Eco-Briefs

	BRAZIL
	Machine for Separating Garbage

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 1 (Tierramérica).- A machine invented by students at SENAI, an industrial training center in Concordia, in southern Brazil, can separate out garbage by type, replacing what can be dangerous manual work.

A machine invented by students at SENAI, an industrial training center in Concordia, in southern Brazil, can separate out garbage by type, replacing what can be dangerous manual work.

The apparatus has a three-meter conveyor belt that uses a blast of air to remove paper and plastic, magnets to attract metals, and water to separate heavy items from lower-density items. A grinder is also used to break down glass.

The idea emerged from a student "challenge" to find solutions to the garbage separation problem, and advanced in dialogue with people involved in the recycling sector, professor and project advisor Claudemir Oldoni told Tierramérica.

Two companies have expressed interest in the machine, which is up for a prize at the innovation fair to take place in March in Rio de Janeiro, Oldoni said.

	VENEZUELA
	A Frog for Al Gore

CARACAS, Mar 1 (Tierramérica).- A frog that measures less than two centimeters long, discovered in the western Venezuelan state of Táchira, was named Allobates algorei in honor of the former U.S. vice-president Al Gore (1993-2001), co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace prize.

A frog that measures less than two centimeters long, discovered in the western Venezuelan state of Táchira, was named Allobates algorei in honor of the former U.S. vice- president Al Gore (1993-2001), co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace prize.

"It's a tribute to a notable figure in the fight for environmental preservation, with his contribution to reflection and action against climate change," herpetologist César Barrio, director of the environmental foundation Andígena, which made the frog discovery.

The name was included in the December of the specialized Brazilian journal Phyllomedusa, but was announced only last week.

With his colleague Juan Carlos Santos, of the University of Texas, Barrio also found in the Perijá mountains, bordering Colombia, two additional species of frogs. There are 336 amphibian species recorded in Venezuela.

	CHILE
	Environmentalists Wary of New Government

SANTIAGO, Mar 1 (Tierramérica).- Chilean environmentalists are concerned about the possible measures to be taken by the incoming environment minister María Ignacia Benítez, given her work as a private projects solicitor before the Environmental Impact Assessment System, some of which came under fire from citizen groups.

Chilean environmentalists are concerned about the possible measures to be taken by the incoming environment minister María Ignacia Benítez, given her work as a private projects solicitor before the Environmental Impact Assessment System, some of which came under fire from citizen groups.

Benítez, a chemical engineer by training, was named to her post by right-leaning President Elect Sebastián Piñera, who will be sworn in to office Mar. 11.

"Although the environmental institutions in Chile have never worked properly, we predict that in the government of right- wing Piñera things unfortunately will not improve. We are hoping for a miracle," Patricio Herman, president of Defend the City, a non-governmental organization, told Tierramérica.

"The future government has said it will be fast, flexible and 'anti-bureaucratic' in taking decisions, and we know well what those words mean," he said with a note of irony.

	HONDURAS
	Demanding an End to Illegal Logging

TEGUCIGALPA, Mar 1 (Tierramérica).- Civil society organizations are demanding that Honduran President Porfirio Lobo declare a total ban on lumber activities, in order to halt illegal logging of the nation's forests.

Civil society organizations are demanding that Honduran President Porfirio Lobo declare a total ban on lumber activities, in order to halt illegal logging of the nation's forests.

"If there is not a halt of illegal logging through a generalized ban, especially in the watersheds, in the medium term the population will face serious problems related to food and health," Eugenio Zelaya, of the Agronomists Association, told Tierramérica.

Deforestation in areas where water sources are recharged endangers the supply of freshwater, which is already being rationed due to drought. In Honduras, 65 percent of water goes to agriculture, 25 percent to industry and 10 percent to domestic consumption, said Zelaya, based on research by the Association.

Environmental leader Dolores Valenzuela told Tierramérica that soil erosion in deforested zones is worsening sedimentation processes in rivers and basins.

*Source: Inter Press Service.