Bye bye plastic bags in Panama

Members of Panama's National Assembly, approved the law No. 492 "which adopts measures to promote the use of reusable bags in commercial establishments". It is an initiative that is important, but scarcely consulted with environmental non-governmental organizations and the business sector. A great effort of diffusion and a viable operational framework (regulations of the law) for its implementation will be necessary.

Considering that it is a relatively short text, transcribe it full. 

"THE ASSEMBLY NATIONAL DECREES:

Article 1. The use of polyethylene or conventional plastic supermarket bags is prohibited. Supermarkets, Department stores and shops in general for transport of products or goods, which are not compatible with the mitigation of the environmental impact.

The Ministry of the environment shall determine in one period not longer than fifteen calendar days, counted from the promulgation of this law, the technical specifications that must meet the plastic bags, so that they conform to the parameters required for reuse. 

Article 2. Establishments referred to in this law shall make the progressive replacement of the banned bags. By Containers of non-polluting material or reusable plastic, within the following time limits:

1. Twelve months, counting from the promulgation of this law, for supermarkets, pharmacies and retailers.

2. Twenty-four months, counting from the promulgation of this law, for stores and wholesalers. 

Article 3. This law shall not apply when for reasons of aseptic polyethylene bags or other conventional plastic material should be used to contain food or wet processed inputs or pre-made and no practical use of a substitute that is compatible with the minimization of the environmental impact.

Article 4. Consumer and competition protection authority will be responsible for the implementation of this law and the control of replacement that is article 2. 

Article 5. The Ministry of environment shall have the following responsibilities: 

1. Develop campaigns for dissemination and national awareness about the rational use of non-biodegradable and non-degradable material, as well as the benefits to the environment from the use of reusable bags or environmentally friendly materials.

2 activities with the purpose of adding to companies not provided for in this law, related to the marketing of products, so that they match the requirements of this Act.

Article 6. Merchants may choose by collection or not reusable bags. In the event that they decide to charge them to consumers, consumer and competition protection authority supervise are charged at cost. For such purpose, shall send to the authority, at the beginning of each year, the stated cost of these.

Article 7. Consumer and competition protection authority will determine the sanctions that apply for breach or violation of this law, in accordance with the law 45 of 2007. 

Article 8. The revenue collected in respect of a fine will be in a fund that will create the protection authority consumer and competition, earmarked for programs of recycling and teaching about issues relating to polluting materials. Article 9. This law will begin to rule the day of its promulgation.

Project N. 492 2017 approved in the third debate in the Palace Justo Arosemena, Panama City, on the tenth day of the month of August two thousand and seventeen year".

World’s First Health & Environment Global Treaty on Mercury Becomes International Law Wednesday, August 16th

(Göteborg, Sweden) The Minamata Convention, the world’s first legally binding global agreement to

reduce mercury pollution, becomes International law on Wednesday, August 16th, 2017. Environmental health leaders from IPEN (a global network of NGOs in over 100 countries combatting toxic pollutants) celebrate the historical global health and environmental treaty and call on world governments to take the next steps to ensure “no more Minamatas”.

The treaty, say IPEN leaders, is the beginning of the end of mercury in the global economy. But to actualize the aim of the treaty—protecting the health of current and future generations, food chains and the environment from mercury pollution— requires stronger coordinated global action. Ending mercury use and emissions at its primary sources such as small-scale gold mining, coal fired power plants and cement kilns and halting the global mercury trade are key. Identifying and remediating contaminated sites are also essential to protecting human health from the highly toxic metal.  

The Minamata Convention, the first legally binding chemical treaty in a decade, recognizes that mercury is a global threat to human health, livelihood and the environment.  Currently 74 countries have ratified the treaty, exceeding the threshold of 50 countries that allows the treaty to enter into force.

“Mercury-contaminated sites have become a slow disaster in many countries, poisoning fish stocks and making communities sick. It is not enough to ban new industrial uses. To prevent mercury devastation for new generations, we need unified guidelines so that countries can identify and control risk from these sites and clean up communities where heavy mercury loads in the environment perpetuate harm to current and future generations,” said IPEN Mercury Policy Advisor, Dr. Lee Bell.

Use of mercury in gold mining and coal fired power plants are leading causes of mercury emissions on the planet. Small scale gold mining is an extremely hazardous process that sickens miners, their families and communities. According to the United Nations Environment Program, approximately 15 million people in over  70 countries engage in artisanal small scale gold mining (ASGM) activities for their livelihood, practices that mainly use mercury. Although declining, mercury from illicit sources have been and are still being used in many illegal small-scale gold mining practices.

“The tragedy of mercury causes profound health and economic impacts in some of the most impoverished communities around the world; communities that subsist through small scale gold mining. Unless we take global action to end the international mercury trade that dumps mercury into communities near gold mining sites, we will continue to poison some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people on our planet,” said IPEN lead for ASGM and Goldman Prize Winner Yuyun Ismawati.

To protect residents from adverse health effects, countries must improve their mercury monitoring, health measures, and food advisories, and increase the capacity of health practitioners to understand and tackle issues related to mercury poisoning.

IPEN Co-Chair and Goldman Prize Winner Dr. Olga Speranskaya says, “Monitoring of mercury levels in food products must be improved. The majority of developing countries, and countries with economies in transition, do not issue recommendations to pregnant women on daily intake limits of mercury-containing food products such fish and rice, with dire consequences. Most developing countries lack limits for mercury levels in fish. Those that have established limits, often set them lower than relevant limits of developed countries, thus reducing the level of protection of their residents from the adverse health impacts of mercury.”

Just as the treaty itself emerged from the work of hundreds of NGOs around the world to raise the alarm on far-reaching mercury impacts, the NGO community is resolved to ensure the treaty is effective.

“Our community of global environmental health, justice, and human rights NGOs will continue to hold the world’s governments accountable to uphold the spirit and intent of the treaty, to encourage more countries to ratify, and to advocate for governments to take necessary actions so that this important agreement successfully protects the many millions of humans threatened by mercury,” said Pamela Miller, IPEN Co-Chair.

The historical treaty is named after the Minamata disaster in Japan in which industrial dumping of mercury into Minamata Bay killed and sickened tens of thousands of people.

Mercury exposure damages the nervous system, kidneys, and cardiovascular system. Developing organ systems, such as the fetal nervous system, are the most sensitive to the toxic effects of mercury, although nearly all organs are vulnerable. Human exposure to mercury occurs primarily through the consumption of contaminated fish and through direct contact with mercury vapor through small scale gold mining practices. Very small amounts of mercury, as little as 1 ppmmeasured in hair, has been recognized by the US EPA as a threshold above which mercury can cause brain damage in developing fetuses. New scientific literature is suggesting that mercury is even more harmful than previously understood, with negative neurological impacts noted at levels above 0.58 ppm.  

Coal fired power plants, the second greatest source of mercury contamination and a primary contributor to climate change, release atmospheric mercury which deposits into the world’s oceans and enters the food chain, accumulating in fish and burdening human health.  

The best business in Panama. Conserving forests, promoting tourism and commercial reforestation.

China to WTO: Scrap plastic imports banned by year-end

By STEVE TOLOKEN    
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170718/NEWS/170719892/china-to-wto-scrap-plastic-imports-banned-by-year-end

China told the World Trade Organization (WTO) July 18 that it will ban imports of scrap plastics and other “foreign garbage” by the end of the year, officially taking a step that had been widely rumored in the industry.

The move drew quick criticism from a recycling industry trade group in the United States, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), which said it would be “devastating” to the global recycling industry and cost thousands of U.S. jobs.

ISRI said the ban would include most scrap plastics, including PET, PVC, polyethylene and polystyrene, as well as mixed papers and slag.

China’s government said it was taking the action to protect public health and the environment.

“We found that large amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials,” China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a notification to WTO. “This polluted the environment seriously.”

“To protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health, we urgently adjust the imported solid waste list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly polluted,” it said.

Washington-based ISRI said the move could cause severe economic harm in the United States.

“If implemented, a ban on scrap imports will result in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and closure of many recycling businesses throughout the United States,” ISRI President Robin Weiner said in a statement.

ISRI immediately relayed its concerns to the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce, and briefed U.S. officials ahead of the July 19 U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue in Washington.

The association said one-third of the scrap recycled in the United States is exported, with China being the largest market. That includes 1.42 million tons (3.1 billion pounds) of scrap plastics, worth an estimated $495 million, out of $5.6 billion in scrap commodities exported from the United States to China last year, it said.

“Recycled materials are key inputs into the production of new, usable commodities for the use in value-add production,” ISRI said. “The trade in specification-grade commodities — metals, paper and plastics — between the United States and China is of critical importance to the health and success of the U.S. based recycling industry.”

The step had been rumored. ISRI leaders said at a mid-June news conference, after returning from a trip to China, that there were serious rumors of a ban on scrap imports, starting with plastics. That echoed earlier comments from Chinese plastics industry officials.

In a related development, a Chinese plastics recycling group said that a month-long crackdown on plastics recyclers that began July 1 had resulted in inspecting 888 factories by July 14. That’s about half of the 1,792 factories licensed to import waste plastics.

Related Articles in this Blog

Panama exports its plastic waste to Costa Rica.

https://apronadpanama.blogspot.com/2016/03/francisco-rivas-rios.html

The Plastic Recycling Market in Panama (updated).

https://apronadpanama.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-plastic-recycling-market-in-panama.html

Panama: towards a national organization for the forest carbon

The withdrawal of States United of the Paris agreement on climate change has given greater importance to the participation of enterprises and organizations of civil society. The United Nations Global Compact, for example, offers cooperation to mobilize a global movement of Governments, civil society and companies to "create the world we want".

March 29, 2017, published on our Blog the article entitled "Trump and climate change: is the time for non-State actors". On that occasion, we indicate:

"It is time to promote the participation of non-State actors, establishing various forms of partnerships, joint ventures and mutually beneficial agreements, aimed at strengthening the fight against climate change. And on this basis, define a new framework of coordination with government entities."

As part of this strategic vision, APRONAD is promoting the creation of a national representative instance, capable of promoting the conservation of forests associated with economic benefits, by emission Greenhouse Gases (GHG) reductions, which will be marketed in the voluntary carbon market.

The objectives of an organization of this kind arise in the following terms:

General objective: Contribute to turn Panama into a synonym for commitment to sustainable development, positioning it as a leading nation in the fight against climate change.

Specific objectives: 1) to promote the sustainability of forest resources management; (2) set up a national organization of owners of forest resources and agricultural producers, based on the principles of representativeness, participation and decision making in a democratic way; (3) develop institutional capacities for the preparation and presentation of proposals, technical, legal and policy aimed at the payment for environmental services; (4) establishing mechanisms for national and international, public and private funding for the design and development of sustainable projects in the sector of agriculture, forestry and other land uses; (5) to conduct marketing joint bonds voluntary and regulated carbon markets, applying the principles of economic scale; (6) channel international and national technical assistance and training to the members of the Association; (7) expanding networks of contacts in the region and generate opportunities for collaboration.

The success of this organization depends on the application of the approaches of "social demand", organization of "bottom-up" and collective leadership based on consensus. The organization claims should express the demands and claims of its members, and not the opinion of a privileged circle. The process of structuring must be from the community organizations of Base (OCB) and leadership should be shared, thus, collective.

To illustrate the organizational model promoted, let the network of community organizations affiliated to FUNREGAAC. This Foundation has 13 associated OCBs and 2 that are considered friends, in the following way:

Each of these organizations, in a participatory manner, raised their reasons for participating in a national project of forest carbon. Let's look at the arguments of the Agroambientalista Association of Oajaca, located in the community of Oajaca, Corregimiento de Chiguirí Arriba, Penonomé district:

• Population: 500 families.
• Type of existing forest resources:

            - Primary forest.
            - Secondary forest.
            - Grasslands, bamboo.
            - Agriculture (crop type): citrus, coffee, vegetables, cassava, otoe, Yam, maize, timber..

• Priority community problems:

            - Weak community organization.

            - Inadequate equipment of the Local Development Board.

            -  Weaknesses the Committee of health.

            - Weaknesses the board administrator of the aqueduct Rural (JAAR)

            - Unemployment.

            - Roads in disrepair.

            - Poor transport service.

• Biodiversity:

           - Endangered species: Toucan mountain pichilargo

           - Proximity to protected areas: Cucuazal.

           - Illegal logging and burning.

           - Poaching.

           - Wildfires.

In this case, the project of forest carbon is associated with local development challenges. 15 community organizations associate and friends of Funregaac, has expressed interest in participating in a national organization, provided it is built "from bottom to top", on sound democratic principles.

The national organization which proposes APRONAD will be the sum of multiple efforts, involving various organizations of civil society related to the fight against climate change. In the coming weeks, will be presented the initiative at the national and international organizations. Those who are interested in learning more about the project and join the initiative can contact us at email: apronad@gmail.com.

OCBs of Cocle prepare proposals for Carbon Project

Civil society and environmental agenda in the Panama-China relationship

The establishment of diplomatic relations between Panama and China has created opportunities for a

relaunch of the Panamanian economy, through millions of Chinese investments in strategic sectors such as infrastructure and logistics. China is the second most important user of the Panama Canal, behind the US, and the first supplier of the Colon Free Zone (ZLC), the largest in the hemisphere, located on the Atlantic coast of Panama and has crossed An acute crisis.

There are also opportunities for relations between Panama and China to have a favorable impact on the Panamanian effort to comply with the Paris Agreement. While President Trump's government has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, China and Germany have recently ratified their commitment to fighting climate change in the wake of Trump's withdrawal. We emphasize Chancellor Merkel's request to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang to "contribute to the search for solutions" so that the German political foundations working in his country can carry out their task of "cooperation with civil society".

 

 Merkel's proposals can be adopted by the Panamanian government. The presence of China should also serve to bring civil society organizations closer to each other, with a focus on sustainable development, conservation and environmental protection. For example, Panama exports Panama to sell copper and aluminum waste to China, but this activity is carried out by the informal sector in working conditions, the Chinese cooperation could help to correct this problem.

 

An Environmental Agenda, with the active participation of the

civil society of both countries could include the following thematic areas:
1. The Integral Management of Solid Waste, with a special focus on improving the living conditions of the informal sector linked to recycling.2. Promotion of community-based tourism to expand and diversify tourism in Panama in anticipation of the expected influx of Chinese tourists.3. Support for the commercialization of forest carbon bonds (Voluntary Carbon Market) owned by communities, private forest owners and indigenous territories.

 

Obviously, the Panamanian government will include other issues related to the interests of the logistics, financial and commercial sector. But an Environmental Agenda, with the participation of civil society would be an important contribution to local sustainable development and the pursuit of equity.

More ambition and innovation in tackling climate change (VCS)

We have received the April / May 2017 Spring Newsletter from Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). VCS was founded in 2005 by environmental and business leaders who saw the need for greater quality assurance in voluntary carbon markets. CEO David Antonioli speaks about President Trump's decision to withdraw the Paris Agreement. The statement follows:

"Dear Colleague,
More than anything, we see Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris Agreement as a call to continue the work we are already doing, and we look forward to working with all of you to push for more ambition and innovation in tackling climate change".

We saw it coming, and yet Trump’s decision to pull out of the landmark Paris Agreement was nevertheless deeply disheartening. While we were dismayed by the decision, we are no less motivated to keep working towards climate action. We stand with countries, states, cities, organisations and corporations worldwide that have signaled their commitment to stick with the Paris Agreement and continue to find ways of addressing climate change. Indeed, on the same day as Trump’s announcement, Colombia published what we think is a far-reaching and incredibly innovative decree setting out how companies subject to a US$5/tonCO₂e tax on fuels can reduce their tax liability by surrendering high-quality carbon offsets. This is just one of what we hope (and expect) to be many examples of countries and others taking the lead in forging solutions to fight climate change.

For VCS, supporting the Paris Agreement means continuing to provide frameworks that catalyze investment in activities that reduce concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It also means providing frameworks that will work in the context of a fully functioning Paris Agreement, which will require that we continue to make sure our projects and programs deliver measurable results and also deal with some of the challenges we see coming forward, including the need to address double counting and claiming".