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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 BRASILIA 000639 
 
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: MZWEEDE 
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 72 
 
¶1.  The following is the seventy-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)Venezuela Produces Ecological Cocoa 
--(4)Uruguay Subsidizes Sustainable Agriculture Projects 
--(5)Argentina: Biotechnology Law Approved by Senate 
--(6)Brazilian Soybean Production to Drop by 1.9 Million Tons in 
2006 
 
Health 
--(7)Brazil, USAID Disagree on AIDS Prevention 
--(8)GM Mosquitoes Stop Dengue Virus Replicating 
--(9)Argentine Researchers Identify Night Blindness as Symptom of 
Chagas 
 
Water Issues 
--(10)Chile: Opposition to Four Mega-Dams 
--(11)Green Issues Delay Brazilian Dam Projects 
 
Forests 
--(12)Greenpeace Denounces Deforestation in Brazil 
--(13)Brazil Clears Law on Amazon Wood Logging 
--(14)Preserving Chile's Southern Forests 
--(15)Chile: Forest Fire Prevention Effort Pays Off 
 
Wildlife 
--(16)New Private Bird Watching Park Launched In Chile 
--(17)Invasion of Scorpions in Argentina 
 
Protected Areas 
--(18)Paraguay is Able to Extend Area of Nature Reserve 
 
Science & Technology 
--(19)Peru: University Invites Presidential Candidates to Discuss 
S&T 
--(20)A Perspective on S&T in Colombia 
--(21)Argentina to Subsidize 28 S&T Institutions 
 
Industrialization 
--(22)Brazil Calls for Uruguayan-Argentine Dialogue over Pulp Plants 
Dispute 
 
Pollution 
--(23)Cutting Methane Emissions 'Will Save 370,000 Lives' 
 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  002 OF 012 
 
 
Energy 
--(24)Brazil Proposes Regional Energy Market 
--(25)Peru: Camisea Chaos 
--(26)Argentina: Hydrogen Pilot Reactor 
--(27)Venezuela's Pipeline Strikes Out 
 
General 
--(28)Cartagena Protocol Meeting Decides To Label GMO Exports 
--(29)Chile: Caving Expedition Makes Historic Discovery in 
Patagonia 
--(30)Venezuela: Mining Activities Halted in River Basin 
--(31)Chevening Scholarships in Biodiversity 
 
Update on Avian Influenza 
--(32)Renowned Bird Flu Expert Warns: Be Prepared 
--(33)Flamingo Deaths Spark Bird Flu Probe in Bahamas 
 
----------- 
Agriculture 
----------- 
 
¶3. Venezuela Produces Ecological Cocoa 
 
MAR. 04, 2006 - Twenty farmers from Ocumare de la Costa, 120 km 
northwest of Caracas, produced 5,000 kilograms of cocoa without 
using agro-chemicals in their cultivation, qualifying it as an 
"organic product" for the certifying entity Biolatina, based in 
Peru. The project was a joint effort, over nearly three years, of 
the association of farmers, government agencies and non-governmental 
Tierra Viva Foundation. The project aims to "reach all farmers near 
the Henri Pittier National Park," an unusual mountain rainforest 
along Venezuela's central Caribbean coast, where Chuao cocoa is 
produced, one of the most aromatic in the world. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶4. Uruguay Subsidizes Sustainable Agriculture Projects 
 
FEB. 28, 2006 - The GOU announced it will provide US$40 million in 
financial support for rural producers working to improve the 
management of natural resources and biodiversity.  This subsidy is 
part of a larger governmental program for "Responsible Production," 
which will extend until 2011.  The program hopes to improve soil, 
water, and biodiversity management and contribute to agricultural 
development in Uruguay.  World Bank, UNEP, and FAO are the 
organizations that provided the money. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶5. Argentina: Biotechnology Law Approved by Senate 
 
FEB. 23, 2006 - The Argentine Senate has approved a biotechnology 
law, which will stimulate the development of both research and 
production in modern biotechnology.  The law will provide discounts 
and bonuses for biotech research projects over the next fifteen 
years.  Argentina has over 80 biotech companies, most of which work 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  003 OF 012 
 
 
with genetically modified seeds for agricultural use. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶6. Brazilian Soybean Production to Drop by 1.9 Million Tons in 2006 
 
FEB. 21, 2006 - As a result of drought and a lack of investment in 
technology, the Brazilian soybean crop this year is expected to drop 
to 56.26 million tons, which represents about 1.9 million tons less 
than the 58 million tons originally forecast. 
 
Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia. Original source: Folha 
de Sco Paulo 
 
------ 
Health 
------ 
 
¶7. Brazil, USAID Disagree on AIDS Prevention 
 
MAR. 14, 2006 - Weekend Brazilian newspapers picked up on the public 
exchange between the director of Brazil's National AIDS Program, 
Pedro Chequer, and the USAID in Brazil. According to the reports, 
Chequer accused the USAID of planning to implement programs to 
foster abstinence as a means of preventing AIDS contamination among 
young Brazilian populations without first getting authorization from 
Brazilian health officials. The stories note that USAID responded 
that this issue had been discussed with the Brazilian officials, and 
that there had been an agreement for addressing abstinence as one of 
the possible means of prevention. 
 
Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia 
 
¶8. GM Mosquitoes Stop Dengue Virus Replicating 
 
MAR. 14, 2006 - Mosquitoes can be genetically modified to resist 
being infected by the virus that causes dengue fever, say 
researchers.  It is the first time that scientists have bred 
mosquitoes that not only resist 'type 2' dengue virus - the most 
prevalent strain - but also pass this resistance on to their 
offspring.  Dengue fever is spread through the bite of the Aedes 
aegypti mosquito. Each year, the virus kills about 20,000 of the 50 
million people it infects across the developing world.  The 
researchers say that releasing the genetically modified (GM) 
mosquitoes could help prevent people from catching the disease as 
the mosquitoes would no longer be able to transmit the virus.  They 
add, though, that much more research is needed before this can 
happen.  The team, led by Ken Olson of Colorado State University in 
the United States, published their findings 13 March in Proceedings 
of the National Academy of Sciences. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶9. Argentine Researchers Identify Night Blindness as Symptom of 
Chagas 
 
 
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MAR. 05, 2006 - Researchers from the Instituto de Investigaciones en 
Genetica y Biologia Molecular in Argentina concluded that the 
antibodies produced during an attack by the parasite Tripanosoma 
cruzi affect the cells of the retina, leading to night blindness. 
The findings, which were published in the FASEB Journal, may help 
determine (in the future) which specific antibodies cause heart and 
retina damage in order to perform better diagnosis. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
------------ 
Water Issues 
------------- 
 
¶10. Chile: Opposition to Four Mega-Dams 
 
MAR. 04, 2006 - An international offensive led by the U.S.-based 
International Rivers Network seeks to prevent financial agencies 
from funding the Spanish transnational Endesa for building four huge 
hydroelectric dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers, 1,800 km south of 
the Chilean capital. According to Endesa, the project will be ready 
in 2008 and activated between 2012 and 2018. It will generate 2,430 
megawatts, require the construction of 2,000 km of transmission 
lines and flood of some 9,000 hectares. 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶11. Green Issues Delay Brazilian Dam Projects 
 
FEB. 2006 - Brazil, undeterred by the December sale of just seven of 
17 dam concessions slated for auction, plans a new round of bidding 
in May to meet energy demand expected over the next two to three 
years.  In another move to boost the power supply, the government 
has announced plans to issue preliminary environmental licenses this 
year for two large dams on the Amazon region's Madeira River. 
Concessions for the dams, whose collective generating capacity would 
total 6,450 megawatts (MW), could be auctioned off as soon as the 
second half of the year.  Critics of the government's hydropower 
policy dismiss the Amazon dam-licensing news as an election-year 
gambit by the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to 
shift attention from its weak December auction.  The government 
originally had planned to sell concessions for 17 small and 
medium-sized dams. But state and federal environmental agencies only 
granted preliminary environmental licenses for 11 of the projects. 
Of those projects, two were sidelined by court injunctions and two 
others by an administrative glitch. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
------- 
Forests 
------- 
 
¶12. Greenpeace Denounces Deforestation in Brazil 
 
 
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MAR. 08, 2006 - While Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva 
defended, in an article published by the UK newspaper The Guardian, 
his government's progress in the environmental preservation, NGO 
Greenpeace published a one-page announcement in the newspaper The 
Independent, in which it criticizes the destruction of the Amazon 
Forest.  "Since president Lula came to the power, an area of the 
Amazon Forest larger than the half of the size of England was 
destroyed illegally by lumbermen, soy production and cattle 
ranching", Greenpeace says.  This occurred while President Lula was 
on official visit to England. 
 
Source - Planet Save 
 
¶13. Brazil Clears Law on Amazon Wood Logging 
 
MAR. 06, 2006 - Brazil has approved a law granting licenses for 
logging in publicly owned sections of the Amazon rainforest, a move 
aimed at halting its destruction.  Under the new law - signed by 
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - timber companies will be given 
up to 40-year licenses under the condition that all logging be 
sustainable.  Independent inspections of licensed sites are to be 
carried out every five years. Critics of the law have argued this is 
not enough.  But environmental groups and experts have hailed the 
new law as a milestone in the fight to preserve the Amazon, about 17 
percent of which has been destroyed to date, studies say.  About 75 
percent of the rain forest is publicly owned, and the government 
plans to offer commercial access to three percent of this rainforest 
over the next 10 years. 
 
Source - MercoPress 
 
¶14. Preserving Chile's Southern Forests 
 
MAR 9, 2006 - The recently created Karukinka nature reserve in the 
Chilean part of the Tierra del Fuego reserve traces its history back 
to the 1990s, when Trillium, an American firm, attempted to log the 
island's forests of lenga, a type of beech found only in southern 
Chile and Argentina. The project, however, ran into opposition from 
local environmental groups and failed.  In 2002 Goldman Sachs 
acquired the loans that had backed the project--and with them the 
2,750 square kilometer property--as part of a package of distressed 
debt. Two years later the firm donated the land to the Wildlife 
Conservation Society (WCS) of New York and the reserve was born. 
Initially, the project will focus on restoring the ecosystem to its 
original condition--in particular by "containing" beavers introduced 
from Canada in the 1950s for fur farming. In the absence of 
predators, these rodents have run amok, damming every river in sight 
and causing extensive damage to the trees. Moreover, the reserve 
aims to serve as a model for the conservation of southern Patagonia, 
in which Tierra del Fuego is located. But, although the area is the 
largest in Chile under the management of an overseas conservation 
organization and, possibly, the best funded, it is not Chile's first 
private reserve. 
 
Source - The Economist (no link), article kindly shared by US 
Embassy Santiago. 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  006 OF 012 
 
 
 
¶15. Chile: Forest Fire Prevention Effort Pays Off 
 
MAR. 06, 2006 - Fewer forest fires occurred in 2005/2006 than in any 
of the previous five years, reported CONAF, the state forestry 
agency. CONAF reported that only 3,530 fires occurred this year, a 
32% drop compared to the 5,205 fires that have occurred on average 
in the past five years. Forest losses fell 70 percent this year 
compared to last season.  Fire prevention has been emphasized by 
CONAF in communities where fires are most apt to occur, especially 
Regions V and VIII.  Getting special attention, too, was the Torres 
del Paine National Park, which lost more than 15,000 hectares of 
forest due to a negligent camper using a cook stove in an area where 
it was not allowed. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
-------- 
Wildlife 
-------- 
 
¶16. New Private Bird Watching Park Launched In Chile 
 
MAR. 17, 2006 - Sixty two hectares of property owned by the Modinger 
Brothers Meat Packing Company near the town of Llanquihue have been 
converted into one of the few thematic parks to exist in southern 
Chile.  The newly created Maullin River Ornithological Park provides 
a home to over 100 different species of birds native to the local 
forests including the Chucao, the Hued Hued, the Black Woodpecker, 
the Choroy Parrot, and the Black-Necked Swan. The endangered river 
nutria will also be featured in this park.  The park opens 
officially on April 1 and is located six kilometers from Llanquihue 
in Region X, about 30 minutes north of Puerto Montt. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶17. Invasion of Scorpions in Argentina 
 
FEB. 28, 2006 - The recent invasion of scorpions has resulted in 
three deaths with a rise in the number of attacks within the last 
year. In La Rioja, a socio-economically deprived area, a six-year 
old girl was the third death in the last month. A seven year old boy 
was also attacked in La Rioja in December 2005.  The other death of 
a four year old boy occurred in Poma, northeast of Aimogasta, a few 
days earlier. The three deaths and increasing number of cases 
support the theory that there is an invasion of scorpions in La 
Rioja and Catamarca.  Nito Brizuela, an environmentalist, reported 
scorpions in fifty-four neighborhoods of San Fernando del Valle de 
Catamarca, the provincial capital. The most poisonous specie, Titius 
trivitatus, was found in nine of the neighborhoods. In 2003, this 
species had only been detected in one neighborhood. 
 
Source - Clarin.  Kindly shared by US Embassy Buenos Aires. 
 
--------------- 
Protected Areas 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  007 OF 012 
 
 
--------------- 
 
¶18. Paraguay is Able to Extend Area of Nature Reserve 
 
FEB. 23, 2006 - With the help of international NGOs WWF, TNC, and 
World Parks, Guyra Paraguay (a local NGO) was able to add another 
2,100 hectares to the San Rafael Reserve, in the Upper Parana region 
of the country.  According to the press report, fifty percent of the 
land was obtained through a Debt for Nature swap agreement between 
the United States and Paraguay through WWF.  More financing is 
needed to maintain the area, which now encompasses 5,800 hectares 
(note: the area of the San Rafael region extends 78,000 hectares, 
but only 5,800 are guaranteed as a reserve).  On another note, the 
government of Taiwan has agreed to cooperate with Paraguay in 
joining two parks, Taro and Avyrareta, within the San Rafael area. 
An exchange in biodiversity research is also part of the agreement, 
which was discussed in 2004 and will (tentatively) be signed during 
the next visit of the Taiwan delegation. 
 
Source - IUCN 
 
-------------------- 
Science & Technology 
-------------------- 
 
¶19. Peru: University Invites Presidential Candidates to Discuss S&T 
 
MAR. 14, 2006 - Only three of the twenty-five presidential 
candidates for the upcoming election in Peru agreed to present their 
science and technology program to a specialized audience on March 09 
at the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, in Lima; neither of which 
were ranked amongst the top electoral preferences.  One of the main 
concerns of those present at the event is to guarantee that the 
country's current S&T plan, valid until 2012, will be carried out 
regardless of the political party governing the country. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶20. A Perspective on S&T in Colombia 
 
MAR. 14, 2006 - According to the new director of Colciencias 
(Colombia Institute for Scientific Development), Felipe Garcia, 
Colombia needs an advanced level in science and technology in order 
to advance as a country.  Garcia hopes to create a strong link 
between researchers and the productive sector.  Juan Alfredo Pinto, 
president of the Colombian Association of Small and Medium 
Industries pointed the need for a Ministry of S&T to stimulate 
competitiveness.  Eduardo Posada, president of the Colombian 
Association for the Advance of Science believes an entity similar to 
the U.S. National Science Foundation would be appropriate. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶21. Argentina to Subsidize Twenty-eight S&T Institutions 
 
MAR. 10, 2006 - The minister of Education, Science, and Technology, 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  008 OF 012 
 
 
Daniel Filmus, announced recently that the GOA will provide 
subsidies totalling US$1.5 million uo to 2008 to twenty-eight 
scientific institutions in the country.  Filmus highlighted the 
importance of sponsoring scientific projects and announced that the 
National Agency for Science Promotion will be launching a graduate 
course for capacity-building of human resources - investing a total 
of US$40 million. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
----------------- 
Industrialization 
----------------- 
 
¶22. Brazil Calls for Uruguayan-Argentine Dialogue over Pulp Plants 
Dispute 
 
MAR. 16, 2006 - Brazil called for frank dialogue between Uruguay and 
Argentina in an attempt to bring about a settlement in their dispute 
over the installation of two pulp plants on Uruguayan territory. 
"Differences between countries in our region can be resolved by a 
frank dialogue and by understanding between leaders," Lula told the 
press, after meeting with Uruguay's president Tabare Vazquez at the 
Planalto Palace in Brasilia.  The Uruguayan president started his 
five-nation tour discussing the conflict between Uruguay and 
Argentina over the construction of two pulp factories.  Argentina is 
opposed to the project, saying the paper factories will contaminate 
the waters of River Uruguay, a river shared by the two countries. 
 
Source - Xinhuanet.com 
 
--------- 
Pollution 
--------- 
 
¶23. Cutting Methane Emissions 'Will Save 370,000 Lives' 
 
MAR. 07, 2006 - Reducing methane emissions by 20 per cent could 
prevent 370,000 deaths worldwide between 2010 and 2030, say 
researchers in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  The 
researchers add that the money saved by preventing these deaths 
would exceed the cost of cutting emissions.  Jason West, of 
Princeton University, and colleagues note that a lack of data from 
developing countries makes it difficult to predict just how health 
benefits would manifest there.  The main human activities that 
contribute to methane emissions are cattle and rice farming. Other 
sources include coal mining, landfill sites, and the burning of 
biomass. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶24. Brazil Proposes Regional Energy Market 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  009 OF 012 
 
 
 
MAR. 04, 2006 - Latin America should form a regional market for 
cheap energy that will boost development across the continent, a top 
energy official said March 3rd.  The Latin American market would 
include oil, gas and electricity and could be modeled after the 
European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the European 
Union, said Norberto de Franco Medeiros, head of the Brazilian 
Committee of the World Energy Council.  Medeiros said the Council 
had proposed a two-year study of possible energy links in Latin 
America.  The centerpieces of the continental link would be a 
5,000-mile (8,000 km) pipeline from Venezuela to Argentina, cutting 
through Brazil's Amazon rain forest and branching off to Bolivia, 
Paraguay and Uruguay.  Medeiros also cited the proposed construction 
of two hydroelectric dams on the Amazon and the Madeira River that 
could provide "cheap and competitive energy" for Brazil and 
neighboring Bolivia. The projects are pending approval by Brazil's 
Environment Ministry. 
 
Source - MercoPress 
 
¶25. Peru: Camisea Chaos 
 
MAR. 04, 2006 - The March 4 rupture of the Camisea pipeline, which 
affected nearly 150,000 square meters of farmland and destroyed 
several homes, has the Gas Transport Consortium (TGP) and the 
Peruvian Government scrambling for answers.  Energy and Mines 
Minister Glodomiro Sanchez, back from the Prospectors and Developers 
Conference in Toronto, visited the impacted zone, in Cusco's jungle 
region, as did a host of other government authorities. Locals made a 
number of demands, and the Government agreed that an integral audit 
of the pipeline was needed, given that the March 4 rupture was the 
fifth serious incident in fifteen months. The Inter-American 
Development Bank (IDB), which loaned $130 million to the Camisea 
consortium for the pipeline, released a communiqu stating that it 
"is deeply concerned about the five spills that have occurred on the 
Camisea natural gas liquids pipeline since 2004." The Bank stated 
that its engineers would perform an expanded review and analysis of 
the project design. 
 
Source - ConsultAndes 
 
¶26. Argentina: Hydrogen Pilot Reactor 
 
MAR. 03, 2006 - A group of investigators in Argentina are studying 
how to utilize hydrogen obtained through renewable and 
non-contaminated bio-energy resources such as sugar cane, corn, 
sorghum and beet plantations. The project consists of a pilot 
reactor producing synthesized gas and hydrogen, through a renewable 
resource, as a product of bio-ethanol.  This technological advance 
will help reduce the current climatic effects contributing to global 
warming. The final objective of the plan is to utilize the pure 
hydrogen as a combustible for electric vehicles. It is important to 
be able to use hydrogen in the same place it is produced. Currently, 
vehicles that directly utilize hydrogen have problems with the 
storage of hydrogen because it requires very low temperatures and 
high pressures resulting in high costs and safety risks. 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  010 OF 012 
 
 
 
Source - Pagina 12 (no link).  Kindly shared by US Embassy Buenos 
Aires 
 
¶27. Venezuela's Pipeline Strikes Out 
 
MAR. 02, 2006 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's proposal to build 
a natural gas pipeline is probably not possible. Ninety percent of 
Venezuelan natural gas reserves are associated with oil and cannot 
be produced at will without ruining the oil reservoirs; 40 percent 
of the gas currently produced has to be put back into the reservoirs 
to preserve them. The official projections of Venezuelan gas 
production for the next decade indicate that the country will have 
barely enough natural gas to satisfy its domestic needs.  The 
pipeline probably would not be economic, either. Building costs 
would be $25 billion to $30 billion, which would require the gas to 
be sold in Argentina at the equivalent of $110 for a barrel of oil. 
Finally, the pipeline would be undesirable for the environment. The 
Amazon already is in a grave stage of degradation, and a pipeline 
would constitute a further threat. 
 
Source - Washington Post 
 
------- 
General 
------- 
 
¶28. Cartagena Protocol Meeting Decides To Label GMO Exports 
 
MAR. 18, 2006 -  The Meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol 
(MOP 3) decided to implement the labeling of food product exports 
containing genetically modified organisms, but only in six years, 
with interim rules for gradual implementation that benefit 
non-signatory countries. Brazilian business daily Valor Economico 
reports that the Conference of the Parties (COP 8) begins to discuss 
in Curitiba the issue of "bio-prospecting," or the capture of 
genetic materials for use in the development of new products. 
According to the daily, Brazil, India and African countries defend 
the creation of specific international legislation regulating this 
process to prevent biopiracy, something that countries such as 
Australia and some European and Asian countries oppose because of 
the costs it could create for research. 
 
Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia 
 
¶29. Chile: Caving Expedition Makes Historic Discovery in Patagonia 
 
MAR. 8, 2006 - A team of French and Chilean cave explorers 
discovered cave paintings and indigenous tombs on a remote 
Patagonian island that had been considered uninhabitable.  The 
surprised investigators were the members of "Ultimate Patagonia 
2006," a two-month long caving expedition organized by the French 
Speleology Federation in collaboration with the University of Chile 
and Catholic University in Santiago. The destination of the thirty 
speleologists, biologists and geologists was Madre de Dios Island, a 
rocky outpost of porous lime toward the tip of Patagonia, where 
 
BRASILIA 00000639  011 OF 012 
 
 
Chile crumbles into the South Pacific. Twenty-four hours by boat 
from Puerto Natales, the island is hardly an alluring homeland. 
Until now there has been no evidence of a human presence there. 
Nelson Aguilera, of the National Corporation of Indigenous 
Development, called the discoveries "historic:" "One thing that is 
certain is that the Canoeros of the region at some point reached the 
Pacific coast, an archeological certainty that didn't exist before 
this expedition."  A complete report on the expedition's findings 
will be published in six months. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶30. Venezuela: Mining Activities Halted in River Basin 
 
FEB. 22, 2006 - In order to protect the Caroni River Basin, in the 
state of Bolivar (border with Brazil), the GOV has imposed a halt on 
all mining activities in Icabaru, Cuyuni, and La Paragua.  According 
to the press report, the permit for mining in the region expired 
December 31, 2005.  Mining activities performed in the water have 
been forbidden as of March 10; and those mining activities on land 
have a period of six months as of February 18 to terminate. 
Although the military has been called upon to ensure the mining is 
ended in the region, Lieutenant Colonel Jesus Vitelmo Willhem 
Becerra points out that this is part of a program developed together 
with all [Venezuelan] Ministries and entities concerned about the 
environment and protecting the Caroni Rover basin. 
 
Source - Diario El Progresso 
 
¶31. Chevening Scholarships in Biodiversity 
 
Chevening Scholarships bring students from all regions of the world, 
including South America, to work for one year at the Center in 
Cambridge, UK. Scholars are expected to work with the Center's staff 
on programs ranging from managing data about ecosystems and 
biodiversity, to interpreting and analyzing that data to provide 
assessment and policy analysis. The work will contribute to and help 
to shape national and international decision-making processes and 
help to place authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the center of 
decision-making.  Candidates must be between 25 and 35 years of age 
and be fluent in English. They must hold an undergraduate degree, 
and preferably also a postgraduate degree, in a biological or 
environmental science or one related to economics, GIS and the 
environment. Candidates should apply on the Chevening Scholarships 
form attaching a resume, publications list and cover letter 
explaining why they wish to spend a year at the Center. Application 
forms are available from, and should be submitted through any UK 
Embassy, High Commission or British Council office, or to: 
 
Chevening Administrator 
UNEP-WCMC 
219 Huntingdon Road 
Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. 
 
Source - UNEP 
 
 
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------------------------- 
Update on Avian Influenza 
--------------------------- 
 
¶32. Renowned Bird Flu Expert Warns: Be Prepared 
 
MAR. 14, 2006 - Robert G. Webster is one of the few bird flu experts 
confident enough to answer the key question: Will the avian flu 
switch from posing a terrible hazard to birds to becoming a real 
threat to humans?  There are "about even odds at this time for the 
virus to learn how to transmit human to human," he told ABC's "World 
News Tonight." Webster, the Rosemary Thomas Chair at St. Jude 
Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, is credited as 
the first scientist to find the link between human flu and bird flu. 
 Webster and his team of scientists are working to find a way to 
beat the virus if it morphs. He has even been dubbed the Flu Hunter. 
 Right now, H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, has confined 
itself to birds. It can be transmitted from bird to human but only 
by direct contact with the droppings and excretions of infected 
birds. 
 
Source - ABC News 
 
¶33. Flamingo Deaths Spark Bird Flu Probe in Bahamas 
 
FEB. 28, 2006 - Health experts were dispatched on February 28 to the 
southern Bahamas island of Inagua to find out if an unexplained 
spate of bird deaths was linked to a deadly bird flu virus that is 
spreading around the globe.  Over the past two days, 15 of the 
island's famed flamingos, five roseate spoonbills and one cormorant 
have been found dead with no external injuries on the island just 
north of Haiti, officials said.  Scientists from the Bahamas 
Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Health 
will gather samples from the birds and then submit them for 
laboratory analysis. 
 
NOTE:  A few weeks later, the possibility of Avian Influenza in the 
region was discarded 
 
Source - Alertnet 
LINEHAN