Scientists from Uruguay’s University of the Republic are protesting a decree that gives government officials powers of approval over water-resource studies, new clout that some charge will be used to suppress evidence of pollution by the powerful farm sector. In a complaint to the national government, the 15-member university group contends the decree is unconstitutional and threatens the university’s right to “research and disseminate matters of national interest.” The decree, issued by the government in April, puts research and resulting findings having to do with hydrobiology, water quality, marine biology and aquatic resources under the purview of the Uruguayan Ministry of Ranching, Agriculture and Fishing (MGAP). Spotlighted by journalist and activist Víctor Bacchetta in an article for the online Uruguayan investigative journalism site...
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Three years ago, video of a scientific team struggling to extract a straw from the nose of a sea turtle found in Costa Rican waters went viral, helping to fuel support for waste-reduction efforts around the world. But today, Costa Rica itself demonstrates that social-media-fueled public concern does not translate automatically into dramatic progress on the ground. While waste worries have prompted some action in Costa Rica—most notably, a program to incentivize recycling through the use of virtual currency—the country has a long way to go in curbing the flow of trash into its environment. Indeed, more of Costa Rica’s trash is still disposed of improperly than is recycled. As a result, discarded plastics and other materials litter the land...
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An agreement reached in connection with a catastrophic Brazilian mining-waste spill has drawn mixed reviews from environmental advocates, with some saying damages are taking too long to address and others contending more patience is required in assessing them. Last month’s agreement concerns the November 2015 rupture of a Samarco mining company tailings reservoir in Minas Gerais state and the devastation caused when its 62 million cubic meters of iron-ore waste thundered down a mountainside into the Doce River. The deluge flattened a village—killing 19 people and displacing 365 families—fouled the water supplies of downstream cities and extinguished aquatic life along 600 kilometers (370 miles) of the Doce from near the town of Mariana to the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil’s environment minister at...
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Amid a deepening crisis over disposal of solid waste from Buenos Aires, an Argentine judge has temporarily blocked the lifting of a decades-old prohibition on trash incineration in the national capital. Buenos Aires city lawmakers in May approved the measure allowing construction of waste-to-energy plants as a means of coping with a critical lack of landfill space for the capital and adjacent communities. All three of the landfills used to accommodate the Buenos Aires metropolitan area’s trash are nearing capacity, the municipal government says. Green groups, joined by independent trash pickers who sort waste for recyclables to sell, argue incinerators would foul the air and harm human health. A suit they filed on the matter prompted city-court Judge Elena Liberatori in...
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