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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 13 BRASILIA 000178 
 
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 117 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  001.2 OF 013 
 
 
¶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)Peru Divided Over Benefits, Risks of GMOs 
--(4)Brazil Soy Industry Spots More Amazon Clearing 
--(5)ADM to Get Sustainable With Brazilian Soybean Farmers 
--(6)Paraguay s Soy Producers Stage 'Tractorazo' 
 
Water Issues 
--(7)Study Confirms Chile Glaciers Receding Quickly 
 
Forests 
--(8)Brazil Reduces Environmental Restrictions on Agriculture in the 
Amazon 
--(9)Internal Brazil Fight May Hamper Amazon Protection 
--(10)Amazon Rainforest Halfway To Tipping Point, Study Says 
--(11)Brazil: Court Preparing Key Amazon Land-Rights Decision 
--(12)For Peruvians, Baskets for the U.S. Market Bring a New Way of 
Life 
 
Wildlife 
--(13)Peruvian Region Outlaws Biopiracy 
--(14)Ten New Amphibian Species Discovered In Colombia 
 
Fishing & Marine Conservation 
--(15)Antarctic: Ocean Fertilization Experiment Suspended, 
Reactivated 
--(17)Panama Accused of Undermining Marine Preserve 
 
Science & Technology 
--(18)Brazil and China to Partner on New Technologies 
--(19)Argentina: S&T Back on the Development Agenda 
 
Extractive Industries 
--(20)Correa Ally Explains Break with President Over Mining 
 
Energy 
--(21)Coal and Oil Will Make Magallanes "Chile's Energy Center" 
--(22)Biofuels Head to Chile's Forests 
--(23)Argentina to Stop Sale of Incandescent Bulbs 
--(24)Brazilians Betting Obama Will Be Green Enough to Help Brazil 
--(25)Brazilian Venture to Make New Variety of Diesel Fuel 
 
Pollution 
--(26)Cleaner Diesel Improves Air Quality in Bogota 
 
Climate Change 
--(27)Guyana and Norway Cooperate to Reduce Greenhouse gas 
Emissions 
--(28)Chile's CO2 Emissions Expected to Quadruple by 2030 
--(29)Climate Change-Brazil: Calls for Adaptation Unheeded 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  002.2 OF 013 
 
 
--(30)World Bank Urging Region to Keep Up Climate Efforts 
 
General 
--(31)UNASUR to Create Infrastructure Council in April 
 
----------- 
Agriculture 
----------- 
 
¶3. Peru Divided Over Benefits, Risks of GMOs 
 
JAN. 2009 - The prospect of genetically modified crops spreading 
through Peru's coastal desert, Andean highlands and tropical 
lowlands has split government agencies. Agricultural officials argue 
biotechnology offers hope to poor farmers, while environmental 
officials assert it could jeopardize the country's rich biological 
diversity.  Even those in the center disagree on where and how to 
draw the line, a state of affairs that is very much on display as 
officials seek public comment for draft rules governing 
implementation of Peru's 1999 biosafety law.  Such debate 
intensified last July, when a separate measure associated with the 
biosafety law-a decree promoting biotechnology and empowering the 
National Institute for Agricultural Innovation (Inia) to conduct 
biotech oversight and research-was implemented, sparking an outcry 
from environmentalists.  Environment Minister Antonio Brack Egg, a 
strong supporter of conservation and sustainable use of Peru's 
genetic resources, called for a public comment period on measures 
needed to implement both the 1999 biosafety law and the July decree. 
The Agriculture Ministry posted the regulations on its Web site, but 
in December 2008 Inia chief Juan Risi Carbone said no comments had 
been received. Activists, however, note the ministry had not 
indicated how, when or to whom comments were to be submitted. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶4. Brazil Soy Industry Spots More Amazon Clearing 
 
JAN. 20, 2009 - Brazil's grain crushing industry that vowed to stop 
buying soybeans farmed on freshly cleared Amazon biome said that it 
has identified 365 newly deforested areas since its first survey, in 
July 2007.  The industry is now investigating if soybeans have been 
planted in the areas, from which it will refuse to purchase grains, 
the Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association (Abiove) said. 
The recently discovered areas add to 263 others which were 
deforested during the year finished in July 2007. At that time, none 
of them had been used for soy planting.  A report with detailed 
information and photographs will be made public by March, when soy 
sales in Brazil tend to peak and companies would still have 
conditions to impose a ban on soy from specific areas.  Abiove 
contracted Globalsat to inspect the areas by air and ground and 
prepare the report, based also on satellite information provided by 
state-run Inpe (National Space Research Institute). All major grain 
processors with operations in Brazil, such as ADM (ADM.N), Cargill 
[CARG.UL] and Bunge (BG.N) participate in the Soy Moratorium, along 
with nongovernmental organizations like Greenpeace and WWF Brazil. 
The initiative was launched in July 2006 and then renewed in June 
2008, when the environment ministry first came on board and began to 
cooperate. 
 
Source - Reuters 
 
¶5. ADM to Get Sustainable With Brazilian Soybean Farmers 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  003.2 OF 013 
 
 
 
JAN. 14, 2009 - Archer Daniels Midland Co. said it has joined with 
Brazilian nonprofit environmental group Alianca Da Terra to launch a 
program aimed at encouraging Brazilian soy-bean farmers to adopt 
sustainable practices.  The program, Produzindo Certo, or "doing it 
right," seeks to help farmers maximize the yield potential of their 
farmland to minimize the environmentally damaging conversion of 
Brazilian wildland to farm acreage, the U.S. grain-processing and 
ethanol producer said.  As the world's appetite for protein and 
grains expands, Brazilian growers have aggressively expanded 
production by stripping the nation's forests and savannas and 
turning them into farmland. The situation is an ecological disaster 
in the making, many critics say, complicated by the fact that high 
demand means the typically low-income owners of the Brazilian 
frontier land can sell stripped acreage for five or six times the 
price of undeveloped land.  The issue is a sensitive one for U.S. 
companies that buy or process grain grown on such lands, and at 
ADM's November shareholder meeting, representatives of a group known 
as the Rainforest Action Network called on ADM to help fight 
destruction of the rainforest. 
 
Source - Chicago Tribune 
 
¶6. Paraguay's Soy Producers Stage 'Tractorazo' 
 
JAN. 2009 - With peasant farmers threatening land invasions to 
demand land reform and end perceived environmental abuses, 
Paraguay's soybean producers last month staged a two-day 
demonstration intended to call the government's attention to rural 
turmoil.  Hundreds of medium- and large-scale soy producers parked 
their tractors on Dec. 15 and 16 along the sides of the roads in 13 
departments, creating a so-called "tractorazo", underscoring the 
importance of peasant labor to agricultural production.  The protest 
by soy producers comes after months of marches on Asuncisn and 
threats of land invasion by thousands of small and landless 
peasants, or campesinos, demanding agrarian reform and an end to the 
spraying of toxic agro-chemicals. Handling the tensions that fueled 
it marks a key test for President Fernando Lugo, a former Roman 
Catholic bishop who took office Aug.15. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
------------ 
Water Issues 
------------ 
 
¶7. Study Confirms Chile Glaciers Receding Quickly 
 
JAN. 22, 2009 - Chilean environmental authorities are beginning to 
worry more about fresh water resources after a government study 
determined that 92 percent of the country's glaciers - Chile's 
principal fresh water suppliers - are receding.  The study, 
performed by Chile's National Water Directorate (DGA), looked at 100 
of the nation's 1,720 registered glaciers spanning from northern 
Region III to Puerto Williams at the far southern tip of the 
country. Researchers found that only seven of the studied glaciers 
remain in stable condition, and only one glacier is actually 
growing.  DGA Director Rodrigo Weisner said the results are not 
surprising.  Glacial melting is a common phenomenon brought on by 
global climate change, and Weisner believes that it is practically 
inevitable in light of climate change. "But we can still take 
measures to understand its rhythm, study its behavior, and prevent 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  004.2 OF 013 
 
 
harmful effects," he said.  The most important problem associated 
with receding glaciers is the nation's loss of its most important 
source of fresh water.  Glaciers, compressed masses of ice that 
slowly carve through landscapes, provide nearly 75 percent of the 
world's fresh water, according to the University of Colorado's 
National Snow and Ice Data Center. 
 
Source - Santiago Times 
 
------- 
Forests 
------- 
 
¶8. Brazil Reduces Environmental Restrictions on Agriculture in the 
Amazon 
 
FEB. 06, 2009 - The Government of Brazil approved the expansion of 
legal farming areas in the Amazon region.  A committee with 
representatives from 13 ministries changed the rules concerning 
reforestation around two main roads cutting through the northern 
region of Brazil, including the "Transamazonian" highway, ultimately 
reducing the area environmentally protected. The measure now 
requires those who deforest for farming to reforest only 50% of the 
land rather than 80%. The measure will go to the National 
Environmental Council for approval before being finally presented to 
President Lula.  Greenpeace has condemned the proposal, stating that 
"it legitimizes environmental crime." In related news, Brazilian 
Minister for Strategic Planning, Mangabeira Unger, advocated that 
environmental licenses for PAC-sponsored construction sites be 
expedited in the Amazon region.  Environmental Minister Carlos Minc 
critiqued the proposed measure saying that there can be no "special 
regime" for GOB-sponsored initiatives. 
 
Source - Public Affairs US Embassy Brasilia 
 
¶9. Internal Brazil Fight May Hamper Amazon Protection 
 
JAN. 31, 2009 - Last week's World Social Forum, a global 
counterculture gathering dedicated partly to preserving the world's 
rain forests, became a bureaucratic battleground for two Brazilian 
officials squabbling over what to do with the vast Amazon region. 
Environment Minister Carlos Minc used the World Social Forum to take 
shots at Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes, who is accused by 
environmentalists of encouraging soy and sugar cane plantations that 
are blamed for much deforestation. "Our problem is not with 
agriculture, it is with Minister Stephanes," Environment Minister 
Carlos Minc told reporters at the social forum. Stephanes countered 
by saying that "either he (Minc) understands nothing, or he isn't 
behaving correctly with me." The feud forced President Luiz Inacio 
Lula da Silva to order the ministers to stop talking about one 
another in public, according to accounts in Brazil's leading 
newspapers, citing anonymous aides close to Silva. Greenpeace 
campaigner Andre Muggiati said a bigger issue is the fight for cash. 
"The environment ministry is a weak ministry," he said, noting that 
the agriculture ministry budget is around $22 billion a year while 
that of the environment ministry is some $174 million. "How can the 
ministry of environment build strong measures for protection when 
the agriculture ministry right across the street is spending 
billions in an activity that has a strong impact on the 
environment?" Muggiati said. 
 
Source - Associated Press 
 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  005.2 OF 013 
 
 
¶10. Amazon Rainforest Halfway To Tipping Point, Study Says 
 
JAN. 2009 - The results of a four-year research study on the impact 
of progressive Amazon deforestation show that a threshold exists at 
which abrupt changes in climate caused by land-clearing occur, 
harming the biome's vegetation. The study also suggests that a 
"tipping point" exists at which some rainforest regions lose their 
capacity to regenerate.  The study, done by researchers at Brazil's 
state-run National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and presented 
at an Amazon conference in the western city of Manaus in November, 
used models to project future changes in climate and vegetation in 
the Amazon. Underlying the forecasts were data gathered since the 
early 1990s on Amazon-region deforestation rates and road 
construction, which has been a key precursor to land clearing.  An 
estimated 20% of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested since 
European settlement of the region. The study says that once 40% of 
the Amazon has been cut-a point that will be reached in 2050 if 
average deforestation rates since the early 1990s continue-rainfall 
levels will plummet by 18% to 20%, temperatures will increase by 
1.70 Centigrade and the evaporation rate will drop by 11%. The study 
forecasts that these climate effects would turn the eastern Amazon, 
where deforestation is heaviest, into a savannah, but not cause 
similar changes in the western part of the Amazon. They also would 
decrease rainfall and accelerate desertification in northeastern 
Brazil, and reduce rainfall in northern Argentina and Paraguay, the 
study says. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (contact Larissa Stoner for complete article) 
 
¶11. Brazil: Court Preparing Key Amazon Land-Rights Decision 
 
JAN. 2009 - Brazil's Supreme Court is expected to order in February 
the removal of white settlers from one of the biggest indigenous 
reserves in the Amazon, a vast swath of rainforest larger than the 
U.S. state of Connecticut.  The decision, addressing a long-standing 
dispute over land rights in the 4.2-million-acre (1.7-million-ha) 
Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous reserve in the northern state of 
Roraima, would likely set precedent for the handling of other such 
conflicts in the Brazilian Amazon.  Indians inhabiting the reserve 
have clashed violently with settlers in the past, and have vowed to 
expel them if the high court doesn't. Meanwhile, the settlers have 
said they would not leave voluntarily. When police attempted to 
evict them last April, they blockaded roads and destroyed bridges. 
At issue is the refusal of some 400 settlers-six large rice-farm 
operators and 10 big cattle ranchers and their employees-to leave 
Raposa Serra do Sol despite government offers to indemnify them for 
their investments and resettle them just south of the reserve. But a 
Supreme Court vote last month made their removal all but a foregone 
conclusion. In a decision that has yet to be finalized, eight of the 
court's 11 justices, a clear majority, favored expulsion of the 
settlers. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
¶12. For Peruvians, Baskets for the U.S. Market Bring a New Way of 
Life 
 
JAN. 19, 2009 - Women in a remote Amazon village can weave fibers 
from the branch of the chambira palm tree into practically anything 
they need - fishing nets, hammocks, purses, skirts and dental floss. 
 However, for the last year they have put their hopes in baskets, 
weaving hundreds to build inventory for export to the United States. 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  006.2 OF 013 
 
 
Their first international buyers are the San Diego Natural History 
Museum and San Diego Zoo, and they plan to sell to other museums and 
home dcor purveyors like the Field Museum in Chicago and eventually 
Cost Plus. The circuitous route these baskets have taken from the 
jungle to American store shelves started with a bird watcher's 
passion for natural habitats, passed through a regional government 
whose policies have become increasingly more conservationist, and, 
supporters say, should end with better lives for the weavers and 
their communities. The enterprise is one of many ventures here in 
the Amazon aimed at "productive conservation," which advocates say 
will save the rain forest by transforming it into a renewable 
economic resource for local people. 
 
Source - The New York Times 
 
-------- 
Wildlife 
-------- 
 
¶13. Peruvian Region Outlaws Biopiracy 
 
JAN. 21, 2009 - A municipality of Peru is claiming to be the first 
in the world to enact a law outlawing biopiracy and protecting 
indigenous knowledge at a regional level. Cusco - in the Peruvian 
Andes, once the capital of the Inca Empire - has outlawed the 
plundering of native species for commercial gain, including 
patenting resources or the genes they contain. Corporations or 
scientists must now seek permission from, and potentially share 
benefits with, the local people whose traditions have protected the 
species for centuries. Indigenous communities can now implement ways 
to protect local resources, including creating registers of 
biodiversity and protocols for granting access to it.  Local 
scientists and activists believe the law's value lies in the fact 
that for the first time a regional government will be empowered to 
challenge its national government on biopiracy. But while the law is 
an important precedent, it could come into conflict with national 
laws regarding the recording of indigenous knowledge, said Maria 
Scurrah, a Peruvian scientist specializing in farmer's rights. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶14. Ten New Amphibian Species Discovered In Colombia 
 
FEB. 02, 2009 - Scientists announced y the discovery of 10 amphibian 
species in Colombia potentially new to science, including an 
orange-legged rain frog, three poison frogs and three transparent 
"glass" frogs.  During a three-week expedition in Colombia's 
northwestern Tacarcuna hills in the Darien Gap bordering Panama, 
scientists identified about 60 species of amphibians, 20 reptiles 
and almost 120 species of birds, many of them apparently unique to 
the area.  The expedition, led by Conservation International 
herpetologists and ornithologists from Colombia's Ecotropico 
Foundation, identified potentially new species of amphibians, 
including three glass frogs, whose transparent skin can reveal 
internal organs, a harlequin frog, two rain frogs and one 
salamander.  The group said Colombia has one of the most diverse 
amphibian communities in the world, with 754 species currently 
recorded. 
 
Source - AFP (no link) 
 
----------------------------- 
Fishing & Marine Conservation 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  007.2 OF 013 
 
 
----------------------------- 
 
¶15. Antarctic: Ocean Fertilization Experiment Suspended, Reactivated 
 
 
JAN. 20, 2009 - An Indo-German iron fertilization experiment 
(LOHAFEX) planned for a deep-ocean area near Antarctica has been 
suspended, pending an independent assessment of its environmental 
impact. The suspension follows intervention by the German Ministry 
for Education and Research following pressure from environmental 
groups. The Montreal-based ETC Group, the Indian Biodiversity Forum, 
German researchers and others had protested against the experiment 
on the ground that it was fraught with potentially severe ecological 
consequences and violated the moratorium on ocean fertilization 
decided upon by the ninth Conference of the Parties to the 
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The experiment envisaged 
dumping of about 20 tons of iron sulfate in the Scotia Sea near 
Antarctica to induce an algal bloom. 
 
Source - IISD 
 
¶16. UPDATE: The German Science Ministry announced on January 26 that 
it will allow the controversial "LOHAFEX" experiment to proceed in 
the Southern Ocean.  Following an NGO publicity campaign that 
claimed LOHAFEX violated the Convention on 
 
 
¶17. Panama Accused of Undermining Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine 
Preserve 
 
JAN. 2009 - Four years after banning commercial fishing in 
species-rich Coiba National Park, Panama's National Assembly revoked 
a critical article of the law prohibiting the use of purse-seine 
nets for tuna fishing in the 1,040-square-mile (2,700-sq-km) marine 
preserve.  Environmentalists say the June 30 repeal of the ban on 
purse-seine tuna fishing in Coiba, reportedly influenced by Spanish 
tuna companies, could pose serious risks to endangered marine 
turtles and dozens of species of sharks, whales and dolphins, which 
can become trapped in the purse seines as bycatch.  They also say it 
undermines Panama's ocean conservation commitments under a 2004 
treaty signed with Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador to protect 
migratory marine species in a vast swath of ocean named the Marine 
Conservation Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
-------------------- 
Science & Technology 
-------------------- 
 
¶18. Brazil and China to Partner on New Technologies 
 
JAN. 22, 2009 - Brazil and China have agreed to collaborate on 
developing technologies to tackle energy problems and climate 
change.  The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (UFRJ), 
and the University of Tsinghua, China, have announced the creation 
of the Brazil-China Center for Innovative Technologies, Climate 
Change and Energy.  The center, to be based at the University of 
Tsinghua, in Beijing, will receive almost US$1 million in initial 
investment from the Brazilian innovation agency, Research and 
Projects Financing (FINEP). The Brazilian part of the center will be 
headed by the Graduate Engineering Project Coordination (COPPE) of 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  008.2 OF 013 
 
 
the UFRJ. One of the center's first goals will be to map biofuel 
sources in Brazil and China, in order to develop common approaches 
to their exploitation. Another will be to estimate greenhouse gas 
emissions by both countries and provide their respective governments 
with technical information to help them develop mitigation policies. 
 The projects will aim to produce practical results for Brazilian 
and Chinese industries, and to provide high quality science and 
technology information for governments. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
¶19. Argentina: S&T Back on the Development Agenda 
 
DEC. 02, 2008 - After more than 40 years of active persecution 
followed by years of government indifference, science and technology 
(S&T) are making a dramatic return to the development agenda in 
Argentina.  Seen as a breeding ground for political dissent, 
academia was targeted for suppression by the Argentinean military 
government from the 1960s to the 1980s. The field continued to 
suffer in the 1990s under President Carlos Menem who was 
uninterested in research, and through a financial crisis.  But now, 
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has said she sees science 
as a "key to the nation's economic future".  Following her election 
in October 2007, Kirchner set up a Ministry of Science, Technology 
and Productive Innovation and hopes to increase the country's 
investment in S&T from 0.66 per cent in 2007 to one per cent in 
¶2010.  To retain scientists and lure them back from overseas the 
government plans to increase their monthly salaries by 30 per cent 
to about US$1,000 a month; increase the 2009 government budget for 
competitive research grants by 40 per cent; and build a US$50 
million science complex in Buenos Aires. 
 
Source - SciDev 
 
--------------------- 
Extractive Industries 
--------------------- 
 
¶20. Correa Ally Explains Break with President Over Mining 
 
JAN. 2009 - EcoAmericas January edition brings a Q&A with Msnica 
Chuji Gualinga, an indigenous-rights activist from the Ecuadorian 
Amazon community of Sarayacu who supported Rafael Correa in his 
successful 2006 run for president of Ecuador. In 2007, she served as 
his first communications minister. Now, however, Chuji is one of 
Correa's fiercest critics on account of a sharp disagreement over 
mining. Chuji left Correa's cabinet after six months and won 
election to the Constituent Assembly, which last year rewrote 
Ecuador's constitution and passed various high-profile measures. One 
measure she helped broker, largely due to environmental concerns, 
suspended mining in Ecuador in January 2008. More recently, on Jan. 
12, a new mining bill allowing the resumption of open-pit mining 
practices, was passed by a commission appointed to serve as an 
interim legislative body pending the election of a new Congress in 
April of this year. Ms. Chuji, who is not on the commission, argues 
that if signed by Correa, the legislation will do irreversible 
environmental harm by allowing large-scale open-pit mining. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
interview) 
 
------ 
Energy 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  009.2 OF 013 
 
 
------ 
 
¶21. Coal and Oil Will Make Magallanes "Chile's Energy Center" 
 
FEB. 03, 2009 - According to Chile's National Energy Commission 
president Marcelo Tokman, the Magallanes region in the extreme south 
of Chile is becoming the "energy center of the country" based 
primarily on the development of coal resources and the exploration 
for hydrocarbons.  "The coal mining project at Isla Riesco in a 
context of world energy crisis has become strategic, because we need 
to diversify our energy matrix", said Tokman during a visit to Punta 
Arenas.  The Isla Riesco's four exploitable areas have proven 
reserves of 200 million tons of coal, so far the largest in Chile. 
Tokman also emphasized the significance of the hydrocarbons 
exploration drive in Magallanes and Tierra del Fuego which has 
attracted "important oil companies and millions of US dollars in 
investments".  Chile dependence on foreign coal supplies for its 
coal-based electricity generation is 93%, but with the development 
of the Isla Riesco resources, "we will ensure stability to our 
coal-based electricity generating plants". 
 
Source - MercoPress 
 
¶22. Biofuels Head to Chile's Forests 
 
FEB. 02, 2009 - Chile has set its sights on producing 
second-generation plant-based fuels from forest biomass within the 
next five years. However, Chile's environmental and social 
activities warn that the country must also consider the 
environmental and socioeconomic impacts of such an endeavor. 
Chile's heavy energy dependence on fossil fuels and its continued 
increase in emissions of climate-changing gases have led this South 
American country to pursue renewable energy options like solar, 
wind, geothermal and biomass.  A law passed in April 2008 requires 
that as of 2010 at least five percent of Chile's electricity must 
come from non-conventional renewable sources, including biomass. 
Beginning in 2015, the proportion must increase 0.5 percent annually 
until reaching a full 10 percent in 2024.  Two consortiums were 
created in October for research and development of lignocellulosic 
biofuels, that is, fuels based on woody fibers.  The goal is to 
"surpass the expansion limits and the grave conflicts that the 
current crop-based fuels (made from foods like maize or sugarcane) 
can create," said Guilherme Schuetz, coordinator of the regional 
biofuels group of the United Nations Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO). 
 
Source - Tierramerica 
 
¶23. Argentina to Stop Sale of Incandescent Bulbs 
 
JAN. 2009 - Beginning Dec. 31, 2010, the sale of incandescent light 
bulbs will be illegal in Argentina.  The prohibition, proposed last 
March by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, cleared its last 
legislative hurdle when the Senate approved it on Dec. 17 by 
unanimous vote.  The Senate left intact a change that the lower 
house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, made to the proposal 
last June.  While Kirchner's proposal prohibited production of 
incandescent bulbs in Argentina, the modified version that is now 
law only bans their importation and sale. This means incandescent 
bulbs could continue to be manufactured in Argentina as long as they 
are exported. The new law empowers the government to eliminate 
import taxes on energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs and on the parts 
and equipment needed to produce them. It does not address the 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  010.2 OF 013 
 
 
disposal of used fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury, but an 
electronic-waste bill now being debated in Congress does provide for 
the collection of spent fluorescent bulbs.  Cuba, Venezuela and 
Nicaragua have launched Latin America's most aggressive programs to 
root out incandescent bulbs, according to the Argentine office of 
the environmental group Greenpeace. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas 
 
¶24. Brazilians Betting Obama Will Be Green Enough to Help Brazil 
 
JAN. 22, 2009 - Brazil is hoping that its ethanol industry may gain 
momentum and space in the United States market during the 
administration of Barack Obama, who has already shown himself drawn 
towards environmental causes. Obama's campaign commitments included 
reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, reducing dependence on 
foreign oil imports, developing and implementing clean energy 
technologies and making the United States a leading country in 
issues pertaining to climate change. The world's leading economy 
aims to consume 136 billion liters of ethanol in 2022. The current 
consumption is 30 billion (against 25 billion in Brazil).  Andre 
Nassar, Director General at Icone (Institute of Studies on Trade and 
International Negotiation), believes that Obama's concern with 
increasing energy efficiency may also translate into the United 
States' participation in the post-Kyoto Protocol and in a new clean 
development mechanism for carbon trade, with the adoption of goals 
for reducing emission of greenhouse gases. Besides selling more 
ethanol to the United States, Brazil could attract United States 
investment in clean energy and also develop partnerships for 
technology transfer, research and development. 
 
Source - Brazzilmag 
 
¶25. Brazilian Venture to Make New Variety of Diesel Fuel 
 
JAN. 2009 - Amyris, a California-based biotechnology firm, and 
Crystalsev, a Brazilian ethanol distributor, recently formed a joint 
venture to commercially produce a cleaner, renewable form of diesel 
fuel from sugarcane, the first such venture of its kind anywhere. 
Sugarcane diesel has substantially the same chemical structure as 
fossil-fuel diesel, except that the former has one type of 
hydrocarbon molecule and the latter contains a range of them. The 
main difference in the two diesels' physical properties is that 
sugarcane diesel contains no sulfur and when burned emits no 
nitrogen oxide, making it that much more eco-friendly.  And the fuel 
is not related to biodiesel, which is made by blending vegetable oil 
and ethanol with standard diesel.  The California biotech firm, 
Amyris, says it has pioneered a way to make cleaner, renewable 
diesel by genetically modifying a yeast, which is then used to 
ferment sugarcane juice. This metabolizes the cane juice into a 
pre-diesel, after which some alcohols and impurities are removed to 
yield pure diesel.  The joint venture plans in 2010 to begin 
producing 10 million liters (2.64 million gallons) of sugarcane 
diesel annually in Brazil. That production will occur at an ethanol 
refinery owned by Santelisa Vale, Brazil's second largest ethanol 
producer and the controlling shareholder of Crystalsev. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (contact L. Stoner for complete article) 
 
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Pollution 
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¶26. Cleaner Diesel Improves Air Quality in Bogota 
 
FEB. 11, 2009 - Due to tighter Ministry of Environment (MOE) 
regulations and clean diesel measures taken by state oil company 
Ecopetrol, Bogota's air quality -- historically among the poorest in 
Latin America -- is the best that it has been in the last twelve 
years.  Both the MOE and Ecopetrol publicly reiterate that in 2009 
they will take further steps to improve air quality, with Ecopetrol 
planning to invest USD600 million over four years to increase 
Colombia's capacity to produce clean diesel locally. 
 
Source - BOGOTA 420 
 
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Climate Change 
-------------- 
 
¶27. Guyana and Norway Cooperate to Reduce Greenhouse gas 
EmissionsFEB. 04, 2009 - President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo and 
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo, Norway, agreed to 
establish a partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 
Guyana deforestation, with the goal to establish mechanisms on 
deforestation and forest degradation to be included in a post-2012 
climate change agreement. In a joint statement, the two leaders said 
they have agreed on the need to keep climate change firmly at the 
top of the international agenda and underlined that it is essential 
to reach an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen in December. According 
to Stoltenberg, efforts could include results-based mechanisms, as 
well as adequate, predictable and sustainable financial compensation 
- to be ultimately determined through future United Nations 
Framework Convention On Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations from 
m 
developed countries to developing countries for their REDD efforts. 
 
 
Source - Caribbean Net News 
 
¶28. Chile's CO2 Emissions Expected to Quadruple by 2030 
 
JAN. 12, 2009 - Chile's CO2 emissions are expected to quadruple by 
2030, failing change to its national energy policy, the Chilean 
Minister for Energy, Marcelo Tokman, warned.  The estimated increase 
is largely credited to the sharp rise in planned construction of 
coal-fired power stations, as predicted in a recently issued report, 
the New Guidelines for Energy Policy, that was presented to 
President Bachelet by the Minister for Energy on January 6...  The 
report warns: 'Chile must assume the risk of being subjected to 
restrictions or costs associated with international measures taken 
to tackle global warming'. 
 
Source - Carbon Offsets Daily 
¶29. Brazil: Flooding Leads to Calls for Preventive Measures 
 
JAN. 09, 2009 - Torrential rains have deluged several Brazilian 
states since November, causing nearly 200 deaths so far and 
reinforcing environmentalist campaigns calling for urgent adaptation 
measures.  At least 136 people have been killed by mudslides or 
flooding in the southern state of Santa Catarina over the past two 
months. A large number of people are also missing, and there are 300 
confirmed cases of leptospirosis, which will add to the likely death 
toll. The rains flooded, damaged or destroyed the homes of over 1.5 
million people in Santa Catarina, one-quarter of the state's 
population. The affected regions are in the east of the state, the 
 
BRASILIA 00000178  012.2 OF 013 
 
 
most industrialized and populous part of Santa Catarina, so the 
economic losses are enormous. In the central state of Minas Gerais, 
23 people have died and 60,000 people in 97 towns and cities have 
had to abandon their homes. Tens of thousands of people's homes were 
flooded in the Atlantic seaboard states of Rio de Janeiro and 
Esprito Santo, where there were at least six deaths from 
leptospirosis, and the death toll is mounting.  Environmentalists 
call for measures to prevent the expansion of cities into risk 
areas, including educating communities, training civil defense 
staff, and rehabilitating "structural works" such as slope 
stabilization and cleaning river beds and banks to ensure 
unobstructed passage for floodwaters. 
 
Source - IPS News 
 
¶30. World Bank Urging Region to Keep Up Climate Efforts 
 
JAN. 2009 - A new World Bank report on Latin America and the 
Caribbean warns that the region must not let the global financial 
crisis derail its efforts against climate change.  Latin America has 
made significant advances in fighting global warming through the use 
of new technologies in renewable energy, biofuels and transport, and 
could lead developing nations in such efforts, the report says.  But 
with climate-related problems such as natural disasters and 
declining agricultural productivity looming, the report contends, 
the region must not let economic pressures undermine clean-energy 
investment. Instead, it says, the region should take advantage of 
opportunities afforded by the crisis.  Massive public investment in 
clean energy can be a "win-win" policy that also stimulates economic 
recovery, the World Bank argues. Moreover, the report contends, 
"countries that switch from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy 
during the economic slump can enjoy 'first mover advantages,' that 
is, a greater competitive ability to promote long-term growth." 
Entitled "Low Carbon, High Growth: Latin American Responses to 
Climate Change," the study is part of an annual effort by the World 
Bank to lay groundwork for inter-governmental debates and options in 
different areas through so-called flagship reports. 
 
Source - EcoAmericas (please contact Larissa Stoner for complete 
article) 
 
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General 
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¶31. UNASUR to Create Infrastructure Council in April 
 
DEC. 31, 2008 - Government representatives from the Union of South 
American Nations (UNASUR) plan to establish an infrastructure 
council in April 2009, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told 
BNamericas. The council is expected to be created at the next UNASUR 
meeting, scheduled for April 20 2010, when Bachelet will also leave 
her post as the organization's pro tempore president.  The new 
infrastructure council will analyze, plan and coordinate 
infrastructure development among UNASUR members: Argentina, Bolivia, 
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, 
Uruguay and Venezuela. The objective is to support the development 
of the South American infrastructure integration initiative IIRSA, 
which has been subject to delays accentuated by the financial 
crisis. Among the projects to be analyzed by the council are the 
TransAndino Central rail tunnel and IIRSA-related highways. The 
council will also set up amicable frameworks for airport, port, 
rail, highway and waterway initiatives, among others, as the 
 
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development of such projects is often affected by political 
interests. 
 
Source - BIC 
 
SOBEL