TEGUCIGALPA - Residents of the southern Honduran department of Valle oppose the permit that the government granted mining companies to explore and exploit some 5,000 hectares in the area.

Alfredo Saavedra, a spokesman for the anti-mining movement, told Tierramérica that exploration for lead, silver, zinc and gold "have caused severe harm in other parts of the country, and we fear the same will happen in the south."

Saavedra pointed to the situation in Valle de Siria, in the central department of Francisco Morazán, where open-pit mining caused serious environmental problems. The companies responsible for the harm are the same ones that now want to operate in southern Honduras, he said.

The ecosystems in the south, he added, are already at risk due to the progressive destruction of the mangrove forests along the Gulf of Fonseca, where shrimp farming pools have been built.

BUENOS AIRES - With support from the Argentine government, experts at an experimental hydrogen factory are studying the technical-economic possibilities of producing large quantities of electrical energy through turbines fed by this clean fuel.

This according to Horacio Canestro, head of planning at the Experimental Plan for Hydrogen Generation, located in Pico Truncado, in Santa Cruz province, 2,000 km south of Buenos Aires.

Hydrogen is abundant in nature and its combustion is clean, but this element is not found in an isolated state. To produce it on a small scale, the Pico Truncado plant uses wind energy.

The electricity to be generated by the factory will be sent to the Argentine mixed enterprise Enarsa, created in 2004 at the government's behest to produce, industrialize, transport and market petroleum, natural gas and other fuels.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Tourism that is not seasonal or destructive, that preserves biodiversity and has cultural and social content is the aim of the World Forum on Tourism for Peace and Sustainable Development, whose second annual meeting, DestiNations 2005, takes place Oct. 24-26 in this Brazilian city.

The 3,500 participants -- including officials, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and others interested in the sector -- can attend some 45 theme-specific discussions and presentations on 70 successful sustainable tourism experiences.

The Forum has the support of several United Nations agencies and the Brazilian government to promote a new type of tourism, one that is more "complete", focused on development and the creation of conditions for peace, Joao Marcos Rainho, communications director of the Hospitality Institute, organizer of the meeting, told Tierramérica.