Plight of Bolivian lake adds urgency to watershed plan

January 2016

Region

Latin American cities seen as key in climate fight

As global leaders shift gears from diplomacy to the implementation of the Paris climate change agreement, many Latin American mayors are preparing to pursue an ......

Argentina—Chile

In Tierra del Fuego, beavers seem all too at home

In 1946, twenty-five breeding pairs of beavers (Castor canadensis) were transported by plane from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, the windswept archipelago that Chile and ......

Ecuador

Back from Paris, Correa faulted for oil deals

Speaking at the recent world climate conference in Paris, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called for the creation of an international court to mete out justice ......

Costa Rica

Costa Rica pushing for low-carbon coffee

For those accustomed to getting their morning jolt from a cup of coffee, climate change is about to become a major buzzkill. According to a ......

Brazil

Studies gauge forest impact of settlements

New research suggests that government-authorized agrarian settlements in the Brazilian Amazon account for a growing share of that region’s deforestation, a conclusion sure to fuel ......

Around the Region

Work to begin on Bolivian center for nuclear research

Despite environmental and public health concerns, Bolivia’s government is starting construction in March of a US$300 million nuclear research center, part of a plan to ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

For this El Niño, region was better prepared

The major El Niño that has been brewing in the Pacific Ocean since 2014 has been parching parts of the Peruvian Andes, flooding neighborhoods in ......

Q&A

Sarayaku leader vows to fight Ecuadorian oil projects

Félix Santi, 35, is president of Sarayaku, an indigenous Quechua territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Born in Sayaquillo, a village of 225, and with a ......

Plight of Bolivian lake adds urgency to watershed plan

Poopó, long Bolivia’s second largest lake, dried out almost completely in December, reduced to wetlands of under one square kilometer (0.39 sq mile) scattered on the floor of a sun-baked basin that once contained a 2,300-square-kilometer (888-sq-mile) aquatic expanse. A report issued on Dec. 17 by Carlos Ortuño, Bolivia’s Vice Minister of Water and Irrigation, blames climate change, growing farm-sector demand for water and problems associated with sedimentation of the Desaguadero River, which brings water to Poopó from Titicaca, Bolivia’s largest lake. Lake Poopó, located in Bolivia’s Oruro Department, has a long history of pollution problems caused largely by decades of disposal in the water body of untreated liquid waste from nearby mines. The resulting water-quality concerns prompted... [Log in to read more]

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January 2016

Region

Latin American cities seen as key in climate fight

As global leaders shift gears from diplomacy to the implementation of the Paris climate change agreement, many Latin American mayors are preparing to pursue an ......

Argentina—Chile

In Tierra del Fuego, beavers seem all too at home

In 1946, twenty-five breeding pairs of beavers (Castor canadensis) were transported by plane from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, the windswept archipelago that Chile and ......

Ecuador

Back from Paris, Correa faulted for oil deals

Speaking at the recent world climate conference in Paris, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called for the creation of an international court to mete out justice ......

Costa Rica

Costa Rica pushing for low-carbon coffee

For those accustomed to getting their morning jolt from a cup of coffee, climate change is about to become a major buzzkill. According to a ......

Brazil

Studies gauge forest impact of settlements

New research suggests that government-authorized agrarian settlements in the Brazilian Amazon account for a growing share of that region’s deforestation, a conclusion sure to fuel ......

Around the Region

Work to begin on Bolivian center for nuclear research

Despite environmental and public health concerns, Bolivia’s government is starting construction in March of a US$300 million nuclear research center, part of a plan to ......

Centerpiece (Free Read)

For this El Niño, region was better prepared

The major El Niño that has been brewing in the Pacific Ocean since 2014 has been parching parts of the Peruvian Andes, flooding neighborhoods in ......

Q&A

Sarayaku leader vows to fight Ecuadorian oil projects

Félix Santi, 35, is president of Sarayaku, an indigenous Quechua territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Born in Sayaquillo, a village of 225, and with a ......