Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Book Highlights Threatened Animals

The Red Book of Endangered Brazilian Fauna provides detailed data about 627 animal species that could soon disappear from the planet -- three times the number of the previous list, from 1989.

OBAMA BRINGS HOPE TO CUBA TOO

While the Cuban government was more cautious that usual in their remarks about the US presidential election and even the overwhelming victory of Democrat Barack Obama, the people in the street, whose daily living conditions are dire, greeted the news of the election of the first black president of the United States with relief and raised hopes, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into ten languages. His most recent work La neblina del ayer, won the Hammett Prize for the best detective novel in Spanish for 2005. In this article for IPS, the author writes that after more than a century-and-a-half of traumatic relations, almost fifty years of a trade and financial embargo, and two terms of President George W. Bush, whose hostility to Cuba reached an almost paranoid intensity, Cuban-American relations should undergo at least a slight shift with Obama as president. The old subject of the embargo and its failure to destabilise the regime in Cuba will reach his desk at any moment. And if it is evaluated in an intelligent manner, he will respond in the only intelligent way possible: with a radical change in Washington\'s approach to the island. Were this historic shift to occur, the next question would be how the Cuban government would react, after having long used the blockade to its own benefit, for audiences both on and off the island, presenting itself as a David battling Goliath. At least President Raul Castro has indicated his openness to a dialogue, in the only possible, dignified form - between equals. Though the fate of many pre-election promises is all too well known, the new US president, despite the fact that he has said he supports the embargo against Cuba -no US presidential candidate can say otherwise- did dare rouse Florida\'s Cuban-American community with the suggestion that he might initiate a dialogue with Havana, and in any case, ease restrictions on Cubans living in the US regarding visits to the island and remittances to family there.

LET US HOPE

Once in office will Obama prove that his bellicose threats against Iran and Pakistan were just words spoken to lure in a certain category of voter during the election? asks Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. In this article, the author asks, will Obama make good on his promise to close the sinister prison at Guantanamo? And end the sinister blockade of Cuba? Will Obama sign and abide by the Kyoto agreement, or will he continue to grant impunity to the biggest polluter on the planet? Will he govern for people, or for automobiles? Will he shift the devastating course of a way of life in which the few steal the destiny of the many? Will Obama, the first black president of the United States, realise the dream of Martin Luther King, or the nightmare of Condoleeza Rice? This White House, which is now his house, was built with the labour of black slaves. Let\'s hope he never forgets that.

ADVICE FOR SUMMITEERS ON REFORMING THE GLOBAL CASINO

A summit on how to reform the failed global financial system will be held on November 15, 2008 in the US, the heart of the meltdown, writes Hazel Henderson, author of Ethical Markets: Growing The Green Economy (2007) and co-creator with the Calvert Group of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators. In this article, Henderson writes that the world\'s money systems have been corrupted and the basic trust which underlies all markets has been shattered. While we are learning that not all our transactions can be trusted to money systems, we are also seeing that there are many new, pure, information-based trading systems, from international barter to \"countertrade\" between governments to trading between global companies of everything from media and telephony to commodities. As the US will play catch-up at the November 15th summit, there are some additional reforms they might sponsor: imposing globally-harmonised currency-exchange taxes on the USD 2 trillion daily currency trading to dampen speculation; and reducing the amount countries spend annually on military hardware - now over USD 1 trillion - with a UN Security Insurance Agency (UNSIA), which would fund a standing, properly-trained UN peace-keeping force.

Costa Rica at an Environmental Crossroads

The Costa Rican government of Óscar Arias faces a charge of breach of legal duty for giving the go-ahead to a gold mining operation in the north of the country.

Cyclists Speed Up Transportation Changes

On pure pedal power, activists, academics and authorities are working to design policies that will make healthy bicycling a viable mode of transportation in Mexico's polluted capital.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Fees for Water Will Preserve Green Zones

A fund that will be financed by a five-percent hike in fees for potable water services will go to rural residents of 88,000 hectares surrounding the Mexican capital.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Costly Urban Pollution

The polluted air in Brazil's largest cities is costing the public sector at least one billion dollars a year, according to the University of Sao Paulo's air pollution laboratory.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: More and More Whales

Studies released in Argentina show that the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) population is on the rise in the Atlantic, thanks to greater protection of the species.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Elite Forest Troops

The Honduran Armed Forces announced the creation of a specialized elite military team to defend the forest and fight illegal trafficking of timber.

CURRENT CRISIS NO REPLAY OF 1929

The financial crisis now stalking the world is serious, but not as serious as that of 1929. In essence it is a deep crisis of confidence triggered by a proliferation of bad real estate loans now driving banks and other financial institutions into bankruptcy, writes Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, an economist, professor emeritus at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, and ex-Finance Minister of Brazil. In this article, the author writes that given the prompt reaction of the governments of the affected countries, there is no motive for pessimism. The markets are sure to return to reason, the stock exchanges will make up a part of their recent losses, exchange rates will stabilise. Confidence is certain to return before long, though the crisis will leave scars in the US and damage all other countries, with a recession that could last a year or two. But it will be a very different recession from that of the 1930s, when Washington waited four years to act. Today, implementing Keynesian and an array of pragmatic instruments, not only Washington but also all governments involved are acting promptly and firmly.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Climate Plan Up for Public Debate

Citizens and activists have until Oct. 31 to suggest modifications to the National Climate Change Plan proposed by a committee made up of seven government ministries.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Biogas Plant Begins Operating

A new biogas plant located at the capital's largest dump and with the capacity to process 20 tons of urban waste per day will generate enough electricity to supply 120 fully equipped households.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Eco-Education in Preschool

The National Environment Commission (CONAMA) of Santiago is premiering on Oct. 29 the first manual for environmental education for kindergarteners and first and second graders.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Like a Big Garbage Dump

Venezuela produces some 27,000 tons of garbage each day, and most of it ends up in one of the 800 open-air dumps, which contaminate water, land, flora and fauna and contribute to the spread of disease among the population.

Trade Opens Environmental Window on Peru

Ecologists await Peru's revision of controversial environmental standards that contradict commitments made in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

Why Colombia's Indigenous Peoples Are Protesting

For the Colombian government, caught up in polls that put it at the peak of popularity, indigenous protests could not be anything but the work of conspirators, writes indigenous expert Héctor Mondragón in this column for Tierramérica.

Illegal Embankment Continues to Harm Argentine Wetland

An unprecedented ruling in Argentina's environmental jurisprudence has seen almost one year pass while awaiting compliance.

Ecobreves – GLOBAL: UN Day Dedicated to Climate Change

Possible actions to confront climate change were the focus of United Nations Day, celebrated Oct. 24 with a seminar at the UN University headquarters in Japan.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Award for Indigenous Ecotourism Project

The Moskitia Route, an ecotourism project involving four indigenous communities in Honduras, has received the global prize "Tourism for the People".

ECONOMIC CRISIS MAY HASTEN ESSENTIAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The current financial market collapse represents an unparalleled opportunity to rethink and restructure a uniquely American model of capitalism that in recent decades has become increasingly unsustainable and inequitable as it has proliferated worldwide, writes Mark Sommer, host of A World of Possibilities, an award-winning, internationally-syndicated radio programme. In this article, Sommer writes that now as never before we need fresh ideas and approaches, new ways of organizing our work, our production processes, our energy generation and consumption patterns, the entire way we do business with one another. We are about to experience a systemic transformation of both global economics and culture. Whether the outcome will prove positive or negative will depend on whether we approach the future with fear or confidence. If, seized by panic, we fight for more than our share of finite and diminishing resources, the economy we create will be riven by chronic instability, inequity, and conflict. If, on the other hand, we take this defining moment as a challenge rather than solely a threat, we can transform it into a singular opportunity to reassert balance, equity, and sustainability as the organizing principles of a new global economy.