LIMA - The national standards for environmental quality that the Peruvian congress is preparing include rules against noise pollution.

Municipal authorities cannot permit noises louder than 60 decibels in residential areas, 70 decibels in commercial zones and 80 decibels in industrial areas. There is a 10-decibel reduction in each maximum during nighttime hours.

The municipal governments will have the authority to enforce the limits and should coordinate with the respective ministries in regards to penalizing offenders.

"Excessive noise is an invisible form of pollution and is as harmful as other better known factors of environmental contamination," says Jaime Cordero, environmental advisor to the Lima Metropolitan Council.

"It is scientifically proven that noises louder than 80 decibels are not just bothersome, they are harmful to health. That limit is frequently surpassed by factory machinery," Cordero says.

MONTEVIDEO - Environmental and workers' groups in Uruguay will launch further protests against the activities of the National Cellulose Enterprise of Spain (ENCE), which on Nov. 10 inaugurated the private port of M'Bopicuá, on the Uruguay River for the processing and export of lumber.

According to the Uruguayan government, the port represents an initial investment of 33 million dollars and some 140 jobs.

But activist Ana Filippini, of the environmental group Guayubirá, the investment is on the state's account in the form of subsidies, soft credits and tax exemptions, and the jobs created in M'Bopicuá will mean jobs lost at the other Uruguay River ports of Fray Bentos and Paysandú.

Furthermore, ENCE is planning to build a cellulose plant next to the port, and has already conducted environmental impact studies, with results in its favor.

However, Filippini told Tierramérica that the factory would contaminate the area because it will use chlorine. She said she questions the scientific thoroughness of the environmental impact studies.

BUENOS AIRES - Small and medium businesses face great difficulties in obtaining financing for "clean" production processes, although these companies provide 60 percent of the jobs in the country, according to organizers of a seminar on sustainable development for small enterprise.

The International Forum of Small and Medium Enterprise for Environmental, Economic and Social Development is to take place Nov. 19-20 in Buenos Aires, convened by the German technical cooperation agency GTZ.

The objective is to underscore the importance that small businesses incorporate sustainable development in all its aspects -- environmental, social and economic.

Participants in the seminar will include officials from Argentina, Brazil and Chile, representatives from the United Nations Environment Program, from the Economic Commission for Latin America and from the Argentine Chamber of Processing Industries.

BOGOTA - Colombian environmental authorities have launched a plan for the reforestation of the Magdalena River Basin, which crosses the country, flowing south to north. The conservation plan also aims to reactivate river transportation.

With a budget of 100 million dollars and a timeframe of four years, reforestation will take place along the river banks, which have been 80 percent deforested.

The plan also encourages river transport, which is more economical and less contaminating than land transport, according to the governmental Autonomous Corporation of Magdalena.

The corporation will work in partnership with rural landowners to reforest degraded areas, and will assume the planting costs.

SAN JOSE - Entrepreneurs and authorities from throughout the Americas will learn about successful ecological initiatives in Costa Rica when they visit the Environmental Solutions Fair, to take place here Dec. 3-5.

Promoted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the fair will offer technology and knowledge sharing for projects in ecotourism, protection and use of biodiversity, environmental services and clean manufacturing.

"Although Costa Ricans are the first to admit that there is a long way yet to go, there are very successful, innovative initiatives here that have won international interest, particularly in environmental management," UNDP representative in Costa Rica, Ligia Elizondo, told Tierramérica.

Some of the organizations presenting their experiences are the school of tropical agriculture, the national high technology center, the National Biodiversity Institute, and the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Range.

GUATEMALA CITY - The National Coffee Association of Guatemala (Anacafe) rejected the U.S. proposal to define rules of origin for cafe based on soluble coffee and processed beverages, instead of based on where the coffee was grown.

The initiative came amid talks for a free trade agreement involving the United States and five Central American countries.

"The proposal of the United States is unacceptable. It is the leading processor of soluble coffee, importing the commodity from different countries," said Rosemarie Luna, Anacafe's director of market standards.

"The rules of origin should not be implemented at industrialization, but at the place of origin of the crop, where the characteristics of quality are defined, and in Guatemala the coffee quality is very high," she told Tierramérica.

"We regret the lack of U.S. interest in negotiating the rules of origin for coffee and other agricultural products. The discussion has been left for the end of the agenda," to wrap up in mid-December in Washington, Luna said.