Environment | WPN World People News

Close to half a million Europeans die every year from diseases linked to the millions of tons of gases and particulates human activity releases into the atmosphere. These range from sulphur dioxide that contributes to the acid rain that damages buildings and kills plants, to tiny particulate matter that can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. On Wednesday 23 November, MEPs vote to set tougher emission limits for key air pollutants.

On November 22, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that CTS Corporation, Mills Gap Road Associates and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation have agreed to spend an estimated $9 million on an interim cleanup at the CTS of Asheville, Inc.

Water infrastructure in Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan.

A sign warning of pesticide application near a cropfield on Kauaʻi. Hawaiʻi has more experimental field trials of genetically engineered crops than any other state in the nation.

Mediterranean swordfish

Friday, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and tribal member Walter Echo-Hawk, filed suit against the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to challenge federal oil and gas approvals on Pawnee lands. The lawsuit seeks to set aside numerous oil and gas leases and drilling permits approved in recent years that violate both federal and tribal law.

Australia’s former leading authority on the Great Barrier Reef has called for a stop on the construction of any new coal mines in Australia, sounding the alarm on coral bleaching, rising sea temperatures, and further damage on the Reef. The call comes just days after nations met in Morocco for COP22 to hammer out plans to implement the Paris Agreement.

“The last two weeks have seen a renewed determination to move ahead with the Paris Agreement. Here at the UN, countries have taken a small step together and some are already taking the giant leaps we need. 47 countries on the frontline of climate change are setting the pace, and their commitment to 100% renewable energy shows leadership and vision, just what we need from everyone.”

After examining existing rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene schemes, a new World Bank study from Papua New Guinea has identified key themes common to long term sustainability .

World leaders gathered at the COP22 climate talks in Marrakesh for the last two weeks to negotiate how to implement the priorities of the Paris agreement. Today nearly 200 countries have backed a proclamation declaring implementing them an "urgent duty". The European Parliament was present at the conference with a delegation composed of 12 MEPs. We asked delegation head Giovanni La Via, an Italian member of the EPP group, about the next steps and the Parliament’s role.