EU/ERBD News
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The United States opened civil and criminal investigations of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as BP began new efforts to control the undersea leak, Bloomberg News reported. Amid fears that the oil could gush until August, hurricane season began on June 1. A new oil flow emerged from the damaged well after a remote-controlled submarine successfully cut...
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A UN gathering of nearly 200 countries agreed new targets for 2020 to protect nature as well as a new global pact aimed at giving developing countries more share of profits made from their genetic resources, Reuters reported. The Nagoya Protocol, which includes a 20-point plan to safeguard biodiversity, was adopted at the end of the Convention on Biological...
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Helicopters carrying emergency supplies landed on the remote Indonesian islands slammed by a tsunami that killed at least 272 people, the Associated Press said, while the toll from a volcanic eruption at Mount Merapi rose to 30. The two disasters struck Indonesia within 24 hours, straining the country’s ability to respond.
Government ministers...
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Governments and businesses around the world need to recognise the immense economic value of preserving species and ecosystems and incorporate that value into their decision-making, the Associated Press quoted a UN Environment Programme report as saying. The study, presented at the Convention on Biological Diversity gathering in Nagoya, Japan, attempts to...
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Humanity’s demands on natural resources are skyrocketing to 50% more than the earth can sustain, while populations of tropical species are plummeting, WWF said in its just-released “2010 Living Planet Report”. According to the biennial study, a continuation of current trends on a global scale would mean that the equivalent of two planets’...
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Hungary has opened a criminal investigation into the toxic sludge flood that took four lives and injured 120 people this week, while the European Union and environmental groups warned that the disaster could have long-term consequences for countries along the Danube river, the Associated Press said. The tide of caustic red sludge was unleashed when a reservoir...
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The falling cost of renewable energy and rising cost of oil and gas will allow Denmark to develop an energy network entirely free of fossil fuels by 2050, according to a new report by the government’s climate commission, BusinessGreen.com said. To meet the target, the report recommended immediate devotion of 0.5% of annual GDP to green energy investment....
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European companies are working harder at disclosing their financial risks associated with greenhouse-gas emissions than are North American companies, Reuters said, citing an annual report by the Carbon Disclosure Project.
The environmentally destructive coal-mining practice of mountaintop removal faces new US regulatory restrictions and limited...
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Industrial production of asparagus in Peru’s Ica valley is depleting the desert area’s water resources so fast that smaller farmers and local families are finding wells running dry, The Guardian reported, citing a study by the development charity Progressio. Export of the luxury vegetable, much of it to British supermarkets, is unsustainable in...
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In a just-released BP internal report, the oil giant said multiple companies and work teams contributed to the Gulf of Mexico spill that fouled US waters and shorelines for months, the Associated Press said. While critical of its own workers’ conduct, BP said the April accident arose from a complex linkage of mechanical failures, human judgments,...
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