In a world of higher electricity demand growth, clean electricity is stepping up to the challenge. Spearheaded by exponential solar expansion, clean power is set to grow faster than demand, marking the start of a permanent decline in fossil generation. 2024 both clarified and consolidated the shape of the global …
Those who are fashion freaks and at the same time keep worrying about the dangers of pollution now have something to cheer about. The recent Sao Paulo Fashion Week
Has the environmentalist movement become a toothless tiger? What about the media; what are they good for? Should we quit eating red meat? What are the impacts of rearing animals for consumption? These are some of the questions that dogged me during my recent visit to the biggest city of …
Environmental studies may no longer be a part of the US forest management plans. The United States Forest Service recently decided not to write lengthy and time-consuming environmental impact statements, particularly while revising the national forest plans. Forest service officials have estimated that planning and assessment activities consume 40 per …
On December 12, 2006, the Brazilian ministry of science and technology unveiled a us $37-million scheme to fund initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions. The scheme would help Brazil benefit from Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (cdm). It has been estimated that between 2006 and 2012 the total carbon credit …
This document address the value-added of the right to water, its basis in international law and provide an overview of the content of the right. It also includes a number of resources useful for training and advocacy.
Illegal logging is massively widespread - more than 50 per cent of all timber in some countries - and hugely damaging, yet how can it be tackled without causing poverty in local communities? Written by the world's foremost experts, this book examines the key issues including law and enforcement, supply …
Many species of trees in the Amazon rainforests, and animals that depend on them are disappearing more rapidly than previously thought, an international research team reported recently. Led by William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the research team has been studying nearly 32,000 Amazonian trees for …
The airline company, Alitalia, was recently forced to issue an apology letter after its officials at New Delhi airport stopped a passenger from boarding a Belo Horizonte-bound flight. The company justified its action as "judicious discrimination'. But to Santraj Maurya
the Union ministry for environment and forests has recently amended its draft notification putting in place a new regime that will govern environment impact assessments (eias), (see
At least 104 shrimp exporters from six countries (Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached an agreement with the us shrimp producers to bypass the country's annual tax review. The move came after Thailand, one of the world's largest shrimp exporters, failed to persuade the us to scrap a …
Since the energy shortage in 2001, there has been renewed interest in energy-generation projects in Brazil. Policy options under consideration include expansion of natural gas exploration and hydropower generation in the Amazon. This article analyzes environmental opposition to two projects, the Urucu pipeline and the Belo Monte Dam. Despite significant …
Bowing to pressure from consumer and environmental groups, Brazilian soy traders have stopped buying soybeans grown in the Amazon basin for the time being. The move is an effort to preserve the world's largest rainforests, the Amazon. The moratorium will continue for two years and apply to soybeans planted in …
• Musicians from the Shaman forest community in Brazil are on a musical tour of Britain. The tour intends taking vignettes of this Amazonian community's culture to the hosts. • Kenya had to rescind its recently announced ban of smoking in public after an order from the country's Supreme Court. …
Bolivian president Evo Morales's nationalisation of the country's natural gas has created a rift between Latin America's centre-left governments and the hard-left administrations of Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba. Brazil, which gets half of its natural gas from Bolivia, and Argentina, Bolivia's second largest gas buyer, are worried Bolivia's takeover might …
The issue of living modified organisms (lmos) figured prominently at a recent meeting of the countries signatory to the Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety. The meeting took 18 decisions on requirements for handling, transport and identification of lmos during trans-boundary movements. Risk assessment and liability were among other concerns addressed. But …
• As many as 57 species of fish in Haryana have disappeared over the past four decades as a result of pollution and high siltation of rivers, a study found. • UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination strongly reprimanded the Botswana government over eviction of the Gana and …
