Brazil this month announced the creation of protected areas covering 1.35 million acres (550,000 has) of rainforest land, including the first Amazon tracts to be set aside for conservation by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 18-month-old administration. In the Amazon, the government created the 457,000-acre (185,000-ha) Cururupu extractive reserve in northern Maranhão state and the 751,000-acre (304,000-ha) Capanã Grande extractive reserve in western Amazonas state. Sustainable fishing will be allowed in both reserves. In addition, ecotourism will be permitted in Cururupu and sustainable rubber tapping and Brazil-nut gathering will be allowed in Capanã Grande. All told, the two Amazon tracts account for 88% of the newly set aside land. The government also created two small national forests...
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The governments of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama are creating a marine corridor in the eastern Pacific to help protect endemic marine species and curtail destructive fishing activities. Environment and parks officials from the four countries say existing conservation efforts have failed to adequately protect vulnerable species and endangered ones, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). In April, representatives of the four nations issued a joint declaration in San José, Costa Rica calling for a 521-million-acre (211-million-ha) Pacific Marine Biological Corridor bounded by Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica’s Coco Island, Panama’s Coiba Island and the Colombian islands of Malpelo and Gorgona. Officials say the migratory patterns of marine creatures such as whales, sharks, turtles...
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Tapping US$1.14 million in Global Environment Facility (GEF) funds, Argentina has begun work on its second national climate-change report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The report, expected to take over a year and a half to prepare, will inventory Argentina’s greenhouse-gas emissions, analyze local ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change and recommend greenhouse-gas-reduction strategies. Argentina filed its first such report in 1997, basing its greenhouse-emissions figures on data gathered in 1994. So far, two developing nations have presented their second climate-change reports—Mexico and South Korea. An unusual aspect of Argentina’s second report is that the GEF grant funds will not be administrated by a public agency. Instead, they will be managed by the Bariloche...
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A Galápagos Islands judge has agreed to consider a legal challenge by local fishermen seeking to overturn government restrictions on the gathering of sea-cucumbers. The judge’s acceptance of the case effectively suspends those restrictions until a ruling in the case is issued. Local fishermen, who recently staged protests ranging from the takeover of Galápagos National Park offices to the blocking of tourist visits, want unfettered fishing of the sea cucumber (Holothuroidea). Their insistence underscores the emergence of the sea cucumber as an attractive money-maker, thanks to the strong demand for it in Asia. The Charles Darwin Scientific Station, a nonprofit research center on the Galápagos, says sales of local sea cucumbers have totaled US$15.5 million over the past five years. That makes...
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