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Sunday, November 8, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Tierramerica - Ecobrief
Ecobreves – PERU: Microbes for Clean Mining
The contamination of rivers from mining waste, one of Peru's most pressing environmental problems, can be fought using microorganisms, according to the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN)Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Parrots and Macaws Back at Home
Nine yellow-crowned parrots (Amazona ochrocephala) and one scarlet macaw (Ara macao), all three months old, were repatriated to Venezuela by authorities from the neighboring island of Curacao, where they had been taken illegally.
Ecobreves – CUBA: Hurricane Charley No Relief for Drought
Hurricane Charley, which hit the western part of Cuba early in the morning of Aug. 13, caused a great deal of destruction but nothing to alleviate the island's ongoing drought.Ecobreves – CHILE: Ecologists Demand Land Regulation
The non-governmental organization Sustainable Chile is calling on the Ricardo Lagos government to implement territorial regulation based on national development goals, and has demanded the withdrawal of a parliamentary bill that would deregulate territorial planning that favors market interests.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Unbeatable Record for Aluminum Recycling
Brazil leads the way in recycling aluminum cans, with recovery reaching 89 percent of the total produced in 2003, surpassing Japan, which is second worldwide with 81.8 percent.Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Fungus Threatens Cacao
Cacao production in Guatemala could be devastated if moniliasis reaches the country, farmers warn the government. This plant disease is caused by a fungus that attacks the cacao bean and is already found in Honduras and El Salvador.Ecobreves – HONDURAS: NGOs and Military United Against Disaster
More than 400 soldiers from Latin America and representatives from 10 non-governmental organizations from Europe, Africa and the United States, began training Aug. 23 in disaster prevention, mine clean-up, disarmament in conflict zones, and protection of water sources.Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Nuclear Regulation Cutbacks Condemned
The Argentine office of the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace has called on the government to normalize the operations of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, an independent body created in 1987 to regulate and monitor nuclear power plants and supervise the transport of radioactive materials.Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Activists Against Mining
Guatemalan environmentalists are demanding that President Oscar Berger call off the processing of 360 applications for licenses to mine for gold, silver and nickel.Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Reforesting Gulf of Fonseca Islands
Honduran civil society groups and local authorities last week planted some 15,000 trees in an effort to reforest El Conejo and El Tigre islands in the Gulf of Fonseca, located on the Pacific coast and near the El Salvador border.Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Progress in Eradicating Coca by Hand
Three thousand families in the northwest Colombian department of Antioquia have benefited from the government's Family Forest Ranger program for eliminating illegal coca bush by hand and protecting the environment. The initiative was developed a year and a half ago.Ecobreves – MEXICO: Monarchs in Danger
Illegal loggers are destroying the sanctuaries of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in Mexico, says Homero Aridjis, head of the environmentalist Group of 100.Ecobreves – PERU: Growing Controversy Over Pipeline
Even now that the valves are open on the 700-km natural gas pipeline that extends to the Peruvian capital from the Camisea jungles in the south, criticisms of the project continue to heat up.Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Saving Lions from the Circus
Sasha and King, two African lions that the Venezuelan Environment Ministry rescued from a circus, will have a new home in the Caricuao Zoo, southwest of the nation's capital.Ecobreves – CHILE: Scientists and Artists Against Dragnet Fishing
Scientists, artists and writers in Chile joined a campaign Aug. 3 to effectively limit dragnet fishing, a technique they say devastates marine resources.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon's Secrets Revealed
Fires used to clear forest for farmland -- a practice known in Portuguese as 'quemadas' -- in the Amazon are responsible for three-quarters of Brazil's carbon dioxide emissions. But each hectare of forest absorbs, on average, a half-ton of carbon each year.Ecobreves – CUBA: Heritage Status Sought for Wetland
Cuba's Ciénaga de Zapata, one of the largest wetlands in the Caribbean islands, could have access to more environmental and social projects if it is declared a Heritage of Humanity nature site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Heavy Fines for Those Who Burn Tires
The Guatemalan Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has banned the burning of tires, and has established that violators of the ban -- which took effect on July 30 -- will face fines of 128 to 640 dollars.Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: A Bill to Save the Caldén Tree
- Non-governmental groups in Argentina are leading the discussion on a legislative bill on forests that would help preserve the 'caldén' (Prosopis caldenia), an endangered tree.Ecobreves – PERU: Andean Glaciers Melting
The shrinking of the glaciers in the Peruvian Andes is a cause of concern for the head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Klaus Topfer, who is supporting an initiative to measure the surface of the glaciers every five years.Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Reforesting 3,000 Hectares
The Colombian Fund for Agricultural Financing, FINAGRO, will cover the costs this year for planting lumber species of trees over 3,000 hectares in the northern departments of Cesar and Magdalena.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Tierramérica is the main communications platform on sustainable development and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is produced by IPS Noticias, the agency’s Spanish-language service, which created it jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with later support from the World Bank. The weekly editions of Tierramérica are published in Spanish, Portuguese and English and are picked up and printed by dozens of media outlets in the region. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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