RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 20 (Tierramérica) - The genetic map of the Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus bacterium, an important nitrogen fixant for sugarcane, sweet potato and pineapple crops, was deciphered in Brazil, and its use in agriculture could generate significant environmental benefits.

The study, begun in 2001 by Riogene, a network of research centers in Rio de Janeiro state, was concluded in December with the identification of more than 3,600 genes.

"The next step will look for genes involved in the metabolic process so that in five years or less we can produce bacteria with greater capacity for fixing nitrogen from the air," José Ivo Baldani, of the agro-biology center at the national farm research agency, EMBRAPA, told Tierramérica.

Injected into sugarcane, the genetically modified bacteria could help save 30 percent in nitrogen fertilizers, benefiting the environment and cutting farmers' costs. Scientists are also seeking substances that would improve plant development and protect them against pests.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 20 (Tierramérica) - The Citizen Anti-Incineration Coalition relaunched its campaign this month for Argentina to ban the polluting process of waste incineration.

Garbage burners have been shut down already in Buenos Aires and the central city of Rosario. The activists want the ban extended nationwide, and call for alternative approaches like waste reduction, recycling and chemical disinfection.

"In Morón (30 km from the national capital), an incinerator was built in 1991, and since then 85 people from within a radius of 200 meters from the plant have died of cancer," Coalition member Gladys Enciso told Tierramérica.

France's health monitoring institute warned in a December report that the risk of liver cancer increases 6.8 percent for those living near a waste incinerator.

BOGOTA, Jan 20 (Tierramérica) - Some 45 fires were reported in the first two weeks of 2007 in Montería, capital of the northwestern Colombian department of Córdoba, affecting pastures and brushland, Jorge Arbeláez, commander of the local fire department, told Tierramérica.

Arbeláez urged the community to refrain from burning garbage in rural areas, given that high temperatures this season could easily spread the fire.

About three low-intensity forest fires are reported daily in the first months of the year in the Colombian Caribbean, usually caused by rural landowners who burn their waste.

SAO PAULO, Jan 20 (Tierramérica) - Sao Paulo Mayor Gilberto Kassab signed a decree recently that makes it obligatory to use recycled debris for paving and structures in public works projects.

Sao Paulo produces 17,000 tons of garbage daily. The three dumps under contract with the city receive 3.8 tons of rubble from the companies officially registered with the department of urban clean-up and from the city government itself.

"It is a very positive measure that the sector has been wanting a long time, and will certainly stimulate the consumption of this type of recycled aggregate," André Aranha Campos, councilor from the Sao Paulo civil construction industry union, told Tierramérica.

In Brazil, it is estimated that construction debris represents 41 to 70 percent of all urban solid waste.