Brazil’s PAC for Sanitation
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009When Brazil’s multifaceted Program for Accelerated Growth (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento – PAC) was announced in 2007, it included a segment earmarked for improving infrastructure in provision of drinking water and sanitation services. Today the head of the Civil House, Dilma Rousseff, and the Minister of Cities, Márcio Fortes, announced a list of 109 […]
Minas Seeks to Lead in Environmental Policy / Minas Pretende Ser Lider na Política Ambiental
Monday, December 29th, 2008Minas Gerais is seeking to take the lead among Brazilian states in environmental protection, and they want everyone to know it! [Look out, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo!] At year-end the state environment secretary José Carlos Carvalho released a report card on mineiro environment policy achievements and plans for 2009. He particularly […]
BNDES Finances Small Hydropower Expansion
Friday, December 26th, 2008In recent months Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has been pumping a lot of money into small-scale hydroelectric power (PCH in Portuguese) projects. How much? R$910 million in 15 projects since August for a total new power generation of capacity of 264.5 megawatts (MW). That means by end-2008 BNDES will have 85 PCH projects in […]
What the WWF-Coke Freshwater Partnership Means for LAC
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007On the face of it, this is good news for a couple of reasons. First off, I applaud that a huge water user (176 billion liters worldwide in 2006) and consumer such as Coca-Cola has decided to increase their water use efficiency, recycle the water they use in manufacturing whenever and wherever possible, and to […]