Mexico’s controversial reforestation program, ProÁrbol, is in the hot seat again. The program’s director, José Cibrián Tovar, resigned in March as head of the National Forestry Commission (Conafor) just days after a federal audit revealed his agency had inflated figures from its 2007 tree planting campaign. Although officials reported meeting their goal of 400,000 hectares (1 million acres), in reality they reforested 341,000 hectares (866,000 acres)—a shortfall of 17%, the auditors found. The auditors also charged Conafor, a semi-autonomous agency within the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat), with failure to report US$47,000 in compensation to farmers for switching from agriculture to forestry, among other irregularities. The findings were a major embarrassment for the government of President Felipe Calderón, which had...
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The eruption this month of La Cumbre volcano on Ecuador’s Galápagos archipelago instantly fueled fears about ecological damage. And small wonder: La Cumbre is located on Fernandina, one of the famed island chain’s most pristine links. Devoid of introduced species and unoccupied by humans, Fernandina is earmarked for the strictest environmental protection. Despite the worries, though, initial monitoring in the days after the eruption began April 11 suggested the environmental toll would not be severe, according to Edgar Muñoz, director of Galápagos National Park. The eruption, the volcano’s first in four years, sent lava into the sea in the vicinity of Cape Hammond. “It is probable that terrestrial and marine iguanas and other fauna species such as sea lions will be affected,” said a bulletin...
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The resignation last month of Chile’s recently appointed national advisor for air-pollution control has sparked widespread criticism of government environmental policies and the subsequent departures of both Conama’s director for the Santiago region and its chief of national pollution control. Marcelo Mena, an MIT-trained environmental scientist, was appointed in December to use his post at the National Environmental Commission (Conama) to steer the nation’s air pollution agenda. But Mena quit just two months after taking the job, telling reporters he was not given sufficient financial and institutional support to carry out his mission. It’s believed Mena resigned in part due to a conflict with Alejandro Smythe, director of the Santiago region for Conama since December 2006. Smythe and Marcelo Fernández, Conama’s pollution-control...
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Mexico City has gone one step further in its quest to become Latin America’s greenest metropolis, approving a law that prohibits merchants from giving out plastic bags. While similar measures are already in place in Argentina and up for debate in Chile and Uruguay, none imposes such strict sanctions. The Mexico City law, passed March 17 by the city assembly, hits store owners who flout the ban with up to 1 1/2 days in jail and fines of US$77,000. The legislation exempts paper and biodegradable plastic bags, which already are widely used by supermarket chains. Businesses have one year to switch to less polluting alternatives, including offering cloth bags for a small fee. In addition, the Mexican Senate is debating several bills to ban...
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Peruvian government officials say a water law approved by Congress last month will ensure better management and equitable distribution of water for drinking, industry and agriculture. Critics, however, worry that the controversial legislation will favor large corporate users and pave the way for privatization. The law sets up a national water-management system involving various government agencies, establishes the National Water Authority and calls for water-management plans designed by users in each watershed. Its passage comes as conflicts over water use—between rural farming communities and large mines, and between small farmers and export agribusinesses—are on the rise. “Peru has no watershed management plans,” says Abelardo De la Torre, who heads the new water authority. “That is the origin of the conflicts.” The...
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The global financial crisis could ease logging and agricultural pressure on the world’s forests but could give rise to other woodland threats and crimp forest conservation efforts, says the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “Reduced wood demand could have positive effects on forest resources, but the economic crisis could also reduce investment in sustainable forest management and favor illegal logging,” the FAO says in “The State of the World’s Forests 2009,” a report it released on March 16. The report, with its mix of good and bad news for the environment, comes amid what economists say is the steepest global economic downturn since World War II. North American demand for wood fiber is expected to drop by more than 20 million tons this...
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