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Sunday, November 8, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
“We Must Seek Alternatives to the Aysén Dams”
The government should hire consultants to audit the dams and environmental projects, says Chilean Fernando Avila, expert in corporate environmental responsibility.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Farm Prices Push Deforestation
The rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed nearly 50 percent in the last three years, but that trend has been reversed according to a new report.Ecobreves – CHILE: Call to Cut Calories in Flavored Milks
The Chilean consumer group ODECU is urging companies that make flavored milks to reduce the calories of those products, and pushing for a law requiring labeling foods with the colors of a traffic light.Ecobreves – CUBA: Insufficient Showers
- The persistent and in some cases torrential rains that thrashed Cuba's eastern provinces in recent weeks do not mean an end to the drought there or other regions of the country -- thought they did benefit agriculture.Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: African Snail Attacks Local Flora
The giant African land snail (Achatina fulica), first found in Venezuela a decade ago, is devouring leaves and fruits in gardens and small farm plots in Aragua, in the north, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Ambitious Inventory of Marine Life
In less than five years, an international scientific project will complete an analysis of the state of conservation of 20,000 marine species.
Farming Faces Phosphate Shortfall
Global reserves of phosphorous, essential for agriculture, could run out in 60 to 100 years, warn experts.Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Pact for Olancho Forest
Timber businesses and environmental groups in the northeastern Honduran department (province) of Olancho announced Oct. 8 that they had agreed on a pact for forestry management, under military supervision, of the Telica River Basin.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Banana Pest Genome Deciphered
The Brazilian agricultural research agency EMBRAPA completed, along with U.S., French, Dutch and Mexican institutions, the sequencing of the 11,000 genes of the fungus that causes black sigatoka, which plagues banana plantations around the world.Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Forestry Law Awaits Elections
The Argentine Senate will not debate the native forest protection bill until after the Oct. 28 elections, despite an effort by environmentalists that collected 1.2 million signatures demanding passage of the law, parliamentary sources told Tierramérica.Ecobreves – MEXICO: Hydroelectric Dam Is Dead, Say Farmers
The refusal of Mexican authorities to give up on construction of La Parota hydroelectric dam in the southern state of Guerrero, suspended by a court ruling, is a crude deception, say peasant farmers.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon Pact for Zero Deforestation
Eliminating deforestation in the Amazon by 2015 is the target announced by nine environmental groups Oct. 3 in Brasilia.
The Unusual Wealth of the Chocó
Colombia's megadiverse Chocó region lacks a sustainable development plan. A handful of researchers are looking for the key to prosperity for its extremely poor communities.Ecobreves – CHILE: Demand for Law Against Agro-Toxins
The Alliance for a Better Quality of Life has asked Chile's President Michelle Bachelet to give urgent status to a bill that bans the storage, transport and sale of pesticides of 1A (highly dangerous) and 1B (very dangerous) pesticides.
Latin America Has Turned Its Back on the Sea
The seas of Latin America and the Caribbean, the most productive in the world, are left outside the mechanisms for conservation of protected areas.Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Local Governments Prepare for Forestry Law
The environmental agencies of 23 municipalities, in four of the 18 Honduran departments (provinces), began last week to study the implementation of the new Forestry Law, passed in mid-September after eight years of pushing from environmental groups.Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Parks on Yellow Alert
A "conservationist meter" applied to eight of Venezuela's 43 national parks by the non-governmental organization Vitalis shows "yellow alert", between red for "danger" and green for "satisfactory".Ecobreves – CUBA: Prize-Winning Eco-Construction Technique
A Cuban approach for constructing and repairing homes with ecological materials that are resistant to natural disasters received the World Habitat Award on Oct. 1, awarded annually by the Britain-based Building and Social Housing Foundation.
Conservation Expands in Latin America
One park ranger for every 30,000 hectares is the Latin American average that best demonstrates the lack of resources earmarked for conservation, though the total protected area is on the rise.
Forests Join the Carbon Market
How to include forest protection in the mechanisms for curbing climate change is reaching the fore of scientific and political debate.Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Prize for Microfiltering Membranes
The Brazilian company PAM, awarded Sep. 19 as the best firm "incubated" by the National Association of Promoting Entities of Innovative Enterprise, is the first producer of microfiltering membranes in Latin America.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Tierramérica is the main communications platform on sustainable development and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is produced by IPS Noticias, the agency’s Spanish-language service, which created it jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with later support from the World Bank. The weekly editions of Tierramérica are published in Spanish, Portuguese and English and are picked up and printed by dozens of media outlets in the region. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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