SAO PAULO - Brazilian experts are working to prove the benefits of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) for treating heart diseases and Type 2 diabetes, in a groundbreaking study that will take place over four years and involve nearly 4,000 volunteers in this South American country.

"Contrary to what was thought, moderate consumption of coffee can do the heart good. In addition to caffeine, it contains mineral salts, chlorogenic acids and quinides, niacin, and dozens of volatile oils that are responsible for the beverage's aroma and taste," Roberto Passarinho, of the Brazilian agricultural research agency, Embrapa (conducting the study in partnership with the Zerbini Foundation), told Tierramérica.

Some studies show that coffee can also stimulate memory, helping to prevent Alzheimer's and depression, he said.

According to the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association, Brazil represents 13 percent of the global consumption of this product.

GUATEMALA CITY - Hundreds of Guatemalans are in danger on the slopes of the Pacaya and Fuego volcanoes, which have recently seen increased activity.

Pacaya, 44 km south of the capital and standing 2,552 meters above sea level, since July 12 has been the more active of the two, when magma began to bubble out of its secondary crater, Eddy Sánchez, director of the government's Institute of Vulcanology, which has restricted public access to the site in order to assess the advance of the three rivers of lava that have formed.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction has a shelter set up in the village of San Vicente Pacaya in case residents have to evacuate, says Sánchez.

The Fuego volcano, some 75 km southwest of the capital and standing 3,753 meters above sea level, began to spew huge clouds of steam and ash on Aug. 14.

MEXICO CITY - Environmentalists, scientists and small farmers in Mexico are on alert after the government announced that it is ready to authorize experimental fields of genetically modified maize. The groups say it would be illegal and irresponsible.

Officials from the Agriculture Secretariat declared in mid-August that it is highly probable that before the end of President Vicente Fox's term in office, in December, experimental cultivation of transgenic corn will be given the green light, thus attending to requests made for the last several years by companies like the transnational agribusiness giant Monsanto.

If it does so, "the government will be committing an illegal act and will face a strong opposition movement," Areli Carreón, coordinator of Greenpeace-Mexico's genetic engineering campaign, told Tierramérica.

Cultivation of genetically engineered maize has been banned in Mexico since the 1990s in order to protect local varieties, which are the product of traditional methods of cross pollination begun some 9,000 years ago in what is now Mexico.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Fifteen farming families will each earn 100 to 260 dollars a month over the next three years for maintaining the forests on the banks of the Cubatao River, which provides water for the half-million residents of the city of Joinville in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.

The local agreement between the Municipal Environment Foundation and the Rural Workers Union is a pioneering effort in Brazil.

This "environmental financial compensation" will vary according to the size of the agricultural properties, which range from 900 to 30,000 square meters, in the Sierra Dona Francisca Environmental Protection Area, explained municipal environmental chief Norival Silva.

The aim is for the small farmers to make a commitment to conserve the river and forests, he told Tierramérica. The program began with 15 families that live upriver from the water extraction point, but will be expanded to include more families in the future, said Silva.

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have agreed a biodiversity project with a budget of 4.6 million dollars aimed at benefiting some 670,000 people in more than 45 municipalities along the three countries' shared border.

Honduran Vice-President Elvin Santos told Tierramérica that the project, to begin in 2007, is focused on protecting water, forests, soil and ecosystems, and will be financed by the Inter-American Development Bank.

The initiative, signed on Aug. 16, is part of the Three-Party Plan -- launched in the 1980s with backing from the European Union -- that aims to integrate the border villages of the three countries in coordinating economic and social development.

BOGOTA - Authorities from the town of Montería, in the northern Colombian department of Córdoba, will begin dredging and rehabilitation work in September on La Caimanera channel.

The initiative is part of a 4.2 million-dollar project to mitigate the effects of flooding from the Sinú River, which in 2005 left more than 3,000 families homeless.

The secretary of municipal infrastructure, Juan Carlos Méndez, told Tierramérica that the last legal steps are being carried out to begin work, which includes reforestation of both banks of the channel.

According to Carlos Martínez, of the Farmers' Association of Córdoba, the efforts begun in 2005 have produced immediate results.