Brazil’s Supreme Court has delayed deciding a high-stakes Amazon land-rights case that pits indigenous groups against large-scale rice growers, ranchers and other settlers occupying part of their reserve, which is bigger than the U.S. state of Connecticut. The move came after Carlos Ayres Britto, the Supreme Court justice overseeing the case, voted Aug. 27 to expel settlers from Raposa Serra do Sol, a 4.2-million-acre (1.7-million-ha) indigenous reserve located in Roraima state, in the eastern Amazon. Other justices wanted more time to study the case before deciding whether to side with Britto, who presented a 108-page opinion following testimony from both sides in the litigation. Their caution is not surprising given the interests, passions and legal implications involved...
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Little more than a year after passing a prohibition on open-pit mining involving such toxic substances as cyanide or mercury, the legislature of Argentina’s La Rioja province has reversed course and repealed the measure. The original ban was championed by the province’s then vice-governor, Luis Beder Herrera, and it played a role in the impeachment and removal from office of the governor at the time, Ángel Maza. Maza was criticized for allowing Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold to gain exploration rights to a gold mine abandoned in the 1920s on Famatina Mountain. Starting in 2006, Beder Herrera aligned himself with anti-mine opposition organized by environmental groups in the nearby communities of Famatina and Chilecito. The open-pit prohibition was approved in March...
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Grupo Bimbo, the bread giant that sells millions of bakery products around the world, is set to become the first Mexican company to switch to so-called oxy-degradable packaging. The move could mark the beginning of a trend toward environmentally friendlier plastics in Latin America, where such initiatives remain a novelty. Bimbo is the world’s fourth largest food corporation, with operations in 18 countries worldwide and more than US$7 billion in annual sales, according to company reports. The technology, known as “d2w,” combines conventional, oil-based plastic with a chemical additive that initiates degradation. There is some debate about how benign the technology is and whether degradation will occur as advertised in landfill conditions. But supporters say oxy-degradable packaging will break down...
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Brazil won international headlines last month by creating its first Amazon forest conservation fund, hoping to attract international donations. The fund, however, includes few incentives for governments, companies, nonprofits and others whom Brazil hopes to tap for contributions. Apparently uncertain about its ability to make consistent progress in curbing the illegal clearing of Amazon-region land, the government sets no targets for decreasing the deforestation rate in return for donations. Instead, it created a donation ceiling: the more Brazil reduces Amazon deforestation, the more donations it can accept—up to $21 billion by 2021, the government says. Officials insist the approach will work because the government, eager to raise the fund’s ceiling and attract more donations, will have a material stake in slowing the pace...
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