June 2001 Environmental Education Features: PROBEA: Successful Binational & Bioregional Environmental Education by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor The Proyecto Bio-regional de Educación Ambiental (Bioregional Environmental Education Project, PROBEA) is a joint environmental education program initially established between five Mexican and five US environmental organizations in the period between 1991 and 1993. In 1993 the group began its teacher-training programs which it has done in Tijuana, Méxicali and Tecate. Due to the group's success not just in education but also in working in a binational environment, PROBEA has begun advising on the establishment of enviro-ed programs in Baja California Sur. In the future, PROBEA will surely be seen as a successful model for environmental education and binational cooperation. The National Public Observatory by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor The National Public Observatory (NPO) is an attempt to create an astronomy-education facility in southern New Mexico where dark skies and good, year-round weather will combine to create an observatory that can be enjoyed by astronomers of all levels. Now in a phase of trying to create the necessary legal structure with which to acquire needed terrain, the NPO will later begin the building of structures that will house (among other things) a 32-inch telescope, a planetary scope, an education center and a store where visitors can acquire needed astronomy supplies. The NPO also has binational implications as in the past there have been gatherings of southern New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez astronomers. The creation of the NPO should only allow these exchanges to grow in a number of ways. El Derecho a la Vivienda y la Realidad Social por Raúl Ramírez Baena, Procurador de los Derechos Humanos de Baja California En cuanto al problema de la vivienda en Baja California urge un plan de acción interinstitucional, en coordinación con las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, las academias, los expertos y otros sectores, que rebase la visión legalista y asistencial (pública y privada), y que siente las bases de un plan de acción de previsión y de solución con base en los principios de derechos humanos y las normas adoptadas por la comunidad mundial. Daily Updates: Cd. Juárez & Chihuahua News Matamoros, Reynosa & N. Laredo News Méxicali & SLRC News Tijuana News Departments: Editor's Letter Commerce, Labor and Economics Border Crossings Education Environment Health Human Rights and Women's Issues Immigration Politics Security

Last Modified: July 3, 2001
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