Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Opposition Rises Against Amazon Dams

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The potential negative effects of hydroelectric dams have strengthened opposition against the Brazilian government's plan to build two on the Madeira River, the largest tributary of the Amazon and which starts in the Bolivian Andes.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Residents Reject Sulfuric Acid Factory

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the city of Palpalá, in the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy, are protesting the operations of Sulfhaar, a sulfuric acid factory that already has approval from government authorities.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Exchanging Debt for Forest

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The United States has forgiven 24 million dollars of Guatemala's bilateral debt, with the condition that it be used to preserve tropical forests over the next 15 years.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Protection Sought for Eco-Bishop

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran national human rights commissioner, Ramón Custodio, has called on the authorities to provide protection for Catholic bishop Luis Alfonso Santos, in the western city of Copán, who has received death threats for his opposition to an open-pit mine in the area.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Hair Stylists Most Exposed to Cancer-Causing Agents

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Hair stylists run the greatest risk of alterations of their DNA and, as a result, of developing cancer, due to their exposure to chemicals like formol and aromatic amines, found in products for straightening or coloring hair, according to a study presented in Sao Paulo.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Santiago Loses Thousands of Native Trees

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Chilean government's National Forestry Corporation approved the cutting of 2,700 native trees in the Santiago Metropolitan Park, the capital's biggest "green lung", in order to make way for a 21.5-km highway.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Alert on Toxic Sludge

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The waste ponds used by the state-run metals company Bauxilum, which contain red sludge (silica sands, caustic soda, iron oxides and aluminum oxides), "are at the limit of their capacity and could filter into the surroundings," says the Aluminum Workers' Syndicate in southeastern Venezuela.

Ecobreves – URUGUAY: Observatory for Renewable Energy Proposed

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is planning to open a regional observatory in the Uruguayan capital to promote renewable energy.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Lake Amatitlán Clean-Up Continues

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Guatemalan environmental authorities will complete construction in November of the second water purification plant on the Villalobos River, which carries some 500,000 tons of sediment to Lake Amatitlán, 35 km south of the capital.

Ecobreves – MEXICO:: Proposed Nuclear Plants Under Fire

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Mexican government’s announcement of its plan to build one or two nuclear power plants has environmentalists opposed to atomic energy up in arms.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Scavengers Export Scrap

By IPS Correspondents and - -
By the end of the month, the Argentine ecological cooperative Reciclando Sueños (Recycling Dreams) will have sent another two shipments to Spain, each containing 25,000 kilograms of scrap iron.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Aluminum Can Recycling Record Remains Firm

By IPS Correspondents and - -
In 2005 Brazil recycled 96.2 percent of its used aluminum cans, making it the world's leader in this activity for the fifth year in a row, according to the Brazilian Aluminium Association (ABAL).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Conservation Planned for Yojoa Lake

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran government has launched a three-year program to preserve the biodiversity of the northern lake of Yojoa -- the country's largest.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Geothermal Wells Being Drilled in Protected Area

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A Guatemalan company is drilling three geothermal wells in a protected reserve at the Pacaya Volcano, some 40 kilometers south of the capital, without authorization from the local municipality.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Tornado Destroys Thousands of Homes

By IPS Correspondents and - -
After the tornado swept through the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla on Sep. 15 -- affecting some 1,200 families -- 61,250 sheets of asbestos will be needed to rebuild houses, local infrastructure secretary Nyry Logreira told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Flood Insurance Measured

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have developed a method to estimate insurance costs for urban flooding, saying claims could eat up as much as 12 percent of the gross domestic product.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Pesky El Niño Returns

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The cyclical climate phenomenon known as El Niño will return at the end of theyear, but will lack the strong intensity if had in 1997-1998, when it triggered droughts and devastating fires in Brazil, say meteorologists here.
Aguará-Guazú - Sergio Minini.

Ecobreves – URUGUAY: The Return of the Aguará-Guazú

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The reappearance in Uruguay of an "aguará-guazú", or maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the first one sighted here in 16 years, could help finance a study of this canid species.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Volunteers Clean Up 300 Beaches

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Some 20,000 volunteers took part in a beach clean-up Sep. 16 in Venezuela, targeting 300 areas along the Caribbean, as well as around lakes and riverbanks, coinciding with the end of school vacation.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Indians Fight Garbage Dumps

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A dozen representatives of indigenous Mapuche communities in Chile's Araucanía region charged that they are the target of racism and discrimination by the authorities who set up 19 garbage dumps less than one kilometer from their homes.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Journalists Launch New Environmental Award

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A small association of journalists in the Honduran interior has announced the creation of the "Bellota de Oro" (Golden Acorn), an award to recognize efforts to defend the environment.
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