SAN JOSE - A group of low-income women in Costa Rica is to receive training in administration and marketing to work at the Marine Park, an environmental tourism project that will be inaugurated Apr 23 in the port city of Puntarenas, on the Pacific coast.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy will train 32 women, most of whom are heads of household, to run the food kiosks, craft shops and tourist information office at the park.

The Marine Park is to exhibit the rich biodiversity of Costa Rica's ocean ecosystem and seeks to become one of the major eco-tourism attractions of Latin America and the Caribbean.

HAVANA - Thousands of fish were found dead earlier this month in the Almendares River, the main river of the capital, in the second incident of this kind in Cuba in just six months.

Members of the local fishing community suspect that this biological catastrophe is due to industrial waste dumped into the river, undoing their efforts to clean up the area.

A similar episode, also the result of unknown causes, occurred in September at the mouth of the San Juan and Yumurí Rivers, in Matanzas Bay, 100 km from Havana.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian authorities are attempting to reactivate the farming of alligators, or yacaré, based on the large populations of the reptile found in the Pantanal marshlands of Mato Grosso state in the western part of the country.

The Brazilian Institute of Environment, in charge of the effort, organized the first National Assembly of Yacaré Farmers, Feb 19-21, in Campo Grande, capital of the southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Alligator farming was first stimulated in the 1980s, when the authorities feared the species would become extinct as a result of illegal hunting, a lucrative illicit business to supply the world market for rare leathers.

Now, farmers are discussing ways to reopen legal markets and expand interest in yacaré meat, leather and other products.

SANTIAGO - Approximately 10,000 hectares of old-growth forest were destroyed by fires in southern Chile in recent weeks.

The hardest-hit areas were in the national parks of Huerquehue, Malleco, Tolhuaca and Conguillío, located in Chile's ninth region, 700 km south of Santiago.

The authorities report that the environmental damage is incalculable, and that ancient species were lost, such as the araucaria trees, an important biological treasure of the country's forests.

The area of forest burned this January was three times greater than in January 2001, they said.