Tag Archives: Environment

Environment

Sweden to allocate a further 80 million kronor to contribute to improving the global marine environment

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By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Aug. 10(Greenpost) — In connection with the one-year anniversary of the UN Ocean Conference in New York co-chaired by Sweden and Fiji, the Government has decided to finance a number of new international ocean projects. To continue demonstrating leadership, the Government is allocating a further SEK 80 million to contribute to improving the global marine environment.

“Action for clean and healthy oceans is a government priority. The Ocean Conference was a breakthrough for global ocean action and now it’s a matter of implementing the impressive to-do list drawn up by governments, business and other stakeholders. These initiatives will contribute to this action,” says Isabella Lövin, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate.

The Government’s global ocean action focuses on four areas: reducing the impact of climate change on the oceans, reducing marine litter, reducing destructive and illegal fishing and strengthening the protection of marine areas.

The SEK 80 million will go to a total of 15 different international projects, related in various ways to the four priorities. Continued efforts to reduce marine litter is a particular focus area the Government is working actively in, both nationally and internationally.

“Plastics in the oceans is a huge problem. But since the Ocean Conference, things have begun to happen. More and more countries are addressing the unsustainable use of single-use plastic, the use of intentionally added microplastics in a range of products, and the need to rid beaches and coastal areas of plastic waste. A great deal remains to be done, but there is hope,” says Minister for the Environment Karolina Skog.

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Finland experiments a new way to make law in real estate and construction digitalisation

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By Xuefei Chen Axlesson

Lakiklinikka.fi online service under the KIRA-digi Project offers legal advice to projects that promote digitalisation in the real estate and construction sector free of charge. Information is also collected on statutes that may complicate the digitalisation process. Lakiklinikka.fi service is provided by Lexia Attorneys Ltd.

Quite a unique experiment has been started in the Finnish central government as the Ministry of the Environment aims to develop legislation through a new kind of service concept. Lakiklinikka.fi collects feedback especially from those affected by the legislation.

What this means in practice is that those implementing the projects are asked whether they have encountered legal problems, what they were like, and how they were solved. The service offers legal advice as well.

“We wanted to try a new, more agile way of developing legislation, and got the idea of combining advisory service with legislative work. The advisory service attracts more users as it brings concrete benefits to those who ask questions. The more questions and legal problems we have in the advisory service, the better picture the Ministry will gain of the provisions that may complicate digitalisation. The model is now being tested for the first time, and feedback will be most welcome. We encourage everybody to use the service”, says Jaana Junnila, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of the Environment.

Open access to data – Lakiklinikka.fi summarises the state of playAll results of the advisory service and surveys are published on the Lakiklinikka.fi website. The questions to be published will be anonymous so that those who asked them cannot be identified. Everybody has access to open data – including various kinds of companies offering digital services.

Lakiklinikka.fi service for operators in real estate and construction business is constantly updated and supplement by data collected from the advisory service. Lakiklinikka.fi collects, classifies and analyses legal problems of the clients according to criteria such as topic and complexity.

“The task of a legal professional today is to serve as the client’s strategic partner. This is why the project is a unique opportunity for us to think about and analyse problems that come up and to promote the development of the real estate and construction business together with various stakeholders”, says Aleksi Lundén, Associate responsible for jurisprudence at Lexia Attorneys.

Lakiklinikka.fi also offers a platform for discussion and sharing information and expert views on legal matters. The project will continue until the end of 2018.

KIRA-digi support already to more than a hundred projectsThe Ministry of the Environment is preparing legislative amendments that will support digitalisation in the real estate and construction sectors as part of the Government’s key project. The KIRA-digi Project, which will continue until the end of 2018, looks for digital solutions to facilitate day-to-day operations in the real estate and construction sectors.

So far funding under the KIRA-digi Project has been granted to 104 experiments. A culture of experimentation is a key element in the Government’s key projects, which is also strongly reflected in the projects that have received KIRA-digi funding.

Experiences are collected from all experimental projects in order to construct a comprehensive picture of the most relevant legislative problems associated with digitalisation.

Indeed, this is a good way to make relevant legislation to the digitalisation problems.

China, News, World News

Chinese cities less smoggy in March

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Chinese cities less smoggy in MarchStockholm, June 2, (Greenpost)   — Chinese cities reported more days with sound air quality on average in March compared with a year ago, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Wednesday.

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In a monthly report, the ministry said the 74 cities under its watch reported air pollution on 28.9 percent of the days last month, down from 37.7 percent in March 2013.
Though Beijing and its 12 neighboring cities in north China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region also saw a slight increase in days of sound air quality, the proportion of their smoggy days more than doubled the country’s average.
The chief pollutant in the region was PM2.5, followed by PM10.
The ministry said seven of the 10 Chinese cities reporting the worst air quality last month were in Hebei Province, which neighbors Beijing. The other three cities were Zhengzhou, Jinan and Shenyang.
China began to include PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, and ozone in its new air quality standard in 2013.

It was obviously felt that after APEC in last November was held in Beijing, the air quality has been improved somewhat with the great determination from the top level. But it is still a long way to go to get the air quality really good for breathing.

Enditem  Source Xinhua

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Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson