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Loading ...Chile to Ratify the London Dumping Protocol
Friday, September 18th, 2009President Bachelet has sent the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on Dumping to the Chilean Congress for ratification, and initial indications are that both houses view ratification favorably. If they do so, it will change Chilean law on disposing of wastes at sea and make Chile only the sixth Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) […]
Trinidad and Tobago Takes the Caribbean Lead in Tobacco Control
Friday, July 31st, 2009Trinidad and Tobago’s Health Minister presented a pretty tough tobacco control bill in Parliament the other day, and seems confident it will emerge as a law in just a few months with little watering down. It appears that Trinidad and Tobago will take the lead in CARICOM’s recent pledge to ban smoking in public places […]
Still Possible to Challenge Projects on Environmental Grounds in Trinidad
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Just read an interesting article in IPS News about the latest development in community efforts in Trinidad to stop plans for two aluminum smelters on the island. Trinidad’s High Court quashed the Environmental Management Authority’s (EMA) grant of a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) for the construction by Alutrint of a smelter in La Brea. […]
World No Tobacco Day 09: CARICOM Agrees to Ban Smoking in Public Spaces
Saturday, May 30th, 2009From the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat: CARICOM HEALTH MINISTERS AGREE TO CURB SMOKING IN PUBLIC SPACES The Caucus of Ministers of Health have endorsed a recommendation for the banning of smoking on public spaces as a public good and regional goal, as the Region intensifies its efforts to tackle Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), under the Port […]
Trinidad and Tobago Has Environmental Police Again
Monday, May 18th, 2009From the Environment Management Authority (EMA): EMA Welcomes New Environmental Police Unit (EPU) The fight against environmental violations continues as the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) welcomed twelve (12) new Special Reserve Police Officers to perform full-time duties. At an orientation and training workshop on Monday May 18th, 2009, EMA’s Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Joth Singh welcomed […]
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 […]
Eradicating an Ancient Disease
Monday, January 26th, 2009Leprosy. What images does that word invoke for you? The stories of ostracized lepers from the Bible, Torah or Koran? The scenes involving isolated “leper colonies” from Papillon or Motorcycle Diaries? How much do you know about it? Is it very contagious? (No.) Is it curable? (Yes.) Hasn’t it disappeared except for isolated communities in […]
Progress Towards the Health MDGs in LAC / Progreso hacia los ODM relacionado con la salud en ALC
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently 14 United Nations (UN) agencies* released a report (English, Spanish) reviewing the status of efforts of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations toward meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report addresses the following health-specific MDGs: reducing the under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015; reducing the maternal mortality ratio by […]
Climate Change Country Profiles for 17 LAC Nations
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the School of Geography and Environment at Oxford University have generated country-level studies of climate observations and multi-model projections for 52 developing countries, 17 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). For each country there is a report that contains a set of maps and diagrams illustrating […]
Trinidad & Tobago Opts for Systematic Recycling
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008In the 2009 Budget Statement presented Monday by Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheria to the parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, the government announced that (surprise! surprise!) it is finally abandoning the Environment Management Authority’s (EMA) ten year-old proposal for a law creating a beverage container deposit-return system, and will instead is opting for a comprehensive waste […]