In Peru, Water Isn't For Everyone

The frozen treasure of Peru's glaciers is melting away, leaving the population facing a dry future.

Littering the Cosmos

European scientists are proposing the controlled removal of thousands of dangerous pieces of space debris in the Earth's orbit by sending up robotized missions.

Ecobreves – CLIMATE CHANGE: Cold Debate in Bonn

The first of the five special meeting this year towards achieving a new climate change agreement failed to advance in terms of commitments for reducing emissions that cause global warming.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fire for Cooking Also Generates Electricity

A Brazilian company is selling an efficient wood-burning stove that, in addition to cooking, generates electricity, which could be a boon to Brazilian families living in isolated areas, especially in the Amazon.

CUBA: BEYOND AND BEHIND THE WORLD CRISIS

We Cubans may be the people least frightened by the ominous talk of the "economic crisis" that is stalking the world and has already devastated so many. A prolonged submersion in the sea of shortages and severe limitations that led down into the hell of widespread poverty during the post-Soviet decade of the 1990s -euphemistically dubbed the "Special Period in Times of Peace"- taught us to weather extended periods of every kind of scarcity -food, electricity, transport, housing, medicine, clothing, and much more- and to come through it alive, albeit all too often battered.

GLOBAL CRISIS: WOMEN WORKERS WILL BE HIT HARDEST

As the global economic crisis continues to unfold, it is having severe effects on international trade. UNCTAD estimates that merchandise exports from developing countries could decline by 15.5% this year. At the regional level, we expect export growth to shrink by 16.8% in Asia, 12.5% in Africa, and 10% in Latin America.

ADDRESSING WORLD CRISIS REQUIRES A G192, NOT THE G20

For those of us focused on eradicating poverty and inequality, the greatest risk about the G20 summit was that the richest countries would use the global financial downturn to cut back on aid commitments and put the interests of their own countries first. This would spell disaster for the millions of people suffering from rising hunger and climate change and living in deep poverty across the developing world.

Bartering Is Not Your Usual Trade

The exchange of goods and services without involving money rises and falls in Argentina in inverse proportion to national prosperity, and is apparently far from sinking in the stormy waters of the globalized economy.

Genetically Modified Maize Finds Its Way to Cuba's Fields

With little fanfare, genetically modified maize produced by Cuba's genetic and biotechnology engineering center, CIGB, is being grown on test plots as part of a new project involving five of the Caribbean island's provinces.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Cyanide Spill Under Investigation

The Honduran Government Prosecutor's Office announced an exhaustive investigation into the causes of a cyanide spill in the Lara River, which supplies water to several communities in the western department of Copán.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Environmental Education Travels by Truck

A white truck carrying books, toys, videos and ecologists is promoting the organization of eco-brigades in Venezuela's primary schools, focusing on fourth, fifth and sixth grade students.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Foreign Experts Examine Energy Matrix

Ten experts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) visited Chile as part of an in-depth study being conducted of the country's energy situation and policies.

DEMOCRATISING FINANCE

The financial meltdown generated by Wall Street and the "too big to fail" culture of global money-centre banks and financiers is generating local initiatives and demands to decentralise and democratise finance.

Seals in the Baltic Left Without Ice

An apparent contradiction is determining the fate of thousands of ringed seal offspring in the Baltic Sea: due to the melting of Arctic ice they are freezing to death.

Going Beyond the Carbon Market

It is true that the carbon market has favored corporations more than developing countries, admits John Nash, the World Bank's lead economist for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Medications via Nanoparticles

Researchers in Mexico have encapsulated pharmaceuticals in microscopic nanoparticles, allowing the medications to be delivered with greater precision to the ill part of the body, without the secondary effects of conventional therapies.

Ecobreves – CENTRAL AMERICA: Universities to Study Natural Disasters

Representatives from the 19 public universities of Central America agreed on a 12-year strategy for studying and preventing natural disasters and for proposing appropriate public policies.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Indignant Over Mining Project

Residents of Andalgalá, in the northwestern Argentine province of Catamarca, are preparing a national protest against the approval of a mining project they say will hurt their water supply and the environment.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Standards for Forest Products

The Brazilian industries that utilize raw materials from the forests will have to follow new production criteria, according to a resolution passed by the National Environmental Council this month.

GROWING A GREEN COLLAR ECONOMY

In an economic downturn long on loss and short on solutions, few buzzwords have travelled more rapidly from the margins to the mainstream than the term "green jobs".

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Supermarkets Promote Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags

The Brazilian supermarket chains Bompreço, Hiper Bompreço and TodoDia, concentrated in the nine states of the country's Northeast region, have begun discount programs in their 131 stores for shoppers with reusable or returnable bags.