最新世界环境资讯

A global environmental update

《卫报》援引用里约会议主办国的报道，各国同意加强联合国环境规划署的权力。经过数周的分歧和角力，这一消息标志着发达国家和发展中国家越来越多达成共识。

新华社报道，中国就里约峰会提出了6点建议，其中包括各国应共同但有区别的担负其环境责任，以达到“积极且务实”的成果。外交部部长助理马朝旭表示，1992年地球高峰会通过的概念－－富裕国家在环境问题上要比贫困国家承担更大的责任－－是国际合作的指导原则。

《卫报》消息，欧盟颁布禁止“弃鱼”令。为了避免超出配额，渔民每年把数百万吨死鱼弃回大海。禁止丢弃鲭鱼和鲱鱼有望在2014年落实，但抗议者指出丢弃其他鱼类如鱈魚的禁令若太迟实施，将为时已晚。

《独立报》报道，澳洲宣布创建一个印度面积大小的海洋保护区，保护区内设有捕鱼限制和禁止在生态敏感区进行石油和天然气的勘探。该保护区将包围大陆，并覆盖120万平方公里的海洋，以加强对蓝鲸、绿海龟、​灰鲨和其他濒危物种的保护。

路透社指称，首例个人因墨西哥湾漏油事件而被起诉的案件将在明年二月开庭。英国石油的工程师-克特密克斯被控妨碍扰司法公正，在2010年的深水地平线钻机爆炸事件中，他被控蓄意删减马康多油井中漏出的原油总量。

英国广播公司报道，受迫於巴西政府连月来的施压，油界龙头-壳牌决议放弃购买种植在原住民土地上的甘蔗。据悉，Raizen公司被指侵占巴西西南部瓜拉尼人土地，并向当地农民购买乙醇。

路透社报道，日本通过了一项补助开发清凈能源的法案。此法案据信将投入数十亿资金，鼓励用再生资源取代因福岛事件而饱受争议的核能发电。工业部长枝野幸男发布这项法令，这项法令预计将推动再生能源部门在2016年达到300亿美元的收益。

新华社报道，西藏首都拉萨揭晓了一个在郊区的大型回收中心的开发计划。这座回收中心预计在年底落成，估计一年能处理20万吨的金属、塑料及其他可回收废料。

Negotiators at this week’s Rio+20 summit on sustainable development have agreed to beef up the UN environment programme’s powers, according to the host government, The Guardian reported. Brazil welcomed the strengthening of UNEP as a sign of growing consensus after weeks of divisive wrangling between developed and developing countries in the lead-up to the conference. 

Speaking ahead of the Rio summit, Chinese official Ma Zhaoxu urged nations to uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as part of a six-point proposal for achieving “positive and pragmatic” results, Xinhua   reported. The assistant foreign minister said the idea that rich countries bear a greater share of the burden than poor in tackling climate change, agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit, served as the guiding principle of international cooperation.

The European Union agreed to phase in a ban on “discards”, the practice that sees more than a million tonnes of dead fish thrown away at sea each year to avoid exceeding quotas, The Guardian said. Discarding mackerel and herring will likely be outlawed from 2014, but campaigners say new rules for other species like cod and haddock could be too late to be effective.

Australia announced plans to create a network of marine reserves the size of India, with fishing restrictions and a ban on oil and gas exploration in the most sensitive areas, according to The Independent. The system, which will encircle the continent and cover 1.2 million square miles of ocean, intends to boost protection for the blue whale, green turtle, grey nurse shark and other threatened species.

The trial of the first individual to face criminal charges related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been scheduled for February, Reuters  said. BP engineer Kurt Mix is charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting records on the amount of oil that flowed from the Macondo well following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in 2010.

After months of pressure from the Brazilian government, a biofuels company set up by oil giant Shell has agreed to drop plans to buy sugar cane grown on indigenous lands, the BBC reported. Raizen was reportedly purchasing raw material for ethanol from farmers encroaching on the lands of the Guarani people in south-west Brazil.

Japan approved incentives for clean-energy generation that could release billions of dollars of investment in renewables and aid the shift away from nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Reuters said. Industry minister Yukio Edano gave the green light to a system of feed-in tariffs, which could expand revenue from the renewable sector to US$30 billion by 2016, according to one estimate.

Plans were unveiled for a major recycling hub on the outskirts of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, according to Xinhua. The recycling market, which is due to open by the end of the year, is expected to process 200,000 tonnes of metals, plastics, paper and other resources annually.