News stories by Daniela Estrada* - Tierramérica

How many litres of water are needed to produce one kilogram of table grapes? The current effort to measure the 'water footprint' of this and other Chilean exports could give us some answers by year's end.

The 'people's' climate agenda that the Bolivian government and civil society produced at an April conference in Cochabamba has made its way to the official United Nations negotiating table. But its inclusion in a binding climate treaty is unlikely, say activists.

The once booming salmon industry in Chile is trying to get back on its feet after the devastating health crisis that cut production in half. But its long-term viability has been called into question.

South Africa, where the FIFA Football World Cup is to kick off Jun. 11, has introduced cleaner transportation, while Brazil is planning ecological stadiums for the championship it will host in 2014. But these and other initiatives clash with the countries' overall environmental performance.

The construction of the world's largest telescope in the northern region of Antofagasta could make Chile an international leader in astronomy research and provide a launch pad for developing other scientific disciplines.

The success of the climate change conference taking place in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba will depend on how unified civil society ultimately is in its efforts to influence the United Nations climate summit, in Mexico, say Latin American activists.

Although there is not yet an official tally of the environmental consequences of Chile's Feb. 27 earthquake and tsunami, environmental groups and experts are calling for quick and sustainable responses to the problems.

Inadequacies in technical equipment, specialised human resources, institutional coordination, land zoning and citizen awareness were all laid bare by the major earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Feb. 27 in central and southern Chile.

In its proposed constitutional reform, the Chilean government recognises that the availability of freshwater is a matter of national security. Environmentalists applaud the initiative, but some business groups are worried it will hurt their bottom line.

Olivia González has been a schoolteacher for 30 years in Cerro Navia, one of the districts in the Chilean capital with the highest concentration of air pollution between April and August. A first-hand witness to its effects on health, she is pessimistic about the air she'll breathe this coming southern hemisphere winter.