FONTAGRO to Fund IDB Studies on Climate Change Impact on Agriculture
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009From the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):
FONTAGRO extends agreement with IDB
The Bank will manage the Fund until 2011 and finance climate change impact studies
The Inter-American Development Bank and the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (FONTAGRO, for its initials in Spanish) have extended until 2011 their agreement whereby the IDB will continue to manage the Fund, [...]
Improving Water and Sanitation in Paraguay / Mejorar servicios de agua y saneamiento en Paraguay
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009From the World Bank:
Paraguay: WB Approves US$64 Million to Improve Water, Sanitation for Most Vulnerable
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$64 million loan to increase the efficiency, coverage and sustainability of water and sanitation services in Paraguay. The project will directly benefit almost 17 percent of Paraguayans, especially the most vulnerable [...]
SEAM Proposes Supermarket Role in Changing Waste Management
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009Paraguay’s Environment Minister José Luis Casaccia met with representatives of the Paraguayan Chamber of Supermarkets (CAPASU) to push for all supermarkets in the country to
promote the use of reusable cloth bags for carrying away the products they buy, rather than polyethylene bags, which the Environment Secretariat (SEAM) considers a major sort of litter in the [...]
Bolivia Bans Dozens of Pesticides, Activists Call for Rest of LAC to Follow
Monday, February 2nd, 2009At the close of the meeting of the Latin American section of the Pesticide Action Network (known by its Spanish acronym RAP-AL) in La Paz last week, host country Bolivia announced that it was banning all pesticides with active ingredients classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as extremely (Class 1a) or highly (Class 1b) [...]
Eradicating an Ancient Disease
Monday, January 26th, 2009Leprosy.
What images does that word invoke for you? The stories of ostracized lepers from the Bible, Torah or Koran? The scenes involving isolated “leper colonies” from Papillon or Motorcycle Diaries?
How much do you know about it? Is it very contagious? (No.) Is it curable? (Yes.) Hasn’t it disappeared except for isolated [...]
The Ecoclubs Movement in Latin America and the Caribbean
Friday, January 2nd, 2009A couple of years back, while I was working on a series of posts for the Green Team about Dominican cities attempting to come to grips with their litter problems, I ran into some local news posts about how the mayor of La Vega attributed some of his success in cleaning up that city to [...]
MERCOSUR Adopts Guidelines on Promotion, Advertising & Marketing of Pharmaceuticals
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008I’ve said here many times that Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations tend to take seriously the recommendations, guidelines and other soft norms of the World Health Organization (WHO) on any issue involving public health and/or the environment, and I’ve tried to provide a few examples where WHO work has translated into national laws and [...]
A Unique GEO for MEROSUR
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Last month a GEO for the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR or MERCOSUL) was finally unveiled with much fanfare by representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the meeting of MERCOSUR Environment Ministers.
What’s a GEO? It’s probably the best known type of comprehensive environmental diagnosis available. “GEO” was the acronym for “Global Environment [...]
RIACT Focuses on Smoke-Free Environments
Thursday, December 25th, 2008Recently the Ibero-American Tobacco Control Network (Rede Ibero-Americana de Controle do Tabagismo - RIACT) held in Rio de Janerio its first full-fledged meeting since its creation in 2007. Attending the two-day meeting were representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The [...]
Progress Towards the Health MDGs in LAC / Progreso hacia los ODM relacionado con la salud en ALC
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently 14 United Nations (UN) agencies* released a report (English, Spanish) reviewing the status of efforts of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations toward meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The report addresses the following health-specific MDGs:
reducing the under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015;
reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 3/4 between 1990 [...]





















