Environmental Policy Reborn in Rio?
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009If you believe Governor Cabral and Environment Secretary Ramos, environmental policy in the state of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) just underwent a rebirth. At the inaugural ceremony for the new State Environment Institute (INEA), Governor Cabral declared that henceforth RJ will have an environmental policy with less bureaucracy, greater agility and technical rigor. To refresh […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An interesting thing happened over the last two weeks. Well, interesting to people like me who’ve been following the packaging waste debate for decades, at least. Environment enforcement officials for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state “blitzed” supermarkets in Rio de Janeiro city — first on 19 October in the well-to-do Leblon section, then on 23 […]
Now That’s Quick Reform!
Monday, September 17th, 2007When proposing new environmental governing machinery, it helps to have old friends in the legislature. It also helps when people have agreed for years that the machinery urgently needs an overhaul. The State Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ) has approved in record time the executive branch’s recently proposed reform. The force behind the proposal, […]
Investing in Composting
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007A few weeks back Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state’s agency in charge of environmental licensing, the State Environmental Engineering Foundation (FEEMA), announced the first-ever environmental license granted in that state to a privately-owned commercial composting plant. The licensed was granted to VideVerde, a subsidiary of the Venativ environmental services group, for a station in Resende, […]
Reforming Rio’s Environmental Governing Machinery
Thursday, June 21st, 2007Synopsis in English: The governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) has sent to the State Assembly (ALERJ) a bill to create am single agency — State Environment Institute (INEA) — to handle most implementation and enforcement matters involving environmental protection and management of the state’s water resources. The agency would combine the […]
Trash Photos XI: A Visit to the Landfill
Thursday, February 8th, 2007Someone recently asked whatever happened to my “Trash Photo” series. No, folks, I did not run out of trash- or recycling-related photos — not likely to happen anytime soon! No, I didn’t tire of posting in the series. I’m always ready to “talk trash.” (All right, keep the groans about my puns to a minimum!) […]
Brazil’s New Sanitation Law
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007After Over 20 Years of Arguing, Better Than Nothing? On 05 January Brazil finally, after over two decades of debate, adopted a framework law on basic sanitation. Ironically, the law signed by President Lula is not radically different from one vetoed by his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC), on the same day (05 January) 12 […]