May 13, 1999 * Volume 2 Number 2
CONTENTS:
L A T E - B R E A K I N G N E W S
Czech government votes to finish Temelin nuclear plant
The Czech Cabinet voted to continue construction of the controversial Temelin nuclear plant, in the early hours of May 13, according to reports monitored in the Czech press. Before the vote, the country underwent months of heated debate on the advantages, disadvantages and potential dangers of completing the unfinished nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia, launched by the communist regime back in 1987. Today the project is not only way over budget but lagging behind schedule, Radio Prague reports. Neighbouring Austria has made numerous attempts to persuade the Czech authorities to abandon the project and most recently an EU resolution has expressed concern that Temelin could be a major nuclear safety hazard and urged the Czech government to consider alternative energy sources, according to a May 12 report by Radio Prague. In the Cabinet, Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart lead the opposition to Temelin's completion, but the plant also had a number of strong advocates, foremost in industry minister Miroslav regr, according to Radio Prague. The most recent public opinion survey has shown that 59 percent of Czechs support the completion of the power plant. Contact: Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel: (420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111; or Greenpeace Austria, tel: (43-1) 545-4580.
B A L K A N C R I S I S
Funded by European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Report outlines dangers of depleted uranium weapons
A May 11 report by BBC online correspondent Alex Kirby suggests that the depleted uranium (DU) weapons that NATO has acknowledged it is using against tanks in Yugoslavia may have caused severe and lasting environmental damage. The report says veterans of the Gulf War blame DU weapons for "Gulf War syndrome," and they claim that reports from southern Iraq of much higher levels of stillbirths, birth defects, leukaemia and other child cancers could very likely be linked to the DU weapons. According to the BBC article, a senior officer of the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency said in 1991 that radiation from fragments and intact DU rounds was "a serious health threat," creating "a possible exposure rate of 200 millirems per hour on contact," and that "the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's maximum limit ... is 100 millirems per year." Contact: U.S. Defense Department, tel: (1-703) 697-5737; web: Articles worldwide detail concerns about war's damage
Several news reports from around the world detail the actual and potential damage caused by the war in Yugoslavia. In an April 22 edition of the English newspaper, "The Guardian," George Monbiot wrote of the pollution being caused by bombing chemical plants: "These toxins are unlikely to kill people immediately. But they will have soaked the soil across hundreds of square miles and percolated into the aquifers. The people of the former Yugoslavia, as a result, will be repeatedly exposed to them. Many of the compounds released cause cancers, miscarriages and birth defects. Others are associated with fatal nerve and liver diseases." His article went on to say that the use of depleted uranium weapons created the potential for even more serious damage via dispersion of radioactive particles that are small enough to be inhaled. A recent article in German magazine "Der Spiegel" said that what is happening as a result of the bombing is the same as a major oil or chemical industry catastrophe, except that it is not happening at one location at a time, but at dozen. According to the article in "Der Spiegel" it was surprising that otherwise active environmental organisations like Greenpeace and Blunt have nothing to say about this conflict, though they were very vocal during the Gulf War. But a May 7 report from Itar-Tass said that Greenpeace had in fact decided to speak out on the war, calling for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of troops from Kosovo. The article quoted Sergei Tsyplenkov, Director of Greenpeace Russia, as saying: "The use of force is inadmissible in resolving political or ethnic conflicts either among countries or ethnic groups. Greenpeace has always been above politics. We condemn military actions in any part of the world, let it be Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq or Yugoslavia. They inevitably result in death, great destruction and ecological disasters." Contact: Reports on developments in Yugoslavia can be monitored at many web sites, including http://www.nato.int/latest/home.htm or http://www.beograd.com.
Gorbachev: Balkan conflict has severe environmental implications
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former President of the Soviet Union and winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize who is now president of the non-governmental, non-profit environmental group International Green Cross, wrote an opinion piece for Environment News Service warning of "potential disastrous environmental impacts of the hostilities in Yugoslavia." Gorbachev's article, published on the ENS web page on April 30, said: "The massive destruction of oil refineries, petrochemical plants, chemical and fertilizer factories, pharmaceutical plants and other environmentally hazardous enterprises puts both the population and natural environment in the Balkans under clear threat. … There are indications that the pollution is crossing the Yugoslavian borders. … Green Cross International would be ready to participate in arranging a special mission to Yugoslavia, to make an evaluation of humanitarian and other implications of the environmental disaster." Contact: Green Cross International, e-mail: bertrand.charrier@gci.ch.
UN task force to assess regionwide damage caused by conflict
A United Nations task force has been established to conduct a detailed assessment of the Kosovo conflict's impact on the environment of the Balkan region, according to a May 11 report from Environment News Service (ENS). The assessment will be conducted jointly by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Centre for Human Settlements, UNCHS (Habitat), Klaus Toepfer announced at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday. Toepfer, a former environment minister of Germany, is UNEP executive director and acting executive director of the UN Centre for Human Settlements. Toefper said that the circumstances of the ongoing conflict make it extremely difficult to verify information on environmental damage in Yugoslavia and the rest of the region, according to ENS. The Task Force on the Environment and Human Settlements in the Balkans will act in support of the humanitarian needs assessment mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia announced by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, according to ENS. This humanitarian assessment mission will be headed by envoys Carl Bildt of Sweden and Eduard Kukan of Slovakia, ENS reported. Contact: UNEP, e-mail: ipainfo@unep.org; web: http://www.unep.org.
Bulgaria moves air defence to nuclear power plant
Bulgaria's Defense Ministry said on April 27 that it is relocating anti-aircraft missiles deployed in the eastern part of the country to the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The power plant is situated just 110 kilometers from the Yugoslav border and would be inside the zone to which the government has offered NATO access, the report said. There are four 440-megawatt reactors at Kozloduy, which have no safety encasement and two 1,000 megawatt units, both of which are covered by an encasement, according to the RFE report. Officials say the encasements could withstand the force of a jet crashing into them, but they admit that the unprotected reactors are vulnerable, the report said. Contact: Bulgarian Atomic Energy Committee, tel: (359-2) 720-217.
WWF sees environmental crisis from Balkan bombing
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) added its voice to scores of others warning that NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia threatens to create an environmental crisis in the region, according to a May 10 report from Reuters. The conservation group called for an international environmental recovery plan to be implemented by countries in the area under the Danube River Protection Convention and the Danube Environment Programme. "The humanitarian issues are first and foremost in our minds," WWF's Philip Weller said in a statement carried by Reuters. "However, only immediate measures to stop the downstream flow of pollution will prevent an ecological catastrophe from following the humanitarian one." WWF went on to note that the pollution caused by the bombing put the Danube and Black Sea at risk, and pose threats to drinking water, fish and other water life, Reuters reported. Contact: WWF International, tel: (41-22) 364-9111; web: http://www.panda.org/home.cfm.
EU environment ministers discuss Kosovo
Although the Kosovo conflict was not on the agenda when EU environment ministers gathered in Weimar, Germany, for an informal weekend meeting, May 8-9, the war was the main point covered in German environment minister Jurgen Trittin's post-meeting press conference, according to a May 10 report from ENDS Environment Daily. The report said Trittin announced that several delegations, especially Greece, had expressed concern over the environmental implications of NATO's bombing campaign. "We are sure that environmental damage will not be limited to the territory of Yugoslavia," but would also affect the Danube and the Black Sea, Trittin was quoted as saying in the ENDS report. The minister stressed that any statement about the environmental implications of the war were difficult due to a lack of hard information and that ministers had agreed to ask the European Commission to report whatever it could to the next formal meeting of environment ministers in June, according to ENDS. Contact: German presidency of the EU, tel: (49) 228-3050. To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
NGO in Serbia: organic farming key to post-war survival
An environmental group that has been encouraging organic farming in Serbia has redoubled its efforts and branched into other activities since NATO began bombing Yugoslavia. Attacks on chemical factories have depleted the supply of pesticides in Yugoslavia, and the planting season has been interrupted, so that an intensive campaign to raise organic produce may be the best way to prevent starvation for many in Yugoslavia, according to Tereza Horvat Skendeovic of TERRAS. Her group, which has been involved in organic farming in Subotica since 1990, is also working with the Open University in Subotica to lobby other NGOs around the world to stop the bombing in Yugoslavia. Contact: Skendeovic at TERRAS, tel: (381-24) 554-726; fax: (381-24) 553-116.
Balkan environmental NGOs circulate petition to stop war
Environmental groups from Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and FYR Macedonia are listed as signing on to a petition calling for an end to bombing and ethnic cleansing activities in former Yugoslavia. The petition, circulated by e-mail, warned of environmental damage caused by destruction of infrastructure, bombing at chemical factories, the use of depleted uranium weapons and the destruction of fragile natural habitats. The petiton said in part: "We recognise that the ongoing war, the bombing and the ethnic cleansing make more difficult any effort to encourage cultivation of the values of peace, friendship, respect for the uniqueness of nations and minorities and of the transborder co-operation in this multinational and sensitive area. At the same time, we wish to express now, as in the past, our definite and common decision to continue working together on the future to protect the valuable cultural and natural heritage of the Balkans, one of the most rich and diverse in the world." Contact: Daniela Stojanova, general secretary, Dvizhenje na ekologistite na Makedonija, Friends of the Earth Macedonia, tel: (389-91) 220-518; e-mail: bimadem@mpt.com.mk.
Web site focuses on environmental damage of bombing
A web site put out by a research institute in Yugoslavia details damage that scientists at the institute say is being caused by NATO's bombing. Some of the general areas of damage described in the web site include: Destruction of important vegetation types by fires, including polydominant forests in numerous canyons and gorges in Serbia which are unique in Europe; disturbance of fixed migration corridors of migratory birds, which was especially profound because recent NATO aggression against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia occurred during the most sensitive period of the year for migratory birds to pass through the Balkans; crippling of the reproductive cycle of amphibians via bombing of industrial complexes along permanent waters, which directly affect the main spawning spots of the amphibians during the most vulnerable stage of their reproductive cycle; devastation of the most significant biogenic reserve in south-east Europe, with such "hot spots" of biodiversity as the National park of Skadar Lake and other unique areas; pollution of water and air, via fires and bombing of riverside chemical complexes. The web site is located at: http://www.ibiss.bg.ac.yu/english/indexeng.htm Contact: Gabor Mesaros, Institute for Biological Research "Sinisa Stankovic," tel: (381-11) 764-422; e-mail: ibiss@ibiss.bg.ac.yu or mesaros@ibbi.ibiss.bg.ac.yu.
Other sites carry information from Yugoslavia
Green Table, an environmental NGO in Yugoslavia has recently been focusing much of its efforts on disseminating information about the Balkan conflict and its environmental impact. Green Table has a web site at:
A R O U N D T H E R E G I O NLithuania still most dependent on nuclear power
Lithuania remained top of the league of states in the world with the highest reliance on nuclear power last year, meeting 77 percent of its electricity needs from atomic energy, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on April 29, according to Reuters. The IAEA said France ran the tiny Baltic state a close second with 76 percent, down a couple of points from 1997 as a result of normal supply fluctuations, according to Reuters. "Overall nuclear power plants provided approximately 16 percent of the world's electricity production in 1998," Reuters quoted the IAEA as saying. Contact: International Atomic Energy Agency, tel: (43-1) 2600-0; fax: (43-1) 2600-7; e-mail: Official.Mail@iaea.org.
Latvia, Lithuania need to work on waste
Latvia and Lithuania need to improve their handling of waste, according to two recent UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) reviews of those countries' environmental performance. According to an April 30 press release from the UN/ECE, "Latvia’s biggest environmental problem at the moment is waste. In fact, Latvia does not produce all that much waste (150 to 300 kg per inhabitant per year, against 300 to 450 kg in western Europe), but its waste management is totally inadequate. Only about half of the household waste is collected and none of the 558 landfill sites are operated according to applicable health standards (1997). Hazardous waste is rarely collected or managed separately." A May 12 press release about the review of Lithuania said, "Substantial improvements are also needed urgently in waste management, according to the UN/ECE environmental performance review." Contact: UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division, Andreas Kahnert or Catherine Masson, tel: (41-22) 917-4159; e-mail: andreas.kahnert@unece.org or andreas.kahnert@unece.org; web: http://www.unece.org.
Gas pipeline on bed of Baltic Sea to link Poland, Norway
Polish Premier Jervy Buzek and his Norwegian counterpart, Kjell Magne Bondevik, have signed a declaration of intent on building a gas pipeline from Norway to Poland on the bed of the Baltic Sea, according to a May 6 report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The new pipeline will carry some 3-4 billion cubic meters of gas annually and limit Poland's dependence on Russian gas supplies, the report said. Contact Helsinki Commission, tel: (358-9) 622-0220; fax: (358-9) 622-02239; e-mail: kjell@helcom.fi; web: http://www.helcom.fi.
Chernobyl-tainted fruit found
Radioactive cranberries infected from lingering fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster were found by health inspectors in Moscow markets, according to an April 28 report from Environment Network News. The inspectors confiscated and destroyed 1,450 pounds of the fruit which contained high levels of radioactive cesium, and looked and tasted like normal fruit, the report said. Food tainted with radioactivity has found it's way to Central and Eastern Europe in the past.
EU ACCESSION/PAN-EUROPEANWWF warns: EU membership will change Hungary's landscape
Hungary’s landscape will go through major changes as a result of joining the European Union, warned Laszlo Haraszthy, head of the Hungarian office of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at a May 5 press conference in Budapest. The press conference was held to introduce a WWF study, which found that Hungary may have to give up on the cultivation of up to 1 million hectares of land if it joins the EU. Haraszthy pointed out that loss of extensive farming activities, such as grazing, could cause serious damage to the natural environment and may lead to the extinction of species, according to a press release. He added that the country’s forested land may go up by as much as 50 percent and reforestation with species of trees like acacia not familiar to Hungarian landscape may also cause damage. Contact: Hungarian World Wide Fund for nature: tel: (36-1) 214-5554 or 212-3041; fax: (36-1) 211-9353.
EU ministers talk tough on accession
Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries hoping to join the EU in the first few years of the next century were warned that they would have to make greater efforts to improve their environmental performance at the close of the EU environment ministers' informal meeting in Weimar, Germany, on May 9, according to ENDS Environment Daily. Reporting on the ministers' discussions for the EU presidency, German environment minister Jürgen Trittin said EU accession countries "have set a target that is not appropriate," according to ENDS Environment Daily. This weekend's discussions appear to represent a significant hardening of the EU position that compliance must be substantial by the time new members join the Union, according to ENDS. "We could not accept [accession] leading to environmental standards being lowered across the Union," Trittin was quoted as saying. Contact: German presidency of the EU, tel: (49)-228 3050. To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
Slovakia defies EU over nuclear plant closure
The Slovak government on April 26 decided not to close two of four reactors at its Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant by 2000, overturning a pledge made to the European Union in 1994, which made the adoption of a plan for the "early closure" of the plant a condition of joining the EU, according to an April 27 report from ENDS Environment Daily. The decision concerns the plant's so-called "V1" block, which the European Commission believes cannot be upgraded and should be closed down as soon as possible, the report said. The Slovak government justified its decision to cancel the 1994 resolution by pointing out that it was spending SKK 8.4 billion (EUR 188 million) on safety upgrades at the plant and that it now "fulfilled international safety requirements," ENDS reported. The government said its commitment to close the block was linked to promises of funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was never provided, according to ENDS. Contact: Slovak Environment Ministry, tel: (4217) 516-2306; or Slovak Economic Ministry, tel: (421-7) 4854-1111; web: http://www.economy.gov.sk or European Commission's DGXI enlargement unit, e-mail: enlargement@dg11.cec.be, web: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg11/enlarg/home.htm; or European Commission Directorate General for Environment, Timo Makela, tel: (32-2) 299-2300; fax (32-2) 299-0310. To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
Computer model: CEE must double spending on air pollution
A new study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) concludes that prospective European Union member countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) will have to double their annual spending on air pollution prevention to achieve full compliance with EU emissions standards by 2010, according to an April 27 report from ENDS Environment Daily. The computer-model analysis, called "Environment and European Enlargement: Air Emissions," found that the region's 10 accession nations will have to spend EUR 7.5 billion per year to reduce all sources of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions to acceptable levels, the report said. Contact: European Environment Agency, tel: (45-33) 36-7100; web: NGOs, others invited to healthy planet forum
United Nations Environment & Development-UK Committee has announced plans for a Healthy Planet Forum, June 15-18 in London, to run alongside the European environment minister's Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health for Europe, which is being organized by the World Health Organization. While the ministers gather for the June 16-18 WHO conference, the Healthy Planet Forum will offer "a unique gathering of people from NGOs, voluntary organisations, local authorities, health workers and citizen groups of all sorts from all parts of Europe working on Environment and Health issues a chance to find out more, to share ideas, and to meet people with similar concerns from fifty-two nations," according to an e-mail announcement. For voluntary and low-income groups and for groups from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states, some financial support may be available for travel and accommodation, the announcement said. To find out more about participating in the Healthy Planet Forum, or the raft Healthy Planet Forum declaration, visit
J O U R N A L I S M N E W SCall for contributions on sustainable banking
Greenleaf Publishing has issued a call for contributions in the area of Sustainable Banking for a special issue of the journal "Greener Management International" (GMI), according to an e-mail announcement. The announcement said the editors are particularly interested in papers that address: assessment of environment-related risk; development of environment/social-related products and services; internal operational policies and practices; environmental training; customer and stakeholder awareness-raising and communications; environmental investment and lending in developing countries; environmental investment and lending in clean technologies; implications of climate change on banking policies; and the role of international organisations. For submissions guidelines, further information or to discuss ideas for contributions, Contact: Dr Jan Jaap Bouma, Erasmus Centre for Environmental Studies, tel: (31-10) 408-2050; fax: (31-10) 408-9104; e-mail: bouma@mil.fsw.eur.nl.
Web page key resource on cleaner production in CEE
A new web page, prepared by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), provides useful information on cleaner production for those active in this field in the Central and Eastern European region. According to an announcement, an information needs assessment carried out last autumn by the REC indicated that one central location for all information on existing Cleaner Production and Pollution Prevention Centers in CEE countries would be of great value. The site, which includes links to information sources regarding EU environmental legislation and case studies of businesses that have profited through preventive environmental management, also has information on: CP/PP Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe; EU environmental legislation; making sense of ISO and EMAS; industry and cleaner production: making business profitable; EAP Task Force and environmental management in enterprises; links to related international CP organisations.
W H O W E A R EAbout 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 e-mail to: GreenHorizon@rec.org, or call Tom Popper at (36-26) 504-000, fax (36-26) 311-294.
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