Ecobreves – MEXICO: Promoting the Right to Mobility

Civil society organizations in Mexico City are promoting the right to mobility, which involves social, economic and environmental policies.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: First Solid Waste Plant Opening Soon

The municipality of Marcovia, in southern Honduras, will be the first in the country with a plant for treating and recycling solid wastes, which will enter into operation in September. The recycled material will be sold to companies in El Salvador and Guatemala.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA : Agrochemical Suit Could Set Precedent

The relatives of victims affected by aerial spraying of toxic agrochemicals in the central Argentine province of Córdoba hope the lawsuit filed against two farmers and a fumigator will set a legal precedent.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Biofilter Reduces Landfill Pollution

Researchers at the University of São Paulo have developed a biofilter that uses bacteria to reduce the amount of polluting gases released by sanitary landfills.

Brazilian Fisherfolk Fight for Survival

Fisherfolk cannot be forced into becoming fish farmers, maintains the leader of a campaign to establish protected areas for artisanal fishing in Brazil. “I am a fisherwoman, I don’t know how to do anything else and I don’t want to,” she declared.

Ecobreves – CHILE: FAO Promotes Bioenergy

The Latin America regional office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recommended that Chile incorporate bioenergy into its energy mix.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Approval of Mining Operations to be Decided Through Plebiscites

The use of plebiscites has been included in the bill for a new mining law that is expected to be passed by the end of the year in Honduras.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Joint Assessment of Amazon Hydropower Dams Demanded

There is an urgent need for an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the construction of 30 hydroelectric dams in the Amazon region given the scale of public and private investment involved, maintains the Amazon Investment Observatory of Brazil.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Used Notebooks Recycled

The government of the northern Venezuelan state of Miranda has launched campaign through which schoolchildren are encouraged to donate their used notebooks in order for them to be recycled.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Indirect Energy Consumption Is Double Household Electricity Bill

The monthly light bill paid by Brazilians represents only 32 percent of what they actually spend on electricity. All of the rest is paid for through the goods and services they consume, according to the Economic Research Institute Foundation at the University of São Paulo.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Support for Community Forestry

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has ratified its support for forest protection initiatives in Honduras, and especially those that involve communities in responsible forest management, the country’s vice president, María Antonieta Guillén, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Sale of Materials Contaminated with Cyanide Denounced

An environmental organization in the central Argentine province of Córdoba has accused a company devoted to the final disposal of hazardous waste of illegally selling contaminated materials.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Cultural Program to Promote Natural Heritage

The National Commission of Protected Natural Areas has launched a cultural program to strengthen the conservation of natural heritage in Mexico.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Chilean Court Orders Exhumation of Workers Killed by Pollution

A Chilean court has ordered the exhumation of 22 former employees of the National Mining Company who are presumed to have died from the accumulative effects of the pollution to which they were exposed during decades of work at the Ventanas copper foundry and refinery, which has been controlled since 2005 by the National Copper Corporation, another state-owned enterprise.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Italy to Finance Reservoir Expansion

The governments of Honduras and Italy have signed an agreement under which the latter will provide 30 million dollars in financing for the expansion of the José Cecilio del Valle Reservoir, in southern Honduras, to enable the irrigation of some 4,000 hectares of environmentally friendly crops.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Warmer Air in Shower Reduces Electricity Consumption

A simple invention developed by researchers at Juiz de Fora Federal University in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais makes it possible to reduce the energy consumed during a hot shower by 30 percent.

Ecobreves – CUBA: New Plant for Biodiesel Production from Jatropha Seeds

The first Cuban plant for the production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas, an inedible shrub, entered into operation this month in the southeastern province of Guantánamo, with an expected output of 100 tons of fuel annually.

Transforming the Way the Global Environment is Managed

Given the magnitude of the environmental challenges we are facing, incremental change will not be enough, maintains the new head of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in this interview.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Residential Solar Power Is Now Competitive

Generating solar power for individual residential use is now economically viable for 15 percent of Brazilian households, according to the Energy Research Company (EPE), a government agency.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: U.S. Donation for the Conservation of La Mosquitia

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has approved a donation of 405,000 dollars for Honduras, aimed at promoting the ecological and sustainable conservation of the tropical rainforest region of La Mosquitia, on the country’s Atlantic coast.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Progress and Delays in Clean-Up of the Riachuelo River

Four years after the Supreme Court of Argentina ordered the clean-up of the Riachuelo River basin, in the province of Buenos Aires, environmentalists recognize that progress has been made, but there are still numerous challenges pending.