<p>Last week, Japan became one of the first nations to sign a legally binding treaty designed to curb mercury pollution.&nbsp;Named for the Japanese city that saw severe cases of mercury poisoning in the 1950s, the Minamata Convention on Mercury is the first new global convention on environment and health in nearly a decade.&nbsp;The Convention regulates a variety of areas, including the use of mercury in products and industrial processes, and addresses the mining, safe storage, and import and export of the metal.&nbsp;These regulations come at a time when, according to a

<p>Spurred by protests from environmental groups, France’s constitutional court upheld a 2011 moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on October 11th. The court rejected arguments that the ban went against property rights and maintained that it is a legitimate means of protecting the government.

<p>A wind farm project in the village of Collector, New South Wales (NSW), has been recommended to proceed despite opposition from the local community.&nbsp;The NSW Department of Planning recommended approval in its final report on the project, which has now been sent to the NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) for a final decision. Local resident Tony Hodgson, president of the anti-wind farm group Friends of Collector, voiced concerns about the wind farm.