MEXICO CITY - Concerns and proposals put forward by civil society organizations and activists will be studied by the region's governments during the 15th Meeting of the Forum of Environment Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean, taking place this week in Caracas, Venezuela.

The ministerial segment, scheduled for Nov. 3 and 4, will be aimed at fine-tuning the road map laid out for the region in previous meetings over the last 20 years.

Trade, water resources, pollution, renewable energy sources, climate change, waste management and tourism are among the topics to be addressed.

On Saturday and Sunday, civil society representatives from throughout the region took part in the Dialogue of Environmental Organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean for Sustainable Development, also held in Caracas, where they prepared proposals to be presented at the meeting of ministers.

Both events were organized by the Latin American and Caribbean regional office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP/ROLAC), based in Mexico City.

BOGOTA - The Colombian government has announced the establishment of a new seal that will identify commercial products made with respect for the environment and biodiversity.

Environment, Housing and Territorial Development Minister Sandra Suárez Pérez, whose ministry will regulate and oversee the use of the seal, said that a similar initiative has already been adopted by the European Union.

Carlos Franco, a government consultant and representative of Mercados Verdes (Green Markets), told Tierramérica that there are currently over 500 environmentally sustainable trade projects being carried out in Colombia by small and medium-sized enterprises and community organizations.

The environmental seal has been in force since mid-October and can be applied to any product whose manufacture and normal use does not cause appreciable harm to the environment or to human beings.

BUENOS AIRES - The Argentine government plans to produce high-power aerogenerators to supply wind power to the southern region of the country and export the surplus power generated.

The project is the result of an agreement signed between the state-owned technological firm INVAP and the provincial government of Santa Cruz, Argentina's southernmost province, which will invest 50 million dollars in the initiative and serve as the location for the new wind farm.

INVAP engineer Hugo Brendstrup told Tierramérica that the project involves building four prototypes initially, and then producing an additional 34 aerogenerators that will each supply 1.5 megawatts to the national electric power grid by the year 2007.

Santa Cruz is an ideal site for the project, given the frequency of sustained, high-speed winds in the province. Once the local power supply is ensured, the surplus produced will begin to be exported, noted Brendstrup.

RIO DE JANEIRO - The second edition of the International Seminar on Science and Technology in Latin America, taking place Nov. 9-10 at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), 100 km from Sao Paulo, will reaffirm the leading role played by universities in promoting sustainable development.

Delegates from 17 universities will meet to share their experiences and present opportunities for joint projects in the environmental sector.

The participating institutions include the State University of Sao Paulo, the Federal University of Sao Carlos, and the Montevideo Group Association of Universities, made up of public universities from Mercosur (Southern Common Market) countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).

The organizers plan to make the seminar an annual event in view of the high degree of participation and the growing trend towards regional and international integration among universities, Eliane Melo Zem of the Unicamp Office of Institutional and International Relations told Tierramérica.

TEGUCIGALPA- Environmentalists are promoting the use of "eco-stoves" as a more efficient means of cooking, and far less damaging to the environment and human health.

Unlike the wood stoves traditionally used in this Central American nation, eco-stoves are equipped with a sealed, insulated combustion chamber, making them far more efficient, as well as a chimney to remove smoke from inside homes.

As well as requiring much larger quantities of wood, traditional stoves create large amounts of smoke that cause high incidences of respiratory and heart diseases in marginalized urban areas and rural regions of Honduras alike, according to the country's health authorities.

Ignacio Osorto of AHDESA, a non-governmental organization in Tegucigalpa that promotes development and microenterprises, told Tierramérica that the goal is to install some 1,400 eco-stoves in the capital over the next two years.

Similar initiatives are being undertaken in other parts of the country, particularly in eastern Honduras, where there are already some 175 families currently cooking with eco-stoves.