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Loading ...Country Profiles of Environmental Burden of Disease for LAC
Friday, August 3rd, 2007Several weeks ago the World Health Organization (WHO) released what it billed as "the first ever country-by-country analysis of the impact environmental factors have on health." It phrased it that way ("country-by-country") because it released a more global analysis of the issue last year — in fact, that report was the subject of one of […]
The Basics II, Foundations: Is a Constitutional Provision on the Environment Necessary?
Thursday, June 28th, 2007I had in the backlog queue a “Basics” piece on the importance of setting a solid environmental governance foundation through adoption of properly crafted and targeted laws, but held off publishing it for Temas administrative reasons I will not go into here. In the meantime, however, the Dominican Republic (DR) has come forward with ideas […]
The Real Significance of the OAS Declaration of Panama on Energy
Friday, June 22nd, 2007Let’s Keep It in Perspective If you read about it in Biopact, you could be forgiven for coming away with the impression that the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Panama Declaration on Energy for Sustainable Development (English, Spanish, Portuguese) focussed mostly on biofuels. (It didn’t.) If you read some of the region’s traditional media reports, […]
Consumer Protection in LAC II-B – Consumer Legislation in LAC Nations
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007To make up for missing World Consumer Rights Day (March 15), I promised to give you a five-part overview of consumer protection in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In Part I, I looked at how consumer agencies and consumer NGOs in the region celebrated the Day. In Part II-A, I provided an overview of […]
Combatting Deforestation I: How Bad Is It in LAC?
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007In my “confession and foreword” to the series on deforestation in LAC, I promised to begin with a look at the current state of knowledge about the rate and magnitude of deforestation in in the region. Here is my stab at this topic, building on an entry I originally sketched out last November regarding the […]
OAS Examines Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the Caribbean
Saturday, January 20th, 2007From the Organization of American States (OAS): SEMINAR LAUNCHED AT OAS: CLIMATE CHANGE IN CARIBBEAN DEMANDS URGENT MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION The Caribbean region is already suffering some of the negative impacts of climate change, and urgent action must be taken to mitigate the effects of such human activities as over-fishing and pollution, a group of […]
Hearts and Minds in LAC
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006Did LAC Residents Celebrate World Heart Day? September 24 was World Heart Day. Did you do anything to note its passage? Did you ever know it existed? I didn’t. Oh, I guess intellectually I knew that one had to exist — after all, there is a “world something day” for almost everything nowadays. What probably […]
Clean Shores I: International Coastal Clean-Up Day in LAC
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006ICC in St. Maarten / Photo: Rajesh Chintaman In my prior series on protecting coral reefs, I underlined the importance of keeping coastlines and coastal waters clear of trash/debris. In this first segment of a two parter on “clean shores,” I will examine the efforts of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to sensitize the public around the […]
Is Meeting the MDGs for Water & Sanitation Good Enough?
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006This month the World Health Organization (WHO) released a progress report on meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as they apply to access to “improved” water and sanitation, using data collected by the WHO/UNICEF joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). As the WHO report I recently reviewed on the linkage between environmental conditions and health […]
Eco-Certification for Tourism: The Role of Green Globe, Part II
Thursday, September 14th, 2006In Part I, I explained what Green Globe (GG21) is, what must be done to win its certification, and what are the benefits derived therefrom. Here I focus in on the program’s relationship with hotels/resorts/inns in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), current and prospective. In Part III I’ll look at what is happening with […]