In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Scientists have for long propagated that breast feeding is perfect for babies and fulfils their total nutritional requirements for the first six months. Realising its importance, Brazil has launched several campaigns to promote breast feeding. There are six lactation training and resource centres in the country. The Lactation Training Programme …
Arecibo, the world's most powerful radar and radio telescope, has been upgraded with new instruments. It has a 305-metre dish that is placed in the crater of an extinct volcano in Puerto Rico. Arecibo has been fitted with a dual-mirror system to collect and focus signals that come from the …
one of the largest proposed infrastructure projects in South America - the Hidrovia Paraguay-Parana river navigation project - has received a setback with an independent panel of experts concluding that its current designs and evaluations are fundamentally flawed. A press release signed by Aleta Brown, campaign associate for the California-based …
Of late, jazzy terms like 'natural product' (for a traditional herbal drink), 'bio-yoghurts', 'super eco' (for unleaded gasolene) and 'natural supermarkets' have invaded the 'mercosur' trading block (comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) of Latin America. Ecologically-inclined slogans like "Protect the environment, fix your sidewalk" put up by a cleaning …
IN SPITE of stringent laws and regulations, illegal timber trade is flourishing in South American Countries. Investigations carried out by the Amsterdam-based Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) in Brazil, Cameroon and Paraguay have revealed that rampant illegal logging not only continues to threaten sustainable forest management, but also creates …
Annual emissions of anthropogenic Hg to the atmosphere in different regions of the world during the last decade show an interesting dichotomy: the emissions in the developed countries increased at the rate of about 4.5–5.5% yr−1 up to 1989 and have since remained nearly constant, while in developing countries the …
THE anaconda - the world's largest snake - carries the notorious reputation in folklore of being a monstrous, man-eating reptile that exhumes poisonous gases. It is also known to hypnotise its human victims. The species (Eunectes murinus) is found throughout South America's Orinoco and Amazon river basins. Scientists are now …
For two centuries, an unusual bird had been kept in wrong company. The hoatzin of South America, the only bird species to have a ruminant digestive system like a cow, was placed in the order Galliformes which includes pheasants, chickens and other birds with heavy bodies. However, a group of …
Planet earth's unhappy rendezvous with deadly viruses contin- ues unabated: this time it is the mosquito-borne dengue. The outbreak has occured in Central America and Mexico's southern states. Dengue is caused by 4 viruses spread largely by the JAedes aegypti mosquito. "It's becoming endemic to many areas in the American …
The great Pantanal--the world's largest wetlands, located in South America--is running a grave risk, warns the World Wildlife Fund (wwf). It would fall victim to a gradual process of desertification if the proposed Hidrovia Waterways project is allowed to come up. The US $1.3 billion project would join the Parana …
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Latin American countries are now equipped with a cheap and effective remedy to keep cholera under check, thanks to the researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (Science, Vol 265, No 5171). Cholera has been the primary epidemic in Latin America since 1991. The pestilence spreads …
IT'S DARK, almost midnight, and in the darkness a torch flashes light over the dark waters of Paraguay. The global detective is lying in waiting for the crime to take place. All is silent except for the gentle sound of the waves. Then, in the space of a second, the …
IT NEEDS little imagination to realise that a degraded environment undermines human health. But the linkage between a deteriorating environment, economy and increased health vulnerability needs to be seriously examined. Of still greater importance is the necessity to integrate health interventions with local needs to reverse the downward spiral. The …
IN 1993, the seasonal ozone destruction over the polar region of the southern hemisphere started earlier than ever before -- early in August. Record low values of total ozone were registered at Antarctic stations for several days in late September. One extremity of the slightly elliptical ozone "hole" again passed …
EFFORTS of environmentalists to block a vast waterways scheme linking the Parana and the Paraguay rivers in South America have elicited promises from project officials that a full-scale environmental impact study will be conducted first and the project would be abandoned if its damage potential was rated high. Environmentalists, however, …
AFTER the Green Revolution, the next great leap forward in food production is predicted to be in the cerrado region of South America, a grassy area covering more than 200 million ha. This exceeds the total cultivated land in India. Unfortunately, much of the cerrado soil is acidic and, until …
AN OFFER by Latin American banana growers for a dialogue has been eagerly accepted by their Caribbean rivals and discussions scheduled in St Lucia hopefully will dampen the dispute between them, triggered by banana import quotas fixed recently by the European Community (EC). The cause of acrimony between the two …
CARIBBEAN banana producers have challenged the review to be undertaken by a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) panel to examine European Community restrictions imposed on the fruit's import from Latin America. The review was proposed by Latin American countries, whose bananas are cheaper, and seeks to do away …
