Tierramerica
Mary Simon and a map of the Inuit communities. - Courtesy of Inuit organization

Arctic Peoples Claim Their Right to Cold Temperatures

By Stephen Leahy and - -
The indigenous residents of the Arctic want to continue living in the glacial cold in which their culture was forged, and which is now threatened by climate change, says Canadian Inuit leader Mary Simon in this exclusive Tierramérica interview.
Margarita Mbyvângi Credit: Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena

Q&A: Paraguayan Indigenous Minister Calls for Patience

By IPS Correspondents
Margarita Mbyvângi, the first indigenous woman to hold a ministerial post in Paraguay, is facing charges of ineffectiveness from among her own ranks. But she is asking for time to achieve her goal: that no one will suffer the slavery and rootlessness that she experienced for nearly 20 years.
The beach in Manuel Antonio Park, on Costa Rica's Pacific coast Credit: Diana Cariboni/IPS

ENVIRONMENT: Costa Rica Promotes Greener Air Travel

By Daniel Zueras
Costa Rica is hoping for a big jump in its Clean Trips (Viajes Limpios) programme, which allows air passengers to offset the climate-changing gas emissions from their airplane flights by paying for activities that preserve the country's forests.
An Aymara woman plants trees in a mountainous valley in Bolivia. Credit: Franz Chávez/IPS

CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Markets – What’s In It for the Poor?

By Stephen Leahy
Climate experts meeting in Poznan, Poland, promised to create a new pot of carbon-credit gold for the rural poor as guardians of rural lands and forests.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Extension for Overflowing Garbage Dump

By IPS Correspondents and - -
For the fifth time in five years, the Mexico City government has won a postponement for closing down the Bordo Poniente, the capital's largest garbage dump, which is full beyond capacity.
An Aymara woman plants trees in a mountainous valley in Bolivia. - Franz Chávez/IPS

Carbon Markets – What's In It for the Poor?

By Stephen Leahy and - -
Paying the poor to conserve forests through a market scheme is the new star among initiatives in climate talks.
Margarita Mbyvângi - Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena

Paraguayan Indigenous Minister Asks for Patience

By Diego Cevallos and - -
Margarita Mbyvângi faces the challenge of becoming the first woman and first indigenous person to head Paraguay's indigenous policy.
The beach of Manuel Antonio Park, on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. - Diana Cariboni/IPS

Costa Rica Promotes Greener Air Travel

By Daniel Zueras and - -
Every air traveler to or from Costa Rica may be paying the government five dollars per ton of carbon dioxide produced by the flight. The funds will be earmarked for conserving and reforesting the country's jungles.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Complaints Against Draining of Paraná Delta

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Residents of the town of Baradero, in the north of Buenos Aires province, have sounded the alarm about the construction of embankments intended to drain part of the Paraná River delta.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: A Non-Polluting Charcoal Oven?

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The National Space Research Institute, based in the southern Brazilian city of São José dos Campos, has developed an oven that reduces the emissions of smoke and dangerous gases in the small-scale production of plant-based charcoal.
Coffee plantation workers in Los Cacaos, Dominican Republic. Credit: Valeria Vilardo/IPS

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: A Place for Eco-Coffee

By IPS Correspondents
Communities in 10 southern provinces of the Dominican Republic are feeling the benefits from the collective activities of small growers of organic coffee. Women participate in the production and sale of the coffee, and their sons and daughters are pursuing studies in order to improve the sector's productivity.
Kanayo Nwanze Credit: Courtesy of IFAD

Q&A: Urgent Seeds for Haiti

By Sabina Zaccaro and Kanayo Nwanze
The participation of the most vulnerable people is essential for Haiti's development programmes, says Kanayo Nwanze, vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which this year earmarked 10.2 million dollars for aid to help the poorest country of the Americas survive the current food crisis.
Coffee plantation workers in Los Cacaos, a southern community of the Dominican Republic. - Valeria Vilardo/IPS

A Place for Eco-Coffee in the Dominican South

By Valeria Vilardo and - -
Fair trade, organic production, gender equality and education form part of the strategies of thousands of coffee-growers for escaping poverty in the south of the Dominican Republic.
Kanayo Nwanze - Courtesy of IFAD

Urgent Seeds for Haiti

By Sabina Zaccaro, Kanayo Nwanze, and - -
Haiti's food security requires the availability of seeds and improvements in harvests and irrigation, asserts IFAD vice-president Kanayo Nwanze in this Tierramérica interview.
Illustration credit - Fabricio Vanden Broeck

Climate Change and Tomorrow's Losers

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Global warming creates an opportunity to induce the necessary changes for a better world order, and for the poor, who -- with or without climate change -- are otherwise tomorrow's losers, says Chilean economist Marcel Claude in this column for Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – GLOBAL: Climate Debate Cool in Poland

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The United Nations conference on climate change, Dec. 1-12 in Poznan, Poland, faces the task of agreeing a plan of action for negotiations in 2009 for an obligatory pact for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Mangroves Cut Down to Protect Lagoon

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Venezuela's Environment Ministry began cutting down hundreds of meters of mangroves in Las Peonías lagoon, the core of a 2,100-hectare park near Maracaibo (600 km west of Caracas), despite regulations that protect mangrove ecosystems.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Anti-Pesticide Groups Take On the Government

By IPS Correspondents and - -
The Alliance for a Better Quality of Life and the Latin American Anti-Pesticide Action Network (RAP-AL) of Chile staged a protest outside the government's Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) headquarters about the continuation of aerial fumigation.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Affordable Eco-Housing

By IPS Correspondents and - -
A low-cost home that can be built in five days from recycled material only and equipped to use solar energy and rainwater is a social and environmental solution that is gaining ground in Brazil.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Energy Collaboration in the Caribbean

By IPS Correspondents and - -
Eleven countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) are benefitting from a program promoted by Cuba for saving energy, the island nation's deputy foreign minister, Alejandro González, said ahead of the regional summit Monday.
Elba Muñoz pours her heart into saving monkeys. Credit: Daniela Estrada/IPS.

ENVIRONMENT-LATIN AMERICA: Personal Crusades for Nature

By Daniela Estrada
Elba Muñoz rescues and cares for mistreated monkeys in Chile; Trinidad Vela revived a dry riverbed and saved her Peruvian community from drought; Rubén Pablos has spent 12 years restoring the native Patagonian forest in southern Argentina; and Angela Corvea is cultivating awareness about the environment in Cuba.
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