Environment

• Friday, January 13th 2012 - 21:02 UTC

  Trade of illegal pesticides booming in Europe under control of organized crime

  

  The trade of illegal and counterfeit pesticides is proliferating in Europe reports Europol. The exceptional ‘low risk – high profit’ margin, combined with the lack of harmonisation in legislation and implementation, make this a fast growing area of organised crime.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:30 UTC

  Argentine farm leader says Agriculture minister is not qualified and knows little about droughts

  

  An Argentine farmers’ leader said that Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar who tried to downplay the seriousness of the current drought for crops, “is not qualified for the job, plus knows very little about droughts”.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:24 UTC

  Chilean Patagonia in the 2012 top ten travel destinations of the New York Times

  

  Chile has been included in the New York Times’ list of top travel destinations in 2012, with Chilean Patagonia in 8th place, and Chiloé in 37th place out of a total of 45.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:59 UTC

  Chile preparing forest restoration plan for ravaged areas of Torres del Paine Park

  

  As emergency workers finish extinguishing the last traces of fire in Torres del Paine National Park, now the Chilean government is beginning to look at the next critical phase in handling the disaster in Chile’s world-famous adventure destination.

• Monday, January 9th 2012 - 06:49 UTC

  Argentine Farming emergency committee meets this week to address extreme drought

  

  The Argentine Agriculture Ministry has summoned the Committee on Farming Emergency and anticipated it would engage in “surgical work” in order to reach “all areas of the farming sector” suffering from extreme drought.

• Monday, January 9th 2012 - 06:47 UTC

  Chile buries seven fire-fighters; strong suspicion of criminal intent in forest fires

  

  The home of a Mapuche Indian leader in Chile was destroyed in a suspicious blaze in an area ravaged by forest fires, which officials say may have been caused by radical indigenous activists.

• Sunday, January 8th 2012 - 05:10 UTC

  Shrinking sea ice cover in north Canada threatening seal population, says report

  Shrinking sea ice cover in the North Atlantic over the past three decades due to warming has led to a “dramatic” spike in deaths among seal pups, a new US study says, offering a glimpse into a population issue while numbers are still abundant.

• Friday, January 6th 2012 - 07:12 UTC

  “Ninja” patrol vessel joins the annual Antarctic dispute with Japanese whalers

  

  The Sea Shepherd flagship ‘Steve Irwin’ was shadowed by a Japanese security vessel as it escorted the badly damaged Brigitte Bardot to Fremantle for repairs, the anti-whaling group says.

• Friday, January 6th 2012 - 07:05 UTC

  Chile’s forest regions on fire; six fire fighters killed; Piñera to apply anti terror legislation

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera invoked anti-terror legislation after at least six fire-fighters died in a wildfire he believes was started deliberately.

• Friday, January 6th 2012 - 06:45 UTC

  Heavy rains and mudslides threaten Rio do Janeiro; 35.000 residents displaced

  

  Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state placed emergency teams on maximum alert as heavy rains that have displaced 35.000 residents were forecast to continue, reviving fears of mudslides and flooding that killed about 900 people last year.