environment

Disappointing result for the ecological parties, who lose 19 MEPs and will now do everything to try to enter the majority and save climate policies

Greece will soon ban trawling in its marine protected areas and will be the first European country to do so.This was announced by the country's Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mytsotakis.The Greek ban will come into force in 2026 for marine national parks and in 2030 for all marine protected areas.At the same time, Mytsotakis also announced the creation of two new large marine national parks, one in the Ionian Sea and one in the Aegean Sea, which will cover 11.7 percent and 6.6 percent of the surface of the Greek seas respectively.Trawling is a highly impactful technique that consists of dragging fishing nets across the seabed, catching everything that comes across it.A similar ban has been talked about for decades almost everywhere, but until now no European nation had made it official. The announcement of the ban on trawling launched by the Greek Prime Minister Mytsotakis came on the occasion of the Our Ocean Conference, a global initiative founded in 2014 with the aim of “drawing int...

Ultimately, the U.S. government limited fossil fuel development on a large chunk of federal lands in Alaska.Future oil and gas drilling will be in particular prohibited in over 5 million hectares of the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, the largest expanse of public land in the nation.The measure is part of a broader Biden administration plan to protect sensitive ecosystems and wildlife.A move that is certainly also, and perhaps above all, political.The decision, with a nod to the key electorate of young people sensitive to ecological issues, comes not by chance as the engines of the presidential campaign heat up.In any case, good news for the Arctic.At the same time, the US Interior also announced that it will block the construction of a controversial road infrastructure, crucial for the operation of a copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska but of high impact on indigenous communities and wildlife habitats.Both decisions pose several political and legal risks for the Democratic admi...

The European Parliament, with 584 votes in favour, 3 against and 14 abstentions, gave the definitive green light to the rule on the right to repair products.Repair which, in fact, will replace the most impactful replacement.There directive, on the one hand, aims to encourage repairs within the two years of legal guarantee with "easier and cheaper" options and, on the other, to protect consumers even beyond the constraint period "for any defect that may occur".In particular, repair will be promoted during and beyond the two-year legal guarantee period.Sellers will be required to offer free repair within the legal warranty period (except when this is more expensive than replacement), while consumers should be given incentives not to choose replacement within the liability period.For household appliances, electronic displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and data storage, manufacturers will be obliged to take action for up to 10 years after purchase, whi...

Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, together with the Minister for Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara and the Minister of Justice and Public Security Ricardo Lewandowski, signed the decrees approving two new indigenous lands in the territories of Bahia and Mato Grosso.The two new territories, in which members of the Pataxó and Karajá indigenous groups will live, will extend over approximately 35 thousand hectares.Thus, a total of 10 indigenous lands were approved in about a year and a half, thanks to the work of the two ministries involved and FUNAI (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples)."There protection of ancestral peoples it is closely linked to the sustainability not only of our country, but of the entire planet" declared Minister Lewandowski during the meeting with the CNPI (National Council for Indigenous Policies), where the decrees were signed.«Supporting the rights of indigenous peoples means supporting the righ...