An audit of the pipelines carrying natural gas and gas liquids from Peru’s Camisea gas field to the Pacific coast found that the pipelines were not designed to withstand the harsh geological and geotechnical conditions along the 350-mile (560-km) route, particularly the section in the Amazon basin and on the east slope of the Andes. The audit, issued last month, was ordered by the Peruvian government after five leaks occurred in the gas liquids pipeline between December 2004 and March 2006, including one that sparked a fire in which several people were injured and about 12 acres (five has) of field and forest burned. (See “Fifth Camisea pipeline spill spurs official review”—EcoAméricas, March ’06). A sixth leak occurred after the audit began...
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Cracking down on illegal migration to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador’s government will require that non-residents who go to the threatened archipelago must first obtain special travel cards. The government-run Galápagos National Institute (Ingala) ordered that an initial 160,000 cards be printed for distribution to Galápagos visitors starting next month. The cards, which will cost $10 each, will be used in conjunction with a database to determine who has exceeded the maximum 90-day stay established under the special law governing the Galápagos. Violators will be sent back to the mainland and forbidden from returning. Ingala Manager Fabian Zapata estimates 3,000 to 4,000 people live illegally on the Galápagos, where population growth has been cited as a key cause of environmental pressures. Travel agencies...
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The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) is giving US$1.7 million each to Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mozambique under a five-year program to reduce the use of toxic mercury in artisanal gold mines. The grants, announced last month, will supplement $673,000 spent by each country as part of Unido’s Global Mercury Project, which seeks to cut mercury use worldwide by 50% over the next 10 years. Mercury, used to precipitate gold from surrounding sediments, is a powerful neurotoxin that builds up to dangerous levels in fish when it is dumped into rivers and can cause lung disease and genetic and nervous-system disorders when burned as part of the gold-purification process. The UN-funded project will target mines worked by around 80,000...
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A national campaign in Chile to stop a host of dams slated for rivers in Chilean Patagonia has gained new ammunition—a 180-page, exhibit-format book whose title, mirroring that of the campaign, is “Patagonia Without Dams.” Conceived by Douglas Tompkins, the U.S. entrepreneur who founded a massive private park in northern Chilean Patagonia called Pumalín, the Spanish-language book features essays and photos from over 30 Chilean and international environmental activists, entrepreneurs, scientists, economists and others. It addresses topics such as Patagonian environmental conflicts; impacts of the region’s economic growth; and alternative-energy strategies that could be used to avoid building the dams planned for Chilean Patagonia’s Baker, Pascua, Cuervo and Puelo rivers. “The objective is to present for public debate and awareness...
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Environmentalists don’t hold back when it comes to Colombia’s plans to expand African palm cultivation for making biodiesel. They argue the anticipated 50% increase over the next three years will threaten biodiversity and food security in a gamut of environmentally sensitive areas. But supporters of biodiesel expansion can take heart from an Oct. 24 University of Wisconsin study ranking Colombia among the five developing countries most likely to attract biodiesel investment. The analysis, entitled “A Global Comparison of National Biodiesel Production Potentials,” looked at the potential for producing high volumes of biodiesel at low costs in 226 countries. It determined that Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay and Ghana were the most promising emerging nations in terms of their potential to develop the sector. The study weighed...
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