News
Environment
The European Commission is acting to protect Europe's environment by
pursuing infringement procedures against Luxembourg, the United Kingdom,
Austria, Italy, Spain, Finland, Germany and Greece. The Commission is concerned
about these Member States' failure to comply with an EU law requiring that an
environmental impact assessment (EIA) be carried out on public and private
projects, such as the building of roads, rehabilitation of ports, sewage works
or rural land consolidation.
CfA: Greener Europe 2002 - Seminar on Sustainable Development in Multi-Cultural Europe, 14-21.7.2002, Topola
GREENER EUROPE 2002 - Seminar on Sustainable Development in
Multi-Cultural Europe
July 14 - 21, 2002 in Topola, Serbia
Application deadline: June 14, 2002
Central theme of the seminar will be Sustainable Development process in Eastern
Europe and implementation of Agenda 21. The organizers would like young people
to learn, discuss and exchange experiences about social, economical and above
all environmental development of their countries (regions) had and find out more
about present situations and possibilities for future development in sustainable
way. Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) together with its partners
European Youth Foundation and Green Forum, Sweden will cover your travel costs,
accommodation costs and food for a small participation fee of 23 euro from
Eastern Europeans and 43 euro for Western Europeans. Applicants will be young
greens from all over Europe (with the accent on Regions of Central,
north-eastern and South-Eastern Europe where the Green organization are in
forming and where the green ideas are not yet spread enough), youth who already
have been involved in social, international, economical or ecological issues and
also those who are interested in involving themselves and their organizations
into these issues in their own country (region). They should be open to learn,
to meet new people and to new ideas.
More information:
http://www.greenereurope2002.da.ru/
e-mail: aleksandar@fyeg.org
Tel: + 46 73 63 111 08
European Commission recently published its new report entitled "Assessment of the Radiological Impact on the Population of the European Union of Discharges from European Union Nuclear Sites between 1987 and 1996". The report presents information on the radiological impact of routine discharges from nuclear sites located in the EU. The assessment was performed using a revised and updated methodology, implemented as a computer program called PC CREAM. Calculations of collective doses truncated at 500 years and individual doses indicative of those received by members of the critical group have been performed for discharges occurring in the period 1987 to 1996. Exposures are broken down by site and form of discharge ie liquid and atmospheric. More detailed results including radionuclide and pathway breakdowns of individual and collective doses are available in the annexes. You can reach the report via the Commission's website
· Today, 4 March 2002, the EU Environment Council took a
final decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. More details in the weekly up-date
of next week.
· Wednesday, 27 February 2002, the European Commission took a series of
decisions related to rail and combined transport in five Member States. Press
releases say the Commission gave go ahead for aid in four regions and removed
old public debts of railway undertaking.
More
· On 27 February, ten European countries signed a Memorandum of understanding on
the Danube pan-European transport corridor, enabling the states concerned to
consult one another and cooperate in order to develop infrastructure projects on
the entire length of the corridor.
More
· 4 March, Brussels: EU Environment Council
· 25-26 March, Brussels : EU Transport and Telecommunications Council.
· Friday, 22 March 2002, Citadines Hotel, Brussels - T&E seminar "Taking the
bull by the horns: What should Europe do about urban transport". For further
information and registration, contact Stephanos Anastasiadis at
stephanos.anastasiadis@t-e.nu
· The European Environment Agency (EEA) has recently published a report on "Road
freight transport and the environment in mountainous areas". The full text can
be accessed at:
http://reports.eea.eu.int/technical_report_2001_68/en
Plea for Central Europe river
clean-up
The cyanide spill two years ago highlighted the problem
By Nick Thorpe,
BBC
Tirgu Mures, Romania
Environmentalists from four Central European countries have called for governments in the region to co-operate more closely to clean up badly polluted rivers. Meeting in the Romanian city of Tirgu Mures, delegates from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine and Slovakia urged regional leaders to seek help from the European Union to reverse the damage to rivers in the Carpathian basin. A cyanide spill from a goldmine in northern Romania drew attention to the extent of the problems two years ago, but scientists say little has been done since to prevent serious accidents happening again.
Problems discussed include the waste from abandoned and still functioning mines and the serious deforestation of river valleys in Romania and the Ukraine. Everyday industrial practices also provoked criticism - such as the intensive extraction of gravel from several rivers. Few towns and cities in the region have more than rudimentary sewage facilities, adding another burden to rivers with weakened natural cleaning mechanisms. Working together Scientists from the participating countries have been cooperating closely for the past decade, and the conference in Tirgu Mures was a chance to plan new projects. But they are now calling for similar level of cooperation between the governments of the region to develop an integrated approach to a complex ecosystem. They are also seeking help from the European Union and other international agencies to repair some of the damage.
The 2nd Announcement and Call for Abstracts of
the 2nd International Conference "New Trends
in Water and Environmental Engineering for Safety and Life: Eco-Compatible
Solutions for Aquatic
Environments" - Capri (Italy), 24-28 June 2002.
For more and updated info, including abstract format, please
visit the website:
www.capri2002.com
Hence the main goal is to promote a modern and broadly gauged approach in order
to tackle these problems in a multidisciplinary framework, including law,
biological, architectural, geological, agronomic, hydraulic, hydrological
sciences, with no limitations imposed by narrow specialization and cultural
phobias, so that all these disciplines contribute optimally to the wise and
balanced management of environmental resources.
Capri 2002 Organizing Committee Secretariat
c/o: CSDU & Terr@A Politecnico di Milano, DIIAR Sez. Idraulica Piazza Leonardo
da Vinci, 32
20133 Milano (Italy) Fax: (+39) 02 2665731
e-mail:
info@capri2002.com
internet:
www.capri2002.com