Tierramerica

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Satellite Reveals Deforestation

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Global positioning satellite technology is being used by Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy since July to detect cases of forest mismanagement.
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Eco-Demands Give Way to Money

By Gustavo González and - -
Environmentalists say the payment of more than a million dollars to four indigenous women who had opposed construction of the Ralco hydroelectric dam is a blow to democracy. The energy plant is to begin operations in 2004.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Genetics Reinforce Sugar Industry

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The finalization of the sugarcane genetic map by Brazilian researchers this month will help Brazil maintain leadership in sugar production and export, say experts in the sector.
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Human Cloning

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The InterAcademy Panel, comprising 60 international scientific organizations, has called on all countries to ban human cloning experiments. The appeal reflects the viewpoint of a broad swath of the scientific community, warning that the cloning process -- which has been conducted with animals -- deteriorates genetic mechanisms and would cause human suffering.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Asbestos Victims Receive Aid

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Chile's governmental National Environment Commission (CONAMA) made a pledge Sep. 23 to the Asbestos Victims Association to begin a new phase of joint efforts to finalize solutions for families that have been exposed to this carcinogen in the capital's Maipú district.

The Dilemma of the Ozone Hole and Climate Change

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Scientists hope by 2005 to launch alternatives to two chemicals used as replacements for ozone-depleting CFC gases but which themselves contribute to climate change.
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The Cartagena Protocol

By IPS Correspondents and - -
On September 11 the Cartagena Protocol entered into force, the first international treaty on the transfer, management and use of organisms modified using biotechnology techniques. It is hoped that the treaty will foment the safe use of transgenics, an issue that has awakened a heated global debate, pitting the United States against Europe.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Bacteria Eat Alkaline Batteries

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Bacteria Eat Alkaline Batteries BUENOS AIRES - Sulfur-eating bacteria may be the solution to the contamination caused by used alkaline batteries, say scientists at Argentina's National University of San Martín.

Ecobreves – PERU: Recycling Plan for Lima

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Peruvian non-governmental Office of Environmental Assessment and Consulting is designing a plan to organize the efforts of some 5,000 informal garbage collectors, who recycle 10 percent of Lima's solid waste.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Dumps Threaten Aircraft

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A program to relocate the garbage dumps near the northern Colombian airport of Barranquilla and a citizen education campaign aim to put an end to flight safety problems.

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Crocodile Center Opens Its Doors

By IPS Correspondents and - -
On Sep. 26 the first center dedicated to environmental education and research of crocodiles and caimans opens its doors in Costa Rica.

Ecobreves – NICARAGUA: Respiratory Illnesses on the Decline

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The incidence of acute respiratory ailments in Nicaragua decreased 23 percent in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2002, says Maribel Orozco, director of epidemiological monitoring at the Ministry of Health.
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Pre-Columbian Society Found in the Amazon

By Mario Osava and - -
Brazilian Carlos Fausto, member of the team that made the discovery, tells Tierramérica how the new archeological evidence debunks the myth that the Amazon was an uncivilized area prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Ten Years Protecting the Environment

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran non-governmental Vida Environment and Development Foundation has under its custody, after a decade of existence, 300,000 hectares of protected areas.

Extractive Industries on the Defensive

By IPS Correspondents and - -
British Petroleum and Shell International, among other transnationals, pledge to respect protected areas, but conservationists are wary of the big business discourse.
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Fish and the Fishing Industry In Peril

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Fish species such as the porgy and the corvina are languishing in the seas of Central America, and the future of small-scale fishing operations is in jeopardy due to overexploitation of fish stocks and lack of planning.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Bacteria Against Contamination

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The chemistry department of the University of Carabobo in Valencia, central Venezuela, is investing the use of thermophile bacteria, which exist at temperatures of 40 to 60 degrees Celsius, as biological catalysts for destroying organic material that has contaminated Cabriales River and Lake Valencia.

Ecobreves – GLOBAL:: Desertification Threatens Migratory Birds

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Desertification threatens the hundreds of millions of migratory birds that cross the world's arid regions twice a year, warned experts at the conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held here Aug. 25 to Sep. 5.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Canine Disease Kills Foxes

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Distemper, a disease that affects dogs in particular, is claiming the lives in Chile of culpeo and chilla foxes, both protected species, in the areas of Puerto Velero and Fray Jorge National Park, 350 km north of the capital
Indigenous boy, resident of Mexico's Lacandona jungle - Mauricio Ramos.

Protected Areas – On Paper Only

By Humberto Márquez and - -
Many of the 2,267 zones under protective legislation in Latin America and the Caribbean exist only on the paper that created them, says the United Nations Environment Program, stressing that the provisions for management and protection must be put into practice.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Radio Dramas Promote Public Health

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The non-governmental League of Mental Hygiene has designed a radio theater program titled "Let's Go to the Market", which begins broadcast this month by 150 community radio stations here, and aims to improve the population's health.
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