Revisions to England’s National Planning Policy Framework tighten requirements on flood risk assessment and sustainable drainage for new developments, but drainage specialists warn they cannot match the statutory control offered by implementing Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act. The updated NPPF strengthens policy wording on SuDS, runoff management and surface water exceedance routing, yet still relies on local planning authorities’ capacity and variable guidance. Practitioners are cautioned that, without Schedule 3’s mandatory approval bodies and adoption duties, long-term performance and maintenance of SuDS assets remain uncertain.

Colombia’s new government has repealed 10 resolutions restricting natural resource exploration and extraction, including measures like Decree 044 that allowed the Environment Ministry to freeze mining in sensitive ecosystems such as páramos for up to 10 years. Mining Minister Maria Nohemi Arboleda says the reforms will cut procedures, shorten licensing timelines and streamline community consultations, directly targeting Fraser Institute rankings that placed Colombia 57th for policy perception. The reset is aimed at unlocking up to $4 billion in copper-focused investment by 2030, with projects such as Quebradona, Alacrán, Mocoa and El Roble’s 4,200‑tonne‑per‑year output forming the early test case.

Venezuela’s push to reopen the Orinoco Mining Arc to global investors for gold, bauxite, coltan, iron ore and nickel is colliding with the presence of at least four uncontacted Indigenous peoples (Jödi/Hoti, Uwottüja/Piaroa, Yanomami and Eñepá/Panare) whose territories overlap or lie close to planned mining zones. Survival International reports 196 uncontacted groups worldwide, over 96% threatened by extractives, with Venezuelan Yanomami already facing mercury contamination, infectious disease and violent crime linked to illegal gold mining. The op-ed argues that without legally recognised territories, buffer zones, FPIC-compliant frameworks and IRMA-level safeguards, large-scale mining and associated access roads risk illegal encroachment, corporate complicity and potentially existential impacts on isolated communities.