Mexico emits more greenhouse gases than any other Latin American nation, ranking 14th worldwide in such emissions and accounting for 3% of global greenhouse emissions in 2000, according to a new World Bank report. Titled “Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment Framework,” the report also lists Mexico as one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate-change induced natural disasters such as desertification, drought, forest fires and hurricanes. The report analyzes climate-change issues facing five key developing countries—Mexico, Brazil, India, China and South Africa. Developing countries will account for most of the growth in carbon emissions in the next decade, so they—along with developed nations—will need to shoulder increasing responsibility for greenhouse-gas reductions, the report states. The Organization...
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The governor of Brazil’s heavily industrial state of São Paulo has signed the state’s first law devoted exclusively to solid-waste management. The law, signed March 16 by Gov. Geraldo Alckmin after clearing the state Assembly last December, marks a bid to improve trash handling and disposal by solid-waste generators including municipalities, industrial plants and hospitals. The legislation formally took effect with the governor’s signature. However, the São Paulo state Environmental Secretariat still must draft rules governing the measure’s implementation. São Paulo’s new law covers the handling and disposal of all types of solid waste, from organic and inorganic residential trash and hospital waste to recyclable products and hazardous industrial refuse. The legislation was considered necessary because Brazil has no national solid-waste-management...
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More than 3.7 million acres (1.5 million has) of land in the Sierra del Divisor region along the Peruvian-Brazilian border has been designated a reserved zone, a conservation category intended to protect important ecosystems while studies are conducted to determine their ultimate status. Peru’s Agriculture Ministry set aside the land last month in the departments of Ucayali and Loreto. The area includes 681,183 acres (275,665 has) that already have been declared a territorial reserve for the Isconahua indigenous people, who have only sporadic contact with the outside world. The new reserve abuts the 2.1-million-acre (850,000-ha) Serra do Divisor National Park in Acre, Brazil, which was created in 1989. The region’s name—Sierra del Divisor in Spanish and Serra do Divisor in...
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The Ecuadorian Comptroller General has rekindled criticism of oil operations in Ecuador by accusing Petroproducción, a subsidiary of the state oil company Petroecuador, and three contractors of pollution violations in the Amazon region. The report, made public last month, draws on an environmental audit of oil operations in Orellana and Sucumbíos provinces from June 1, 2000 to Aug. 30, 2004. The audit, by the comptroller’s Directorate of Public Works Control, found Petroproducción released 83 million gallons of production water in the two provinces, contaminating water resources. Production water, which can include oil and heavy metals, comes to the surface with crude during oil operations. Its discharge underlies an ongoing court battle here in which Amazon Indians are charging ChevronTexaco with responsibility for widespread water and...
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