Tierramerica

Ten Years of NAFTA

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Amidst both enthusiastic applause and loud condemnation, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) reaches its 10th anniversary on Jan. 1, 2004. Relegated to the back seat, environment and labor rights have been only accessory issues in that trajectory.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Hydroelectric Firm Helps Animals

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The state-run electric company Edelca, which builds and operates several hydroelectic dams in southeast Venezuela, turned in 95 rattlesnakes (Crotalus terrificus) to laboratories of the Central University to produce a snakebite serum.
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Bacteria Eat Up Oil in Antarctica

By Marcela Valente and - -
Argentine scientists are developing a biological process for combating oil spills in the extremely cold temperatures of the immense ice-covered continent.

Ecobreves – Colombian public transport to use natural gas…

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Colombian government, local Bogotá officials and business leaders signed an agreement to train a thousand mechanics in the capital in order to speed up the conversion of public transportation to natural gas, which produces less pollution than gasoline.

Ecuadorian Micro-Entrepreneurs Set Sights on E-Commerce

By IPS Correspondents and - -
More than 6,500 families in Ecuador sell their products via the Internet to Europe and North America -- and promote sustainable social, economic and environmental development.

Ecobreves – URUGUAY: Montevideo Seeks Healthy City Status

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Uruguayan capital's government has applied to the Pan-American Health Organization for formal membership in the Healthy Municipalities and Communities Network, which the regional agency has been operating since the 1990s.
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Guatemala's Agrarian Time-Bomb

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Guatemalan farmers say that land titles for just 162 farms have been issued since 1997. They accuse the Alvaro Portillo government of failing to comply with the land distribution that was agreed under the peace treaty that put an end to 36 years of civil war.

Ecobreves – MEXICO:: Fruit to Fight Poverty

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mexican scientists are working to turn 'pitaya' and 'xoconoxtle', native Mexican fruits, into products for export -- and catalysts for development for poor communities.

Curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Efforts are underway to convert 20,000 hectares of Brazilian pastureland back into the rich forest ecosystem it once was. Picking up the bill are polluting companies that want what is known as a carbon dioxide "sink" to clean up their sins against the environment.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Pinabete Tree Traffickers Arrested

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Eight people were detained in Guatemala in early December for trafficking in 'pinabete' (Abies gatemalensis), a plant that is on its way to extinction and is used illegally as a Christmas tree.

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Safe Haven for Leatherback Turtle

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Around 4,000 leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are rescued each year in Costa Rica from their nests that are threatened by floods or human movement through the nursery in Las Baulas Marine Park, on the country's northern Pacific coast.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Cuban Flicker Changes Habits

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The bird known as Fernandina’s or Cuban Flicker (Colaptes fernandinae) no longer pecks holes in tree trunks to make its nests, which is accentuating the risk that the species will go extinct, say researchers.

Ecobreves – NICARAGUA: TV Campaign to Protect Natural Beauty

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Nicaragua’s Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Arturo Harding, announced a televised campaign aimed at preserving and publicizing the natural beauty and biodiversity of the Biological Corridor of the Atlantic (CBA).

Ecobreves – CHILE: Farming Community Fights Construction of Thermoelectric Plant

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The rural community of San Francisco de Mostazal, 70 kms south of Santiago, filed a legal motion in court to block the construction of a thermoelectric plant that would hurt farm activity in the region and pollute the environment.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Peasant Farmers Occupy Yacambú Park

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Sixty landless peasant families have occupied part of the Yacambú Park, 300 kms west of Caracas. The park is the heart of the Yacambú River basin, which is to feed the Yacambú-Quíbor irrigation project.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Collecting and Storing Rainwater

By IPS Correspondents and - -
There is a growing focus on converting rainwater into a source of water for use by the population of Brazil, a country with enormous hydric resources, which are, however, poorly distributed. Experts are recommending, for example, the construction of underground dams to prevent evaporation, and the plowing of furrows with no inclination, to keep the rainwater from running off.
Coal plant in the United States, the country responsible for 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - Photo Stock.

Death Blow for Kyoto?

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Delegates to the ninth conference on climate change in Italy are discussing alternatives in case the Kyoto Protocol is done in by a “no” from Russia, which would doom 11 years of efforts.

Use of Biogas Expands in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg and - -
Tierramérica visits a biogas plant in the Cuban province of Pinar del Río. Some 100 biogas installations on the island are using the renewable fuel obtained from organic waste like manure or vegetable waste.

First Truly “Green-Friendly” Refrigerator

By Marcela Valente and - -
A new kind of refrigerator is being built in Argentina that will replace ozone-depleting refrigerants with non-polluting hydrocarbon gases. The clean technology, which originated in Europe, is being used in South America for the first time.

Environmental Rights

By IPS Correspondents and - -
More than half a century since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is celebrated on Dec. 10, the struggle for the right to a healthy environment is growing fast.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Protesting Against the Central American Free Trade Area

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Local farmers and ranchers are asking the Guatemalan government to exclude them from the free trade agreement that five Central American countries are negotiating with the United States.
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