Government Approves Urgent Measures Against Drought in the Ebro Watershed

The Spanish government announced that it was giving Ebro Water Confederation authorities increased power to allocate, monitor and regulate water use from Spain's second largest river, the Ebro, while at the same time reassuring users that there was no danger of running out of water. The government did note however, that the last 6 months were on track to be the driest in 60 years.

El País, Madrid February 15, 2008

Eleven Sequestration Sites for Burying CO2

If we need to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, why not bury it? The capture of carbon dioxide at the power plant where it originates is an innovative and controversial idea that is now going forward in Spain. The government has reserved 11 locations in different geographical regions throughout the peninsula as future storage sites at a depth of more than a 1,000 meters for carbon dioxide emissions from thermal power plants.

The article goes on to say that each site, some of which are beneath the sea and some of which are terrestrial, will have a minimum capacity of 100 million tons, enough to handle the emissions from a coal-fired power plant over it's 30-year life span.

El País, Madrid February 16, 2008

Rice's Secret Silicon

A Spanish company, Vallombrosa, based in Barcelona has announced that it has developed a cost effective technique to produce photovoltaic quality silicon from rice husks.  Up until now rice husks, a byproduct of rice cultivation, have only been seen as a waste disposal problem.  Shortages of silicon have become a problem for the solar energy industry which now uses more silicon than the computer chip industry.

El País, Madrid February 27, 2008

Mexico

130 Million Pesos [12 million dollars] to Save the Michoacán Watershed

Michoacán governor, Leonel Godoy Rangel, has announced a 130 million peso plan to clean up and restore the Michoacán basin which feeds Lake Pátzcuaro. One hundred million pesos will come from the federal government with cities contributing 24 million and the rest coming from a private foundation. The governor went on to point out that Michoacán state in general suffers from polluted aquifers and and water shortages and that much of the degradation in the Michoacán watershed is the result of deforestation and soil erosion. He called for citizens to take more interest in matters regarding the health of the watershed.

El Sol, Michoacán February 27, 2008

El Sol, Michoacán February 27, 2008

Illegal Logging Causes Low Honeybee Output on the [Yucatan] Peninsula  

Beekeepers have complained to federal government representatives that the government's failure to stop the illegal cutting of trees was contributing to a decline in the productivity of honey bees on the Yucatán peninsula.

As a spokesperson for the local beekeepers put it:

Fifteen years ago with 20 hives you could fill a thousand-liter barrel with honey.  Now you need 30 and if the federal authorities in the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources don't make up their minds to put a break on illegal logging production and sales will drop.

Costa Rica

Costa Rican Geneticists to Study the Health of the Country's Jaguars

Scientists from the University of Costa Rica will collect and analyze DNA from the scat of Costa Rica's estimated 350 remaining jaguars.

Geneticist Gustavo Gutiérrez Espeleta explains:

Genetic variability allows us to determine how different the Costa Rican jaguar populations are.  If all the jaguars are the same, that's a serious problem because it means they might have problems adapting to catastrophes and floods or temperature extremes because they have the same characteristics.

La Nación San José February 22, 2008

Experts in Costa Rica debate effects of climate change  

Experts from the United States, Chile Ecuador, Spain and Argentina discussed the effects of climate change yesterday in a conference at the National University in Heredia. One of the speakers, Gary Dunham, Director of the Climate Project, an NGO founded by Al Gore stated:

You (Costa Rica) are a truly wonderful country.  I have to congratulate you on all the actions you have taken here to care for your environment. For example, the idea of making the country carbon neutral is remarkable.  

Durham continued:

At this time in the United States many people don't know what climate change means. The government itself doesn't even recognize that it's a problem. This is very frustrating, particularly because the consequences are going to be especially felt in poor areas like Latin America.

Colombia

Colombia Ranks Ninth in the World in Caring for the Environment

Colombia rose from 17th to 9th place in this year's Environmental Performance Index. The annual report compiled by scientists at Yale and Columbia University ranks 149 countries worldwide by how well they care for the environment.  The highest ranked Latin American nation was Costa Rica at number 5 based on its commitment to become the world's first carbon neutral country. Switzerland occupied the top spot, while the United States and China were 39th and 105th respectively.

The report makes an evaluation based on 25 environmental criteria: environmental health, air pollution, water resources, biodiversity and habitat among others.

The document points out that while wealthy countries are more inclined to better environmental performance, this makes no difference if there is no interest in conservation.

El Tiempo, Bogotá January 24, 2008

Livestock Sector One of the Highest for Greenhouse Gas Pollution in Colombia

The Second Communiqué on Climate Change from the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology y Environmental Studies indicates that industrial processes, electricity generation, and transportation are responsible for 37% of the country's emissions, while the livestock sector, in second place, adds nearly 20% more. Still, at 4.15 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per person per year, according to the report, Colombia is one of the 30 cleanest countries in the world.

Carlos Costa, director  of the Institute explained that this diagnosis proves the small impact that Colombia has in the world context and that although we are not obligated to reduce emissions the way that other countries like China, Russia or the United States definitely are, the results will allow us to arrive in good shape at the post-Kyoto-Protocol period that will begin in 2012.

El Tiempo, Bogotá February 27, 2008

Chile

Strong increase in Diesel Use for Power Generation Key to Rise in Electric Rates

Owing to ongoing drought, hydroelectric power generation in Chile has fallen from 67% to 46%, while diesel has risen from 2% to 33% of the mix. The situation has been complicated over the last year by a reduction in gas imports from Argentina, but that problem may have been resolved by a recent commitment from Argentina to increase imports at the price of reducing its own domestic consumption. Gas as a source of power generation had fallen from 15% to 1%.

The costs of electricity production have risen 51% compared with a year ago and the Chilean government has just issued a decree ordering a 10% reduction in the voltage of delivered electricity.

El Mercurio, Santiago February 27, 2008

Oceanographers Take on Neptune in Bid to See how the Ocean Gives up CO2

Lorena Guzmán H. writes:

The oceans have submissively absorbed part of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that man has emitted into the atmosphere. What scientists still don't know is how much of those gases the seas retain, how they return them to the atmosphere and for how long they will continue to do so without complaint.

This is why 31 brave American researchers and one Chilean student( Alejandro Cifuentes of the University of Connecticut), will set sail to measure in situ how the ocean frees up the CO2 accumulated in its depths. The participants are The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration of the United States (NOAA), NASA, the National Science Foundation and more than ten American Universities.

Expedition coordinator Christopher Sabine explains:

The resulting puzzle piece will enable us to understand where the CO2 goes, what happened in the past, and to better comprehend what will occur in the future...

We believe that the oceans are absorbing a third of the CO2.  We need to know if the seas will continue to do so.

We know how much CO2 humans emit, that one part goes into the air, but we're not certain where the other half goes.

Argentina

State of Emergency Declared in Various Coastal Towns

Seven hundred people had to be evacuated after the storm.

The storm which began at around 5 a.m. a lasted until after 5 p.m. affected various parts of Santa Teresita, Mar del Tuyú and San Bernardo. The 330 millimeters of rain that fell in twelve hours and the intense wind caused flooding of streets and homes, destroyed vehicles and toppled trees.

Clarín, February 28, 2008

Uruguay

Offensive Continues Against Amazon Deforestation

Heavily armed federal agents and inspectors from the Environment Agency carefully combed the town of Tailandia in the State of Pará in the largest operation undertaken in Brazil against clandestine Amazon logging.  

The so-called Operation Fire Bow began on Tuesday in the impoverished and violent municipality of Talandia 250 km from Belén (the capital of the state of Pará) as federal forces sent to the region inspected the facilities of logging companies and sawmills.

Earlier attempts to investigate led to riots and the retreat of government inspectors.

Authorities intend to inspect some 70 of the 140 sawmills scattered throughout Tailandia, a task that they estimate will take 15 to 20 days and during which they expect to confiscate up to 50,000 cubic meters of illegal wood.  

The second stage of "Fire Bow" will take place at the beginning of April when 1,000 men will undertake actions in 36 towns of the three Amazon states with the highest rate of devastation: Pará, Mato Groso and Rondonia.

Crossposted at Daily Kos