REGIONWIDE NEWS

COUNTRIES OF THE REGION RANKED IN WORLDWIDE SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
Latvia is the regional leader in environmental sustainability, followed closely by Hungary and Croatia, according to a new report that ranks the sustainable behaviour of 142 countries and was released to the World Economic Forum in New York City on Feb. 4. The country in the region with the least sustainable behaviour was Poland, which ranked 88th worldwide. 

The rankings were contained in the latest report on the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), a project conducted jointly by Yale University, Columbia University and the World Economic Forum, according to a press release from the two universities. The press release said the report judges the environmentally sustainable practices that go on in each country using "20 key indicators from five categories: environmental systems; environmental stresses; human vulnerability to environmental risks; a society's institutional capacity to respond to environmental threats; and a nation's stewardship of the shared resources of the global commons." 

Finland received the No. 1 ranking as the most environmentally sustainable country in the world, and the United Arab Emirates came in 142nd, or lowest. Out of the 142 countries surveyed, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were ranked as follows: Latvia 10th; Hungary 11th; Croatia 12th; Slovakia 18th; Estonia 19th; Slovenia 23rd; Albania 26th; Lithuania 28th; Bosnia and Herzegovina 58th; Romania 66th; Czech Republic 68th; Bulgaria 69th; Macedonia 72nd; Poland 88th. Yugoslavia was apparently not ranked in the report. 

The report is online at <http://www.ciesin.org/indicators/ESI/>. 
Contact: James Devitt, Columbia University
Tel: (1-212) 854-6173
Web: <http://www.ciesin.org/indicators/ESI/>; or 

David DeFusco, Yale University
Tel: (1-203) 436-4842
Web: <http://www.yale.edu/envirocenter/>.
 

WWF BLASTS PLANS TO DREDGE, STRAIGHTEN DANUBE
New plans to facilitate shipping on the Danube River are ecologically unsound and should be stopped, according to a new report released by the WWF environmental organisation. In a Jan. 31 press release, WWF said their report shows: "Various plans that are being proposed for shipping and navigation along the Danube will damage vital wetland ecosystems all along the river. Some significant threats include even greater pressure on species such as sturgeon and beavers, a decrease in the availability of drinking water and increased levels of chemicals in the river." 

The current plan, meant to facilitate commercial river traffic, was developed by the European Commission, governments of countries bordering the Danube, the Budapest-based inter-governmental Danube Commission and other organisations, according to the WWF press release. The plan would include reinstitution of shipping along the Danube in Yugoslavia, where bombing debris from the 1999 NATO campaign prevented navigation, at a cost of USD 870,000 per day in lost trade, according to the Balkan Times. The WWF report maintains that modern shipping technology and communication systems mean that there is no need for extensive work to dredge or straighten parts of the river. 

The report is online at: <http://www.panda.org/livingwaters>. 
Contact: Paul Csagoly, WWF
Tel: (36-30) 250-5869
Email: <pc@wwf.at>

 
FOCUS ON SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE

BULGARIAN PM WON'T COMMIT TO EARLY CLOSURE OF KOZLODUY
During a Jan. 28 visit to the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe Coburg promised that he would not seek the early closure of the plant if the country was not ready to handle the reduction in energy production, according to a report from Reuters. After pressuring from the European Union, Bulgaria agreed in 2000 that it would shut down Kozloduy's two oldest reactors before 2003. But, according to Reuters, Bulgaria has not yet committed to closure dates on the remaining two 440- megawatt reactors. 

Bulgaria, which is now negotiating accession to the EU, has been pressured to close those reactors soon, and Saxe Coburg reportedly discussed the idea of shutting them down by 2006 during a recent trip to Greece, Reuters said. But on Jan. 28, he stressed that he had made no promises about a specific closure date, Reuters said. Kozloduy was built on an old Soviet design, but has since been upgraded with newer technology. Bulgarian energy officials say the country currently has no means for replacing the energy that the plant produces. 

Contact: Bulgarian Atomic Energy Committee
Tel: (359-2) 720-217; or 

Bulgarian Environment Ministry
Tel: (359-2) 882-577
Web: <http://www.moew.government.bg>.
 

GREENPEACE THREATENS ACTION AGAINST PRO-DRACULA IMPOSTOR
Greenpeace is considering legal action to prevent an alleged impostor from posing as their representative when he claims that plans to build a controversial Dracula theme park are environmentally sound, according to a Jan. 31 report from Reuters. Dan Petre Popa, who has no links to Greenpeace, was quoted by Romania's tourism minister as a Greenpeace representative who supports the project, which has been called an "expensive flop in the making," the Reuters report said. 

Alex Krotz, a Greenpeace spokesman, was quoted as saying that Popa "has no connection to us. Greenpeace is not working in Romania and has no opinion on the park. … But we fear from what we've heard from local groups that the construction of the park will have negative environmental consequences." Dracula Park, an amusement park themed on the fictitious vampire, is to be built in wild and hilly countryside near Sighisoara, in a region that has seen comparatively little development and has old growth forests, Reuters said. Thus far, most of the criticism against the park has reportedly centred around its financial feasibility. 

Contact: Greenpeace
E-mail: <sholden@ams.greenpeace.org>
Web: <http://www.greenpeace.org>.
 

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE CEE REGION

NEW ENVIRONMENTAL CURRICULUM TO BE UNVEILED
A new environmental curriculum for Polish students, called Green Pack, will be unveiled by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) at a Feb. 12 press conference in Warsaw. According to an announcement, of the press conference, the Polish-language curriculum, which was created with funding from the Toyota Environmental Activities Grants Program 2000 and will be distributed without charge, is designed to help teachers make their students aware about environmental issues. 

Plans are already reportedly underway to translate the curriculum into other Central and East European languages. The REC's announcement said: "The Green Pack is intended primarily, but not exclusively, for Polish Gymnasium teachers and their students. An innovative approach to environmental education, the kit includes a variety of educational materials -- a teacher's handbook with lesson plans and pupils' fact sheets, a video cassette, an interactive CD-ROM with extensive information on 22 environmental topics, a dilemma game and other printed materials. … Thousands of teachers will receive the Green Pack free of charge, thanks to the generosity of Toyota."

The Press Conference is set for Feb. 12, 11 a.m., in Poland's National Fund of Nature Protection and Water Management, 3a, Konstruktorska str., Warsaw. 

Contact: Malgorzata Koziarek, REC Poland
Tel: (48-22) 629 3665
E-mail: <recpl@data.pl>; or visit the Toyota Foundation Website: <http://www.toyotafound.or.jp>.

LITHUANIA RATIFIES AARHUS CONVENTION
Lithuania became the 18th party to ratify the international Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters on Jan. 28, according to Jeremy Wates of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The so-called Aarhus Convention, which binds its members to ensure that the public is involved in environmental decisions, was signed by 35 European governments and the European Union in Aarhus, Denmark, June 1998.

Signatories include almost all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, though only a few have ratified it. The convention not only allows public involvement in environmental decisions, but also guarantees certain legal rights for redress of environmental wrongs or for litigation in environmental matters. 

Contact: Magdi Toth at the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
E-mail: <mtoth@rec.org>; or Wates, who is secretary to the Aarhus Convention
Tel: (41-22) 917-2384
Email: <jeremy.wates@unece.org>.
 

HUNGARY CALLS FOR NEW RESTAURANT RULE TO PROTECT RARE BIRDS
Hungary said on Jan. 24 that it would ask the European Parliament to make it illegal for Italian restaurants to serve protected species of birds as delicacies, according to a report from Reuters. Hungary has reportedly experienced problems with Italian hunters shooting rare species of birds. In November, Hungarian customs agents seized a truck containing 10,000 birds, most from protected species, that were in the back of a truck which had allegedly been hired to transport the animals to hunters in Italy. "We've proposed at the National Customs Authority that all cooler trucks that carry game meat across Hungary's borders be checked very thoroughly," Zoltan Illes, chairman of the Hungarian parliament's environmental committee, was quoted as saying by Reuters. 

Contact: Hungarian Environment Minister Bela Turi-Kovacs
Tel: (36-1) 201-2964.

EU EXPECTING TO SPEND EUR 55 MILLION ON NUCLEAR PLANT CLOSURES
The European Commission estimates that it must set aside an extra EUR 35 million for Lithuania in 2004 to help the country close down its Ignalina nuclear power plant, according to a report in the Jan. 31 edition of Europe Weekly Towards Enlargement. The commission must also set aside EUR 20 million for 2004-2006, to help Slovakia close down its Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant, the report said. In closing Ignalina, Lithuania will have to come up with an additional EUR 70 million, according to the report.

Contact: Lithuanian environmental spokeswoman Natalija Gedvilaite
Tel: (370-2) 723-25
Email: <Leidybos.biuras@nt.gamta.lt> or 

Slovak Ministry of Environment
Tel: (421-7) 5956-2306.

 
NEWS FOR JOURNALISTS

ENTRIES ACCEPTED FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
Films and documentaries about the environment, from any country, can be entered for consideration in Slovakia's eighth annual international ENVIROFILM festival, taking place from May 7-11. The deadline for registration in the film competition is March 10. For more information, check the web site at: <http://www.sazp.sk/FESTIVALY/>. 

Contact: Slovak Environmental Agency
Tel: (421-88) 413-2153
Email: <ev@sazp.sk>.
 

REPORT: MEDIA CAN DO MUCH TO ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A new report says that the media have the most powerful influence on public attitudes and political perceptions about sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, according to a Jan. 30 press release. The report, produced by SustainAbility and Ketchum, in co-operation with the United Nations Environment Programme, says that the media does not do enough to take advantage of this power, thereby missing a chance to influence the debate on sustainable development, the press release said. The report also questions the environmental practises of major media institutions themselves, according to the release. 

Contact: Francesca Muller, SustainAbility
Tel: (44-207) 245-1116
Email: <muller@sustainability.com>.