BUENOS AIRES - Civil society groups from Mercosur (Southern Common Market) issued a call this month to protest the signing of a free trade agreement with the European Union.

In a document titled ''Profits for few, threats for most'', organizations from Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay urge citizens to ''resist and pressure'' their governments to not sign the treaty, which has been in negotiation for nearly a decade and is still far from being finalized.

Under its current terms, the treaty would affect the survival of family farming and the trade bloc's industrial policy, while transforming water and sanitation services and marine resources into ''merchandise'', say activists.

According to the text, the EU is pressing for a reduction of Mercosur countries' territorial waters from 200 miles to 12 miles in order to expand European exploitation of the South American ocean fisheries.

BOGOTA - Colombia is to spend 20 million dollars on reforestation for industrial and environmental purposes, with the backing of the government and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The goal of the 'Colombia Forestal' program is to reforest some 15,000 hectares, promote new projects in another 11,000 and maintain care of another 140,000 hectares of forest.

''It is about offering alternative employment and exports in the chain of forests as an option to illicit drug crops, and with a commercial focus,'' explained Vincent Ruddy, official from USAID coordinating the support for the plan.

Colombia is a country of forests, but has not achieved the level of industrial reforestation of other countries, Adolfo Aristizábal, head of the newly formed National Federation of Wood Industrialists, told Tierramérica.

LIMA - Residents of Choropampa, a village in Peru's northern sierra, have filed a lawsuit against the mining transnational Newmont in a federal U.S. court over a spill of 115 kg of mercury on a highway in June 2000.

The plaintiffs say the Peruvian courts could not ensure impartiality. Newmont, the world's second leading gold producer, allegedly tried to cover up the incident, which came to light when 30 schoolchildren fell ill after playing with the mercury particulates left on the road after an inadequate clean-up.

In 1998, the company won a ruling in its favor from the Peruvian Supreme Court, with the support of the intelligence chief at the time, Vladimiro Montesinos.

The Choropampa villagers hired the Engstrom Lipscomb Lack law firm, famous for winning a contamination case against the U.S. company Pacific Gas & Electric, which had to pay 333 million dollars to the injured parties -- the story that inspired the film ''Erin Brockovich''.

GUATEMALA CITY - Indigenous groups have asked the Guatemalan government to adopt new regulatory, protection and reproduction measures for endangered species, and to bring the cases before the global conference on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), under way in Thailand until Oct. 14.

''We propose creating artificial reproduction units for endemic species, considering that Guatemala has many that are threatened with extinction,'' Juan José Meza, head of a national indigenous organization, told Tierramérica.

The group, which promotes respect for and protection of biodiversity, says Guatemala should take advantage of the CITES conference to propose new efforts to preserve families of endangered plants and animals.

TEGUCIGALPA - The intervention commission designated to halt illegal logging and precious lumber smuggling in Olancho, in northeast Honduras, has not achieved its objectives.

Guillermo Rodas, member of the commission, told Tierramérica that contraband continues due to lack of personnel and logistics.

Illegal logging, especially for illegal trade in precious woods, is decimating the Olancho forests and watersheds, says Roman Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, leader of an environmental movement in the department and a member of the commission.

After the National March for Life, led by Tamayo in June, the government set up the commission with the aim of presenting within one month viable alternatives to prevent deforestation in Olancho and other forested areas.

The group has recommended firing more than 85 percent of the employees of the Honduran national forestry agency for incompetence.