Eco-Briefs

	ARGENTINA
	Filming Banned in Protected Area

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 14 (Tierramérica).- Residents of the Argentine town of Sierra de la Ventana, in the southwest of Buenos Aires province, were able to stop a movie company from filming in an environmentally protected zone.

Producers of the film "There Be Dragons", by Roland Joffé, wanted to film scenes in the most fragile area of the Ernesto Tornquist Provincial Park.

"They were going to bring in 300 people and 60 vehicles to the area," María del Rosario Chiavacci told Tierramérica. She is a local resident and was part of the group that blocked the film team from entering the park until they finally desisted.

The Provincial Agency for Sustainable Development had authorized filming, but, given the protest, the film company decided to change to an alternate site.

	BRAZIL
	First in Collecting Agro-Toxin Containers

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 14 (Tierramérica).- Brazilian farmers collected 24,400 used containers of agrochemicals in 2008, or 94 percent of the total sold in the country, which is the best rate achieved in the world, reported the National Institute of Container Processing.

It was a "positive" response to a law that has been in place since 2002, said Karin Kaechele, of the non-governmental Center of Life Institute, in the western state of Mato Grosso, which is undergoing a farming boom. But Brazil continues using farm chemicals that are banned in other countries, like endosulfan, she lamented.

Brazil is also a leader in consumption of agro-toxins, which contaminate grains, water, soil and air, and can lead to cancer, fetal deformation, neurological problems and depression, as well as other "chronic effects," physician Wanderlei Pignati, a researcher at the Federal University of Mato Grosso, told Tierramérica.

Collecting empty farm chemical containers presents "a tiny portion" of the contamination, he said.

	MEXICO
	Time to Update Water Infrastructure

MEXICO CITY, Sep 14 (Tierramérica).- Floods in the north and northeast of Mexico City require new methods for rapid removal of rainwater to prevent overflow of canals during times of heavy rains, says Agustín Breña, an expert in water engineering at the Autonomous Metropolitan University.

"The flooding problem is one that won't be resolved in the short term, which is why we need to think about strategies for the medium and long terms," Breña told Tierramérica.

In 1910, the metropolitan area covered 27 square kilometers, by 1960 it had jumped to 382 square km, and in 2000 it reached 1,350. By next year it is expected to have a total area of 1,475 square kilometers - which will need a bigger water infrastructure.

	HONDURAS
	New Weather Station

TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 14 (Tierramérica).- A new weather station, which will allow scientists to track the effects of climate change in one of the main productive valleys of Honduras, was inaugurated last week by local officials, aid representatives and academics.

Situated in the city of Siguatepeque, in the central valley of Comayagua, the station will provide information that will help in decision making and sustainable environmental policies, "which will contribute to better productivity in the zone," Siguatepeque's Mayor Guillermo Martínez told Tierramérica.

The data will be utilized by the National School of Forestry Sciences and ecological networks that are operating in the area, he said.

The weather station is part of a donation from the non-governmental organization Geologists of the World, supported by the government of the Principality of Asturias.

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*Source: Inter Press Service.