The Mayans penchant for building places of worship brought their downfall In 2001, when a hurricane ripped through the jungles of northern Guatemala, an uprooted tree at the base of the ruins of a pyramid exposed stones bearing one of the longest texts of hieroglyphs ever found. The inscriptions belong to the Mayan civilization. Part of a grand staircase leading up the side of a pyramid, the

Scientists expect climate change to dramatically affect coffee production in Central America in the coming decades, but some lowland farmers in Guatemala say they are already feeling the effects.

A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Honduras on Thursday, killing at least five people, knocking down flimsy homes and causing damage in neighboring Guatemala.

The offshore quake destroyed some 60 houses and damaged scores of other buildings across the north of Honduras, a poor country of 7 million people, and briefly triggered a tsunami alert for Central America's Caribbean coast.

Marijuana to cancer: Scientists in Seattle have found that young men smoking marijuana were at a higher risk of developing an aggressive form of testicular cancer called nonseminoma than those who had never tried the drug. The disease is known to strike men in there 20s and 30s and is the most common type of cancer among men in the UK, the researchers said. The study, published in the journal

A Project that originated at a boutique ad agency to help Unicef deliver clean drinking water to children in developing countries is expanding in its third year as more firms join to support the cause.

Technology and development: The humble cooking stove is being overhauled around the world with the help of

Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela are closer to ensuring their citizens have the chance to break the cycle of poverty than many of their neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank

World Resources 2008 explores what is necessary to allow such nature-based enterprises to scale up so as to have greater impact

Forestry decision-making is still largely centralised in Guatemala. Nevertheless, elected municipal governments can now play a key role in local forest management. These local governments, with some exceptions, are the principal local institutions empowered to participate in natural resource authority. Some theorists argue that such elected local officials are the most likely to be representative and downwardly accountable. But do these political institutions have the ability to represent the interests of minority and historically excluded or oppressed groups?

This report explores industrial demand to distinguish and promote sustainable and fair community forest products in the market. Its ultimate goal is poverty reduction - or more specifically

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