Landmines

Anti-personnel landmines are deadly devices that, hidden underground, lie in wait of victims. Each year, thousands of innocent people are maimed or killed by these "conventional weapons", lethal objects whose threat is not diminished at the end of a war. Although there is a major international effort to eliminate landmines, the menace persists.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Limited Biodiversity Knowledge

Brazil is aware of just 10 percent of its biodiversity, very little if one considers that this giant country is home to an estimated two million species of plants and animal, representing 14 percent of the world total.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Havana River Clean-Up

Cuba plans to build three water treatment plants and 255 km of sewage network this year to protect the Almendares River, the principal waterway in the island's capital.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: To the Rescue of the Orinoco Caiman

Venezuela has adopted the endangered Orinoco caiman (Crocodylus intermedius) as the symbol of the National Games to be held in December in the central city of San Carlos, the environment ministry's regional director, Nerio Escobar, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – THE AMERICAS: Ag Experts Meet in Costa Rica

Agriculture specialists from Latin America and the United States are gathering in the Costa Rican capital Mar 19-21 to discuss financial mechanisms and strategies to help small farmers prosper, but without harming the environment.

Ecobreves – EL SALVADOR: Wanted: Commitment to Water

- Environmental organizations in El Salvador are asking legislative candidates to sign a pledge to resolve the country's water supply problems without harming the environment and with the participation of civil society.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Forestry Law Fires Debate

The Agro-Forestry Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups, say the changes made to the forestry law -- currently being debated by the Honduran Congress -- would be detrimental to the country's woodlands.

An Appeal to Double Expenditures on Water

"Blue gold" returns to the center of international debate March 16-23, at the 3rd World Water Forum, in Japan. The host country is urging all nations to double financial and technical assistance to ensure safe water supplies. But will the world be willing to go that far?

Aphrodisiac Market Fuels Killing of Sea Lions

Despite their corpulence, sea lions are very vulnerable. Their fins are useless in protecting them from poachers who bludgeon the males to death to extract their genitals to be sold in Asia, where they are considered an aphrodisiac by some cultures.

IN THE XXI CENTURY POVERTY STILL HAS A WOMAN'S FACE

Significant progress has been made in our time fighting discrimination against women and working for equal rights and the full participation of women in the development of communities and nations, indeed of our entire globalised world, writes Gro Harlem Brundtland, director-general of the World Heath Organisation.

New York Obsessed with Height

The question of whether the project to rebuild the World Trade Center is environmentally viable or compatible does not seem to be on the minds of city authorities or of the architects.

Central America's Suffocating Cities

The level of solid particles in the air in several Central American capitals violates international health standards.

Drought

When we say the word "drought" we think of what is lacking: water. And images are brought to mind of its consequences, which can be devastating to the environment, to the economy and to human life.

Ecobreves – Save the Birds

Experts from North America are meeting Mar 10-11 in Mexico to evaluate how well bird conservation programs in the region are tackling the threats of habitat degradation.

Ecobreves – PERU: Cleaning La Oroya

Peruvian authorities have pledged to help a U.S.-based metal manufacturer, Doe Run Resources, in cleaning up the contamination that has affected the central city of La Oroya for the past two decades.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Restoring the Magdalena River

- Restoring the environment and navigation capacity of the Magdalena River, Colombia's largest, is being studied this week by representatives of the government, and of the transportation and industrial sectors in the capital.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Return of the 'Pejerrey' Fish

- Japan will assist in restoring the population of pejerrey fish in an Argentine lake, the same from which Japanese producers extracted embryos of the species in 1966 to raise -- successfully -- in their own country.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Book Boat Cannot Dump Garbage at Sea

The "book boat" Logos II will not be allowed to dump solid waste in the waters of Quetzal port, on the Pacific. The ship is to anchor there Mar 18 to Apr 7 to sell books, Lourdes Gálvez, Guatemala's environment ministry spokeswoman, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – NICARAGUA: More Education for Bosawas Reserve

- The Central American Economic Integration Bank granted the Nicaraguan government a loan of 1.7 million dollars to expand educational services in the northern biosphere reserve of Bosawas and to improve the living conditions of the local population.

Ecobreves – EL SALVADOR: Costly Elimination of Outdated Herbicide

- Transporting and incinerating 92 barrels of old toxaphene herbicide in the eastern Salvadoran city of San Miguel will cost around 50,000 dollars, a government source told Tierramérica.

Environment Under Enemy Fire

Burning oil wells, contaminated water supplies, horrendous epidemics and destruction by nuclear, chemical or biological weapons are some of the possible environmental impacts of a war in Iraq, say experts consulted by Tierramérica.