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ICELAND: Road Threatens Heritage
By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK - Environmentalists are concerned that a proposed new road will threaten the ecology of Lake Thingvallavatn, Iceland's second largest lake.
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ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Controversy Over Indigenous Land and Biofuels
By Mario Osava
BRASILIA - The legal status of an indigenous territory in the far north of Brazil, and biofuels, are two hot potatoes at the Third National Conference on the Environment being held in the capital city, which is focusing on climate change.
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BURMA: Junta Gives Referendum Priority Over Cyclone Relief
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - Disregarding the disaster caused by Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s military rulers are bent on holding a constitutional referendum on Saturday, said to be designed to enhance the junta’s grip over the country.
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BURMA: Cyclone Nargis Exposes Junta's Anti-People Attitude
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - Cyclone Nargis -- Burma’s worst natural disaster in living memory -- has reinforced the image of the military in that country as a force interested solely in perpetuating its grip on power, regardless of costs to the people it claims to protect.
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DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Pressure AsDB to Strengthen Safeguards
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
MADRID - Behind-the-scenes lobbying by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) paid off by the end of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) concluding here Tuesday. Leading financial officials from a host of European countries came out in favour of the strong "safeguard policies" that activists are championing.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: Indians Speak Out Against Carbon Markets
By Haider Rizvi*
UNITED NATIONS - International policymakers are facing fierce criticism from leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples over plans to use carbon markets as one of the tools to mitigate climate change.
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DEVELOPMENT: AsDB Soliciting Private Investments
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
MADRID - When he was not attending seminars at a conference centre in the Spanish capital, the Asian Development Bank’s (AsDB) Seethapathy Chander was trying to broker deals to attract European investors to developing regions of Asia.
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EUROPE: Warnings Against Biofuels Get Louder
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS - European efforts to promote biofuels should be rethought because of the contribution they have made to rising food prices, according to Jeffrey Sachs, a top economic advisor to the United Nations.
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BURMA: Junta Holds Up Int'l Relief as Cyclone Toll Climbs
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - While Burma's state-run radio reports that at least 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 gone missing in the cyclone that devastated that country on Saturday, there is little that the international community can do by way of assistance without a formal request from its secretive military rulers.
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DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Rises To Forefront At AsDB Sessions
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
MADRID - Three words -- high food prices -- emerged like a gatecrasher at an event hosted by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) here that was originally billed as a celebration of the bank’s new vision for poverty eradication in Asia.
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ENVIRONMENT: "Doctor" Nature in Danger
By Stephen Leahy*
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - "When we harm nature, we are harming ourselves," says Aaron Bernstein, a doctor at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the upcoming book "Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity".
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RIGHTS: Native People Warn U.N. of Biofuels Disaster
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - Growing demand for biofuels by the world's rich nations is propelling attacks on indigenous people and destroying their lands and forests, according to native leaders attending a three-week international meeting here.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: Firms Coming Clean on Carbon
By Stephen Leahy
JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of companies supplying some of the world's largest corporations know climate regulations are coming and are agreeing to measure their emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases.
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ARGENTINA: Smoke Was a Long Time Coming
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - "The work has been relentless. We finish putting out one big fire and another one breaks out in the same area." This remark by a firefighter in Argentina, frustrated at the grass fires on the islands in the Paraná river delta, was not made this month, while smoke has covered Buenos Aires and even the capital of neighbouring Uruguay, but in 2004.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Water Supply Proposal Sparks Controversy and Suspicion
By Steven Lang
GRAHAMSTOWN - A plan to increase the supply of potable water to two coastal towns in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province is provoking heated debate.
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DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Activists Opposed to Rebuilding Amazon Highways
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - Nearly four decades after they were first planned, three highways through the jungles and swamps of Brazil’s Amazon region are being rebuilt. Neglected in the past when they became economically obsolete, they are once again a focus of environmental criticism.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: Displacements Set To Increase
By Tarjei Kidd Olsen
OSLO - Climate change is likely to lead to an increase in conflicts and forced migrations of poor people in the south, a new report warns. Developing countries can reduce this impact by adopting preventative measures now, while international law and human rights principles need to be updated.
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CHILE: Environmentalists Withdraw Backing from Government
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Twenty-three environmental groups in Chile withdrew their support from President Michelle Bachelet, complaining that she had failed to live up to an agreement they had signed with her during her election campaign.
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ASIA: 'Neglect of Farming Led to Rice Crisis'
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The headlines screaming about a global food shortage have not aroused surprise in a leading non-governmental organisation (NGO) working with farming communities across Asia. To its members, warnings of hunger on a biblical scale are hardly news.
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ENVIRONMENT: Alien Species Plague the Land That Time Forgot
By Mark Weisenmiller
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador - Juicy, wild-growing blackberries, guava and passion fruit plants may be savoured by humans and animals alike, but in this particular part of the world -- sometimes called the Land That Time Forgot for its largely pristine biodiversity -- they are three problematic invasive species.
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Q&A: "Transgenic Seed Companies Lie and Bribe"
Interview with Jesús León Santos, Winner of Goldman Prize*
MEXICO CITY - Biotech corporations that developed genetically modified seeds are bribing authorities and carrying out costly advertising campaigns "plagued with lies in order to create monsters that attack life," says Jesús León Santos, an indigenous man who is one of this year's winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize.
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NICARAGUA: A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall
By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA - Having been hit by three hurricanes and 25 tropical storms in less than 10 years, Nicaragua is looking ahead to the next rainy season, due to begin in May, with wariness and trepidation.
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ENVIRONMENT-US: Poll Finds Deep Concern Among Hispanics
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Hispanic voters in the United States show a high degree of awareness and concern about environmental issues, particularly global warming, according to an unprecedented national survey on Latino opinion and the environment released here Wednesday by the Sierra Club.
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RIGHTS: Climate a "Life and Death" Issue for Native Peoples
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - Leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples are calling for the United Nations to include their voices in its future talks on climate change.
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ENVIRONMENT-PERU: US-Owned Smelter Fined for Pollution
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA - The U.S. company running a large multi-metal smelter in the Peruvian city of La Oroya, one of the most polluted places on earth, is facing sanctions for violating air quality standards.
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Biodiversity - One Planet - 1.4 million species

Tierramérica - Environment & Development

RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Spat Escalates Over Anti-Gay Lyrics

BURMA: UN Aid Arrives, But Many Doors Still Closed

IRAQ: Running Out of Water in Rising Heat

TURKEY: Ruling Party Challenges Closure

ICELAND: Road Threatens Heritage

CHINA: Buying Farmland Abroad, Ensuring Food Security

LEBANON: Hezbollah Unleashes a Coup Bid

INDIA: Gov't 'Helpless' as Farmers Shylocked to Suicide

AUSTRALIA: Women in Top Posts but Discrimination Prevails

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Controversy Over Indigenous Land and Biofuels

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BIOFUELS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A CURE THAT MAKES THE DISEASE WORSE
by Vandana Shiva
False solutions to the climate crisis, like biofuels, will actually aggravate the problem while exacerbating inequality, hunger, and poverty, writes Vandana Shiva, author and international campaigner for women and the environment.

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ARE WE REALLY RUNNING OUT OF OIL?
by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
Are we running short of oil? Far from it, writes Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, a fellow at the Oakland Institute, a Puerto Rican author, investigative reporter, and environmental educator.

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WATERS ARE RISING: CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION MUST COME FAST
by Anote Tong
You can be sure that if rising sea levels forced the evacuation of the White House in Washington DC, the attitude towards global warming would be very different, writes Anote Tong, President of Kiribati since 2003.

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EU: TIGHTER EMISSIONS FOR TRANSPORT A CLEAR WIN-WIN STRATEGY
by Jos Dings
Strong environmental policies in transport will enable European firms to take the lead in technology development and help address many of today's geopolitical tensions, writes Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment.

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HOW TRADE RULES CAN SERVE THE ENVIRONMENT
by Pascal Lamy

BALI: FIRST STEPS ON A ROUGH ROAD
by Maurice Strong

GLOBALISATION, EQUITY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE
by Vandana Shiva

SUBSIDIES DRIVE US CORN ETHANOL BOOM DESPITE MAJOR DRAWBACKS
by Mark Sommer

BIOFUELS: NO SILVER BULLET AGAINST FOSSIL FUELS
by Vicente Paolo Yu III

AFRICA MUST BE HEARD ON CLIMATE CHANGE
by Wangari Maathai

THE ALIGNMENT OF FORCES IN THE ETHANOL WAR
by Alberto Garrido

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