[CMI-Chiapas] Americas Program | Fed Aquifer Bill Calms Waters | GE Crops Invade LA

[IRC Communications]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's New at the Americas Program
“A New World of Ideas, Analysis and Policy Options”
http://www.americaspolicy.org/

March 23, 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New from the IRC's Americas Program:

Federal Aquifer Bill Would Help Calm Troubled U.S.-Mexico Border Waters
By Rachel McHugh 

Support on Capitol Hill for a new companion bill to a proposed U.S.-Mexico 
Trans-Boundary Aquifer Assessment Act (S. 1957) raises hopes of providing some 
$50 million over the next decade for the first effort to map groundwater resources 
flowing under the border. The bipartisan legislation promises to reduce widespread 
confusion over binational water management by establishing an unprecedented, 
reliable database for decision making.

Like S. 1957, the new H.R. 469, introduced in February, addresses overwhelming 
border groundwater concerns such as the resources being pumped out of the Hueco 
and Mesilla aquifers by cities and other users in New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua, 
as well as those extracted from the Santa Cruz River Valley water table in 
Arizona and Sonora. Aquifer depletion reduces irrigation and potable supplies. 
Interference with natural recharge rates also causes ground compression and 
erosion.

Rachel McHugh Rachel at irc-online.org is a six-month intern with the InternationalRelationsCenter 
(IRC, online at http://www.irc-online.org) where she is researching border 
water issues. She recently completed her master’s dissertation on the water 
concerns of Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city and her home.

See full article online at  
http://www.americaspolicy.org/articles/2005/0503waterbill.html

With printer-friendly PDF version at:
http://www.americaspolicy.org/pdf/articles/0503waterbill.pdf

Biotech Crops Invade Latin America
By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero

Latin America is being invaded by genetically engineered (GE) crops. The promoters 
of these crops say they will help fight hunger, reduce agrochemical use, and 
bring prosperity to farmers and rural communities in Latin America. But so 
far experience has demonstrated that these novel crops do not fight hunger, 
do not reduce agrochemical use, do not benefit small farmers, and also create 
new forms of economic dependence.

Ecological or organic agriculture is positioning itself as an alternative to 
GMOs and to the whole industrial monoculture agriculture model controlled by 
transnational agribusinesses. 

Agribusiness corporations and their spokespeople allege that organic farming 
is perfectly compatible with GE crops and that therefore both can be employed. 
But organic producers and GMO opponents believe that the two models of agricultural 
production cannot coexist and that as the GE monoculture and agroecological 
production grows, the moment will come when Latin America will have to choose 
between one of the two paths.

Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero is an analyst on biodiversity issues for the IRC Americas 
Program (online at http://www.americas.irc-online.org ). He is a Puerto Rican 
journalist, senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program, a research 
associate of the Institute for Social Ecology, and founding director of the 
Puerto Rico Project on Biosafety.

See full article online at  
http://www.americaspolicy.org/articles/2005/0503gmo.html
 
With printer-friendly PDF version at:
http://www.americaspolicy.org/pdf/articles/0503gmo.pdf
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In conjunction with the IRC’s 25th anniversary, we have a new name: International 
Relations Center (formerly InterhemisphericResourceCenter). We remain committed 
to our mission of “Working to make the United States a more responsible member 
of the global community by promoting strategic dialogues that lead to new citizen-based 
agendas.” 

The IRC has been promoting “people-centered policy alternatives since 1979.” 
Please consider becoming an IRC member or donor. You can join the IRC and make 
a secure donation by visiting https://secure.iexposure.com/irc/donate.cfm. 
Thank you. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Produced and distributed by the IRC's Americas Program ~ A New World of Ideas, 
Analysis, and Policy Options.

For more information, visit http://www.americaspolicy.org.  To report problems 
or request that we remove you from future mailings, email: communications at irc-online.org.  

For our UPDATER newsletter, please see: http://www.americaspolicy.org/updater/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
InternationalRelationsCenter(IRC)
(formerly InterhemisphericResourceCenter)
http://www.irc-online.org
Siri D. Khalsa
Outreach Coordinator
Email: communications at irc-online.org
P.O. Box 2178
Silver City, NM 88062

 

 

 

Siri D. Khalsa
Communications Coordinator
International Relations Center (IRC)
siri at irc-online.org

IRC Projects Online:
IRC (www.irc-online.org)
FPIF (www.fpif.org)
Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org)
Self-Determination In Focus (www.selfdetermine.org)
Project Against the Present Danger (www.presentdanger.org)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-chiapas/attachments/20050323/a140e417/attachment.html