News stories by Fabiana Frayssinet, page 4

MIRITITUBA, Brazil, Jan 08 (IPS) - The BR-163 highway, an old dream of the Brazilian military to colonise the Amazon jungle, was revived by agroexporters as part of a plan aimed at cutting costs by shipping soy out of river ports. But the improvement of the road has accentuated problems such as deforestation and land tenure, and is fuelling new social conflicts.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 04 (IPS) - The flooding that has affected four South American countries has underscored the need for an integrated approach to addressing the causes and effects of climate change.

SAWRÉ MUYBU, Brazil, Dec 21 (IPS) - At dusk on the Tapajós River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, the Mundurukú indigenous people gather to bathe and wash clothes in these waters rich in fish, the staple of their diet. But the "evil spirit", as they refer in their language to the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam, threatens to leave most of their territory – and their way of life – under water.

SANTARÉM, Brazil, Dec 11 (IPS) - River port terminals in the northern Brazilian city of Santarém are considered strategic by the government. But what some see as an opportunity for development is for others an irreversible change in what was previously a well-preserved part of the Amazon rainforest.

MENDOZA, Argentina, Nov 05 (IPS) - Purple garlic that is losing its color? More translucent wine? Climate change will also affect the flavours of our food in the absence of measures to mitigate the impacts of global warming, which are already being felt in crops that are basic to local economies, such as in the Argentine province of Mendoza.

LUJÁN DE CUYO, Argentina, Oct 20 (IPS) - The region of Cuyo in west-central Argentina is famous for its vineyards. But it is one of the areas in the country hit hardest by the effects of climate change, such as desertification and the melting of mountain top snow. And local winegrowers have come up with their own way to fight global warming.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 13 (IPS) - Above and beyond the uncertainty about the direction that Argentina's economy will take after the Oct. 25 presidential elections, the government's main social programmes, which have helped bring down poverty levels in the last decade, are definitely here to stay, no matter who is elected.

, Sep 30 (IPS) - The meeting was about gender equality, but for once there were more men than women. It marked a watershed in the struggle in Argentina to make the commitment to equality more than just "a women's thing."

AVELLANEDA, Argentina, Sep 18 (IPS) - Children have been poisoned by lead in Villa Inflamable, a shantytown on the south side of the capital of Argentina. Resettling their families involves a socioenvironmental process as complex as the sanitation works in one of the most polluted river basins in the world.