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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 18 BRASILIA 002068 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS USAID TO LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, PPC/ENV 
TREASURY FOR USED IBRD AND IDB AND INTL/MDB 
USDA FOR FOREST SERVICE: LIZ MAHEW 
INTERIOR FOR DIR INT AFFAIRS: K WASHBURN 
INTERIOR FOR FWS: TOM RILEY 
INTERIOR FOR NPS: JONATHAN PUTNAM 
INTERIOR PASS USGS FOR INTERNATIONAL: J WEAVER 
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES: JWEBB 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL: CAM HILL-MACON 
USDA FOR ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH: G FLANLEY 
NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL: HAROLD STOLBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID TBIO ECON SOCI XR BR
SUBJECT: SOUTH AMERICA ESTH NEWS, NUMBER 101 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  001.5 OF 018 
 
 
¶1.  The following is the one-hundred-first in a series of 
newsletters, published by the Brasilia Regional Environmental Hub, 
covering environment, science and technology, and health news in 
South America.  The information below was gathered from news sources 
from across the region, and the views expressed do not necessarily 
reflect those of the Hub office or our constituent posts. 
Addressees who would like to receive a user-friendly email version 
of this newsletter should contact Larissa Stoner at 
stonerla@state.gov.  The e-mail version also contains a calendar of 
upcoming ESTH events in the region.  NOTE: THE NEWSLETTER IS NOW 
ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE BRASILIA INTRANET PAGE, BY CLICKING ON THE 
'HUB' LINK. 
 
¶2. Table of Contents 
 
Forests 
--(3)New World Bank Facility Would Help Against Forest Degrading 
--(4)Brazilian Police Dismantle Gang That Smuggled Endangered Wood 
to United States 
--(5)Amazon Loggers Hold Greenpeace Activists Captive 
--(6)Guyana: Government Cites Companies over Breaches of Forestry 
Procedures 
--(7)Fires Burning Across Brazil Put Biodiversity at Risk 
 
Wildlife 
--(8)Guyana: Spain to Fund Aquarium Upgrade In Exchange For 
Manatees 
--(9)Manatee Reintroduction Slated For Brazilian State of Amazonas 
 
Protected Areas 
--(10)Brazil Congress Committee Considers Reducing Amazon 
Protections 
--(11)Biosphere Created, Indian Lands Granted In Ecuador 
--(12)Argentina: Backlash Greets Wetland-Conservation Drive 
--(13)Bolivian Settlers Push for Parkland Acreage 
 
Science & Technology 
--(14)Brazil to Make 385-Mln-Dollar Bid for Orbit Concession 
--(15)Activist, Guard Killed on Brazil Biofarm 
--(16)U.S. restricts use of dual technology in Sino-Brazilian 
satellite 
--(17)Telemedicine links Galapagos to mainland 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  002.3 OF 018 
 
 
 
Solid Waste Management & Pollution 
--(18)Regional Concern about Pesticides on Rise 
--(19)Brazil Tries to Break Solid-Waste Stalemate 
--(20)Smelter Fined In Peru for Air, Water Pollution 
--(21)Santiago Battles to Put Anti-Smog Effort on Track 
 
Energy 
--(22)Brazil's Lula Signs Biofuels Deal in Congo 
--(23)Chile Approves Renewable Energy Bill 
 
Climate Change 
--(24)Climate Change Helps Spider Specimen Move to Magallanes Region 
 
--(25)Latin America Proposes Solutions to Climate Change 
--(26)Argentine Environmental Negotiator Loses His Post 
--(27)As Glaciers Melt, So Does Climate Record 
 
General 
--(28)Guyana: Grant Aid for Sustainable Forest, Gold Ops Signed 
--(29)'Unknown' Peru Amazon Tribe Seen 
--(30)Copper Project New Focus for Peru's Mine Debate 
--(31)Argentina, Uruguay At Odds As Pulp Mill Nears Completion 
 
 
------- 
Forests 
------- 
 
¶3. New World Bank Facility Would Help Against Forest Degrading 
 
OCT. 22, 2007 - The World Bank is working to develop the new fund 
that would pay developing countries hundreds of millions of dollars 
for protecting and replanting tropical forests which store huge 
amounts of carbon and thereby fights climate change.  The fund is 
called the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and is part of the UN 
climate change negotiations in Bali in December.  The facility will 
provide financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 
deforestation unlike the Kyoto Protocol which offers credits for 
replanting destroyed forests.  The fund will initially have US$300M 
to finance emissions reduction and to help prepare countries with 
the necessary tools to monitor forests.  According to a Reuters 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  003.3 OF 018 
 
 
article, the proposed facility has already attracted interest from 
more than a dozen developing countries, including Indonesia, Brazil 
and several in Africa's Congo River Basin. The World Bank expects to 
first test the mechanism in three to five countries. Part of the 
testing involves providing participating countries with the means to 
prove they are reducing rates of deforestation and those countries 
will have to prove that they are reducing deforestation. 
 
Source - Stabroeknews 
 
¶4. Brazilian Police Dismantle Gang That Smuggled Endangered Wood to 
United States 
 
OCT. 18, 2007 - Brazilian police launched an operation in six states 
to dismantle a gang alleged to have illegally cut down and exported 
to the United States a rare wood commonly used to make musical 
instruments.  Some 350 federal officers, backed by state police and 
government environmental agents, arrested 23 people and were 
searching for two others, police inspector Tatiana Torres said from 
the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte. The U.S Fish and Wildlife 
Service's Northeast Region Office of Law Enforcement said it carried 
out a search in central Massachusetts but gave no details. Federal 
Brazilian police also began serving 67 search and seizure warrants 
for the illegal extraction of Brazilian rosewood, an endangered tree 
species that is native to and found only in eastern Brazil. 
 
Source - The Associated Press 
 
¶5. Amazon Loggers Hold Greenpeace Activists Captive 
 
OCT. 18, 2007 - Brazilian loggers besieged eight Greenpeace 
activists on October 17 in a remote Amazon town, angered by a 
campaign against global warming that they fear could hurt their 
image.   Hundreds of townspeople, including dozens of loggers in 
trucks, cars and motorcycles, blockaded the activists in a local 
branch of the government's environmental protection agency Ibama, a 
Greenpeace spokesman said.  The incident, the second time in nearly 
two months that Greenpeace activists have been harassed in the 
Amazon jungle, underscores the often violent conflicts over natural 
resources between farmers and loggers on one hand and peasants and 
Indians on the other. 
 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  004 OF 018 
 
 
Source - Reuters (no link) 
 
¶6. Guyana: Government Cites Companies over Breaches of Forestry 
Procedures 
 
OCT. 09, 2007 - [Guyana's] President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that 
recent alleged breaches of forestry procedures involve collusion 
between Barama Company Limited, some concessionaires and staffers at 
the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). It is the first time that the 
name of a logging company has been mentioned publicly since a probe 
was launched into the fraud. Jagdeo warned that there will be 
consequences for the company and the other parties, noting that 
based upon preliminary investigations it seems as though there was a 
system among the three groups to defraud the government. Contacted 
for a comment last evening, Girwar Lalram, Chairman of Barama said 
it was premature for his organization to make a comment on the issue 
at this time. 
 
Source - Stabroeknews 
 
¶7. Fires Burning Across Brazil Put Biodiversity at Risk 
 
OCT. 8, 2007 - Severe drought has been identified as the main cause 
of the fire that consumed three hectares of the Macico da Pedra 
Branca forest in Rio de Janeiro state in one September day.  In that 
same week, 170 other fire points were seen along the forests and 
conservation parks of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Fire officials 
said lack of environmental responsibility is to blame for these 
fires, many of them caused by human beings. Local plant biodiversity 
and animal habitats have been damaged, although no human injuries 
were reported, this despite the lack of resources from the state 
fire brigade that pressed their two helicopters to the maximum, as 
their one and only fireplane was broken. Hundreds of miles away, 
fire crews fought to save a region of native forest in Sao Paulo and 
parts of the Parque Nacional da Ilha Grande, on the borders of the 
states of Parana and Mato Grosso. In that region, no rain has fallen 
for two months and not even helicopters are available to fight the 
10 fires that have broken out there this year. In the Pantanal 
wetlands in west-central Brazil, more than 150,000 hectares have 
burned without remedy. The inhabitants of nearby towns have had 
difficulty breathing because of the thick smoke. 
 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  005.3 OF 018 
 
 
Source - Environmental News Service 
 
-------- 
Wildlife 
-------- 
 
¶8. Guyana: Spain to Fund Aquarium Upgrade In Exchange For Manatees 
 
OCT. 17, 2007 - A pair of manatees was exported to Spain under an 
agreement that will provide funding for improvements to the aquarium 
to house the Arapaima exhibits at the Guyana Zoological Park.  The 
manatees were exported through the [Guyana] National Parks 
Commission (NPC) and they will be used to increase the population 
and improve the genetic stock of this species at the Faunia Zoo in 
Madrid, and at other zoos in Europe.  A similar agreement was 
finalized with the Odense Zoo in Denmark in 2001 as zoological parks 
around the world build partnerships to develop conservation and 
management programs to curb the decline of several endangered plant 
and animal species. 
 
Source - Stabroeknews 
 
¶9. Manatee Reintroduction Slated For Brazilian State of Amazonas 
 
SEPT. 2007 - A trio of conservation entities has joined in an 
unprecedented effort to reintroduce Amazon manatees, an endangered 
species, into Brazil's rainforest rivers.  Researchers plan to place 
two male members of the freshwater species (Trichechus inunguis) 
into a tributary of the Rio Negro next February.  Manatee numbers in 
Brazil plunged in the period 1930-50, when hides from some 200,000 
of the animals-known locally as "peixe bois" or "fish cows"-were 
turned into industrial belts here and abroad, often for sewing 
machines.  Killing manatees for their pelts ended with the 
development in the 1950s of synthetic rubbers. But the animals face 
other threats, including habitat loss and death at the hands of 
Amazon hunters, who sell manatee meat to river dwellers. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
--------------- 
Protected Areas 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  006.3 OF 018 
 
 
--------------- 
 
¶10. Brazil Congress Committee Considers Reducing Amazon Protections 
 
OCT. 09, 2007 - Environmentalists expressed concern at legislation 
before congress they said could lead to the destruction of a 
California-sized chunk of Amazon rainforest.  A congressional 
committee is considering legislation that would reduce the amount of 
forest landowners in the Amazon must leave standing as forest 
reserve. Under a 2001 executive decree, landowners in the Amazon may 
only clear-cut 20 percent of their land for pasture and planting and 
must maintain 80 percent standing as forest reserve. Many landowners 
say the restrictions hinder development in the poor Amazon region, 
which covers nearly 60 percent of Brazilian territory. Rep. Jorge 
Khoury, the committee's co-chair, denied the hearing was the first 
step toward reducing the forest reserve.  "This is just one more 
hearing to collect information and create a report to suggest 
changes to the law," Khoury said in a telephone interview. 
Nonetheless, environmentalists noted there are two separate projects 
before congress seeking to reduce the amount of required reserve to 
50 percent from the current 80 percent. 
 
Source - The Associated Press 
 
¶11. Biosphere Created, Indian Lands Granted In Ecuador 
 
OCT. 2007 - Green advocates applauded two conservation gains in 
Ecuador: the designation of the country's fourth biosphere reserve 
and the deeding of rainforest land to the nation's Shuar indigenous 
community.  Granting official recognition to historic Shuar land 
claims, the government of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on 
Sept. 20 approved the titling of 17,000 acres (7,000 has) to three 
Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon-Yaupi, Achunts Mankusas 
and Chinkianas.  Welcome as this news of the Shuar land-titling was 
to conservationists, the creation of Ecuador's fourth biosphere, 
also on Sept. 20, was the higher-profile development.  The United 
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 
extended biosphere status to a vast 2.82-million-acre 
(1.14-million-ha) swath of land encompassing Podocarpus National 
Park, the upper watershed of the Nangaritza River and the Csndor 
mountains, as well as territory of the Saraguro and Shuar Indians 
and two religious and tourism centers-El Cisne and Vilcabamba.  The 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  007.3 OF 018 
 
 
reserve, named Podocarpus-El Condor, is extraordinarily biodiverse 
owing to its location at the intersection of the Amazon watershed, 
the Andes and the Ecuadorian paramo. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶12. Argentina: Backlash Greets Wetland-Conservation Drive 
 
SEPT. 2007 - Hoping to block conservation purchases in Argentina's 
Corrientes province, opponents of Former U.S. clothing entrepreneur 
Douglas Tompkins [Esprit] in June amended the provincial 
constitution. Using a constituent assembly convened primarily to 
address gubernatorial terms, they inserted a new article, 61, 
prohibiting foreigners and corporations controlled by them from 
buying lands "in security areas or in protected areas or [areas] 
that constitute strategic resources."  Tompkins since the late 90s 
has been making a series of conservation purchases in the Esteros 
del Ibera, which feature vast expanses of marsh grasses dotted with 
lagoons and gallery forests.  Increasingly, the Esteros del Ibera 
have come under pressure from farming and logging. Some experts say 
the wetlands' hydrology also is being affected by nearby Yacyreta, 
the Argentine-Paraguayan hydroelectric dam that in recent years has 
raised the water level of its reservoir to generate more power. 
Tompkins hopes to address the development pressures much as he has 
done in Chile, where his acquisitions led to the creation of Pumalin 
Park, a government-recognized nature sanctuary stretching from the 
Andes to the Pacific at the northern tip of Chilean Patagonia.  He 
seeks to restore the lands environmentally and donate them to the 
national government on condition their protection be guaranteed, but 
his critics see darker motives.  "Douglas Tompkins isn't a 
philanthropist, he's a liar who wants to use the ecology line to 
gain control of our resources. Though it must seem crazy, I believe 
Tompkins is installing a United States enclave in Argentina," says 
Araceli Ferreyra, a constituent assembly member who voted for the 
constitutional changes. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶13. Bolivian Settlers Push for Parkland Acreage 
 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  008.3 OF 018 
 
 
SEPT. 2007 - Colonizers and residents looking to ease landholding 
and development restrictions in Bolivia's highly prized Madidi 
National Park are threatening to resume protests if the government 
doesn't give them what they want.  Bolivia's government appears to 
be acceding to demands made during angry protests last May for a 
roadway and oil development in the park. But leaders of those 
demonstrations say another key demand-park acreage for farming, 
logging and ranching-has gone unmet.  That could spell more trouble 
for Madidi, an extraordinarily biodiverse, 4.5-million-acre 
(1.8-million-ha) expanse in northwest Bolivia where Andean-mountain 
and Amazonian ecosystems merge.  The government of Bolivian 
President Evo Morales initially reacted to the May protests with 
indignation and disbelief. Morales at one point said "drug 
traffickers and wood smugglers" were behind the demonstrations. He 
sent 400 soldiers and police to quell the unrest, then announced a 
military base would be built in Madidi to "preserve sovereignty and 
guarantee national integrity."  In negotiations, however, the 
government has backed down, making it known to protest leaders that 
it would study the possibility of completing the Apolo-Ixiamas road, 
which was briefly under construction in 2002 though no environmental 
or technical studies had been done. The government also has agreed 
to conduct oil exploration in the park.  Environmental groups worry 
government concessions could cause wholesale destruction in Madidi. 
 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------------------- 
Science & Technology 
-------------------- 
 
¶14. Brazil to Make 385-M-Dollar Bid for Orbit Concession 
 
OCT. 23, 2007 - The Brazilian government is to bid 700 million reais 
(385 million U.S. dollars) for the concession of a space orbit 
strategic to South America.  "We need that orbital position," said 
Helio Costa, Brazil's Minister of Telecommunications, in an 
interview with a local newspaper.  Costa will have a meeting in 
Geneva, Switzerland with representatives from Colombia, Bolivia and 
Peru to solve the impasse concerning the concession of the so-called 
orbit 68.  The exploitation of the orbit was conceded to the Andean 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  009.5 OF 018 
 
 
countries seven years ago. However, according to the minister, they 
had to launch a satellite by Sept. 2007 in order to keep the 
concession, which they failed to accomplish.  According to 
international rules on space exploration, other countries could bid 
for the orbit if the deadline expires.  But Colombia, Peru and 
Bolivia are struggling for a time extension, which they claimed 
would allow them to launch their own satellite.  Other countries 
have also demonstrated an interest in the orbit.  In a partnership 
with Uruguay, Venezuela is seeking authorization from the ITU to 
launch into the orbit its first Simon Bolivar satellite, said the 
newspaper. 
 
Source - English People 
 
¶15. Activist, Guard Killed on Brazil Biofarm 
 
OCT. 22, 2007 - Two people were shot dead when activists were 
confronted by armed men as they invaded a Swiss-owned farm that has 
been a flashpoint in the debate over biotech crops, authorities and 
the company said.   A security guard and an activist were killed by 
gunfire at the research farm owned by Syngenta AG, a global company 
with a heavy focus on genetically modified seeds.   While Brazil's 
national government allows use of genetically modified seeds for 
some crops, Parana's state government recently outlawed genetically 
modified corn and has tried repeatedly tried to shut down the 
Syngenta farm. 
 
Source - The New York Times 
 
¶16. U.S. restricts use of dual technology in Sino-Brazilian 
satellite 
 
OCT. 22, 2007 - Story criticizes USG restrictions on the exportation 
of dual-use technologies by companies in the United States to 
Brazilian companies working in the Sino-Brazilian environmental 
remote imaging satellites CBERS 3 and 4. Story highlights that the 
"restrictions aren't directed specifically at Brazil, but rather at 
[China], a military power that is now also a space [power]," but 
calls the restrictions "Orwellian." In a sidebar, a short op-ed by 
National Space Research Institute (INPE) Director Gilberto Cmara 
says that, "Unfortunately, the positive [U.S.-Brazil] relations in 
the space area aren't reflected in the positions of the Department 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  010.3 OF 018 
 
 
of State and in the U.S. legislation." According to the op-ed U.S. 
officials who are in charge of controlling sensitive technologies 
"have told Inpe that they know that the CBERS is a civilian program 
and that there is no technology transfer from Brazil to China. Even 
so, they say that U.S. legislation prohibits the exportation of 
space components to any program with Chinese participation." Another 
sidebar quotes U.S. Embassy Information Officer Richard Mei: "There 
is a very specific law for U.S. technology: no matter where it is 
going first.  If there is a dual purpose, it is subject to this law, 
because its final destination would be China." 
 
Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia.  Original source - 
Folha de Sao Paulo 
 
¶17. Telemedicine links Galapagos to mainland 
 
OCT. 18, 2007 - The Equinoctial Technology University in Ecuador 
opened a telemedicine center that will use satellite connections to 
train medical staff and provide better healthcare in remote areas 
like the Galapagos Islands. The new center will also offer 
long-distance training for health staff and will eventually provide 
coverage nationally.  The university has invested US$250,000 in 
equipment, and the Ecuadorian air force has granted three hours of 
free satellite access a day, two for patient care and one for 
training, which will save the university around US$10,000 a month. 
The project is supported by US-based University of New Mexico. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
 
¶18. Solid Waste Management & Pollution 
Regional Concern about Pesticides on Rise 
 
OCT. 2007 - Experts say that as pesticide use increases in a region 
scrambling to tap world agricultural markets [i.e. Latin America], 
toxic chemicals often are being used without proper controls, 
endangering millions of farm workers. At the same time, they 
contend, government pesticide regulations-where they exist-often go 
unenforced.  According to health researchers the results of 
increasing pesticide use are demonstrated by the elevated odds of 
birth defects and developmental problems among the children of farm 
workers and a growing risk of skin disease, miscarriages, sterility 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  011.3 OF 018 
 
 
and cancer among the workers themselves.  Bolivia has Latin 
America's highest rate of growth for pesticide imports, which more 
than doubled over the past five years. Of those imports, an 
estimated 30% is contraband.  Pesticide sales in Latin American 
countries are projected to reach a total of $7.5 billion by 2009. 
Industry observers say the rapid growth is driven by expanding crop 
areas, new disease outbreaks and an increase in plantings of 
pesticide-tolerant genetically modified crops. In recent years, 
Brazil and Argentina in particular have experienced a huge surge in 
pesticide purchases. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶19. Brazil Tries to Break Solid-Waste Stalemate 
 
OCT. 2007 - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sent 
Congress a national solid-waste management bill, the first ever 
proposed by the executive branch, to break a years-long 
congressional stalemate on the issue.  Though the bill appears to 
have won impressive early support from stakeholders and legislators, 
its deliberate lack of crucial details will likely prompt 
special-interest battling over implementation if the measure is 
enacted.  The new bill represents an attempt to clear a stalemate 
that has left Brazil with no nationwide solid-waste-management rules 
aside from norms issued by an environmental regulatory body 
regarding disposal of used tires, batteries and construction waste. 
Since 1991, lawmakers have introduced nearly 100 
solid-waste-management bills in Congress, but the measures typically 
founder amid opposition from industry groups. The new legislation 
addresses myriad problems including clogged and insufficient 
sanitary landfills, illegal dumping and burning of waste in open-air 
dump sites as well, as the country's low recycling rate. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶20. Smelter Fined In Peru for Air, Water Pollution 
 
SEPT. 2007 - Doe Run Peru in August was fined US$230,000 for 
environmental violations caused by its metals smelter in the Andean 
town of La Oroya in Peru's central Junn department. And on Aug. 31, 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  012.3 OF 018 
 
 
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Peruvian 
government to take steps to protect the health of residents of La 
Oroya, where repeated studies have found high blood lead levels, 
especially in children.  Doe Run has been the target of protests 
since shortly after it bought the smelter from Peru's state-run 
mining company in 1997. Underlying them is concern over heavy-metals 
and sulfur-dioxide emissions at the smelter, which processes lead, 
copper and zinc. Carlos Rojas, regional executive secretary of the 
National Environment Council, Peru's top environmental authority, 
says the enforcement action underscores a need for greater community 
oversight and reporting of green issues. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶21. Santiago Battles to Put Anti-Smog Effort on Track 
 
SEPT. 2007 - In one of the coldest winters to hit Chile in decades, 
smog over the months of May through August soared to its worst 
levels since 1999, triggering 22 environmental alerts and six 
official pre-emergencies. That roughly equals or exceeds the totals 
for each of the past six years. On May 12, the index used to track 
particulates in Santiago registered 409, well above the 301 level at 
which particulate contamination is considered "critical."  The 
biggest factor in this year's severe smog was unusually dry winter 
weather brought on by La Nia, a periodic cooling of east-central 
equatorial Pacific Ocean waters that every few years drives down 
temperatures and rainfall here. Because Santiago is sandwiched 
between the Andes and the Cordillera de la Costa mountain range, air 
circulation is often blocked on especially dry days as a layer of 
warm air settles over the city and traps airborne contaminants 
below.  But La Nia isn't the only cause of Santiago's bad air. Also 
contributing is an increase in automobile use-a reflection, in part, 
of the problems plaguing Transantiago, the capital's new public 
transportation system.  And despite city-government calls on 
residents to cut back on the use of firewood for home heating, the 
request has fallen on deaf ears amid low winter temperatures and 
rising energy prices. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  013.3 OF 018 
 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶22. Brazil's Lula Signs Biofuels Deal in Congo 
 
OCT. 18, 2007 - Brazil has signed two agreements with the Democratic 
Republic of Congo to provide the poor central African state with 
training, technology and financing to produce biofuels from sugar 
cane and palm oil.   "We are ready to accompany the continent and we 
are willing to help those countries which want to follow Brazil's 
example: today we are self-sufficient in energy," [President] Lula 
told the news conference.   Brazil's state oil company Petrobras 
expects ethanol sales at home, in Latin America's largest country, 
to beat gasoline consumption by around 2020.  Africa produces a 
range of crops that could be used to make biofuels, including sugar 
cane, sugar beet, maize, sorghum and cassava -- all of which can be 
used to make ethanol -- and peanuts, whose oil can be used to power 
diesel engines. 
 
Source - Reuters (no link) 
 
¶23. Chile Approves Renewable Energy Bill 
 
OCT. 16, 2007 - Chile's Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved an 
environmental bill focused on the development of unconventional 
renewable energy (ERNC). The bill aims to diversify the electrical 
industry and promote clean energies.  The initiative mandates that 
electrical companies with a capacity greater than 200 megawatts (MW) 
- including Endesa, Colbun and Gener - must use unconventional 
renewable energy sources to generate at least five percent of their 
total production by 2010. This percentage will increase gradually 
until arriving at eight percent in 2024. The bill is aimed at 
forcing major companies to develop "unconventional" sources of 
energy, such as solar, geothermal, Aeolian (solar thermoelectric and 
photovoltaic), biomass (solid, liquid, and biogas) and hydraulic 
energy.  Most environmental experts consider the proposal 
insufficient, especially "because in 2024 we will have greater 
financial and technical abilities in the renewable energy field." 
 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  014.3 OF 018 
 
 
-------------- 
Climate Change 
-------------- 
 
¶24. Climate Change Helps Spider Specimen Move to Magallanes Region 
 
OCT. 21, 2007 - Climate change consequences in the entomologic field 
have reached Magallanes Region in the far south of Chile.  Local 
authorities are now cautioning about the appearance of a small 
spider identified as the "false black widow", which can be lethal 
for people suffering different allergies. The scientific name of the 
specimen is Steatoda gross, and until recently the furthest south 
she had been found was in Osorno, a hundred kilometers north of 
Puerto Montt, an area not exposed to the extreme temperatures of 
Magallanes.  According to Patagonia Institute biologist Eduardo 
Fagundez who has been researching the spider in Magallanes, the 
poison of the arachnid attacks the nervous system and thus is 
potentially dangerous for people who suffer from allergic reactions. 
Fagundez believes the false black widow reached the north of Punta 
Arenas sometime a year ago approximately. 
 
Source- MercoPress 
 
¶25. Latin America Proposes Solutions to Climate Change 
 
OCT. 2007 - The over 1,500 representatives from Latin America who 
were present at the International Meeting on Climate change held in 
Ecuador October 15-18 presented a document to President Rafael 
Correa (Ecuador) with a series of proposals to deal with climate 
change.   Among suggestions were: 1) define a new model for 
development in Latin America that is socially responsible and 
harmonic with nature; 2) elaborate policies for adaptation to 
climate change; 3) establish funding and technology transfer 
mechanisms for climate change adaptation and mitigation from 
developed to developing countries; 4) identify melting Andean 
glaciers as a high environmental priority and fund appropriate 
research efforts; 5) strengthen climate observatory systems; 6) 
develop strategies for water management; and 7) establish payment 
mechanism from developed countries to developing countries for 
keeping their forests intact (avoided deforestation).  A total of 21 
proposals were suggested and are available in Spanish at 
www.sur.iucn.org. 
 
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Source - IUCN 
 
¶26. Argentine Environmental Negotiator Loses His Post 
 
OCT. 2007 - Argentine diplomat Raul Estrada Oyuela, a much-praised 
protagonist in the talks that birthed the Kyoto climate-change 
agreement, was removed from his post as the Argentine Foreign 
Ministry's environmental-affairs representative September, two days 
after declaring that his country "has no environmental policy." 
Oyuela, who in 1997 presided over the international meeting that 
produced the Kyoto Protocol and was described by a U.S. negotiator 
as a "grandmaster of diplomacy and the godfather of Kyoto," made the 
remark during a Sept. 19 conference at the United Nations office in 
Buenos Aires.  He also said Argentina urgently must adopt strategies 
aimed at adapting to climate change.  Since his dismissal, Oyuela 
has continued to speak out.  He recently faulted the national 
government for not intervening in controversies over huge mining 
projects slated for several Argentine provinces.  And in the 
immediate aftermath of his firing he strongly defended his 
suggestion that Argentina lacks an environmental policy. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶27. As Glaciers Melt, So Does Climate Record 
 
SEPT. 2007 - The Andes are topped by the largest concentration of 
ice anywhere in the Earth's tropics. While the melting of the 
tropical glaciers contributes little to global sea-level rise in 
comparison to the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, the 
rapid retreat of Andean glaciers is threatening irrigation and 
drinking water supplies, hydroelectricity production and tourism. 
It also is erasing a valuable record of the planet's climatic 
history. In 1991, tropical Andean glaciers covered an estimated 
1,065 square miles (2,758 sq kms), with 70% in Peru, 20% in Bolivia 
and the rest in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.  Since then, 
glaciers have disappeared from Venezuela and are shrinking in the 
other countries. Figures from 2002 put the area at 962.6 square 
miles (2,493 sq kms), a loss of nearly 10% in just over a decade. 
To stay abreast of the changes, the Glaciology and Water Resources 
Unit of Peru's National Institute of Natural Resources (Inrena) in 
 
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Huaraz currently is conducting a new nationwide glacier inventory. 
Among the points of particular interest will be the Santa River 
valley, known as the Callejon de Huaylas, which lies at the foot of 
the Cordillera Blanca.  Because the question seems to be not if, but 
when such runoff reductions occur, Inrena's glacier inventory is 
aimed not just at mapping glacial retreat, but at determining how 
much fresh water remains in the country's mountain reserves and how 
long it can be expected to last. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (For complete article please contact Larissa 
Stoner) 
 
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General 
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¶28. Guyana: Grant Aid for Sustainable Forest, Gold Ops Signed 
 
OCT. 24, 2007 - WWF Guyana launched the second phase of its regional 
environmental project entitled Guyanas Sustainable Natural Resources 
Management Project and signed four grant agreements in the total 
amount of $86.14M.   The agencies receiving the grants were the 
Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), the Hydrometeorological Service of 
the Ministry of Agriculture and the Guyana Geology and Mines 
Commission (GGMC).  The primary conservation focus of this project 
phase is on sustainable forest management, protected areas 
management, freshwater species conservation and gold mining 
pollution abatement in Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 
 
Source - Stabroeknews 
 
¶29. 'Unknown' Peru Amazon Tribe Seen 
 
OCT. 04, 2007 - A previously unknown indigenous group living in 
isolation has been found deep in Peru's Amazon jungle, a team of 
ecologists has said.  The ecologists spotted the 21 Indians near the 
Brazilian border as they flew overhead looking for illegal loggers. 
Contact with outsiders can be fatal for isolated tribes people who 
have no immunity to many diseases. Some groups have fled deep into 
the jungle to avoid contact with loggers and oil and gas 
prospectors. A pan-American human rights group criticized Peru's 
government this year for doing little to protect the groups from 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  017.3 OF 018 
 
 
illegal loggers who are chopping down the mahogany-rich forests in 
which they live. 
 
Source - BBC 
 
¶30. Copper Project New Focus for Peru's Mine Debate 
 
OCT. 2007 - Ro Blanco [in northern Peru's Piura region] is the site 
of the latest flashpoint in the battle over large-scale mining in 
Peru. [Mining company] Majaz proposes to create a US$1.44 billion 
open-pit copper mine that would rank among the 20 largest copper 
mines in the world. Opponents worry that mining in Andean cloud 
forests here near the Ecuadorian border will reduce the flow of the 
region's rivers and pollute them with acid runoff. Supporters, 
however, argue only mining can help this impoverished border area, 
where most residents near the mine site are subsistence farmers or 
small-scale coffee growers.  Legislation sent to Congress on 
September 21 by Peru's executive branch lists Ro Blanco among 20 
mining projects of "national interest" that should receive 
preferential consideration. The Mining Company Majaz now must file 
an environmental impact assessment and renegotiate land-use rights 
with the communities of El Carmen de la Frontera and Segunda y 
Cajas. Local leaders say the company failed to get community 
approval for the exploratory phase, a claim supported by the 
government Ombudsman's Office last year. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶31. Argentina, Uruguay At Odds As Pulp Mill Nears Completion 
 
SEPT. 2007 - Tension between Argentina and Uruguay is growing as a 
massive pulp mill Uruguay has allowed a Finnish company to build 
near the countries' common border nears completion.  A source of 
cross-border angst during its planning and development stages, the 
complex has stoked new Argentine-Uruguayan tension as it prepares to 
start production.  On Aug. 29, Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez 
inaugurated the private port, which Botnia will use to export pulp 
to Europe and China.  In a press statement, Argentina's Foreign 
Relations Ministry referred to the port-opening ceremony as "an 
aggravation of the controversy." It is unclear when production at 
the new plant will begin. After August's port inauguration, Botnia 
 
BRASILIA 00002068  018.3 OF 018 
 
 
announced the start-up would take place in September, but Uruguay's 
top environmental official, Mariano Arana, said the government 
needed to receive information from Botnia before allowing the plant 
to go into operation. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
 
SOBEL