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Europe Protects 5,000 Sites in the Northern Woodlands

BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 17, 2005 – The European network of sites protecting threatened and vulnerable species and habitats was expanded today to include thousands of locations in the boreal, or northern, woodlands. The European Commission adopted the list of Natura 2000 sites which covers the main parts of Finland and Sweden. Norway is not included as it is not a member of the European Union. Species and sites under Natura 2000 benefit from increased protection through a number of safeguards which must be respected The list includes over 5,000 sites providing protection for species such as the lynx, the flying squirrel and fairy slipper, and for habitats such as Western Taiga, raised bogs and aapa mires, as well as freshwater and land upheaval coast habitats. Among the protected types of lands are wooded dunes, woodland bogs, Baltic islets and small islands, Atlantic salt meadows, large shallow inlets and bays, and reefs. The Boreal region is one of six bio-geographic regions in EU-15 and the fifth for which the Commission has adopted a list. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “Natura 2000 is central to meeting the EU’s objective of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010. Its completion is now well […]

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Study Finds Current US Law Cuts More Pollution Than 'Clear Skies

Changes to clean-air law proposed by the Bush administration – known as the “Clear Skies” initiative – would reduce less power plant pollution than aggressive enforcement of the current law, according to a new study by the National Academy of Sciences. The utility industry supports the Bush legislation because it would replace a plant-by-plant cleanup strategy favored by the Clinton administration with a broad emissions trading program that industry officials say would give companies flexibility while achieving at least comparable environmental benefits. Democrats and environmentalists, however, contend the bill would weaken the existing Clean Air Act, and they favor other bills such as the Clean Power Act, drafted by Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., which would reduce twice as much pollution as Clear Skies and limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Clinton administration in 1998 had begun an aggressive enforcement initiative against the utility industry, suing individual utilities for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review provisions, which prohibit plants from making certain changes without installing clean-air technology. The Bush administration, however, has largely rejected this approach. Bush officials have instead pushed a new interpretation of New Source Review that would allow companies more latitude to modify their plants without […]

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Nature Conservancy Receives $12 Million From Caterpiller

The Caterpillar Foundation of Caterpillar Inc. has donated $12 million to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – the largest corporate gift TNC has received to date, to guide protection of the world’s vanishing freshwater supply and transform the way large working river systems are preserved and protected. The Great Rivers Partnership will create integrated models for sustaining great river systems of the world. “Freshwater systems in the 21st century will be one of the most important issues for conservation organizations and governments to address. As the world’s population grows, people will need continued access to freshwater to thrive,” said Steve McCormick, the Conservancy’s president and chief executive officer. “Business leaders must work together to achieve lasting results that allow commerce and natural places to thrive side-by-side,” said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens. A central component of this new project, the Great Rivers Center for Conservation and Learning, will be at the heart of transforming how these magnificent and critical systems are protected. As the intellectual cornerstone for the Great Rivers Partnership, the center will identify cross-cutting issues and activities that threaten large rivers globally; it will develop and support project work that will inform and demonstrate ways to […]

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Chiquita's Latin America Farms All Certified

SA8000 Certification in Guatemala and Honduras Achieved One Year Ahead of Target Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE: CQB) announced that independent auditors have certified its banana farms in Guatemala and Honduras to the Social Accountability 8000 labor and human rights standard. This means that 100 percent of Chiquita’s owned banana farms in Latin America are now certified to the SA8000 international labor standard in addition to the stringent environmental standards of the Rainforest Alliance. These farms cover approximately 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) in total area and provide employment to more than 14,000 people. In 2002, Chiquita’s banana division in Costa Rica earned SA8000 certification, and the company’s owned farms in Panama and Colombia were certified in 2003. (The company’s banana operations in Colombia were sold in June 2004, and the new owner has agreed to maintain SA8000 certification on these farms.) Intertek Testing Services completed inspections of Chiquita’s banana production, harvesting and packaging operations in the Maya division (Guatemala and Honduras) in October 2004 and issued the compliance certificate for this division early this year. In each of these countries, Chiquita’s farms were the first major agricultural operations to achieve SA8000 certification. Chiquita Brands International is a leading international marketer, […]

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Tokuyama Develops Low-Cost Fuel Cell Component

Japan’s Tokuyama Corp. has developed a low-cost electrolyte membrane for high- efficiency direct-methanol fuel cells. The chemical- maker is supplying sample products to automakers and consumer electronics manufacturers, aiming for commercialization in 2006. Its new electrolyte membrane is based on hydrocarbon, instead of fluorine, which is currently the mainstream material for such membranes. While fuel cells using fluorine-based membranes are costly and have low power-generation efficiency because the methanol penetrates the membranes, Tokuyama’s product cuts the cost to between a fifth and a tenth that of fluorine-based products and reduces the amount of methanol penetration to one-tenth. For the time being, Tokuyama will concentrate on electrolyte membranes for fuel cells for cellular phone handsets. It targets revenue of 4 billion to 5 billion yen from the whole fuel cell business in 2010.

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