Tierramerica

Conservationism Has Not Reached the Seas

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Since 1962, the year of the first World Parks Congress, the number of protected areas has jumped from two million square km to over 18 million today. But barely 0.5 percent of the earth's seas and oceans are included in that category.

Ecobreves – EL SALVADOR: Barrels of Dangerous Toxin

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A third of the 92 barrels with the dangerous agro-chemical toxaphene, abandoned in the eastern Salvadoran city of San Miguel, are damaged and are contaminating the air, soil and water, report environmental groups, including CESTA-Friends of the Earth.
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The Hubble's Days Are Numbered

By IPS Correspondents and - -
If no new maintenance missions are sent, the useful life of the magnificent telescope-satellite will come to an end in just three years. Much depends on a renewal of space exploration efforts by the United States.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Replacing Maize with Soy

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A tropical mold has forced maize growers in the northeastern Honduran department of Olancho to replace that crop with soy, vice-minister of agriculture José María Ordóñez, told Tierramérica.
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World Ozone Day

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The scientific community estimates that the ozone layer, which filters the ultraviolet rays of the Sun, could recover its density by the middle of this century. Recent studies show an improvement, a closing of the so-called ozone hole, but only in the upper stratosphere.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Reusing Urban Wastewater

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Researchers at the University of Brasilia, who have been studying water reuse since 1996, support local projects with the aim of saving 60 percent of urban water consumption.

Ecobreves – GLOBAL:: Demands to Eliminate Farm Subsidies

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Heads of state and of government meeting in Cuba urged the WTO Fifth Ministerial Conference, this week in the Mexican city of Cancun, to speed up the process of progressive elimination of agricultural subsidies.

Ecobreves – PERU:: Alcohol Replaces Lead in Fuel

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Peru will begin to reduce the proportion of lead in 84-octane gasoline by mixing in ethanol -- ethyl alcohol -- a non-contaminating substance produced from sugarcane.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: A Call to Protect Wetlands

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Non-governmental organizations in Argentina are proposing a "protected corridor" along the northeastern border, the country's principal source of freshwater.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Minister Replacement Criticized

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Mexico announced a swap in the post of environment minister Sep. 2, winning condemnation from environmental groups.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: 5,000 Trees Planted

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Some 5,000 trees were planted in the first month of a reforestation campaign carried out by residents of the southern Honduran community of Orocuina, in the highly desertified Choluteca department.

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Marine Park Clean-Up

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Costa Rican citizens are joining a global environmental campaign by cleaning up the National Whale Marine Park, on the Pacific coast, where tourism has taken its toll, says the United Nations Environment Program.

Investment: The Hidden Green Agenda at WTO's Cancun Meet?

By Gustavo Capdevila and - -
Conservationists fear that the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, Sep. 10-14 in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, will launch negotiations on rules that could undermine environmental policies.
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Plan for Nicaraguan Canal Reborn

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A feasibility study for an inter-ocean route "bigger than the Panama Canal" will be ready by the end of the year, say Nicaraguan officials.

Protected Areas

By IPS Correspondents and - -
There are 100,000 protected areas around the world, which together would cover an area larger than China and India combined. But very few provide benefits to the communities that inhabit them. Some 2,500 delegates are meeting in Durban, South Africa until Sep. 17 to discuss the problem, under the auspices of the Fifth World Congress on Protected Areas.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA:: Mayan Juridical System Revealed

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The recently published "Global View of the Mayan Juridical System" consolidates the principles and values of the millenniums-old Mayan culture, says Santos Mendoza, leader of the Waqxaqi'Noj Indigenous Defense Office.
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Animal Trafficking – A Cruel Billion-Dollar Business

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Hundreds of thousands of exotic species are trafficked from Latin America to Europe. Three out of four animals die before they reach their destination in this illegal business, which in terms of money flows is surpassed only by drugs and arms trafficking.
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Road Integration Plan Puts Amazon on Alert

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Conservationists fear that two binational transportation routes recently announced by Peru and Brazil will accelerate deforestation and trafficking of wild species in the Amazon.

Rain God Gets His Own Planet

By Humberto Márquez and - -
"It is a reminder of our existence," say Venezuela's Wayúu Indians, whose god Juyá is represented in name by a recently discovered planet.

WTO on the Road to Cancun

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The August 30 agreement on granting poor countries access to low-cost medicines was among the few items of good news on the rocky road towards the World Trade Organization's Fifth Ministerial Conference, to begin in the Mexican city of Cancun on Sep. 10. Disagreements persist in nearly all other areas of the ambitious negotiating agenda, including agricultural trade, services and investment. The environment, meanwhile, is but a marginal issue.

Ecobreves – CUBA: New Orchid Discovered

By IPS Correspondents and - -
- Scientists in Pinar del Río, 170 km from the Cuban capital, discovered a new orchid species, the Encyclia cajalbanensis, in the Sierra del Rosario forest, a mountainous zone of this biologically rich western province.
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