CARACAS - Raising hatchlings in captivity and educating the public are the main strategies of the Bioandina Foundation to restore populations of the condor, a bird that has not been found in the Venezuelan Andes for many years.

The program to reinsert the condor into the Venezuelan environment is four years old and has so far focused on curbing the factors that led to the bird's disappearance in the first place.

These impressive birds once flew over the western Sierra Nevada of Mérida state, but were decimated by the human population in the area who killed them believing that the condors attacked their livestock.

Seven adult birds have been released into the habitat. Several chicks produced in captivity will join them once they are ready to fly.

HAVANA - Thousands of migratory birds that arrive at the Cuban peninsula of Guanahacabibes, on the island's western extreme, will not find the shelter of the usual habitat, which was destroyed by Hurricane Isidore on Sep 20.

"What they will find is an unrecognizable and inhospitable landscape… at least for now," said an expert in the wake of the hurricane, which thrashed the western province of Pinar del Río.

Swallows, peregrine falcons and Florida ducks, among many other species, are the migratory birds that make a stop at Guanahacabibes, one of Cuba's six biosphere reserves.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Known as the jatobá, guapinol or algarrobo, the tree with the Latin name Hymenaea courbaril, found in Latin American and Caribbean tropical and subtropical forests, has an unusually high capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas associated with global warming, says a Brazilian study.

The jatobá, as it is known in Brazil, grows faster if there is a greater presence of CO2, discovered the researchers at the Botanical Institute of Sao Paulo.

The seedlings of this species doubled their absorption of the gas and increased their biomass by 50 percent when grown in an environment of 720 parts per million of CO2, twice the current concentration of the gas in the Earth's atmosphere.

However, investigations must continue to determine whether these trees preserve this ability, and whether it occurs in the natural forest environment.

SAN JOSE - The independently run Sea Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) will soon launch an international campaign aimed at preserving the baula turtle in Costa Rica.

The biologists of the organization explained to Tierramérica their aim to raise 15 million dollars in the United States and Europe to purchase part of the northwestern beach known as Playa Grande, on the Pacific coast, where the impacts human activities are endangering the turtles.

PRETOMA's plan is then to donate the acquired land to the government, which is to manage the area as a national park.

Playa Grande is one of the main areas of the Americas where the baula turtle lays its eggs. The species is in danger of extinction.

TEGUCIGALPA - The Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE) this month approved a 150,000-dollar contribution to back the Puebla-Panama Plan (PPP), the initiative to physically integrate southern Mexico and Central America.

According to BCIE officials, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica are to receive 30,000 dollars each to identify and prepare projects under the framework of the PPP goals: contribute to the area's physical integration, facilitate shipment of goods and reduce transportation costs.

The regional bank intends to participate in the PPP with an initial sum of 608 million dollars in investment projects and 800,000 dollars in pre-investments.

SAN SALVADOR - From January to August of this year, 52 coffee plantations in El Salvador received a green seal that certifies their compliance with environmental standards, granted by the international organization Rainforest Alliance.

The seal, which was presented to the owners of farms that cover a total area of 1,112 hectares, recognizes the protection of forests, rivers, flora and fauna, a reduction in the use of pesticides, and the fomenting of environmental education, among other things.

Another 196 farms in nine departments throughout the country are working towards certification.