TEGUCIGALPA - A group of Honduran ecologists has convinced the government to revoke an environmental permit to build houses in the mountains of La Tigra national park, an important area for water and forest resources surrounding the capital.

Mauricio Velasco, of the Friends of La Tigra Association (Amitigra), told Tierramérica his group found ''irregularities in the environmental permits and concessions'' granted to the company Jamar Comercial Industrial, which was to build the homes.

In the four-month campaign, the activists faced ''many pressures and had to fight impunity,'' but the final results guarantee the protection of natural resources, he said.

The Environmental Secretariat and the Environmental Prosecutor's Office had authorized construction in the heart of La Tigra, in violation of existing law. On June 6, Environment Minister Patricia Panting admitted there was an error in the proceedings, and revoked the permit.

LIMA - Sixteen oil wells belonging to the Argentine transnational Pluspetrol, in the northeastern Peruvian department of Loreto, have been shut down as a sanction for contaminating some 100 hectares of forests and wetlands in the Huanganayacu gorge.

The sanction was ordered by Peru's energy investment oversight body, OSINERG, along with a 1.9-million-dollar fine, for dumping liquid waste into the gorge.

Norberto Benito, Pluspetrol's operation manager in Peru, said the cause was the collapse of a fiberglass pipeline.

The oil well suspension will stand until the company implements an improved water treatment process and presents a plan for cleaning up the affected areas.

Peruvian environmentalist Flavio Solórzano told Tierramérica that there was ''excessive delay'' between the denunciation -- presented to OSINERG in November 2003 -- and the decision to shut down operations, made on May 25 of this year.

BUENOS AIRES - A campaign led by a coalition of Argentine non-governmental organizations led the governor of the southern province of Río Negro, Miguel Saíz, to announce on June 4 a decree banning the use of cyanide and mercury in gold mining.

The effort emulated that of neighboring Esquel, in Chubut province, where a gold mining project was halted by a referendum, after a campaign about how the operations would contaminate local soil and water.

Cyanide ''makes (gold) mining highly profitable,'' but the mining companies will have to adapt to new regulations ''or look for another business,'' Alejandro Yanniello, director of the Piuké Ecologist Association, a leader of the campaign, told Tierramérica.

BOGOTA - Colombian Agriculture Minister Andrés Arias announced on June 5, during the Peasant Day celebrations, that this year some 40,000 hectares of land -- worth some seven million dollars -- will be handed over to rural workers.

The minister called on the small farmers to make use of the instruments the government is providing them for access to around 350 million dollars in subsidies and technical assistance -- resources aimed at productive projects to help them escape poverty.

According to the National Planning Department, last year 52 percent of the Colombian population lived in poverty, seven points less than in 2003.

But researcher Alejandro Gaviria told Tierramérica that the improvement is only valid in urban areas, where poverty is 46.7 percent, but in rural areas it grew from 66.2 percent in 2003 to 69 percent in 2004.