September 18, 1998 * Volume 1, Number 10
A R O U N D T H E R E G I O N
USAID has $22-million grants program for CEE environment
The United States Agency for International Development has announced a new USD 22 million partnership grants program to "promote market-oriented solutions to environmental problems" in the region. The five-year program aims to benefit the environment of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly Independent States (NIS) by funding projects that involve partnerships between local governments and businesses in the U.S., CEE and NIS, according to an announcement by program managers. The partnership grants program is being managed by the U.S.-based Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in Szentendre, Hungary. The first call for applications - from businesses, local governments and associations representing businesses or local governments - is expected to begin in early 1999, according to the announcement. Managers of the grants program say they expect to increase the total monetary outlay by encouraging cost sharing. In conjunction with the grants program, USAID is also sponsoring other initiatives, including a web site on best environmental practices and an information system detailing the environmental technology market in the region, the announcement said.
Contact: Patty Castellani-Lai of the IIE, or Winston Bowman.
Former Czechoslovak premier faces Chernobyl charges
Fromer Czech Premier Lubomir Strougal may face charges over having withheld information on the danger posed by the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in 1986, according to an AP report carried in the Sept. 3 edition of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Strougal, now 74, is suspected of having intentionally provided false or incomplete information on radiation levels measured on former Czechoslovak territory shortly after the explosion in Chernobyl, the report said. The Office for Investigation and Documentation of Communist Crimes, which has the power to prosecute, is investigating the case, and may decide within a month whether to press charges, the report said. Strougal has reportedly denied the accusations.
Bulgaria nuclear plant reports minor failure
Bulgaria's nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on Sept. 4 reported a minor technical failure in the secondary circuit pipes of its oldest reactor but said no radioactive material was involved, according to Reuters. The water leak affected the 440-megawatt reactor number one, which was unplugged from the national energy grid early on Sept. 4, plant chairman Krassimir Nikolov told Reuters. The leak was outside the reactor and experts said the failure, assessed as zero-level on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), was too minor to cause any danger, Reuters said. A previous "malfunction" at the nuclear plant, in July, caused radiation levels at the facility to double.
Contact: Bulgarian Atomic Energy Committee, tel: (359-2) 720-217.
Bulgaria announces plans to close plant by 2012
Bulgaria's cabinet adopted on Sept. 14 a new national energy strategy that would include investment of more than $946 million during its first stage until 2001, and would also involve the eventual closure of the Soviet-made nuclear plant at Kozloduy, Reuters reported. Under the plan, the plant would be shut down in phases, and would be completely closed by 2012, the report said. Bulgaria has spent tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the plant and has resisted calls by the EU to shut down.
Contact: Bulgarian Atomic Energy Committee, tel: (359-2) 720-217.
Slovakia turns to the Hague again in Hungary dam dispute
Slovakia is again appealing to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule on the ongoing dispute with Hungary over the Danube hydroelectric power plant, according to a Sept. 3 report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Slovak Foreign Minister Zdenka Kramplova notified her Hungarian counterpart, Janos Martonyi, of this decision in a Sept. 2 letter, the report said. Since 1989, Hungary has fought to prevent the proposed hydroelectric dam project on the Danube, but the previous Hungarian government interpreted the court's decision in The Hague as meaning that Hungary was obliged to cooperate on the project. Hungary's new cabinet disagreed, and on July 23 they annulled the decision by the previous government to start construction of the controversial dam at Nagymaros.
Contact: Slovak Environment Minister Jozef Zlocha, tel: (421-7) 516-2306, or Dr. Judit Moser, Hungarian environment ministry public relations, tel: (36-1) 201-2619.
N G O N E W S
Slovak NGO wins a battle for the trees
A Slovak nongovernmental organisation has announced a victory in its efforts to prevent clearcutting of trees at the Polana Biosphere Reserve. According to a letter from the WOLF Forest Protection Movement of Tulcik, Slovakia, the group has been working since June to block plans to clearcut swaths of trees from 234 sites in the middle of the rich biosphere reserve. "Recently, our fight was concluded by a statement of the Slovak National Committee of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere programme, which said that all our objections were appropriate," WOLF's letter said. The national committee wrote to Slovakia's Ministry of Land Management recommending a re-evaluation of current forest management plans for the Polana Biosphere Reserve, including a consideration of gentler methods of logging, the statement said. Since then, WOLF has been monitoring the forest and there has been no harmful logging in the reserve, the group's letter said. A biosphere reserve is an area set aside under the Man and the Biosphere programme of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The land in the reserves is meant to be managed with an eye toward conserving ecosystems and biodiversity while permitting sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of local communities. WOLF Forest Protection Movement is involved in several projects aimed at preserving Slovakia's forests, including an effort to buy up forest land for preservation. Sponsors can assist this effort by "buying" a tree in Slovakia for $30.
Contact: WOLF Forest Protection Movement tel/fax: (421-91) 941-488; or Julius Oszlanyi, Man and Biosphere Slovakia, tel: (421-7) 394 508.
Grants encourage cross-border NGO projects
Nongovernmental organisations from different countries in the region are invited to apply for grants of up to ECU 25,000 under a new program sponsored by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). An announcement by the REC calling for NGOs to apply for the grants said that the program is designed to encourage transboundary cooperation by NGOs because this kind of cooperation has proven to be more effective in dealing with many of the region's environmental problems. "The topic of this Call for Tender is wide open. NGOs can bring to the REC any type of environmental issue with just one limitation: it must be a problem which faces more than one country," the announcement said. "When two or more NGOs from two or more countries find a common problem, they are invited to meet together to prepare a proposal to solve it." Registered non-profit, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Yugoslavia should apply for the co-operative grant. NGOs currently running an Earmarked or Cooperative project supported by the REC are not eligible for funding.
Contact: Find out more about the grants program by visiting the following web page: http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/NGO_support/Grants/NGO_Coop.html, or by sending e-mail to: Angelika Halasz, Betsy Hyman or Christy Duijvelaar, or by calling the REC at (36-26) 504-000.
E N V I R O N M E N T A N D B U S I N E S S
Ventspils eyes ISO environment certificate
Officials from the Ventspils Nafta oil terminal of Latvia said on Sept. 3 they plan to receive a certificate for environmental safety management from the the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) by the year 2000, according to a report from Reuters. "We plan to obtain the ISO 14001 certificate in some two years' time," Ventspils technical manager Gunars Liepajnieks reportedly told a news conferece. Ventspils, one of the three key outlets for Russian crude and oil products in the Baltic region, also presented its first environmental report, planned to be an annual document, Reuters said. The Ventspils oil terminal will soon face competition from the Butinges terminal, which is now being constructed in Lithuania just a few kilometres south of the Latvian border. Latvian activists and officials have protested the Butinges terminal, saying they fear it may threaten the environment. But Lithuanians, including President Valdas Adamkus, a former U.S. environment official, have rejected these fears, saying that the environmental objections to the Butinges terminal are merely attempts to undermine a potential competitor.
Contact: Lithuanian Environment Ministry Press Representative Natalija Gedvilaite, tel: (370-2) 723-251; or Latvian Environment Minister Anatolijs Gorbunovs, tel: (371-7) 026-400.
J O U R N A L I S M N E W S
Festival in Czech Republic to focus on environmental films
Amateur and professional filmmakers are invited to enter films focusing on "the ecological aspects of human beings in today's world" in the 23rd annual IUTYT film festival in Uhereske Hradiste in the Czech Republic this November, according to a an announcement. Accepted films will be presented, judged and elibible for prizes, the announcment said.
Contact: Information and applications are available from: Klub Kultury, tel: (42-632) 551-079.
W H O W E A R E
About Green Horizon
Green Horizon is a free newsletter designed to help journalists stay ahead of environmental news in Central and Eastern Europe. Twice a month, we'll offer tips on upcoming stories to watch for, as well as information and ideas to help you develop in-depth pieces about the region's environment. Green Horizon is produced by the Media Information Service (MIS) of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. The goal of the MIS is to assist the media in covering environmental issues. It is funded by the European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For a free subscription, research assistance or to find a source: Send
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