CARACAS - The variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) is in critical danger due to reduced habitat, says the update of the Red List of Endangered Species 2003, of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). But Venezuelan researchers question the scope of the habitat measurements.

The spider monkey lives in Colombia and Venezuela, and is one of the largest of the Americas.

In Venezuela it is found in the northwestern region and south of the Orinoco River. But Roger Pérez, an expert from the Central University's Tropical Zoology Institute, told Tierramérica that new studies found the Ateles belzebuth hybridus inhabiting the forests of the northwestern Sierra de Perijá, bordering Colombia, and in Guatopo, a section of the coastal range.

Pérez said the IUCN reports could reflect threats in the coastal range caused by the urban and agricultural expansion, but such is not the case of Perijá.

A source from the governmental agency Profauna told Tierramérica that "some international reports are extended to an entire species when the warning should apply to a specific population of" a certain animal.

RIO DE JANEIRO - The first National Environment Conference, Nov. 28-30 in Brasilia, will be an opportunity to strengthen the positions of Minister Marina Silva and the ecological movement, which have suffered blows from several recent governmental measures.

The Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government this year provisionally authorized the planting and sales of genetically modified soy, introduced Amazonian projects with great environmental projects in the 2004-2007 Investment Plan, and gave the green light to importing used tires from Uruguay -- all measures opposed by ecological movement and the Environment Ministry.

In preparation for the conference, more than 65,000 people have participated in local conferences in the country's 26 states.

SANTIAGO - Environmentalists are applauding the project of the capital's municipal government to build a bicycle route along the famous Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, better known as the Alameda.

The organization Ciudad Viva (Living City) celebrated the initiative, saying it is a necessary, efficient and low-cost solution for fighting air pollution in Santiago.

Exclusive routes for bicycles exist in several Chilean cities. According to a 2001 survey, two percent of all city travel in Santiago takes place on bicycle, while 4.5 percent is by subway.

A 1997 study indicates that building a network of bikeways, which is much less costly than extending subway routes, would triple the use of bicycles.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala stepped up controls on mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in mid-November, just as the tree species is added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

"From now on, the shipments that the country sells to the United States and Mexico must bear a export permit granted by CITES, a forestry license, transport guidelines and a bill of purchase-sale," Migdalia García, CITES representative in Guatemala, told Tierramérica.

"With this regulation we hope to open the international markets to communal concessions instead of logging companies, and in particular to fight illegal logging of this precious wood," she said.

There are 500,000 hectares of mahogany forest reserves in the country, says García, mostly in the northern departments of El Petén, bordering Mexico, and Alta and Baja Verapaz. But because of lack of records, it is not known how much of this valuable wood is exported.

SAN JOSE - Costa Rican civil society will play an active role in managing natural resources with the launch of regional councils in the country's 11 conservation areas.

The councils have the authority to define policy, propose projects and even to remove environment officials in their respective regions. The bodies comprise a director and community representatives chosen at large.

The regional councils will have representation on the National Environment Council and therefore the ability to influence national policies.

"This is a landmark for the country because the decisions are no longer in the hands of a minister, but rather the National Council, which negotiates with civil society," Raúl Solorzano, director of the National System of Conservation Areas, told Tierramérica.

MANAGUA - Some 60,000 Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys Olivacea) are on the Pacific beaches of Nicaragua to lay eggs -- and under the close watch of the army.

Dozens of soldiers conduct patrols and inspections in and around the refuges in order to prevent poachers from raiding the nests, army spokesman Maj. Alvaro Ibarra told Tierramérica.

The nesting season of the Olive Ridley turtle is between July and December, with the arrival of as many as 3,000 females that lay eggs in the refuges of La Flor and Chacocente.

The eggs are highly prized in Nicaraguan cuisine, and the baby turtles are often taken to be sold as pets in the capital.

The Olive Ridley is among the smallest species of sea turtles and is in danger of extinction.

TEGUCIGALPA - Organizations of small farmers in the departments of Cortés and Yoro, in northern Honduras, are to present a proposal to the government to build ecological housing as a means to reduce the deficit of 750,000 homes.

The houses would be built using plastic containers as the raw material, with support form the German consulting group Ecotec, which presented a project to seek government funding.

The estimated cost of each unit is a thousand dollars, but "if the government backs us, it would be reduced because we wouldn't have to pay bricklayers. Each beneficiary will participate in the construction of his or her house," rural leader Dionisio Cáceres told Tierramérica.

"We are proposing an economical and viable alternative, in which we would be contributing to environmental clean-up while poor farmers would have decent housing," he said.

HAVANA - More than 10,000 hectares leveled by nickel exploitation have been reforested in the Moa municipality in the eastern Cuban province of Holguín.

An anti-desertification program aims to recuperate land degraded by nickel mining, by planting tree species that are appropriate for the area.

The annual production of 70,000 tons of nickel requires moving an estimated million tons of fertile soils.

The reforestation efforts involve institutions and experts from the nickel industry, one of the island's leading export commodities.