Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – PERU: Critics Target Inter-Ocean Highway

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The construction of a highway that would connect Brazil's Atlantic coast with Peru's Pacific shores is coming under fire for its cost and environmental impacts.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Congress to Debate Water Management

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Colombian Congress will discuss in its sessions, begun July 20, the bill on Integrated Management of Hydric Resources, also known as the Water Law, which seeks to ensure distribution and supply of the essential liquid.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Hydroelectric Dam Looms Over Endangered Species

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The construction of the Barra Grande hydroelectric facility on the border of Brazil's Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul states threatens two plant species that are on the verge of extinction, say environmental groups.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Solar Energy for Rural Families

By IPS Correspondents and - -
More than 3,000 families isolated in rural villages of Chile's Fourth Region, some 500 km north of the capital, will soon be supplied by energy from photovoltaic systems, in a project financed in part by the Inter-American Development Bank, with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Documentary on Vast Wetlands

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The documentary "Tierras de agua dulce" (Lands of Freshwater), about the vast Venezuelan wetlands of the plains along the Orinoco River, premiered July 9 "to show the potential we have and must take care of, as one of the 12 countries with greatest reserves of freshwater," the film's directory, Ana Cristina Henríquez, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Mercury Threatens Amazonian Population

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An environmental disaster is developing in the Tapajós River basin, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, due to the mercury used by 'garimpeiros' (informal miners) to extract gold from the ore.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Soap from an Oil Nut

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Farming families in El Oro community, located in the semi-arid region of this eastern Cuban province, have been successful in making soap from the extracted from the Jatropha curcas tree (known locally as 'piñón botija'), a plant that also helps prevent erosion.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: WTO to Hear Used Tire Dispute

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil is getting ready to defend its ban on imports of used tires from the European Union before an arbitration committee of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on July 20 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Taking the Planet's Pulse

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A high altitude climate observation center will begin operating in 2006 in Mexico, the first of its type in the Mesoamerican and Caribbean regions. Located at more than 4,000 meters above sea level, it will measure, among other things, levels of ozone and carbon dioxide, gases that are altering the planet's health.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Alarm over Uranium Accident

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the mountain resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche, in Argentina's southern Patagonia, expressed to Tierramérica their concern about an accident involving uranium at a plant near the city.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Pollution Persists in Lake Atitlán

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Guatemala's Lake Atitlán, located 140 km west of the capital and considered the country's most beautiful, is contaminated with agrochemicals and human waste from nearby towns, restaurants and hotels.

Ecobreves – AMAZON: Agro-Forest Management Agreement

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The promotion of agroforestry will be the economic strategy to improve the living standards of the population and protect the biodiversity of the Amazon and three other regions with rain forests, according to an agreement signed Jun. 24 in Washington by the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and Conservation International.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Environmental Coalition

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Four non-governmental organizations created the Access Venezuela coalition, which aims to track the government's promises on environmental management issues, and to conduct training and distribute information, one of its leaders, Alcira Ascanio, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Studying the Flora of the Amazon

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Sustainable economic exploitation of the riches of Brazil's forests gained a new tool with the book "Useful Fruits and Plants in Amazonian Life", a collection of scientific and traditional knowledge of 32 native species.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Regulations for Gas Emissions

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Guatemala's Environment and Natural Resources Ministry is drawing up regulations for gas emissions -- and could take effect before the end of the year.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Curbing Ozone Depletion

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Brazil cut its production and consumption of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used mainly in refrigeration and aerosols, by 82.8 percent. In absolute terms, the Environment Ministry announced on Jun. 10, the total fell from 10,000 tons in 1997 to less then 2,000 tons in 2004.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Volunteers to Take Census of Wetland Birds

By IPS Correspondents and - -
More than 150 people took part in a workshop of the Ornithologists Union of Chile, UNORCH, in the nation's capital, and volunteers received training to count birds in wetlands and establish databases to be used in species protection.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Eco-Museum in the Works

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Artists, environmentalists, educators and historians have proposed to set up an Ecological Museum of Lake Maracaibo, upon a platform over this body of water near the shore of the city of the same name -- oil capital of western Venezuela.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Reforestation to Fight Drought

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Two areas of southeastern Cuba hit especially hard by drought received international financing to plant trees -- cashews (Anacardium occidentale) and neems (Azadirachta indica) -- which will create new jobs and help protect both soil and biodiversity.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Ecologists Stop Construction on Reserve

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A group of Honduran ecologists has convinced the government to revoke an environmental permit to build houses in the mountains of La Tigra national park, an important area for water and forest resources surrounding the capital.

Ecobreves – PERU:: Oil Company Sanctioned

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Sixteen oil wells belonging to the Argentine transnational Pluspetrol, in the northeastern Peruvian department of Loreto, have been shut down as a sanction for contaminating some 100 hectares of forests and wetlands in the Huanganayacu gorge.
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