Preparations for the Rio +20 Summit
Preparations for the Rio +20 Summit

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-10-26

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 9780215561954

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This report warns that the planet's environmental problems are now much more urgent than at the first Rio Summit in 1992. Safe limits on the amount of waste, pollution and biodiversity loss that natural systems can tolerate continue to be breached, undermining our ability to use natural resources to support further growth. The forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, 'Rio+20' will take place 20 years after the pivotal Earth Summit there. It will focus on the 'green economy' and the relevant UN institutions. Engagement and discussion between Government and civil society groups, businesses and individuals, about the Summit's objective - to kick-start a renewed commitment to sustainable development - is vital. The Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to improve the quality of life of some of the world's poorest people, are unlikely to be met by their 2015 end-date and do not fully capture the sustainability challenges facing the world. The MPs recommend that new 'Goals' (Sustainability Goals and Consumption Goals) should be agreed at Rio+20, to shift the effort towards the sustainable development and sustainable consumption contributions that the UK and other developed countries now need to make. The Prime Minister should attend the conference in June to show the Government's commitment to the aims of Rio+20 within the UK and beyond. The Government should also appoint a 'special envoy' to engage the public and co-ordinate Government departments' inputs as part of an ongoing process: before, during and after the Summit itself.

Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit
Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee

Publisher: Stationery Office

Published: 2013-06-14

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 9780215058898

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This report highlights the commitments for the UK from the conclusions agreed in the 'Rio+20' Summit. It was regretted that the Deputy Prime Minister declined to give evidence. It was also regretted that the Prime Minister did not attend the Rio+20 Summit. His absence undermined the Government's attempts to demonstrate its commitment to the sustainable development agenda, not just internationally but also at home in the UK. The conclusions of the Summit itself disappointed many with a lack of concrete agreement on key areas. On the other hand, many welcomed the firm commitment to develop new Sustainable Development Goals. The development of the SDGs and the Post-2015 Development Goals should be carried out jointly. The Prime Minister should take advantage of his position as co-chair of that High Level Panel to continue to push for integration of sustainable development targets with poverty eradication and climate change targets. Permanent mechanisms should be established to continue engagement with a wider range of NGOs and businesses and examine the scope for introducing wider-ranging 'sustainability reporting' for the private sector. New Sustainable Development Indicators which will complement such Government reporting, will reflect our call for emissions Indicators to be on a consumption (rather than just a production) basis. The Summit included commitments on education and the Government should remind schools of the scope for addressing sustainable development in their learning plans. Alongside this report, the Committee's scrutiny of the Government's progress in embedding sustainable development in its own policies and programmes is also being published (HC 202, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780215058911)

HC 215 - An Environmental Scorecard
HC 215 - An Environmental Scorecard

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 0215078128

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Emissions of a number of airborne pollutants increased in 2013, after being steady between 2010 and 2012 and in a longer term decline before that. The UK failed to meet targets for nitrogen dioxide pollution in 34 of the 43 zones specified in the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive in 2012, resulting in the European Commission launching infraction proceedings against the UK in February 2014 in regard to 16 zones that would not be compliant by 2015. The Committee's report recommends an overarching Environmental Strategy be implemented, to set out strategic principles and good practices; facilitate discussion between central and local government and identify how they can work together and with the wider community; encompass clear environmental assessments; identify work required to fill data gaps in assessments; map appropriate policy levers to environmental areas; and set out how environmental and equality considerations will be addressed in policy areas across Government. The report concludes that the Government should set up an independent body-an 'Office for Environmental Responsibility'-to (i) review the Environment Strategy we advocate; (ii) advise Government on appropriate targets; (iii) advise Government on policies, both those in Government programmes and new ones that could be brought forward to support the environment; (iv) advise Government about the adequacy of the resources (in both central and local government) made available for delivering the Strategy; and (v) monitor and publish performance against the Strategy and its targets.

Introduction to International Environmental Law
Introduction to International Environmental Law

Author: Timo Koivurova

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-12-04

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1317916166

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Introduction to International Environmental Law provides a concise overview of international environmental law and the relations and agreements among nations to facilitate environmental protection. Beginning by exploring the history nature and sources of international environmental law, Professor Koivurova moves on to consider the key principles as well as examining the implementation and effectiveness of international environmental law in practice. It considers how international environmental law has developed away from other branches of international law which are heavily based on state sovereignty, in order to more effectively facilitate environmental protection and concludes by posing questions about the future of the field. Taking a concise, accessible approach throughout and employing case studies drawn from a global range of examples, this book is the ideal first point of entry to the context, principles and issues of this important subject.

A green economy
A green economy

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2012-05-21

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9780215045096

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The Government has pledged to reduce over 10,000 pages of regulatory guidance, following its 'Red Tape Challenge', to help businesses comply with environmental laws. But the MPs point out that regulations have an important role in safeguarding our health and the environment. The Government's strategy to create a green economy - 'Enabling the Transition to a Green Economy' - is too focused on voluntary action and fails to set a clear trajectory or any time-bound milestones for businesses to achieve. There is concern that introducing mandatory emissions reporting for big business has been delayed and Ministers are urged not to go back on their promise to do so. The recent financial crisis has demonstrated the clear risks from such a market-led approach, particularly when markets do not reflect the value of the services provided by nature - such as clean fresh water, pollination of crops, etc. This report urges the Government to: develop minimum sustainability standards; set out how data on natural capital in the National Accounts will be used; develop targets for improving the state of the environment and establish transparent reporting against such targets; and use the Natural Capital Committee's work on a 'natural asset stock check' as one of the basket of indicators used to measure the green economy. The Government should fully incorporate the principles of 'Enabling the Transition' into future revisions of the 'Plan for Growth'. Expenditure involved in making the transition to a green economy should be seen as an investment, not simply a cost.

UK- Brazil relations
UK- Brazil relations

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-10-18

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 9780215561749

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World events should not distract the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) from its efforts to promote a stronger bilateral relationship between the UK and Brazil. The rise of Brazil as a world power represents an opportunity for the UK, not a threat and the FCO is correct to identify Brazil's potential to be a "good news story" for the UK. The UK has taken the correct preliminary steps to strengthen the bilateral relationship. The UK's support for permanent Brazilian membership of the UN Security Council, as part of a wider UN reform is to be particularly welcomed. Brazil as a developing, democratic country can play a vital role in representing the "global South". The Government must maintain its efforts in this area. As Brazil increasingly accepts the global leadership role that its growing economy will bring, it will play a key role in the promotion of UK national interests such as energy security, the trade in narcotics and the maintenance of the environment, while the commercial opportunity that Brazil represents is a vital plank of the Government's ambition to increase trade overseas. The turning away of a Royal Navy vessel is a serious matter. The committee regrets that Brazil felt the need to refuse docking permission to HMS Clyde in January this year, and further regrets a general hardening of Brazil's position towards the Falklands. The committee is pressing for answers from the FCO as to how this situation was allowed to develop.

Canada Among Nations, 1993-94
Canada Among Nations, 1993-94

Author: Fen Osler Hampson

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 1993-05-15

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0773573798

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This year's volume of Canada Among Nations addresses the following key issues: Canada's role in international peacekeeping The aftermath of the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Sustainable Development Canada and the Pacific International migration and refugees International security Canada and the Arctic The consequences of the defeat of the Charlottetown Accord for Canada's foreign and international economic relations The future of NAFTA with a new Democratic president in the White House Contributors include: Andrew Cohen on international security and NATO Michael Hart on trade policy Albert Legault on peacekeeping and the United Nations Geoffrey Pearson and Nancy Gordon on the demise of the advisory councils David Runnalls on the Rio Conference Clyde Sanger on environment and development Michael Shenstone on immigration and refugee policy

HC 59 - Well-Being - HC 59
HC 59 - Well-Being - HC 59

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2014-06-05

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0215072855

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The Government's ’Natural Capital Committee', set up to check how far the Government bases its policies on the cost the benefits the UK derives from its natural environment - such as clean air, water, food and recreation - should be put on a permanent statutory footing, the Environmental Audit Committee recommends. The NCC was set up in May 2012 with a three-year remit that ends just before the General Election. It has produced 2 progress reports so far, highlighting gaps in the available data on these factors and calling for a 25-year plan to plug the gaps and start using the information in Government decisions. But the Government has yet to respond in detail to those NCC reports. The environment is just one strand of a wider view of people's well-being, which also addresses people's economic and social circumstances, as well as their view of the satisfaction they get from their lives. In November 2010, the Prime Minister launched a programme to measure well-being to complement economic statistics like ’GDP' in - "measuring our progress as a country". However, more than three years since then, the Committee note, our quality of life is not yet receiving the same attention as those economic metrics. The Committee highlight the links being uncovered in the statistics between people's view of their well-being and their background and circumstances - for example the link between well-being and people's health, marital status or religion. But the MPs warn that the data are not yet sufficiently robust to support a single metric that could encompass well-being and which could be set alongside GDP.