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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 15 BRASILIA 001294 
 
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 113 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  001.2 OF 015 
 
 
¶1.  The following is part of 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 
 
Agriculture 
--(3)Brazil: Small Farmers to Join Brazil Sustainable Cane Movement 
--(4)IDB, Guyana to Sign Agro-Energy Agreement 
 
Water Issues 
--(5)Ecuador Seizes Dam Constructor Assets, Water Initiatives May be 
Affected 
 
Forests 
--(6)Brazil: Chico Mendes Reserve threatened by Cattle Grazing 
--(7)Brazil Welcomes Foreign Money for Amazon 
 
Fisheries & Marine Conservation 
--(8)Brazil: Currents, Overfishing Cited In Unusual Penguin 
Strandings 
--(9)Rumors of New Salmon Disease Surface in Chile 
--(10)Argentine Navy Ordered To Steer Clear of Whales 
 
Protected Areas 
--(11)Colombia Designates high Andean wetland as RAMSAR site 
--(12)Guyana: Kaieteur National Park Being Closely Monitored For 
Illegal Mining 
--(13)Colombia Creates Park to Protect Medicinal Plants 
 
Science & Technology 
--(14)Uruguay: Pasteur Director Announces Plans to Create Biotech 
Center 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  002.2 OF 015 
 
 
--(15)Colombia: New Science Law Moves Ahead in Congress 
 
Climate Change 
--(16)Brazil to Invest U$63 Million on Climate Research 
--(17)Andean Countries Team to Monitor Glacial Melt 
--(18)President of Guyana Shares his Views on Climate Change, Forest 
Conservation 
 
Energy 
--(19)Brazil to invest US$ 12 billion in Biodiesel Projects 
--(20)Chile Warming Up To Solar Energy Solutions 
 
(Sustainable) Development 
--(21)Environmental-Licensing Overhaul in Brazil 
--(22)Ecuador's Draft Constitution Has Green Hue 
--(23)Controversial Paving of the Darin Gap between Colombia and 
Panam 
 
Free Trade Agreement 
--(24)Trade-Related Decrees Triggering Protests in Peru 
 
NEWS FROM THE FRONT 
*US Embassy ESTH Work in South America* 
--(25)Peru:  Mercury Recapture Devices in Peru's Amazon 
--(26)Colombia: Promoting Sustainable Biofuels Development 
 
------------- 
Agriculture 
----------- 
¶3. Brazil: Small Farmers to Join Brazil Sustainable Cane Movement 
 
SEPT. 01, 2008 - Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in 
Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting 
strict social and environmental standards, according to the region's 
cane producers association.  Several ethanol companies like Cosan 
and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified 
sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address 
consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol, but now some of the 
state's small producers in the world's top sugar cane producing 
state will be able to join them.  The sustainability of Brazil's 
cane-based ethanol has been called into question by Europe, which is 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  003.2 OF 015 
 
 
likely to demand stricter environmental and labor standards on 
imports.  The program will have 50 small and medium-scale cane 
suppliers who farm up to 3,500 hectares and produce an estimated 
260,000 tons of cane per year. They must refuse the use of child or 
slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane 
with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. 
Production standards, which will come into force on Aug. 30, were 
set by Organizacao Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA), a private 
company which provides inspection and certification services. 
Source - Planet Ark 
 
¶4. IDB, Guyana to Sign Agro-Energy Agreement 
 
AUG. 21, 2008 - The Guyana government and the Inter-American 
Development Bank are to sign a cooperation agreement for 
institutional strengthening and technical support in developing 
national agro-energy capacity.  Guyana Minister of Agriculture 
Robert Persaud told the Stabroek News that the funds, which will 
provide technical support in developing institutional capacity to 
facilitate foreign investment in the sector, are already available 
but a date has to be set for the signing.  In April the IDB 
announced that the sum of US$925,500 in grants had been approved to 
encourage private investment in bio-fuel production. The Guyana 
government has emphasized that no agricultural lands in use would be 
put under cultivation for bio-fuel production and forests would not 
be felled for this purpose. 
Source - Stabroek News 
 
------------ 
Water Issues 
------------ 
¶5. Ecuador Seizes Dam Constructor Assets, Water Initiatives May be 
Affected 
 
SEPT. 24, 2008 - Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has called on 
Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht to speed up the rehabilitation 
works on the San Francisco hydroelectric dam in Pastaza province or 
risk being asked to leave the country.  The plant suspended its 
operations in June due to large structural problems found during a 
routine inspection. Correa met with authorities from the country's 
electric sector to discuss the problems, which have also been 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  004.2 OF 015 
 
 
detected in other Odebrecht hydro-electric projects such as the 
Toachi Pilatsn initiative in Pichincha province.  Aside from 
requesting the company to fix the damages found in the dam's 
turbines and conduction tunnels, the firm has also been requested to 
cover the economic losses generated since the facility halted its 
operations. The president also requested that Odebrecht return a 
US$20mn award it received from delivering the project before the 
deadline established in its construction contract. Correa added that 
foreign construction firms that fail to comply with their 
commitments and responsibilities will be forced to exit the country. 
The measure could affect sectors such as power generation, transport 
infrastructure, and water initiative projects in which Odebrecht is 
involved. 
Source - BN Americas 
 
------- 
Forests 
------- 
¶6. Brazil: Chico Mendes Reserve threatened by Cattle Grazing 
 
SEPT. 21, 2008 - Twenty years after the assassination of the 
rubber-tapping leader and environmentalist Chico Mendes, 
deforestation rates reach up to 6.3% in the Federal Nature Reserve 
in Acre dedicated in his honor.  According to the news report, there 
is only one forest ranger monitoring fires and deforestation in the 
reserve, which is six times the size of the city of Sao Paulo. 
Nearly 10 thousand cows are being grazed in the reserve, according 
to Acre's Institute of Agriculture and Forestry.  According to the 
management plan, families living in the reserve are allowed to have 
between 15 and 30 cows.  Vaccination records show, however, families 
with as much as 648 cows in one area.  A preliminary study shows 
that nearly 15% of the families living in the Chico Mendes reserve 
are in this irregular situation.  According to Minister of 
Environment Carlos Minc, "everyone knows the region is poor" and 
containing deforestation there is very difficult. 
Source - Folha de Sao Paulo (hard copy; Brasil/A6) 
 
¶7. Brazil Welcomes Foreign Money for Amazon 
 
SEPT. 10, 2008 - Brazil's environment minister fought off charges 
that a new international Amazon conservation fund, which recently 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  005.2 OF 015 
 
 
received a large contribution from Norway, could threaten the 
nation's sovereignty.  Nationalist politicians and media have warned 
that foreigners donating to the Amazon Fund, which Brazil unveiled 
in August, might try to impose their own agenda on Latin America's 
largest country.  Norway made an initial $20 million donation [and 
pledged additional contributions through 2015, possibly as much as 
US$1 billion] during a visit to Brazil by Norwegian Prime Minister 
Jens Stoltenberg.  Other countries are looking into making 
contributions. Asked whether the growing presence of foreign farmers 
and non-governmental groups in the region was cause for concern, 
Minc responded: "Today, those who destroy the Amazon are Brazilians. 
Nationalists, especially in Brazil's military and intelligence 
circles, have long harbored conspiracy theories that foreigners are 
scheming to take Amazon resources. The Amazon Fund will support 
forest conservation, scientific research and sustainable development 
projects such as rubber tapping, forestry management and the 
creation of drugs from plants.  Brazil's national development bank 
BNDES will manage the fund, Minc said. The government hopes to raise 
$1 billion within a year and as much as $21 billion by 2021, the 
bank said last month. 
Source - Alertnet 
 
------------------------------- 
Fisheries & Marine Conservation 
------------------------------- 
¶8. Brazil: Currents, Overfishing Cited In Unusual Penguin Strandings 
 
 
AUG. 2008 - Stronger than usual ocean currents are being cited as a 
prime cause of the unprecedented number of wayward penguins washing 
up on the beaches of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, but some experts 
believe depleted fisheries may also be to blame.  The gray-and-white 
Magellan penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) that wind up here are 
typically young birds that became separated from their group during 
their first fishing expedition, scientists say.  Approximately 120 
penguins reportedly arrived last month on the coast of Sao Paulo 
state, far more than in July 2007. And penguins - 200 last month - 
even reached northeastern Bahia state, which is 600 miles (970 kms) 
north of Rio de Janeiro state and 6,000 miles (9,700 kms) from 
southernmost Patagonia. Never have such cases been reported so far 
north, according to Eduardo Pimenta, head of the Rio de Janeiro 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  006.2 OF 015 
 
 
State Coastal Environmental Protection agency (GMA). 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶9. Rumors of New Salmon Disease Surface in Chile 
 
SEPT.  16, 2008 - Chile's already wounded farmed-salmon industry, 
which has suffered major problems this year and shed as many as 
3,000 jobs, could have a new problem on its hands: Pancreas Disease 
(PD).  Rumors suggest that the new viral disease, which can be 
lethal to fish but does not affect humans, has somehow made it into 
the country. PD is already present in other top 
farmed-salmon-producing countries such as Norway and Scotland, where 
it first appeared in 1976. While the suspicions have yet to be 
confirmed, the Chilean government's National Fishing Service 
(SERNAPESCA), for one, is taking them seriously - so much so that it 
recently hired the Universidad Austral's Animal Pathology Institute 
to investigate the matter. 
Source - Santiago Times (no link) 
 
¶10. Argentine Navy Ordered To Steer Clear of Whales 
 
AUG. 2008 - Argentina's defense minister has pledged to keep naval 
operations at the "lowest possible level" in the vicinity of 
Patagonia's Peninsula Valds during the period of the year that 
Southern Right whales (Eubalaena australis) use local waters as a 
calving ground.  The pledge follows the discovery last month that a 
whale had been killed by the propellers of an Argentine Navy 
destroyer, Herona.  At the time of the accident, Herona was among 
a group of naval vessels leaving the coastal city of Puerto Madryn 
following a visit there for a July 9 Independence Day ceremony. 
"For two years we've been warning that this might occur and 
demanding that Navy ships not enter the area when pregnant whales 
come to give birth," says Guillermo Caille, a biologist with Natural 
Patagonia Foundation. "This was an avoidable accident, but at least 
it turned into a lesson learned." 
Source - EcoAmericas 
 
--------------- 
Protected Areas 
--------------- 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  007.2 OF 015 
 
 
¶11. Colombia Designates high Andean wetland as RAMSAR site 
 
SEPT. 11, 2008 - Colombia has designated its fifth Wetland of 
International Importance, a high Andean site called Complejo de 
Humedales Laguna del Otn.  Support for this site designation was 
provided by WWF International's Freshwater Program, as a 
contribution to the Ramsar Regional Initiative on High Andean 
Wetlands. 
Source - UN MEA Bulletin 
 
¶12. Guyana: Kaieteur National Park Being Closely Monitored For 
Illegal Mining 
 
SEPT. 10, 2008 - Illegal mining is one of the encroachments that the 
management of the Kaieteur National Park has been monitoring closely 
over the years.  Chairman of the Park, Shyam Nokta told Kaieteur 
News that while miners have started to conform with to respect the 
protected area, there are sporadic infringements.  The Guyana 
Geology and Mines Commission has been working with the Park's 
rangers to address this problem.  Kaieteur National Park is situated 
on the Guyana Shield, a plateau that is one of the world's oldest 
and remotest geological formations. The entire Kaieteur National 
Park area is located within one of the largest and most bio-diverse 
rainforests in the world.  Over the years, Kaieteur Park has been 
subject to competing interests for its rich natural wealth.  The 
Park was downsized in the 1970s to facilitate mining in the area, 
and then expanded in the 1990s to protect the watershed and the 
integrity of the area from that very same mining. 
Source - Kaieteur News 
 
¶13. Colombia Creates Park to Protect Medicinal Plants 
 
AUG. 2008 - In a unique undertaking blending cultural and 
environmental protection, Colombia has created a new national park 
to preserve the hallucinogenic and medicinal plants important to the 
culture of five Indian tribes.  Colombian officials say creation of 
the 25,000-acre (10,000-ha) Orito Ingi-Ande Medicinal Plants 
Sanctuary in the southwestern departments of Nario and Putumayo 
will protect tropical rainforests providing habitat to more than 400 
species of birds.  But they say the prime goal is to safeguard some 
100 medicinal plants, including the hallucinogenic yag 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  008.2 OF 015 
 
 
(Banisteriopsis spp) and the yoco (Paullinia yoco), which lie at the 
core of the religious and spiritual practices of Indian tribes in 
the southwestern part of Colombia`s Andean-Amazon Piedmont region. 
"This marks the first time a national park has been created in 
Colombia to harmonize biological conservation with the protection of 
the ancestral practices and knowledge of indigenous communities," 
said Juan Lozano, Minister of the Environment, Housing and 
Territorial Development, in an interview with EcoAmricas. 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------------------- 
Science & Technology 
-------------------- 
¶14. Uruguay: Pasteur Director Announces Plans to Create Biotech 
Center 
 
Sept. 09, 2008 - According to the director of South America's Branch 
of the Pasteur Institute (in Montevideo, Uruguay), Guillermo 
Dighiero, human capital, business and academic integration, and 
political will are essential elements needed to stimulate the 
development of biotechnology in Uruguay.  Dighiero highlighted the 
need for a "stronger articulation between the academic and the 
business sectors." The Pasteur Institute director stated that they 
are partnering with the state university, Montevideo's 
administration, the Ministry of Industry, the National Agency for 
Research and Innovation (ANII), and pharmaceutical industries to 
create a biotechnology center in Uruguay in 2011.  According to 
Dighiero this idea is still in an initial phase. 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶15. Colombia: New Science Law Moves Ahead in Congress 
 
AUG. 30, 2008 - Colombia's Congressional Representatives approved on 
August 19 a proposed a bill for science, technology, and innovation 
(ST&I) which aims to strengthen this sector in the country.  The 
proposed bill will now be sent to Senate and, if approved, will need 
the president's signature to be converted into law.  The bill aims 
to allocate 1% of Colombia's GDP to ST&I by 2010.  Current 
investment is 0.37%.  It also creates a National Fund for Financing 
ST&I.  Expectation is that the law will be signed by December this 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  009 OF 015 
 
 
year. 
Source - SciDev 
 
-------------- 
Climate Change 
-------------- 
¶16. Brazil to Invest U$63 Million on Climate Research 
 
SEPT.15 2008 - The State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) 
has announced a new US$63 million investment initiative for research 
on global climate change and its impact on Brazil.  Over the next 
ten years, FAPESP will offer US$6-7 million every year to climate 
researchers. FAPESP will also look to bring in other institutions to 
add more funding to the program.  A US$10 million initial investment 
for this will be shared between FAPESP and the Brazilian National 
Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).  The 
FAPESP program will also finance the Brazilian National Institute 
for Space Research (INPE) to buy equipment to develop global climate 
models.   The FAPESP program aims to help understand the causes of 
these changes and trends in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, 
and establish mitigation and adaptation strategies for the region. 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶17. Andean Countries Team to Monitor Glacial Melt 
 
SEPT. 02, 2008 - The Andean Community (CAN) launched on August 26 a 
project to help Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru to adapt to the impact of 
accelerated glacier retreat caused by climate change.  The 
announcement was made during the Workshop on Climate Change and 
Water Resources held in Lima.  The World Bank will allocate US$10 
million whereas the Andean nations will invest US$22 million in the 
four-year project.  The retreat of glaciers will be monitored 
through a network devices donated by Japan.  The areas to be 
monitored are considered as some of the most vulnerable in the 
Andes: Antisana (Ecuador), Cordillera Real (Bolivia), Huaytapallana 
and Salkantay snow peaks and Shulcas-Mantaro and Vilcanota-Urubamba 
rivers (Peru).  In May this year, CAN presented a study "Climate 
Change has no borders" in which it calculates that damages from 
climate change can reach up to US$30 billion per year for the Andean 
countries by 2025 - 4.5% of the region's GDP. 
Source - SciDev 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  010 OF 015 
 
 
 
¶18. President of Guyana Shares his Views on Climate Change, Forest 
Conservation 
 
SEPT. 08, 2008 - Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo spoke to BBC on his 
views on how to reduce the 18% of greenhouse gas emissions caused by 
tropical deforestation.  Here are some highlights: "In Guyana, we 
are ready to play our part [in fighting climate change], and to 
provide a model for other rainforest countries to share. Our 
deforestation rate is one of the lowest in the world and we want it 
to stay that way [...] I frequently receive proposals from investors 
to convert our forest into land for agriculture or biofuels. 
Agreeing to these would be a quick way to meet the development 
challenges we face. But in Guyana, we are acutely conscious of 
climate change. We recognize that as a nation where over 80% of our 
surface area is tropical rainforest, we have an obligation to our 
own people and the wider world to seek to preserve it. This is why 
in 2006, I suggested that the UK and Guyana could work together to 
identify bold rainforest solutions that could be used as models for 
the world. For our part, we are willing to place almost our entire 
rainforest - which is larger than England - under internationally 
verified supervision if the right economic incentives are created. 
This does not mean sacrificing sovereignty over our forest or 
restricting the development aspirations of our people. It simply 
means allowing globally recognized supervision to verify that 
activities within the forest are sustainable." 
Source - BBC News 
 
------ 
Energy 
------ 
 
¶19. Brazil to invest US$ 12 billion in Biodiesel Projects 
 
SEPT. 08, 2008 - The Government of Brazil will invest 22 billion 
reais (USD 12.8 billion) to finance research projects in biodiesel. 
The main focus is to reduce environmental and public health impacts 
of using this type of biofuel. The money will also be allocated for 
research and development of new technologies for producing raw 
materials; for the production of ethanol-based biodiesel; and in the 
promotion of the decentralization of biofuel production.  These 
 
 
*********************** 
* Missing Section 011 * 
*********************** 
 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  012 OF 015 
 
 
permitting process in 13 months instead of the current 24.  The 
steps set first-ever licensing deadlines for Ibama, the Environment 
Ministry's permitting arm. Ibama will have 60 days to notify project 
organizers of issues that must be addressed in their 
environmental-impact assessment; 180 days to analyze the assessment; 
and 75 days after granting a preliminary license to decide on a 
construction license. 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶22. Ecuador's Draft Constitution Has Green Hue 
 
AUG. 2008 - Starting in October, Ecuador will regard the environment 
as "a someone to respect and not a something to exploit."  That, at 
least, is the approach of the country's new draft constitution, 
environmentalists who support approval of the document say.  The 
constitution, completed by a constituent assembly on July 24 and 
slated for a Sept. 28 public referendum, includes rights related to 
the environment and specific green measures likely to require 
implementing legislation.  The draft-constitution sets a goal of 
"buen vivir," or living well, for all Ecuadorians in a context of 
harmonious coexistence with nature.  "There's a shift from an 
anthropocentric vision to a vision of coexistence with nature," says 
Alberto Acosta, former president of the constituent assembly. "To 
achieve it, the door will be opened to a sustainable- development 
regime inspired by the goals of living well." 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
NOTE from US Embassy Quito:  Also see Unclass QUITO 913. The new 
constitution definitely has a green hue, but also places greater 
responsibility on the state, suggesting uncertain outcomes. 
 
¶23. Controversial Paving of the Darin Gap between Colombia and 
Panam 
 
AUG. 2008 - For decades, Panamanians and Colombians alike have 
dreamed of plugging the so-called Darin Gap, a vast borderland 
network of rainforests, mangroves and swamps lying smack in the path 
of the 16,000-mile (25,500-km) Pan-American Highway's last remaining 
unbuilt section.  The 69-mile (111-km) gap in the continental 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  013 OF 015 
 
 
roadway, which runs from Fairbanks, Alaska to the southern tip of 
Chile, has long been seen as an impassable barrier preventing the 
movement of people and products between South and Central America. 
Only the most fearless have dared to cross the snake- and 
caiman-infested region by foot or dugout canoe. So when Colombia's 
presidential advisor Fabio Valencia told a June 6 meeting of the 
Organization of American States in Medelln that Colombia would 
spend US$130 million to build 33 miles (53 kms) of road on its side 
of the border, completing Colombia's portion of the highway by 2010, 
the government expected applause. Instead, it encountered hostility. 
Panamanian officials said privately they feared an invasion by 
Colombian guerrillas, paramilitaries and refugees if either the 
Colombian portion of the highway or the 36 miles (58 kms) remaining 
to be built in Panama were completed. And environmentalists on both 
sides of the border asserted that roadwork would threaten one of the 
world's treasures of biological diversity. 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
--------------------- 
Free Trade Agreements 
--------------------- 
¶24. Trade-Related Decrees Triggering Protests in Peru 
 
AUG. 2008 - Protesting decrees issued earlier this year by President 
Alan Garca, members of various indigenous groups in the Peruvian 
Amazon marked Aug. 9, the International Day of Indigenous People, by 
occupying facilities operated by oil, gas and hydropower companies. 
The protest action targeted oil and hydroelectric plants in the 
northern departments of Loreto and Amazonas, as well as facilities 
in southeastern Peru's Camisea natural gas field.  Demonstrators are 
calling for the government to cancel more than two dozen decrees 
issued in the first half of the year that attempt to bring Peruvian 
legislation in line with the country's free-trade agreement with the 
United States. The free-trade agreement was signed in 2006 and has 
since been ratified by both countries, which must modify their laws 
to put it into effect.  Among the most controversial aspects of the 
new decrees are provisions that would facilitate private purchase of 
public lands; reduce the number of votes required by members of an 
indigenous group or peasant community to sell communal land; and 
promote private investment, particularly in farming and logging. 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  014 OF 015 
 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
UPDATE from US Embassy Lima:  The principal problematic decrees were 
repealed, so protests have stopped. 
 
------------------- 
NEWS FROM THE FRONT 
------------------- 
¶25. EPA and Argonne National Labs install mercury recapture devices 
in Peru's Amazon - (Miguel Yepez, Marcos Mandojana) 
US Embassy Lima ECON Office supported the visits in May and 
September of EPA / Argonne National Lab experts to Peru.  On Sept. 
15 the experts presented their project at the Peruvian Mining & 
Energy ministry then travelled to the remote jungle region of Madre 
de Dios to install their locally-built, $450 mercury recapture 
device in a gold shop.  They immediately obtained great results, and 
had over 60 locals attend a presentation in Madre de Dios on Sept. 
¶19.  The Mining & Energy Ministry has asked EPA/Argonne Nation Lab 
to return to help in spreading this device throughout Peru's mining 
areas.  Mercury pollution from artisanal mining is a huge problem in 
Peru, as virtually no attempt is made to recapture the mercury from 
gold refining, which ends up going into the atmosphere and water. 
 
¶26. Colombia: Promoting Sustainable Biofuels Development - (William 
Popp, Larry Gumbiner) 
On September 3-5, US Embassy Bogota hosted the visit of sustainable 
biofuels expert Charlotte Opal from the Roundtable on Sustainable 
Biofuels   Ms. Opal met with local biofuels industry 
representatives, government policymakers and environmental and 
development NGOs to discuss the development of standards and 
certifications processes for sustainable biofuels around the world. 
Ms. Opal emphasized the importance of Colombian producers and 
policymakers participating in ongoing international discussions on 
establishing global sustainability standards for biofuels in order 
to ensure local industry incorporates environmental and social 
protections in their operations which consumer nations are 
increasingly poised to require.  Government interlocutors confirmed 
that Colombia would provide input into the Roundtable's current 
draft of sustainability standards and continue to engage o the 
issue through the Global Bioenergy Partnersip. 
 
BRASILIA 00001294  015 OF 015 
 
 
 
KUBISKE