BUENOS AIRES - A network of groups, with the World Conservation Union - South America (UICN-Sur) at the fore, is convening an Internet debate in the region to set up actions aimed at preserving biodiversity.

The Countdown 2010 E-Forum will be open Feb. 21 to Mar. 2 at www.countdown2010.net.

"We want to raise awareness in South America about the Convention on Biological Diversity, whose mission is a significant reduction of biodiversity loss by 2010," María Laura Piñeiros, of UICN-Sur, told Tierramérica.

With the forum, "we are looking for updates on the actions in each country to comply with that goal, and identify priority actions in the region," she said.

MEXICO CITY - The Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico (UAM) has developed biological methods for treating wastewater that are more effective than the standard approaches, which use physical and chemical processes.

The biological method, patented by the university, puts the contaminated water through an anaerobic process (without oxygen) and a treatment with microscopic algae, which can later be used as fertilizer. The purification is completed using water lilies.

But there are no policy or financial incentives to use this bio-technique, which despite requiring higher initiation investment, over the long term is cheaper than other water treatment methods.

"The legislation is very lax, and there is not much oversight, so many companies, especially the smaller ones, opt to dump the contaminated water without treating it," Mónica Meraz, a researcher at UAM's biotechnology department, told Tierramérica.

In Mexico, just one-third of wastewater goes through purification.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's national integration minister, Pedro Brito, announced Feb.14 that after Carnival the government will take bids for projects to transfer water from the Sao Francisco River to supply the country's dry northeastern region.

The federal government hoped to begin construction in 2005 on a mega-project it says will benefit 12 million people. But environmental standards and legal actions -- now overturned -- prevented work.

New protests are expected. "This 'new threat' from the government will not advance, because new legal obstacles will come up, and it will run into resistance from social movements and from state government in the watershed," Apolo Heringuer, coordinator of a university project for the recovery of the Velhas River, a tributary of the Sao Francisco.

"The real cost is four times more than the estimated 2.1 billion dollars, and climate change is adding uncertainty," he said.