This is a list of notable events relating to the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. They relate to

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

and

environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...

Events

*An aerial spraying program was carried out in

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

to eradicate the invasive

gypsy moth ''Lymantria dispar'', also known as the gypsy moth or the spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. ''Lymantria dispar'' is subdivided into several subspecies, with subspecies such as ''L. d. dispar'' and ''L. d. japonica'' bei ...

February

*The European

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is the European Community Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) which, together with the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, became European Law ...

and the

Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Unio ...

are adopted.

May

*The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord is signed in New Zealand between Fonterra, Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and regional councils.

June

* Al-Mishraq, a state run sulfur plant near Mosul in Iraq, was the site of the largest recorded human-made release of sulfur dioxide when a fire (thought to have been deliberately started) gained control and burned for almost a month.

September

*The

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement on biosafety as a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) effective since 2003. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to prote ...

enters into force. It is an international agreement on biosafety as a supplement to the

Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...

. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. *The

California Electronic Waste Recycling Act {{Unreferenced, date=May 2009 The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (2003 Cal ALS 526) (EWRA) is a California law to reduce the use of certain hazardous substances in certain electronic products sold in the state. The act was signed into law Se ...

is signed into law in the United States.

October

*The Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants comes into force. It is an agreement to provide for the control and reduction of emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in order to reduce their transboundary fluxes so as to protect human health and the environment from adverse effects. *Permission was granted by the Uruguay government to build a pulp mill on the Uruguay River. Concerns about water pollution lead to protests and the ''Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay)'' case brought before the International Court of Justice. The

Uruguay River pulp mill dispute The pulp mill dispute was a dispute between Argentina and Uruguay concerning the construction of pulp mills on the Uruguay River. The presidents at the time were Néstor Kirchner (Argentina) and Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay). As a diplomatic, econom ...

was eventually resolved in 2010.

December

*Plans to build new runways in the United Kingdom at

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and a short-haul runway at

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

spark anger from environmental groups. *An agreement was reached between the US states of Illinois and Arkansas to address pollution levels of the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...