Tierramerica
Green hillsides in the Ecuadorean Andes. Credit: Photo Stock

ENVIRONMENT: Global Financial Crisis a Bad Sign for Andean Biodiversity

By Julio Godoy
The crisis affecting the financial sector and stock markets around the world could fuel the expansion of extractive industries in South America's Andean region, warn experts.
Green hillsides in the Ecuadorian Andes. - Photo Stock

Global Financial Crisis a Bad Sign for Andean Biodiversity

By Julio Godoy and - -
The global financial shake-up could intensify oil and gas exploitation in biodiverse areas of the South American Andes, already a source of environmental and social conflicts.
Economist Marcel Claude - Daniela Estrada/IPS

“Profit Is Enemy Number One of the Environment”

By Daniela Estrada and - -
Capitalism is a brutal, Mephistophelian intervention in the natural systems, says Chilean economist and ecologist Marcel Claude in this exclusive Tierramérica interview.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Indians Aim to Generate Their Own Energy

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the indigenous town of Tomalá, in the western Honduran department of Lempira, are seeking resources to build a mini-hydroelectric dam that would generate 10 to 15 megawatts.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Housing Credits Require Certified Lumber

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The leading provider of housing finances in Brazil, the government-run Federal Economic Bank, will only finance buildings made from certified legally-cut lumber, beginning in 2009.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Action for Sloths

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The southeastern district of the capital known as Baruta will place signs in public areas about the movement among trees -- and possible fall -- of brown-throated three-toad sloths (Bradypus variegatus), relatives of the anteater and the armadillo that move at just 200 meters per hour.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Vaccines for Hurricane-Hit Population

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents older than one year in the town of Holguín, one of the Cuban provinces hardest hit by Hurricane Ike, began receiving immunizations against leptospirosis with a homeopathic vaccine produced in Cuba.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Government Promotes Solar Panels

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The government of Chile this week will send a bill to Parliament to reduce taxes on the installation of solar panels on newly constructed homes that are worth up to 4,500 production units (Unidades de Fomento, UF), about 160,000 dollars.
The French city of Lyon was a pioneer in biking as public transportation. Credit: Public domain

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Pedalling Against Pollution

By Daniela Estrada
As greenhouse gas emissions drive global warming and fuel prices continue to soar, pedalling has come back in style in many cities of the industrialised world. In Chile, as well, public bicycle services, bike routes and special parking areas are some of the initiatives currently being developed.
Women of the Tocamacho community celebrate 210 years since the Garífunas' arrival in Honduras. Credit: Black Fraternal Organisation of Honduras

CENTRAL AMERICA: Garifunas Confront Their Own Decline

By IPS Correspondents
"The Garífuna were the best sailors in the world," says Jermonino Barrios, standing barefoot on this slender thread of land between the Laguna de Los Micos and the blue Caribbean Sea.
Women of the Tocamacho community celebrate 210 years since the arrival of Garífunas in Honduras. - Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras

Garífunas Confront Their Own Decline

By Michael Deibert and - -
The Garífuna culture, a "masterpiece" of human heritage according to UNESCO, could disappear as the result of the privatization of Central America's beaches.
The French city of Lyon was a pioneer in biking as public transportation. - Public domain

Pedaling Against Pollution

By Daniela Estrada and - -
Citizens from around the world are rediscovering the bicycle, an efficient, cheap and clean form of urban transportation.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sawdust to Remove Metals from Water

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Lumber waste is helping to clean up rivers and industrial effluents, removing heavy metals like chromium and lead, according to a study by the University of Brasilia.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Protests Against Cereal Pollution

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Based in a tent in the eastern Argentine city of Rosario, civil society groups are demanding action on a court order to shut down a cereal storage and production site that they say is polluting the environment with pesticides.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: A Highway Challenge

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mexican authorities approved the construction of 62 kilometers of highway in a forested area outside the capital, but environmentalists are preparing legal action and mobilizations, charging that the road would destroy a biodiverse area that is also essential for water production.

Ecobreves – CENTRAL AMERICA: Regional Lacks Environmental Policies

By IPS Correspondents and - -
In Central America "there are no uniform public policies to ensure that polluting our quality of life is also a matter of corruption and lack of transparency," said Roxana Salazar, environmentalist and interim judge in Costa Rica's Constitutional Court.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner Credit: Courtesy of UNEP

Q&A: "Future Prosperity Is in Green Technologies"

By Stephen Leahy
Achim Steiner, the eloquent executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), believes that Mexico could take a leadership role in the new "green" economy.
Producing traditional fish preserves. Credit: Courtesy of Proteger Foundation

ARGENTINA: Women Create Food and Jobs in Wetlands

By Marcela Valente
Wearing a cap and a white apron, Melina Lucero cuts the heads and tails off fish caught in the Paraná River, before skilfully filleting them. Her co-workers will process and package the fish to sell as traditional, small-scale fish preserves at food fairs along the banks of the river in Argentina.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Promoting Inclusive Recycling

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Very few municipalities in Chile apply “clear policies for waste management, with environmental, economic and social components, where all benefit,” Exequiel Estay, secretary-general of the National Movement of Recyclers, told Tierramérica.
Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director - Courtesy of UNEP

“Future Prosperity Is in Green Technologies”

By Stephen Leahy and - -
In times of economic crisis, the shift to a low-carbon economy is the smartest investment any country can make, says United Nations Environment Program chief Achim Steiner in this Tierramérica interview.

Ecobreves – CENTRAL AMERICA: Honduras and El Salvador Agree on Water Management

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The governments of Honduras and El Salvador will launch a binational project in 2009 to manage the water resources they share in the Lempa River zone, Karen Zelaya, the Honduran minister of cooperation, told Tierramérica.
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