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The following excerpt is from a June 25, 2010 article published by the Vancouver Sun. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
The Guatemalan government said it would suspend mining at Goldcorp Inc.’s Marlin mine in response to concerns raised about the company’s environmental and human rights performance.
But Goldcorp, which denies the allegations, says the suspension process will take time and for now the mine is operating and expects to continue operating.
The allegations — which include drying up and contaminated water sources, negative health effects and a lack of prior consent to the mining — were brought by 18 local Mayan communities to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a branch of the Organization of American States.
Last month, the IACHR asked Guatemala to shut down the mine until it had time to look into the merits of the complaints…
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The following excerpt is from a June 23, 2010 article published by redOrbit.com. To view the article in its entirety, please click here.
Work to augment efforts to clean and protect lake and drinking water from harmful algae blooms.
A team of scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno, DRI, Arizona State University and University of California, Davis has returned from a two-week expedition to Guatemala’s tropical high-mountain Lake Atitlan, where they are working to find solutions to the algae blooms that have assailed the ecosystem and the drinking water source for local residents.
The lake’s water is contaminated with watershed runoff and waste water, which contributes to increased algae growth and suitable conditions for bacteria and pathogens such as, Escherichia coli and Giardia that can proliferate and enter untreated drinking water.
In 2009, the Global Nature Fund designated Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan as its “Threatened Lake of the Year.”
“It was super-productive working with Guatemalan officials, scientists and universities in our capacity building project,” Sudeep Chandra, co-team leader from the University of Nevada’s Department of Natural Resources said. “It’s important to develop a relationship with the locals to coordinate conservation work and build their capacity to find solutions.”…
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The following excerpt is from a June 9, 2010 article published by Reuters. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY
Wed Jun 9, 2010 2:07pm EDT
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Biologists tracking jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle might smell nice but it’s all in the name of science, with researchers finding the Calvin Klein cologne Obession for Men attracts big cats.
Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in the Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.
But they also rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American country.
Click here to read the rest of the article. I truly have no idea how to categorize this one, but let’s call it environment.
The following excerpt is from a May 19, 2010 article published by Reuters. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, Guatemala, May 19 (Reuters) – Mexico and Central America could lose around a third of land suitable to grow coffee as global warming hurts conditions for the best quality beans, a study of regional farms shows.
Specialty arabica coffee, the pride of countries like Guatemala, grows inside a very narrow band of altitude and temperature making it particularly sensitive to small changes in the climate.
At the current rate temperatures are rising, there could be at least a 30 percent net loss in land suitable to farm coffee in Mexico and Central America by 2050 forcing many farmers to turn to different crops, said Peter Laderach, a lead researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture…
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The following excerpt is from a May 16, 2010 article published by IPS News. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY, May 16, 2010 (Tierramérica) – The shortage of resources for law enforcement and high demand from the wealthy countries of the North have left the field wide open in Guatemala for trafficking of wild animals, many of which are endangered, warn experts and environmentalists.
The region of Guatemala most affected by species trafficking is the northern province of Petén, bordering Mexico, where the government declared a 2.1-million-hectare site a protected area in a bid to optimise conservation and restore devastated flora and fauna.
Petén has an area of 35,854 square kilometres and is home to one of the largest tropical forests in the Americas, in addition to numerous archaeological sites of the indigenous Maya culture.
Although there are control systems in place there, Julio Madrid, delegate from the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) in Petén, acknowledged that it is a difficult task because there are just 300 rangers for the entire forest…
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The following excerpt is from an April 30, 2010 article published by Earth Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Guatemala City – Guatemala restricted air traffic Thursday because of ash clouds being spewed by two volcanoes in the Central American country.
The Fuego volcano near the city of Antigua Guatemala had begun erupting Guatemala City – Guatemala restricted air traffic Thursday because of ash clouds being spewed by two volcanoes in the Central American country.
The Fuego volcano near the city of Antigua Guatemala had begun erupting…
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The following excerpt is from a March 28, 2010 article published by the Latin American Herald Tribune. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan environmentalists and authorities launched a campaign Friday to regulate whale- and dolphin-watching in the country’s Pacific waters in order to preserve these species and make sure they thrive.
“With this move we begin putting into practice the regulation of touristic cetacean-watching, which is part of a conservation strategy to use them in a non-lethal manner,” Claudia Molina, spokeswoman for the National Council of Protected Areas, or Conap, told Efe.
The initiative is a combined effort by Conap, the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, the Marine Biology Association and the MonteCarlo Verde Foundation to guarantee the safety of whales and dolphins.
Between November and March, dozens of immense whales swim along the Pacific coastline of Central America, and Guatemala has promoted the whales as a tourist attraction.
The whale-watching regulation, Molina said, is part of this country’s position as a member of the International Whaling Commission, which supports “the non-lethal use of cetaceans.” …
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The following excerpt is from a March 11, 2010 article published by Red Orbit. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Central American shrimp and lobster populations are being threatened by illegal fishing and climate change, experts said on Thursday.
The decline of such species is a huge impact on the two-billion-dollar-a-year fishing industry and could affect as many as 136,000 jobs.
“Pollution and warmer waters are impacting our species,” especially shrimp and lobster, said Mario Gonzalez, director of the Central American Organization of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors (OSPESCA).
…
Members of the Central American Integration System, which includes El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama, have recently banned lobster fishing from March 1 to June 30 with the hope it will give the species a chance to make a comeback, officials said…
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The following excerpt is from a January 28, 2010 article published by Planet Green. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
You’d never know it just from looking, but the new bright orange schoolhouse in Granados, Guatemala has walls built with used plastic bottles—and so much other plastic waste that the team who built it had to go to neighboring villages to collect waste because they used up all the trash in their own.
Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner was inspired to start the project because of the plastic trash that she noticed everywhere in Guatemala, and because schools had classrooms with no walls. So she borrowed the idea of using bottles as a construction material from Pura Vida, and with materials and labor from local businesses as well as help from Hug it Forward, they set to work…
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The following excerpt is from a March 1, 2010 article published by Reuters. Click here to read the article in its entirety.
More coffee drinking coupled with climate change have reduced supplies of beans, producers said at an international conference over the weekend.
“There is already evidence of important changes,” said Nestor Osorio, the head of the International Coffee Organization, which represents 77 countries that export or import beans. “In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries…
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The following excerpt is from an article published by the Rainforest Alliance. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
For Manfredo Lippman, whose family has owned Finca Ona since 1966, coffee farming is as much about people and the environment as it is about growing the aromatic bean. His estate farm in northwest Guatemala provides employment, education and basic healthcare to hundreds of families, whereas the streams that run through it supply drinking water to the city of Coatepeque, and its more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of protected forest are home to an array of wildlife. Lippman’s commitment to community and ecology were essential for getting Finca Ona Rainforest Alliance Certified, which distinguishes farms that comply with a strict social and environmental standard.
The Rainforest Alliance, an international organization that works to protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use practices and consumer behavior, has certified thousands of coffee farms in a dozen countries together with its partners in the Sustainable Agriculture Network. During the four decades since the Lippman family purchased Finca Ona, which was founded in 1850, Manfredo and his daughter, Margaret de Vila, have introduced a series of innovations to make the farm a better place to work and live. They built and support a school with six teachers and a health post with a full-time nurse. They also maintain four soccer fields and provide uniforms and transportation for the local team, which has won 40 trophies.
The most obvious innovation, however, is the modified ski lift…
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The following excerpt is from a February 26, 2010 article by The Abundance Farming Project (AFP), and hosted by Google News. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY — Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.
“There is already evidence of important changes” said Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which represents 77 countries that export or import the beans.
“In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before,” he said.
Sipped by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, coffee is one of the globe’s most important commodities, and a major mainstay of exports for countries from Brazil to Indonesia.
But producers meeting in Guatemala this week are in a state of panic over the impact of warming on their livelihoods…
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The following excerpt is from a February 22, 2010 article published in the Los Angeles Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
SG Biofuels on Monday revealed a proprietary variety of the jatropha curcas plant that the Encinitas-based company said will yield more oil at a more profitable rate.
The newly launched JMax 100 has traits that make it optimal for harvesting in Guatemala, said the company, which also said it will produce 100% more oil than existing jatropha varieties.
JMax 100 will also be more than 300% more profitable than current commercial varieties, SG said, able to produce more than 350 gallons per acre at $1.39 per gallon.
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The following excerpt is from a February 18, 2010 article published by AudubonMagazine.org. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Last week, I returned from a Guatemalan birding extravaganza, the likes of which I’ve never before experienced, with four solid days—5 a.m. starts, sporadic meals, hours of fantastic bird watching—in a country smaller than the state of Tennessee. I personally saw 102 different species, 83 I’d never encountered, and at least a dozen I’d never even heard of.
But to be honest, that was nothing. My spotting paled in comparison to that of my companions, some of the most-skilled birders I’ve ever been out with; several broke the century mark for species spotted in one day.
We spent the entire trip—put on by the Guatemala Tourism Board, INGUAT, and several first-rate tour operators —in the southwestern part of this country of 13 million that, in addition to Spanish, boasts 23 officially recognized Mayan languages…
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Here is an article on recent support of Guatemala by the European Union (EU) to the tune of 33.8 million Euros.
“Guatemala City. The EU new initiative supports the five strategic objectives of the Strategic Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (PESAN, Plan Estratégico de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional) from 2009-2012 and will benefit the entire Guatemalan population, with particular attention to the most vulnerable rural population. The donation of the European Union for this program amounts to 33.8 million Euros (about 400 million quetzals).”
What I appreciate most about this EU effort is its focus on preventing future food crises rather than simply alleviating current problems in the form of food subsidies. The ultimate goal, of course, is sustainable food safety and nutrition in Guatemala, which is key to a larger public health initiative.
Please click here for the article.
To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Look for a profile on Farmer to Farmer in the next few days!
Sunday, January 10, 2010 7:06 AM CST
For THE NEWS
GLENWOOD CITY – As economies struggle around the globe, one small, Wisconsin-based nonprofit is gearing up to increase its support of small coffee growers in Latin America.
Farmer to Farmer began importing high quality, shade-grown coffee from the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala in 2000, a time when coffee prices had plummeted worldwide. This year, the organization expanded its offerings to include a line of certified organic Honduran coffee, and it is exploring a source for certified organic, Guatemalan beans.
Farmer to Farmer has recently contracted with Cari Witcher of Downsville, to help market the coffee directly and through retailers. A long-time member and former board member, Witcher’s enthusiasm for and knowledge about the organization and its coffee project have been enhanced by her five visits to Guatemala with other Farmer to Farmer members.
Greater, more reliable income
The group’s goal is to significantly increase sales in order to support more small farmers in Latin America with a fair price for their coffee. Being able to count on a higher price gives these families an income security they would not otherwise have. World coffee prices are around 60 to 70 cents per pound, and fair trade certification requires a minimum payment to growers of $1.26 per pound, $1.41 minimum for certified organic (www.globalexchange.org).
Farmer to Farmer pays $2.07 to $2.50 per pound to the grower or to the cooperative of growers. Because the street price for coffee fluctuates daily, this fixed price is very important to the growers and can be nearly three times what they might receive on the open market.
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The following is an excerpt from an article published on December 29, 2009 in Brunei FM World News. To read the article in full, please click here.
GUATEMALA, Dec 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – A unit known as the National Coordinating Cell of the Euro Solar Programme (CNC) was created in Guatemala.
Official paper El Diario de Centro America reported that unit created by the Energy and Mine Ministry would encourage solar energy generation, mainly in the rural area.
The paper said that the government stressed the importance of electrifying the country, as stated in the constitution, with state and private sector involvement.
The government will also boost the use of new, renewable sources of energy, as well as their rational use and to attain energy self-sufficiency in the country.
The programme will be sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Public Health and Social Security thus allowing rural populations to access solar energy for community use, the text reads.
To read the remainder of this article, please click here.
The following excerpt is from a November 29, 2009 article published by Time.com. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
By Ezra Fieser
In his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay, Aldous Huxley compared Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan to Italy’s Lake Como. The Italian body of water, he wrote, “touches the limit of the permissibly picturesque.” Atitlan, however, “is Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It is really too much of a good thing.” Guatemalans have interpreted this declaration by the author of Brave New World to mean that Lake Atitlan is the most beautiful lake in the world — which is the billing on most of the tourist brochures, despite Huxley’s ambivalent phrasing.
Atitlan is indeed breathtaking, but nowadays it is leaving many visitors gasping for breath. A thick brown sludge is tarnishing its once blue waters. It is the result of decades of ecological imbalance, brought on by economic and demographic pressures. The unsightly and smelly layer, more than 100 feet deep in some areas, is chasing tourists away from Mayan towns in the area and posing huge cleanup expenses to a government already strapped for cash. Worse, the results of a University of California, Davis, analysis found that the bacteria is toxic. Scientists are urging residents to avoid cooking with, bathing in or drinking the water. Several towns get drinking water from the lake.
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