Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Biosphere Could Lose Its Title

The biosphere reserve of the Plátano River, in northeast Honduras, could lose its “heritage of humanity” status, granted by the United Nations, due to the environmental deterioration of the area, official sources told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Trials for Illegal Logging

The environmental prosecutor of Guatemala is pursuing more than 20 lawsuits against companies and individuals for the illegal logging and trade of the country’s forest resources, the aim being to halt deforestation, legal assistant José Luis Rivera told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – NICARAGUA: Effects of Solar Radiation Studied

Ten years of investigations into the impact of solar radiation on life and on human health have been compiled in the book “Tropical Solar Radiation”, written in Spanish, and published in Nicaragua by the Jesuit Central American University (UCA).

War Could Wipe Out Ancient History

Iraq, set in the cradle of Western civilization, holds 10,000 archeological sites with countless secrets still to be deciphered. Experts fear that the war will bury many of them forever.

“We hope for some sensitivity from the military”

A special UNESCO team will assess the damage to Iraq’s cultural heritage caused by the war, which poses numerous threats to this historic legacy, said Mounir Bouchenaki, assistant director of the organization, in a conversation with Tierramérica.

Do We Face a Global Quarantine?

Thousands of cases of a new and potentially lethal form of pneumonia have been reported in the past few weeks, but while the disease spreads, experts are realizing how little they know about the virus that causes it.

Humanitarian Emergency

The war in Iraq has caused a humanitarian emergency affecting 27 million people. The conflict has obvious repercussions for a civilian population that is already suffering the lack of health care, food, water and housing, even if they are not directly threatened by bombs and bullets.

Ecobreves – MEXICO:: Forest Emergency

Seasonal fires are devastating the forests of Mexico, and officials should declare a national emergency, says the non-governmental Network of Peasant Forestry Organizations.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Digging Up Banned Pesticide

A New Zealand firm, with the backing of the Argentine Chamber of Chemical and Petrochemical Industries, is beginning this week to dig up 30 tons of the toxic Gamexane, buried clandestinely 13 years ago in a northwestern province of Argentin

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Streamlining Environmental Paperwork

Environmental officials in the Colombian capital recently launched a program to shorten by up to 40 percent the timeframes for evaluation and follow-up for licenses, permits, concessions, authorizations and other instruments used in ecological controls.

GLOBAL DISSENT CONTINUES TO GROW

Media around the world have shown the pictures of peaceful American protesters in Oakland, California, fired on by the local police with wooden dowels, bean bags, and concussion and \'\'sting grenades\'\' -- more evidence of the hypocrisy of America\'s claim to be a democracy, champion of human rights, and a nation of civil liberties, writes Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, California. In this analysis for IPS, the author writes that dissent is growing to new levels as national leaders abdicate their responsibility as elected officials and turn into warmongers. Tens of thousands of American citizens have turned in petitions calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John Ashcroft for committing war crimes and failing to uphold the American Constitution. The global movement for peace will keep growing until there is an end to this illegitimate war, until Bush, Blair, and Howard are tried for crimes against humanity. It will make the US a true member of the global community that abides by human rights conventions, disarmament agreements, International Criminal Court rules, and the Kyoto protocol.

WILL UNILATERALISM DESTROY THE UN?

Closely following world events, I fear that unilateralism may destroy the United Nations, writes Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1991-1995. To a certain extent, the UN plays the role of scapegoat, the author writes. The real problem is that the UN is not able to speak up. How can it defend itself by saying that a given dispute is due to Member State A when Member State A is its boss? If it were to use diplomatic weapons, it would have to say Country A is responsible. But Country A could then retaliate by stoping paying its dues and thus marginalising the whole UN machinery. The fact that we are confronted by new problems means there is a need for a drastic change in the UN. We must prepare ourselves for the third generation of international organisations, to succeed the UN as it succeeded the League of Nations. The third generation will not come about by changing the composition of the Security Council or by revolutionising the operation of the General Assembly by through drastic change in the overall concept. The change needed is to obtain the participation of non-State actors in international affairs. We will not be able to solve certain problems without the participation of, let us say, big cities, or non-governmental organisations, or multinational corporations.

THE USA/UK-IRAQ WAR: HOW ABOUT PEACE JOURNALISM?

There is a Latin proverb that reads, \'\'audiatur et altera pars\'\' -- listen to the other side too, write Johan Galtung, professor of Peace Studies and director of TRANSCEND, a peace and development network, and Dietrich Fischer, professor at Pace University and Co-director of TRANSCEND. The failure to do so was the fundamental mistake of the US and UK and lead to their misjudging the likely course of their war against Iraq. They became victims of their own propaganda, the authors write in this article. Peace journalism starts with two questions: what is the underlying conflict about? And are there any possible peaceful solutions to that conflict? Could a solution be a Kurdistan based on a confederation of autonomies in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey? With double citizenship and passports for Kurds? How about giving more reality to the ten nation Economic Cooperation Organization, extending from Turkey to Afghanistan, 12 million square kilometres, maybe 400 million inhabitants, with enormous potential?

PROFITS OF DOOM: TO THE DESPOILERS GO THE SPOILS

If anyone outside the US harboured lingering doubts about the motives behind the invasion of Iraq, they were surely put to rest recently by the shameless profiteering of Bush administration officials and their extended financial family in both the destruction and reconstruction of Iraq, writes Mark Sommer, internationally-syndicated columnist and radio host who directs the Mainstream Media Project, a US-based effort to bring new voices and innovative ideas to the broadcast media. In this article for IPS, the author writes that the double burden of bearing massive reconstruction costs for Iraq while enduring the deconstruction of their own schools, hospitals, roads, police and fire protection can\'t help but produce severe cognitive dissonance even in the sleepwalking centre of American politics. The United States is rich, but not so rich that it can sustain both an empire and a democracy. Facing such public pressures, and never much interested in reconstructing anything Iraqi other than its oil fields, the Bush team may quietly abandon the effort altogether. We need only consider its last conquest, Afghanistan, to see a nation \'\'seduced and abandoned\'\' by an empire too busy making new messes to clean up its old.

‘ROAD MAP’ TO PEACE — OR TO ENDLESS STRIFE?

The formation of a new Palestinian government complies with one of the conditions imposed by President Bush for presenting his \'\'road map\'\' for peace in the Middle East envisaging a separate Palestinian state by 2005, writes Kaare Willoch, former Prime Minister of Norway. But even this plan cannot produce lasting results if it breaks earlier promises to the weaker party, the author writes in this article for IPS. There is reason to fear that the \'\'road map\'\' in the first round will call only for the removal of settlements established after March 2001 and an end to all further expansion within the occupied territories. But keeping the earlier Israeli settlements will make it impossible to establish a Palestinian state within borders that could render it viable. Accommodating Israel on this point is a certain path to lasting conflict. Under such circumstances, demands to make all further advances conditional on a complete cessation of violence will give the extremist groups veto power over peace. The Americans do not seem to realise that such demands represent a flight from reality.

IRAQ, THE DOLLAR AND THE EURO

In even the best-laid human plans, events rarely unfold as predicted, even by experts. One surprise scenario is rooted in the close relationship between oil, dollars, gold, and the euro, writes Hazel Henderson, author of \'\'Beyond Globalisation\'\', \'\'Building a Win-Win World\'\', and other books. In this article, the author writes that countries that formerly held mostly US dollars in their currency reserves have begun to diversify into euros, where they perceive less risky fundamentals. What happens if global investors continue pulling out of the US and the dollar keeps falling? What if OPEC decides to officially re-denominate their oil in euros, since most of the their customers are in Europe anyway? The US, heavily dependent on imported oil, benefits considerably from OPEC\'s US dollar pricing.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Water Protection Rules Complete

The Chilean government has finalized rules to protect water from contaminating emissions, expediting regulation on water courses and aquifers, reports the National Environment Commission (Conama).

Ecobreves – CUBA: Educational Expedition

Scientists will provide environmental education in the eastern Humboldt National Park to improve the living conditions of the residents of this important preserve of Antilles flora and fauna.

Ecobreves – NICARAGUA: Iodine in the Salt

The Saltworks Association of Nicaragua and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have signed an agreement to ensure the addition of iodine -- a nutritional necessity -- to 95 percent of the salt consumed in this Central American country.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA:: Reforestation of Two River Basins

Some 4,000 hectares of Los Esclavos and María Linda river basins, in central and southern Guatemala, will be reforested by the ministries of Agriculture and of Energy and Mines

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Illness Blamed on US Mining Firm

Residents of Valle de Siria, in the central department of Francisco Morazán, suffer skin diseases and respiratory illnesses, which they blame on the mining activities of the U.S.-based transnational Entre Mares.