Eco-Briefs

	BRAZIL
	Wind Energy Lags Behind Potential

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 15 (Tierramérica).- Brazil's wind energy generating capacity jumped 77.7 percent last year, reaching 606 megawatts, over 341 megawatts in 2008, according to the Global Wind Energy Council

Brazil's wind energy generating capacity jumped 77.7 percent last year, reaching 606 megawatts, over 341 megawatts in 2008, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

"It is much less than what Brazil could and should have," and is lagging behind when compared to the overall national energy matrix, where hydroelectricity predominates, said Rubens Born, director of the non-governmental organization Vitae Civilis.

"Without a doubt, wind has an ecological footprint that is smaller than the big hydroelectric and thermoelectric sources," and because Brazil has an interconnected energy transmission network, electricity generated in the Northeast, the region with most wind, could be distributed to other parts of the country, he told Tierramérica.

But this source represents just 0.62 percent of Brazil's total energy generation, a portion that could quadruple by 2012, based on the contracts already signed.

	CUBA
	Archeology Revives Taíno Past

HAVANA, Feb 15 (Tierramérica).- As of this month, Cuba has an official archeological site at Los Buchillones, in the central province of Ciego de Ávila, that systematizes studies in one of the places with greatest mysteries about the indigenous past of the Antilles.

As of this month, Cuba has an official archeological site at Los Buchillones, in the central province of Ciego de Ávila, that systematizes studies in one of the places with greatest mysteries about the indigenous past of the Antilles.

Los Buchillones attracted attention in recent years following the discovery of the remains of a Taíno village, the last indigenous peoples who had settled in the Cuban archipelago.

The new unit "will facilitate research of the entire northern coast," expert Raúl Villavicencio told Tierramérica.

It will also mean the permanent presence of research teams specialized in indigenous culture, and will contribute to training Cuba's archeologists.

	VENEZUELA
	Double Blow - Fires and Water Rationing

CARACAS, Feb 15 (Tierramérica).- Several regions in Venezuela are enduring forest and brush fires linked to the drought that began last year, and which forced rationing of water supplies in Caracas and other cities, and of electricity across the province.

Several regions in Venezuela are enduring forest and brush fires linked to the drought that began last year, and which forced rationing of water supplies in Caracas and other cities, and of electricity across the province.

"Ciudad Guayana suffered 358 brush fires in January alone," Edgar Albornoz, director of firefighting in that industrial center, 500 km southeast of the capital, told Tierramérica. The nearby hydroelectric dams on the Caroní River supply 70 percent of the electricity consumed in Venezuela.

Another firefighting chief, José Sabino, of the southwestern state of Mérida, said that in his province this year "there were 482 fires - forest and brush - reported by the first week of February."

	HONDURAS
	Coffee Pact Criticized

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 15 (Tierramérica).- The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor denounced an agreement between the government's Forest Conservation Institute and a coffee-growers' association, saying it endangers the flora and fauna in Comayagua and El Paraíso departments.

The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor denounced an agreement between the government's Forest Conservation Institute and a coffee-growers' association, saying it endangers the flora and fauna in Comayagua and El Paraíso departments.

Environmental prosecutor Aldo Santos told Tierramérica that the agreement gives the non-governmental Honduran Institute of Coffee the power to enter forest preserves and grant cultivation permits or certificates to producers, which has led to the felling of some 5,000 trees in one year.

"The sector hardest hit is the cloud forest, and has resulted in the deaths of many animals, like the quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno, a colorful bird) and howler monkeys, in danger of extinction, which is why we are going to speak up to overturn this harmful pact," said Santos.

*Source: Inter Press Service.