CARACAS - A half million hectares of forests have disappeared in Venezuela every year since 1990, an average equivalent to the destruction of nearly one hectare a minute, according to a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The leading causes of deforestation in Venezuela are urban growth and the expansion of farms and ranches.

The non-governmental organization Vitalis predicts that forest coverage in this country will be less than 10 percent within 40 to 50 years.

RIO DE JANEIRO - The people of Brazil, required by the government to reduce electricity consumption by 20 percent because of the nation's energy crisis, are replacing incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, which use 70 percent less electricity but pose a threat to public health.

Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which at high concentrations can affect the human nervous system. Mercury can be ingested through inhalation or through the consumption of contaminated water or food.

Brazil last year recycled only five percent of the 40 million fluorescent lightbulbs purchased. This year, there will be many more of these bulbs used, but no measures have been implemented for their disposal, as has been done in the case of other potentially harmful items such as cellular telephone batteries and agro-chemical products.

SANTIAGO - The collapse of the Chilean capital's largest garbage dump has forced authorities to seek a new site for the 4,000 tons of waste produced daily by the 21 municipalities of south-central Santiago, home to 3.2 million people.

The Metropolitan Enterprise for Solid Waste (Emeres) must resolve the location of the new dump by the end of June. The Lepanto sanitary landfill, south of the capital, is no longer useable, and has become an environmental hazard because the runoff from the garbage could reach the water reservoirs used for crop irrigation.

Emeres, owned by the municipalities of the Metropolitan Region, must find a site that does not prompt protests by local residents, a difficult task given that nobody wants to live near a garbage dump.

LIMA - The mayors and town councilors of 23 districts in Lima signed a commitment on June 5, World Environment Day, to implement joint actions for preserving the environment.

The document commits the signatories to coordinate with the Health Ministry, under the auspices of the Pan-American Health Organization, ecological action programs in their respective districts and to promote projects to raise environmental awareness among the population.

Among the actions officials will be taking in the Lima municipalities is the monitoring of the disposal of contaminating agents in their respective jurisdictions