Tierramerica
- Mauricio Ramos

The 'Green' Promises of CAFTA

By Diego Cevallos and - -
The environment chapter of the Central American-U.S. free trade agreement has environmental activists divided: for some it is merely ''symbolic'', for others it is a ''major victory''.

Unacceptable' Work Conditions in Chile's Fields

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Hundreds of thousands of people who work Chile's farmland are victims of abuse and mistreatment by employers and poisoning from pesticides, charge health, indigenous and union activists.

Ecobreves – AMAZON: Fight Against Mercury

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mercury in the rivers of the Amazon region is threatening the environment and human health, says the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), which is discussing action plans for curbing contamination from this heavy metal in the eight countries with Amazonian territory.

Ecobreves – CHILE:: Cellulose Plant Remains Closed

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Chilean regional environmental commission, COREMA, resolved to maintain the closure of the Arauco Constitución cellulose plant in Valdivia, in southern Chile, until it complies with four requisites for preventing contamination of the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Kids Care for Havana Bay

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A university environmental project implemented in several Havana schools aims to raise environmental awareness amongst children and adolescents for protecting the capital's bay, an ecosystem contaminated by the city's domestic and industrial waste.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Rescuing Nurse Sharks

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Ten small nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) whose mother was sold by fisherman were rescued off Venezuela's Margarita Island by scientists from the Shark Research Center.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: New Traffic Route for Capital

By IPS Correspondents and - -
National and city authorities are planning to build a second ''ring'' highway around the capital in a bid to ease traffic congestion.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Promoting Vegetable Oil for Cars

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A group of U.S. experts with the environmental group Sustainable Solutions Caravan proposed to government officials and civil society groups in Honduras the use of ''bio-fuel'' for cars as a means to reduce pollution.
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Fish Return to Havana Bay

By Patricia Grogg and - -
Officials assure that marine life is recovering in Havana Bay, one of the most polluted bays in the world. Contamination from wastewater and from petroleum products has been reduced, according to a report to which Tierramérica had access.
The puma is one of the inhabitants of the Darién region of Panama and Colombia - Claudio Contreras.

Alarm Sounded on Panama-Colombia Electrical Project

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Environmentalists fear that a project to connect the Colombian and Panamanian electrical systems will hurt Central America's largest protected area. The route of the power lines will be determined in six months.
Ignacio Chapela. -

''They want transgenics, good or bad''

By Diego Cevallos and - -
Biologist Ignacio Chapela, who discovered that Mexican corn had been contaminated with genetically modified material, spoke recently with Tierramérica. He denounces a campaign by the big biotech transnationals to undermine his reputation.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Pine Beetle Emergency

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Honduran government is working hard to prevent the spread of the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) plague in the northeastern department of Olancho, Roberto Cabrera, of the state-run forest development agency COHDEFOR, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: No to Unregulated Fishing

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Family fishing operations in Guatemala's Izabal Lake, the largest in the country, covering a thousand square kilometers, have denounced a rise in illegal fishing by smugglers, whose activities they say could push several species to extinction.

Ecobreves – PERU: Carrot and Stick for Polluters

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The reform of Peru's Environmental Code will include economic incentives for compliance with environmental regulations, lawmaker Fabiola Morales told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Entrepreneurs Dissuaded from Buying Preserve

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Protests by residents and by environmental groups against the sale and logging of 25,000 hectares in Argentina's General Pizarro nature preserve, in the northern province of Salta, led businessman Manuel Santos Uribellarrea to withdraw from the project, Greenpeace representatives told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Promoting Commercial Forestry

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The forest industry is responsible for 38,000 direct jobs in Colombia, and if the area planted for commercial ends would expand from 150,000 to 3.0 million hectares in the next five years, the number of jobs would be 760,000, according to ''Outlook for investment in the Colombian forest industry''.
Ecologists oppose government land reforms of the Hato Piñero, dedicated to cattle ranching and rich in plant and animal life. - Hato Piñero

Agrarian Reform Reaches the Forest Edge

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The land intervention policy of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez could hurt nature preserves that are that are rich in biological resources, warn environmentalists.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Bio-Construction at the World Social Forum

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The 5th World Social Forum put into practice the technique of bio-construction -- ''less expensive and more ecologically correct'' -- in building the venues for five days of conferences and debate by 120,000 civil society activists gathered in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Ecologists Applaud Energy Efficiency Plan

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The non-governmental Sustainable Chile Program congratulated Economy Minister Jorge Rodríguez for presenting a National Energy Efficiency Project, which includes standards for both the public and private sectors for rational use and saving energy.

Ecobreves – CARIBBEAN: Community Education to Save Birds

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of coastal ecosystems in two Cuban provinces, like their counterparts in Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, are learning in conference and workshops about protecting the 'yaguasa criolla' (Dendrocygna arobrea), a Caribbean bird that faces extinction.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Indians Pro-Water, Anti-Coal

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Indigenous and peasant communities of the northwestern Venezuelan oil-producing state of Zulia, bordering Colombia, founded the Water for Life Committee as a counterweight to a government proposal to mine coal in the watersheds of the area's two main rivers, the Socuy and Cachirí, and the Tulé reservoir.
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