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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 BRASILIA 002150 
 
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 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 82 
 
¶1.  The following is the eighty-second 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)Crops Responsible for Deforestation in Brazil 
 
Water Issues 
--(4)Brazil: Flood Insurance Measured 
--(5)Colombia Gets Serious About Desertification 
 
Forests 
--(6)Brazil: New Trees to Reclaim Amazon Lands 
--(7)Long-Delayed Native Forest Bill Is Back On Track in Chile 
 
Wildlife 
--(8)Guyana: NGO Accessing Wai Wai Land for Biodiversity Protection 
--(9)NGO and Bus Company Team Up Against Wildlife Trafficking 
--(10)Uruguay: The Return of the Aguara-Guazu Wolf 
 
Protected Areas 
--(11)First Aerial Spraying In Park Roils Colombia 
 
Science & Technology 
--(12)New Body to Boost Science for Development in South 
--(13)Scientists Set Sights on 'Green' Chemistry 
 
Waste Management & Pollution 
--(14)Brazil: Aluminum Can Recycling Record Remains Firm 
--(15)Venezuela: Volunteers Clean Up 300 Beaches 
--(16)Argentina: Scavengers Export Scrap 
--(17)Chile: Indians Fight Garbage Dumps 
--(18)Will Santiago's Air Goals go Up in Smoke? 
 
Climate Change 
--(19)Bolivian Glaciers Receding Rapidly 
--(20)Schwarzenegger Signs Landmark Greenhouse Gas Law 
--(21)USD 3 Billion Pledged To Fight Climate Change 
--(22)Brazil: Pesky El Nino Returns 
 
Energy 
--(23)Peru Liquefied Natural Gas: Progress and Challenges 
--(24)Chile Promotes Energy Investment to North American Electric 
Companies 
--(25)Biofuel Boom Sparks Environmental Fears 
--(26)Argentina to Add Reactors in Energy-Supply Push 
 
 
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General 
--(27)Brazil Greens See Tensions If President Lula Wins Second Term 
--(28)Peru: Fossils Reveal Ancient Biodiversity 
--(29)Canada Faces Pressure to Promote Sustainable Mining in Latin 
America 
--(30)Crude-oil Spill in Ecuador's Amazon Termed Intentional 
--(31)Colombia: Dredging to Prevent Floods 
 
----------- 
Agriculture 
----------- 
 
¶3. Crops Responsible for Deforestation in Brazil 
 
SEPT. 05, 2006 - The Brazilian Amazon is increasingly being cleared 
to grow crops rather than for grazing cattle, making the process 
even more harmful to the environment, say researchers.  Over the 
course of a three-year study led by Ruth DeFries of the University 
of Maryland in the United States, clearing for cropland accounted 
for nearly one fifth of deforestation in one state of the Brazilian 
Amazon.  The results were published by Proceedings of the National 
Academy of Sciences.  Using deforestation maps, field surveys and 
satellite data to follow what happened to large pieces of land 
cleared of rainforest in the state of Mato Grosso, the team found 
that an area over one third the size of Jordan - about 36,000 square 
kilometers - was cleared between 2001 and 2004 for large-scale 
mechanized agriculture.  Their findings define a "new paradigm of 
forest loss in Amazonia", although cattle pasture still remains the 
dominant land use, say the researchers. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
------------ 
Water Issues 
------------ 
 
¶4. Brazil: Flood Insurance Measured 
 
SAO PAULO, Sep 25 - Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo 
have developed a method to estimate insurance costs for urban 
flooding, saying claims could eat up as much as 12 percent of the 
gross domestic product.  The new calculation technique combines data 
on rains, water flow and economic analyses of water basins to 
estimate the impact of these phenomena and optimize the management 
of resources invested in insurance.  "We are not out to compete with 
U.S. and European methodologies; we just want to establish excellent 
human resources in Brazil and the Americas, to adequately address 
the needs of society," Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, the study's 
coordinator, told Tierramerica.  The methodology has already been 
tested in an experimental urban watershed, and is currently being 
studied in similar basins in Sao Paulo and the northeast region of 
Brazil. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶5. Colombia Gets Serious About Desertification 
 
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SEPT. 2006 - The Colombian municipalities of Alpujarra and Dolores 
are slowly turning into desert.  Rainwater-when it comes-races 
through crevices down the foothills of the eastern Andean range, 
lost to human use.  Temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 
degrees Celsius) bake a hard-crusted earth stripped of its tropical 
dry forests years ago by slash-and-burn agriculture.  Conditions for 
many of the 5,000 peasant farmers of the two municipalities, which 
are located in the central department of Tolima, are so dire that 
crop cultivation is impossible.  Impoverished, they subsist instead 
on livestock in a bleak landscape of cactus and thorn forest.  When 
Colombia's government decided last year to develop pilot projects to 
address desertification, one of them was earmarked for Alpujarra and 
Dolores.  Dozens of families in the area have received training and 
resources to practice agro-forestry, silvopastoral production and 
reservoir construction.  The hope is that the pilot project, which 
ends in November, will prompt more extensive efforts in the coming 
years, says Consuelo Carvajal, coordinator of the project for 
Cortolima, Tolima Department's environmental authority. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
------- 
Forests 
------- 
 
¶6. Brazil: New Trees to Reclaim Amazon Lands 
 
SEPT. 27, 2006 - A Brazilian state intends to make cattle ranchers 
reforest land which they have cleared for grazing.  The government 
of Acre in the Amazon has established a nursery growing seedlings of 
species such as mahogany which they will issue to ranchers. 
Ranchers may be made to reforest up to 30 percent of their land. 
The government sees this as a vital component of its long-term aim 
to develop sustainable forestry as a key income generator for the 
state.  Until a decade ago, private landowners were allowed to 
deforest 50 percent of their land. Now legislation has amended the 
figure to 80 percent; but many ranchers have not replanted at all. 
 
Source - BBC 
 
¶7. Long-Delayed Native Forest Bill Is Back On Track in Chile 
 
SEPT. 2006 - The Chilean Agriculture Ministry has reached agreement 
on a native-forest conservation bill with the timber lobby, 
environmental groups and other forestland stakeholders.  The 
administration of new Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has 
re-introduced the legislation, called the Native Forest Recovery and 
Forest Development Law, in Congress amid signs the measure will win 
passage this year.  The bill reflects core ideas on which the 
various stakeholders could agree.  Among these is that Chile must 
encourage-through subsidies and other means-sustainable 
native-forest management among small- and medium-sized landowners. 
Controversial issues that have derailed previous iterations of the 
native-forest bill were sidelined from the talks and will be taken 
 
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up in separate bills.  These include the replacement of native 
forest with tree plantations, making an independent park service and 
the use of legal loopholes to log certain tree species that have 
been declared national monuments. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------- 
Wildlife 
-------- 
 
¶8. Guyana: NGO Accessing Wai Wai Land for Biodiversity Protection 
 
OCT. 03, 2006 - Conservation International will lead a scientific 
expedition into unexplored areas in southern Guyana beginning Oct. 
03 to accesses the value of the area for biodiversity protection. 
For a month, the team headed by Dr Piotr Naskrecki, and including 
Smithsonian Institute scientists and three residents of the Wai Wai 
community, which owns the land, will set up camp in the area and 
closely follow the species living there. 
 
Source - Stabroek News 
 
¶9. Uruguay: The Return of the Aguara-Guazu Wolf 
 
SEPT. 18, 2006 - The reappearance in Uruguay of an "aguara-guazu", 
or maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the first one sighted here in 
16 years, could help finance a study of this species.  The animal, 
which is more closely related to foxes than to wolves, was killed by 
hunters in the eastern department of Cerro Largo, and taken in 
mid-September to the Museum of Natural History and Anthropology in 
Montevideo, where it was being prepared for study.  Museum director 
Arturo Toscano told Tierramerica that efforts are being made, 
alongside the Ministry of Agriculture, to obtain financing for 
research, which would include a search for more maned wolves in 
Cerro Largo.  In Uruguay, the last aguara-guazu, which can weigh 40 
kilograms and inhabits several South American countries, was seen in 
1990 in the western department of Rio Negro. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶10. NGO and Bus Company Team Up Against Wildlife Trafficking 
 
AUG. 03, 2006 - Brazilian NGO RENCTAS and Bus Company Itapemirim 
have launched the second phase of an educational campaign to stop 
illegal wildlife trafficking, which will last until the end of 2006. 
 Using the slogan "Wildlife Trafficking: don't fall into this trap", 
the campaign hopes to reach the population in general as well as 
Itapemirim's 16,000 employees.  Several posters will be hung near 
Itapemirim ticket booths and will be published in a monthly magazine 
produced by the bus company - 300,000 copies a month.  The magazine 
will also carry games such as puzzles and memory games, which were 
designed to reach the children as well. 
 
Source - RENCTAS 
 
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--------------- 
Protected Areas 
--------------- 
 
¶11. First Aerial Spraying In Park Roils Colombia 
 
SEPT. 2006 - After a guerrilla land mine last month killed six 
laborers working to manually uproot coca plants in Sierra de la 
Macarena National Park, Colombian and U.S. spray planes swept over 
the park, destroying 4,400 acres (1,800 has) of coca in five days 
and infuriating environmentalists and media commentators alike.  The 
spraying operation, which used a potent herbicide mixture sold by 
Monsanto, made Colombia the first nation in the world to aerially 
spray drug crops in a national park.  Critics say such spraying 
threatens the park system's immense biodiversity.  The decision to 
begin chemically spraying the 1.56-million-acre (630,000-ha) 
Macarena National Park came after an eight-month attempt at manual 
eradication that destroyed nearly 75 percent  of the coca in the 
Macarena, but left 35 eradicators, police and army soldiers dead 
from guerrilla land mines.  Juan Lozano, Colombia's minister of 
environment, housing and territorial development, has tried to calm 
the uproar over the Macarena spraying by telling the press that the 
decision to spray in the Macarena was "exceptional." He has 
indicated that there are no plans to spray in other parks. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------------------- 
Science & Technology 
-------------------- 
 
¶12. New Body to Boost Science for Development in South 
 
SEPT. 27, 2006 - The foreign ministers of 131 developing nations 
have backed plans to transform a network of science ministries, 
academies and research councils into a new body to promote 
science-based development.  The Consortium on Science, Technology 
and Innovation for the South (COSTIS) will replace the existing 
Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO).  The 
decision was made 22 September in New York City, United States, at 
the annual meeting of foreign ministers of the 131 member states of 
the so-called Group of 77 (G-77).  The move is intended to put 
science and technology closer to the heart of economic-development 
policy.  COSTIS will focus on organizing South-South forums on 
developing appropriate and affordable technologies in sectors such 
as energy and water. COSTIS will seek funding from governments in 
the North and South, as well as international donors and 
foundations. It is set to be fully operational by January 2007. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶13. Scientists Set Sights on 'Green' Chemistry 
 
SEPT. 23, 2006 - A green chemical revolution is underway that 
 
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promises to be environmentally sustainable and profitable while 
reducing the risks of industrial disasters like the Bhopal, India 
gas leak in 1984.  "Green chemistry" has already turned maize into 
biodegradable plastics, developed non-toxic solvents and 
dramatically reduced the toxic byproducts from the manufacture of 
popular pharmaceuticals like ibuprofen.  It is vital to the 
production of Toyota's new electric cars, made in part from kenaf, 
an annual grass plant.  "Green chemistry is about developing new 
products and processes which actually fit the 'triple' bottom line 
of environmental, economic and social sustainability," said Robin 
Rogers, a researcher and director of the University of Alabama's 
Center for Green Manufacturing. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
---------------------------- 
Waste Management & Pollution 
---------------------------- 
 
¶14. Brazil: Aluminum Can Recycling Record Remains Firm 
 
Sept. 25, 2006 - In 2005 Brazil recycled 96.2 percent of its used 
aluminum cans, making it the world's leader in this activity for the 
fifth year in a row, according to the Brazilian Aluminum Association 
(ABAL).  Japan followed with 91.7 percent, while the United States 
and the European Union trailed with can recycling levels of only 52 
percent, said ABAL during an international seminar in the 
southeastern state of Sao Paulo. "Organizing the market at all 
points of the chain in the early 1990s was key to Brazil's success," 
ABAL's Recycling Coordinator, Jose Roberto Giosa, told Tierramerica. 
 The collection system also has a large social impact, providing a 
source of income for 520,000 informal collectors and street garbage 
vendors. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶15. Venezuela: Volunteers Clean Up 300 Beaches 
 
SEPT. 18, 2006 - Some 20,000 volunteers took part in a beach 
clean-up Sep. 16 in Venezuela, targeting 300 areas along the 
Caribbean, as well as around lakes and riverbanks, coinciding with 
the end of school vacation.  "We also classify and inventory the 
garbage we collect.  The experiences of recent years indicate that 
the waste associated with tourism, especially plastics, are the main 
pollutants of our beaches," Maury Marcano, spokesman for the 
initiative, organized by the Foundations for the Defense of Nature, 
told Tierramerica ahead of the clean-up.  Last year, thousands of 
volunteers on 179 beaches collected 755,000 kilos of waste in 13,400 
garbage bags.  The annual beach clean-up is financed by big 
Venezuelan private companies. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶16. Argentina: Scavengers Export Scrap 
 
SEPT. 25 - By the end of the September, the Argentine ecological 
 
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cooperative Reciclando Suenos (Recycling Dreams) will have sent 
another two shipments to Spain, each containing 25,000 kilograms of 
scrap iron.  The cooperative, made up of southern zone "cartoneros" 
(informal scrap collectors) and some of Buenos Aires's poorest 
residents, is a pioneer in exporting scrap for recycling.  In April 
the co-op sent its first shipment of 25 tons of scrap to the 
Interrecicla steel mill, which manufactures tools in the Spanish 
city Bilbao.  The collectors receive approximately 130 dollars per 
exported ton, on which they have to pay a tax of almost 40 percent 
to the Argentine government. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶17. Chile: Indians Fight Garbage Dumps 
 
SEPT. 18 - A dozen representatives of indigenous Mapuche communities 
in Chile's Araucania region charged that they are the target of 
racism and discrimination by the authorities who set up 19 garbage 
dumps less than one kilometer from their homes.  The Mapuche Indians 
say the foul odors and the smoke from burning garbage have caused 
respiratory problems.  Furthermore, the dumps have attracted packs 
of dogs, and led to the appearance of larvae in livestock, 
particularly hogs, that causes trichinosis in humans.  The Mapuche 
leaders gathered in the city of Temuco to draw up strategies for 
getting rid of the dumps.  Alejandra Parra, of the non-governmental 
Action Network for Environmental Rights, told Tierramerica that a 
prompt solution is unlikely, which is why they will file a complaint 
of racism before an international organization, yet to be 
determined. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶18. Will Santiago's Air Goals go Up in Smoke? 
 
SEPT. 2006 - Six years ago, Chile's National Environment Commission 
(Conama) hailed the progress being made against air pollution in the 
Chilean capital.  Thanks to the implementation of stricter standards 
in key areas including vehicle fuels and industrial emissions, 
air-quality indicators had improved markedly.  Conama stated 
confidently that by 2005, Santiago would no longer have to face 
extraordinary steps such as mandatory bad-air-day curbs on 
automobile circulation, industrial activity and school sports.  The 
forecast, however, proved wrong.  Last year, metropolitan Santiago's 
regional government was forced to declare two "environmental 
pre-emergency" days on account of elevated airborne particulate 
concentrations.  And on Aug. 2, authorities announced this year's 
third pre-emergency, after concentrations of PM10-particulates of up 
to 10 microns in diameter-had reached "critical" levels.  As part of 
the pre-emergency, officials prohibited more than 130,000 cars from 
circulating on Santiago roads, designated seven major city avenues 
for the exclusive use of public transport, temporarily banned 
emissions at 552 industrial sites, prohibited the use of residential 
chimneys and redoubled efforts to scrub particulate matter from 
Santiago streets.  And throughout the city, schools halted 
physical-education classes and canceled sporting events.  Such 
experiences underscore an unfortunate fact: despite its early 
 
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success in improving air quality, Santiago has made little anti-smog 
headway since 2000.  The World Health Organization still ranks it as 
one of the globe's 10 most polluted cities.  When asked why this is 
so, air-quality experts, government officials and environmentalists 
cite many factors.  Among the most important, they say, are timid 
and poorly funded air-quality efforts in recent years, the region's 
continued growth and the dictates of geography. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------------- 
Climate Change 
-------------- 
 
¶19. Bolivian Glaciers Receding Rapidly 
 
OCT. 03, 2006 - Bolivian glaciers are receding so rapidly, say 
scientists, that most could disappear within the next ten to 15 
years, with alarming implications for potable water and 
hydroelectric energy supplies.  Scientists tie the last two decades' 
acceleration in glacial melt to the greater intensity and frequency 
of El Nino events, which in turn are linked to gradually rising 
global temperatures.  GOB officials are aware of the glaciers' 
recession but appear ill-equipped to cope with what may be serious 
consequences. 
 
Source - LA PAZ   00002674 
 
¶20. Schwarzenegger Signs Landmark Greenhouse Gas Law 
 
SEPT. 27, 2006 - In a move backers hope will change the U.S. 
approach to the problem of global warming, California Gov. Arnold 
Schwarzenegger signed a law aimed at reducing the state's greenhouse 
gas emissions.  "We have begun a bold new era of environmental 
protection here in California that will change the course of 
history," the Republican governor said.  The measure passed by the 
Democratic- led Legislature last month caps the state's man-made 
greenhouse gas emissions.  The most populous U.S. state seeks to 
reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a cut of about 25 
percent. 
 
Source - Washington Post 
 
¶21. USD 3 Billion Pledged To Fight Climate Change 
 
SEPT. 22, 2006 - British entrepreneur Richard Branson has committed 
what could amount to USD 3 billion to research into renewable 
energies in possibly the largest-ever personal donation to fight 
climate change.  He made the announcement 21 September at the 
Clinton Global Initiative, a three-day meeting of philanthropists in 
New York, United States.  Branson will invest all the personal gains 
he makes from his airline and train companies over the next 10 years 
into finding non-polluting sources of energy, an amount which he 
estimated could come to USD 3 billion.  Earlier this month, on 10 
September, Branson's company Virgin announced the launch of a new 
 
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subsidiary company, Virgin Fuels, which will invest up to USD 400 
million in renewable energy initiatives over the next three years. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶22. Brazil: Pesky El Nino Returns 
 
SEPT. 18, 2006 - The cyclical climate phenomenon known as El Nino 
will return at the end of the year, but will lack the strong 
intensity if had in 1997-1998, when it triggered droughts and 
devastating fires in Brazil, say meteorologists.  It will tend to be 
"moderate" in comparison because the surface waters of the 
equatorial Pacific Ocean will be two to four degrees warmer than 
average, Epedito Gomes Rebello, a researcher at the National 
Institute of Meteorology, told Tierramerica.  This is predictable 
because the water currents at a depth of 100 meters are already four 
degrees warmer, he said.  As a result of the ocean's interaction 
with the atmosphere there will be drought in the northern Amazon and 
in northeast Brazil while there will be heavier rains in the south. 
 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶23. Peru Liquefied Natural Gas: Progress and Challenges 
 
SEPT. 29, 2006 - The Peru Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project is 
proceeding apace, bringing gas from the Camisea gas fields through 
to pipeline to LNG plant and marine terminal on Peru's coastline.  A 
2010 export target should deliver USD   200 million in GOP revenues 
and community projects per year, with annual exports of four million 
metric tons of liquefied natural gas, potentially worth a billion 
dollars.  President Alan Garcia has publicly expressed full support 
for this project, in which U.S. company Hunt Oil is the operator 
with a 50 percent share.  There is little Peruvian opposition to the 
LNG project but continuing complaints about Camisea.  At a September 
27 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) public forum, civil society 
and GOP speakers noted the economic importance of Peru LNG.  There 
were no concerns raised about Paracas Bay.  NGO critics focused on 
rupture risks of the Camisea liquids pipeline (which will also carry 
Peru LNG liquids) and social impacts on the indigenous residents 
near the gas fields and pipeline.  Project implementers said they 
are addressing these concerns by working to ensure the pipeline's 
integrity and improve their work with indigenous communities. 
 
Source - LIMA 00003896 
 
¶24. Chile Promotes Energy Investment to North American Electric 
Companies 
 
Sept. 22, 2006 - With pressures mounting to address Chile's looming 
energy crisis, both the government and Chilean energy distributors 
have set their sights on North American electric companies.  Chile's 
 
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first energy "road show" began Sept. 20 in New York City, where 
President Michelle Bachelet and Energy and Mining Minister Karen 
Poniachik met with Wall Street analysts and industry leaders from 
Chile and the United States.  The seminar, called "Business and 
Investment Opportunities in Chile's Energy Sector," aimed to show 
North American electric companies that "Chile is a great place to 
invest in," said Bachelet.  The bait is no less than USD 10 billion 
in energy deals to supply the country with 5,000 MW, a plan 
authorized by the national Energy Security Policy (PSE) and destined 
to make the country energy independent by 2008. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶25. Biofuel Boom Sparks Environmental Fears 
 
SEPT. 18, 2006 - The use of biofuels is on the rise in Latin America 
and is feeding dreams of abundance in countries like Argentina and 
Colombia.  But the experience of Brazil, a pioneer in this 
alternative energy, raises questions about their potential negative 
environmental consequences.  With ethanol and biodiesel as a 
springboard, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva aims to 
turn his country into an energy superpower -- in contrast to the 
1970s when the Brazilian economy was thrashed by its dependence on 
oil imports and its dramatic price hikes.  But environmentalists 
warn that although biofuels reduce emissions of greenhouse gases 
(which lead to global climate change), they could also trigger a 
massive expansion of the biofuel crops, pushing the agricultural 
frontier deeper into the forests, destroying habitat and 
biodiversity. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶26. Argentina to Add Reactors in Energy-Supply Push 
 
SEPT. 2006 - Argentina's oil and natural gas supplies are not 
keeping pace with the country's 8 percent annual growth, leading 
some experts here to predict a national energy crisis next year or 
the following.  Worried about the prospect, the government has 
launched a series of initiatives aimed at increasing power 
generation-in the process creating a welter of environmental 
tradeoffs.  The most controversial such step was President Nestor 
Kirchner's announcement in August of a USD 3.5 billion, eight-year 
investment to boost Argentina's nuclear-power capacity.  Kirchner 
says the funds would be used to complete construction of the 
country's long-delayed third atomic power station, begin feasibility 
studies on a fourth nuclear plant and resume enriched-uranium 
production, which was suspended two decades ago.  The two atomic 
power stations in operation-Atucha I and Embalse-have an installed 
capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW).  The third plant, Atucha II, would 
bring the total nuclear-power capacity to 1,745 MW, the government 
says.  Many environmentalists oppose an expanded nuclear sector, but 
their warnings have been all but drowned out amid widespread concern 
about power shortages.  [Meanwhile] some who might be assumed to 
oppose nuclear power support Kirchner's plan. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (for complete article please contact Larissa 
 
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Stoner) 
 
------- 
General 
------- 
 
¶27. Brazil Greens See Tensions If President Lula Wins Second Term 
 
SEPT. 29, 2006 - With his leftist credentials and background as a 
factory worker in polluted Sao Paulo, environmentalists had high 
hopes of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he took 
office in 2003.  But the results are mixed.  Plans for controversial 
hydroelectric damns in the Amazon to feed power-hungry cities and 
continued deforestation contrast with the creation of 
state-protected reserves now covering 10 percent of the rainforest. 
A World Wildlife Fund study found Brazil could meet its electricity 
needs through 2020 with renewable resources and conservation -- and 
save 33 billion reais (USD   15 billion). "Brazil needs to stop 
looking at the environment as a problem and start seeing it as a 
solution," said Denise Hamu, secretary general of the World Wildlife 
Fund in Brazil.  "I have some good things to say, but it's mixed 
with frustration. There's a lot of work to be done," said Ana 
Cristina Barros, who heads the Nature Conservancy in Brazil. 
 
Source - Washington Post 
 
¶28. Peru: Fossils Reveal Ancient Biodiversity 
 
SEPT. 23, 2006 - The discovery of an amber deposit formed in the 
Peruvian Amazon during the Miocene era proves that the region's rich 
biological diversity dates back some 16 million years.  The insects 
found fossilized in the amber -- wasps, weevils, flies, tiny mites 
and even a spider caught in its own web -- belong to 13 different 
families, compelling evidence of the region's rich biodiversity 
during the middle Miocene.  In contrast, today's average garden 
hosts insects from a mere three families.  This discovery disproves 
the theory that the Amazon's biodiversity developed only after the 
Miocene period, following the last ice age (approximately 10 million 
years ago).  The discovery also suggests that biological evolution 
in what is now modern-day South America occurred separately from 
similar processes in North America, given that during the middle 
Miocene the current subcontinent was an isolated land mass.  The 
Central American isthmus has bridged the two hemispheres only for 
the last three million years. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶29. Canada Faces Pressure to Promote Sustainable Mining in Latin 
America 
 
SEPT. 23, 2006 - Civil society activists want the Canadian 
government to impose mandatory human rights and environmental 
standards on Canadian mining and oil companies operating in Latin 
America and other developing regions.  In the past decade Canada has 
been the world's biggest investor in the hunt for valuable metals 
and minerals in Latin America, Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch told 
 
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Tierramerica.  Canadian miners are responsible for environmental 
contamination and human rights violations all over Latin America, he 
says.   Canada has nearly 60 percent of the mining and exploration 
companies in the world; they generate more than 40 billion dollars 
annually, representing about four percent of Canada's GDP. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶30. Crude-oil Spill in Ecuador's Amazon Termed Intentional 
 
SEPT. 2006 - A 500-barrel oil spill last month in the Cuyabeno 
Wildlife Reserve, located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, is being 
described by authorities as the result of a deliberate attack on a 
well operated by Petroecuador, the state oil company.  The Aug. 18 
spill occurred following the rupture of a secondary pipeline that 
routes crude from the Petroecuador well, called Cuyabeno 8, to a 
production station.  Officials say the break was not an accident, 
and they are conducting an investigation to determine who is 
responsible for it.  Under Ecuador law, government-sanctioned mining 
and oil-development activity can be conducted in protected areas. 
The Cuyabeno reserve, created in 1979, covers more than 1.5 million 
acres (600,000 has) in the provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana.  One 
of 27 protected areas in Ecuador, it is home to 493 bird species, 
165 mammalian species, 91 varieties of reptile, 96 amphibian species 
and 475 types of fish.  Human inhabitants include members of the 
Siona, Secoya, Cofan, Quichua, Shuar and Achuar indigenous groups. 
Late last month, Environment Ministry personnel inspected five of 
the reserve's interconnected lakes and confirmed that the spilled 
oil had reached all of them after entering the Cuyabeno Chico 
River. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶31. Colombia: Dredging to Prevent Floods 
 
AUG. 26, 2006 - Authorities from the town of Monteria, in the 
northern Colombian department of Cordoba, will begin dredging and 
rehabilitation work in September on La Caimanera channel.  The 
initiative is part of a 4.2 million-dollar project to mitigate the 
effects of flooding from the Sinu River, which in 2005 left more 
than 3,000 families homeless.  The secretary of municipal 
infrastructure, Juan Carlos Mendez, told Tierramerica that the last 
legal steps are being carried out to begin work, which includes 
reforestation of both banks of the channel.  According to Carlos 
Martinez, of the Farmers' Association of Cordoba, the efforts begun 
in 2005 have produced immediate results. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
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