Eco-Briefs

	CHILE
	Hiking Route Advances

SANTIAGO, (Tierramérica).- By March 2003 more than 200 km of the Path of Chile will be complete. The hiking route will ultimately extend the length of the country's varied geography along the Andes mountains, running from Collacagua, in the extreme north, to Cerro Bandera, near Strait of Magellan in the south, say officials.

"This path will highlight the historic and cultural heritage of the Andean foothills. It will foment tourism-related activity at the local level and will serve as a platform for education and recreation," according to a government statement.

Over the next year, the path will grow to 319 km, based on the timeline that President Ricardo Lagos announced in May 2000.

By 2010, when Chile celebrates its bicentennial of Independence, the path is to cover 7,000 km.

	CENTRAL AMERICA
	Protecting Wetlands

SAN JOSE, (Tierramérica).- Central America is the first region in the world to adopt a unified policy for the conservation and sustainable use of its rich wetland ecosystems.

The initiative was officially presented Nov 23 during the 8th Conference of Parties to the Ramsar Convention on the protection of internationally important wetlands, which took place in the Spanish city of Valencia.

The seven countries of the isthmus -- Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama -- achieved agreement on the unified strategy with the technical assistance of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) regional office for Mesoamerica.

	GUATEMALA
	Funds to Eradicate Landmines

GUATEMALA CITY, (Tierramérica).- The Italian government will donate 250,000 dollars to an Organization of American States (OAS) program to detect and destroy anti-personnel mines in Guatemala and other Central American countries.

The funds will be channeled to the OAS Integrated Action Program against Landmines in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua. This latest contribution is added to a previous donation of 100,000 dollars.

The placement of the landmines dates to the 1980s when the region suffered bloody civil wars. Since 1998, the international community has spent more than 24 million dollars to eradicate these explosives.

The United Nations issued an appeal this month to abandon all use of landmines, citing the fact that they kill and maim thousands of innocent civilians, destroy farmland and harm the environment.

*Source: Inter Press Service.