Scientists are using Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men cologne to attract jaguars to cameras planted throughout the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala, one of the largest protected areas in Central America. Obsession lures wildlife toward motion-sensitive research cameras that snap photographs of the animals as they stop and sniff, says Roan McNab, Guatemala country director for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The photos help conservationists estimate population numbers of shy wildlife species, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca). WCS has 30 to 40 cameras at any given time placed around the reserve, one of the most important jaguar refuges in the Americas, McNab says. Scientists began using the cologne to attract felines in Guatemala based on tests done in the United States at...
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Populations of Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi), Argentina’s principal fishing resource, have fallen perilously low due to overfishing, according to a growing number of scientific and government reports. A recent study estimates that over the past two decades, the total population of hake in Argentine waters has shrunk by 70%, with the adult population of the fish, known locally as merluza, tumbling 80%. The study was issued by the Argentine Wildlife Foundation (FVSA), a respected environmental group, using data from a technical report prepared by the government-run National Fishery Research and Development Institute (Inidep). “At this rate the hake fishery in Argentina will end because if the number of adult [fish] continues to decline it will not be profitable,” Guillermo Cañete, a Wildlife Foundation fisheries...
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Pundits who claimed Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla would meticulously match the policies of her predecessor, Oscar Arias, were proven wrong almost immediately after her inauguration. Hours after being sworn in last month as Costa Rica’s first female president, Chinchilla signed a decree banning all future open-pit mining concessions, thereby breaking with Arias’ most controversial policy. The issue of gold mining was a prickly one for Arias, who reversed an open-pit mining moratorium imposed by his predecessor, Abel Pacheco. Arias even went so far as to declare the controversial Las Crucitas gold mine concession on the Nicaraguan border to be a project of “public interest” and a priority for his administration. Environmentalists denounced the move, saying it ran counter to Arias’ Peace with...
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In November of 2008, Buenos Aires city environmental officials unveiled a program aimed at keeping heavy-metal pollutants out of the solid waste stream and, thus, underground water supplies. They called on Buenos Aires residents to turn their spent batteries in to one of the city government’s 15 neighborhood offices. The public response was good, but the follow-up left a bit to be desired. A year and a half later, the batteries—about ten tons of them—sit in a Buenos Aires warehouse, and government officials don’t appear to know what to do with them. In all, the government reported receiving 9,930 kilos (21,892 pounds) of batteries from the public during an eight-month collection period. Officials announced last August that the batteries would...
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