Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Water Fund Created

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Environmental, business, government and local entities have launched the Water Fund to improve the quality and quantity of freshwater in Guatemala.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Eco-Education Under Scrutiny

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The southern Brazilian city of Joinville will host the 5th Ibero-American Congress on Environmental Education, Apr. 5-8. In Brazil, 96 percent of primary school students attend classes specializing in environmental education.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Promoting Natural Gas Vehicles

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The private company Gas Natural S.A. announced investments of around 4.4 million dollars over three years to develop a conversion program so that vehicles in the Colombian capital and surrounding communities can run on natural gas.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Forest Fires Destroy 563 Hectares

By IPS Correspondents and - -
- Guatemalan officials are alarmed by the 96 forest fires that have consumed 563 hectares -- 211 in protected areas -- throughout the country so far this year.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Fear of Growing Contraband Cigarette Market

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Chile's new Anti-Tobacco Law, to take effect in June, could increase the black market for cigarettes in the areas surrounding primary and secondary schools, where shops will be prohibited from selling cigarettes, warn some lawmakers.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: People's Brigades Against Rain Disasters

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Venezuelan capital will have civilian protection brigades, made up of citizen groups, to prevent disasters resulting from heavy rains, such as mudslides and flooding, announced the municipality of Libertador, which covers two-thirds (west and central) of Caracas.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Samba for the Forests

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Some 200,000 children ages seven to 13 will take part in the Samba for Life parade, organized by the environmental group Greenpeace alongside Brazilian institutions, during the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8).

Ecobreves – CUBA: Journalists in the Time of Hurricanes

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Ahead of hurricane season in June, an international seminar for journalists announced this week in Havana is an attempt to provide better tools for reporting on this kind of natural disaster.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: 33 Municipalities Leave Poverty Behind

By IPS Correspondents and - -
- More than 1,730 families in 33 municipalities in the Honduran interior have overcome poverty in the past three years, thanks to a sustainable agriculture, sales and marketing program of the non-governmental development organization Oxfam International.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Binational Bank Under Consideration

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Mexican and U.S. governments are assessing the viability of the North American Development Bank (NADB), the only binational instrument that finances basic infrastructure to improve the environment along the 3,200-km border between the two countries.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires Real Estate Project Under Fire

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A neighborhood group in the Argentine capital is speaking out against the progress of a new government project to set aside the city's last free public lands for a real estate project.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: New Hunting Calendar

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Guatemala's National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) has published the country's hunting schedule, with lists of the species that can be hunted legally, which ones are prohibited, and the quota per hunter.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Network for Ecological Products

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities have joined together to create a Colombian network for environmentally friendly production, with the aim of producing native food and crafts to be sold locally as well as for export.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Wanted: A Market for Ecological Cacao

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Twenty farmers from Ocumare de la Costa, 120 km northwest of Caracas, produced 5,000 kilograms of cacao without using agro-chemicals in their cultivation, qualifying it as an "organic product" for the certifying entity Biolatina, based in Peru.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Ayahuasca Consumption to Be Regulated

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil's National Anti-Drugs Council decided to create a multidisciplinary work group to draft norms and create a list of the institutions that use in religious rites the Amazonian plant ayahuasca, which has hallucinogenic properties.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Million-Dollar Losses in Lumber Trafficking

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An annual average of 145,000 cubic meters of latifoliate and 600,000 cubic meters of conifer lumber are illegally traded in Honduras, costing the country 18 million dollars a year in lost revenues, according to an official source.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Opposition to Four Mega-Dams

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An international offensive led by the U.S.-based International Rivers Network seeks to prevent financial agencies from funding the Spanish transnational Endesa for building four huge hydroelectric dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers, 1,800 km south of the Chilean capital.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Peasants Prevent Disasters

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Drought and hurricanes are the greatest climate challenges for small farmers in Cuba, who are reducing the impact of disaster through preventive measures, technology, and cultivating crops that require less water.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Oil Reportedly Not Cause of Dolphin Deaths

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A respected marine researcher said there is no evidence to confirm, as environmentalist groups do, that the periodic death of dolphins on the Pacific coast at Ciudad del Carmen are caused by oil exploration and drilling activities.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Map to Show Threatened Bird Species

By IPS Correspondents and - -
SAVE Brazil, a non-governmental organization here representing BirdLife International, has completed the first map of threatened Brazilian bird, indicating 163 key areas for bird conservation in 15 states.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: A Reserve for Springs

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Guatemalan government plans to build bridges and paths in the Cerro San Gil Spring Reserve, in the eastern department of Izabal, to promote ecotourism.
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