Reports that Uruguayan authorities ignored serious heavy-metal contamination in a Montevideo neighborhood prompted the creation last month of a Health Emergency Commission (CES) to address the problem. Residents of La Teja neighborhood complain that for months authorities failed to respond to repeated complaints of symptoms including anemia, limb deformations and severe headaches. They say the government inaction continued even after tests they had done at area hospitals and clinics showed dozens of children in the neighborhood with elevated blood-lead levels. Early tests showed several children had blood-lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter and one with 85 micrograms per deciliter. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood as the lead level of concern in...
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Hoping to use its vast biodiversity to bolster conservation and rural development, Bolivia is preparing a campaign to promote ecotourism, carbon fixing, hunting, fishing and genetic prospecting. Organizers believe Bolivia can harness demand for recreation, biological resources and greenhouse mitigation to preserve rural habitats and raise living standards for the rural poor. Though some experts question the strategy, government officials appear optimistic. “We are discovering that what we thought was a source of underdevelopment is really a source of wealth,” says Sustainable Development Minister Ronald MacLean, whose agency runs the project. The new plan, known as the National Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, is the product of deliberations involving indigenous leaders, environmentalists, academics, government officials and others. It calls for spending...
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Talk about the wrong address: Patagonian penguins washing up on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Scenes like this actually are not all that uncommon. Some 50 penguins a year show up in Rio de Janeiro state, in most cases young birds that get caught in South Atlantic currents on their first fishing expedition. But last year no less than 900 penguins arrived, according to the state fire department''s lifeguard division, which keeps track of the unusual visits. And if they hadn’t already died of starvation, the birds faced other threats—not the least of which was Rio residents eager to turn them into pets. Some residents hurt or killed the young, gray-and-white penguins by feeding them the wrong food or...
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Certification of green tourism businesses is a hot topic these days, and online discussions on the subject prove the point. Consider the Internet workshop being hosted by Planeta.com, a clearinghouse for information on ecotourism in the Americas. A first-round chat held in January drew 230 participants from a dozen countries, and a second round is scheduled for June. Those taking part in the first round ranged from industry consultants with certification plans to activists who question why certification emphasizes technology over local communities or indigenous peoples. They reviewed programs including the SmartVoyager certification of ships touring the Galápagos Islands, the Green Globe program and government-led efforts such as Australia’s National Ecotourism Accreditation Program. Certification drew equal parts praise and skepticism. “I believe our...
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