Ecobreves – PERU:: Alcohol Replaces Lead in Fuel

Peru will begin to reduce the proportion of lead in 84-octane gasoline by mixing in ethanol -- ethyl alcohol -- a non-contaminating substance produced from sugarcane.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: A Call to Protect Wetlands

Non-governmental organizations in Argentina are proposing a "protected corridor" along the northeastern border, the country's principal source of freshwater.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Minister Replacement Criticized

Mexico announced a swap in the post of environment minister Sep. 2, winning condemnation from environmental groups.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: 5,000 Trees Planted

Some 5,000 trees were planted in the first month of a reforestation campaign carried out by residents of the southern Honduran community of Orocuina, in the highly desertified Choluteca department.

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Marine Park Clean-Up

Costa Rican citizens are joining a global environmental campaign by cleaning up the National Whale Marine Park, on the Pacific coast, where tourism has taken its toll, says the United Nations Environment Program.

Ecobreves – CUBA: New Orchid Discovered

- Scientists in Pinar del Río, 170 km from the Cuban capital, discovered a new orchid species, the Encyclia cajalbanensis, in the Sierra del Rosario forest, a mountainous zone of this biologically rich western province.

//CORRECTED REPETITION//THE MEANING OF CANCUN

The failure of the WTO Fifth Ministerial in Cancun is a severe blow not just for the WTO but also for regional agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, writes Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. In this analysis for IPS, Mittal writes that the lack of attention to the legitimate concerns of the developing countries, the hunger of the US and the EU to capture world markets, and the mounting evidence that the free trade agreements have failed the poorest and the most vulnerable in our society, have alienated both the poor countries and civil society. Cancun offers an important lesson: strong arm tactics, which might have worked in the past for the US and the EU, will not work any more. There is clear agreement on one principle: No agreement is better than a bad agreement.

Ecobreves – CHILE:: 'Polluting' Cemetery Declared Illegal

Citizens groups in Chile convinced the nation's Comptroller General to declare illegal the construction of a cemetery in a Santiago area ceded by the Housing Ministry without conducting an environmental impact study.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Swapping Waste for Food

The municipal government of Libertador, which covers two-thirds of the Venezuelan capital, is taking in debris and solid waste and handing out food in the poor southwestern neighborhoods, inspired by similar programs in the Brazilian city of Curitiba.

Ecobreves – EL SALVADOR:: Waste Treatment Plan Underway

Lawmakers, environmental authorities and municipal officials in El Salvador have set up a commission to draft a plan for sanitary landfills

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mining Companies Rejected

Officials and residents in seven of the nine municipalities in the southern Honduran department of Valle have joined forces to reject the presence of foreign mining companies because of the environmental destruction they cause.

BUSH TEAM TARGETS NGOs ‘GROWING POWER OF AN UNELECTED FEW’

The Bush administration and its unelected advisers at the American Enterprise Institute have launched a concerted attack on international NGOs for actions they say are subverting national sovereignty, weakening corporate power, and thwarting US freedom of action in global affairs, writes Mark Sommer directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and hosts an award-winning syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. For a regime whose own legitimacy stands starkly in question after what many Americans view as a stolen election and whose hidden sources of power in government agencies and corporate boardrooms are all unelected and inaccessible to the broader public, the charge that NGOs represent \'\'the growing power of an unelected few\'\' is supremely ironic. Indeed, Sommer writes in this analysis for IPS, the unaccountability and unchecked power of state and corporate elites are precisely what have spawned the antiglobalisation movements of recent years. Yet having challenged the legitimacy of the Bush administration and its corporate sponsors, NGOs do indeed need to address the challenge of establishing their own legitimacy as representatives of a broader public.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA:: Mayan Juridical System Revealed

The recently published "Global View of the Mayan Juridical System" consolidates the principles and values of the millenniums-old Mayan culture, says Santos Mendoza, leader of the Waqxaqi'Noj Indigenous Defense Office.

US – OVER OR UNDER THE UN?

However much the Iraqi people need and deserve urgent assistance from the UN, the member organisations cannot permit the US to wage wars of aggression and leave it to the UN to tidy up when the US gets bogged down, writes Fredrik S. Heffermehl, president of the Norwegian Peace and member of the International Peace Bureau. This is an unacceptable precedent. It is now imperative to let the US learn its lesson. Other nations should stand by France, Germany, and Russia in their defense of the UN and not be too quick to offer military assistance and relief. Without concessions and some unambiguous guarantees from the US, a new Iraq resolution in the Security Council must be rejected, Heffermehl writes in this analysis for IPS. US withdrawal is absolutely necessary to stabilise Iraq, but Washington offers no credible promises for a genuine transfer of power to the Iraqis and sets no exit date for US and foreign forces. The US should renew its commitment to the UN and collective decision-making and promise to pursue a fair and equitable world order, based on law, as a condition for a new resolution for the UN take-over in Iraq. This would be a fight against terrorism that could be won.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE UN

The Iraq debacle provides a historic opportunity to implement long-sought and widely-supported reform of the UN to assure its independence and its vital role in this new century, writes Hazel Henderson, author of \'\'Beyond Globalisation\'\' and co-editor of \'\'The UN: Policy and Financing Alternatives\'\' (1995). The breakdown in the Security Council over the US war on Iraq clearly illustrated its obsolete and dysfunctional aspects. The Council needs to finally dispense with the veto. Then the permanent seats can be rearranged to accommodate important new world players, including India, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Indonesia. Another long-sought security council reform --more necessary than ever in a world of terrorism and asymmetrical threats-- is a standing UN peace-keeping and humanitarian force. The world recognises again that the UN is indispensable, the only forum that can convene all the world\'s nations. Even the Bush Administration is seeking UN help, namely \'\'burden sharing\'\' of the costs of its ill-considered adventure in Iraq. Only the UN can legitimise reluctant member nations\' involvement in re-building Iraq.

Animal Trafficking – A Cruel Billion-Dollar Business

Hundreds of thousands of exotic species are trafficked from Latin America to Europe. Three out of four animals die before they reach their destination in this illegal business, which in terms of money flows is surpassed only by drugs and arms trafficking.

Road Integration Plan Puts Amazon on Alert

Conservationists fear that two binational transportation routes recently announced by Peru and Brazil will accelerate deforestation and trafficking of wild species in the Amazon.

Rain God Gets His Own Planet

"It is a reminder of our existence," say Venezuela's Wayúu Indians, whose god Juyá is represented in name by a recently discovered planet.

THE DIVIDING LINE

Every major issue of our day derives from four fundamental crises: the threat to peace from the religious war that looms over us; the globalisation of the economy and the need for both ethical and juridical regulation; the growing --and intolerable-- imbalance between the d eveloped world and the world of hunger and poverty; and the process of continuous and often irreversible environmental degradation, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. The solution of the four underlying crises, and all of their progeny, would be within the reach of science and humanity if there were the political will. But at present there isn\'t, Soares writes. There are many signs of a building reaction against the global system that contributed to the current regression of the world, particularly in the area of social justice, human rights, international law, and even the operation of our democracies. It is becoming clear that today\'s reigning economicism, together with the media-inundation of societies, dominates politics and threatens justice. Things cannot go on like this.

THE DANGEROUS RAINBOW

The cross and the sword are raised high as in old times, and with good reason: in the last few months, homophobia has come under serious attack, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. Earlier this summer, the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that criminalised homosexuality, effectively voiding similar laws in 12 other states. And in New Hampshire, for the first time in the history of Christianity the faithful and the clergy of the Episcopal Church elected a bishop who is openly gay. Galeano writes in this article for IPS that all of these acts of \'\'grave immorality\'\', of liberty and mental health, are not gifts: they are victories, the result of the persistent battle of gays and lesbians against discrimination and violence. Armed with the rainbow banner, a symbol of human diversity, they are overturning one of the most sinister heresies of the past. The walls of intolerance are beginning to fall.

WTO on the Road to Cancun

The August 30 agreement on granting poor countries access to low-cost medicines was among the few items of good news on the rocky road towards the World Trade Organization's Fifth Ministerial Conference, to begin in the Mexican city of Cancun on Sep. 10. Disagreements persist in nearly all other areas of the ambitious negotiating agenda, including agricultural trade, services and investment. The environment, meanwhile, is but a marginal issue.