Tierramerica

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon's Secrets Revealed

By IPS Correspondents and - -
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

By IPS Correspondents and - -
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

By IPS Correspondents and - -
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 – PERU: Andean Glaciers Melting

By IPS Correspondents and - -
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

By IPS Correspondents and - -
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.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Paying to Care for Forests and Monarchs

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mexican peasant farmers who live in the areas where the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) spends its winters will receive funds to take care of their forests.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Seeds of Literacy

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A program for literacy and to promote new productive activities like reforestation are under way in communities of the northern Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz, with financial backing from the European Union.

Andean Nations Bet on Bio-Trade

By Humberto Márquez and - -
The extraordinary biological wealth of South America's Andean countries is beginning to pay off for those who take advantage of it, feeding the demands of the international market
A dangerous mountain of lead slag awaits elimination - Courtesy of the Latin American Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley

Cleaning Up Lead Contamination Along Mexican-U.S. Border

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The inter-governmental program Border 2012 has begun to clean up toxic industrial waste that for a decade have been a presence in the lives of 10,000 people near the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: A Bill to Save the Caldén Tree

By IPS Correspondents and - -
- 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 – BRAZIL: Savannah to Disappear by 2030

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The ''cerrado'', a type of savannah that covers a vast part of central and western Brazil, will disappear by 2030 if current rates of deforestation continue, says the environmental watchdog Conservation International.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Families Resettle in 'Eco-Neighborhood'

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The ''eco-neighborhood'' is the destination of 1,700 poor families who in 1999 took over a 22-hectare area in the Chilean capital's Peñalolén district, in the foothills of the Andes.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Desalinization on Margarita Island

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The fishing community of San Francisco, in the most remote and arid region of Venezuela's Margarita Island, will launch in August a desalinization plant intended to alleviate the thirst of the town's 3,500 inhabitants

Ecobreves – CUBA: Drought Halts Reforestation

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The long drought that has hit Cuba is blocking reforestation efforts, which in the past decade were able to increase the island's forest index to more than 23 percent. In 1959, that index had fallen to 13.7 percent.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Regulating Transgenics

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) is promoting a bill in the Guatemalan Congress to regulate the influx into the country and the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: EU Backs Environmental Campaign

By IPS Correspondents and - -
An environmental defense campaign will get under way in 25 Honduran municipalities in two months, with nine million dollars in financing from the European Union, Environment Minister Patricia Panting told Tierramérica.
Recycled cardboard kitchen cabinets, designed by Marco Capellini. - Matrec

Bricks and Cement Can Be Friends of the Environment

By Mario Osava and - -
Creativity is the key to making construction an environmentally sustainable enterprise. This industry consumes more than half of the natural resources extracted in Latin America. There is more construction and demolition rubble than other kinds of urban waste, say experts.

Recycling Is an Art

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Recycled plastic, paper and aluminum are the raw materials for eco-designers, who dream up new manufactured objects that save energy and reduce industrial waste.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Green Municipality

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the western Honduran municipality of Tomalá opted one year ago not to burn any more forest to create farmland, and to protect the area's micro-watersheds.
Brazil will build hydroelectric plants under new regulations -

Energy Debate in Turbulent Waters

By Mario Osava and - -
Brazil is once again putting priority on hydroelectric dams, a strategy ecologists criticize because of its potentially high environmental and social costs. But officials promise strict prior evaluations.

Learning to Live with Drought

By Patricia Grogg and - -
In May, not one province in Cuba saw more than 60 percent of the historic average of rainfall. The government is taking emergency measures.
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