India News: IIT experts list pollutants affecting Golden Temple (13 Nov 2013)

IIT experts list pollutants affecting Golden Temple

CHANDIGARH: Main building of the Golden Temple in Amritsar is adversely affected due topollution caused by industries, vehicles, generators, 'tandoors' (clay ovens) of restaurants around the shrine and burning of crop stubble by farmers. This was stated by experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi in their interim report submitted on Tuesday to the Punjab and Haryana high court.

IIT, Delhi was assigned to carry out a study on the effect of environmental pollution on marble metal used in the structure of the holy Sikh shrine. Experts had focused on a 10-km radius around the Golden Temple to collect data about pollutants affecting sheen of the structure.

Taking up the interim report, a division bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has asked Punjab government to take action as per recommendations of the experts and file a status report before it.

The state government informed the bench on Tuesday that Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had voluntarily paid Rs 4 lakh towards expenses of the study carried out by IIT and remaining Rs 2 lakh had been given by the Amritsar municipal corporation (MC).

The issue had reached the court after a letter in that regard was written by Gursewak Singh. In the letter, Gursewak had informed that industry in and around the area was causing pollution to the gold plates fixed on the domes of the gurdwara. Taking suo motu cognizance of the letter, the high court had issued a notice to the Punjab government seeking its response on the issue.

After hearing the stand of the Punjab government and other agencies, the court had asked the state to conduct a study on pollution in and around the Golden Temple by a body of experts.

Thereafter, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) tied up with IIT, Delhi for the study. PPCB has already set up an air ambient plant at the Golden Temple to measure air pollution and a rainwater sampling plant to check water pollution in and around the complex

source from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/IIT-experts-list-pollutants-affecting-Golden-Temple/articleshow/25667325.cms

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New Books: Institutions, Regulatory Styles, Society and Environmental Governance in China By Carlos Wing-Hung Lo, Shui-Yan Tang (10 Jul 2013)

Institutions, Regulatory Styles, Society and Environmental Governance in China

By Carlos Wing-Hung Lo, Shui-Yan Tang

Published 10th July 2013 by Routledge – 306 pages

Descriptions:

During the past three decades of rapid industrial growth, China has suffered from devastating environmental degradation. Most scholarly and popular publications have painted a rather pessimistic picture about the worrisome trend. Yet a somewhat more optimistic view has emerged in the past decade given the Chinese government’s increased commitment to fighting industrial pollution, the public’s increased concerns regarding the adverse effects of pollution, and domestic and international civil society’s increased involvement in promoting environmental protection in China.

Drawing on the authors’ extensive research on Guangdong Province and a few large cities in other provinces, this book provides an in-depth study on China’s environmental governance and regulatory enforcement in the past two decades. Section 1 examines various institutional constraints for environmental regulation enforcement at the local level and how governance reform efforts in the past decade have contributed to the lessening of those constraints. Section 2 draws on data derived from surveys and interviews conducted in multiple cities and times; it examines the dominant regulatory enforcement styles of local environmental protection bureaus and how these styles vary across different regions and over time. Section 3 examines how various stakeholders—the general public, environmental groups, government entities, and corporations—affect the environmental governance process.

Overall, the book presents a cautiously optimistic view on the evolution of environmental governance in China. While highlighting many political, institutional, social, and economic constraints, it also documents many changes that have taken place—including reform efforts from within the government administrative system, increasingly societal concerns and actions, and changing attitudes among corporate executives—potentially paving the way for more effective environmental governance in the future.

Contents:

1. Institutional Constraints
2. Institutional Reform and Economic Changes
3. Service Organization Reform
4. Enforcement Styles and Effectiveness
5. Enforcement Styles: Regional Variations
6. Enforcement Styles: Changes over Time
7. Environmental Agencies and Public Opinion
8. Public Participation and Environmental Impact Assessment
9. Environmental NGOs
10. Corporate Responses to Stakeholder Pressure
11. Agency Responses to Stakeholder Support and Pressure

For more information: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415530385/

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Publication: Solutions for Improved Human Well-Being by Dave Wilkins, IISD (Dec 2012)

Solutions for Improved Human Well-Being

» Dave Wilkins, IISD, 2012.Report, copyright: IISD

The 2011–2012 IISD Annual Report highlights the institute’s efforts over the past year to meet the core challenge of its strategic plan—to find solutions through transformative change that improve human well-being. The strategic plan defines 12 themes encompassing 28 goals to realign macroeconomic policies, management of ecological and social systems, and global environmental governance with sustainability.

The annual report contains a series of articles on the work done to date toward achieving selected goals of our strategic plan. In the context of finding solutions for improved human well-being, the cover photo celebrates the progress made toward achieving the Millennium Development Goal related to halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

The report also includes a list of our funders by strategic plan theme and a summary of our financial performance for the year ending March 31, 2012.

See our complete audited financial statement: 

English (PDF - 105 KB) - 

Français (PDF - 145 KB).

For a free copy of our annual report, please contact info@iisd.ca.

Get the Report

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For more information: http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=1620

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Events: 27th Session of UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (18-22 Feb 2013)

27th Session of UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum

The 27th session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC 27/GMEF) of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is scheduled to convene from 18-22 February 2013, in Nairobi, Kenya. In pursuance of General Assembly resolution 53/242 (Report of the Secretary-General on environment and human settlements) of 28 July 1999, the Governing Council constitutes the annual ministerial-level global environmental forum in which participants gather to review important and emerging policy issues in the field of the environment.  

dates:18-22 February 2013  location:Nairobi (Nairobi Area), Kenya  contact:Secretary, Governing Bodies, UNEP  phone: +254-20 7623431  fax:+254-20 7623929  e-mail:sgc.sgb@unep.org www:http://www.unep.org/ecalendar/contents/upcoming_events.as

For more information: 
http://climate-l.iisd.org/events/27th-session-of-unep-governing-councilglobal-ministerial-environment-forum/

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Korean Updates: Korean Lawmarker calls for Northeast Asia Environmental Governmence

Korean Lawmarker calls for Northeast Asia Environmental Governmence

Nov 05, 2012 No Comments by Daniel Zaleznik

 

 

 

Korean Representative Choo Mi-ae, former chairwoman of the Korean House Environment and Labor Committee, recently published an editorial in the Korea Times arguing for cohesive environmental governance in Northeast Asia.

Rep. Choo makes the point that environmental issues in Northeast Asia are not restricted by national borders. Every spring, Korea must contend with “yellow dust,” a microdust originating in China that pollutes the atmosphere and contaminates rainfall. And the tsunami that struck Japan in March, 2011 had potentially devastating implications for the Korean population, as nuclear contamination could have spread through the atmosphere or through agricultural imports.

Rep. Choo notes that Korea has passed a number of domestic environmental laws. She also emphasizes the environmental safeguards built into the recent Free Trade Agreement Korea signed with the United States. However, as a bilateral trade agreement, the FTA is not regional in scope, and it is not primarily concerned with environmental protection.

Instead, Rep. Choo calls for expanding the environmental governance regime in Northeast Asia. Though NOWPAP (Northwest Pacific Action Plan) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) are currently operating in the region, she holds up the European Environmental Agency (EEA) as a model to emulate. Regional cooperation with multilateral agencies can provide governance over crucial environmental issues. Though it will be politically difficult, environmental governance in Northeast Asia can be strengthened.

Rep. Choo Mi-ae is a member of the opposition Democratic Party in the Republic of Korea. She is a graduate of Hanyan University and earned her masters in economics at Yonsei University. She has been serving as a representative since 1996.

For more information: http://www.environmentalgovernance.org/featured/2012/11/korean-lawmaker-calls-for-northeast-asian-environmental-governance/

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