Monday, 11 Dec 2000

POP Stars

Delegates from 122 nations reached agreement yesterday on a treaty to ban or reduce the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chemicals such as PCBs and pesticides that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and genetic abnormalities in humans and wildlife. The ban, which must be ratified by 50 countries to become legally binding, will require some industries to find new ways to make their products without using POPs or creating POPs as a byproduct. Twenty-five developing nations will be allowed to continue to use the pesticide DDT to combat malaria until better alternatives are found. Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund praised the treaty as an important first step toward ending toxic pollution.

Halt! Who Cuts There?

A federal judge on Friday halted 178 timber sales in western Oregon and Washington and Northern California after finding that they presented risks to threatened and endangered salmon. In issuing her injunction, Judge Barbara Rothstein found that the National Marine Fisheries Service had overlooked its own rules to protect fish when it approved the logging on federal lands. Enviros, who say the feds are not complying with Pres. Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan, hailed Rothstein's move, while timber industry officials questioned whether the ruling really meant that the logging needed to stop.

Noble Prize

At a ceremony in Stockholm on Friday, scientists and activists from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Turkey, and the U.S. received Right Livelihood awards, commonly known as the "Alternative Nobel Prizes," for their work on environmental and human rights initiatives. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the chief environmental official in Ethiopia, was honored for leading an international effort to set rules for trade in genetically engineered products that protect biodiversity and the rights of developing countries. The Turkish environmentalist Birsel Lemke was recognized for her fight against cyanide-based gold mining. Wes Jackson from the U.S. received the award for his two decades of work with the Land Institute to develop a sustainable agricultural system based on perennial prairie plants.

Eight Years Is Enough

After eight years of often contentious negotiation among environmentalists, Native Americans, and representatives of the mining and logging industries, British Columbia has approved a plan to preserve 5 million more acres of land. The area in northern B.C. connects with the 11 million-acre Muskwa-Kechika preserve and is an important part of a huge wildlife corridor, stretching from Yellowstone in the U.S. to the Yukon in Canada, that enviros are trying to protect. Mining and logging will be regulated in parts of the new preserve, while sensitive habitat will be protected from such activities. The preserve has the greatest number of large mammals in North America, including grizzlies, wolves, moose, and bison.

Burning Japanese, I Really Think So

Even though Japanese citizens tend to throw out only half as much trash as U.S. citizens, Tokyo will be out of space for its garbage in 30 years, according to its sanitation department. Because of a general lack of space for trash in the country, Japan burns about 75 percent of its garbage, compared to a 20 percent rate in the U.S., helping Tokyo to earn Greenpeace's title of dioxin capital of the world. In other Tokyo news, the government is planning to require that owners of new buildings include plant cover on one-fifth of rooftop space to help fight rising temperatures and global warming.