Countries throughout the Andean region are being encouraged to develop biotrade programs to enhance sustainable-development strategies. As the name implies, biotrade concerns exploiting biodiversity to develop products and find markets. The latest example was seen in June, when Bolivia’s government launched its strategy to link protection of natural resources with initiatives to reduce rural poverty. Inspired by the UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, the biotrade facilitation plan is backed with US$4.5 million from the Dutch and Swiss governments; it forms part of a package of aid to Bolivia from the Andean Development Corporation (Caf). Advocates claim that by developing value-added products, local people can combat their own poverty—and gain a strong economic stake in protecting conservation lands. Herbal medicines and...
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A cabinet reshuffle in Ecuador has produced a new environment minister—César Narvaez Rivera, a 46-year-old hydrologic engineer. Narvaez replaces Edgar Isch, who resigned after his political party, the Popular Democratic Movement (MDP), broke its alliance with the Patriotic Society Party (PSP) of President Col. Lucio Gutiérrez. Green groups will not miss Isch, whom they accuse of reversing environmental-policy progress, particularly in the area of forest management and protection. “Timber operations in league with public officials have evaded [Ecuador’s third-party] forest-oversight system, while the environment minister allowed illegal cutting and corruption to continue running rampant,” says Vicente Pólit, president of the Ecuadorian Committee for the Defense of Nature and the Environment (Cedenma), a grouping of some 80 nonprofit organizations...
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Eleven top private sector banks have agreed to adopt the Equator Principles, a voluntary set of guidelines addressing sustainable development, human health, biodiversity, pollution prevention and impact on indigenous peoples. The banks include Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Lyonnais. Last month, three more banks signed on: Italy’s MCC, the Royal Bank of Canada and Britain’s BG Group. It’s too early to gauge what the impact on Latin American development will be, but green advocates welcome the principles, saying they’re the result of pressure they exerted on banks to reject environmentally harmful projects. The principles are modeled on International Finance Corporation (IFC) Safeguard Policies, adopted in 1998. But green advocates also express reservations. “There’s nothing in them in terms of transparency [or] accountability, and they are weak...
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The sloths hanging from the trees in the nature reserve outside Venezuela’s Center for Ecology face a number of dangers, among them getting hit by cars when they cross a road, attacked by dogs when they venture onto the ground and—more generally—loss of habitat. At the 33-year-old center, part of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (Ivic), employees are working to reduce two of those threats. They are attempting to control the area’s feral dogs and restore fire-damaged habitat surrounding the center, located on a reserve six miles (10 kms) southwest of Caracas. The effort is a small example of the work that helped make the center a co-recipient of this year’s Sultan Qaboos Prize, awarded under the United...
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Brazil last year had the highest beverage-can recycling rate among countries where such recycling is not mandatory, says the Brazilian Aluminum Association (Abal), a national aluminum producers’ group. In 2002, Brazil recycled 87% of beverage cans sold that year as opposed to 83.1% percent by Japan, the world leader in voluntary can recycling from 1995 to 2000, Abal says. Brazil surpassed Japan in 2001, when its recycling rate was 85% compared to Japan’s 82.3%. Virtually all beverage cans are made from aluminum. Abal claimed the top 2002 recycling rate for Brazil after receiving Japan’s results from the Japan Aluminum Can Recycling Association. The United States and Europe’s can-recycling rates last year were 53% and 45%, respectively, according to figures issued by U.S. and...
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