Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the main driving force of climate change, and all economic sectors need to internalize their costs. Food systems (including land use, production, refrigeration, food processing) account for a quarter of global GHG emissions. Agricultural exports in Asia-Pacific account for 18% of total exports, twice as …
blind eye: An environment court of New Zealand has rejected the first part of the Greenpeace appeal, which opposed re-firing of the Marsden B coal power station, near Whangarei district, due to its impact on global warming. The court said that effects on climate change is a national issue and …
The lack of focus on public health is a result of faulty planning in the initial years after independence when the colonial system, weighted heavily in favour of the privileged, was allowed to continue. In time-honoured style, moreover, the government set up a series of committees but the state of …
FATS Jim Mann, professor of human nutrition and medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand, has reviewed several studies which claim that when people cut down on sugars and replace it with starchy foods such as potatoes for five months, they lose weight. Also people with high-fat diets …
policy on environment: On May 18, the Union cabinet approved the controversial National Environment Policy. The sanction came after much dithering and after the daft made several rounds of the prime minister's office, union environment ministry and ministry of law for over two years. The first draft, which came out …
The New Zealand government recently okayed a move to relocate a population of 250 rare native snails, which were holding up the development of a coalmine. State-owned mining company Solid Energy was given permission to shift the Powelliphanta augustus snails from their home on Mount Augustus in South Island
Just before the Conference of Parties (COP) began, news had spread that the big seed companies were trying to slip in text in a resolution to dodge the moratorium on terminator seeds. These seeds are genetically altered to make them sterile and thus prevent reuse. Developing countries and civil society …
edibleoils may have a use outside the kitchen, too. A New Zealand scientist claims cooking oils like sunflower oil can replace the volatile, toxic solvents used to prepare antibiotics such as penicillin and several other industrially significant plant-based products. Currently, penicillin is produced mainly by submerged aerobic fermentation using butyl …
SC clears mill land sale: The Supreme Court (SC) has cleared the sale of mill land in Mumbai, setting aside an earlier Bombay High court order. The SC has upheld the Maharashtra government's amendment to the rules for development of the
The Environment Court (ec) of New Zealand (nz) has rejected all appeals regarding a controversial battery recycling plant located in Petone, Wellington. They upheld the lead emission limits set by the Greater Wellington Regional Council for Exide Technologies, producers and recyclers of lead-acid batteries. Exide made headlines last year when …
Remedial action taken quickly prevented a major oil spill in Mangere, New Zealand, from causing serious environmental damage. Around 2,000 litres of oil was recently spilled from a fuel storage site of Transport Dynamics into a tributary of Waokauri Creek, which flows into the Manukau harbour. The Auckland Regional Council's …
• A report found that 12 months after a ban on smoking in bars in New Zealand, there were no downturn in bar sales, tourism or employment, contrary to predictions of serious economic consequences to the hospital industry following the ban. • The Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a …
a report prepared for an industry association, Greenhouse Policy Coalition, by Castalia, an economic consultancy, says it will be impossible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand to meet Kyoto Protocol targets without causing severe economic hardship to New Zealanders. Alex Sundakov, author of the report said, "With half …
To reduce carbon emissions, the New Zealand government recently decided to tax power generators and the industry from April 2007 for using coal, oil and gas. The tax of us $11 per metric tonne of carbon dioxide will be paid when companies buy the fuel, said Pete Hodgson, convener of …
after more than three decades of denial, a high-level parliamentary committee of New Zealand has acknowledged that Vietnam war veterans were exposed to Agent Orange, the powerful herbicide, defoliant and chemical used by the us military. New Zealand's soldiers aided us troops in the Vietnam war. This is the first …
Panic waves swept across the island nation when it was learnt that a consignment of contaminated corn from China had found its way into various food products. The corn, which contained more than 100 times the safe level of lead, was imported in October. It was then milled before being …
In the wake of strong protests by activists and pressure groups, fast food giant McDonald's has decided to source only non-genetically modified (gm) feed for its chicken products in New Zealand. Earlier, the protestors launched a four-week public campaign targeting McDonald's stores throughout the country. Now, Inghams (the supplier of …
In a judicial first, a District Court in New Zealand has imprisoned a person for disobeying orders of the Environment Court. William Victor George Conway was sentenced to three months of imprisonment for disobeying court orders asking him to cease causing pollution. He had earlier pleaded guilty on behalf of …
When deliberations began on May 13, 2004 the world's forest policy-makers thought that all was well at the fourth UN Forum on Forest meet (UNFF-4). But by midnight everything had collapsed: two resolutions were dropped and another significantly watered down. By next afternoon, the delegates were on their way home, …
New Zealand has affirmed that its food items are among the safest in the world. On April 26, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (nzfsa) released a report on chemical residues in the country's food supply in 2002-2003. The report is based on the results of nzfsa's monitoring of such …
exxonmobil, one of the biggest oil giants, has emitted three times as much carbon dioxide (co2) as the current annual emissions from fossil fuels worldwide, claims Friends of the Earth International (foei). The organisation commissioned two studies, which, it says, were carried out by independent experts in the us and …
