Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Genetic Resources Debate Extended

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil's Environment Ministry decided for a second time to extend the period for public consultation on a bill about access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and the distribution of related benefits.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Discovery to Remove DDT from Soil

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Placing trays of carbon on soil contaminated with DDT eliminates up to 60 percent of this insecticide, a persistent organic pollutant, according to a study at the Autonomous University of Mexico.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Citizens Halt Dams in Capital

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The withdrawal of a project to build to hydroelectric dams on Chile's Maipo River, planned by the AES Gener company, is a "citizen triumph", according to the Maipo River Citizen Organization.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Native Plants to Clean Up Contaminated Soil

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil could recuperate and decontaminate soil poisoned with mercury, lead, nickel and other metals that are dangerous to human health, using native plants. The technique is known as "phytoextraction" and was developed at the University of Sao Paulo.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Funds to Preserve Environmental “Lungs”

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Honduras is asking for 50 million dollars in international cooperation to preserve the Plátano River Biosphere Reserve and generate sustainable production projects for the local communities, according to official sources.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Ávila National Park Has New Friends

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Biologists, anthropologists, environmentalists, palm gatherers and volunteers last week adopted the "Caracas Manifesto for the Warairarepano", the indigenous name for the Ávila National Park.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Crocs in Danger

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Experts are monitoring the potential effects of climate change on the reproductive process of the Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer Cuvier), concentrated in the Ciénaga de Zapata, a wetland in the south of the western province of Matanzas.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Malaria Medication

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil has a new, more efficient medication against malaria, ASMQ, which will be available at cost (2.5 dollars per dose) for Latin American and Asian countries.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Recycled Plastic for Food Containers

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Argentina's National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI) has approved a technique for manufacturing food containers from recycled plastic bottles.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Environmentalists Repudiate Electricity Project

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, CFE, has divided a fishing community with promises and food in the Cuyutlán lagoon, in the western state of Colima, to calm criticisms of a planned electricity plant, charge ecologists.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: March for the Forest – Again!

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The third "March for Life", organized by the environmental movement led by Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, is part of an effort to bring attention to environmental degradation in Honduras.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Lumber Auction to Finance Illegal Logging

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Environment Secretariat of Pará, the largest state of Brazil's eastern Amazon, announced an unprecedented auction for May 15 of 5,500 cubic meters of illegally extracted timber. The revenues from the sale will be used to fight environmental crimes.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Nuts for Biodiesel

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Sometime between May 15 and 30, the first plantations of physic nut (Jatropha curcas) will be ready in Chile as part of a project for distilling biodiesel in the northern part of the country.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Glaciers Disappear

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The glaciers of Venezuela's Sierra Nevada mountains, more than 4,800 meters above sea level, lost 94 of their total 137 hectares in 30 years and will disappear by 2020, says Angel Viloria, of the governmental Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Dragnets Threaten Manatees

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Experts in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara hope that the discovery of three dead manatees (Trichechus manatus) will speed up the regulation of dragnet fishing in this area, where these large marine mammals are abundant.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Local Governments Protect Environment

By IPS Correspondents and - -
In Honduras, 102 of the country's 298 municipalities have joined an initiative for watershed preservation, reforestation and environmental education, say official sources.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA-URUGUAY: Threat to Block International Crossings

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the northeastern Argentine city of Gualeguaychú threatened to completely block the three international bridges that connect their country to Uruguay in protest against a paper pulp mill on the shared border river.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Multi-Fuel Motor Invented

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A motor made from scrap metal, cans, old pipes and computer discs, and which runs on any source of heat, is destined for use by small farmers, its inventor, Aldemir Chaim, of the government's agricultural research agency EMBRAPA, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Resistance to Obligatory School Transport

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The decision by the Mexico City government to make school mass transportation obligatory beginning in September, to cut down on pollution and traffic jams, has met with opposition from parents and experts.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Rubber Tappers Manufacture Condoms

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The first government-run condom factory in the Brazilian Amazon was inaugurated Apr. 7 in Xapuri, a small town in the northwestern state of Acre, where a quarter of the 15,000 inhabitants are "seringueiros", or rubber tappers, who harvest natural latex from the forest.

Ecobreves – CHILE: New Life for Former Garbage Dumps

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Environmental Commission of the Chilean Metropolitan Region, the regional government, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and several municipalities are looking to refurbish two former garbage dumps in the capital: Cerros de Renca and Lo Errázuriz.
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