Category: Land

Two Worlds Collide at Cancun Climate Talks

October 29, 2010

The debate over climate change generally transpires within the cloistered confines of expensive hotels, executive boardrooms, and diplomatic halls. As seen in the failure to arrive at binding agreements in Copenhagen, the talks are generally as sterile as the surroundings. Now, all signs point to another high-level fiasco at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 16), to be held Nov.29-Dec. 10 in the beach resort town of Cancun, Mexico.

Ecuador’s Attempted Coup and Threats to Democracy in the Hemisphere

October 23, 2010

The Sept. 30 attempted coup in Ecuador that killed three and held the elected president hostage serves as a warning. Democratic transitions remain fragile and incomplete in Latin America and some of the boldest moves away from colonialism and toward inclusive societies are being met with reactionary force. As the Ecuadorean police uprising shows, nations could lose the important gains that have been made over the past decades.

Mexican Representative Says There Will Be No Climate Deal in Cancun

October 14, 2010

The Mexican representative for international climate change negotiations, ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, said not to expect a binding agreement at the Climate Change Conference to be hosted in Cancun this year. Many had hoped to finally achieve the goal of an agreement to commit the signatory countries of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their pollutant emissions and prevent a global temperature rise of 2 degrees centigrade over the next few years.

Brasil: Toward the Continuation of Lulismo

October 12, 2010

Dilma Rousseff was very close to winning in the first round of votes; she made it to the threshold of Lula’s government. Lula da Silva, the most popular president Brazil has ever had, is stepping down after eight years which changed the face of the country and its place in the world.

Oil Companies: Under No Obligation to Report Exploratory Pollution

September 10, 2010

We know that over 200 million gallons (757 million liters) of oil were spilled in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of exploration by British Petroleum, but we’ll only see the full impact of the spill in the years to come.

This is what Lisa P. Jackson, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explained to journalists during the Seventeenth Regular Session of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), held on 16-17 August 2010, in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Pollution Knows no Borders

September 9, 2010

Mexico, Canada and the United States have serious problems with the emission of diverse pollutants.

The three member countries of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America, a body created as part of NAFTA’s environmental side agreement, are facing high rates of emissions of mercury, arsenic, and chromium, according to Orlando Cabrera, the manager of the Air Quality Program and of the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry (PRTR) of North America.

Bread on our Table

August 31, 2010

The price of Mexican bolillos (hard buns) will rise. So will the price of pastries, pastas, crackers, flour tortillas and loaf breads. This was […]

IV Americas Social Forum: Grassroots Organizations Are Still in Charge

August 27, 2010

Today, social movements are uniting to defend common resources and criticize extractivism. However, they are far from the unanimity characteristic of the period when rightwing governments prevailed in most South American countries and are separated when it comes time to evaluate progressive and leftist governments.

Americas Program Biodiversity Report – July 2010

August 27, 2010

Bolivian environmental organizations and indigenous groups that supported Evo Morales in his election to the presidency demand that his government stop exploiting oil resources in the Bolivian Amazon due to its serious impacts on the environment, including the destruction of biodiversity, and erosion of the livelihoods of the indigenous peoples that inhabit the region.

Citizen Coalition Scores Victory Against Food Speculation

August 4, 2010

Debate over the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama on July 21, has focused on the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will bring notable improvements for U.S. consumers. But the more obscure derivatives section of the law contains reforms that will help stabilize global food and energy prices–changes that will especially benefit the poorest communities around the world.