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Loading ...Mesoamerica Shows the Way to DDT-Free Malaria Control
Thursday, May 7th, 2009The World Health Organization (WHO) has confidently announced that they can still roll back malaria worldwide while phasing out the use of the hazardous pesticide Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) through the use of pesticide-free Integrated Vector Management (IVM) techniques. Why is WHO so confident it can be done? Because they have already successfully tested the proposition through […]
Colombia’s New Hazardous Waste Law
Saturday, January 17th, 2009At the end of 2008 Colombia adopted a new Law on Prohibitive Environmental Norms Regarding Hazardous Waste and Discards. The new law is intended to close loopholes in prior law regarding hazardous waste imports, to toughen sanctions and enforcement, and to clarify liability for hazardous wastes from cradle-to-grave. That it does, mostly. But it repeats […]
Unique Customs Cooperation Pact on Multilateral Environmental Agreements
Monday, December 29th, 2008Earlier this month Ministers from Central America and the Dominican Republic responsible for the environment, agriculture, health, defense and customs signed an Inter-Institutional Cooperation Convention for the Control of Imports, Exports and Transit Related to Multilateral Environment Agreements. The accord is supposedly the first of its kind in the world (I would be interested to […]
SAyDS quiere ley nacional sobre residuos eléctricos y electrónicos
Friday, September 19th, 2008Desde la Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable (SAyDS): Promueve Ambiente la sanción de una ley nacional sobre residuos eléctricos y electrónicos La secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Nación concretó hoy el Segundo Seminario Sobre Gestión de los Residuos de Aparatos Eléctricos y Electrónicos (RAEEs), con el objetivo de brindar las herramientas […]
Getting a Handle on E-Waste Data in LAC: Argentina
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008The Data Problem One of the key challenges in formulating a reasonable and effective policy on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is figuring out how much there is, what type of WEEE it is (different WEEE pose different hazardous material/waste management challenges), and what is happening to […]
Panama Launches Mercury Project
Friday, August 10th, 2007Panama’s National Environment Authority (ANAM) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to launch in that country the Pilot Project for Developing an Inventory and Risk Management of Mercury. The project will draw up a national inventory of emissions and products that contain the heavy […]
Cell Phone Battery Agreement Signed in Colombia
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007Synopsis in English: Last Friday the agreement (convenio) between the Colombian Government and the cell phone industry concluded a few weeks back was formally signed in Bogotá. In the process, a few of the questions I posed in my prior post were answered –well, partially at least. But it also raised a few new ones.
Ideas for Reforming “Global Environmental Governance”
Saturday, January 13th, 2007When the Governing Council (GC) of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Ministerial Environmental Forum (GMEF) meet in Nairobi in February, the theme will be “Globalization and the Environment and United Nations Reform.” Thus it seems timely to (finally) finish and release this entry I started a few months back. In September 2006 […]
Toxics in Electronics Redux: Greenpeace Responds
Monday, October 30th, 2006As I noted here previously on the Temas Blog, a few weeks back Treehugger invited me to guest blog about my reservations concerning Greenpeace’s handling of its report on the testing of laptops for certain substances. My entry drew quite a few comments, including a long, detailed reply reputedly penned by the scientist who did […]