A Bill to Require EIAs Before Packaging Drinks in Plastic
Saturday, May 30th, 2009Last year in a post about efforts in Brazil to stop the sale of beer in PET bottles, I explored some of the possible ramifications of an April 2008 rejection by a federal judge of all challenges to a 2002 ruling that brewers wishing to bottle their beer in PET or any other plastic must […]
If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It
Friday, February 1st, 2008Quite 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 […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An 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 […]
Brazilian Industry Attitudes About Environmental Regulation
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007In 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 […]
Now That’s Quick Reform!
Monday, September 17th, 2007When 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, […]
Santa Catarina Industry Concerned About the Environment
Friday, August 10th, 2007Recently 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 […]
Digitizing Environmental Enforcement
Saturday, August 4th, 2007Minas 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 […]
Reforming Rio’s Environmental Governing Machinery
Thursday, June 21st, 2007Synopsis in English: The governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) has sent to the State Assembly (ALERJ) a bill to create am single agency — State Environment Institute (INEA) — to handle most implementation and enforcement matters involving environmental protection and management of the state’s water resources. The agency would combine the […]
Helping Colombia Improve Environmental Management and Meet Its MDGs
Friday, June 8th, 2007From the World Bank: Colombia: World Bank Approves US$200 Million for Sustainable Development The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a US$200 million loan to Colombia in order to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs, which seek to protect the poor from the impacts of environmental degradation, particularly in […]
Building a National Network to Prepare for Chemical Accidents
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007Synopsis in English: After the bad accident at Cataguases that polluted 16 municipalities in three states, the Brazilian government finally got serious about getting the country better prepared for emergencies involving accidental releases of hazardous substances. The President adopted a decree in 2004 that led to the creation of the National Plan for the Prevention […]
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