Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Infrastructure Plan Ignores Town

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of a town of 400 people in the northeastern Argentine province of Chaco faced repression and legal charges for their opposition to an electrical transmission line through their community.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Farmers Fight Brazil-Financed Thermoelectric Plant

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A delegation from the Totoral Agricultural Community of the northern region of Copiapó delivered a letter Sep. 8 to Brazil's ambassador in Chile, Mario Vilalva, requesting the Brazilian government withdraw support for the Castilla thermoelectric plant, being built by Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Renewable Energy Contracts Questioned

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Communities in the northwestern Honduras and Catholic groups have challenged the decision by Congress to grant 40 renewable energy contracts to companies they say are polluters.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Testing Plant-Based Cancer Med

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Three hospitals in Santiago, Cuba, began to administer a medication made from the anamú (Petiveria alliacea) plant, also known as guinea henweed, to fight cellular immunodeficiency among patients with cancer and other illnesses.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sugarcane Provides 18 Percent of Energy

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Nearly half the energy consumed in Brazil comes from renewable sources, thanks in large part to sugarcane, according to the Sustainable Development Indicators of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Toxic Cloud Over Ciudad Guayana

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A cloud of waste particulates is soaring this month over Ciudad Guayana, a city located 600 kilometers southeast of Caracas.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Bio-Controls of Pests Without Extermination

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A system for controlling pests without harming the environment or even killing off the attacking species is under development by the National Institute of Science and Technology, an association of Brazilian universities.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Activists Demand Law to Protect Glaciers

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Environmental organizations in Argentina are demanding the enactment of a law to protect the country's glaciers from large-scale mining.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Hydroelectric Dam's Reservoir Reduced

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran government decided to start controlled openings of the floodgates at the country's principal hydroelectric dam, "El Cajón," located in the northwestern department of Cortés, to prevent a worsening of floods in the wake of the intense rainfall of recent weeks.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Technique for Reducing Dumps

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A new garbage treatment system, developed by Ronaldo Izzo, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, could reduce the area covered by dumps by 75 percent. The technique consists of treating the waste and using it to make the soil of the landfill impermeable.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: University Forest Expropriated

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Venezuela's National Lands Institute confiscated the land of the Central San Nicolás University's field research station, some 1,400 hectares dedicated to agricultural studies. The institute then settled 51 rural families there.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Indigenous Groups Denounce Logging in Protected Areas

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Representatives of the Federation of Xicaques and Tolupanes Tribes denounced the illegal incursion of loggers into the forests where Honduran indigenous communities live, in the central department of Francisco Morazán and the northern department of Yoro.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: City Beaches Could Disappear

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Rising sea levels and the lack of sedimentation are leading to the disappearance of many of Brazil's beaches, according to geographer Dieter Muehe, who authored a study of the problem.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Massive Fish Die-Off

By IPS Correspondents and - -
More than four tons of dead fish - including the sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus), tararira (Hoplias malabaricus), pejerrey (Odontesthes bonariensis) and catfish - appeared last week in the reservoir of the Hondo River in northern Argentina, apparently killed by industrial pollution.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Fund for Climate Disasters in the Capital

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran Congress approved 4.5 million dollars in a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for recovery from the damage caused by heavy rains in Tegucigalpa.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Cleaning Up the Malecón

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of Havana have begun to gather along the Cuban capital's Malecón, an eight-kilometer esplanade and roadway, to clean up the garbage left by pedestrians.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Warning Against Tourism on Protected Islands

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Venezuelan environmentalists are on alert after President Hugo Chávez proposed organizing massive tourism to Los Roques archipelago, an idyllic group of Caribbean islands with white sands and turquoise waters, 180 kilometers north of Caracas.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Southern Plains Devastated and Neglected

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Pampa, the biome of prairies in Brazil's far south, has already lost 54 percent of its original vegetation, according to figures from the Ministry of Environment, which show that 2,183 square kilometers were destroyed between 2002 and 2008.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Boost to Oil-Producing Crops

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Mexican government's plan to promote oil-producing crops like canola is being challenged by experts.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Bacteria Inventory of the Atlantic Forest

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation produced the Collection of Bacteria from the Atlantic Forest, Brazil's most deforested ecosystem. The collection marks the beginning of a project to record all of the forest's biodiversity.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: National Park Expropriated

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An Argentine environmental group is challenging a decision by the central province of San Luis, which in late July expropriated a protected area to turn it over to an indigenous community.
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