Scientists reported this month that illegal loggers cleared 10 hectares (25 acres) of forest in the heart of Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve last year. The recurrence of commercial-scale illegal logging in the reserve adds to perils the species already faces in its migration between the oyamel-fir and pine forest in Central Mexico and its far flung habitat in the United States and Canada. Illegal logging has long been a threat to the 56,259-hectare (217-sq-mi) butterfly reserve, which the monarch finds uniquely suited as a wintering ground. But the vigilance of the communities in and around the woodland, along with cooperation by government authorities, had succeeded in keeping illegal loggers at bay over the past few years, even though low...
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Green groups hope a proposal to protect an unusual marine ecosystem off Peru’s northern coast will win President Ollanta Humala’s approval before he leaves office on July 28. The plan would set aside four non-contiguous areas totaling about 116,000 hectares (447.8 square miles) as a reserved zone, the first step toward inclusion in the national system of protected areas. The plan stalled because of opposition from the Ministry of Energy and Mines and some oil companies operating offshore. Three of the proposed reserve areas are closer to the coast than most oilrigs, but the fourth and largest is about 80 km (49.7 miles) offshore, which could put it closer to potential drilling areas. Peru’s tropical Pacific, the transition zone between the cold Humboldt Current...
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The owners of what for years has been Argentina’s highest-volume open-pit mine have announced the facility will cease production in 2017 or 2018 on account of dwindling mineral reserves, and that environmental-remediation steps will then be taken at the site. The closure plan for the Alumbrera Mine in the northwestern province of Catamarca was announced on June 2 in a joint public meeting involving the owners and provincial government officials. Catamarca Mining Secretary Rodolfo Micone said the process should be “orderly, safe, and acceptable socially and environmentally.” It’s unlikely the process will be without questions, however. Alumbrera has drawn numerous complaints of surface water and groundwater pollution as well as air contamination. And social tensions have built between the mine and the...
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The 128-year-old Buenos Aires Zoo closed its doors this month to make way for an ecological park, providing the latest and most striking evidence of growing concern here about conditions in the country’s zoos. “The situation of captivity is degrading for the animals and doesn’t convey the values that we would like to convey,” Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta said in announcing the move. As part of the closure decision, made public on June 23, nearly 1,500 animals will be moved to natural reserves and sanctuaries in Argentina and abroad where authorities say they will have markedly improved living conditions. Some animals which cannot be moved for reasons of age or health will live out their days in the zoo. The venerable...
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