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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 BRASILIA 001455 
 
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 77 
 
¶1.  The following is the seventy-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)Newcastle Disease Found In Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil 
--(4)Transgenic Food Label Law Passed by Chile's Chamber of 
Deputies 
--(5)Brazil Promoting Organic Products 
 
Water Issues 
--(6)Colombian Communities Resist River-Diversion Plan 
 
Fishing & Marine Conservation 
--(7)Chile's Artisan Fishermen Look to Save Trade from Global 
Warming and Overfishing 
 
Protected Areas 
--(8)Galapagos National Park (At Last) Gets New Director 
 
CDM and M2M 
--(9)Brazil a Regional Leader in CDM Projects 
 
Industrialization & Pollution 
--(10)Colombian Port Plans Rile Traditional Communities 
--(11)Peru: Activists Want Independent Authority to Monitor Doe 
Run's Activities 
--(12)Brazil Targeting Industrial Air Emissions 
--(13)Chile: Greenpeace Blockades Celco Cellulose Plant 
--(14)Pascua Lama Approved by Chilean Environmental Authorities 
 
Energy 
--(15)U.S. Lawmakers Push Sugar as Fuel Source 
--(16)An Energy Field of Dreams 
 
General 
--(17)Environment Was Non-Issue in Peru's Presidential Race 
--(18)Argentina Names Lawyer as Top Environment Official 
--(19)Brazilian Supreme Court Appoints Environmental Advocate 
 
Update on Avian Influenza 
--(20)Avian Influenza Knowledge Now (KN): A Web-based Tool for Avian 
Influenza Collaboration and Information Management 
 
----------- 
Agriculture 
----------- 
 
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¶3. Newcastle Disease Found In Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil 
 
JULY 07, 2006 - The World Organization For Animal Health, or OIE, 
[announced] that a case of Newcastle disease was found on a private 
property in Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil's most important 
chicken producing states.  [L]aboratory tests begun in early May on 
chickens in the town of Vale Real in Rio Grande do Sul discovered 
the virus that causes the disease in one bird. Forty-four chickens 
were slaughtered as a result.  The discovery was made during the 
state's standard animal health monitoring operations, the newswire 
reported, citing Agriculture Ministry representative in Rio Grande 
do Sul, Francisco Signor. 
 
¶4. Transgenic Food Label Law Passed by Chile's Chamber of Deputies 
 
JUNE 26, 2006 - The [Chilean] Chamber of Deputies approved on June 
21 a law mandating the labeling of transgenic food sold in Chile. 
The legislation, which will be voted upon in the Senate the first 
week in July, passed with 99 votes in favor, one vote against, and 
one abstention.  This proposed legislation stipulates the labeling 
of food products which are made of at least one percent transgenic 
corn or soy bean.  Every day staples such as cookies, pastries, 
bread, drinks, hot dogs, sausages, olives, and butter would be put 
under the provision of this new law.  The Deputies' vote reflects 
public opinion in Santiago. According to a 2005 study in the greater 
Santiago area, 95.5 percent of all citizens want to see genetically 
modified foods clearly labeled, while 58.5 percent said that they 
would not eat it at all. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶5. Brazil Promoting Organic Products 
 
JUNE 24, 2006 - A national campaign to promote organic products 
began June 23 in Brazil, where at least 20,000 farmers, mostly 
running small operations, are dedicated to growing agrochemical-free 
crops on a total of 6.5 million hectares.  The initiative, lasting 
through the end of the month, is headed by four government 
ministries, the Brazilian supermarket association ABRAS, and farmer 
and consumer organizations.  Organic farming moves an estimated 100 
million dollars a year in the country, and is growing at a pace of 
about 50 percent annually -- more than twice the world average.  The 
campaign includes seminars, demonstrations, food fairs and the 
distribution of information hrough a wide variety of activities. 
 
Source - Terramerica 
 
------------ 
Water Issues 
----------- 
 
¶6. Colombian Communities Resist River-Divesion Plan 
 
JUNE 2006 - Nine years after being rebuffed in its first attempt, 
Colombia's Energy Company of the Pacific (Epsa) is trying again to 
 
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persuade Afro-Colombian and Nasa Indian communities in the 
department of Cauca to allow it to divert the Ovejas River through a 
tunnel to the Salvajina hydropower complex.  But the project, which 
would boost energy output by 15% at the 285-megawatt Salvajina 
station, has rekindled opposition in the communities, which say the 
diversion would destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of people who 
rely on the river for fishing, farming and mining.  Community 
leaders allege Epsa is misrepresenting river-diversion impacts as it 
pushes for local approval of the USD15-20 million project in a 
constitutionally-required public consultation later this year.  They 
also claim the government has yet to fulfill its promise to 
compensate 6,000 people who lost their homes and livelihoods when 
the Salvajina dam was built on the Cauca River in 1984. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
----------------------------- 
Fishing & Marine Conservation 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. Chile's Artisan Fishermen Look to Save Trade from Global Warming 
and Overfishing 
 
JULY 7, 2006 - In the past few years artisan fishermen from Bahia 
Mansa and neighboring communities have started to question the 
future of their trade.  Catches of nearly every major commercial 
species are lower than they were five years ago.  Quality, too, 
claim the fishermen, has declined.  The cause for the diminished 
catch is most likely a combination of factors.  Rising acidity in 
the ocean, an effect of the global buildup of greenhouse gasses, is 
a threat to marine populations everywhere.  Currents, too, have 
shifted, a consequence of major temperature fluctuations on the 
ocean's surface, phenomena commonly known as La Nia and El Nio. 
To date, however, no studies have measured the effects of these 
factors locally.  But what can be measured and controlled on 
Osorno's coast are direct human actions. Many in Bahia Mansa are 
quick to mention the impact of large-scale commercial vessels that 
operate farther offshore, scraping the seabed with their wide, 
hook-laden nets.  Fearing further losses, members of CPALO last week 
formalized an agreement with the University of Los Lagos' 
Aquaculture Department to help repopulate Osorno's waters.  In 
addition to the fishermen promising to self-regulate better, the 
venture calls for a new hatchery at Bahia Mansa, based at the 
University's Metri Center outside of Puerto Montt. The new facility 
will be staffed by Aquaculture Department faculty and students, with 
priority given to students from or with family still living on 
Osorno's coast. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
--------------- 
Protected Areas 
--------------- 
 
¶8. Galapagos National Park (At Last) Gets New Director 
 
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JUNE 2006 - The new director of Ecuador's Galapagos National Park 
has no shortage of early challenges, a crucial one being to find 
alternative sources of income for artisanal fishermen, who experts 
believe are placing a major strain on the archipelago's marine life. 
 Raquel Molina Moreira, a 40-year-old biologist who took office last 
month, is expected to consider solutions such as allowing paying 
tourists to accompany and assist local fishermen. The extra income, 
supporters of the idea say, would ease economic pressures on 
fishermen-and, thus, on the archipelago's fishery.  Molina, to be 
sure, has set other priorities as well, among them strengthening 
park operations.  That task will be aided by a USD150,000 grant from 
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).  The funds are earmarked 
for goals including renovation of the park's organizational 
structure and implementation of ISO 14,000 and ISO 18,000 
environmental-management standards.  The new director also plans to 
bolster training of park personnel and expansion of the number of 
park guards, which now number around 280. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
----------- 
CDM and M2M 
----------- 
 
¶9. Brazil a Regional Leader in CDM Projects 
 
JUNE 2006 - Brazilian projects loom large in the early stages of the 
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Kyoto Protocol program aimed 
at promoting greenhouse-gas reductions in developing countries.  As 
of late May, Brazil ranked second only to India in the number of 
projects in the various stages of the CDM approval process, with 
¶145.   Among the first five in the world to earn these credits is a 
Brazilian project under which methane from decomposing garbage at 
the city of Salvador's sole landfill is being captured and flared. 
Operated by Bahia Treatment and Residue Transfer (Battre), a private 
company that runs the landfill, the project reflects the popularity 
of methane-capture as a means of generating gas-reduction credits. 
Another CDM-registered project called Novagerar, in the town of Nova 
Iguagu, which is on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, also captures 
landfill methane.  But instead of flaring the gas, Novagerar uses it 
to fuel an evaporation system that reduces the landfill's leachate, 
which prevents contaminants from entering the water table. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (Please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
----------------------------- 
Industrialization & Pollution 
----------------------------- 
 
¶10. Colombian Port Plans Rile Traditional Communities 
 
JUNE 2006 - Colombia is planning to build a series of large 
pipeline, road, and port projects over the next decade to open its 
 
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vast Pacific coast to development and trade.  But local communities, 
fearing injury to their traditions and environment, are mobilizing 
to oppose the effort.  As an economic alternative, these communities 
have been establishing ecotourism businesses, sustainable forestry 
operations and other environmentally friendly initiatives that they 
hope will give them financial and cultural independence.  The 
government's highest-priority initiatives, spelled out in a 2005 
document by the intra-ministerial National Council for Economic and 
Social Policy, are the construction of a USD400-million port in the 
Bay of Malaga within five years and of a USD750-million port in the 
Gulf of Tribuga within a decade.  The plans also include 
construction of a 620-mile (1,000-km) oil pipeline from the Gulf of 
Maracaibo in northern Venezuela to the port earmarked for the Gulf 
of Tribuga. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶11. Peru: Activists Want Independent Authority to Monitor Doe Run's 
Activities 
 
JUNE 2006 - Following a government decision to give Doe Run Peru 
more time to rein in pollution caused by its smelter in La Oroya, a 
network of Peruvian civic and environmental groups is calling for an 
independent environmental authority to step in.   The Muqui Network, 
comprising some 20 environmental, human rights, church and 
social-action groups concerned about mining's community impacts, 
wants greater attention paid to health problems in La Oroya.  It 
advocates the creation of an "independent, autonomous environmental 
authority that acts with transparency and seriousness, and that has 
the necessary powers."   Prompting the network's call was a May 29 
decision by the Energy and Mines Ministry that gives Missouri-based 
Doe Run's Peruvian subsidiary until Sept. 2008 to install equipment 
to capture sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant's lead operation. 
 The ministry also extended until Oct. 2009 the period within which 
Doe Run Peru must install such equipment for its copper operation. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶12. Brazil Targeting Industrial Air Emissions 
 
JUNE 2006 - Brazilian regulators have stepped up their fight against 
industrial air pollution.  The National Environmental Council 
(Conama) recently drafted the country's first nationwide 
air-emissions limits for industry and is expected to approve them in 
July for immediate implementation.  Meanwhile, the heavily 
industrial state of Sao Paulo has set up its first-ever emissions 
trading program.  Both measures target new industrial facilities and 
thus are not expected to bring across-the-board reductions in 
industrial air contamination.  But experts say they mark a serious 
attempt to control industrial air pollution at the state and 
national levels. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
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¶13. Chile: Greenpeace Blockades Celco Cellulose Plant 
 
JUNE 23, 2006 - Greenpeace activists blockaded the entrance to a 
Celulosa Arauco and Constitucion (Celco) plant in Ranquil on June 
21, denouncing the company's record of toxic waste dumping.  Six 
activists dropped a banner from atop a 100-meter boiler that read 
"Enough contamination!" while another fourteen chained themselves to 
a truck carrying the same slogan.  This latest chapter of the 
environmental showdown against Celco began June 17 when concerned 
farmers, citizens and activists staged a march near the "Nueva 
Aldea" complex, located in region VIII in Southern Chile in Ranquil. 
 Protestors fear that chemical waste dumping from cellulose 
production will contaminate the Itata River.  Though the plant has 
received government permission to begin, activists are calling for a 
number of changes to reduce the potential impact of water 
contamination.  Their demands include a promise that organic 
chloride waste will not be dumped into the river and investment in 
chlorine-free bleaching technology.  Greenpeace issued its demands 
in a report that also attacks the practices of Celco's Alto Parana 
plant in Argentina. 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶14. Pascua Lama Approved by Chilean Environmental Authorities 
 
JUNE 14, 2006 - Chilean environmental authorities have approved 
Barrick Gold's proposed USD 1.5 billion gold project in the Andes 
mountains notwithstanding the opposition of environmental groups 
concerned about water pollution and other contamination issues.  The 
proposed mine straddles the Chile/Argentine border, and a final 
decision from Argentine environmental authorities is pending. 
Experts say that preliminary work at Pascua Lama has already 
revealed the kinds of problems that can be expected in the future. 
Initial road development has led to sediment filtering into shallow, 
underground waterways, compromising the water's cleanliness.  A 
recent report produced by the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 
Program at the Universidad de Diego Portales (Desc-UDP), warned 
against Pascua Lama's "devastating" consequences to community water 
rights and the indigenous farmers in the area whose livelihoods 
depend on the glacial waters.  Barrick, the world's largest mining 
company, plans to begin building the mine this September, and to 
start producing by 2009.  The Pascua-Lama project has reserves of 
17.6 million ounces of gold. 
 
Source - MercoPress 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶15. U.S. Lawmakers Push Sugar as Fuel Source 
 
JUNE 19, 2006 - With the market for corn-based ethanol booming, 
lawmakers from sugar-producing states are hoping that beet and cane 
growers can soon jump onto the renewable fuel bandwagon.  They cite 
 
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the model of Brazil, which produces ethanol made from sugar cane. 
But critics, pointing out that sugar is much cheaper in Brazil than 
in the United States, question whether the economics of sugar-based 
ethanol would work in America.  Jack Roney, an economist with the 
American Sugar Alliance, agreed that the government would need to 
step in to stimulate a sugar-to-ethanol industry.  ''It would take a 
combination of consumption mandates to ensure that the demand would 
be there, and conceivably some production incentives to use sugar 
ethanol,'' he said.  ''The way that the Brazilians established their 
program is through 30 years of government intervention in energy and 
agriculture markets, to ensure there would be adequate demand and 
supplies.'' 
 
Source - NYT 
 
¶16. An Energy Field of Dreams 
 
JUNE 17, 2006 - "Be like Brazil" have never been words to live by 
except perhaps in soccer or samba.  But suddenly Americans are being 
told we should imitate Brazil in its expensive devotion to driving 
cars that run on ethanol.  VeraSun Energy, the second-largest U.S. 
ethanol producer, was the talk of Wall Street.  Wal-Mart wants to 
install pumps to cater to cars that run on a largely ethanol blend. 
Even Rudy Giuliani was plumping for the stuff, a sign that an Iowa 
campaign stop may be in his future.  We'd say the world had gone 
mad, except that this is a fairly typical case study in how 
political meddling distorts energy markets. Weary of high gas 
prices, drivers can be forgiven for desiring a "miracle" fuel that 
is allegedly cheap and clean.  The most widely cited research on 
this subject comes from Cornell's David Pimental and Berkeley's Ted 
Patzek.  They've found that it takes more than a gallon of fossil 
fuel to make one gallon of ethanol -- 29 percent more.  That's 
because it takes enormous amounts of fossil-fuel energy to grow corn 
(using fertilizer and irrigation), to transport the crops and then 
to turn that corn into ethanol. 
 
Source - Wall Street Journal 
 
------- 
General 
------- 
 
¶17. Environment Was Non-Issue in Peru's Presidential Race 
 
JUNE 2006 - In a country where community groups have blocked mining 
and oil-drilling projects and a metals smelter has left local 
children with high blood lead levels, one might expect the 
environment to get air-time during a presidential campaign.  Not so 
in Peru, where green issues received scant attention in the 
presidential race won June 4 by former President Alan Garcia.  The 
environment did not figure in campaign platforms, was glossed over 
in press conferences and drew not a single mention in the lone 
presidential debate.  Garcia, who takes office on July 28, has 
hinted about his stances on certain issues.  Meeting foreign 
reporters this month, he said foreign companies operating in Peru 
must meet the standards that apply in their home countries.  Garcia 
 
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was less emphatic about reinforcing Peru's top environmental agency, 
the National Environment Council (Conam).  The head of Conam reports 
to the office of the Cabinet chief, but does not have a seat in the 
Cabinet. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶18. Argentina Names Lawyer as Top Environment Official 
 
JUNE 27, 2006 - President Nestor Kirchner named a lawyer who has led 
Argentina's legal battle against a pulp mill project in neighboring 
Uruguay as the country's top environmental official.  Cabinet Chief 
Alberto Fernandez announced the appointment of Romina Picolotti, a 
recent winner of a leading environmental prize (Sophie Prize) for 
her work throughout Latin America to halt environmental degradation. 
 Picolotti, 35, recently formed part of an Argentine legal team 
challenging the construction of two giant pulp mills on the Uruguay 
river bordering both countries. 
 
Source - Reuters News.  Article kindly shared by US Embassy Buenos 
Aires 
 
¶19. Brazilian Supreme Court Appoints Environmental Advocate 
 
JUNE 29, 2006 - Antonio Herman Benjamin, founder of the Brazilian 
NGO Instituto O Direito por Um Planeta Verde and Co-chair of 
INECE*'s Executive Planning Committee, has been appointed by 
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to become a Justice on the 
Supreme Federal Court of Brazil.  Mr. Benjamin teaches Environmental 
Law and Products Liability in both Brazil and the United States; 
founded and serves as Coeditor-In-Chief of the Brazilian 
Environmental Law Journal, the only regular environmental law review 
in Latin America; and has drafted or co-drafted several Brazilian 
laws, including the 1998 Crimes against the Environment Act, the 
Forest Code, and the Anti-Corruption Act. 
 
* International Network for Environmental Compliance and 
Enforcement 
 
------------------------- 
Update on Avian Influenza 
------------------------- 
 
¶20. Avian Influenza Knowledge Now (KN): A Web-based Tool for Avian 
Influenza 
Collaboration and Information Management 
 
The USAID Avian and Human Influenza Response Unit is sponsoring the 
development of Avian Influenza Knowledge Now (AIKN), an  internet 
portal designed to facilitate interagency information flows, reduce 
dependence on strained email systems, and increase access to key 
documents related to USG international response efforts. AIKN will 
be managed and hosted by USAID's AI Unit in coordination with the 
State Department's Avian Influenza Action Group (G/AIAG), USAID 
regional bureaus in Washington, and field staff around the world, 
 
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and will be open to participation by other USG agencies and 
colleagues involved in the international response.  The launch of 
the site is anticipated in August, 2006. 
 
WILLIAMSON