RIO DE JANEIRO – The Surveillance System of the Amazon (SIVAM) is slated to start operating – at least in part - July 25, when the project’s main center in the northwestern Brazilian city of Manaos is to be inaugurated.

Two other centers are to be built in Belén, on the northeast coast, and in the northwestern Porto Velho, forming a monitoring triangle that will be coordinated in Brasilia, where information will be processed from 25 radars, five aircraft and hundreds of data collection units on hydrology and weather.

The 1.4-billion-dollar project seeks to control air traffic in the region and to combat deforestation, illegal logging and other environmental crimes afflicting this South American trove of biological wealth.

SAN JOSE – Costa Rica must invest 1.6 billion dollars to modernize its potable water and sanitation services, according to a recent study by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

The country spends 0.7 percent of its gross domestic product on water programs and has not invested in water infrastructure works for the last 25 years, says the report.

Ninety-six percent of the urban waste water in Costa Rica flows untreated into water sources and the rates charged for public water services do not even cover costs, according to PAHO.

HAVANA – Cuba and Guatemala will now be able to develop joint projects for natural resources management and protection under a new environmental agreement signed by the two governments.

The Guatemalan embassy in Cuba confirmed that the accord signed in late June will be in place for the next five years, and is “renewable for additional five-year periods if the two parties wish.”

The agreement calls for an exchange of information on environmental monitoring, promotion of seminars and masters degrees in ecological education and scientific research.

SANTIAGO – Each year, 120 million trees are planted in Chile, a reforestation pace that surpasses the rate of logging, say government officials.

The area planted with new trees reaches 100,000 hectares a year, 16,000 hectares of which belong to small rural landholders, says Carlos Weber, director of the government’s National Forestry Corporation.

Farmers now see that forestry activities complement their traditional work, said Weber. Reforestation helps counteract soil erosion in rural areas, and provide green areas in urban areas like Santiago, where 70,000 trees are planted in the poorest districts each year.

SAN JOSE – In the countries of Central America, 170,000 police and military troops will receive training to protect natural resources and nature preserves in the region.

Their education covers agricultural, forestry and ecological matters and is part of the Central American Environmental Defense Program of the Meso-American Biological Corridor (CBM), a plan encompassing the countries of the isthmus and southern Mexico.

The Tropical Agronomy Research and Teaching Center is in charge of the effort, in collaboration with the environment ministries of the Central American countries, to train 35 officers and 240 soldiers and police, who will then go on to teach the rest of the security personnel.

The Center will also serve as advisor for eight military and two police academies in the region.

GUATEMALA CITY – The Guatemalan Constitutional Court put a 15-day halt on the transfer of a portion of the protected Sierra de las Minas to a logging company.

The high court ruled that there is a risk of irreparable harm to the reserve’s natural resources and gave the parties involved 15 days to present their arguments.

Covering 236,000 hectares, the Sierra de las Minas has been protected since 1992, and UNESCO declared it a biosphere reserve in 1992. Nearly half of the area is a cloud forest, home to numerous plant and animal species that are in danger of extinction.

The National Protected Areas Council agreed in March to grant the Maderas el Alto logging company the right to exploit 4,000 hectares of the reserve.

But the Defenders of Nature organization and mayors and communities of nine municipalities demanded that the court annul the permit because Sierra de las Minas provides the freshwater supply to those areas.