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 […]
IBAMA Sets Record for Environmental Licensing
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009Brazil’s environment agency, IBAMA, has announced that it set a new record for issuing environmental licenses during 2008. IBAMA is not in charge of all environmental licensing in Brazil: much of that is done by state and local environment bodies. IBAMA issued 467 licenses in 2008, almost a 27% increase over licenses granted in 2007 […]
An Interesting Twist to the Battery Recycling Story
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007A few days ago I posted about a controversy in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná involving community opposition to the environmental licensing of a battery recycling facility just outside town. I concluded by saying: Looking on the bright side, the mere fact that you can view a news report such as this one says […]
PAC’ing Brazil III: Energy, Petrochemicals and Biofuels
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007In Part I, I provided an overview of what the Program for Accelerated Growth (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento – PAC) proposed by President Lula is and why it matters to the issues I discuss in The Temas Blog. I also discussed its most direct impact on environment policy, the proposed changes in environmental licensing. […]
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!) […]