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Sunday, August 30th, 2009According to the blog of the University of Chile’s Environmental Law Center (DCA), Environment Minister Ana Lya Uriarte assured them the other day that Chile is ready to assume all the environmental standard commitments that will come with its membership, currently under negotiation, in the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She pointed […]
Chile Ratifies the Basel Ban
Thursday, May 14th, 2009Chile’s Congress today approved ratification of the 1995 and 1998 amendments to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Ratifying the 1995 amendment makes Chile a party to the so-called “Basel Ban,” bringing the Ban one step closer to taking effect for all Parties to the Convention. The 1998 amendment […]
Government Study Calls for Mexican Battery Regulation / Estudio recomenda normatividad sobre las pilas en México
Friday, March 13th, 2009Mexico’s National Ecology Institute (INE) has just released an “environmental diagnosis” of portable batteries in that country. The study looks at the growth of battery consumption in Mexico, a recent analysis of the chemical composition of both formal and informal (“pirate”) batteries (looking particularly at heavy metal content and any other aspects that may make […]
Tienda Inglesa Helps Uruguay Eliminate Mercury Thermometers
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Last year I posted about Health Care Without Harm‘s (Coalición Salud Sin Daño) campaign to get the health care sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to get mercury-containing medical instruments [primarily thermometers and sphygmomanometers (blood pressure monitors)] out of hospitals, clinics and homes. At that time, they were primarily having success in Argentina. […]
EPA Forces San Juan to Educate Other Cities on Proper Management of Used Oil and Fluorescents
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009From the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): An Agreement between EPA and the Municipality of San Juan Prompts Effort to Improve Waste Handling Island-Wide The general public, municipal employees and others will get the opportunity to learn to properly handle used oil, oil filters and mercury-containing bulbs and lamps, thanks to a settlement between the […]
Peru Opens Public Consultations on Draft National Environment Policy / Peru pone en consulta pública borrador de política nacional del ambiente
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Peru’s Environment Ministry (Minam) is circulating for public comment its proposal for a National Environment Policy. Interested parties can submit comments and suggestions through a web-based form. Minam will also be holding consultative workshops on the draft Policy in Lima and four regions. The draft Policy is clear and concise, with a set of overarching […]
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 […]
A Unique GEO for MEROSUR
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Last month a GEO for the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR or MERCOSUL) was finally unveiled with much fanfare by representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the meeting of MERCOSUR Environment Ministers. What’s a GEO? It’s probably the best known type of comprehensive environmental diagnosis available. “GEO” was the acronym for “Global […]
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 […]
Update: Colombian Eco-Authorities Now Have Sharp Teeth?
Friday, August 8th, 2008Last year I did a post about Colombia’s Environment Minister, Juan Lozano Ramírez, calling upon that country’s Senate to finally give environmental authorities “teeth” — a true, tough environmental sanctions regime. Proposals for such a law had been before the national legislature for years (Lozano says it’s been decades). A few weeks ago the legislature […]