Brazilians didn’t have to wait long for the fireworks to begin once a proposed forestry-code revision arrived in Congress. The proposal, drafted by Brazil’s National Environmental Council (Conama), had the support of environmental groups because it retained restrictions aimed at limiting landowners’ ability to clear their property. But it also upset the National Farmers Confederation (CNA), a 5-million-member farming and ranching group that wants limits on land clearing relaxed. Soon after the legislation was introduced in Congress, it was altered dramatically by Congressman Moacir Micheletto, a CNA ally heading the congressional commission created to handle the proposal. The rewrite pleased the farm lobby and cleared the committee May 10 on a 10-3 vote. But environmental groups were enraged at the sudden dismantling...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
Drafters of Venezuela’s new environmental code hoped the law would be enacted on June 5, World Environment Day. But the sweeping legislation has been held up due to ongoing dialogue between private sector lawyers and attorneys for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), says Asdrúbal Barrios, the ministry’s press officer. Some articles, particularly provisions affecting the mining industry, have drawn strenuous objections from the Federation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Fedecámeras), Venezuela’s main business grouping, Barrios says. The 1,056-article Organic Environmental Code, developed largely out of the public eye, addresses a wide array of areas ranging from citizen lawsuits against polluters to income tax breaks for companies that invest in environmental technology. (See “Quietly, Venezuela plans environmental overhaul” — EcoAméricas, April ‘00...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has gotten the go-ahead for a probe against Mexico, but two proposed investigations regarding Canada were denied. For the first time since its creation six years ago as an environmental watchdog under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the CEC has been overruled by a majority of the NAFTA-nations’ top environmental authorities on a recommendation to compile a “factual record.” Canada and Mexico’s environment ministers voted against a proposed probe of pollution by hog-farms in Quebec, with the United States voting in favor. A proposal to examine Canada’s record in protecting Alberta’s fish habitat was deferred. In the same May 16 meeting, the environment heads of all three NAFTA nations voted to pursue an investigation into...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
Environmental groups are stepping up pressure on an energy consortium to relinquish drilling rights to Peru’s highly prized Candamo Valley. The valley, said to be one of the world’s last jungles uninhabited by humans, is part of Block 78, an area in southern Peru where a consortium comprising subsidiaries of Exxon Mobil and Elf Aquitaine hold drilling rights. Under its agreement with the Peruvian government, the consortium must release portions of the block deemed unsuitable for production as the seven-year contract progresses. The released land could then be given national-park status. Conservationists were hoping the first release, originally scheduled for September of last year, would include the Candamo Valley, a 350,000-acre (142,000-hectare) watershed located at the foot of the Andes in...
[ Log in to read more | Subscribe ]
