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    The Green Protocol

    Saturday, September 6th, 2008

    A few weeks ago a press release from Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) came across my desk trumpeting its signing with the Environment Minister of an agreement on supporting sustainable development dubbed “The Green Protocol.”  I confess that I didn’t even scan it properly.  Instead I filed it away to examine later, guessing (wrongly) that […]

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    Minas Rewards Companies Getting ISO14001 Certification

    Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

    The State Environmental Policy Council (Conselho Estadual de Política Ambiental – Copam) of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (MG) has adopted a new norm that MG officials hope will encourage more companies to get ISO 14001 certification of their environmental management system (EMS). The norm sets conditions under which enterprises subject to environmental licensing […]

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    If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It

    Friday, February 1st, 2008

    Quite a few Temas Blog readers noticed the absence of new posts for several weeks. I was fully occupied with work day-and-night on the final stages of the total revamp and re-launch of my main site, temasactuales.com Although work continues on the Spanish and Portuguese versions (coming soon!), the burden has lightened enough that I […]

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    Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth

    Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

    An 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 […]

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    Postscript on the Battery Recycling Controversy in Paraná

    Sunday, September 30th, 2007

    Remember the local opposition to a car battery “recycling” (mining) operation in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná last March that eventually led to state environment officials in May to suspend the company’s environmental license and initiating a full review of all state  environmental, health and safety policies regarding enterprises handling lead and its compounds? […]

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    Brazilian Industry Attitudes About Environmental Regulation

    Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

    In a recent post I discussed the results for the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (SC) of a special survey about industry’s environmental concerns conducted by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI). I’ve gotten my hands on the national level results for the survey, and thought I would pass them along. The survey updated […]

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    Now That’s Quick Reform!

    Monday, September 17th, 2007

    When 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, […]

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    Santa Catarina Industry Concerned About the Environment

    Friday, August 10th, 2007

    Recently the industry federation of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (SC) released the results of a special survey about SC-based industry’s environmental concerns conducted with the help of the National Confederation of Industries (CNI). The survey updated one done in 2005 on the same issues. 131 companies responded to the 2007 survey. Among […]

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    Digitizing Environmental Enforcement

    Saturday, August 4th, 2007

    Minas Gerais is moving to accomplish something no other Brazilian state — or probably any Latin American/ Caribbean (LAC) nation, for that matter — has yet done: digitize its environmental inspection and enforcement. Currently Minas is winding up a pilot project in which its 21 waste and sanitation inspectors do much of their work utilizing […]

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    Sao Paulo’s Green Cities Program Launched / Lançamento do Projeto Município Verde de São Paulo

    Saturday, July 21st, 2007

    Synopsis in English: São Paulo State’s governor, José Serra, and Environment Secretary, Xico Graziano, recently announced the formal launch of the “Green City” project promised as part of the Governor’s package of 21 strategic environmental measures. By early July, 393 of SP’s 645 cities had already signed onto the program’s protocol of 10 commitments, covering […]

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