BOGOTA - Santa Fe, one of the 20 districts of the Colombian capital, and the city's environmental department launched an anti-noise pollution campaign against bothersome sounds in the historic, commercial and administrative center of Bogotá.

The statutes for the area establish 65 to 70 decibels as the maximum during daytime hours and 45 to 60 decibels during the night. Those who violate the limits can be charged hefty fines.

The sounds of car horns and of poorly maintained vehicles, as well as amplifiers in dance clubs and bars often surpass the official limits. In Bogotá, with 7.5 million inhabitants, there are a million vehicles circulating daily.

MONTEVIDEO - The sanitation alarm sounded by Uruguayan authorities last week in the southern Ciudad de la Costa, the country's fastest growing urban center, came two years after residents, experts and activists warned of the problem.

The National Environmental Directorate (DINAMA) announced Oct. 27 that the city's sanitation system is on the verge of collapse. Ciudad de la Costa, outside Montevideo, grew from 34,400 people in 1985 to nearly 80,000 today -- and does not have an operational sanitation network.

This situation was denounced by hospital authorities in 2000, and even before by neighborhood groups and water experts, Carlos Surroca, of the environmental group REDES, told Tierramérica.

Sewage is contaminating the underground water reservoirs and causing health problems. And high levels of fecal matter are found in the area's beaches on the Rio de la Plata, according to DINAMA.

LIMA - The Canadian mining company Manhattan, backed by Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines, called off the Nov. 7 public hearing on its gold exploitation plan for the northern city of Tambogrande after the mayor announced a general strike to protest the project.

Tambogrande is the capital of the valley of the same name, the country's leading fruit-producing region, with 45,000 hectares of citrus and mangos destined for export.

Underneath the city are gold deposits estimated to be worth 1.2 billion dollars. Mining the ore would require relocating more than half of the inhabitants, tearing down 22 city blocks.

Mayor Francisco Ojeda announced the general strike for Tambogrande, where 98 percent of the peasant farmers polled say they oppose the project, although Manhattan promises jobs and better housing.

SAN JOSE - Populations of 23 species of frogs and toads in Costa Rica have decreased, and 11 could become extinct, according to the studies conducted by biologists Gerardo Chaves and Federico Bolaños, from Costa Rica's National University.

In the northwestern cloud forest reserve of Monteverde, 20 species have disappeared, such as the golden toad (Bufo periglenes).

And in the Talamanca mountain range, one of the areas of greatest biodiversity, 26 species have seen sharp reductions or disappeared.

The causes are not clear, but could be related to climate fluctuations, contamination, introduction of exotic species, solar radiation or disease, say the experts.

Costa Rica is home to 182 species of amphibians, representing four percent of the world total.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources this month delivered aquatic research equipment for monitoring the Mesoamerican Reef System, which extends along the Caribbean coast from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

Three boats, dissection equipment, scuba gear, multiwave radios, microscopes and other material will be used by biologists and reef experts from the four countries of the region, and from European countries as well as the United States, ministry spokesman Sergio del Aguila told Tierramérica.

The monitoring efforts will take place between Manabique Point in Guatemala and Sarstun in Belize.

"Monitoring will allow us to gather data about reproduction, dissemination of larvae and re-population of coral, fish and other components of the reefs, in order to deepen our knowledge of the ties between these and other marine environments," said Del Aguila.

TEGUCIGALPA - Residents and officials in the northern Honduran region of Choloma are promoting the creation of an ecological museum near Ticamaya Lagoon in order to protect marine species and promote tourism.

Choloma Mayor Sandra Deras told Tierramérica that the project has a price tag of 147,000 dollars and will be presented to the government for financing through international cooperation.

Feasibility studies are currently underway. In the two hectares set aside for the park, the municipal government has launched a clean-up effort in Ticamaya, one of the country's "ecological jewels".

Parrots, crocodiles, 'guaras' and other species will be part of the eco-museum, the second such institution in Honduras.

The first is in Islas de la Bahía, in the Caribbean, under private management and focusing on marine species and coral reefs.

BUENOS AIRES - The environmental watchdog Greenpeace alerted the governments of Argentina and Chile about a nuclear waste shipment that left Australia last week and could pass through Cape Horn, a threat to the territorial waters of both countries.

The "Fret Moselle" departed the port of Australia's Botany Bay last Monday with five containers of radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear power plant, and is to arrive in December in France, where the load will be treated at the Cogema plant.

Although the Australian and French authorities refused to reveal the route that the freighter is to take, it would have to pass either through the Cape of Good Hope, in southern Africa, or South America's Cape Horn.

The Argentine constitution prohibits the passage of nuclear waste through its territorial waters.

In January 2001, the "Pacific Swan" followed a path near the South American coasts in its journey from Japan to France. By the time the Argentine and Chilean governments demanded that the nuclear waste carrying vessel avoid their territorial waters, it had already passed through them.