Tierramerica

Ecobreves – PERU-BOLIVIA: Biodiversity Corridor

The governments of Peru and Bolivia are promoting the creation of a corridor of land for conserving biological diversity, connecting eight protected areas in Peru and seven in Bolivia, and covering some 30 million hectares in the tropical Andean region.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Step Closer to the Stockholm Accord

The Mexican government will ratify the Stockholm Convention on controlling the persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

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Green' Police – A Rare Species in Latin America

Crimes against the environment mostly go unpunished in the region. Only Brazil has an environmental police force, but its scope and authority are limited.

Rio+10 in Turbulent Waters

Eighty days before the World Sustainable Development Summit, also known as Rio+10, the negotiations on the plan of action were sunk. The thorniest issues will have to be debated at the Johannesburg meeting.

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Robert Watson – “The United States decided to shoot the messenger”

The renowned expert who lost the chairmanship of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a result of pressure from the United States, praises initiatives for voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Danger for Cotton-Top Tamarin Monkey

The zoo in the northern city of Barranquilla has launched a campaign to reverse the process of extinction of the tití monkey (Saguinus oedipus), or cotton-top tamarin, a species unique to the Colombian Caribbean region.

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Stars of the Sea

Starfish are fantastical creatures: they look like inhabitants of the heavens and the scientific name that identifies them, "asteroidea", only furthers that image. The shapes and colors of these mysterious beings capture the imagination.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: No Nuclear Waste!

- The governmental Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat of Argentina and the Federal Environment Council, made up of delegates from the provincial governments, are speaking out against congressional approval of an international contract that authorizes the import of nuclear waste.

Ecobreves – MEXICO:: Airport on Trial

The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation is studying the denunciations against the construction of an international airport near the Mexican capital.

Ecobreves – PERU: TV-Monitored Waterworks

The Potable Water and Sewage Service of the Peruvian capital installed tiny video cameras inside the pipeline network to detect ruptures and leaks, which present a danger that became evident during the cholera epidemic that erupted here in the 1990s.

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA:: Watching Hummingbirds Via Internet

A special chamber set up by biologists in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle allows Internet explorers to study the life and habitat of hummingbirds up close.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Invading Frogs Discovered

- Experts from the University of the Andes have detected the presence of the aggressive and exotic 'rana toro', or bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) in some aquatic ecosystems of the Venezuelan Andes, particularly in the natural and artificial lakes of the northwestern state of Mérida.

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Latin America Proposes Renewable Energy Quota

On behalf of the region, Brazil will head to the Rio+10 Summit in Johannesburg this August with a concrete and quantifiable proposal for the obligatory use of a minimum 10 percent "clean" energy sources by 2010.

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Plowed Under: WTO and the Small Farmer

The Agreement on Agriculture signed under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks has not produced the predicted results, but rather is the first step in making food production into a business monopolized by a few and driving small farmers off the land.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Protecting Indians' Access to Water

The Chilean government plans to set up a monitoring council to ensure that the Aymara indigenous communities living in the country's extreme north have access to the water of the Loa River.

An Environmental Ethics Manifesto

Latin America and the Caribbean will present a call for a new environmental ethic at the Rio+10 Summit in August. The manifesto highlights the importance of education and urges a new moral, ecological and cultural economy.

Ecobreves – REGIONAL: Mountains in Danger

The fragility of the mountainous systems of South America, Meso-America and the Caribbean in withstanding the onslaught of development will be the central them of the Regional Conference on Mountains, to take place in Cuba, May 29-31.

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The Cactus

The image conjured by the cactus is a plant covered in thorns that grows in the desert. And it is true; cactus species are adapted to survive in situations of extreme dryness, though this trait is not enough to ensure they will survive in the modern world.

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Promises and Challenges of Ecotourism

Just three to seven percent of the 680 million travelers worldwide are considered ecotourists, but this sector of tourism has great potential for growth.

Argentina Sees Growing Interest in Eco-Villages

Sustainable development is possible, say the residents of the Gaia community, who define their home as an ecovillage where they respect the environment and live "life itself."

Ecobreves – PERU:: Campaigning for 35 New Protected Areas

The Biomar consortium, made up of 10 environmental organizations from Peru and abroad, is attempting to convince the Peruvian government to declare 25 islands and 10 areas of the country on the Pacific coast wildlife refuges.

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