BUENOS AIRES - Wichí Indians in northern Argentina last week filed a legal petition in Salta provincial courts to stop the sale of 16,000 hectares that, until two months ago, were part of a nature reserve.

The Salta government created the reserve in 1995 to protect native forest but in April presented a bill to the provincial parliament to sell the land "for productive ends". The lawmakers approved the bill.

Matías Duarte, attorney for the indigenous community Eben Ezer, charges that the sale violates the constitutional rights of the Wichí to the land, to participate in natural resource management and to a health environment.

The global environmental watchdog group Greenpeace has also challenged the measure, saying the land is vital for the Wichí as a source of hunting grounds, fruit, honey and firewood.

LIMA - Peasant farmers from the Convención Valley, in the southeastern Peruvian department of Cuzco, threaten to destroy one kilometer of the Camisea-Lima natural gas pipeline if the construction companies Techint, Plus Petrol and TGP do not agree to compensate them with 20 million dollars for environmental damages to the area.

Deputy energy minister Juan Miguel Cayo announced on May 20 the completion of the pipeline, which will begin operating on Aug. 9. In response, the Defense and Development Front, from Convención province, renewed mobilizations against the project.

"The companies and the national government so far have ignored the peasants' demands, despite the fact that an accord exists for resolving the environmental impacts of the pipeline," said Abel Cruz, president of the Front.

But TGP general manager Alejandro Segret says "no environmental harm that was not foreseen in the measures included in the project have occurred."

BOGOTA - Two Colombian companies based in the northern city of Barranquilla are implementing technology friendly to the Earth's ozone layer, thanks to a donation of 1.4 million dollars from the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol on Ozone-Depleting Substances.

Rymco Laboratories, a medical product manufacturer, refitted its factory to eliminate the annual consumption of 11 tons of CFC-113, a chemical that destroys ozone, and was used as a solvent in silicon in treating syringes and catheters.

Thermo-Coil, which produces air conditioner parts, began converting its industrial plant in July 2001 to eliminate use of 137 tons annually of ozone-depleting substances.

TEGUCIGALPA - The Honduran Business Council for Sustainable Development, with backing from the United Nations, will begin a program in July to promote alternative energy sources and sustainable waste management in the industrial zones along the northern coast.

At a cost of two million dollars over a three-year period, the project seeks to encourage attitudes of "clean production" in the business sector.

"We are ready to look for alternatives to help curb environmental contamination," says Jacobo Kattán, of the Honduran Maquiladora Association, based in San Pedro Sula, 250 km from Tegucigalpa.

"We believe there are many problems that can be prevented. Before, one could swim in certain rivers, like the Choluteca, but now it's a sewer. We have to do something to ensure the well being of our children," he told Tierramérica.