Eco-Briefs

	CUBA
	Poor Waste Management Worsens Hurricane Impacts

HAVANA, Nov 24 (Tierramérica).- An evaluation of the impact of hurricanes in Cuba has revealed that disaster risk increases because of factors like construction along the coastline, poor waste management and cutting down mangrove forests.

The study by technicians from the Environment Agency began two years ago, but is now concentrated on the "crossed impacts" of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which hit Cuba between Aug. 30 and Sep. 9, Orlando Rey, of the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, told Tierramérica.

The report reflects that the accumulation of waste is the problem that most contributes to flooding, which is increasingly frequent during the rainy and hurricane seasons.

Gustav caused losses valued at more than 2 billion dollars and Ike cost nearly 7.3 billion dollars, according t o official figures.

	CHILE
	Demands to Legalize Mapuche Health System

SANTIAGO, Nov 24 (Tierramérica).- The Network of Mapuche Health Organizations, made up of nine entities from Chile's most numerous indigenous group, is drafting a proposal so that their health system will be recognized by Chilean law.

The goal is for the proposal to reach Parliament before the current government's term ends on Mar. 11, 2010, network coordinator Carolina Manque told Tierramérica.

"We need a law that allows the free exercise of Mapuche medicine; a law that protects it," for example, by preserving the ecosystems from which the indigenous healers collect their curative herbs, she said.

The network held its 2nd Interregional Meeting in the southern city of Temuco, Nov. 13-14. In December another meeting is planned that will include representatives from the Health Ministry.

	VENEZUELA
	Hunting Pushes Bird to Extinction

CARACAS, Nov 24 (Tierramérica).- The scarlet finch, also known as the red siskin (Carduelis cucullata), a small bird native to northern Venezuela, is on the verge of disappearing and is rarely seen in the wild because poachers capture these birds to cross them with canaries in order to produce red offspring.

The hybrid "is red like the finch and sings like a canary, which is why hunters capture the few that are left in order to sell them to people who raise canaries. It is an illegal but very profitable practice," researcher Jon Paul Rodríguez, co-author of the Red Book of Venezuelan Fauna, told Tierramérica.

Of the 3,625 species evaluated in that book, 202 are threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat, hunting, pollution, changes in population dynamic, invasive species, human activities or natural disasters.

	BRAZIL
	Award Goes to Bio-Method for Environmental Clean-up

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 24 (Tierramérica).- The Santander Science and Innovation Prize was awarded this month in Brazil to a biological method for cleaning up areas contaminated by metals, developed by the University of São Paulo.

The technique is based on a genetically modified bacteria to coagulate metal particles like lead, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. According to research author Ronaldo Biondo, "in 24 hours of contact with the environment, the bacteria is able to bond the maximum of metal found there."

After the process, the material is burned: the bacteria die, leaving the metal, which can be recycled.

Now the technique will be tested in the effluents of a large mining company. "It can be used on any type of run-off that contains metals, like those from mining, galvanizing metals and textile industries," the researcher told Tierramérica.

	HONDURAS
	Hearings on Forestry Law

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 24 (Tierramérica).- The governmental Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) of Honduras announced the beginning of hearings about integrating communities in the protection and conservation of forests.

"We are working on a basic document with an eye on the approval of the enactment of the Forestry Law, and for it we hope to hold hearings and votes in the next two months to achieve effective community integration in managing this resource," ICF director Suyapa Otero told Tierramérica.

The Forestry Law, approved a year ago, includes the creation of community forestry, which should be regulated so that past mistakes are not repeated, "because we want this effort to function with high participation of the population, especially in reserves and deforested zones," said Otero. Earlier this month, environmental organizations demanded that the ICF approve the regulation.

*Source: Inter Press Service.