BUENOS AIRES - The environmental watchdog Greenpeace said that departure is imminent of two plutonium-carrying ships from France that will head to Japan, most likely via the Cape Horn route, just as the Pacific Swan did in January with its 192 cylinders of radioactive waste.

The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal could opt for the route around South America, as shipping companies are encouraged by the passive attitude of the Argentine authorities, who allowed the British ship to navigate through its jurisdictional waters a few weeks ago.

Greenpeace calculates that both ships will carry a total cargo of 230 kg of plutonium, enough to build 40 atomic bombs. The vessels are equipped with cannons and will have military personnel on board.

BOGOTA - Italian environmentalists have thrown their support behind Colombia's U'wa Indians in their fight against oil giant Occidental Petroleum in ''defense of their territory and their culture.''

''The cause of the U'was is an example of dignity, which deserves the support of the international community. We will pressure the European Parliament,'' affirmed the activists, led by Grazia Francescote, president of the Italian Federation of the Greens, as they concluded a visit to Colombia in late January.

The U'wa oppose the oil exploitation at the Gibraltar well that began last November in the northeastern Samoré Bloc, an area the indigenous peoples claim as their territory.

RIO DE JANEIRO - How to build sustainable cities was the theme of one of the 16 panels at first-ever World Social Forum, a six-day event that ended Jan 30 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

Convened as an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the conference united civil society organizations and personalities from around the world, including José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Brazilian priest Leonardo Boff and center-left politician Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, of Mexico.

Slated to be an annual event, the World Social Forum is an arena for debate on environmental matters, including how to resolve the accumulation of urban problems, such as poverty, violence and pollution of the air, water and soil.

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government will begin a pro-environment ''crusade'' in March, when it plans to announce special measures and programs and to officially acknowledge the country's dramatic ecological problems.

The crusade will be the starting point for the environmental actions the Vicente Fox administration intends to implement over the coming six years and which, say officials, will involve all areas of government.

Mexico will be left without any forests in less than a century if deforestation continues at the current rate of 700,000 hectares annually, according to several studies.

Further, all of the country's rivers are polluted, 80 percent of national territory suffers erosion, 28 percent of vertebrate species are in danger of extinction, and just 6.3 percent of the country is protected by some form of environmental regulation.