Milagros Salazar
LIMA, Nov 22 2007 (IPS) – The Mantaro river basin, one of the main water sources in Peru s central Andes mountains, is a dump for toxic substances, according to an independent scientific study. Lead levels, for instance, are 180 times higher than those accepted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The study shows that the river basin is a veritable sewer, containing cyanide, lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, used in mining, coliform bacteria from human waste, and nitrates from agrochemicals.
The pollution has multiple causes, Iván Lanegra, natural resources and environment manager for the regional government of Junín, told IPS. He has signed an agreement to implement urgent measures with the local social organisations that produced the report.…
Steven Lang
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 2 2008 (IPS) – The South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has narrowly missed one of its most important targets, aimed at improving sanitation for the country #39s poorest people but plans to make up the remaining ground soon.
In his State of the Nation address in February 2006, President Thabo Mbeki said, we must completely eradicate, in the established settlements, the bucket toilets by the end of 2007.
His target has been met in six of the country #39s nine provinces. In the Free State, North West and Eastern Cape, the deadline for doing so has been extended to the end of March.
Bucket toilets are nothing more than plain buckets used to collect human waste from residences that do not have flushing toilets. The …
David Vargas
ASUNCION, Feb 6 2008 (IPS) – As health authorities in Paraguay brace themselves to face another possible outbreak of dengue fever, critics are becoming more outspoken about the limited effectiveness of campaigns to prevent the disease, which affected over 28,000 people and caused 17 deaths in 2007.
Credit:
Concern is rising with the mounting numbers of cases of suspected dengue, which in the space of a week multiplied from 40 to over 200.
However, so far the Health Ministry has officially confirmed only two dengue cases, while further results are awaited for another 15 blood samples which preliminary laboratory tests …
Alicia Fraerman
MADRID, Apr 15 2008 (IPS) – Failure to inform the authorities and take safety measures after a radioactive leak at a Spanish nuclear plant nearly five months ago has alarmed people in nearby towns, environmentalists and civil society organisations.
One of Spain s eight nuclear power plants at Ascó, a village in the northeastern region of Catalonia, leaked radioactivity on Nov. 29, 2007, but those responsible failed to inform nearby residents, thus preventing them from taking remedial action to protect themselves.
The Spanish branch of environmental watchdog Greenpeace International, which on Apr. 5 was the first to report publicly that the leak had taken place, said on Tuesday that among the protective measures that had been omitted because of the pla…
Julio Godoy* – Tierramérica
BONN, May 29 2008 (IPS) – The medicinal or nutritional properties of many plants can give rise to enormous economic benefits, which put patents for naturally existing plants at the centre of an ethical, commercial and legal debate.
A Buddhist monk and traditional healer in Thailand. Credit: Photo Stock
One example is the Hoodia gordonii bush, which grows in arid regions with high saline soils, such as the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa. For centuries, indigenous peoples of Botswana, Nami…
Miriam Mannak
ACCRA, Sep 5 2008 (IPS) – The ecological impact of natural resource exploitation on the lives of the poor in Africa and other regions is not being addressed sufficiently in aid effectiveness and development discussions, aid experts say.
Africa is known as one of the richest parts of the world when it comes to natural resources, yet it is also the poorest region despite the natural wealth and the aid flow, said Charles Mutasa, executive director of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) a Zimbabwe-based NGO working on Africa s debt problem.
Mutasa was participating in a discussion at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF3), which took place in the Ghanaian capital of Accra from September 2-4.
The ecologica…
Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Oct 30 2008 (IPS) – The Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) at the University of Chile has detected genetically modified organisms in four samples of conventional maize grown near fields where transgenic maize seeds are being produced for export.
These results are extremely serious. The question is, who will take responsibility? Who will pay for this contamination? María Isabel Manzur of the non-governmental Sustainable Societies Foundation (FSS), which along with the Sustainable Chile Programme contracted INTA to analyse 30 maize samples, told IPS.
The maize contaminated with genetically modified (GM) organisms is sold in Chile as corn on the cob, seeds and animal feed.
GM crops are created in laboratories by insertin…
Kristin Palitza
MTHATHA, South Africa, Dec 24 2008 (IPS) – Sonwabo Qathula puts on his apron and starts peeling a pile of butternuts, while a pot of rice boils on the stove next to him. The 50-year-old is preparing lunch for poor and orphaned children who attend a rural school in the Eastern Cape.
Qathula is one of a group of men breaking gender stereotypes and ea…
Pilirani Semu-Banda
LILONGWE, Mar 23 2009 (IPS) – Malawi does not have accurate statistics that define the extent of tuberculosis (TB) cases within its borders, and there are fears that only half of those infected with the disease are able to access testing and treatment.
Women line up to have their children tested for TB at a district hospital in Mchinji, Malawi. Credit: Pilirani Semu-Banda/IPS
Technical ad…
Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Apr 24 2009 (IPS) – As results of South Africa s fourth democratic elections held on Apr. 22 come in, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is poised to return to power in the 400 seat National Assembly. The party is also on course to emerge as the governing party in all but one of the nine provinces. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is likely to take the Western Cape.
Buoyed by early voting trends, thousands of ANC supporters descended on the Johannesburg city centre for a celebration rally on Thursday. ANC president Jacob Zuma, who will become his country s fourth president since the 1994 election ushered Nelson Mandela into office, paid tribute to the party faithful.
This is for us to thank volunteers who went doo…