'Once in generation' chance to reform climate insurance

Mark KInver at BBC: Policymakers have a "once in a generation" chance to reform insurance to help those most at risk from climate change impacts, say researchers.

A Cambridge University team is calling for insurance reforms to be explicitly mentioned in the UN's forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals. They outlined their proposals at an insurance summit at the UN, New York.

G7 leaders recently pledged to help 400 million people have access to insurance cover against extreme weather events. The researchers produced a policy brief that was presented to the global gathering at the UN headquarters.

"My role was to highlight the policy implications of having insurance at the centre of requirements to protect exposed populations," explained policy-brief author Ana Gonzalez Peleaz, a fellow from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

"The lack of effective insurance regulation is a problem for accessing insurance across all parts of society." For example, she told BBC News, there were a number of nations that did not allow mutual insurance companies - these are companies that are wholly owned by policyholders, with the sole purpose of providing cover for its members and policyholders.

"The lack of regulation can have devastating consequences for customer protection and also insurers cannot really grow if the regulatory environment is not supportive."...

NOAA image of a tropical cyclone's eyewall 

Rainforest protection akin to speed limit control

A press release from the University of Bonn: The destruction of the Brazilian rainforest has slowed significantly. With around 5000 square kilometers annually, the loss is now about 80% lower than in 2004. Led by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, an international team of researchers has evaluated the effectiveness of forest law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon. In some federal states of the Brazilian Amazon region enforcement has been more effective than in others. The results are presented in the journal "PLOS ONE".

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest featured in international press headlines for a long time. However, Brazil has made substantial efforts to protect rainforests ecosystem services lately. "Over the last decade, there has been a significant decline in deforestation," says Dr. Jan Börner, the Robert Bosch junior professor at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn. According to national statistics, in 2004, 27,772 square kilometers of forest fell victim, primarily to agricultural use; by 2012, deforestation had decreased to 4,656 square kilometers.

Rainforest destruction is driven in particular by large cattle ranchers and farmers, but also small-scale agriculture. New roads promote timber extraction and clearing. With an international team of researchers from the University of Freiburg, the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) in Brazil, Börner studied around 15,000 forest law violations across the Brazilian part of the Amazon basin to measure how effective the implementation of the rainforest protection was. "Forest law enforcement is, in principle, similar to speed limit control in traffic: the higher the penalties and the more frequent the controls, the greater the deterrence potential", explains Börner.

...The study suggests that effective rainforest protection hinges on the physical presence of regulators and the actual delivery of disincentives on the ground. This often involves effective collaboration between enforcement authorities at federal and state levels. Based on those criteria, forest law enforcement was particularly effective in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Pará. "Public prosecutors in these states have dramatically increased the pressure: They maintain black lists of agricultural enterprises that violate the protective provisions", reports the ZEF scientist. "For example, wholesale dealers may then no longer buy products from these sources."...

NASA image of afternoon clouds over the Amazon rain forest

MPs to investigate TTIP trade deal's impact on European environmental protections

Damian Carrington in the Guardian (UK): The impact of the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal on environmental protections in Europe is to be investigated by the UK parliament. MPs are to examine if the agreement could weaken regulations on chemical and pesticide use, oil and gas extraction and genetically modified food.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a planned free trade agreement between the European Union and the US, which its backers say will boost both economies. But critics fear it will weaken regulations and place the interests of companies above those of citizens, with 1.25 million people signing a petition against TTIP. The ongoing negotiations have been criticised for their secrecy, prompting the European Commission to release a slew of documents on Wednesday, including some negotiating texts.

“Greater transatlantic trade and investment could be beneficial for Britain, but we must monitor these talks carefully to ensure they are not trading-in the rules that keep our food and environment safe,” said Joan Walley MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), which launched its inquiry on Friday. “We will be investigating whether it really is possible to sign such a deal and at the same time safeguard European environmental standards, as negotiators have claimed.”

A recent report from the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel) argues that the European chemical industry wants the US system of chemical risk assessment to be adopted, which the group says would allow the use of over 80 pesticides currently banned in the EU. Other campaigners say US biotech companies want to use TTIP to open EU borders to imports of genetically modified food.

...Trevor Hutchings, at WWF UK, said the US-EU trading relationship is the largest in the world and as a result places significant pressure on the environment. TTIP should improve, not reduce, environmental protection, he said: “Unfortunately a number of TTIP provisions have the potential to undermine existing environmental standards.”...

A view of a German chemical plant, shot by Eugen Nosko - Deutsche Fotothek, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license

Beijing steps up air pollution law enforcement

Xinhua: Beijing has launched a "zero-hour" campaign for enforcing the city's first air pollution prevention regulation, which came into effect on Saturday. Over 400 environmental monitoring staff began work at 12 a.m. Saturday to conduct a scrutiny on industrial emissions and dust.

Among the 617 plants and firms inspected, 25 received fines for discharging excessive emissions and 11 others for improper treatment of dust. When inspectors arrived at the Hongxiang Heat Co. Ltd. in Changping District, they found emission from roaring coal-fired heating boilers were discharging sulfur dioxide with a density of 350 milligrams per cubic meter, which is seven times more than the city's permitted level.

Zhong Chonglei, captain of the municipal environmental inspection team, said according to the regulation, the company should be given a fine of between 80,000 yuan (13,018 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 yuan. The fine will be doubled if the company fails a further check in a month.

Beijing's local law on air pollution prevention is widely regarded as a test of the government's resolve to solve air pollution problems. It legislates penalties from hefty fines to imprisonment for polluters, and, for the first time, sets a ceiling on total emissions of major pollutants. A previous guideline targeted only growth of emissions....

US farmers, food interests unite against GMO labeling

Seed Daily via AFP: US farmers joined with the food industry Thursday to launch a united front against labeling genetically modified products, amid mounting consumer pressure and an ongoing trade dispute with China.

More than half of US states introduced bills aimed at requiring GMO labeling last year, in a country where 80 percent of the food contains ingredients that were made with genetically modified organisms. While only two states have passed such measures, and none have yet implemented any labeling requirements, farmers are clearly concerned about the prospect.

"If each state had a different label requirement, our farmers just couldn't adapt to that and really economically grow safe, affordable food," said Ray Gaesser, president of the American Soybean Association which represents 600,000 US farmers.

Gaesser estimated that any new state-by-state labeling laws would hike prices 15 to 30 percent. Stressing the lack of scientific evidence that GMOs cause harm, Gaesser joined with corn farmers, bakers, restaurants, fisheries, animal feed and grocery store groups in forming the 30-member Coalition for Safe Affordable Food....

Corn on the cob, shot by Thamizhpparithi Maari, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Policymakers, fire scientists explore wildland-urban interface issues in Montana

Martin Kidston in the Missoulian (Montana):  While the scars left by the Lolo Creek Complex fire have gone from black to white in recent weeks, the memories left by the summer conflagration are still fresh. On Wednesday, with the fire’s charge through the wildland-urban interface serving as a conversational backdrop, a group of policymakers and fire scientists met at the University of Montana to explore ways of making sure it doesn’t happen again.

Does the state need to regulate private land owners who live in the wildland-urban interface? Should insurance companies be brought to the table? Should climate change become part of the larger conversation on forest health? “Fire is something that affects us all,” said James Burchfield, dean of the College of Forestry and Conservation. “How is it that we’re going to collectively deal with that?“

Sen. Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, said a bill passed during the last legislative session drastically changed the way the state funds the suppression of wildland fires. The discussions that surrounded that bill, coupled with the Lolo Creek fire, prompted Larsen and the college to form a working group to find solutions to what most agreed is a growing problem. “I’m curious to see what we can do from a policy standpoint to address this,” Larsen said.

Shaping that policy could prove politically uncomfortable for both parties. To be effective, members of the working group suggested that the conversation must explore private property rights, climate change and allowing increased harvesting of forest products.

“We need to explore creative solutions in the West and how we deal with private property rights in the wildland urban interface,” said Rep. Ellie Hill, D-Missoula. “If we want to make innovative change, we have to start now and we need broad-based solutions.“ Regulating private property within the wildland-urban interface could be similar to regulations governing private land within the 100-year floodplain, some suggested....

Swiftcurrent Fire Lookout, Glacier National Park, Montana. National Park Service photo

US supreme court to rule on EPA's powers to enforce air pollution limits

Suzanne Goldenberg in the Guardian (UK): Barack Obama's authority to compel power plants in the US midwest to reduce the smog and soot that blow across to north-eastern states will be put to the test on Tuesday in the first of three major challenges to environmental regulations.

The supreme court will hear arguments about whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can set limits on air pollution that, while originating in one state, directly affect the air quality in other states.

It is the first of two cases this session that will help define the limits of the EPA's authority to deal with air pollution and climate change. Early next year, the court will hear a challenge to the EPA's plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the federal appeals court will hear a case seeking to overturn EPA limits on mercury and other emissions from coal-fired power plants. The case was brought by the coal company, Peabody Energy Corp, the United Mineworkers of America, Texas and other states.

In Tuesday's supreme court proceedings, judges will review whether the EPA had the authority to allocate responsibility for air pollution to the different states. The DC circuit court struck down the regulation in August 2012, following a challenge filed by 15 states....

James Earle Fraser's statue The Authority of Law, which sits on the west side of the United States Supreme Court building, on the south side of the main entrance stairs. Shot by Matt H. Wade, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

US conservatives don't mistrust all science – just science that could lead to regulation

Liz Kalaugher in Environmental Research Web: Contrary to popular belief, US conservatives do not trust science or scientists across the board less than liberals do. But they do show less trust in scientists who study the environmental and health impacts of new technologies. Scientists who help create new economic products are trusted slightly more by conservatives than by their left-leaning compatriots.

"Conservative Republicans don't rail against petroleum geology, nuclear physics or industrial chemistry," Aaron McCright of Michigan State University told environmentalresearchweb. "Rather, they oppose those scientific endeavours that help us better understand how human activities are affecting the environment and our health. It is this latter science that produces data that is often used to justify governmental regulations."

Journalists and scholars have argued that conservatives and Republicans oppose or don't trust science, but from McCright's observations "this isn't that accurate". Previous studies have asked for people's views about science or scientists in general; McCright and colleagues from Michigan State set out to understand the relationship between political ideology and opinions on science "in a way that was a bit more nuanced".

According to McCright, the divide between conservatives and liberals on trust in science has increased since the early 1990s, when political polarization on support for environmental protection also began. "You might remember this was when many conservative leaders and Republican politicians really started calling climate science, environmental science, epidemiology, and others by the slur of 'junk science'," he said. "So what seems likely is that the erosion of confidence in science among conservatives was really an erosion of confidence in those areas of science related to environmental protection – that is, what we call impact science."...

A photograph of the Little White Schoolhouse of Ripon, Wisconsin, claimed birthplace of the US Republican Party (i.e. the site of one of the first meetings of the general "anti-Nebraska" movement of 1854 to use the name "Republican")

Beijing issues new measures aimed at curbing air pollution

Reuters: Beijing unveiled yet another slew of measures on Monday to curb a choking pollution problem, including limiting the number of new vehicles on the roads and closing or upgrading the facilities of 1,200 companies. China's smoggy capital has tried everything from shutting factories to a massive subway building program as it battles a severe air pollution problem, but with little apparent effect.

The latest measures are part of a broader plan to reduce the Chinese capital's density of harmful particles in the air by at least 25 percent by 2017. "It's a declaration of war against PM 2.5," the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said in a statement on its website, referring to tiny particles in the air that pose the greatest risk to human health. "The city will work relentlessly to improve air quality."

The Chinese government has been increasingly alarmed by social unrest caused by environmental disasters and threats to public health, often the result of breakneck industrial expansion and mass migration to new cities. In the newly unveiled measures, Beijing will place tougher restrictions on the number of new vehicles allowed on the roads each year, curbing annual growth to nearly zero...

Smog in Beijing, shot by Berserkerus, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Global biodiversity panel urged to heed local voices

Imogen Mathers in SciDev.net: A newly established global panel on biodiversity faces being sidetracked by niche interests and northern agendas if it does not tread carefully, a meeting has heard.  The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was formed in April 2012, with a mandate to assess the state of the planet's biodiversity and ecosystems, and provide accessible scientific advice to policymakers.

But it faces several challenges. The key issue to emerge at an IPBES stakeholders' meeting in Paris, France, this week (29–30 April) was how to involve voices from the global South, including those of indigenous communities, traditional and local knowledge holders, women, and civil society organisations.

Experts are concerned the panel could become ensnared by northern government agendas, private-sector lobbying or the interests of the vocal conservation sector, at the expense of livelihood concerns and biodiversity priorities of local communities in the developing world.

And many insiders are worried that the IPBES bureau and multidisciplinary expert panel — IPBES's core governance institutions — are already too skewed towards conventional scientific voices and government ministries, and are failing to represent more diverse voices and communities in developing countries.

Representing the vast heterogeneity of interests and agendas is a challenge, but one that must be faced, says Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Diversitas, an international biodiversity research programme, and head of the International Council for Science delegation at IPBES....

Charles Darwin's first sketch, from 1837, of an evolutionary tree

How to regulate geo-engineering efforts to fight climate change?

Tom Snee in Iowa Now: With policymakers and political leaders increasingly unable to combat global climate change, more scientists are considering the use of manual manipulation of the environment to slow warming’s damage to the planet. But a University of Iowa law professor believes the legal ramifications of this kind of geo-engineering need to be thought through in advance and a global governance structure put in place soon to oversee these efforts.

“Geo-engineering is a global concern that will have climate and weather impacts in all countries, and it is virtually inevitable that some group of people will be harmed in the process,” says Jon Carlson, professor of law at the UI College of Law. “The international community must act now to take charge of this activity to ensure that it is studied and deployed with full attention to the rights and interests of everyone on the planet.”

Carlson is an expert in environmental law and international law who believes geo-engineering is inevitable and will likely happen sooner than later. He considers the issue in a new paper, “Reining in Phaethon’s Chariot: Principles for the Governance of Geoengineering,” published in the current issue of the journal Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems. His co-author, Adam D.K. Abelkop, is a UI law graduate now in the doctoral program at the Indiana University School of Public Health and Environmental Affairs.

...Carlson says geo-engineering comes with obvious international legal implications because no one country can implement its own geo-engineering plan without causing weather or climate changes in other countries. There’s also the law of unintended consequences, because while many geo-engineering concepts have proved hopeful in the lab, nobody knows what will happen when actually put into practice. For instance, Carlson says that while manually cooling the ocean may be seen as a generally good idea, what impact will that have on farmers in India whose crops depend on rain from heat-induced tropical monsoons?

To address these issues, Carlson urges the creation of an international governing body separate from any existing organization that approves or rejects geo-engineering plans, taking into consideration the best interests of people and countries around the world. He says any legal regimen involving geo-engineering activities should require they be publicly announced in the planning stage, and all countries are notified so they have a voice in deliberations....

Shot by Willow20*12, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Curbing Tanzania’s “land grabbing race”

Orton Kiishweko in IPS:  From January 2013, Tanzania will start restricting the size of land that single large-scale foreign and local investors can “lease” for agricultural use. The decision follows both local and international criticism that major investors are grabbing large chunks of land here, often displacing small-scale farmers and local communities.

The Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Peniel Lyimo confirmed that the government would limit the amount of land leased to investors in this East African nation. Previously, there were no limits.

“For a large-scale investor who wants to invest in sugar, the ceiling has been put at 10,000 hectares. (The limit for) rice is 5,000 hectares. The ceiling for sugar is significantly higher due to the fact that it may also produce electric power,” Lyimo told IPS. Sugarcane fibre is used in the generation of electricity.

...The move will come as a relief to land rights organisations that have continually called for the government to curb the land grabs here. 

...In Tanzania’s northern Loliondo district, which is known for its wildlife, much of the land has been leased out to international hunting concessions, which has resulted in the large-scale eviction of the local population – although the government refutes this.  A major U.S. energy company, AgriSol Energy, has also been accused of engaging in land grabs in Tanzania that would displace more than 160,000 Burundian refugees, according to a report by the Oakland Institute. The report states that AgriSol is benefiting from the forcible eviction of the refugees, many of whom are subsistence farmers, and leasing the land — as much as 800,000 acres — from the Tanzanian government for 25 cents per acre...

Mount Lengai seen from Lake Natron, Northern Tanzania, shot by Clem23, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Climate policy key to fighting global warming: experts

Lee Hsin-Yin in Focus Taiwan: A top-down climate change adaptation policy for the energy industry is crucial in Taiwan's efforts to develop environmental sustainability, foreign and local experts said Thursday at a forum on a low-carbon economy.

Regulations aimed at reducing harm to the environment caused by global warming needs to be systematically directed by the government for better risk management, a British expert said.

"We have to understand those risks, and we need to have the right regulations in place," said Michael Harvey Lord, senior adviser of the U.K.'s Climate Change Environment Agency.

A visioning policy could help both the authorities and the public think long-term, Lord said, adding that his country has been doing so since it passed its Climate Change Act in 2008.

Lord said that under the scheme, the U.K. government is able to set planning guidelines for large energy infrastructure projects through helping operators assess their vulnerability to climate change....

Big storms require big government

In the indispensable Tom Dispatch, Christian Parenti makes a rousing call for strong regulation and vigorous government intervention in climate matters: ...Without constant government planning and subsidies, American capitalism simply could not have developed as it did, making ours the world’s largest economy....

...And here’s a curious thing: everybody more or less knows all this and yet it is almost never acknowledged. If one were to write the secret history of free enterprise in the United States, one would have to acknowledge that it has always been and remains at least a little bit socialist. However, it’s not considered proper to discuss government planning in open, realistic, and mature terms, so we fail to talk about what government could -- or rather, must -- do to help us meet the future of climate change.

The onset of ever more extreme and repeated weather events is likely to change how we think about the role of the state. But attitudes toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which stands behind state and local disaster responses, suggest that we’re hardly at that moment yet. In late 2011, with Americans beleaguered by weather disasters, FEMA came under attack from congressional Republicans, eager to starve it of funds. One look at FEMA explains why.
.
..The intensification of climate change means that we need to acknowledge the chaotic future we face and start planning for it. Think of what’s coming, if you will, as a kind of storm socialism. ...In the face of an unraveling climate system, there is no way that private enterprise alone will meet the threat. And though small “d” democracy and “community” may be key parts of a strong, functional, and fair society, volunteerism and “self-organization” alone will prove as incapable as private enterprise in responding to the massive challenges now beginning to unfold....

Holly Beach, Louisiana, October 3, 2005 - Ten miles west of Cameron, La., this Gulfside community once alled home by 300 residents now lies in shambles. Hurricane Rita destroyed numerous structures and severely damaged power and utility systems along a long stretch of Highway 27 in lower Cameron Parish. Win Henderson / FEMA

Federal-state partnership helps water managers plan for climate change

Environmental Protection Agency: The California Department of Water Resources, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Resources Legacy Fund, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today released a publication to assist water resource managers. The Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning provides resources and tools to guide water resource managers and planners as they adapt and navigate the complexities of climate change.

"Climate change will directly affect water supplies and how they are managed," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "With this guide, EPA is giving water agencies the practical tools they need to effectively manage this precious resource."

Climate change impacts will pose many challenges to the management of California’s water resources. Extreme weather events, sea level rise, shifting precipitation and runoff patterns, temperature changes, and the resulting changes in water quality and availability all have potentially significant implications for water management. Drinking water and wastewater utilities, irrigation districts, local land use planners and flood control agencies are beginning to evaluate how these changes might affect their missions and their future investments.

“Our scientists, engineers and planners are on the cutting edge of analyzing and preparing for the effects of climate change on our water supply,” said Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources. “For example, climate change is considered in Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM), one of our primary strategies for improving water management at the local, regional, and state level.”...

Flood risk to new homes in the UK being ignored

Fiona Harvey in the Guardian (UK): Local authorities are continuing to allow tens of thousands of houses to be built on floodplains, despite a growing risk of flooding as climate change takes hold, according to a report from the government's climate adviser.

The report, from a sub-unit of the Committee on Climate Change, also found a marked increase in the risk of drought across the country. At present, only 8% of key water "resource zones" – catchment areas for water – are in danger of a shortfall in supplies, even in a severe drought. Within 15 years, that number is likely to be about 45% if nothing is done, meaning millions of people could be affected.

Lord Krebs, chair of the adaptation sub-committee, called on the government to take action urgently to head off much greater problems with drought and flooding. These could include tougher building regulations so that all houses were equipped with water-saving devices, including water meters, and those at risk of flood with preventive measures, ranging from sealed airbricks to raised floors and flood-resistant paint.

He said: "By taking steps to manage this vulnerability, local communities, businesses and households can save money today and reduce the costs of climate change in the future."

At present, the UK is coping with these problems, but the committee warned that in key areas of infrastructure, such as water supply and flood protection, the country was "near its limits ... and could be pushed over the edge by climate change". Government cuts earlier this year reduced the number of flood defence projects by a thousand. Krebs said he was surprised at how many houses are still built on floodplains around the UK – around 12,000 to 16,000 every year in England alone....

House in floods, Loddon Bridge Road, Woodley Shot by Andrew Smith, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

More effective financial regulation is fundamental to global food security

Jayati Ghosh in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters” blog: …As World Food Day comes around this year, there is muted media discussion and hazy public awareness about the real causes of the persistent food crisis or of how the large majority of people in the world are engaged in an intensified struggle to ensure adequate food for their families. The global situation is not much better than it was two years ago, and there is a real possibility of a repeat of the crazy price movements witnessed during 2007 and early 2008, which destabilised food consumption and added to poverty in so many places.
….It was speculative activity in commodity futures markets, enabled by financial deregulation, which led to wild swings in global oil and food prices. The cost of basic grains and other staples rose rapidly, fell sharply, and has been rising again in the past year. Index investors and other financial agents with no interest in holding commodities were allowed to invest in commodity markets and treat futures contracts like any other financial asset. The volume of unregulated over the counter contracts has tracked food price changes in both future and spot markets, showing huge changes even while actual demand and supply of food in the global market changed very little.

This can easily happen again, unless strict regulation prevents such financial activity. The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill, recently passed in the US, contains some necessary regulations, bringing all futures contracts into regulated exchanges and requiring some position limits for investors (based on proof of actual interest in the commodity). But a great deal will depend on the implementation. Meanwhile, the European Union's proposed legislation is very weak and will effectively allow such speculation to continue….

Line drawing of a cornucopia by Pearson Scott Foresman

A flood of stricter stormwater rules in Seattle

Michael A. Nesteroff and Andrew F. Rigel in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce: As we enter the fall rainy season (which is not to be confused with the summer rainy season), most business owners in this region probably have a lot of other things on their minds than how much it might be raining. But once the precipitation lands on an industrial facility or construction site, it becomes stormwater that must be handled properly under regulations issued by the Washington Department of Ecology.

This year, we have seen implementation of even tougher new requirements for industrial facilities and now Ecology is tightening the stormwater requirements for construction sites. Consequently, many businesses are likely to find themselves out of compliance and subject to potential legal action, particularly as local public-interest environmental groups pay close attention to the reports filed by these facilities.

Since the beginning of this year, more than 1,200 industrial facilities that discharge stormwater have had to comply with new permit requirements. Some of these covered facilities are not aware of the new industrial stormwater permit, they may not have updated their stormwater pollution prevention plan, or they are having difficulty meeting the new permit's more stringent requirements….

A storm drain, shot by Menetekel, Wikimedia Commons

Major strides seen in halting illegal logging

Hannah Rubenstein in IPS: A comprehensive report, released Thursday by Chatham House, finds that production of illegal timber worldwide has declined by 22 percent since 2002, a trend that is benefiting both communities dependent on tropical forests and the global climate. Sam Lawson, lead author of the report, 'Illegal Logging and Related Trade: Indicators of the Global Response', told IPS that combating illegal logging is of paramount importance.

"Illegal logging is one of the prime drivers of deforestation worldwide," he said, "and deforestation in turn is contributing to climate change and the destruction of livelihoods and the environment of the species that inhabit the forest."

The report focuses on the industry as a whole, from production to processing to consumption, by examining countries involved in each step of the supply chain. Forests in the "producer" countries are harvested for timber (Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, Malaysia, and Ghana), which is processed (China and Vietnam), and sold in "consumer" countries (the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and the Netherlands).

According to the report, illegal logging has declined by 50 percent in Cameroon, between 50 and 75 percent in the Brazilian Amazon, and by 75 percent in Indonesia in the last decade. By reducing illegal logging in these three nations, the report estimates that up to 17 million hectares of forest have been saved from degradation - more land than England and Wales combined.

By minimising illegal logging in tropical forests in Cameroon, Brazil, and Indonesia, the report states, the release of up to 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide may be prevented—a number equivalent to half of the total amount of carbon dioxide released by human actions each year…

Deforestation in Amazonia, seen from a NASA satellite. The roads in the forest follow a typical "fishbone" pattern