BUENOS AIRES – The long Paraná River has only 50 percent of the fish in its course through Argentina that it had 20 years ago due to over-exploitation, warns the Institute of Technological Development at the Littoral University.

Twenty percent of the 220 fish species of the Paraná are of high commercial value, such as the ‘sábalo’ (shad), with Argentina producing 30,000 tons annually, exporting to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Nigeria and Paraguay.

The extinction of that species would lead to the disappearance of other species, such as the ‘dorado’ and the ‘surubí’, which feed on shad.

GENEVA – Governments from around the world are discussing curbing subsidies to fishing fleets at a new round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization’s Trade and Environment Committee that began in this Swiss city Friday, Mar 22.

“It is clear that developing countries have a great deal to gain from the exchange of fishing products, but only if trade and fishing polices are reformed toward the sustainable management of those resources,” said Hussein Abaza, director of trade and economy at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which organized two seminars at the WTO meeting.

BOGOTA – Ignacia de la Rosa Pérez, who heads a 400-family project aimed at saving the mangroves of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, received an award Mar 9 from the private organization CAFAM as the most important Colombian woman in 2002.

Pérez joined forces three decades ago with peasant farmers and the fishing community of Cispata Bay to save the mangroves in the area from destruction. “I was born in the mangroves and they have been a part of my life. That is why I felt it necessary to ensure their sustainable use,” she said. Every year, more than 1,000 square km of mangroves are destroyed.

NEW YORK – Sixteen intellectuals, politicians, activists and entrepreneurs from around the world will present their “Jo’burg Memorandum” on Apr 4, a document of recommendations for the agenda for the World Summit for Sustainable Development, or Rio+10, to be held in South Africa in late August.

The memorandum was drafted with input from the German Heinrich Boll Foundation, by U.S. national Hillary French, of the World Watch Institute, and Chile’s Sara Larraín, of the non-governmental Sustainable Chile organization, among others.

The document will be presented at the third preparatory meeting for Rio+10 in New York, Mar 25-Apr 5.