Tierramerica

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: City of Natal Promotes Recycling

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The first National Congress for Sustainable Management of Solid Waste, to take place Sep. 1-2 in the northeastern Brazilian city of Natal, will focus on garbage recycling projects that can be financed through the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
A main thoroughfare in Sao Paulo. - Photo Stock.

Infertility Linked to Environmental Factors

By Mario Osava and - -
The sperm count is on the decline among the male inhabitants of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Experts associate the problem with air pollution, chemical substances in food, and the stress of urban life.
Ricardo Sánchez. -

Low Marks in Achieving 'Green' Goals

By Diego Cevallos and - -
Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to lag behind as long as they fail to recognize that sustainable management of their natural capital can be good business, says Ricardo Sánchez, regional director of the United Nations Environment Program.
Oil spills wipe out marine life. - Photo Stock.

Biological Clean-Up for Oil Spills

By Dalia Acosta and - -
A Cuban bio-product cleans up marine oil spills in just 30 days. Some five million barrels of fuel are moved each day through the Caribbean waters in tanker ships.
- Photo Stock.

Untreated Wastewater Making the Seas Sick

By Diego Cevallos and - -
Between 80 and 90 percent of wastewater dumped into the seas of Latin America is untreated. And experts say there are few efforts to prevent the practice.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Testing a Method to Prevent Evaporation

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A powder sprinkled over water, creating a thin film, could reduce evaporation, say scientists who are working on ways to fight water shortages. Evaporation is a problem in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast region, where 75 percent of the water in its reservoirs is lost to this natural phenomenon.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: A Call to Protect Cloud Forest

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Local and national authorities are calling on the Guatemalan Congress to declare El Amay mountain, in the northern department of Quiché, a protected area, because it is one of the country's few cloud forests and is habitat for symbolic Guatemalan species like the quetzal bird.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Ban on Tuna Fishing

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Colombian Institute of Rural Development, INCODER, has banned tuna boats from fishing in the Pacific Ocean until Sep. 12. The measure is intended to protect the endangered yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (Thunnus obesus) tuna species.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Transgenic Maize Report Feeds Doubts

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Activists received with skepticism a scientific report released this month with great fanfare that assures that no trace of transgenic maize was found in a specific area of Mexico, a country where the presence of genetically modified corn has been recorded since 2001.

Ecobreves – CUBA: An Education in Sunshine

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A solar research center created in the eastern Cuban province of Granma aims to instill in youth attitudes of caring for natural resources.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Teeth from Stem Cells

By IPS Correspondents and - -
In around five years the people of the world could have the option of a "third set of teeth," formed from stem cells, if resources can be found for experiments, says Brazil's Silvio Dualibi, researcher with the Federal University of Sao Paulo.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Mayan Relics Discovered

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Archeologists led by Jonathan Kaplan, of the United States, discovered on Guatemala's southern coast a statue and a building with a 400-meter front -- part of a Mayan city corresponding to the late pre-classic period, 300 to 200 years B.C.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Environmentalists Fight Government Secrets

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Chilean government has pledged to five environmental groups to promote a constitutional reform that would eliminate the obstacles to information held by public entities.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Evidence of Mercury Contamination

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A study of 209 artisanal miners and their families in El Callao, a town in southeast Venezuela along the Yuruari River, a source of gold and diamonds, found that 105 of them had toxic levels of mercury from inhaling the vapors of the heavy metal.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Communities Unite to Fight Forest Pest

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Communities of the Río Plátano biosphere, in the northeastern departments of Olancho and Mosquitia, Honduras, have joined forces and in less than two months staved off four attacks by the northern pine weevil plague in the pine forest.
- Mauricio Ramos.

Indigenous Lands Turn to Desert

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Desertification affects 45 percent of Bolivian territory, claiming cropland and pastures that provide sustenance to many indigenous groups.
A black-necked swan in the Río Cruces nature sanctuar - Juan Tassara.

Factory Reopens After Charges of Killing Swans

By Mario Osava and - -
In late August the Chilean cellulose plant blamed for the death of some 500 black-necked swans will begin operating once again. Local indigenous and fishing communities oppose the reopening.

Unstoppable Fires in Europe's Forests

By Julio Godoy and - -
One-hundred thousand hectares of forests have been destroyed by fire in Spain, more than 70,000 hectares in Portugal, and around 15,000 in France so far this European summer.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: A Move for Responsible Forest Management

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The international Forest Stewardship Council and the Argentine Fundación Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Foundation) are calling on government and non-governmental organizations to draft standards for managing forests.
Tapajós River - Frederic Mertens.

Mercury, Another Threat to the Amazon

By Mario Osava and - -
Informal gold mining has led to more than 2,000 tons of the dangerous metal mercury being dumped into the Brazilian environment. The eight countries of the Amazon Basin will present a plan of action to protect the region in September.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Looking for Energy in the Trash

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Municipal authorities in the Guatemalan capital began tests to calculate the amount of gas emanating from the city's landfill, with hopes of using it as an energy source for nearby residents.
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