Women, business and the law 2024
Women, Business and the Law 2024 is the 10th in a series of annual studies measuring the enabling conditions that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. To present a more complete picture
Women, Business and the Law 2024 is the 10th in a series of annual studies measuring the enabling conditions that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. To present a more complete picture
A network of marine conservation zones will be put in place around England's coast by 2012 under Government plans. The Marine Conservation Society marched on the House of Commons on Thursday (Copyright Tim Fanshawe/MCS) The underwater nature reserves are one of the key proposals in the draft Marine Bill, published on Thursday. A new UK-wide planning system would also be introduced and licensing of developments such as offshore wind farms would be simplified.
A streamlined permitting system - which Government claims will cut red tape without putting the environment at risk - come into force for the waste sector and heavy industry at the weekend. The new system will focus on high-risk businesses while easing the regulatory burden on those with a proven environmental record and less hazardous processes. In practice this will mean less site visits and form filling for those seen as low risk and closer scrutiny of those whose activities pose the greatest threat to the environment.
The EU's fledgling market for carbon yesterday shrugged off provisional figures showing that Europe's big polluters emitted lower levels of carbon dioxide than allowed last year. The price of carbon permits for 2008 rose by 4% as investors took the view that tighter emissions rules that came into effect this year will mean permit shortages in the future.
Carbon traders will today find out whether the European Union's emissions trading scheme has succeeded in persuading companies to curb their greenhouse gas output. The European Commission is expected to release data today showing the extent of carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 from businesses covered by its emissions trading scheme. It is widely expected to show that emissions from heavy industry such as steel and cement making have fallen by a small amount, but that emissions from the power sector have risen slightly.
Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is an increasingly significant obstacle to the conservation of wildlife. The growing body of HWC literature tends to focus on biological, economic and local aspects associated with HWC. The factors driving HWC at the local level are, however, shaped in turn by
China's rapid economic growth over the last two decades has brought numerous environmental problems. Today, China contains seven of the ten most pollluted cities in the world and is now the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, behind the United States.
One of the most bitter transatlantic trade disputes of the past decade inched towards resolution on Wednesday, when the European Union announced it had complied with a 1999 World Trade Organisation ruling against its ban on beef hormones. Though Brussels refused to lift the ban, trade officials insisted that the original legislation banning the use of six growth-promoting hormones had been amended in a way that should satisfy both the complainants - the US and Canada - and the WTO.
On February 11, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development had issued advertisements inviting comments on the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill by February 22. The deadline for comments was very short. Activists were justifiably worried and suspicious. The committee looked like it was in a tearing hurry. (April 2008)
The National Forum for Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW) organised a two-day national conference on February 24 and 25 to discuss ambiguities in the new Scheduled Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act and how such hurdles could be overcome. (April 2008)
The battles lines in the power struggle over seeds are shifting in Europe. Authorities are dropping plans to push US-led "first generation' genetically modified organisms (GMOs), so that European companies can develop "covert' GMOs and new "double-locked' seeds instead. In 2008, the Sarkozy regime will use the French presidency of the European Union to promote its own corporate-led agenda on these issues. It is becoming more important than ever that farmers assert their collective rights over seeds. Guy Kastler of the Peasant Seed Network in France explains. April 2008