BUENOS AIRES - The Argentine government has given a company permission to log 1,000 hectares of the northwestern Las Yungas jungle, an area that UNESCO declared a biosphere reserve in 2002.

Las Yungas, which extends through the provinces of Jujuy and Salta, holds half of Argentina's biological diversity, though it covers just two percent of national territory. It is home to the largest wildcat in the western hemisphere, the yaguareté and more than 60 percent of the country's bird species.

More than 500 local and international experts agree that if deforestation of Las Yungas is not stopped, this jungle will disappear in 2008.

LIMA - The Peruvian Amazon is suffering major environmental deterioration as a result of the production and trafficking of cocaine, said experts gathered for a seminar in the central-west city of Pucallpa, in the heart of the illegal drug production area.

In Peru, some 36,000 hectares are cultivated with illegal crops, and to plant one hectare of coca bush, the raw material of cocaine, four to five hectares of forest are burned, says David Lluncor, head of the National Ucayali University, which hosted the seminar.

Other experts reported that the chemicals needed to produce the cocaine paste end up contaminating the soil and rivers, and that of the 2.3 million hectares of Amazon forest destroyed in the last few years, 25 percent were for coca production.

MONTEVIDEO - Public and private entities in Uruguay are working to revitalize abandoned industrial areas of the capital, building housing for low-income families and encouraging economic activity.

Efforts will focus on the districts of La Teja, in the western part of Montevideo, and Maroñas, in the northeast, which have suffered from the industrial recession that began in the 1980s. There are many large abandoned or underutilized buildings with urban services available, architect Juan Carlos Mántaras, of the Architects Society of Uruguay, told Tierramérica.

Also contributing to the project are the Ministry of Housing and the Chamber of Industries, among others.

MONTEVIDEO - Public and private entities in Uruguay are working to revitalize abandoned industrial areas of the capital, building housing for low-income families and encouraging economic activity.

Efforts will focus on the districts of La Teja, in the western part of Montevideo, and Maroñas, in the northeast, which have suffered from the industrial recession that began in the 1980s. There are many large abandoned or underutilized buildings with urban services available, architect Juan Carlos Mántaras, of the Architects Society of Uruguay, told Tierramérica.

Also contributing to the project are the Ministry of Housing and the Chamber of Industries, among others.

SANTIAGO - Organizations from Canada, United States and Australia have called on Chilean President Ricardo Lagos to halt the Alumysa-Noranda project, which plans to build an aluminum processing plant in the country's southern Patagonia region.

"It is a destructive investment," say environmentalists in a letter sent to Lagos and to Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien in mid-July.

The project is to build six dams and three hydroelectric plants that would flood 10,000 hectares and the habitat of 23 species that are targeted for conservation. It would also produce 1.5 million tons of waste that would harm the fragile and pristine Patagonia ecosystem, according to Mining Watch, International Rivers Network, American Lands Alliance and other signatories.

TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran parliament is studying a bill that would reward municipalities that promote care of the local environment.

Fomenting "green municipalities", as the initiative is known, would provide incentives for the 289 local governments in Honduras to integrate conservation programs in their policies, lawmaker Juan Orlando Hernández, one of the project's proponents, told Tierramérica.

The proposal comes on the heels of a new forestry law under parliamentary discussion. Massive protests about the destruction of forests in the departments of Olancho, Santa Bárbara and Valle have put pressure on the legislators.

SAN JOSE - An initiative aimed at including an "environmental guarantees" chapter to the Costa Rican constitution, establishing the state's obligation to preserve the environment, could be approved by the legislature now in session, say activists.

Gabriel Quesada, president of the Costa Rican Ecological Movement, told Tierramérica that the proposal that his group presented before parliament has the backing of 47 of the 57 legislative deputies.

A chapter dedicated to environmental guarantees is essential for paving the way for a new national ecological order, says Quesada.

GUATEMALA CITY - A literacy campaign geared towards environmental conservation, with a primer titled "Madre Tierra" (Mother Earth), will get underway next year, says Francisco Moscoso, director of the National Literacy Committee (CONALFA).

"The reading primer has two objectives: to teach students to read and write using ecological terminology and to achieve a change in attitude among students towards preserving the environment," he told Tierramérica.

A thousand copies of the book are being reviewed by education officials in the country's 331 municipalities "to adapt the terminology to each community."

Some 200,000 copies will be printed for the campaign aimed at reducing the illiteracy rate. Of the 11.2 million Guatemalans, 29.5 percent do not know how to read and write, said Moscoso.