Panama is willing to face the challenge of increased rates of energy consumption due to rapid development in the domestic and industrial sector of the country indicated Prensa Latina. Major electricity interconnection projects are underway with Central America and Colombia. The General Secretariat of Energy has addressed concern to the completion of feasibility studies on the Panama side of the Colombian border, where there is a large indigenous population, and minimizing impact on the environment. Read article.
Comments Off on Panama faces challenges of power consumption • Permalink
ElUniverso.com reports that a family of five was swept away by the Tomebamba River in the south of Cuenca in the morning of Tuesday July 12th. Officials say two members of the family were saved, two were found dead, and the mother is missing. The family was traveling on a ‘strong’ footbridge over the river, […]
Comments Off on Ecuador: Rain Causes River to Sweep Away Three, 10 Victims in July • Read this post »
According to ElUniverso.com torrential rains are causing problems for certain sectors of Ambato. Officials say that in some areas drinking water began to turn brown from mud run-off and in other sectors water service had to be suspended. In the sectors of Ingahurco, La Merced, part of Fico and barrios located on high-land had their […]
Comments Off on Ambato, Ecuador: Rains, River Flooding Cause Suspension of Water Services • Read this post »
According to ElComercio.pe eight countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela will begin a joint study of water resources and deforestation in the Amazon region next August, announces the Treaty Organization of the Amazonian Region (ACTO). Officials say this is the first regional project of deforestation that can quantify and compare […]
Comments Off on Latin American Countries to Study Amazon Deforestation and Water Resources • Read this post »
British oil company Rockhopper announced this week that it has begun evaluating methods to extract oil from a well in the waters surrounding the Falklands Islands which they have been drilling in since last year without permission from the Argentine Government, according to diariouno.com.ar. This is the first time any oil company has officially decided […]
Comments Off on U.K. to commercialize oil in Falklands without Argentine permission • Read this post »
According to Cre.com.ec the administration of Rafael Correa is carefully watching the situation of illegal migration to the Galapagos Islands. On Friday June 3rd, President Rafael Correa announced that the environment of the Galapagos Islands would collapse if more illegal migration occurred. Officials announced the start of an investigation of residents in the Galapagos to […]
Comments Off on Ecuador: Correa Warns Galapagos Islands In Jeopardy, Illegal Migration • Read this post »
ElUniverso.com reports that four communities in the south of Morona Santiago province are under an alert for increasing river runoff and landslides. The communities are comprised of about 120 families report officials. The Risk Management Officer, Jorge Gonzalez says relief agencies and institutions along the bank of Morona River are prepared to evacuate residents in […]
Comments Off on Cuenca, Ecuador: 4 Communities of Morona Santiago Province on Flood Alert • Read this post »
ElComercio.com reports that Ecuador’s Minister of Finance has completed final negotiations with the Eximbank of China for the credit of $571 million to finance the Sopladora hydroelectric project. Reportedly, the loan has an interest rate of 6.35% for a 15-year term with four years grace period. Chinese funding will be 85% of the entire project, […]
Comments Off on China and Ecuador Close Deal for Finance of Hydroelectric Plant • Read this post »
According to an official statement released today by LAN airlines, flights have been canceled at the Ezeiza and Aeroparque airports in Buenos Aires due to a new wave of ash from Chilean volcano, Puyehue, per infobae.com. Both international and national flights have been canceled until conditions are consistent with LAN’s security standards. Read Article
Comments Off on Argentina, More flights canceled due to new wave of ash in Buenos Aires • Read this post »
According to RPP.com.pe people from the Lampa province in the Puno region, blocked the main road that leads to the city of Juliaca today Thursday June 30th. Protesters say this is the first day of a 48-hour strike to demand that government officials comply with an increase in mining royalties. Officials say that residents are […]
Comments Off on Puno, Peru: Residents Strike Demanding Officials Comply with Mining Royalties • Read this post »
ElComercio.com reports that at 3:50 p.m. sixty firefighters had managed to control the wildfire burning on a slope of the Pichincha volcano. Officials say that the flames consumed about 5 hectares of land and shrubs. Firefighters report using branches to quell the flames since the location of the fire was inaccessible to their vehicles. City […]
Comments Off on UPDATE: Quito, Pichincha Forest Fire • Read this post »
Anti-mining protests in the region of Puno, Peru that caused five deaths and a road blockages to Bolivia finally ended, this past week, with increased government protocol for the protection of natural resources, reported infobae.com. The strikes often led to bloody confrontations with the police, and the burning of vehicles and buildings as public demonstrations […]
Comments Off on Puno, Peru Mine strikes end after 45 days • Read this post »
According to ElUniverso.com last Thursday the vessel, San Juan III, sunk around 2 p.m. in the harbor of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. The owner was transferring fuel from one boat to another and the ship became unbalanced and overturned. Within five minutes the boat sank spilling about 700 gallons of diesel. Officials say there were […]
Comments Off on Boat Sinks In Galapagos, Four Days of Clean-Up • Read this post »
Thousands of protesters opposed to mining and energy projects in southern Peru have taken over an airport as the government struggled to restore calm a day after five died in a clash with police. Officials said approximately 3,000 protesters had occupied the runway at the Juliaca airport in the region of Puno on Saturday. Several […]
Comments Off on Anti-mining protesters seize Peru airport • Read this post »
•Brazilian minister of Defense Nelson Jobim is discussing a mutual agreement for protection of the border against crime, particularly the Amazon Rainforest area, with Colombian minister of Defense Rodrigo Rivera per El Universal. •Although no specific details have been released, one of the main points of the plan are to make sure that criminals do […]
Comments Off on Colombia and Brazil Discuss Border Cooperation Against Crime • Read this post »
Engineer Claudio Lowy reached his ninth day of a hunger strike yesterday against agrochemicals, according to unoentrerios.com. After a lack of response from the Department of Agriculture in Argentina to Lowy’s pleas to change the classification of chemicals used on crops and a petition containing 9.3 thousand names of people affected by chemicals, the strike […]
Comments Off on Argentina, Hunger strike against agrochemicals continues • Read this post »
According to Andina.com.pe some highland towns of Puno, located over 3,800 meters will experience intense icy weather between this Friday and Wednesday June 29th. The National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology sent out this alert. Twelve of the thirteen provinces of Puno will be affected. During the time period of intense weather, from 12 a.m. […]
Comments Off on Intense Cold Weather in Puno, over 3,800 meters • Read this post »
“Now I get supplies to feed my children, and I have a family garden where I grow carrots, onions and beets,” Marta Quinilla, a native of Uspantán, an area northwest of the Guatemalan capital that was devastated by the 36-year civil war, says cheerfully. This Quiché Maya indigenous woman belongs to one of 10,250 families […]
Comments Off on Guatemala, Multi-Partner Alliance Wages War on Hunger • Read this post »
According to ElComercio.pe talks between the Ministries of Energy and Mines, Agriculture and the Interior with the group of Aymara leaders continued on Saturday without resolution. Dialogue held on Friday included a proposal of concessions from both parties to end the mining strike. The Aymara leaders rejected the proposal, continuing the fight for the cancellation […]
Comments Off on Puno, Peru: Dialogue Between Officials, Miners Continue • Read this post »
The Bureau of Agreements to the Sustainability of Villa La Angostura released a report documenting the socioeconomic and environmental impact volcano Puyehue is and will have on the town and solutions to overcome the current crisis, according to infobae.com. Villa La Angostura of Neuquén province is the Argentine town most heavily effected by the Chilean […]
Comments Off on Villa La Angostura, Argentina suffers $200 million deficit in response to Puyehue crisis • Read this post »
Diario ABC reports that the body of a murdered activist who had protested mining operations in El Salvador was found last Tuesday in a mass grave in Soyapango, 6 kilometers east of San Salvador. The victim, a university student named Juan Francisco Durán, disappeared on June 2, according to local environmental organizations. His murder follows […]
Comments Off on Anti-mining activist found dead in El Salvador • Read this post »
Ecuadorenvivo.com reports that the Oceanographic Institute of the Navy (INOC) has detected the presence of a new aguaje, sea current, during the days of the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June. The current was detected off the Ecuadorian coast. The National Risk Management agency says that they are issuing coastal warning of an increase in […]
Comments Off on New Current to Affect Coast of Ecuador • Read this post »
•Due to the effects of the winter, coffee production has suffered a 18% decrease from May 2010 according to Fedecafe as reported by caracol.com.co. •Coffee growers are making attempts to increase production and fight against La Roya de Cafeta which affects the growth of the crop. •However, so far in 2011, Colombian coffee production has […]
Comments Off on Coffee Production Falls 18% in May, Colombia • Read this post »
Buenos Aires’s airports remained closed and Qantas Airways Ltd. said it will pare Australia flights for a fourth day as volcanic ash from Chile disrupts travel across the Southern Hemisphere. Read Article
Comments Off on Argentina Airports Shut, Volcano Ash • Read this post »
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon will lead a session with the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa to promote Ecuador’s environmental plan and preserving Yasuni Park during the next UN General Assembly in September. The head of the Yasuni program, Ivonne Baki said that Ban suggested the idea. Reportedly, during a visit to Ecuador this past […]
Comments Off on UN General to Promote Ecuador’s Environmental Plan at General Assembly • Read this post »
According to EcuaodrInmediato.com Spain and Chile are the largest economic donors to the Yasuni reserve. Earlier this year, Ecuador announced its plan to save the natural reserve of Yasuni from oil exploitation, the Yasuni-ITT project. However, without international help Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is considering oil drilling. Germany’s Secretary of State, Gudrun Kopp explained that […]
Comments Off on Germany Will Not Contribute Financially to Yasuni Reserve, Ecuador • Read this post »
Rcn Radio reports that the earthquake ranked a 4.7 on the Richter scale with a depth of 30 km and an epicenter in San Pablo in south Bolívar, Colombia and was felt in areas such as Yondó (Antioquia0, Puerto Wilches, and Barrancabermeja. Read Article
Comments Off on 4.7 Earthquake in Magdalena Medio, Colombia • Read this post »
Toad Mountain Harlequin frogs only live in one area of Panama’s dense tropical jungles – the Darien Province, and their population is down to a dangerous level. In an expedition at the beginning of this year it was reported researchers found just 50 males and 12 females. The reason so many frog species are in […]
Comments Off on Harlequin Frog Could Go Extinct in Panama • Read this post »
This is IMPSA’s first wind turbines in Uruguay, it is sited in the Departments of Lavalleja and Maldonado, Some 10 km from the city of Minas. Impsa, VENTI-through subsidiaries ITS ENERGY SA and InnoVent SA, Has Been Awarded a wind power plant from a bid Promoted by the Government of Uruguay-through UTE (National Electric Power […]
Comments Off on Uruguay, Wind Farm started • Read this post »
A gold rush that accelerated with the onset of the 2008 global recession is compounding the woes of the Amazon basin, laying waste to Peruvian rain forest and spilling tons of toxic mercury into the air and water. Read Article
Comments Off on Gold rush ruining Amazon jungle, South America • Read this post »
Bolivia.com reports that the offices of Amazon Command Staff and officers of the Control Authority and Social Control of Forests and Land arrested a Peruvian municipal authority on charges of illegal logging in Bolivia. The Agency of Development for Macroregions and Borders reports that the operation was conducted with the boarder community of the Manuripi […]
Comments Off on Peru, Municipal Authority Arrested for Illegal Logging in Bolivia • Read this post »
RPP.com.pe reports that an avalanche occurred on the Quilcayhuanca Mountain in Huaraz province. The avalanche did not cause any damage reports the Peruvian Civil Defense. The snow fell into a gorge located on Quilcayhuanca. Supervisor of the Civil Defense Regional Committee, Oscar Garcia says that the avalanche was caused by global warming, which as brought […]
Comments Off on Peru, Avalanche Occurs on Quilcayhuanca Mountain • Read this post »
Uruguayan airline Pluna announced this morning they are canceling all flights from Montevideo to Buenos Aires due to the ash cloud from Chilean volcano Puyehue. Argentine airlines have been canceling national and international flights out of Buenos Aires airport Ezeiza since earlier in the week. Yesterday 324 domestic flights and 110 international flights out of […]
Comments Off on Uruguay airline Pluna cancels flights to Buenos Aires • Read this post »
RPP.com.pe reports that in Caylloma Province record cold temperatures are being recorded. However, health centers do not have the medicines to address sickness that results from the cold temperature. There are no available medicines for pneumonia and acute respiratory infections. The mayor of the province, Elmer Caceres says that the cold threatens over 20,000 people […]
Comments Off on Arequipa, Peru: No Medicines to Help During Record Cold Temps • Read this post »
•Colombian investigators of the Universidad de La Salle started to put forth attempts to bring the Chinese paulownia tree to Colombia after learning of its benefits such as absorption of carbon gas, provision of wood, and nourishment according to eluniversal.com. •Economically speaking the tree is beneficial as it absorbs about 50% of carbon gas in […]
Comments Off on Chinese Tree Holds Many Possible Benefits for Colombia • Read this post »
The National Directorate of Aquatic Resources (DINARA) in Uruguay is taking action to discover the cause of death of 140 penguins this week in Cabo Polonio, along with another 300 that were found dead in Maldonado and Rocha. The department is seeking the advice of an Argentine expert to determine if there have been any […]
Comments Off on Uruguay officials seek cause of Penguin deaths • Read this post »
•The Colombian oil company, Ecopetrol, due either to the poor condition of piping and equipment or other operational difficulties, has spilled 15,000 barrels of crude oil thus endangering the environment per portafolio.co. •The Comptroller of Colombia points out Ecopetrol’s lack of attention to the environment in the areas in which it operates. •The company recognizes […]
Comments Off on Ecopetrol Spills 15,000 barrels of Crude Oil in Last 3 Years, Colombia • Read this post »
● Drought season is worst in over 20 years; over 40% of country affected ● More than 3.5 million farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy, advises National Agricultural Workers Confederation (CNC) ● More than 8900 fires have ravaged over 1.32 million acres; majority of fires burning pastureland for 10 million head of livestock ● […]
Comments Off on Mexico on High Alert During Historic Drought • Read this post »
•Colombia Humanitaria is heading the effort to fulfill the housing needs of those affected by the winter conditions. •The projects range from larger works of budgets of billions of pesos to smaller works with budgets of 250 million pesos per rcnradio.com. •Colombia Humanitaria’s budget for 2011 is 4.5 billion pesos of which they have already […]
Comments Off on 2,700 Projects for Reconstruction after Winter Wave, Colombia • Read this post »
The windstorm, lasting over 30 minutes and reported to be the most devastating in 40 years, left houses without roofs, power poles, and about 30 trees fallen into the river throughout La Cumbre in the Valle del Cauca, Colombia according to the video posted by elespectador.com. Read Article
Comments Off on Heaviest Windstorm in Over 40 Years in La Cumbre, Cauca, Colombia • Read this post »
Residents of the area reported Kupini not have potable water service for three months, when the slide occurred on the east side of La Paz. They also called for the Social State Company for Water and Sanitation (EPSAS) is billed by usage, if it were normal. Read Article
Comments Off on Bolivia, Kupini without water for three months • Read this post »
http://youtu.be/Mm7AFOa6HTI
Comments Off on Chile, Dramatic Video, Eruption Volcano Puyehue • Read this post »
Ecuador will being operating three oil fields in a pristine Amazon preserve unless the international community contributes $100 million by December, President Rafael Correa announced Saturday. Read Article
Comments Off on Ecuador warns it may tap oil fields in Amazon reserve if rich nations don’t come up with $100M • Read this post »
La Hora reports Ecuador’s Court of Justice acquitted two lawyers of the U.S oil company Chevron of alleged contamination in the Amazon, former Minister of Energy of Ecuador Patricio Rivadeneira and former officials of Petroecuador, the state-owned oil company. Documents state the acquitted developed a false discharge document in 1998 stating that Texaco, acquired by […]
Comments Off on Ecuadorian Court, Favors Chevron Oil • Read this post »
A Brazilian environmentalist was killed Friday in the Amazon Rainforest region, three days after the murders of two other environmental activists in the area, authorities said. Adelino Ramos, known as Dinho and a leader among local impoverished farmers, was killed Friday morning while selling vegetables produced in the farming settlement in Porto Velho in the […]
Comments Off on Third environmentalist killed in a week in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest region • Read this post »
The chairman of the Natural Resources Defense of the Southern Region, Walter Aduviri said the Aymara nation “will not lift the strike” The Defence Committee of Natural Resources of the Southern Region of Puno continue its indefinite strike last night even though the executive authorities agreed to suspend for one year highland mining concessions and […]
Comments Off on Peru, Protesters threaten to take over the airport in Juliaca, Monday • Read this post »
•Caracol.com.co reveals that during the Acuerdo para la Prosperidad in Cali, President Santos announced that the meteorological phenomenon has ended according to Ideam, but warns citizens to still be careful as rains will continue in the next days. •Since April 2010, the weather conditions caused by La Niña have caused 464 deaths and have affected […]
Comments Off on Colombian President Santos Announces the End of La Niña • Read this post »
Indigenous protesters opposed to a Canadian company’s plans for silver mine in the southern highlands of Peru sacked public buildings and set fire to several vehicles in the regional capital of Puno Thursday. Read Article
Comments Off on Opponents of Canadian miner sack buildings in Peru • Read this post »
Rcnradio.com reports that Juan Carlos Echeverry Garzón, Minister of Finance of Colombia, states in a visit to Bogotá 7 billion pesos is necessary to recover from the harsh winter weather conditions. He estimated that the most affected areas will require up to 200 years. Garzón commented on the necessity for the Ministry to constantly adjust […]
Comments Off on Winter Damages in Colombia Amount to 7 Billion Pesos • Read this post »
“It has become hard to find sufficient qualified labour both for us and for the construction companies, particularly when in the rest of the country there is such activity”, said Erwin Kaufmann, General Manager of the Montes del Plata project which is jointly owned by Chile’s Arauco and Swedish-Finnish Stora Enso, (SEOAY, STERV.HE), two leading […]
Comments Off on Construction of Uruguay’s second pulp mill begins with concern on costs in Pesos • Read this post »
A heavy down pour cased a landslide by the River Samaná thus blocking the road between Bogotá and Medellín prolonging traffic up to three hours according to rcnradio.com. Those travelling hope that the road is cleared by noon this Thursday. Read Article
Comments Off on Landslide Caused by Heavy Rains Blocks Road Between Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia • Read this post »
•President of Analac, Jorge Hernán Uribe, announced that the milk producers’ association would ask the Colombian government to give them a bonus of 50 pesos per liter of milk from cattle as revealed by caracol.com.co. •Uribe assures that a rise in milk prices do not need to increase because the Atlantic Coastal area is doing […]
Comments Off on Colombia, Dairy Producers Ask for Bonus to Compensate for Winter Hardships • Read this post »
•The Superior Council of Fiscal Policy passed the reduction of tariffs on vehicles running on hybrid, electrical, or natural gas motors by 15% according to rcnradio.com •The Ministry of the Environment expresses hope that this action will help to improve the environment and air of Colombia by reducing the emission of harmful gases. Read Article
Comments Off on Imported Clean Technology Vehicles Receive 15% Tariff Reduction in Colombia • Read this post »
•Rcnradio.com reveals that the avalanche caused by the winter conditions in the ravine Las Cruces causing 8 deaths and affecting 2,000 people. •President Santos announced that 486 housings are to be constructed for 300 families in the San Vicente de Chucurí in Santander. Read Article
Comments Off on Colombian Government to Build Housing in Santander for Avalanche Victims • Read this post »
Brazil’s environment agency Ibama has cracked down on deforestation – but in some regions it is on the rise again Illegal loggers, and ranchers who clear the forest for cattle unlawfully, are being targeted by Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency. Read Article
Comments Off on Brazil’s crackdown on deforestation of the Amazon • Read this post »
Tens of thousands of people massed in the center of Chile’s capital Friday night for new protests against the government’s plan to dam two wild rivers in the country’s southern Patagonia region. Most demonstrators were peaceful, but bands of hooded protesters attacked police and smashed shop windows and damaged other property along a 10-block stretch […]
Comments Off on Protest against Chile dam plan ends in violence • Read this post »
Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico Environmental News HidroAysén’s executive vice president, Daniel Fernandez, ratified a public consultation on the transmission line Cochrane-Santiago by mid-July, to present in December, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Read Article
Comments Off on Latin America Climate, Energy and Environment News • Read this post »
•Due to a break of a containment jetty, the Bogotá River has flooded almost the entire campus in starting at 9:30 in the morning according to elespectador.com, in Chía just outside Bogota. •The flooding has prompted the cancelation of classes until flood levels decrease. •Commercial Center Centro Chía has also been evacuated due to the […]
Comments Off on Colombia, 90% of Universidad de la Sabana Flooded • Read this post »
More than 120 minor earthquakes and occasional explosions were reported Thursday in the volcano Tungurahua, in the central Andes of Ecuador, behavior that may persist for days or weeks, the Geophysical Institute (IG) of the National Polytechnic School. Read Article
Comments Off on Tungurahua Volcano Ecuador explosions • Read this post »
Costa Rica already has 116 megawatts of wind power in the five existing wind farms, and there are several ongoing projects. A group of Italian investors led by Valerio Catullo plans to produce wind power for the first time taking advantage of wind currents in Cañas, Guanacaste. Read Article
Comments Off on Five New Wind Projects Under Way In Costa Rica • Read this post »
The rage was proportional to the size of the crowd cornered between the jungle and the wall that will dam up the Madeira River in northwest Brazil. Over the space of three days, workers set fire to some 50 buses and other vehicles, work installations and even their own lodgings, which were built to house […]
Comments Off on Megaprojects Revive Class Struggle • Read this post »
In a stand of primary rainforest in Peru’s Amazon region, giant trees with spreading buttress roots rise up to a canopy where their thick branches are laden with ferns, bromeliads, and other clinging vegetation. The air buzzes with the sound of insects, and parakeets screech to each other as they forage for fruit in the […]
Comments Off on Peru’s Amazon: A Biological Hotspot Threatened by Oil • Read this post »
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Chilean nonprofit Fundación Chile will jointly open a new VCS office in Santiago to speed the carbon offset certification process in Latin America and to support Fundación Chile’s new Santiago Climate Exchange (SCX), under terms agreed to in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on May 10. Read Article
Comments Off on VCS and Chilean Exchange Team up to Speed Project Development • Read this post »
An endangered baby black lion tamarin monkey has been bred in a Jersey zoo, the first to have been born outside its native Brazil for eight years. Video – Article
Comments Off on Rare monkey born outside native Brazil • Read this post »
The March earthquake off the coast of Japan sparked a tsunami alert for the length of the Chilean coast. The warning was lifted 24 hours later after just a few small waves. Things were different at Tongoy, about 450km north of Santiago. “What was supposed to be just a ripple was actually a powerful underwater […]
Comments Off on Japan’s tsunami turned Chile’s scallop industry upside down • Read this post »
Deep in the Chiquitana tropical dry forest in southeast Bolivia, Noine Picanerai stands on a dirt road that cuts through lush woods. The 50,000-acre plot looks like a protected reserve. But, notes Picanerai, a woodsman in his 70s, “My people live off selling these trees.” Indeed, despite the forest’s pristine appearance, it’s a logging concession […]
Comments Off on Can Bolivia Harvest Its Forests Sustainably? • Read this post »
Photographer Marcela Rodríguez’s arrest while covering a protest against a major hydroelectric project on 13 May and a government agency’s refusal to fund distribution of filmmaker Elena Varela’s documentary about the Mapuche people’s land dispute with the authorities have revived concern about a tendency to suppress coverage of environmental issues in Chile. Read Article
Comments Off on Chile, Press freedom cases highlight environmental coverage taboo • Read this post »
In spite of the potential risks posed by unwanted or uncontrolled radioactive materials, Mexico lacks comprehensive mechanisms to keep track of these “orphan” sources, originally used in medicine or industry, and to prevent them going astray. Read Article
Comments Off on Mexico, Little Monitoring of Radiation Sources • Read this post »
A private company wants to install a liquid petroleum gas storage plant in the Punta de Manabique reserve on GUATEMALA CITY, May 17, 2011 (Tierramérica) – “If they come here to extract iron from the beach, it will mean the destruction of our natural wealth and the end of tourism,” warned Leonel Palma, a hotel […]
Comments Off on Guatemalan Beaches Threatened by Iron and Gas Operations • Read this post »
The Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT) has identified eight national roads that it considers too dangerous to drive at night in the rain. The 11 kilometres section of the San José – Caldera between Atenas and Orotina is one, the Monte de Aguacate (old road to Jacó) and the Vara Blanca route in […]
Comments Off on Costa Rica, MOPT Identifies Eight Roads to avoid at night during rain • Read this post »
A group of experts warns that electricity is not only delayed the plan of investments in generation, transmission and distribution, but also the measures taken by the Government in 2010 as part of emergency decree aggravated the situation of the sector to the point is more vulnerable today than a year ago. Read Article
Comments Off on Emergency measures implemented by government of Venezuela (Power Crisis) • Read this post »
The company Strategic Electricity Corporation of Ecuador (Celec EP) and ISAGEN SA ESP, Colombia, develop, plan and implement the geothermal project bi-Chiles-Cerro Tufiño Black, on the common border, the state agency reported yesterday Ecuadorian Andes. Read Article
Comments Off on Geothermal project planned for Ecuador, Colombia border • Read this post »
The environment of the city of Zamora is threatened due to run jobs with heavy machinery on several fronts on the banks of the River Nambija. Those who work there belong to the San Carlos mine area. Everything suggests that there would be conducting illegal mining. In response, Byron Gonzalez, director of Environment Zamora Chinchipe, […]
Comments Off on Ecuador, Zamora endangered environment by illegal mining • Read this post »
Comments Off on Protests Cohyaique, Chile over proposed dams • Read this post »
The new Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has decided that in the case of large construction projects, especially infrastructure and hydroelectric sites in isolated regions of the country, there should be a greater presence of the government. Read Article
Comments Off on Brazilian Government to Get More Involved in Big Construction Projects • Read this post »
ACCIONA has won a contract from the CAP group to build and operate for 20 years a plant for the group’s mining operations in the Copiapo Valley (Atacama Region III). The plant will have an initial capacity of 200 liters per second (17 million liters a day) which could be stepped up to a maximum […]
Comments Off on ACCIONA Agua will build and operate a desalination plant in Chile’s Atacama Desert • Read this post »
A complex multi-dam hydroelectric scheme that environmentalists say threatens a pristine area of fjords and valleys in Chile’s remote Patagonia country was approved May 9 by an 11-to-1 vote of the Aysén Environmental Review Commission, a body appointed by the central government to oversee the project, after a three-year assessment. The 2,750-megawatt HidroAysén project includes […]
Comments Off on Protests as Chile approves mega-scale Patagonia hydro project • Read this post »
Prosecutors say one of Brazil’s largest steelmakers is polluting a major source of water in Rio de Janeiro with coal residues. The prosector’s office of Rio de Janeiro state says on its website that one of four landfills of the Companhia Siderurgica Nacional contains more than 500,000 tons of toxic residues that seep into the […]
Comments Off on Brazil steelmaker accused of contaminating river • Read this post »
A bill being debated in Brazil’s Congress has sparked fierce clashes between environmentalists and supporters of farmers and ranchers over how to regulate the country’s vast but vulnerable wilderness. After 20 hours of debate, a vote on the controversial measure in the Chamber of Deputies was postponed Thursday until next week. The bill would then […]
Comments Off on Fierce debate in Brazil over forestry protection • Read this post »
Recently, the United States and Colombia signed a long-awaited free trade agreement that is expected to boost job growth in both countries. Yet another recent trade deal that received scant attention is perhaps far more important to American interests. Read Article
Comments Off on Bolivia, Iranian ties with lithium • Read this post »
Winter Begins to Affect Colombian Coffee Harvests • Caracol.com.co reports that production has decreased 19% from April of last year due to the rainy season and “la roya*”. • Luis Genaro Muños, head of the National Federation of Coffee Growers (Fedcafé), called for better fertilization and protection against the disease. • The production in the […]
Comments Off on Winter in Colombia impacting Coffee Harvests • Read this post »
Colombia, Public Housing Space Below World Health Organization’s Standards • Per portafolio.co , according to Professor William H. Alfonso of the Universidad del Rosario, there is less than 4 square meters of available public living space per person. • The WHO’s standard is 15 square meters. • In the next 10 years, Bogotá will have […]
Comments Off on Colombia, Public Housing Space Below World Health Organization’s Standards • Read this post »
• Elpais.com.co reports that businessmen and guilds are asking the Colombian Government to dredge and deepen the access canal to 13.5 meters. • Rodrigo Velasco, head of Andi, said that the road infrastructure would have to improve to compensate for the lack of depth of the canal that hinders the entrance of cargo ships. • […]
Comments Off on Colombia, businessmen call for deepening of canal in Buenaventura • Read this post »
Colombia: Biodegradable and Reusable Bags To Be Used • Rcnradio.com reports that the Secretary of the Environment of Bogotá is initiating a district program to use biodegradable bags in order to reduce environmental waste from plastic bags. • Juan Antonio Nieto, Secretary the Environment, emphasized that they would be working with companies in order to […]
Comments Off on Bogota Colombia, biodegradable and reusable bags to be used • Read this post »
Millions of people living near the Andes Mountains face a significantly higher risk of a giant earthquake than previously thought, and such a temblor could be more than 10 times stronger than anything the region has expected in the past. Read Article
Comments Off on Millions face high risk of massive Andes quake • Read this post »
Whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, are often perceived as solitary behemoths that live and feed in the open ocean. To the contrary, evidence is accumulating that they are gregarious and form seasonal aggregations in some coastal waters. One such aggregation occurs annually north of Cabo Catoche, off Isla Holbox on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Read […]
Comments Off on An Unprecedented Aggregation of Whale Sharks, Rhincodon typus, in Mexican Coastal Waters of the Caribbean Sea • Read this post »
Government efforts over the past 20 years have improved air quality in this Mexican capital but much remains to be done, local environment chief Martha Delgado said on Tuesday. Read Article
Comments Off on Mexico City struggles to combat environmental problems • Read this post »
Comments Off on Brazil, Greenpeace protests nuclear construction • Read this post »
Volcano activity near Banos is currently high and covering Banos with ash. Here is video from Saturday.
Comments Off on Banos, Ecuador – Ecuadorian Volcano Spews Ash Sky High • Read this post »
After seven years of the first “embrace to Uruguay River,” a group of Gualeguaychú activists marched toward the international bridge General San Martín once more and warned that the conflict of the UPM (ex Botnia) pulp-mill “has not been solved yet.” Read Article
Comments Off on Botnia, Argentina: activists march, assure ‘conflict still not solved’ • Read this post »
Calmer winds and a cool front moving into the area are helping crews on both side of the U.S.-Mexico border as they battle a wildfire burning near Nogales. Read Article
Comments Off on Wildfire along Arizona-Mexico border • Read this post »
Is Sempra Energy purchasing renewable energy from itself? Well, sort of. Both San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Sempra Generation are subsidiaries of Sempra Energy and, according to this statement, the two have entered into a 20- year contract that would have SDG&E getting up to 156 megawatts (MW) of renewable power supplied from […]
Comments Off on Mexican Wind Farm Powers Up San Diego • Read this post »
U.S. millionaire conservationist Douglas Tompkins has spent decades—and millions of dollars—acquiring about two million acres of pristine land across Argentina and Chile, and he doesn’t waver when asked what he plans to do with his holdings. He is going to give them away. Read Article
Comments Off on U.S. Millionaire Cultivates South American Park Plan • Read this post »
Argentina will press ahead with plans to develop a small-scale nuclear reactor over the next three years, after last month‘s disaster in Japan prompted countries such as Germany and Brazil to reconsider projects. Read Article
Comments Off on Argentina Proceeds With Nuclear Plans After Japanese Crisis • Read this post »
Since 2000, Panama has reduced its forest coverage by two million hectares, and to date, has only reforested an estimated 75,000 hectares. This, according to a statement released yesterday, Thursday, by officials of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM). Read Article
Comments Off on Panama reduces its forest coverage • Read this post »
Deforestation around the Amazon River in Peru has increased six-fold in recent years as miners, driven by record gold prices, blast and clear huge tracts of lowland rainforest, according to a Duke University led study. Read Article
Comments Off on Peru, Deforestation goes into hyperdrive with rising gold price • Read this post »
The Falkland Islands could become the world’s first territory to be mainly powered by a revolutionary combination of wind power and electric car batteries. Seven wind turbines already provide the islands with more than half of their electricity needs. The rest is generated by costly diesel imported to power generators. Read Article
Comments Off on Falklanders to reap wind energy – with their car batteries • Read this post »
HydroAysén, a joint venture between utilities Endesa Chile and Colbún, wants to build five hydropower stations, two on the Baker River and three on the Pascua, to produce an annual 18,400GWh. Protestors want the government to block the development and focus on alternative renewable energy sources to meet looming power shortages in Chile, which has […]
Comments Off on Protests sweep Chile ahead of $3.2bn hydro project decision Chile has seen a wave of protest against the HidroAysén hydro project in Patagonia • Read this post »
It belongs to Chile, which now has the first electric charging station in South America. The country’s president, Sebastian Pinera, and other top officials presided over a ceremony last week in the smoggy capital city of Santiago. The aim is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution. Read Article
Comments Off on Chile, Latin America Gets Its First Car Charging Station • Read this post »
The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has described the situation created by the continual winter rain as “fairly serious.” He warned that precipitation will continue in the highest part of the country. The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies said that the rain would continue in Colombia until June. Read Article
Comments Off on Colombia, president warns Colombians about rain severity • Read this post »