CARACAS - Four non-governmental organizations created the Access Venezuela coalition, which aims to track the government's promises on environmental management issues, and to conduct training and distribute information, one of its leaders, Alcira Ascanio, told Tierramérica.

The new coalition -- made up of Fundárbol, Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia, Justicia Alternativa and Fundación Justicia y Paz, of the eastern state of Monagas -- will be part of the Access Latin America network, which already operates in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru.

The first efforts of Access Venezuela will target the water lentil, the proliferation of which is threatening Lake Maracaibo, covering 10 percent of that major body of water in the Venezuelan west.

"Along with information and case follow-up, we will encourage the communities to participate in finding ways to resolve the problem," said Ascanio.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Sustainable economic exploitation of the riches of Brazil's forests gained a new tool with the book "Useful Fruits and Plants in Amazonian Life", a collection of scientific and traditional knowledge of 32 native species.

Published last week, the book covers studies by 90 Brazilian and foreign researchers combined with knowledge of the Amazon's local populations about ecology and plant management.

The plant species were chosen because of their importance for the economy and for feeding the people of the Amazon, Gabriel Medina, of the International Center for Forest Research and co-editor of the book, told Tierramérica.

Some trees like the andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aubl.), which produces oils used in cosmetics, and the chestnut (Castanea sativa) are already commercially grown in the region -- and has caused concern because monoculture is more vulnerable to pests, said Medina, adding that logging threatens some 300 plant species in the Amazon.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's Environment and Natural Resources Ministry is drawing up regulations for gas emissions -- and could take effect before the end of the year.

"Workshops are being conducted by representatives and technicians from the state institutions related to the issue... (and later) we will begin a consensus-building phase with segments of civil society so that the regulations gain legitimacy," Alvaro Véliz, deputy environment minister and head of the project, told Tierramérica.

The project will cover emissions from mobile sources (vehicles) and fixed sources (industry).

A recent study by the public Guatemalan University of San Carlos established that in some points of the capital there are as many as 224 micrograms per cubic meter of suspended particulate matter, produced by combustion of petroleum products or plant-based fuels.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accepts a maximum average of 75 micrograms per cubic meter.