SOUTH AMERICA ESTH NEWS, NUMBER 87

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 21 BRASILIA 000096

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID TBIO ECON SOCI XR BR
SUBJECT: SOUTH AMERICA ESTH NEWS, NUMBER 87

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1. The following is the eighty-seventh 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.


2. Table of Contents

Agriculture
--(3)Transgenic Cotton Ploughs Its Way through
Brazilian Congress

Health
--(4)Chile: Too Much Lead in Portezuelo
--(5)Developing Nations Eligible for European
Funding
--(6)Revolutionary New Aids Drug Tested In Chile
--(7)Plans Promotes Traditional Medicine in
Andean Countries

Water Issues
--(8)Water Crisis is Big Test for Peru's
President
Forests
--(9)Two Timber Firms Pretending To Be 'Green,'
Groups Allege
--(10)Are Brazil Nuts Really Sustainable?
--(11)Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Bill is
Approved

Wildlife
--(12)Galapagos: Where Eradication and
Conservation Meet
--(13)Colombian Security Gains Aid Field Research
--(14)Venezuela: Birds Blamed for Arrival of West

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Nile Virus

Fishing & Marine Conservation
--(15)Recife Shark Attacks Part of a Broader
Problem?
--(16)Trout Aquaculture Booming in Peru

Protected Areas
--(17)Paraguay has new Protected Wetland Area

Science & Technology
--(18)Survey Shows Dire State of Colombian R&D

Climate Change
--(19)Arlington Takes On Global Warming
--(20)U.S. Wants Polar Bears Listed As Threatened

Energy
--(21)U.S. Oil Firm Signs Contract for Ethanol
Plant in Peru
--(22)In the Global Energy Rush, Nuclear Gets a
Resurgence
--(23)Controversial Chile Dam Project Inches
Ahead
--(24)Argentina Announces 2.3-Billion-Dollar Fuel
Refinery Project
--(25)Brazil to Test Hybrid Fuel-Cell and
Battery-Powered Buses
--(26)U.S. Environmental Group Opposes Aisen
Project in Chile

General
--(27)Sustainable Enterprise in Brazil
--(28)New Coca Spat Leaves Colombia Flying Solo
--(29)Binational Barrick Mine Wins Key Approval
--(30)Critics of Nuclear Accord Win a Round in
Argentina

--------------
Agriculture
--------------


3. Transgenic Cotton Ploughs Its Way through

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Brazilian Congress

DEC. 28, 2006 - In Brazil, cotton is following in
soy's footsteps. Transgenic cotton varieties,
smuggled into the country in recent years, may
now be legalized by a draft law already quietly
approved by the lower house of Congress. Now the
draft law will go to the Senate, where it is
almost certain that it will be passed, because
there is an even more overwhelming majority in
favor of genetically modified (GM) crops,
according to Jean Marc von der Weid, coordinator
of Advice and Services for Alternative
Agriculture Projects (AS-PTA),a non-governmental
organization active in the cause "For a GM-free
Brazil". Opponents to GM cotton and maize point
out that these crops are a greater contamination
risk than soy because there are native species of
cotton and maize, but not soy, in Brazil. Cotton
grown from transgenic seeds is estimated to cover
150,000 hectares.

Source - IPS News

--------------
Health
--------------


4. Chile: Too Much Lead in Portezuelo

DEC. 26, 2006 - More than 3,200 milligrams of
lead per kilogram of soil has been found in the
area around the northern Chilean town of
Portezuelo, 14 km southeast of Antofagasta, where
there is a lead storage site. "The site should
be closed up, and the trucks that transport the
lead (to the port of Antofagasta) should be
sealed," Hugo Benitez, president of the region's
medical school, told Tierramerica. The health
authorities have pledged to seek solutions, given
that high concentrations of lead can cause
cancer, neurological damage, attention deficit
and aggressive behavior, especially in children.

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Source - Tierramerica


5. Developing Nations Eligible for European
Funding

DEC. 21, 2006 - For the first time, researchers
in developing countries will be able to apply for
European funding under nearly the same terms as
European researchers, as opposed to a limited
amount of funding for earmarked projects. The
first round of calls for the European Union's
USD69 billion Seventh Framework Program (FP7)
will be announced on 22 December. Priority areas
of research identified for developing countries
include health, environment, transportation and
agriculture. In particular, the seven-year
funding mechanism emphasizes innovation for rapid
diagnostics for HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis, and tests for drug resistance. FP7
will run from 1 January 2007 until December 2013.
Information on how to apply for funds can be
found at the website of the Community Research &
Development Information Service.

Source - SciDev


6. Revolutionary New Aids Drug Tested In Chile

DEC. 18, 2006 - A study conducted in Chile to
test a new drug targeting the HIV virus has
showed encouraging results in patients. Now, drug
company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) is beginning a
new study to test an HIV vaccine, and it looks as
though Chile will be involved. The initial study
was part of a larger drug trial being conducted
by MSD prior to presenting the product for
approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). Although the Chilean portion of the
project was small, only involving 10 patients,
the results were staggering. MSD's new drug MK-
0518 works to inhibit an enzyme used by HIV to
invade the immune system, which it does by

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injecting its DNA into white blood cells. In
layman's terms, this drug prevents HIV from
replicating itself in the body. In the Chilean
portion of the study, the drug resulted in an
average 98 percent decrease in the presence of
HIV in patients.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)


7. Plans Promotes Traditional Medicine in Andean
Countries

DEC. 17, 2006 - An Andean intercultural health
plan, which would support research on traditional
medicine and help elaborate a regional plan in
this issue was one of the main proposals made
during the 1st Congress on Traditional Medicine
carried out December 8-10 in Lima, Peru. The
event was attended by governmental
representatives and indigenous communities from
all Andean countries. "We need to keep in mind
that behind traditional medicine there is a
medicinal system that has been used to solve
health problems for millenniums, in populations
that for many reasons are at the margin of
western health services," stated Oswaldo
Salaverry, director of the National Center for
Intercultural Health of the Peruvian Health
Institute.

Source - SciDev

--------------
Water Issues
--------------


8. Water Crisis is Big Test for Peru's President

NOV. 27, 2006 - For the impoverished people
living on the sandy desert fringes of Peru's
capital, Lima, reliable water supplies and
politicians' promises are two things they know
never to rely on. President Alan Garcia, who

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took office in July warning of a "time bomb" if
Peru's social needs are not addressed, has put
water at the center of his domestic agenda -- a
risky strategy that could threaten his government
if he fails to deliver, such is the clamor for
the resource considered a basic human right.
Tensions over water in agricultural areas are a
continual flash point, as farmers accuse mining,
Peru's top industry, of damaging supplies and
threatening livelihoods. Many are skeptical that
Garcia can meet his goal, especially given the
ailing condition of Lima's state-owned water
utility, Sedapal, which loses a third of its
water through pipeline leaks and illegal
connections. Meanwhile, any suggestion of
selling off water companies is highly unpopular
after the privatization of water utilities in
Argentina and Bolivia went down so badly with
local people and both countries kicked out
private foreign operators.

Source - Reuters AlertNet

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Forests
--------------


9. Two Timber Firms Pretending To Be 'Green,'
Groups Allege

DEC. 24, 2006 - Two of the largest timber
companies in the U.S., Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek
Timber, have polished their public images for
years by participating in a program that certifies
that their logging is environmentally friendly.
But in separate challenges this month from the far
corners of the United States, environmental groups
in Washington State and in Maine are accusing
Weyerhaeuser Co. and Plum Creek Timber Co. of
using the forest industry's green-labeling program
as a cover while they log in ways that harm
endangered spotted owls in Washington and violate
forestry laws in Maine. The Seattle Audubon

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Society and the Natural Resources Council of Maine
have demanded in documents sent to the Sustainable
Forestry Board that it revoke certification for
the companies until they comply with standards
they have pledged to uphold. The requests mark the
first time that mainstream environmental groups
have publicly attempted to turn the forest
industry's green certification process against big
timber companies by insisting that they be
suspended from the program, the Sustainable
Forestry Initiative, said William H. Banzhaf,
president of the forestry board, which oversees
certification.

Source - Washington Post


10. Are Brazil Nuts Really Sustainable?

DEC. 20, 2006 - A lot of rainforest conservation
initiatives embrace sustainably harvested non-
timber forest products (NTFPs) like seeds and
nuts as a means to provide income to locals
without harming the forest. Operating on the
premise that such products are eco-friendly,
hundreds of outfits ranging from Whole Foods to
the Body Shop to Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream
tout their use of sustainably harvested Brazil
nuts and related products. But really, how
sustainable are these products? A study
published in the February 2007 issue of the
journal Conservation Biology suggests that nuts
and seeds from the rainforest are indeed
sustainable, but only when hunting of key seed
dispersers -- especially large rodents like
agouti and acouchy -- is limited. The study shows
the importance of seed disperser conservation in
sustainably managed forest areas.

Source - Mongabay


11. Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Bill is
Approved


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DEC. 2006 - Brazil's Congress has passed long-
awaited legislation to save the country's
remaining stands of Atlantic Rainforest, the
once-vast tropical woodland that retains a
patchwork presence in 17 mainly coastal states.
In November the lower house of Congress, the
Chamber of Deputies, voted unanimously to
conserve the remaining 37,000 square miles
(95,000 sq kms) of the rainforest, which includes
primary, secondary and climax woodlands. Though
the Chamber had passed the bill in Dec. 2003, the
legislation languished for three years in the
Senate, which eventually revised and approved it.
Lawmakers loyal to the farming and ranching lobby
pressured the Chamber to take up the original
bill because they objected to a provision in the
Senate version that would reduce the potential
indemnities landowners in the Atlantic Rainforest
could receive in compensation for the billQs
cutting restrictions. In the Senate bill,
indemnities were based on the "real" value of
property, not the far higher "potential" value
cited in the Chamber bill.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)

--------------
Wildlife
--------------


12. Galapagos: Where Eradication and Conservation
Meet

DEC. 2006 - Forty semi-automatic rifles. Hundreds
of thousands of rounds of ammunition. Seventy
hunting dogs. Two helicopters. Imagine a supply
list for conservation fieldwork, and it is
unlikely the above items would come to mind. Yet
these were among the ingredients of the Isabela
Project, an invasive-species eradication campaign
on the Galapagos Islands that scientists are
calling the worldQs largest and most successful

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such effort ever. The main goal was to rid
Isabela Island, the largest link in Ecuador's
famed Galapagos chain, of a spectacularly
destructive population of 120,000 feral goats.
Begun in earnest in 2004, the campaign culminated
when organizers announced this July that they had
eliminated almost all the goats, which originally
were deposited on the islands by sailors in the
1800s to serve as a store of food. For anyone
concerned with animal rights, slaughter on this
scale might seem egregious. But conservation
scientists on the Galapagos argue that the
project has been essential in heading off the
wholesale destruction of plants and animals on
Isabela Island-including local populations of
some of the native Galapagos species that
inspired Charles DarwinQs theory of natural
selection.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)


13. Colombian Security Gains Aid Field Research

DEC. 2006 - Researchers are hailing the recent
discovery of a new bird in a former Colombian
guerrilla hideout, calling it a sign that
security is returning to the war-torn nation.
Ornithologists say the announcement in October of
the discovery of the new Yariguies Brush-Finch
(Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum) in an area of
the Yariguies mountain range formerly controlled
by Marxist guerrillas gave them hope they might
eventually resume working throughout the nation.
New discoveries are likely to follow, though the
return of international scientists and research
funders is not expected to be immediate. "For the
last three or four decades, Colombia has suffered
from a reputation as being a dangerous place,"
says Salaman of the American Bird Conservancy.
"Unfortunately, that perception persists among
donors because it hasnQt been widely reported
that the situation here is a lot better than

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before."

Source - EcoAmerica (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)


14. Venezuela: Birds Blamed for Arrival of West
Nile Virus

DEC. 26, 2006 - The West Nile virus has been
reported in Venezuela, north of the Orinoco
River, likely carried into the country by
migratory birds, researcher Juan Carlos Navarro,
of Venezuela's Central University, told
Tierramerica. The microorganism has been
spreading from north to south in the Americas,
and can be found in the United States, Mexico,
Central America, the Antilles and Colombia.
First detected in Uganda in 1937, the virus is
transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks, and affects
birds and mammals. In humans it causes fever and
can lead to encephalitis, and in some cases,
death. "An epidemic of West Nile virus is
unlikely in Latin America because most of the
population has faced dengue or was vaccinated
against yellow fever, but we must remain vigilant
because the virus can mutate and affect people
who were considered protected," said Navarro.

Source - Tierramerica

--------------
Fishing & Marine Conservation
--------------


15. Recife Shark Attacks Part of a Broader
Problem?

DEC. 2006 - The Brazil edition of the well-known
Rum & Reggae travel guide has this to say about
Recife: "If the pickpocketers don't get you, the
sharks will." Over-the-top though it may be, the
statement reflects twin realities in Recife-high
crime rates comparable to those of urban beach

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resorts such as Rio de Janeiro and a rate of
shark attacks that on one stretch of coast is
believed to rank among the highest in the world.
The coast in question is a 12.5-mile (20-km)
strip that includes Boa Viagem, the most
fashionable district in northeastern Brazil.
Since mid-1992, some 50 shark attacks on humans-
19 of them fatal-have been recorded along this
beach in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state.
Before 1992, shark attacks were rare enough to go
unnoticed, and guidebooks encouraged travelers to
visit Boa Viagem. But the situation has changed,
and a key reason is degradation of the coastal
environment, says Fabio Hazin, director of the
Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture at
Pernambuco Rural University. Hazin, who also
serves as president of the State Committee to
Monitor Incidents with Sharks (Cemit),a
Pernambuco agency founded in 2004, cites the
destruction of mangrove stands in particular.
Mangroves, essential to providing nutrients for
marine life, have succumbed in vast quantities to
real estate development and other pressures.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)


16. Trout Aquaculture Booming in Peru

DEC. 22, 2006 - Trout ranching is a new economic
activity for the poor Lake Titicaca area and has
great potential for expansion. With private
sector leadership and USAID support, the industry
made great strides since 2004 and will export 700
tons to some of the most competitive markets in
the world, including Canada, Japan, Norway and the
United States. The current potential for
expanding production is considerable, according to
Association of Trout Ranchers (APT) executives.
The Ministry of Production has authorized 17,000
ha for trout production, of which only four
percent is in use. Under a promotional scheme,
the Ministry now charges only document processing

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fees to get into the business, around USD120.
There was also consensus that the highway under
construction to connect Brazil to Southern Peru
(passing through Puno) will be important to
augment trade in the region. Chilean investors had
already set up a number of pens along Lake
Titicaca.

Source - LIMA 00004772

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Protected Areas
--------------


17. Paraguay has new Protected Wetland Area

DEC. 11, 2006 - Guyra Paraguay (BirdLife in
Paraguay) is celebrating news of the complete
protection of over 9,500 hectares of seasonal
wetland in the Paraguayan Pantanal, an area which
forms part of one of the country's 57 Important
Bird Areas (IBAs). The declaration represents
years of hard work by Guyra Paraguay and the
World Land Trust, which contributed most of the
funds required for the purchase of the land
through the negotiation of a number of donations
from private trusts, as well as the IUCN National
Committee for the Netherlands. Five key areas
have been purchased and set aside for the Nature
Reserve, equating in all to a US D250,000
investment. The Pantanal is one of South
America's key ecosystems, being flooded
seasonally by freshwater from the central
Brazilian highlands. Situated in the upper
watershed of the Paraguay River, to the south of
the Amazon basin and east of the Andes, the area
represents the most extensive freshwater wetland
in the world. As well as being important for
birds, the Pantanal IBA also represents crucial
habitat for a number of other species. Over 300
species of fish, 40 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 120
mammals and 2,000 species of plant are known to
exist there

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Source - BirdLife

--------------
Science & Technology
--------------


18. Survey Shows Dire State of Colombian R&D

DEC. 19, 2006 - A survey of Colombia's
manufacturing industry has revealed a bleak
picture of its research, development, and
innovation sectors, prompting two science
institutes to launch a scheme to try to reverse
the situation. Only six per cent of
manufacturing companies in and around Bogota have
research and development departments, and over
half do not rate innovation as
important, according to the survey results
released December 13. They show that though the
innovation capacity in manufacturing industries
in Bogota and the surrounding district of
Cundinamarca is better than ten years ago, it is
still low. To change the situation, the Chamber
of Commerce of Bogota and Colciencias, the
National Institute for the Development of Science
and Technology, have launched a scheme to narrow
the innovation gap. This will involve channeling
1.6 billion Colombian Pesos (USD700,000) to 16
research projects in technological development
and innovation that relate to five product
chains.

Source - SciDev

--------------
Climate Change
--------------


19. Arlington Takes On Global Warming

JAN. 02, 2007 - Arlington County will buy more
wind-generated electricity, give tax breaks for

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hybrid cars, require new public buildings to be
green-certified and hand out energy-efficient
light bulbs to residents as part of a major push
toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, county
officials stated. The county has reduced carbon
dioxide and other emissions -- making its
buildings more energy-efficient and adding hybrid
vehicles to its fleets -- by a total of 2.6
percent since 2000, but must now sharply increase
its efforts in order to reach its goal of a 10
percent reduction in the next five years,
Arlington County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson (D)
stated. The county of about 200,000 has long
considered itself eco-friendly, from the macro
perspective (a "smart growth" strategy that
clusters development around Metro stations,
encouraging use of public transit) to the micro
(an obsession with the county's "tree canopy").

Source - Washington Post


20. U.S. Wants Polar Bears Listed As Threatened

DEC. 26, 2006 - The Bush administration has
decided to propose listing the polar bear as
threatened under the Endangered Species Act,
putting the U.S. government on record as saying
that global warming could drive one of the
world's most recognizable animals out of
existence. The administration's proposal - which
was described by an Interior Department official
who spoke on the condition of anonymity - stems
from the fact that rising temperatures in the
Arctic are shrinking the sea ice that polar bears
need for hunting. Identifying polar bears as
threatened with extinction could have an enormous
political and practical impact. Because
scientists have concluded that carbon dioxide
from power-plant and vehicle emissions is helping
drive climate change worldwide, putting polar
bears on the endangered species list raises the
legal question of whether the government would be
required to compel U.S. industries to curb their

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carbon dioxide output.

Source - Washington Post

--------------
Energy
--------------


21. U.S. Oil Firm Signs Contract for Ethanol
Plant in Peru

On January 5, U.S. oil firm Maple Gas signed a
USD650 million contract with the Piura Regional
Government for a sugar cane-based ethanol plant.
President Garcia spoke at the signing ceremony,
calling the biofuel project the start of an
"agrarian revolution" that showcased foreign
private investment. The labor-intensive plant,
on the northern desert coast, should produce 30
million gallons/year by 2010. Garcia announced
other biofuel projects in the works. The Maple
project is a model for U.S investors on how to
coordinate land and water rights acquisition with
the national and a regional government.

Source - US Embassy Lima


22. In the Global Energy Rush, Nuclear Gets a
Resurgence

JAN. 06, 2007 - Sixty miles outside Buenos Aires,
construction crews soon will be swarming over a
partially built concrete dome abandoned 12 years
ago, resuming work on Argentina's long-delayed
Atucha II nuclear power plant. They will be in the
vanguard of surging interest in nuclear power
worldwide. Faced with evidence that coal- and
oil-fired electric plants are overheating the
planet, and alarmed by soaring demand for
electricity, governments from South America to
Asia are turning once again to a power source
mostly shunned for two decades as too dangerous
and too costly. Globally, 29 nuclear power plants

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are being built. Well over 100 more have been
written into the development plans of governments
for the next three decades. India and China each
are rushing to build dozens of reactors. The
United States and the countries of Western Europe,
led by new nuclear champions, are reconsidering
their cooled romance with atomic power.
International agencies have come on board; even
the Persian Gulf oil states have announced plans
for nuclear generators.

Source - Washington Post


23. Controversial Chile Dam Project Inches Ahead

JAN. 5, 2007 - Swiss mining company Xstrata, one
of several large conglomerates eyeing Region XI
as a potentially valuable source of hydroelectric
power, nosed ahead of its competitors this week
in what has been an ongoing race to dam the
areaQs pristine rivers. On January 2nd, Xstrata -
working in collaboration with local affiliate
Energia Austral - became the first of the
competing firms to file an official Environmental
Impact Study (EIS),a necessary prerequisite to
any eventual construction. Though the Swiss
company would eventually like to build several
power generators in the region, the EIS it
submitted recently focuses specifically on plans
to erect a dam along the Cuervo River. The
proposed USD600 million project would be located
approximately 21 kilometers northeast of Puerto
Chacabuco and 26 kilometers north of Puerto
Aysen. SEE ALSO "U.S. Environmental Group Opposes
Aisen Project in Chile" BELOW.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)


24. Argentina Announces 2.3-Billion-Dollar Fuel
Refinery Project

JAN. 1, 2007 - In an effort to offset expected
shortages in diesel fuel supplies, the Argentine

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government has announced a project to build a
refinery that will require an about 2.3-billion-
dollar investment which will be mainly made by
some 30 private oil companies, with the exception
of Royal/Dutch Shell, which is engaged in a
dispute with the administration. The refinery
which has already started to be called General
Mosconi II would have a refining capacity of two
to three million cubic meters of diesel fuel a
year. The details of the project were agreed with
Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido, Domestic
Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno and
representatives from Spain's Repsol-YPF, Brazil's
Petrobras Energia, and US companies Pan American
Energy, Chevron and Esso SAPA.

Source - MercoPress


25. Brazil to Test Hybrid Fuel-Cell and Battery-
Powered Buses

DEC. 2006 - Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry
and Sao Paulo's Metropolitan Urban Transport
Company (Emtu) have launched a USD16 million
pilot project to put five hybrid buses into
operation by 2009 that will be powered by
rechargeable batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Meanwhile, the agency also is developing
catalytic converters for its buses to cut down on
particulate emissions. The buses, which will get
70 percent of their power from fuel cells and 30
percent from batteries, will be the first of
their kind to be used commercially in Latin
America, says Marcio Schettino, an Emtu manager
heading the project. The effort, to include
construction of a hydrogen production plant, is
being funded with USD12.3 million from the Global
Environment Facility, a multilateral funder of
green projects in developing countries, and
USD3.7 million from the Brazilian government.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)

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26. U.S. Environmental Group Opposes Aisen
Project in Chile

DEC. 20, 2006 - Chilean Patagonia, one of the
world's most pristine wilderness areas, is
receiving major attention these days from a large
and very well-connected U.S. environmental group.
The U.S. based Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) recently designated Chilean Patagonia as a
so-called "BioGem." The organization is currently
featuring the region - together with Florida's
Emerald Coast and the Yellowstone/Greater Rockies
area - prominently on its web site
(www.nrdc.org/). The NRDC, founded in 1970 and
operating from offices in several major U.S.
cities, boasts 1.2 million members and is linked
directly to the powerful Kennedy family. Robert
Kennedy Jr., who shares the same name as his
famous father - a one-time U.S. senator, Attorney
General and presidential hopeful who was
assassinated in 1968 - is the organization's
senior environmental attorney. Backers of the
project claim the electricity it would produce -
equivalent to about 30 percent of the electricity
currently available in Central Chile - makes the
Aisen project absolutely necessary. Demand for
electricity, they point out, grows by an average
of six percent annually.

Source - Santiago Times (no link)

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General
--------------


27. Sustainable Enterprise in Brazil

January 2, 2007 - The 2006 New Ventures Forum in
Brazil gave special awards and recognition to four
companies with outstanding sustainable business
models: 1) Eletrocell develops hydrogen energy
systems that it hopes will instigate the

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next energy revolution in Brazil (the first one
being biofuels); 2) Florestas Cosmetics makes
beauty products from BrazilQs rich biodiversity.
Each product is certified organic and sustainably
harvested. Whole Foods Market and Carrefour are
among Florestas' major customers; 3) Hering
Instruments uses wood certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council to make high-quality,
sustainably crafted musical instruments, such
guitars, drums, and harmonicas; and 4) Ouro
Verde's product line includes high-quality food
products like cooking oils and jellies. The
company is helping to shift local agricultural
practices in the Amazon away from extraction
towards sustainable harvesting to preserve its
rich biodiversity. These companies and six other
finalists are proving that green, sustainable
business is alive and prospering in Brazil.

Source - WRI


28. New Coca Spat Leaves Colombia Flying Solo

DEC. 22, 2006 - A decision by Colombia's
conservative President Alvaro Uribe to restart
the country's aerial fumigation of coca leaf
plantations near the border with Ecuador appears
to have further isolated him in a region
increasingly unfriendly to Washington's war on
drugs. Last week's move has sparked a diplomatic
row, with Ecuador recalling its ambassador to
Colombia and vowing to file an official complaint
to both the Organization of American States and
the United Nations. Ecuador's leftist president-
elect Rafael Correa, a close friend of
Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Chavez,
has even started recruiting other Latin leaders
to oppose aerial fumigation. "It's simply
unacceptable that they continue spraying from the
air with glysophate," Mr. Correa said this week,
referring to the herbicide used, a more
concentrated version of Monsanto's Round-Up. "It
kills legal crops on the Ecuadorean side and,

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apparently, also kills farmers." Ecuador has
activated its air defense system to monitor the
fumigation planes, many of which are piloted by
Americans. Colombia announced it was sending more
troops to the 586 kilometer-long border, to keep
Colombian leftist guerrillas from fleeing into
Ecuador.

Source - CS Monitor


29. Binational Barrick Mine Wins Key Approval

DEC. 2006 - Plans by Canada's Barrick Gold to
develop a massive mining operation high in the
Andes have won environmental approval from
Argentine provincial authorities, just months
after the border-straddling gold and silver
project received the go-ahead from neighboring
Chile. In Argentina, decision-making over mining
projects rests with the provinces. With San
JuanQs approval in hand, Barrick says
construction of the mine will commence as soon as
Argentina and Chile settle some outstanding tax
questions about the project, with production
slated to begin in 2010. However, Barrick's plans
have caused debate among Argentine officials at
the national level, fueling some speculation
about whether President Nestor Kirchner might
intervene to halt the project. Two members of
the Kirchner administration in particular have
questioned the project-Environment Secretary
Romina Picolotti and Raul Estrada Oyuela, the
foreign ministry's special representative for
international environmental affairs. Objecting to
Barrick's plans to use cyanide solutions to
extract gold from ore, they argue national
authorities must ensure the project receives
greater scrutiny than that given it by Jose Luis
Gioja, San JuanQs pro-mining governor.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)


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30. Critics of Nuclear Accord Win a Round in
Argentina

DEC. 2006 - Green advocates in Argentina have
scored an early-round legal win in their campaign
to prevent the importation of spent nuclear fuel
from an Argentine-built nuclear-research reactor
in Australia. Waste produced by a new research
reactor that Argentina's state-controlled high-
technology company Invap has built for the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organization (Ansto),was to have been vitrified
in Argentina if Ansto requests it and returned to
Australia for disposal. But a three-judge
federal appeals panel in the Argentine city of
Bahia Blanca has issued an order prohibiting the
arrangement, which Ansto has not yet sought to
use. The decision, made public last month,
reverses a lower court's rejection of a complaint
that a green activist filed to challenge the
spent-fuel import regimen. It has drawn a legal
appeal from Invap, which means the matter now
must be decided by Argentina's Supreme Court.

Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa
Stoner for complete article)

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