This report summarizes actions taken and progress to date in implementing the North American Regional Action Plan on DDT (NARAP on DDT). The report highlights outstanding issues and suggests a path forward for addressing these issues as the DDT Task Force activities cease.
Updated October 2005. North Americans are concerned about the effect of chemicals on their health and the environment. Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) are designed to track the quantities of chemicals that are released from industrial activities into the air, water or land and transferred for further management or disposal.
In North America, we share a rich environmental heritage that includes air, oceans and rivers, mountains and forests. Together, these elements form the basis of a complex network of ecosystems that sustains our livelihoods and well-being. If these ecosystems are to continue to be a source of life and prosperity, they must be protected. Doing so is a responsibility shared by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
From the Gulf of California, with its deep canyons, nutrient-rich upwellings and high levels of endemism, to the 20,000 kilometers of bays, inlets and inland drainage systems of the Pacific Northwest and the high productivity of the Bering Sea, the west coast of North America is home to unique and important shared marine environments. It is also home to a great number of shared marine species—such as Pacific gray and blue whales, leatherback sea turtles, bluefin tuna, black brant geese and Heermann’s gulls—that migrate thousands of kilometers, moving across national borders without hesitation. Hence, be it through shared species or ecosystems, the marine environments of Canada, Mexico and the United States are intimately linked. Accordingly, action or inaction on one side of a border will have consequences for the shared living organisms occupying ecosystems with no definite boundaries.
This report is intended to serve as an information source for governments, industry and communities in analyzing such data from a North American perspective and for identifying opportunities for pollution reduction. The analyses are based on 1995–2002 data from the US Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and the Canadian National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).
This best available technologies (BAT) analysis guidance manual has been prepared for North American regulatory air quality specialists. The document provides a step-by-step explanation of the BAT analysis process used in the US and includes three case studies, for: 1) stationary reciprocating engines, 2) residual oil–fired power plants, and 3) cement kilns fired by used […]
PAAM was a supply chain environmental management project targeting small business suppliers to large Mexican companies in Monterrey. Its primary objective was to train the SMEs in the use and application of a modified environmental management system (EMS) based on the ISO 14001 model.
The current Americas integration process is embarked on trade, environmental and social issues, as manifested in the declaration of principles of 1994 Miami Summit, where sustainability assumes an important role. However, this attempt has essentially been pushed for a free trade agenda as the focal way to reach hemispheric integration, beyond NAFTA, and other important sustainable elements have been its importance reduced.
What is the impact of the North American food processing system on the environment? This study examines that issue, employing the analytical framework developed at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. By looking at the entire industry value chain, this framework enables the researcher to develop a broad understanding of the linkages among the economy, trade […]
This report presents the results of the Stage 2 research carried out to determine “Environmentally Preferable Uses of Biomass”. Stage 1 identified existing and emerging technologies and pathways to transform various biomass feedstocks into an energy or nonenergy product. Each pathway is called a “thread” in this study. This updated version includes corrections suggested by […]
This report represents a milestone in promoting cooperation in North America through the collection, exchange, and public dissemination of comparable environmental information by Canada, Mexico and the United States. The report presents, for the first time, specific air pollutant information from 2002 for individual fossil fuel–fired power plants across North America.
The CEC conducts policy and research work on environmental goods and services (EGS) in eleven different activities. One specific activity is to “Identify changes/trends in trade in green goods and services in the NAFTA region.”
