses of our people, black and white, would be the first and best guarantors of the peace they won in 1994. This has been confirmed by the virtually total disappearance of political violence in our country, even during election periods. Despite, and perhaps because of our history, we stand in the front ranks of the group of countries across the globe that are truly peaceful, stable, and not consumed by the threat of terrorist bombs.

IRAQ: METHOD IN THE MADNESS

The synchronised attacks in Iraq on Christian churches of various denominations was not a chance event but the fruit of a carefully orchestrated plan, writes Jorge Dezcallar, Spanish ambassador to the Holy See and ex-director of the National Centre of Intelligence (CNI). For the Iraqi resistance groups and the constellation of Islamic radicals that back them, the objective of jihad (holy war) is crystal clear: to force the Americans and their allies out of Iraq, in a humiliating withdrawal if possible. It is an attempt to turn Iraq into Washington\'s new Vietnam, whatever it takes. The Iraqi resistance knows that it cannot directly combat the Americans, who, it also knows, are not going to withdraw of their own will in the short term. Therefore the Iraqis are obliged to use indirect forms of confrontation. The most obvious way of making life difficult for the US is attacking oil installations in Iraq. Another approach is to drive out of Iraq everything that seems multilateral, especially the UN, for the simple reason that their mere presence gives some legitimacy to the occupation. Thus the bombings of UN targets and threats against its member countries.

NEPAL: ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER

Nepal\'s first explosion of religious violence last week has shocked the country, and prompted calls for reviving the kingdom\'s traditional values of tolerance and compassion, writes Kunda Dixit, editor of the weekly newspaper Nepali Times in Kathmandu. As Kathmandu returns to normal this week after the riots, the government will have to tackle the longer term problem of restoring peace. Everyone in Nepal agrees there is no military victory in this conflict. A negotiated solution needs to be found to address the main political demand of the Maoists: set up a constituent assembly to get rid of the monarchy. The Maoists have hinted in the past that they may be willing to live with a constitutional monarchy and their demand for republic is to leave some flexibility in negotiation. What complicates the government\'s dealings with the Maoists is that the parliamentary parties are at loggerheads with the king. The three-month old government of prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of a centre-right faction of the Nepali Congress has cobbled together a shaky coalition made up of the moderate left United Marxist-Leninist. But four other parties have refused to join, saying King Gyanendra wants to take the country back to the days of absolute monarchy. The king has repeatedly denied this, but says the parties need to mend their behaviour and be more accountable.

THE TIME OF THE ANTI-CHRIST

The atrocious massacres of innocent people in Iraq, Palestine, and Rusia bring to mind two Biblical expressions that Christians use when confronted by staggering injustice or a degree of perversity that stuns reason and obliterates human sensibility: \'\'the abomination of desolation\'\' and the \'\'second coming of the Anti-Christ\'\', writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and writer. There are times, like the present, in which the Anti-Christ seems to prevail. It erupts so fearfully that it paralyses us and almost strips the just of any hope. The category of Anti-Christ has been wielded throughout history by those who would demonise their adversaries. For this reason we must be cautious in using it and avoid facile labelling. But today, when the perversity at work in the world is so great, we must use it both to denounce and to give warning. The Anti-Christ is among us and is active on both fronts, politics and religion. Both have in common a disregard for human life and a lack of pity for the innocent. And both are cold-blooded killers.

DARFUR TESTS NEW EU FOREIGN AID APPROACH

The European Commission has radically overhauled the way it works: aid has been designed to promote local ownership as the best guarantee for its sustainability, writes Poul Nielsen, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. The EU-backed African Peace Facility is a case in point, the author writes in this analysis. The African Union is currently facing its sternest test in Darfur. The EU has mobilised 12 million euros from the Peace Facility to support the AU\'s current efforts. But as the situation in Darfur worsens pressure is mounting on the international community to intervene directly in the conflict. Certainly, the international community has an important role to play, and with continued pressure on the conflicting parties and 285 million euros in direct humanitarian aid, the EU has not turned a blind eye. However, now is not the time to undermine the ownership and initiative taken by the AU, which has been proactively seeking a solution to the crisis. Also, in a difficult situation like the Darfur crisis we must have the courage to choose the option that offers us long-term prospects of a solution. A lot is at stake, not only for the population of Darfur but for the continent as a whole.

BRAZIL: LULA STUCK IN NEOLIBERAL TRAP

The government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been in power almost two years old now, and yet, intimidated by threats of speculation and every sort of blackmail, it has lamentably maintained an economic policy based on the same neoliberal precepts subscribed to by the previous government, writes Joao Pedro Stedile, national co-ordinator of the Movement of the Landless (MST) and a leader of Via Campesina. In this analysis, Stedile writes that the government\'s priority is the performance of financial capital, to which it transfers the nation\'s savings by running the budget surpluses advised by the International Monetary Fund in order to make payments on its debt. The results are predictable. The economy grew but there was no improvement in employment and education or in land and income distribution. The problem is that Brazil desperately needs to hold a debate on the creation of a new development plan. As long as there is no such plan for national development, the Lula administration will shuttle between growth and crisis, formulating short-term measures that time will quickly sweep away.

Sugarcane's New Promises

Cuban scientists are saying that sugarcane is a raw material with as much potential as petroleum. And they are developing medications, preservatives, resins and plastics from this sweet crop.