MEXICO CITY - New global measures for promoting sustainable consumption and clean production in sectors like water and energy management and agriculture are the focus of debate by some 300 experts in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Nov. 15-16.

The meeting, organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), is bringing together representatives from government, civil society, industry and the scientific community from around the world.

''The industries are getting our message: that sustainable energy or water policies are good investments in terms of environment but also in terms of business,'' Monique Barbut, director of the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, told Tierramérica.

In the past decade, this division has promoted some 3,000 clean production projects, involving 70,000 industries, through 25 specialized centers in the developing world.

CARACAS - The Wayuú indigenous community, whose home is on the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia and Venezuela will soon benefit from the tropical sun that shines down on them 12 hours of every day.
For the first time, they will obtain electricity from the sunlight, with the installation of photovoltaic panels in Casuasín, one of the towns of the Guajira plateau.

''This community has never had electricity. Now it will be possible to keep medicines refrigerated, which will help reduce mortality in the area,'' Daniel Escalona, a spokesman with the Ministry of Environment, told Tierramérica.

The 15,000-dollar project is also intended to reduce the use of firewood as fuel, providing relief for the devastated vegetation of the nearly desertified Guajira.

RIO DE JANEIRO - A device that converts vegetable oil into biodiesel through a thermal process, and is able to produce up to 250 liters of sustainable fuel per day, has been developed by the government agricultural research agency, Embrapa.

The machine, which has undergone its final adjustments at the University of Brasilia, provides an alternative to the conventional chemical process for producing biodiesel, based on ethanol or methanol.

Anyone can run the new system, which costs approximately 2,700 dollars, Embrapa expert Renato Roscoe told Tierramérica.

The aim is to promote the inclusion of small farmers and poor communities in biodiesel production.

TEGUCIGALPA - Eleven towns in the Honduran department of Choluteca, on the southern border with Nicaragua, have organized to protect the watershed of the Choluteca River, which supplies the communities with water.

Olman Rivera, coordinator of the project, told Tierramérica that pesticide use on farmland, and the seeping of saltwater from the Gulf of Fonseca into aquifers ''contaminate the freshwater and have forced us to take preventative measures.''

The area is home to extensive ranching operations, crop production and salt and shrimp industries -- the latter considered the biggest culprit in the deterioration of the local environment.

SANTIAGO - In southern Chile there has been progress in promoting sustainable use of firewood, according to a seminar organized by the National Environmental Commission and other agencies Nov. 11-12 in the city of Temuco, 670 km south of Santiago.

Firewood is the main domestic fuel used in the southern part of the country, but there are problems that undercut its renewable characteristics, said the conference participants. Temuco has experienced periods of severe air pollution because of the massive use of firewood.

In Valdivia, 835 km south of the capital, a pilot program for certification is being developed to ensure that consumers have access to firewood coming from well-managed forests.

HAVANA - The eastern Cuban city of Holguín is receiving 300,000 liters of water a day, delivered by train, to deal with the shortages caused by continued severe drought, reported the local government.

The water will continue to arrive by train until a 50-km pipeline is completed to carry water from the Cauto River to the purification plants near the city.

Holguín, located 700 km from Havana and home to 300,000 people, will receive 500 liters of water per second from the Cauto once the project is complete.

The drought emergency was declared 15 months ago, and according to the province's water resources director, Henry Parra, the area reservoirs hold only enough water for three months. Residents receive water every five or six days.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemalan producers of natural rubber are working to boost the 50,000 metric tons they harvest each year. They want to take advantage of the rising international price of synthetic rubber, a petroleum-based product.

The prices for natural latex are higher than two years ago, rising from 89 to 1.22 cents on the dollar per kilo, but there needs to be more technology in production, Hans Peter, president of the Guatemalan Association of Latex Technicians, told Tierramérica.

The local market consumes nine percent of production, and the rest is exported without value-adding processing, heading primarily to Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Guatemala dedicates some 350,000 hectares to growing chicozapote (Manilkara zapota), the tree from which the raw material for making rubber is extracted. The industry involves 1,100 producers and generates 20,000 jobs, mostly in the north, northeast, and the southern coast.

Peter said that most of the trees are relatively young and that the species lives at least 40 years.