Environment | WPN World People News

General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft (left), chairs the Assembly’s special meeting in observance of the thirtieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. At his side is Catherine Pollard, Under Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management.

A coalition of wolf conservation groups, on Tuesday environmental organizations and a retired federal wolf biologist announced a court settlement requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) to prepare a long-delayed recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves by November 2017.

New rules to curb the growing influx into the EU of plant pests such as Xylella fastidiosa, which has been devastating Italian olive groves in 2013, were endorsed by the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. Factors driving this influx include increased trade and climate change. The draft rules, informally approved by Parliament and Council negotiators in December 2015, would govern preventive measures for imported plant pests and rapid response mechanisms for high-risk ones.

The EPA released a proposal to clarify and update the Regional Haze Rule under the Clean Air Act, on April 26.

Plans to update EU type approval rules and emission limits for internal combustion engines in non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), such as lawn mowers, bulldozers, diesel locomotives and inland waterway vessels, were backed by the Environment Committee on Wednesday. These plans had already been agreed with the Dutch Presidency of the Council. NRMM engines account for about 15% of all NOx and 5% of particulate emissions in the EU.

The World Bank Board on April 26 (Tuesday) approved a $45 million credit to help protect Sri Lanka’s natural habitats and resources from degradation and exploitation while improving the lives and livelihoods of neighboring communities, who suffer the most from natural resource loss and degradation.

Activists unfurl giant banner during Hannover anti-TTIP march on Saturday 23 April 2016.

In a win for climate activists and the anti-fracking movement, and a blow to fossil fuel polluters and the federal regulatory agencies that enable them, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) denied a key permit to companies seeking to build a 124-mile fracked gas pipeline.

The European Commission has shelved a legal opinion confirming that a new breed of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) must undergo rigorous safety testing and labelling. This follows intense lobbying by the US government.