Environment | WPN World People News

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced on September 28 that more than one million Americans signed the organization's public comment petition in support of a new proposed rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to prevent illegal African elephant ivory from being imported and sold in the United States. This news comes at the heels of the joint statement made by the Chinese and U.S. governments on Friday signaling their commitment to close their ivory markets and curb illegal ivory trade.

Gilles Pargneaux

The environment committee on Wednesday adopted an update of EU car emission rules, setting limits on certain pollutants including NOx. They call for a new, real-life, emissions test procedure to be enforced by 2017. They also want fuel consumption meter and gear-change indicators fitted to all new cars by 2019.

Under an agreement announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) will come into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act at its Krum Bay facility on St. Thomas and Cruz Bay facility on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The settlement resolves numerous violations of the Clean Air Act, including VIWAPA’s failure to properly operate pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that can cause serious respiratory illness.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a complaint against Philadelphia-based FMC Corporation for violations of the federal pesticide law related to the marketing and distribution of its agricultural product, “Stallion Brand Insecticide.”

Environmental justice and conservation groups sued the Southern California city of Moreno Valley Wednesday over its approval of the World Logistics Center, a sprawling 40-million-square-foot warehouse project that would add 14,000 truck trips to town every day, worsen already poor air quality and harm birds and other wildlife in the nearby San Jacinto Wildlife Area.

The expected approval of a new worldwide development deal later this week gives hope that nations can work together to eradicate poverty and protect the environment. All 193 UN member states will formally agree the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on Friday at what is billed to be the largest ever gathering of world leaders.

Typhoon survivors and civil society groups in the Philippines Tuesday delivered a complaint to the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) calling for an investigation into the responsibility of big fossil fuel companies for fuelling catastrophic climate change resulting in human rights violations.

In a resolution adopted by 55 votes to 5, with 8 abstentions, the committee also says a share of the EU's carbon market allowances should be earmarked for climate finance and the aviation and shipping sectors should initiate measures to curb their emissions by the end of 2016.

Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, the Sumatran rhino is now presumed extinct in the wild in Malaysia, as announced last month in the journal Oryx. Over the last 50-100 years, the Sumatran rhino has become extinct in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. According to the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Asian Rhino Specialist Group, the Sumatran rhino is now only found in a few sites in Sumatra, and only a handful of individuals are believed to survive in Kalimantan, Borneo.