HAVANA - Government leaders, lawmakers, scientists and activists from 190 countries will gather in the Cuban capital later this month to discuss ways to mitigate desertification and its impacts, which affect nearly 40 percent of the earth's land surface.

The 6th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought has the mandate to promote implementation of the agreements reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held last year in South Africa.

That global meeting achieved consensus on the goal to reduce by half the population worldwide that lacks access to water and sanitation by 2015.

Desertification is a process of degradation and loss of soils that also reduces the land's capacity to retain water.

CARACAS - An Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) chick hatched in late July at Venezuela's Chorros de Milla Zoo, in the southeastern city of Mérida, in the context of a program to rescue this species in danger of extinction in the South American mountains.

In the Venezuelan Andes, there are just 10 condors known to inhabit the area, while another six live at the Mérida zoological park.

The hatchling's parents are two adults donated by the zoo in the U.S. city of Cleveland. The condor is the largest flying bird, and females in the wild lay one egg every two years.

The baby will remain with its parents six or seven months, until it can provide its own food. Then the bird will be released into its natural habitat.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil is key for shifting global paradigms in favor of sustainable development, said Austrian physicist Fritjof Capra, who is organizing an international network of scientists and environmentalists to support related polices of the Brazilian government, led by leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

This backing began last week in Brasilia with the meeting "Dialogues for a Sustainable Brazil". In addition to Capra, founder of the U.S. Center for Ecoliteracy, also participating in the dialogues were Amory Lovins and Joel Swisher, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Chile's Miguel Altieri, professor of agro-ecology at the University of California, and Gunter Pauli, director of the Swiss Zeri Foundation.

The meeting, hosted by Brazil's Ministry of Environment, is to take place on an annual basis.

SANTIAGO - The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will support the raising and sustainable use of "camelid" livestock in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, providing 247,000 dollars for an 18-month program.

The plan aims to educate ranchers and farmers in the health and management problems related to the camelid family, primarily alpacas and llamas.

These animals, native to the South American Andes, include llamas and alpacas, which can be domesticated, and guanacos and vicuñas, which live in the wild. The vicuña, hunted for its valuable wool, was declared a protected species after it was pushed to the verge of extinction 20 years ago.

In the Andean regions of the five countries, some 500,000 families rely on their llama and alpaca livestock. The animals provide food and wool, and their manure is used as fuel and fertilizer.

TEGUCIGALPA - "Decent and safe housing", demanded experts and activists gathered in the Honduran capital to promote a common strategy for Latin America.

Despite the geographic and cultural diversity of the Latin American peoples, it is possible to create a general housing plan for the region, concluded the participants of the Second Regional Conference on Housing and Habitat, held here Aug. 7-10.

Given the governments' neglect of policies for building homes, non-governmental organizations and cooperatives provide real options for homeless families, Benjamín Naohum, of the Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives, told Tierramérica.

With a population of more than six million, Honduras has a housing deficit of 750,000 homes, says Leonidas Avila, of the Honduran Institute of Cooperation and Development.

GUATEMALA CITY - Dozens of hectares of crops, primarily maize and beans, were lost due to the prolonged drought in Guatemala's eastern departments, reports Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Set.

"We have serious problems from the lack of rain, which has lasted longer than expected, hurting Chiquimula, Jutiapa, Zacapa and El Progreso," Set told Tierramérica.

So far, some 35 hectares planted with maize and beans have been lost in Zacapa and Chiquimula. "Emergency plans are in place to provide food to the local communities," said the minister.

Guatemala's dry season normally begins in August, but this year began in early July. The four departments affected by the drought, home to over a million people, is the most arid region in this country of 11.2 million inhabitants.

SAN SALVADOR - By October 2004 El Salvador will have a complete census of its forests and an estimate of their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, say government officials.

According to studies carried out to date, at least 8,000 hectares of natural forests are in dire need of sustainable management plans, Julio Olano, director of the Agriculture Ministry's forestry department, told Tierramérica.

The national forestry map will include pine forests, tree plantations, mangroves and others, classified as dense, semi-dense and sparse.

El Salvador loses 59 million metric tons of soil each year due to erosion caused by deforestation.