2008 in the environment
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 2008. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
Events
- International Year of the Dolphin
- International Polar Year
- International Year of Planet Earth
- International Year of Sanitation
- Massachusetts enacts the first Natural resource protection zoning regulations.
February
- The Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy is launched.
March
- The Ecology Summit was held on Necker Island.
May
- The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act is passed in the United States. It has provisions for conservation and energy efficiency.
June
- The 60th International Whaling Commission meeting was held in Santiago, Chile.
July
- The Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats came into effect.
August
- Concerns were raised about air pollution at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China.
September
- The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 passed into law in New Zealand.
November
- The Climate Change Act 2008 passed into law in the United Kingdom.
December
- The 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place in Poznań, Poland, between December 1 and December 12, 2008.
- The Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill occurred when an ash dike ruptured at an solid waste containment area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee in the United States. An estimated of coal fly ash slurry was released.