BUENOS AIRES - Around 75 percent of Argentina's topsoil has been depleted by desertification and damaging farming and grazing methods, warns the Secretariat on the Environment and Natural Resources.

But in the southern region of Patagonia, the proportion is as high as 90 percent. Excessive grazing has depleted the topsoil, which has led to a drop in livestock production. In the late 1990s, there were just eight million sheep on the grasslands of Patagonia, which for decades provided forage for 20 million.

The depletion of the soil is also seen in the central, northwestern and eastern parts of the country, not only due to excessive grazing but to indiscriminate logging of forests.

Germany's development aid agency (GTZ) decided to grant a three-year extension to a soil recovery program it has been carrying out in Argentina for over a decade, in order to expand the fight against the desertification process.

LIMA - The mining companies operating in Peru must invest more than one billion dollars up to 2006 to mitigate the environmental damages caused by their activities, said the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The funds are to go towards environmental management programs included in the contracts granting mining concessions.

Between January and June, more than 50 complaints of environmental damages caused by mining were filed by local citizens and environmental organizations.

The complaints generally arise from citizen environmental monitoring committees, which are recognized by authorities, that have been set up in mining areas.

Mining is the engine of Peru's economy, accounting for 40 percent of exports. The industry provides 60,000 direct jobs, and creates indirect employment for an additional 240,000 people.

MEXICO CITY - Weather reports in Mexico are based on technology that dates back 15 years, which makes reliable forecasts, which are essential to farmers, impossible. The country's meteorological stations have only one person to collect the data, which ends up in card catalogues after passing through outdated telegraph and mail systems, said researcher Norma Sánchez at the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico.

Since 1985, the number of weather stations in the country has shrunk from 1,700 to 400, and the data processing methods have not been modernized, she pointed out.

The lack of up-to-date data and modern forecasting systems is considered a major problem, since 77 percent of farmland in Mexico is not irrigated and depends exclusively on rain.

TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran Association of Former Students in Germany launched a campaign to spread the use of cotton "eco-bags" to curb the use of plastic bags that pollute the environment.

The idea is to gradually replace disposable plastic bags, which take years to biodegrade, with longer-lasting biodegradable bags of natural fibers, which are washable and of higher quality.

The "eco-bags" went on the market in late June, sponsored by a group of national and international companies. The idea is for consumers to use them instead of accepting the traditional disposable plastic bags offered in stores and supermarkets.

The fabric for the bags was donated by businessman Adolfo Facussé, who said that if the environment continued to be destroyed, "it won't only hurt our quality of life, but we will have exhausted the main sources used by business to produce: natural resources."

PANAMA CITY - Construction will be completed this year on the marine laboratory of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) on the Panamanian archipelago of Bocas del Toro, in the Caribbean sea.

The project, which has a price tag of over one million dollars, forms part of the STRI's 20 million dollar annual investment in Central America.

The laboratory will enable researchers from 40 countries to study mangroves, marine vegetation, and the coral around the islands, said STRI director Cristian Samper.

The laboratory will form part of the scientific research complex on Barro Colorado, an island in the Panama canal basin that was declared a biological reserve in 1923. The researchers will set up a system of eight telemetry towers to monitor around 200 species, which will be the most advanced of its kind in any tropical jungle region, said Samper.

In addition, the laboratory will be equipped with solar panels and a septic tank system for treating sewage.

SAN SALVADOR - The Environment Ministry of El Salvador will declare the "San Benito" zone located in the El Imposible national park, one of the country's most valuable mountainous tropical forest regions, a protected area.

San Benito, an area of 4,700 square meters of biological riches, will be the country's 57th protected area. That portion of the forest will be administered "in perpetuity" by the environmentalist organization Salvanatura, which is already running several programs in the park.

Authorities also plan to put another 10 natural zones under the management of civil society groups.