Argentina this month imposed a two-week ban on hake fishing amid evidence that landings of the cod-like fish were on pace to exceed the government-established quota. Antonio Berhongaray, an agriculture official who is president of the inter-agency Federal Fishing Council, took the action April 6 after it was announced that the hake catch as of March 27 had reached 58,000 tons—more than half the entire 110,000-ton quota for 2000. Hoping to stop the industry from exceeding the quota, Berhongaray also set a limit of 35,000 tons on hake landings for the rest of the year. Over-fishing is a perennial problem in Argentina. In 1998, the hake quota was set at 289,000 tons, but the actual catch totaled 485,000...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
A Colombian lower court’s decision to temporarily stop Occidental Petroleum from exploring its Samoré block has paralyzed activities at the site for at least two months. But the recent ruling failed to defuse nationwide protests this month by more than 10,000 Indians from 82 different tribes against government handling of energy projects in indigenous areas. Since 1992 Occidental had been fighting U’wa Indian opposition to its plans to explore the northeast Colombian Samoré block, which is believed to hold 1.3 billion barrels of oil. But the U’wa, a semi-nomadic, nature worshiping tribe of 5,000 members, successfully argued in a suit that the project violated its rights. The tribe contended the environment ministry broke the law by failing to consult U''wa leaders before expanding...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
Mexican officials have rejected a $700 million coastal resort project in Baja California that called for condominiums, eight hotels, three golf courses and a 350-slip marina. The National Ecology Institute (INE) issued the denial following an environmental-impact review of the Cabo San Quintín resort, which was to have been built on a remote, peninsula 180 miles south of the U.S. border. The agency announced the ruling on its web site but did not give the reasons for the decision. The rejection comes a month after the surprise cancellation of a saltworks project farther south on the Baja coast. A joint venture of the Mexican government and Mitsubishi Corp., the salt plant had been slated for San Ignacio Lagoon, a gray-whale breeding site...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
Meeting with Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso this month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced that the Pemón Indians will allow the controversial Venezuela-to-Brazil power line to be built across their ancestral lands. Chávez, under pressure to finish Venezuela’s portion of the project to export hydropower to Brazil, said the line would be finished in eight months. The work has been stalled amid concern about marring Canaima National Park in southeast Venezuela’s Gran Sabana region, home to the Pemón Indians. Last year, indigenous groups blocked roads and toppled high-tension pylons, paralyzing the project. But while Cardoso was visiting Venezuela April 6, Chávez said he had reached an agreement with José Luis González, leader of the Indigenous Federation of Bolívar State (FIEB). The federation represents...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
The Goldman Environmental Foundation has awarded one of its prestigious prizes to jailed Mexican activist Rodolfo Montiel, hoping to publicize his fight against illegal logging and pressure Mexico to free him. Montiel founded the Organización de Campesinos Ecologistas (OCE) in 1998 to oppose large-scale, illegal logging in the Sierra de Petatlán pine forests of the southwest Mexican state of Guerrero. He and fellow activist Teodoro Cabrera were arrested by an army patrol in May 1999 and accused of carrying weapons and protecting a drug plantation. The men deny the charges and allege they were severely beaten and tortured after being detained. In December, Amnesty International and the Sierra Club cited Montiel and Carbera’s arrests as they launched a drive to highlight human rights abuses...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
