Tierramérica

Issue of August, 29, 2005



	Current Edition

	Report

	Accents

	Analysis

	Dialogues

	Notable Writings

	Eco-Briefs

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A main thoroughfare in Sao Paulo.
Credit: Photo Stock.

Report
Infertility Linked to Environmental Factors
By Mario Osava
The sperm count is on the decline among the male inhabitants of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Experts associate the problem with air pollution, chemical substances in food, and the stress of urban life.

Ricardo Sánchez.

Dialogues
Low Marks in Achieving 'Green' Goals
By Diego Cevallos
Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to lag behind as long as they fail to recognize that sustainable management of their natural capital can be good business, says Ricardo Sánchez, regional director of the United Nations Environment Program.

Oil spills wipe out marine life.
Credit: Photo Stock.

Accents
Biological Clean-Up for Oil Spills
By Dalia Acosta
A Cuban bio-product cleans up marine oil spills in just 30 days. Some five million barrels of fuel are moved each day through the Caribbean waters in tanker ships.

Eco-Briefs

VENEZUELA: Compensation for Families on Overflowing Lake
More than a thousand families who lost their homes on the shores of the flooded Lake Valencia, Venezuela's second largest, are receiving compensation from the government and will have to rebuild their lives elsewhere.

CUBA: Polluting Gas Replaced
A program for curbing the use of ozone-depleting substances in the eastern Cuban province of Las Tunas has replaced the contaminating gas freon in 2,100 refrigerators in the first seven months of this year.

GUATEMALA: Biodiesel Made from Nut Oil
The Guatemalan company Octagon planted 2,500 hectares of 'piñón', or physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.), from which oil can be extracted for use as biodiesel, a fuel that is cheaper and less polluting than those derived from petroleum.

CHILE: State TV Runs Ads for Controversial Mining Company
Environmental and citizen groups protested last week outside the state-run Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) for broadcasting advertisement for a Canadian mining company that aims to remove three glaciers in the northern Chilean Andes to extract gold, silver and copper.

BRAZIL: City of Natal Promotes Recycling
The first National Congress for Sustainable Management of Solid Waste, to take place Sep. 1-2 in the northeastern Brazilian city of Natal, will focus on garbage recycling projects that can be financed through the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Lessons From a Unique Decade - José Graziano da Silva *
Rio+20 and Beyond: Together for a Sustainable Future - José Graziano da Silva *
Why Inclusive Green Growth Can Sustain Recent Gains in Latin America - Hasan Tuluy*
The Global Food Crisis and the Latin American Paradox - Pamela Cox