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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, September 21st 2024 - 08:59 UTC

Environment

  • Friday, September 20th 2024 - 10:06 UTC

    Water deficit places Ecuador under “red alert”

    Some 77,000 troops were deployed to protect Ecuador's key sites during nighttime blackouts

    A red alert has been declared in several parts of Ecuador hit by an unprecedented drought that resulted among other things in mass power cuts in a country already hit by spreading forest fires.

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  • Tuesday, September 17th 2024 - 10:40 UTC

    Uruguayan Air Force C-130 back from firefighting mission in Paraguay

    The FAU aircraft dropped US-developed “Guardian” boxed with 1,000 liters of water each

    A Uruguayan Air Force (FAU) Hercules C-130 four-engined turboprop aircraft landed back in Montevideo Monday after participating in a firefighting mission in Paraguay. The cooperation consisted mainly of dropping firefighting boxes in the northern Paraguayan Chaco where over 180,000 hectares were engulfed by the flames.

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  • Tuesday, September 17th 2024 - 10:37 UTC

    At least 15 dead in Peruvian forest fires

    Efforts from ill-equipped local communities are not enough. Help from Lima and abroad is very much needed

    At least 15 people have died as a result of uncontrollable forest fires that have affected 22 of Peru's 24 departments. Peru's National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci) said that the departments of Cuzco, Cajamarca, Huancavelica, and Huánuco were the worst affected areas. In the Amazonas region, authorities are already talking of a “catastrophe” in the midst of a historic drought after three months without rain.

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  • Monday, September 16th 2024 - 14:51 UTC

    Brazil gripped by “climate terrorism,” says Minister Silva

    There are people acting deliberately to create chaos in Brazil, Silva stressed

    South America's largest country is going through a wave of 21st Century “terrorism” which capitalizes on the high temperatures and low humidity to set large areas on fire damaging people's health, biodiversity and destroying forests, Climate Change Minister Marina Silva sqaid Sunday, Agencia Brasil reported. The official referred to this phenomenon as “climate terrorism.”

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  • Saturday, September 14th 2024 - 09:28 UTC

    Bolivian President to oversee firefighting efforts in Beni

    “Tomorrow our brother President Luis Arce will be present in the Benian capital,” Defense Minister Novillo explained

    Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora will personally oversee firefighting and relief efforts in the department of Beni, where eight of the 19 municipalities are affected by the dense smoke caused by the environmental crisis. Arce will arrive Saturday in the city of Trinidad, the capital of the department where the presence of a Venezuelan team of 61 firefighters and other types of humanitarian aid are also expected.

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  • Thursday, September 12th 2024 - 10:27 UTC

    G20 team approves 10 principles on bioeconomy

    “Our purpose today is to establish guiding principles that will serve as a basis for the development of the bioeconomy,” said Brazilian Climate Change Minister Marina Silva

    A G20 team conferring in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the November Summit bringing together the 20 largest economies in the world, agreed Wednesday on ten principles regarding bioeconomy developments globally, Agencia Brasil reported. The G20 Bioeconomy Initiative (GIB) reached a historic consensus.

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  • Thursday, September 12th 2024 - 10:18 UTC

    Further international help arrives in Bolivia amid unstoppable fires

    We appreciate these important gestures of solidarity from friendly countries,” Arce wrote on social media

    Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora Wednesday announced the arrival in the next few hours of firefighting teams from Venezuela, Uruguay, and Peru to combat the current crisis. “On behalf of the Bolivian people, we appreciate these important gestures of solidarity from friendly countries,” Arce wrote on social media.

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  • Wednesday, September 11th 2024 - 09:57 UTC

    Brazil: Lula announces creation of National Climate Authority

    The Climate Authority initiative had been discussed after Lula won the 2022 and environmental crises in Rio Grande do Sul and Amazonas have resurfaced it.

    Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Tuesday that he intended to create a National Climate Authority, Agencia Brasil reported. The new agency's mission would be to deal with extreme natural phenomena. Lula made these remarks in Manaus before dozens of environmental experts, as 61 of the 62 municipalities in the State of Amazonas face an emergency due to the drought.

  • Tuesday, September 10th 2024 - 08:41 UTC

    Virtual schooling adopted in Paraguayan areas hit by wildfires

    A Brazilian team was deployed to keep the flames from reaching the Pantanal, a geographic region comprising stretching across Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay

    Paraguayan education authorities decided on Monday to cancel on-site classes in areas affected by heavy smoke and switch to virtual schooling in areas hit by forest fires such as Alto Paraguay and Boquerón.

  • Monday, September 9th 2024 - 13:27 UTC

    Heavy smoke from Bolivian fires threatens large parts of Argentina

    A cloud of thick smoke is expected to reach Buenos Aires between Monday and Tuesday

    A large cloud of smoke stemming from wildfires in Bolivia threatens to cover the skies of 15 Argentine provinces and even reach the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) between Monday and Tuesday, due to which “phenomena that may represent inconveniences or difficulties in the normal development in social life are expected,” according to the National Meteorological Service (SMN).

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