Tierramerica

Threat of Hydropower Dams Still Looms in Chile’s Patagonia

By Marianela Jarroud
After its victory in a nearly decade-long struggle against HidroAysén, a project that would have built five large hydroelectric dams on wilderness rivers, Chile’s Patagonia region is gearing up for a new battle: blocking a quiet attempt to build a dam on the Cuervo River.

It Takes More than Two to Tango – or to Clean up Argentina’s Riachuelo River

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Immortalised by a famous tango, the “Niebla del riachuelo” (Mist over the Riachuelo river) has begun to dissipate over Argentina’s most polluted river, much of which is lined by factories and slums. But two centuries of neglect and a complex web of political and economic interests are hindering a clean-up plan that requires a broad, concerted effort.

Eco-Friendly Agriculture Puts Down Roots in Spain

By Inés Benítez
José María Gómez squats and pulls up a bunch of carrots from the soil as well as a few leeks. This farmer from southern Spain believes organic farming is more than just not using pesticides and other chemicals – it’s a way of life, he says, which requires creativity and respect for nature.

Going Back to the Farm in Cuba

By Ivet González
Scattered houses amidst small fields of vegetables and other crops line the road to the La China farm on the outskirts of the Cuban capital. This is where Hortensia Martínez works – a mechanical engineer who has been called crazy by many for deciding to become a small farmer.

Chile Taps Solar Thermal Energy with Latin America’s First Plant

By Marianela Jarroud
With the first solar thermal power plant in Latin America, Chile hopes to begin to alleviate its energy crisis, which threatens to further drive up the high cost of electricity and to hinder the growth of investment, especially in the mining industry.

Gas and Sun Light the Way for Energy Industry in El Salvador

By Edgardo Ayala
El Salvador is making steady progress towards diversifying its energy sources, with a plan to bolster the use of cleaner sources and achieve a substantial change in its energy mix by 2018.

Problems Inspire Ingenious Solutions in Peruvian Amazon Town

By Milagros Salazar
He may look like a rapper, but 33-year-old José Antonio Bardález is the mayor of Jepelacio, in the Peruvian Amazon. His ingenious innovations in the municipality include transforming waste management into a source of income and making spring water a source of drinking water.

Nicaragua’s Mayagna People and Their Rainforest Could Vanish

By José Adán Silva
More than 30,000 members of the Mayagna indigenous community are in danger of disappearing, along with the rainforest which is their home in Nicaragua, if the state fails to take immediate action to curb the destruction of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, the largest forest reserve in Central America and the third-largest in the world.

Natural Gas – Both Crisis and Solution in Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
In April 2004, Argentina began to steadily cut natural gas exports to neighbouring Chile, triggering a major energy crisis and revealing structural problems in this vital sector.

Venezuelans Thirsty in a Land of Abundant Water

By Humberto Márquez
Although Venezuela has 520 long rivers, taps often run dry, many poor neighbourhoods depend on tanker trucks, water rationing remains a reality, and in some areas water quality is very poor.

Transgenics Prosper Amidst Pragmatism and Collateral Damage

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The advertising department of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta was on a roll in early 2004 when it published a map that dubbed a large area of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay the “United Republic of Soy”.

Conflict with Local Communities Hits Mining and Oil Companies Where It Hurts

By Stephen Leahy
Conflicts with local communities over mining, oil and gas development are costing companies billions of dollars a year. One corporation alone reported a six billion dollar cost over a two-year period according to the first-ever peer-reviewed study on the cost of conflicts in the extractive sector.

Community Electricity Lights Up Spain

By Inés Benítez
Until recently it was inconceivable for small groups of organised citizens in fully electrified industrialised countries like Spain to generate their own power from clean sources of energy, challenging the prevailing energy model.

Piping the Waters of Southern Chile to the Thirsty North

By Marianela Jarroud and Orlando Milesi
Three private sector initiatives are aimed at carrying water from the rivers in southern Chile to the arid north of the country by ship or through underwater or underground pipelines. The objective is to slake the thirst of the mining industry of this country, the world’s largest producer of copper.

Cuba’s Burgeoning Private Sector Hungry for Flora and Fauna

By Ivet González
The lack of markets to supply raw materials for Cuba’s new private sector, along with the poverty in isolated rural communities, is fuelling the poaching of endangered species of flora and fauna.

Mexico’s Climate Change Law – More Than Just Empty Words?

By Emilio Godoy
When Mexico’s climate change law went into effect in October 2012, it drew international praise. But what has happened since then?

Mercury Still Poisoning Latin America

By Emilio Godoy
Latin America is not taking the new global agreement to limit mercury emissions seriously: the hazardous metal is still widely used and smuggled in artisanal gold mining and is released by the fossil fuel industry.

Chile Graduates in Earthquake Preparedness

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile appears to have learned a few lessons from the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, and it successfully drew on them the night of Apr. 1, when another quake struck, this time in the extreme north of the country.

Despite Risks, Cuban Fisher Families Don’t Want to Leave the Sea

By Ivet González
The road to Guanímar, a fishing village on the southern coast of Cuba, is as narrow as the future of its 252 inhabitants, who don’t want to abandon the area despite its vulnerability to hurricanes, storm surges and flooding.

Uruguay’s Public Transport Goes Electric

By Inés Acosta
Uruguay plans to gradually replace oil-based fuels with electric energy in its public transport system, and is currently assessing the costs and benefits of the shift.

Small Argentine Town Becoming Waste Dumping Ground

By Fabiana Frayssinet
While the magnificent samba schools of Brazil were getting ready for the grand carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a modest carnival troupe toured a small Argentine town to draw attention to an urban problem that has brought the central province of Córdoba to the brink of environmental disaster: garbage.
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