SEE ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION
EU OKs up to EUR 22M to clear
Danube of NATO debris
Lead pollution in Kosovo called
threat to French troops
South
East Europe media organisation to be launched
AROUND THE REGION
Heat wave blamed for 7 deaths in
Romania
IMF chief seeks dialogue with NGOs
before Prague meeting
Romania reports minor river
pollution near Hungary
Earthquake rattles eastern Romania
Hailstorm, rain do damage in Czech
Republic
Estonian census shows big drop in
population
Tito's elephants rescued from
slaughter
Marauding brown bear captured alive
in Moravia
Czech environmentalists work to
preserve rare orchids
EC, EU ACCESSION
EU approves EUR
825M for CEE environment, transport investment
EU, EBRD co-finance
Romanian water cleaning system
NUCLEAR
EUR 20M earmarked to clean up
radioactive lake in Estonia
Austria demands report on oil leak
at Temelin nuke plant
Austrians, Germans express
opposition to Temelin
Czech government opposes plan for
Temelin referendum
Workers exposed to radiation at
Slovak nuclear plant
Romania shuts nuclear plant after
loading failure
WHO WE ARE
About
Green Horizon
SEE ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION
EU OKs up to EUR 22M to clear DANUBE of NATO debris
The European Union's executive body completed the final paperwork on
July 26 to contribute up to EUR 22 million to help clear the Danube of
bombing debris left behind by 11 weeks of NATO air strikes,
according to Reuters. The EU has agreed to pay up to 85 percent of the
cost of the project agreed by the Danube Commission in Vienna, an
international body with responsibility for Danube navigation, Reuters said
in the report, which was carried by Central Europe Online. The money is
intended to fund the work of clearing the river for continued commercial
traffic, but will not be used for reconstruction of any bridges, the
report said.
Contact: Danube Commission, tel: (36-1) 268 1976 or (36-1) 268
1978; fax: (36-1) 268 1980.
Lead pollution in KOSOVO called threat to French troops
The French Defence Ministry has expressed fears that severe pollution
from a lead factory near the mining town of Kosovska Mitrovica in northern
Kosovo is threatening the health of locals and French peacekeeping troops
deployed there, according to an Aug. 2 Agence France Presse report carried
by Central Europe Online. The ministry asked former French Health Minister
Bernard Kouchner, the head of the UN mission in Kosovo, to
"temporarily limit" the operations of the factory in Zvecan,
just outside Mitrovica, and bring the factory's waste into compliance with
international norms, the report said. Mitrovica, located in the midst of
the vast but run-down Trepca mining complex, is reported to be the most
polluted city in the UN-administered Yugoslav province. Contact:
French Defence Ministry, e-mail: defense@defense.gouv.fr;
web: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/index_ang.html.
South East Europe Media Organisation to be Launched
International Press Institute (IPI) from Vienna, an organisation
dedicated to supporting media freedom and improving journalistic
standards, announced the launch of the South East Europe Media
Organisation (SEEMO), a non-government, non-profit organisation, which
would be comprised of editors and journalists from Albania, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Romania, according to
an Aug. 7 report by B92. The new organisation aims to oppose media
repression in the countries of South Eastern Europe and propose
improvements in existing media legislation, the report said. SEEMO's
inaugural conference has been planned for Nov. 17 in Vienna.
Contact: Barbara Trionfi, e-mail: info@freemedia.at;
tel: (43-1) 512-9011; web:
http://www.freemedia.at; or Oliver Vujovic,
e- mail: seemoipi@yahoo.com
AROUND THE REGION
Heat wave blamed for 7 deaths in Romania
A heat wave oppressing South Eastern Europe claimed the lives of seven
people in Romania between July 25-28 and increased the number of people
seeking treatment for heat-related ailments, according to a report from
the Ananova news service. The Bucharest ambulance service reported that at
least 25 people collapsed on the streets of the Romanian capital as
temperatures hovered around 37 degrees Celsius, according to the July 28
report, which was carried by Central Europe Online.
Contact: Romanian Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental
Protection, tel: (40-1) 410-6394; fax: (40-1) 312- 2599; or Eugen Gurzau,
Medical Center, Health Services and Management, Environmental Health
Department, e-mail: egurzau@jeffmcm.soroscj.ro
IMF chief seeks dialogue with NGOs before Prague meeting
Aware of pending protests, International Monetary Fund President Horst
Koehler said on July 31 that he was open to discussion with environmental
groups and other NGOs and activists ahead of the annual IMF/World Bank
meetings in Prague in September, according to an Aug. 1 report from
Reuters.
This meeting will be the first major global conference in Europe since an
April gathering of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle was disrupted
by clashes between police and protesters, and demonstrators have
threatened even more disruptive protests in Prague than those staged in
Seattle, according to reports. Koehler said in a July 31 news conference
in Prague that he himself was meeting some NGOs to discuss the issues,
Reuters reported.
The NGOs -- Rainbow Movement, Summer of Mercy, CEE Bankwatch network and
Friends of the Earth -- said in a statement they would demand the IMF
cease making loans to struggling countries conditional on reforms that put
their economies at risk, Reuters said.
Contact: International Monetary Fund, tel: (33-1) 4069-3070; fax:
(33-1) 4723-4089; web: http://www.imf.org/;
or CEE Bankwatch, Tomasz Terlecki, director, tel: (48-12) 429-1101;
e-mail: tomaszt@bankwatch.org;
web: http://www.bankwatch.org
Romania reports minor river pollution near Hungary
Romanian government officials said July 25 that water contaminated with
heavy metals had spilled from a mine into a river flowing into Hungary, but
that the leakage posed no major environmental threat, according to a July 26
report from Reuters. The incident occurred July 24, when a faulty pipe at
the Herja lead mine in northwest Romania spread sludge containing zinc and
lead into tributaries of the Tisza, Hungary's second-largest river, the
report said. The leakage, in the same area as of one of Europe's worst river
pollution accidents in January, had been stopped within hours and caused no
major environmental threat, the report said. The catastrophic January spill
occurred at the plant of the Baia Mare facilities of the Aurul SA mining
company, which has since re-opened operations with the Romanian government's
permission.
Contact: Cristian Teodorescu, Romanian Ministry of Waters, Forests
and Environmental Protection, tel: (40-1) 410-0228; fax: (40-1) 410-2032; or
Gyorgy Pinter, Institute for Water Pollution Control (VITUKI) in Budapest,
tel: (36-1) 215-7782; e-mail: pintergyorgy@attmail.com.
Earthquake rattles eastern Romania
An earthquake measuring four on the open-ended Richter scale struck
eastern Romania Aug. 5 at 8:09 a.m., but caused no injuries or property
damage, according to a report from Agence France Presse. The epicenter of
the quake, which was not felt in the capital Bucharest, was recorded in the
geologically active area of Vrancea in eastern Romania at a depth of 146
kilometres, the report said.
Contact: Ioan Jelev, director, Romanian Environmental Research and
Engineering Institute, tel: (40-1) 637-3035; fax: (40-1) 312-1393.
Hailstorm, rain do damage in Czech Republic
The North Moravia section of the Czech Republic was hit Aug. 6-7 by
devastating hailstorms and torrential rains, smashing thousands of windows
and hundreds of cars, causing heavy damage to trees and crops and prompting
flood alerts, according to Radio Prague.
Contact: Karel Blaha, Czech Department of Ecological Risks and
Monitoring, tel: (420-2) 6712-2532 or (420-2) 6712-0293; fax: (420-2)
6731-0013; e- mail: karel_blaha@env.cz.
Estonian census shows big drop in population
The Estonian Government Statistics Department announced July 24 that the
preliminary results of the recent census shows that the population of the
country totalled only 1,370,500 as of March 31, according to a July 25
report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This represents a drop of more
than 200,000 people since the last census, which was taken in 1989, the
report said.
Contact: Estonian Environment Minister Heiki Kranich, tel: (372-6)
262-802; e-mail: heiki@ekm.envir.ee.
Tito's elephants rescued from slaughter
Croatian animal protection activists have helped save the lives of two
elephants that belonged to the late Yugoslav president, Tito, according to
an Aug. 7 report from Agence France Presse. Sonia and Lanka, a pair of
elephants given as a gift from former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to
Tito, spent 30 years along with many other exotic species on the northern
Croatian island of Brijuni, which was reserved for the communist elite in
former Yugoslavia, said the report. When the Animal Protection Association
in Osijek in eastern Croatia found out that a German businessman bought the
elephants with the intention of having them killed for their precious ivory
tusks, they raised the alarm and the Ganzerdorf safari park in Austria,
offered to buy Sonia and Lanka, according to Agence France Presse. Davorko
Feil, head of the Osijek Animal Protection Association, reportedly said
charges would be brought against the manager of Brijuni Park for
mistreatment of animals and breach of veterinary regulations.
Contact: Davorko Feil, tel: (385-31) 283-445 or (385-31) 205-311.
Marauding brown bear captured alive in Moravia
A brown bear blamed for 140,000 crowns worth of damage to livestock and
property in the Beskydy mountains of northern Moravia in the Czech Republic
was captured alive Aug. 5 in a hunt sanctioned by the environment ministry,
according to Radio Prague. Forest rangers and veterinarians baited a metal
cage with a trap door and waited a week before finally snaring the bear,
which had been plundering nearby farms, stealing sheep, rabbits and chickens
-- but had not attacked a human being, the radio reported. The bear is to be
placed in one of the country's zoos, the radio said.
Contact: Czech Environment Ministry, Josef Bele, director, Nature and
Landscape Protection Section, tel: (420-2) 6712-2874; fax: (420-2)
6731-1388; e-mail: josef_bele@env.cz.
Czech environmentalists work to preserve rare orchids
Environmental activists in eastern Moravia are working to preserve 29
rare species of orchids growing in the wild, according to an Aug. 7 report
from Radio Prague. Jan Pavelka of the Vsetin Environmentalists' Association
said his group's efforts are focused on eight hectares of meadows where
there is a high incidence of these rare flowers, according to the report.
The work involves regularly eliminating aggressive weeds and shrubs by hand
and making sure that the orchid seeds fall on fertile soil, the report said.
Eight rare floral species have already disappeared from the region and the
government is now handing out subsidies of 10,000 crowns per hectare of
hand-treated meadowland in the region, the report said.
Contact: Jan Pavelka, tel: (420-657) 81-973.
EC, EU ACCESSION
EU approves EUR 825M for CEE environment, transport investment
The European Commission on July 20 approved 18 different plans for
environmental and transport investment in Central and East European
candidate countries, according to MTI, the Hungarian news agency. The
investments would cost a total of EUR 1.25 billion and would receive an EU
contribution of EUR 825 million, MTI reported. The agency also reported that
EU support of EUR 7.25 million was awarded for Hungary's Hajdu-Bihar county
waste management system, and EUR 14.05 was awarded for investments involving
the Gyor sewage plant. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, an EU
non-reimbursable loan of EUR 444 million would cover part of the costs of
two environment protection projects and another three rail upgrading and
road construction works in Romania. Contact: Dr. Jozsef Horvath,
Head, Hungarian Department of Environmental Media, tel: (36-1) 457-3410 or
(36-1) 457-3415; fax: (36-1) 201-2125.
EU, EBRD co-finance Romanian water cleaning system
The European Union will co-finance the bulk of the project to upgrade a
water utility in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta, estimated at a total
cost of around EUR 98 million, according to a July 24 Reuters report. The EU
will cover 75 percent of the costs of the operation with a non-reimbursable
loan worth EUR 72 million, and the rest of the money will come from a credit
worth EUR 19 million, without government guarantees, issued by the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the report said. Local authorities
will provide the remaining EUR 7 million, according to the report.
Contact: Romanian Minister of Public Works and Territorial Planning
Nicolae Noica, tel: (40- 1) 410-1933 or (40-1) 410-1435; fax: (40-1)
411-0186.
NUCLEAR
EUR 20M earmarked to clean up radioactive lake in Estonia
Donors from Scandinavia will pay the majority of the EUR 20 million
needed to clean up one of the worst pollution sites left by the Soviet
Union: a lake in Estonia that is heavily tainted with radioactive materials
and threatens to spill over into the Baltic Sea, according to ENDS
Environment Daily. The lake is thought to contain 1,200 tonnes of
radioactive uranium and 600 tonnes of thorium, and there are fears that a
fragile dam containing it could collapse, threatening massive pollution of
the Baltic Sea, ENDs reported. The lake is sited at a factory in the
northern Estonian town of Narva, which was "closely linked to the
Soviet military," ENDS reported.
Contact: Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, tel: (35) 891-800; web:
http://www.nefc.org;
or Danish EPA, tel: (45-3) 326-0100; web: http://www.mst.dk.
An article about the lake can be seen at: http://www.ing.dk/arkiv/2800/katastrofe.html.
To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
Austria demands report on oil leak at Temelin nuke plant
The Austrian government has requested a detailed report about an Aug. 4
oil leak at the Temelin nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia, according
to reports. A plant spokesman said the leak was immediately detected by the
plant's safety system, apparently caused no environmental damage and was in
no way connected with any leak of the nuclear section of the plant,
according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The Austrian Environment
Ministry will demand to see the report about the accident, as well as proof
that it was not caused by a construction fault, RFE reported. Austrian
activists and officials have strongly opposed the plant, and Czech officials
have tried to respond by improving communication. The Czech Republic and
Austria have already agreed to set up a special telephone hotline between
Prague and Vienna as part of security measures for the plant, according to
RFE.
Contact: Upper Austrian Parliament Chairman Josef Puehringer, e-mail: LH.Puehringer@ooe.gv.at;
or Karel Bohm, chairman, Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety, tel: (420-2)
2422-3139; fax: (420-2) 2162-704; e-mail: karel.bohm@sujb.cz.
Austrians, Germans express opposition to Temelin
With the nuclear power plant Temelin due to go into trial operation
shortly, the Austrian Greens held an Aug 8 press conference demanding that
their country boycott Czech-energy exports, according to a report from Radio
Prague. Meanwhile, other Westerners have expressed their concerns about the
plant. A spokesman for Germany's Green environment minister, Juergen Trittin,
was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying, "Temelin has played
no role in the membership talks with the Czech Republic. That is
regrettable." And Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country
has long been fiercely anti-nuclear, demanded last month that all
"irreversible measures ... be delayed until all environmental and
safety questions ... have been convincingly and legally clarified," AFP
reported. Contact: Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel:
(420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111; or Greenpeace Austria, tel: (43-1)
545-4580.
Czech government opposes plan for Temelin referendum
The Czech government announced July 26 that it will oppose the
Parliament's plan to hold a referendum allowing the Czech populace to decide
whether or not it wants the controversial Temelin nuclear power plant,
according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A bill in
Parliament would set the referendum for May, but the cabinet said that
Temelin would be ready for operation by then, so it would be too late to
decommission the power plant, the report said. The organisers of the
petition, Referendum 2000, who gathered more than 115,000 signatures for a
referendum, said the cabinet is breaking a promise made during its election
campaign, the report said.
Contact: Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel: (420-2)
6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111.
Workers exposed to radiation at Slovak nuclear plant
Employees of the company Reaktortest were exposed to radiation during
maintenance work at a reactor of the fourth unit of the V-2 nuclear power
plant in Jaslovske Bohunice from May 3 to June 4, according to Slovak news
sources monitored by the BBC and Central Europe Online. The exposure to
radiation was the result of a violation of working and security guidelines,
and an inquiry by the Nuclear Supervisory Office has concluded that none of
the affected workers exceeded the permitted annual limit of radiation
exposure for professionals, according to reports. Contact: Eva Bergendiova,
Slovak Ministry of Environment, tel: (421-7) 5956-2668; e-mail: info@lifeenv.gov.sk
or bergendiova.eva@lifeenv.gov.sk
Romania shuts nuclear plant after loading failure
Romania shut down the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, the country's only
nuclear plant, on July 28 after discovering a fault with its fuel loading
equipment, according to a report from Reuters. Plant officials said an
"internal problem" occurred at one of the loading devices at the
end of the loading process, the report said. Industry Minister Traian
Berceanu said, "The problem poses no nuclear risk and will be remedied
in five to six days," according to Reuters. The reactor is said to
provide about 13 percent of Romania's electricity output.
Contact: Romanian Health Minister Gabor Hajdu, tel: (40-1) 614-1526;
fax: (40-1) 312-4916.
WHO WE ARE
About Green Horizon
"Green Horizon" is a free newsletter
designed to help journalists stay ahead of environmental news
in Central and Eastern Europe. We 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 Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe. To join the mailing list: Send e-mail to:
GreenHorizon@rec.org.
Copyright 2000 by the Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe
Ady Endre út 9-11
2000 Szentendre
Hungary
Tel: (36-26) 504-000
Fax: (36-26) 311-294
E-mail: GreenHorizon@rec.org
Web: http://www.rec.org/
Funded by the European Commission's DG-XI
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
