1997 in the environment explained
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 1997. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
Events
- 1997 Indonesian forest fires, caused mainly by slash-and-burn techniques adopted by farmers in Indonesia, burned for much of the year.
- 1997 Southeast Asian haze was a large-scale air quality disaster which occurred during the second half of 1997.
- The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe convention signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991, entered into force.
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean, is discovered.
- The 1997 Guanabara Bay oil spill occurred in Brazil, one of three major oil spills in the bay.
- The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was signed December 11, 1997.
January
- The International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 enters into force. It replaced the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983, and was superseded by the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 2006.
June
- A ruling was made largely in favour of McDonald's in the "McLibel Case" in the United Kingdom. The libel case was lodged over claims made in a pamphlet by two activists about the environmental effects, amongst other issues, of McDonald's business practices.
- Jacques Cousteau dies at the age of 87. As well as being the co-developer of the aqua-lung, he was a proponent of marine conservation especially through the use of television.
November
See also
