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Corporate-Friendly Fisheries Bill Sparks Protests In Chile, Divides Opposition, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
Corporate-Friendly Fisheries Bill Sparks Protests In Chile, Divides Opposition, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
This article discusses the controversy surrounding the Ley de Pesca in Chile, whose purpose is to create a new regulatory framework for commercial fishing, making it more environmentally sustainable. While some critics of the legislation state that it unfairly favors corporate fisheries, others express concern over the fact that Chilean waters are already overfished.
Bill To Protect Sierra Caral Remains Stalled In Congress, Louisa Reynolds
Bill To Protect Sierra Caral Remains Stalled In Congress, Louisa Reynolds
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
This article discusses the conservation efforts to protect Sierra Caral, the most biodiverse forest remnant in Guatemala, from severe deforestation. This is occurring largely due to the forced displacement of campesinos by narco-ranchers in the Motagua Valley. In addition, the article provides the bill's aspects and an in-depth look at what the Sierra Caral conservationists are proposing in their efforts to be sensitive to the displaced residents.
Venezuela's Full Membership Changes Face Of Mercosur, Andrés Gaudin
Venezuela's Full Membership Changes Face Of Mercosur, Andrés Gaudin
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
This article discusses the issues surrounding Venezuela's admittance as a full member of MERCOSUR. One of the primary results of this membership is the increased collaboration between member countries regarding oil and gas exploitation, as well as discounted prices of crude.
Ecuadoran Government Will Modify Laws To Favor Mining, Luis Ángel Saavedra
Ecuadoran Government Will Modify Laws To Favor Mining, Luis Ángel Saavedra
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
It has become customary for large transnational mining companies to pressure governments to modify national legislation to suit company interests. However, this was not expected to happen in Ecuador since its Constitution specifically protects the rights of nature and is very clear on the control the state must have of extractive activities as well as on the state's share of earnings from this industry. This is to the dismay of environmental and human rights organizations, who view the policy reforms as unconstitutional.
As Haiti Gears Up To Boost Declining Agricultural Sector, International Cooperation Supports Efforts, George Rodríguez
As Haiti Gears Up To Boost Declining Agricultural Sector, International Cooperation Supports Efforts, George Rodríguez
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Agriculture provides a livelihood for more than 1 million of Haiti's 9.7 million people and is the source of some 50% of jobs nationwide, yet its productivity is among the lowest in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), along with other international entities, are providing Haiti with funding not only for agricultural projects, but also for projects that involve modernizing the country's educational and health systems, as well as the energy sector and its infrastructure.
El Salvador's Government Sends General Water Law Into Legislative Pipeline, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
El Salvador's Government Sends General Water Law Into Legislative Pipeline, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
For the million or so residents of greater San Salvador whose faucets run dry on a regular basis, the message they received in late April from the Administración de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (ANDA) was a familiar one: "It's going to be a while." Because of technical problems, the pumping station that supplies those homes is only operating at about half capacity right now, according to ANDA, El Salvador's state water regulator. Las Parvas, as the plant is called, draws water from the Río Lempa, El Salvador's largest river, and supplies between 45% and 60% of greater San Salvador's drinking water. …
Mexico City Launches Project To Produce Electricity From Biogas Emissions At Recently Closed Landfill, Carlos Navarro
Mexico City Launches Project To Produce Electricity From Biogas Emissions At Recently Closed Landfill, Carlos Navarro
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Mexico City Mayor Marcel Ebrard Casaubón has unveiled a bold plan to use biogas emissions from the recently closed Bordo Poniente landfill to produce electricity for street lighting and the subway system in the Mexican capital. Even as Ebrard is moving forward with the project, the mayor must respond to a complaint from the federal water commission (Comisión Nacional del Agua, CONAGUA), which alleges that the Mexico City government has allowed hazardous materials from the landfill to filter into the ground and the air.
President Felipe Calderón Releases Comprehensive Energy Plan For 2012-2026, Carlos Navarro
President Felipe Calderón Releases Comprehensive Energy Plan For 2012-2026, Carlos Navarro
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
President Felipe Calderón has submitted a longterm energy plan that proposes to increase to 35% the percentage of electricity obtained from nonfossil fuels by 2026. The ambitious goal, contained the Estrategia Nacional de Energía (ENE) 20122026, seeks to provide Mexicans with diversified, adequate, sustainable, highquality, and lowcost energy. In addition to raising the percentage of electrical power not obtained from hydrocarbons, the plan envisions actions to restore the countrys energy reserves, boost production of crude oil and natural gas, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the energy sector's impact on the environment.'
National Mobilization In Defense Of Water In Per, Elsa Chanduví Jaña
National Mobilization In Defense Of Water In Per, Elsa Chanduví Jaña
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
The Gran Marcha Nacional por el Derecho al Agua y la Vida (Great National March for the Right to Water and Life) was interpreted as a demand for government coherence. Hundreds of people marched from the northern Andean department of Cajamarca to the capital to express their opposition to any extractive activity that threatens the ecosystems and water resources. On Feb. 1, about 1,000 campesinos and representatives of groups defending water rights left from the area of the lakes that will be most affected by the Conga project, a US $4.8 billion undertaking to extract gold and copper, which will …
Panamas Indigenous Protestors Block Roads In Dispute To End Mineral Exploitation On Their Lands; Clashes Leave One Dead', Louisa Reynolds
Panamas Indigenous Protestors Block Roads In Dispute To End Mineral Exploitation On Their Lands; Clashes Leave One Dead', Louisa Reynolds
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Anger against President Ricardo Martinelli's administration boiled over on Jan. 30, as members of the GnãbeBuglé indigenous tribe protested after the Asamblea Nacional (AN) took initial steps toward lifting a mining moratorium on their territories. The Coordinadora por la Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y el Derecho del Pueblo Gnãbe Buglé, which has called for all mining and hydroelectric projects on indigenous lands to be halted, decided to block a stretch of the InterAmerican Highway that joins Panama's western province of Chiriquí with Costa Rica. The next day, the protest had spread to the provinces of Boca del Toro and …
Mexico, U.S. Reach Landmark Agreement On Deepwater Oil Exploration, Carlos Navarro
Mexico, U.S. Reach Landmark Agreement On Deepwater Oil Exploration, Carlos Navarro
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
In an unprecedented act of cooperation in the energy sector, the US and Mexican governments signed an agreement establishing a framework for US energy companies to work jointly with the state run oil company PEMEX to develop oil and gas resources in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement eases a dispute between Mexico and the US about ownership of reserves along a common boundary in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially opening more than 1 million acres to deepwater drilling. Mexico was extremely concerned that drilling by US companies could siphon off reserves on the Mexican side …
Dominican Republic: First Steps To Green Economy, Charles Arthur
Dominican Republic: First Steps To Green Economy, Charles Arthur
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
In October, the countrys first wind farm, near the western town of Juancho in the province of Pedernales, began generating electricity. The US$100 million project, built by public and private investors, was opened by President Leonel Fernández, who said that the 33 megawatts of wind power that the farm will generate was the first step toward helping the Dominican Republic reduce its dependence on petroleum imports.'
Brazilian Government Attempts To Stabilize Ethanol Supply With New Regulation, Ana Cristina Powell
Brazilian Government Attempts To Stabilize Ethanol Supply With New Regulation, Ana Cristina Powell
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
For the past four decades, Brazil has moved to replace petroleum with highly efficient sugarcane-based ethanol, primarily to protect against recurring global oil crises and address concerns about the effect of greenhouse-gas emissions on the environment. Despite the immense promise of the ethanol industry, however, Brazilian drivers who choose to fill their tanks with the biofuel continue to face uncertain supplies and unstable prices. Even before being sworn in on Jan. 1, 2011, Brazil's President-elect Dilma Rousseff met with her agriculture minister-designate Wagner Rossi to request that he confer with ethanol producers to inform them how dissatisfied the government was …
Ecuadoran Government Set To Resume Armadillo Oil Project Despite Opposition From Indigenous Communities And Environmentalists, Luis Ángel Saavedra
Ecuadoran Government Set To Resume Armadillo Oil Project Despite Opposition From Indigenous Communities And Environmentalists, Luis Ángel Saavedra
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
The Ecuadoran government reopened a call for tenders for the Armadillo oil field, in the Amazonian province of Orellana, where evidence has been found of settlements and movement of the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples, who remain in voluntary isolation. The new call for tenders has produced a controversy, not only among environmentalists, the indigenous movement, and the government but also within the government team, since the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples are beneficiaries of protective measures called for by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Biofuels Fighting For Space In Central America And Cuba, Adriana E. Sánchez
Biofuels Fighting For Space In Central America And Cuba, Adriana E. Sánchez
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Brazil has found great success building its ethanol industry with the use of sugarcane, and there are suggestions that other countries in Latin America might replicate this feat, allowing them to use biofuels to increase their energy independence. Central American countries and Cuba share some similarities with Brazil, and they are the ones often mentioned for potential growth in biofuels. These countries face significant obstacles because of a lack of infrastructure and inadequate energy policies, which make them particularly dependent on foreign imports of fossil fuels to partially satisfy their populations' growing energy demand.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Proceeding With Nuclear Power Despite Fukushima Accident, Graziela Aronovich
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Proceeding With Nuclear Power Despite Fukushima Accident, Graziela Aronovich
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has increased pressure on the Brazilian government to justify the use of nuclear power, but there is little evidence that President Dilma Rousseffs administration plans to make any major changes to Brazil's nuclear-power program (Programa Nuclear Brasileiro, PNB). Rousseff has made no direct public comments about the PNB since the accident in Japan, but Secretary of Science and Technology Aloizio Mercadante reiterated the government's intention to continue the program, launched in 1985 with the inauguration of the Angra 1 power station during the administration of then President José Sarney …
Chile's Tiny Gas Industry A Big Problem For President Sebastián Piñera, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
Chile's Tiny Gas Industry A Big Problem For President Sebastián Piñera, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Although it represents just a small slice of the countrys overall energy pie, Chile's minor Patagonia-based natural-gas industry is causing major political problems for first-year President Sebastián Piñera. An anomaly in Chile's otherwise privatized energy sector, the state-owned Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (ENAP) extracts a modest amount of natural gas from oil fields it controls in Magallanes, an area of southern Patagonia also known as Region XIII. The homegrown industry is an exception in Chile, which satisfies the bulk of its fuel needs with foreign imports. In the country's more populous central regions, natural gas--used not only for heating and …
"Still Undecided" But Chile Leans Toward Nuclear Energy, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
"Still Undecided" But Chile Leans Toward Nuclear Energy, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
A revealing visit to France last month by President Sebastián Piñera has reignited a long smoldering debate in Chile over the "nuclear option." Careful not to endorse the possibility outright, the Chilean leader nevertheless make it clear during an Oct. 20 stopover in Paris that, with the benefit of some French know-how, nuclear power plants may eventually be in the cards for Chile." Chile has to prepare itself for the world of nuclear energy," Piñera said following a meeting with his French counterpart President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Our government has the obligation to prepare our engineers, scientists, and technical workers." The …
Mexico Attempts To Recapture Leadership Role In Latin America At Regional Summit; Energy, Sustainability On Agenda, Sourcemex
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
President Felipe Calderon succeeded to some extent in repositioning Mexico as a leader in Latin America, hosting what was generally perceived as a successful summit of Latin American and Caribbean countries in Quintana Roo state on Feb. 20-23. As host, Mexico took a lead in pushing through a proposal to create a regional consultative bloc that excludes the US and Canada. Calderon was also at the forefront in renewing regional awareness on issues related to energy and environmental sustainability. Although the summit's 10-point action list did not mention energy policy or environmental sustainability, these topics were included in an 88-point …
Brazil: Preparing For Post-Copenhagen Economy, Notisur
Brazil: Preparing For Post-Copenhagen Economy, Notisur
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
After the failure of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which was unable to reach a consensus regarding measures needed to fight global warming (see SourceMex, 2009-12-16), Brazil began to prepare for the challenges of a carbon-free economy and other sustainability issues that cannot wait for large international decisions to become a reality. One of the most important pieces will be to implement the Politica Nacional de Mudancas Climaticas, in accordance with the climate-change law (Lei de Mudancas Climaticas) signed Dec. 29 by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Congress had been debating the bill since 2007. The lawmakers …
El Salvador A Microcosm Of The Biofuels Macrocosm, Noticen Writers
El Salvador A Microcosm Of The Biofuels Macrocosm, Noticen Writers
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Having proved itself a worthy ally in the Iraq war by steadfastly continuing to send its troops into that inferno, El Salvador has earned a place on a new front in US global policy, the ethanol wars. US President George W. Bush has chosen El Salvador as the site of a feasibility study for producing the fuel. The plan calls for a biofuels plant to be built in the country, even though El Salvador is already producing and exporting ethanol to the US under the provisions of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The recently ignited conflagrations pit biofuel …
Brazil Pushes To Expand Ethanol Industry With Multiple International Deals, Notisur Writers
Brazil Pushes To Expand Ethanol Industry With Multiple International Deals, Notisur Writers
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
Brazil's government has been aggressively promoting its ethanol industry, seeking to capitalize on high fuel costs by selling the fuel derived from various crops like corn and sugar. In the drive to triple the volume of ethanol exports, Brazil has signed multiple international energy agreements, most notably with the US, its biggest customer. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's effort to expand ethanol production has faced criticism externally from Latin American leaders like Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's President Fidel Castro and internally from poor people's movements and environmentalists. Among these criticisms are assertions that using food crops for …
Central America Caught In The Changing Political And Moral Environment Of Ethanol, Noticen Writers
Central America Caught In The Changing Political And Moral Environment Of Ethanol, Noticen Writers
NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America
One of the outcomes of US President George W. Bush's recent trip to Latin America was a rare convergence of opinion between London's The Economist and Havana's Fidel Castro. The newspaper could not resist calling Castro "Cuba's tottering Communist dictator," but it nevertheless gave him full credit for warning against the "sinister idea of converting food into fuel." The glossy publication noted huge increases in the price of corn and explained, "As more land is used to grow corn rather than other food crops, such as soy, their prices also rise. And since corn is used as animal feed, the …