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  • Brazilian Export of Organic Produce

    Sunday, January 11th, 2009

    Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry (MAPA) reports that between August 2006 and September 2008 Brazil exported 37,000 metric tons of organic produce worth about US$26.7 million, 32% of it to The Netherlands, 15% to Switzerland, 12% to the US and 7% to the UK.  Over half (56%) of the exports were organic soy.  Organic exports in 2007 […]

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    A Unique GEO for MEROSUR

    Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

    Last 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 […]

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    Brazil Now Third Largest Biodiesel Producer

    Sunday, August 24th, 2008

    Synopsis in English: The Brazilian Presidency proudly proclaims that Brazil is now the third largest producer of biodeisel behind Germany and the US. Brazil now has 41 biodiesel production plants in commercial operation and 52 plants in the process of getting authorization from the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (Agência Nacional de Petróleo, […]

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    Farm Animal Production and Climate Change

    Monday, June 23rd, 2008

    The May issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, the peer-reviewed monthly research journal of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), featured an article* on the contribution of farm animal production to climate change. Although the article does not focus just on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), given the importance of farm animal […]

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    The Outlook for Biodiesel in Central America

    Sunday, October 14th, 2007

    The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/CEPAL) recently released a report* it commissioned from a consultant that evaluates the prospects for biodiesel development in Central America generally, and individually in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  All four nations have expressed strong interest in replacing imported fossil fuels with locally […]

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    A Call for a Reality Check on Biofuel

    Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

    If you listen to their proponents, biofuels are the answer to many environmental, energy and economic ills and can do no wrong.  They are destined to unseat OPEC and free us all from hydrocarbon dependence. If you listen to their detractors, biofuels are a sham that may bring environmental disaster and servitude to multinational corporations, […]

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    Combatting Deforestation II: Agriculture and Forests

    Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

    When I launched my series on deforestation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) many months ago, I said I’d try to address different facets of the question in separate posts. My first tackled the question of just how serious is deforestation across LAC. Today, a look at the interface between agriculture, poverty and deforestation. […]

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    The Odd Couple: Greenpeace and McDonald’s

    Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

    Interesting article in yesterday’s Washington Post. It describes how Greenpeace started out attacking McDonald’s for “complicity” in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, but ended out teaming with McD’s to pressure Cargill and Brazilian soy traders into adopting a moratorium on soy from newly deforested lands. Just the accompanying picture of Greenpeace activists and McD’s execs […]

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