Eco-Briefs

	CUBA
	Bio-Pesticides for Export

HAVANA, Nov 19 (Tierramérica).- Cuba will soon begin production of bio-pesticides effective against disease vectors. The products will be available on the domestic market and for export, according to sources from the business group Laboratorios Biofarmaceúticos.

In December 2008, construction will be complete of a factory capable of producing six million liters per year of bio-larvicides Bactivec and Griselef, as well as 1,000 tons of Biorat, a biological rat poison, Jesús Pérez Bravo, director of investment and maintenance for the state-run enterprise, told Tierramérica.

Laboratorios holds the patent for these biodegradable products, which are harmless to humans and the environment and easily stored, he said.

Bactivec has been successfully applied in Cuba and other Latin American and African countries to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries diseases like dengue. Griselef, meanwhile, kills the larvae that carry malaria, human filariasis and encephalitis.

	BRAZIL
	Rio Prepares for Climate Change

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 19 (Tierramérica).- Rio de Janeiro, threatened with losing its beautiful beaches as sea levels rise, will be the first Brazilian state to complete a plan to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The plan will be presented at the international climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, on Dec. 8, along with a local inventory of emissions of carbon dioxide.

"Rio is the first state in Brazil to create a carbon office, to promote the Vegetable Oil Re-Use Program, to mix five percent biodiesel in bus fuel, and to include the question of vulnerability in environmental permits," Carlos Minc, state environment secretary, told Tierramérica.

The plan and the inventory will help establish "priorities for investment and orient attention to specific areas," like coastal zone and the recovery of methane gas from garbage dumps, says Suzana Kahn, state superintendent for climate and carbon markets.

	VENEZUELA
	Dead Cattle Contaminate Beaches

CARACAS, Nov 19 (Tierramérica).- Decomposing remains of dozens of cattle floated near beaches and coastline of Triste Gulf, in the Venezuelan Caribbean, in the days following the Nov. 5 shipwreck of the DM Spiridon, sailing under Lebanese flag, in the port of Cabello.

The DM Spiridon carried 1,750 head of cattle, imported from Brazil by Venezuelan meatpacking plants. At least 1,660 perished when the ship ran into the port's breakwater.

"We demand timely information for the population of this coast (with tourism, commercial and industrial activities), because it is contamination that could bring an epidemic or health problems," Manuel Díaz, of the Venezuelan Ecologist Movement, told Tierramérica, when local authorities affirmed that the floating remains were really just bags of hay to feed the animals during the trip.

*Source: Inter Press Service.