SOUTH AMERICA ESTH NEWS, NUMBER 99

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 BRASILIA 001774

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USAID TO LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, PPC/ENV
TREASURY FOR USED IBRD AND IDB AND INTL/MDB
USDA FOR FOREST SERVICE: LIZ MAHEW
INTERIOR FOR DIR INT AFFAIRS: K WASHBURN
INTERIOR FOR FWS: TOM RILEY
INTERIOR FOR NPS: JONATHAN PUTNAM
INTERIOR PASS USGS FOR INTERNATIONAL: J WEAVER
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES: JWEBB
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL: CAM HILL-MACON
USDA FOR ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH: G FLANLEY
NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL: HAROLD STOLBERG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID TBIO ECON SOCI XR BR
SUBJECT: SOUTH AMERICA ESTH NEWS, NUMBER 99


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1. The following is the ninety-nine in a series of newsletters,
published by the Brasilia Regional Environmental Hub, covering
environment, science and technology, and health news in South
America. The information below was gathered from news sources from
across the region, and the views expressed do not necessarily
reflect those of the Hub office or our constituent posts.
Addressees who would like to receive a user-friendly email version
of this newsletter should contact Larissa Stoner at
stonerla@state.gov. The e-mail version also contains a calendar of
upcoming ESTH events in the region. NOTE: THE NEWSLETTER IS NOW
ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE BRASILIA INTRANET PAGE, BY CLICKING ON THE
'HUB' LINK.


2. Table of Contents

Agriculture
--(3)Embrapa and BASF create first Brazilian genetically modified
soybean variety
--(4)Peru City Bans GM to Protect Native Potatoes

Forests
--(5)Brazil Launches Inquiry into Illegal Logging Claims
--(6)Chile's: Senate Passes Native Forest Law
--(7)Chile's Forestry Sector Set to Expand Internationally
--(8)Peru-Brazil: Tribes Flee 'Red Gold' Rush
--(9)Timber Stolen From Indigenous Land in Brazil Receives
Certification from Smartwood-FSC Peru
--(10)Brazil: Steel and Eucalyptus Heat Up Eastern Amazon

Fishing & Marine Conservation
--(11)Chile: Highly Contagious Fish Virus Detected In Chiloe

Protected Areas
--(12)In the Amazon: Conservation or Colonialism?

Science & Technology
--(13)Venezuela: Shell Allocates USD2.6 Million for Science

Waste Management & Pollution
--(14)Guyana: World Wildlife Fund Sounds Mercury Warning
--(15)Chile's Conama Wants New Study on River Polluted By Celco
--(16)Paraguay: Hospitals - Generating Health or Pollution?

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Energy
--(17)Brazil Works on Biofuel Environmental Certification
--(18)Guyana Can Be Bio-Fuel Pioneer, says IDB President
--(19)Ethanol Sugarcane Threatens Brazil's Wooded Savanna
--(20)Brazilian Amazon Produces Sugar Cane For Ethanol

General
--(21)Guyana Signs Millennium Challenge Corporation Grant to Support
Fiscal Reforms
--(22)Peru: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Receives
Donation from World Bank

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Agriculture
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3. Embrapa and Basf Create First Brazilian Genetically Modified
Soybean Variety

AUG. 08, 2007 - The Brazilian federal agricultural research agency
Embrapa and German multinational BASF announced the development of
the first Brazilian genetically modified plant: a soybean variety
resistant to herbicides. Story says that the product is the result
of ten years of research and that it will compete with a genetically
modified variety produced by Monsanto.

Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia based on report in O
Estado de Sao Paulo


4. Peru City Bans GM to Protect Native Potatoes

JULY 24, 2007 - The regional government of Cusco, Peru has banned
genetically modified (GM) products in the region to protect the
diversity of thousands of native potato varieties and other Andean
food crops. The order was announced July 20 at a press conference.
It forbids GM research and the sale, cultivation, use and transport
of GM products in the Cusco region. Abel Caballero, head of the
regional government's natural resources and environment department,
said the government made the decision after considering the risk of
genetic and environmental contamination from GM products, as well as
the threat to people's health and their ancient culture. The

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government announced they will promote conservation programs for
native biological crops and programs to recover ancient knowledge
and practices related to biodiversity. Developing and using
genetically modified organisms is currently not allowed in Peru, as
the country has not yet adopted laws governing their safe use.

Source - SciDev

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Forests
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5. Brazil Launches Inquiry into Illegal Logging Claims

AUG. 23, 2007 - Brazil's government has launched an investigation
following accusations that it was selling off large tracts of the
Amazon under cover of sustainable development programs. The
allegations, first reported in The Independent this week, centered
on a program to settle homeless people in the Amazon which has been
hijacked by commercial logging interests. Greenpeace, which led an
eight-month investigation into the settlements, said the policy was
leading to uncontrolled logging and deforestation. Felipe Fritz
Braga, the federal prosecutor in Santarem in the west of the state
of Para, where the new settlements have been created, has begun
civil proceedings demanding the closure of all 99 settlements
created in the region between 2005 and 2007. All were created
without the environmental license required by law. Greenpeace says
that the new settlement program is opening the forest up to "gross
exploitation". The Environment minister, Marina Silva, has said that
the distribution of land to poor families is important, but that the
claims will be investigated in full.

Source - Independent


6. Chile's: Senate Passes Native Forest Law

AUG. 19, 2007 - After more than 15 years of delay and revision, a
law offering limited protection for Chile's native forests was
finally approved by the Senate Aug. 14. The vote was unanimous,
35-0. Most analysts attribute the 15-year delay to a strong lobby
by Chile's politically powerful forestry company lobby, led by the
Matte and Angelini business conglomerates. Lack of serious

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legislation protecting Chile's native hardwood forests has given
them carte blanche to develop hundreds of thousands of pine and
eucalyptus tree plantations, which oftentimes replaced native
forests. The new Forestry Law will now be debated in the House of
Deputies, and is likely to pass with little modification by the end
of the year.

Source - WorldPress


7. Chile's Forestry Sector Set to Expand Internationally

AUG. 22, 2007 - Chilean forestry companies COPEC, CMPC, and Masisa
are focusing on international expansion projects after reporting
remarkably high earnings for the first half of this year due to
sharp price increases for their products. But critics say the
industry should pay greater attention to environmental problems at
home before spending vast sums of money on international expansion.
COPEC, of the Angelini group, is currently negotiating the
acquisition of more forestry property and a saw mill in Brazil from
Stora Enso, a global forest product company. Meanwhile, the Matte
group's CMPC cellulose production company recently completed its
Santa Fe II plant and is now expanding internationally in Uruguay,
Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. Finally, the Masisa forestry company
is exploring business opportunities in other South American
countries after quadrupling its productivity and earning US$19.5
million in the first half of this year.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)


8. Peru-Brazil: Tribes Flee 'Red Gold' Rush

AUG. 03, 2007 - A large group of uncontacted Indians has appeared in
a remote village in the Amazon rainforest near the Peru-Brazil
border, a Brazilian government official and expert on uncontacted
tribes has reported. The Indians are believed to have fled from
Peru into Brazil because of illegal loggers sweeping through Peru's
rainforests in search of rare mahogany, known as 'red gold.' The
loggers are destroying the Indians' territories, forcing them to
seek refuge elsewhere and leading to dangerous contacts with
outsiders. 'We are on the verge of disaster. Illegal logging in
protected areas in Peru is pushing the uncontacted tribes into
Brazil, which could cause conflicts and lead to their appearance in

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places where they have never been seen before,' said Jos Carlos dos
Reis Meirelles Junior, head of the Indian Protection post near the
Peru border. Peru has some of the world's last commercially-viable
mahogany stands in the world, growing in areas inhabited by some of
the world's last uncontacted tribes. Stephen Corry, Survival's
Director, said 'The Peruvian government must act now to stop the
logging on the uncontacted tribes' land. If it doesn't, they could
be the first people to be made extinct in the 21st century.'

Source - Scoop


9. Timber Stolen From Indigenous Land in Brazil Receives
Certification from Smartwood-FSC Peru

JULY 30, 2007 - The Ashaninka indigenous people in the Apiwtxa
community in Acre have published a letter on the invasions along the
Brazil-Peruvian border, in which they harshly criticize the
Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood Program, which fails to consider the
illegal actions of the Forestal Venao timber company over the last
few years and, in April 2007, granted the company FSC certification
in Peru. According to the Ashaninka, before deciding to certify
Forestal Venao, the SmartWood Program should have consulted the
surrounding population, to understand what its true practices and
environmental, social and cultural impacts have been, including in
Brazil. The Ashaninka claim that Forestal Venao is also supporting
the establishment of new indigenous lands on the Peruvian side,
bringing in families from other regions. "The leaders of these
communities have allied themselves to the company, interested in
logging along the border between Brazil and Peru."

Source - Amazonia


10. Brazil: Steel and Eucalyptus Heat Up Eastern Amazon

JUL 02, 2007 - Brazil's Environment Ministry entered a minefield
when it proposed a sustainable forest district to contain
deforestation in the steel-making center of Carajas, one of the most
devastated and violent areas in the Amazon. With a resounding "'No'
to projects that involve destruction and death," local social and
environmental movements rejected the idea, which they see as a
continuation of the deforestation process of the eastern Amazon,
aggravated by promotion of eucalyptus monoculture to obtain charcoal

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to fuel the steel factories. Meanwhile, the industry executives
want to change the legislation that requires preserving up to 80
percent of the forests of existing properties within the boundaries
of the "Legal Amazon", encompassing nine Brazilian states. The
local companies "will only sustain themselves if there is a
50-percent reduction" in the forest coverage quota, because there
are too many agricultural problems and previous deforestation, says
Ricardo Nascimento, president of the Iron Industrial Syndicate, of
the northeastern state of Maranhao. But that move would trigger
protests from a world increasingly mobilized against climate change,
one of whose principal causes is precisely the deforestation of the
vast Amazon region.

Source - Tierramerica

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Fishing & Marine Conservation
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11. Chile: Highly Contagious Fish Virus Detected In Chiloe

AUG. 1, 2007 - Scientists in Chile and Canada have confirmed the
presence in Chiloe (Region X) of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA),a
highly contagious virus that can be lethal to fish but does not
affect humans. The confirmation prompted SalmonChile, the country's
private salmon producers association, to declare an industry-wide
health alert. To avoid the spread of the disease, which was
detected on two Marine Harvest farms, area producers were asked to
take preventative measures, which include restricting the movement
of salmon. Norwegian-owned Marine Harvest in the world's largest
salmon producer.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)

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Protected Areas
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12. In the Amazon: Conservation or Colonialism?

July 26, 2007 - Depending on one's point of view, the World Wildlife
Fund's financial support of a nature reserve here on the Rio Negro

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is either part of a laudable attempt to conserve the Amazon jungle -
or the leading edge of a nefarious plot by foreign environmental
groups to wrest control of the world's largest rain forest from
Brazil and replace it with international rule. In 2003, after
signing an agreement with the WWF and the World Bank, the Brazilian
government created the Amazon Region Protected Areas program. Since
then, more than a score of national parks and reserves covering an
area larger than New York, New Jersey and Connecticut combined have
been brought into that network and provided with an infusion of new
funds. But this effort has aroused the suspicions of powerful
business and political groups in Brazil that want to integrate the
Amazon into the country's economy through dams, mining projects,
highways, ports, logging and agricultural exports.

Source - IHT

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Science & Technology
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13. Venezuela: Shell Allocates USD2.6 Million for Science

AUG. 25, 2007 - Venezuela's Observatory for Science, Technology, and
Innovation, which is part of the Ministry of Science, will increase
by 20 percent it's funding for scientist under the Research
Promotion Program, which includes 5,222 scientists. This increase
will be possible thanks to funding from Shell Oil Company.
Researchers are given the extra funding on a monthly basis once
their scientific productivity is proven to be laudable of the
funding.

Source - SciDev

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Waste Management & Pollution
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14. Guyana: World Wildlife Fund Sounds Mercury Warning

AUG. 22, 2007 - According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Guyana,
unless adequate measures are taken to trap mercury after it is used
in mining operations, mercury will continue to pose health threats

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to those persons living in and around mining camps. WWF
representative Rickford Vieira issued this warning during a
presentation to delegates at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission
(GGMC) mining conference. Vieira pointed out that while efforts
have been made by GGMC to monitor mining operations, he believes
that the commission's work is limited somewhat because of
insufficient personnel. Because of Guyana's vast interior, mining
camps are sometimes located very far away from each other and
according to Vieira there are instances where only one engineer or
five officers are in charge of monitoring a whole area and so it is
difficult for them to visit every operation. He explained that the
great influx of miners from nearby Brazil, who are now scattered
throughout the interior, has now made it harder for the commission
to contain and adequately manage the sector.

Source - StabroekNews


15. Chile's Conama Wants New Study on River Polluted By Celco

AUG. 8, 2007 - Chile's National Environmental Commission (Conama)
announced it will launch a study to gauge the environmental damage
in that Mataquito River caused by pollution from a nearby CELCO wood
pulp plant. Additionally, Conama disclosed it will seek
international aide for this initiative by invoking of The Convention
on Wetlands Treaty. Aside from studying the environmental impact to
the river, Conama hopes to generate a "Recovery and Compensation
Plan" which will include possible ways to undue damage to the river
and restore the area's natural beauty. The work will be
concentrated between a point three kilometers upstream from the
CELCO plant and Mataquito River's opening to the sea. Controversy
concerning this river dates from June 5, when residents near the
Mataquito River began noticing thousands of dead fish. The problem,
which was immediately attributed to the nearby CELCO plant, also
affected birds and livestock.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)


16. Paraguay: Hospitals - Generating Health or Pollution?

AUG. 01, 2007 - It has been a year [since] the government's
declaration of a health emergency when the two obsolete incinerators
that disposed of the waste generated by the city's public hospitals

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were closed down. Given the lack of other means of disposing of
hospital waste, collection was suspended for nearly two months. The
accumulation of waste reached levels incompatible with minimal
hygiene standards, to the point that scheduled surgical operations
had to be cancelled for fear of the spread of hospital infections.
Paraguay has one of the highest rates of production of waste per
hospital bed in the region. The Public Health Ministry reports that
an average of three kg per patient are generated, far above
Argentina's 800 grams and Brazil and Chile's 900 grams. The Public
Health Ministry launched a program last year to reduce that quantity
by means of in situ separation of waste. The department of health
services is training health personnel to classify garbage by
disposing of it in three different kinds of bags: black for general
waste that requires no special treatment; yellow for uncontaminated
plastics; and red for pathogenic waste. Under a draft law that is
in debate in Congress, management of hospital waste "would be the
exclusive responsibility of the health centre that generates it,
whether public or private," said Romero.

Source - IPS

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Energy
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17. Brazil Works on Biofuel Environmental Certification

AUG. 27, 2007 - Federal agricultural research agency Embrapa plans
to release in September the first mechanism to evaluate the
environmental impact of biofuel production, which is the first step
towards the creation of a global environmental quality certification
for this sector. Biodiesel production from the palm oil plant should
be the first to receive this "eco-certification," which is being
developed with French agricultural research institution Cerad.

Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia


18. Guyana Can Be Bio-Fuel Pioneer, says IDB President

AUG. 07, 2007 - Guyana is to receive a US$850,000 grant from Japan
through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to screen
bio-energy proposals. The President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno

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told the gathering that the grant would help to jump start
investment for bio fuel production and co-generation using bio-mass.
According to the press report, a number of companies from Brazil,
the US and India have indicated through proposals their interest in
investing in bio-fuel/agro-energy production in Guyana. Moreno
disclosed, too, that in the coming months, as part of a green energy
initiative, the IDB would begin to disburse grants and loans to the
tune of US$300M on sustainable energy programs and climate change
initiatives. The funds would be used to finance projects in energy
efficiency and renewable bio-energy.

Source - StabroekNews


19. Ethanol Sugarcane Threatens Brazil's Wooded Savanna

JULY 31, 2007 - In the past four decades, more than half of the
Cerrado ecosystem has been transformed by the encroachment of cattle
ranchers and soybean farmers. And now another demand is quickly
eating into the landscape: sugarcane, the raw material for Brazilian
ethanol. "Deforestation in the Cerrado is actually happening at a
higher rate than it has in the Amazon," said John Buchanan, senior
director of business practices for Conservation International in
Arlington. "If the actual deforestation rates continue, all the
remaining vegetation in the Cerrado could be lost by the year 2030.
That would be a huge loss of biodiversity." The Brazilian
government and big agribusiness companies say that the expansion of
soybean and sugarcane fields doesn't necessarily mean devastation of
the Cerrado, which hosts an estimated 160,000 species of animals and
plants, many threatened with extinction. They say they plant on
wastelands and pastures where cattle once grazed, improving the soil
quality and productivity. But environmental groups argue that as
soy and sugarcane displace cattle and less lucrative crops, ranchers
are moving farther into the unspoiled areas of the Cerrado.

Source - Washington Post


20. Brazilian Amazon Produces Sugar Cane For Ethanol

JULY 31, 2007 - Contrary to some government assertions, there is
significant production of sugar cane in the Brazilian Amazon for
ethanol production, and it is growing. Government figures indicate
that sugar cane production in the Amazon region states of Amazonas,

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Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Par and Tocantins has increased from 17.6
million tons to 19.3 million tons in one year. Those figures don't
include Acre, which according to the Brazilian agricultural research
agency Empraba has the same potential for sugar cane production as
traditional producers like Sao Paulo and Pernambuco: 3% of its area
is suitable for sugar cane production and the state government has
an incentive program for ethanol.

Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia based on a report in
Brazilian daily O Globo

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General
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21. Guyana Signs Millennium Challenge Corporation Grant to Support
Fiscal Reforms

AUG. 23, 2007 - A Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold
Program agreement has been signed between the United States and
Guyana. The two-year US$6.7 million program focuses on reducing
Guyana's fiscal deficit by improving its ability to collect revenue
and better manage its budget. Additionally, the program will help
reduce the number of days and cost to start a business by
streamlining business registrations. MCC's Threshold Program is
designed to assist countries that are on the "threshold" of
eligibility for Millennium Challenge Account Compacts. Threshold
Program assistance is used to help countries address the specific
policy weaknesses indicated by the country's scores on 16 policy
indicators in three categories-Ruling Justly, Investing in People,
and Encouraging Economic Freedom. The assistance package for the
Government of Guyana is focused on improving the country's
performance on the Economic Freedom indicator.

Source - Millennium Challenge Corporation


22. Peru: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Receives
Donation from World Bank

AUG. 09, 2007 - Official gazette El Peruano carried a Ministerial
Resolution of the Ministry of Energy & Mines (MEM) accepting a
$300,000 donation from multiple donors managed by the World Bank for

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the implementation in Peru of the "Action Plan for the
Implementation of the EITI." EITI, the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, supports improved governance in
resource-rich countries through the verification and full
publication of company payments and government revenues from oil,
gas, and mining. The Initiative works to build multi-stakeholder
partnerships in developing countries in order to increase the
accountability of governments. Good governance is a precondition
for converting large revenues from extractive industries into
economic growth and poverty reduction. When transparency and
accountability are weak, the extractive industries may instead
contribute to poverty, corruption, and conflict-the so-called
"resource curse." The EITI is an important step in defeating this
"curse."

Source - US Embassy Lima

CHICOLA