Environment | WPN World People News

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council has approved The Restoration Initiative (TRI) that will help 10 countries define and achieve commitments under the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of degraded land by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

Fourteen conservation groups submitted formal comments to the Bureau of Land Management’s Vernal Field Office Tuesday urging the Obama administration to deny rights-of-way across federal public lands that would allow an Estonian energy giant to sidestep environmental review and pave the way for the first commercial oil shale project in the United States, north of Utah’s scenic Book Cliffs. The groups also delivered more than 35,000 comments from citizens opposed to the project.

The Paterson Park area of Baltimore may benefit from Maryland's new community solar legislation.

The Munduruku Indigenous Peoples and Greenpeace Brazil joined forces in an unofficial, community-led demarcation of their land, deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, on June 15.

Four conservation groups on 13 June filed a notice of intent to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision in April to deny Endangered Species Act protection to Pacific fishers, the latest species to fall victim to the Service’s efforts to cater to industry. Closely related to martens and wolverines, Pacific fishers are severely threatened by a number of factors, including habitat loss caused by logging and the use of toxic rodenticides on illegal marijuana growing sites.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to take steps to reduce an estimated 23,500 pounds of pollution annually from its petroleum refinery in Whiting, Indiana, and pay more than $275,000 in civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, BP operates the nation’s sixth largest petroleum refinery, producing up to 430,000 barrels of oil a day.

Brent Stirton

Prof. Ken Caldeira, laureate of the IOC Roger Revelle Medal, during his lecture on ocean acidification.

New analysis reveals the scale of fires in and around the IOI Group’s palm oil concessions in Indonesia. The findings, published by Greenpeace International, come as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) meets in Milan for its European Summit, on June 9.