BERLIN — Rajendra Pachauri, who supervised work on the two most detailed studies of climate change ever completed, stepped down as head of the United Nations panel examining the science after allegations he sexually harassed a colleague.
Álvaro Ugalde, who along with Mario Boza is considered a father of Costa Rica's world-famous national park system, died Saturday of a heart attack in his home in Heredia, east of San José, a day short of his 69th birthday.
Firefighters in the northwestern province of Guanacaste worked until 3 a.m. on Wednesday to extinguish a wildfire that destroyed at least five hectares of Palo Verde National Park. The damaged area is mostly pastureland and secondary forest, park administrator Ulises Chavarría García said.
Supreme Court President Zarela Villanueva criticized President Luis Guillermo Solís for not keeping his ministers in order following the acquittal of the suspects in the Jairo Mora murder trial on Jan. 26.
HKND plans to dredge 715 million cubic meters of material from the bottom of Lake Cocibolca, possibly the biggest dredging job ever. In comparison, all dredging and excavating in the 100-year history of the Panama Canal has removed a total of 550 million cubic meters of material.
Costa Rica has been seeking information – including specific environmental assessment details and routes – from its northern neighbor for four years. But even today, as the $50 billion project moves forward, Costa Rican officials say they have received little information to assuage concerns.
Planet Earth set an ominous record last year as global temperatures rose to the highest level since modern measurements began, scientists said Friday in a report that heightened concerns about humanity's growing toll on the natural systems that sustain life.
A comprehensive environmental impact assessment for the entire canal project is being directed by the British firm Environmental Resource Management (ERM), which promised to issue conclusions in March or April.
