Jenny Cottle
Reading through environmental stories this week, I started to realise a common thread, governments, at all levels, are starting to take action to protect the environment. Below are some of the Good News stories:
The United States signed an agreement to a set of minimum standards for what every port state must do to prevent illegally caught fish from being offloaded and reaching global markets. This is a huge step in the global fight against illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing which is devastating fish stocks globally. It accounts for 20% of the world’s catch and as much as 50% in some ports, and because fishing operations occurs far from the eyes of consumers and regulators, more transparent and traceable fishing practices are essential.
The agreement they signed is the Port State Measures Agreement which was brokered between 92 nations by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and was opened for signature on Nov. 23, 2009. The United States is the 11th party to sign the agreement, along with the European Union, Chile, Indonesia, and Norway.
Also in the US, the State Department announced it is delaying its decision on the Keystone tar sands pipeline as it needs more clarity on the project’s route. Thus the pipeline currently has no route and likely will not until early next year. They are reviewing more than 2.5 million public comments they received on the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The Chinese Government has just closed a legal loophole which will now mean that anyone caught eating endangered species, or buying them for other purposes (including their use in traditional medicine) will face 10 years in jail. The species list includes moon bears, pandas and pangolins. This also means that those taking these animals from the wild will face stiffer penalties.
Also in China, authorities have stopped commercial logging in their largest forest area to protect the soil and water quality of greater China which has been significantly affect by forest loss in this mountainous region.
They have realised that this habitat provides an important climatic divide, taking rain from the south-easterly winds and fuelling watersheds that provide water to one tenth of China’s arable land. Forests are essential to keeping healthy watersheds because they help catch water through the air and even provide it through their respiration process, as well as trees holding water in their roots. Without trees, droughts become more prevalent, riverbanks erode and downstream habitats are damaged.
In the US, the Beverly Hills Council has banned fracking or any other “stimulation technique” from any surface area in the city and prohibiting any activity outside city limes which would extract oil and gas from underneath the city. The Vice Mayor stated fracking is not “compatible land use underneath our homes, schools and businesses.”
In Canada, in Kitimat, councillors have voted to officially oppose an oil pipeline project because of risks of a catastrophic spill in local waterways.
The EU is set to put in place laws which will support alternative fuels, particularly electric cars. This is aimed at boosting Europe’s dependence on imported oil and will add great weight to the development of sustainable green energies to support it.
This news comes at the same time as an announcement that the European Investment Bank will invest approximately €2 billion in carbon capture and renewable energy projects.
The European Parliament has committed to a plan to cut the use of plastic shopping bags by 80% in the next four years. This is a huge step given that of the 100 billion plastic bags used every year in Europe, about 8 billion ends up as litter that turns up in Europe’s seas.
And finally last, but by no means least, last week the French lower house of parliament adopted a law immediately banning cultivation of any GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) corn, due to environmental safety concerns. Recently, they also made a halt decree to prohibit planting the only GM crop allowed in the EU – Monsanto’s MON810 corn, with built-in insect resistance.
We have a long way to go, but governments are listening to our ‘little voices’ and acting. Good News indeed!
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