GUATEMALA CITY - Most of the archeological sites in the northern Guatemalan department of El Petén, cradle of the Maya culture, are at the mercy of looters due to the lack of funding to pay for guards.

Most of the more than 4,000 sites in the area have not yet been scientifically studied, according to Minister of Culture Manuel Salazar.

"Only 46 sites are protected and open to the public, while another 400 have some type of oversight from the Institute of Anthropology and History, which is insufficient to keep them free from plunderers," Salazar told Tierramérica.

According to Carlos Albacete, of the environmental group Trópico Verde, 70 percent of the archeological sites in the Laguna del Tigre area of El Petén have been plundered. "Many guards are hired by international entities that finance research projects, not by the state," he told Tierramérica.

TEGUCIGALPA - The government of Honduras and the multinational corporation Chiquita Banana (subsidiary of the U.S.-based United Brands Company) are planning to cultivate 200 hectares of organic banana at the end of the year.

"We want to recover the European banana market, where there is now a very strong trend of consuming organic products, and we want to be part of that movement," Agriculture Minister Héctor Hernández told Tierramérica.

The official said the planting of chemical-free banana trees is part of an exploratory project that aims to break the traditional approach to this crop, centered for more than a century on the country's northern coast.

In Honduras, annual banana exports generate an average of 150 million dollars in revenues, and the sector employs more than 15,000 people. For more than half a century, bananas were the principal export of Honduras.

MEXICO CITY - Scientists at the public Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) are developing a megaproject to desalinize sea water, using renewable energy in an effort to provide the essential resource to urban centers in the country's desert northwest.

Sergio Alcocer, director of UNAM's engineering institute and head of the initiative, told Tierramérica that research began in 2004 and in 2007 the first two desalinization plants will begin operation.

He explained that one of the goals is to replace the use of fossil fuels in the process, taking advantage of the warm temperatures of the water in the Gulf of Baja California, the marine currents, the sun and the wind as sources of energy.

This alternative is viable for meeting the water needs of northwestern Mexico, said Alcocer, where it is common for the aquifers to be contaminated by sea water.

SAO PAULO - On Sept. 4 will be the second hearing of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for debate on the restrictions of imports of recycled tires in Brazil.

If Brazil wins, other countries could maintain similar legal measures and public policies for environmental protection.

"If the ruling is not in our favor, it would be a major reversal for the country's legislation, given that it would open a precedent for the import of waste like used computers," Maria Gracia de Lourdes Grossi, head of the Environment Ministry's environmental risk reduction project, explained to Tierramérica.

The defeat would not only be for Brazil, she said, because "it would also hurt developing countries that hope to restrict the entry of waste into their territories."

BUENOS AIRES - Environmental, civil society and neighborhood organizations in the central Argentine province of Córdoba are calling on the World Bank to halt credits to the National Atomic Energy Commission, CNEA.

The forum, made up of 25 groups, was created by the CNEA to evaluate its projects for handling uranium waste at the former Los Gigantes mine and at the uranium dioxide factory Dioxitek, both in Córdoba. The forum was also required by the World Bank in order to lend CNEA 35 million dollars.

José Vélez, forum member, told Tierramérica that despite repeated requests, CNEA did not provide any information, and once the paperwork had been filed, deactivated the association of groups.

"We suspect that the forum was utilized to justify the loan request. As such, we believe the World Bank should not provide the loan," said Vélez.

RIO DE JANEIRO - A national proposal that would benefit the 4.5 million members of Brazil's traditional peoples and communities will be drafted by a commission of 15 of their representatives and 15 government delegates by the end of August.

The proposal will be up for discussion in September in workshops to be held in each of the country's five regions.

The effort includes defining policies that attend to the specific needs of these populations that live from their local natural resources and develop their own cultures and knowledge, Jorg Zimmermann, director of the Environment Ministry's department of sustainable development and agro-extractivism, told Tierramérica.

Encompassed in the proposal are isolated Afro-Brazilian communities, indigenous peoples, rubber tappers and extractors of other forest products, traditional fishing communities, gypsies and others -- most of whom do not hold land titles and who provide important services of biodiversity protection, acknowledge Brazil's environmental authorities.