Tierramerica

Spain’s Crisis Pits Fair Trade Against Empty Wallets

By Inés Benítez
The Spanish public is well aware of the widespread exploitation of workers in the globalised garment industry. But low prices, shrinking buying power and the lure of brand names act as strong disincentives to responsible clothes shopping.
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Congested and Polluted, Mexico City Embraces Carpooling

By Emilio Godoy
In a megacity like the Mexican capital, plagued by air pollution and traffic jams, carsharing and carpooling initiatives offer obvious advantages in addition to the economic benefits enjoyed by users.

Hydroelectric Project Threatens Chile’s Lake Neltume

By Marianela Jarroud
“This is paradise and they want to destroy it. This has had an enormous psychological impact on us,” says Guido Melinao, leader of the Mapuche indigenous community of Valeriano Cayicul, referring to the Neltume hydroelectric power plant project planned by the Spanish-Italian consortium Endesa-Enel.

Rio Maps Flood Risk to Avert Annual Disaster

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Hoping to prevent the tragedies that have become an annual event every rainy season, authorities in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro plan to require that municipal governments include environmental risk mapping in their infrastructure projects, in order to prohibit construction in vulnerable areas.

Buenos Aires Mayor Slammed for Slow Pace on “Zero Waste” Targets

By Sebastián Lacunza
The garbage strewn across many streets and sidewalks in the Argentine capital reflects the inefficiency of a waste collection and treatment system that, paradoxically, has become increasingly costly for the city’s residents, say civil society groups and opposition parties.

Controversy Brews Over Climate Change Adaptation Project

By Helda Martínez
An ambitious programme of infrastructure works to overcome the risks of climate change in Cartagena de Indias, a city on the Caribbean coast in northern Colombia, has generated controversy, with authorities predicting benefits while parts of the affected population voice criticisms.

Cuban Sugar Sector Aims for Recovery in 2013

By Patricia Grogg
The Cuban sugar industry seems to be experiencing a rebirth thanks to an economic modernisation programme that has allowed for an injection of foreign capital as part of a strategy to strengthen and diversify this key sector.

Indigenous Chileans Still Fighting Pinochet-Era Highway Project

By Marianela Jarroud
For more than two decades, Mapuche indigenous people in the Chilean region of Araucanía have been fighting the construction of the Ruta Costera (Coastal Highway), a megaproject initially conceived during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) which has already caused significant archeological and cultural losses and damages.

Amazon Regional Alliance to Confront the Climate Emergency

By Milagros Salazar
“When someone in Peru sneezes, someone in Brazil catches a cold. When a barrel of oil is produced in Ecuador, a neighbouring country ends up buying it,” says prominent environmentalist Yolanda Kakabadse.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Environmental Delays Raise Electricity Costs, Says Gov’t

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Chilean government claims that delays in the installation of power lines due to legal proceedings and obstacles to the issuing of environmental permits will keep electricity prices high until at least 2016.
Luis Aillapán and his wife Catalina Marileo faced criminal charges in 2002 for defending their land. - Marianela Jarroud/IPS

Indigenous Chileans Continue to Oppose Pinochet-Era Highway Project

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Coastal Highway is meant to connect one end of Chile’s long, narrow territory to the other, running north to south as close to the Pacific Ocean as possible.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Livestock Raising Adapted to Climate Change

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A change in forage crops and the search for new sources of water are among the climate change adaptation measures implemented as part of an initiative undertaken by eight cattle farming cooperatives in Camagüey, 534 km from the Cuban capital.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: More Research Needed on Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Only six percent of research on climate change and biodiversity conducted worldwide since 1990 addresses the impacts of these changes on biodiversity in Brazil, according to a literature review carried out by the Boticário Group Foundation.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: First Eco-Municipality

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Rómulo Gallegos, a municipality in the southwestern plains of Venezuela where cattle ranching is an economic mainstay, has become the first of the country’s 333 municipalities to adopt legislation on ecologically oriented land management.

New Patient Profile and Treatment for Chagas Disease

By Estrella Gutiérrez
Chagas disease, the third most serious infectious disease in Latin America, is developing a “new face” and moving into urban areas, while a new treatment may offer hope for millions of sufferers.

Community Water Management Stuck in Legal Limbo*

By Emilio Godoy
Community-based water supply systems, which serve thousands of rural communities in Mexico, are seeking official recognition under the new federal legal framework currently under development.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: CO2 Emissions from Amazon Construction Timber Calculated

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Every cubic meter of wood extracted from the Amazon and prepared for use in construction releases between 6.5 and 24.9 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), from the time the trees are cut down until their final transportation to the market in the former of boards, panels and other timber products.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA : Insufficient Protection Against Chemical and Nuclear Accidents

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Environmental organizations are carefully monitoring the consequences of a toxic cloud that spread over downtown Buenos Aires on Dec. 6, and have warned of a lack of preparation to deal with a major chemical disaster.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Environmentalists Will Manage Protected Areas

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Beginning in 2013, seven protected areas in Honduras will be managed by seven environmental organizations, who will be officially responsible for their protection.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Resources Demanded to Confront Climate Change

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Environmental organizations are calling for an adequate budget for the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its impacts.

Native Communities in Peru Take Charge of Environmental Monitoring

By Milagros Salazar
At the end of every month, with the skill of an environmental engineer, Wilson Sandi prepares a work plan that will be used by Achuar indigenous people, like him, to document the scars left by 40 years of oil drilling in the Peruvian Amazon region of Loreto.
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