RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian government wants a law for fighting biopiracy. A bill on this issue, drafted by the Environment Ministry, will be sent to parliament this year, and will define the crimes against Brazil's national genetic wealth and establish sentences.

Currently, the country fights smuggling of plant and animal species using the Environmental Crimes Act, which has proved ineffective because of its ''soft'' penalties, mostly fines.

Specific legislation is needed in Brazil, ''a mega-diverse country with around 22 percent of the world's species,'' and thus an ongoing target of biopiracy, says Environment Minister Marina Silva.

The bill aims to regulate access to the country's genetic resources based on the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity, approved by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and ratified by 168 countries.

SANTIAGO - The Chilean National Ecological Action Network, RENACE, presented the first digital version of its ''Map of Ecological Destruction in Chile'', an annual report that highlights the environmental trouble spots in each region of the country and the disputes with greatest public impact.

The map, found online at http://www.renace.cl, and is based on official data from public and private sources, updated this year and with references to Internet sources, RENACE leaders announced last week.

The data covers river contamination, garbage dumps, pesticide use, soil degradation, forest plantations and marine resources. There are also tables categorizing plants and animals that are endangered, vulnerable or rare.

CARACAS - The Venezuelan Environment Ministry is pushing for the creation of a special center to deal with cetaceans -- whale and dolphin species -- that end up beached on the country's coast. There have been 40 such cases in the past three years.

Venezuelan waters are home to some 30 of the 80 existing whale and dolphin species.

''The most frequent is beachings of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which are not endangered, but are under special protection,'' Eddys Solórzano, the ministry's biodiversity expert, told Tierramérica.

The dolphins can measure up to four meters long and weigh as much as 300 kg. Most beachings are the result of an illness in the mammal, or accidents related to fishing or collisions with boats.

The new assistance center to help the beached whales and dolphins will be in the central coastal state of Vargas.

The beachings tend to occur most on Margarita Island and the coastlines of Sucre, Falcón and Vargas, said ministry biologist Clemente Balladares.

GUATEMALA CITY - Some 200 officials and experts will gather in the Guatemalan capital in November to study the problems of drought and desertification afflicting Latin America and attempt to come up with some solutions, announced this Central American country's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The meeting is part of the 10th Latin American and Caribbean Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought, Jorge Luis Galindo, the ministry's director of environmental policy and strategy, told Tierramérica.

The participants will study ''possible joint actions to confront the problem of drought and in some cases the advance of the desert that affect the countries in the region, as well as analyzing ways to obtain international aid,'' he said.

According to United Nations figures, more than 30 percent of the Earth's land surface is threatened by or vulnerable to desertification, affecting more than 150 countries.

TEGUCIGALPA - Authorities from the Honduran Ministry of Natural Resources set up a ban a month ago to protect the sea turtle species that nest around the Gulf of Fonseca, a maritime area shared by Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Marcio Castellón, of the ministry's fishing and aquaculture division, told Tierramérica that the ban on the sales and commercialization of the turtles and their eggs would last three months, the time needed for the turtles lay their eggs on the Gulf's beaches, and the baby turtles to hatch and reach the sea.

Already, 72 nests have been protected, for a total of 6,400 sea turtles, which will be released from mid-October through November, he said.

Four sea turtle species -- all endangered -- can be found in the Gulf of Fonseca: leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and the green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles.

HAVANA - ''My Green Plan'' has slated for this year the planting of 2.5 million trees of 52 species in the Cuban capital, part of ongoing efforts to re-establish vegetation in this city of 2.3 million people.

The project involves several state agencies, schools and health centers, and also any resident who wants to help plant trees in the playgrounds or recreational parks near their homes.

Experts consulted by Tierramérica said that 75 percent of the trees in central Havana need to be replaced because they are older and now pose a danger because they could fall.

Hurricane Charley, which passed through Cuba in August, uprooted or damaged more than 37,000 trees in the capital, most of which were diseased, hollowed and old, and needed to be replaced anyway.