Latin region considered key to world biodiversity goals

September 2013

Mexico

Controversial Mexican aqueduct nears completion

Fights over water rights in Mexico’s arid north can be as unyielding as the parched landscape itself. In the northwest state of Sonora, the battle ......

Peru

Study points to mercury danger in Madre de Dios

Common fish species in Peru’s Madre de Dios region contain dangerous amounts of mercury, and the toxic metal—which is used in the region’s unregulated gold ......

Colombia–Ecuador

Colombia, Ecuador reach aerial-spray accord

Ecuador this month withdrew a five-year-old complaint against Colombia in which it had accused its neighbor of causing cross-border environmental damage while spraying herbicides from ......

Uruguay

Debate in Uruguay over huge iron-ore project

Over the last two decades, Uruguay, a nation traditionally known for its cattle, sheep and expanses of grasslands, has undergone some wrenching changes. Soybean operations ......

Brazil (Free Read)

Chevron settles deepwater-spill case in Brazil

Environmentalists have criticized a settlement this month in which Chevron agreed to pay R$95.2 million (US$41.7 million) to dismiss two lawsuits related to two offshore ......

Around the Region

In Honduras, big land tracts to come under indigenous control

Following the lead of other Central American countries that have turned over forests to indigenous communities, the Honduran government has granted land titles covering vast ......

Centerpiece

Tapajós becomes major infrastructure target

The Tapajós River basin, the fifth largest watershed in the Brazilian Amazon, boasts vast pristine forests, unobstructed rivers as well as rich and diverse flora ......

Q&A

Latin region considered key to world biodiversity goals

In October 2010, representatives of 193 countries met in Nagoya, Japan to hammer out a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity under the framework of the United ......

Q&A

Latin region considered key to world biodiversity goals

Stuart Pimm

In October 2010, representatives of 193 countries met in Nagoya, Japan to hammer out a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity under the framework of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Targets set for 2020 include formal protection of more than 17% of the world’s land mass and 60% of its plant species. In a recent paper in the journal Science entitled “Achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Goals for Plant Conservation,” authors from Microsoft Research and North Carolina State and Duke universities examined how these twin targets can be met. One of the coauthors, Stuart Pimm, is a Duke professor of conservation ecology and a world expert on habitat loss and species extinction. Pimm wrote “The World According To Pimm,” a widely acclaimed book about the impact of humans on the planet, and has testified before the United States Congress on reauthorization of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. He spoke recently with EcoAméricas correspondent Steven Ambrus. [Log in to read more]

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Stuart Pimm

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Stuart Pimm

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Stuart Pimm

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