Sept. 1, 1999 * Volume 2 Number 6
CONTENTS:
B A L K A N C R I S I S
UN team has yet to find cause for panic over Balkan environment
A United Nations environment team said it had not yet found any cause for major alarm in its survey of the effects of NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia but it still had further tests to perform, and it vowed to immediately alert Yugoslav authorities of any serious threats, according to an Aug. 30 report from Reuters. The team made this announcement at the end of a second United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) mission to Yugoslavia, during which nine scientists from eight countries took samples from the Danube River, which downstream countries Romania and Bulgaria use for drinking water, Reuters said. Experts from the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) were involved in the first mission, which covered industrial sites that suffered the most damage during bombing. UNEP said earlier this month that the possible consequences of the use of depleted uranium weapons by NATO had yet to be fully established. Although several groups have expressed concerns about the immediate and long-term effects of depleted uranium, Pekka Haavisto, head of UNEP ës Balkan Task Force, insisted that radioactivity in Yugoslavia was not higher than normal, according to Reuters. Officials of UNEP and NATO maintain that NATO used depleted uranium only in shells fired at tanks in Kosovo and not in missiles or bombs used against Serbia proper, according to an August 24 report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Contact: UNEPís web site is at http://www.unep.org; REC's preliminary report on the environmental damage caused by the Balkan conflict can be seen on the web at: http://www.rec.org.
Balkan environment conference set for Oct. 7 in Belgrade
The Young Researchers of Serbia will hold a Balkan environmental conference of youth NGOs, Oct. 7-11 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, according to an announcement distributed by e-mail. The conference will focus on the warís environmental impacts, assessment methods, the threat from depleted uranium weapons and air, soil and water pollution, the announcement said. Prospective participants were urged to register as soon as possible, as registration closes Sept. 20. For information and registration, contact: Young Researchers of Serbia, Branko Karapandza, president, tel: (381-11) 311-1314 or (381-11) 311-6663; e-mail: misvss@bits.net.
A R O U N D T H E R E G I O N
Bad hygiene, pollution blamed for Romania's meningitis epidemic
"Precarious hygiene" and water pollution were blamed for an epidemic of meningitis that started in some of the more impoverished areas of northern Romania and spread to other parts of the country and Moldova, forcing a delay in school openings, according to reports. Romania's health authorities said the number of reported cases of viral meningitis had increased to 4,000 by Aug. 31, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). Because most of the victims were school-aged children, the start of the school year, originally set for Sept. 1, was postponed for a week in several areas of the country, RFE said. While Dan Nicolaiciuc, an epidemiologist with the Health Ministry said "this epidemic is basically due to precarious hygiene," doctors also blamed high pollution levels of two rivers which form the border with the ex-Soviet republics of Moldova and Ukraine for spreading the disease, which attacks the nervous system and the brain, Reuters reported. According to an Aug. 17 report from RFE, Moldovaís National Center of Preventive Medicine said that, in the capital alone, 67 cases were registered in July and another 67 in the first 10 days of August. Contact: the Romanian Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental Protection, tel: (40-1) 410-6394; fax: (40-1) 312-2599.
Tree-killing fungus from Western Europe headed here
A new hybrid fungus that has already killed several hundred-thousand alder trees along the rivers of Western Europe appears to be steadily marching east and will probably enter Central and Eastern Europe soon, according to an Aug. 26 report from the Hungarian daily "Nepszabadsag." Scientists were surprised to discover that the hybrid species contains DNA elements of two different fungi species, because fungi almost never cross-fertilise in nature, the paper said. The deadly fungus was first detected in 1993 in southern England and Wales -- where 10 percent of the alders get infected every year and 2 percent of them die -- and since then has been found in France, Holland, Sweden and now Austria, too, the report said. Alders play a key role in the ecosystems of riverbank habitats, if they disappear the banks may erode more easily. Contact: Dr. Judit Moser of the Hungarian environment ministryís press office, tel: (36-1) 201-2619.
German investors' plan for Czech farm stirs protest
More than 1,000 activists gathered Aug. 29 in the German town of Eschlkam to protest against a large chicken farm, set to open soon near the Czech village of Vseruby a few kilometres away, according to a report from Radio Prague. The German and Czech environmental activists who staged the protest said the German investors of the project plan to circumvent European Union laws on the protection of animals and keep chickens in tight cages all their life, the report said. On Aug. 27, three protesters chained themselves to a bulldozer on the building site, the report said. Contact: Freedom of Animals - Czech Republic, tel: (420-2) 6771-0187, (420-2) 377-019; or World Society for the Protection of Animals, Jonathan Owen, press officer, tel: (44-171) 793-0540; fax (44-207) 793-0208; web: http://www.wspa.org.uk.
Bear from Ukrainian museum taken to a sanctuary in Hungary
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) took Kotya, an 18-year-old European brown bear who has spent most of his life caged in solitary confinement in the grounds of a museum in the Ukraine, to start a new life of freedom in a WSPA-built semi-wild bear sanctuary in Hungary on Aug. 12, according to a press release. Kotya, abandoned by a circus as untrainable, was dumped at Lviv's Museum of National Architecture in the Ukraine in 1982, when just a year old, and spent his entire life in a barren, rusty 3-square-metre cage in the museum's gardens, the release said. Upon learning of Kotya's plight, WSPA battled bureaucracy to gain permission to take the bear to live the rest of his days in the freedom of the sanctuary in Hungary, where he will join other bears rescued by WSPA, according to the release. Contact: Jonathan Owen, WSPA press officer, tel: (44-171) 793-0540; fax (44-207) 793-0208; web: http://www.wspa.org.uk.
Report alleges Hungarian zoo workers killed, sold animals
Hungarian prosecutors are investigating allegations that workers at the Pecs zoo in the southern Hungarian city killed a wide variety of protected animals in their care and sold their fur and meat, Reuters reported on Aug. 7. In one incident, an Austrian hunter allegedly paid DM 1,000 to shoot a healthy adult male brown bear named Barnabas from the zoo, Reuters reported. The investigation began after Pecs zoo director Istvan Egyhazi began to notice in February, a month after his appointment, that deer, wild boar, hawks and other animals were disappearing from their cages, according to the Hungarian daily "Nepszabadsag." Another Hungarian daily, "Blikk," quoted a Pecs animal skinner connected to the zoo as saying he had skinned lions, tigers, antelopes and zebras which he believed had been sold. Contact: Local Government of Pecs Envrionmental Referent Karagitsne Bajzar Marta, tel: (36) 72 213 222; fax: (36) 72 412 04; or Dr. Judit Moser of the Hungarian environment ministryís press office, tel: (36-1) 201-2619.
Report: 85,000 species in Croatia go unidentified
A government document speculates that only about a third of the more than 100,000 species of plants and animals that dwell in Croatia have not been catalogued, the Press Cut Croatian news service said on Aug. 16. The document, "Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of the Diversity of Biological Life and the Landscape in the Republic of Croatia," which was recently issued by the Croatian National Parliament, said that Croatia has 33,546 known plant, fungal and animal species, but it is presumed that there are another 85,000 species yet to be discovered in the country, according to the news service. The government report noted that "Croatia is amongst the rare countries in the world that does not have a description of its own flora, micro-flora and fauna and still does not have a published basic popular science handbook for determining species," the news service said. The report concluded that there should be an inventory of all parts of the biological and landscape diversity; an assessment of their status and creation of plans to protect those that are threatened; and mechanisms for implementing protection and continuing to monitor bio-diversity, the news service said. Contact: Croatian State Directorate for Environmental Protection, tel: (385-1) 611-8388; fax: (385-1) 537-203.
REC seeks local success stories on public participation
Municipal officials in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) who help their citizens get involved in the environment can gain some recognition. The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is seeking to identify local government authorities in the region who have achieved outstanding results in getting the public involved in making decisions about their environment. Local officials who have distinguished themselves in this field may be invited by the government of the UK to share their experience at an international workshop aimed at environmental authorities, to be held in England this December, according to an announcement from the REC. Organisers at the REC said they will cull approximately 30 case studies from all the entries to help share best practices in environmental public participation, as part of the work of implementing the Aarhus Convention on Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking. According to the announcement, the REC is also seeking NGOs who would be qualified and willing to assist in the work of preparing the case studies. Anyone who knows of a local government in the region that has performed well in the area of public participation in the environment -- or any NGO member who wishes to work on compiling the case studies -- is urged to contact Steve Stec at the REC, e-mail: sstec@rec.org.
N U C L E A R
EU offers funding for closing Ignalina plant
The EU stepped up its campaign for the early closure of Lithuania's controversial Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant by offering "exceptional" financial support, according to an Aug. 10 report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). A ranking official from the European Commission, Francois Lamoureux, told the Lithuanian daily "Respublika" that the EU will grant EUR 100 million annually to Lithuania once a timetable for Ignalina's shutdown is established, RFE reported. The government is due to announce the countryís long-term energy strategy, which is certain to discuss the fate of Ignalina, according to the report. However, Economics Minister Eugenijus Maldeikis warned that "no rash conclusion" should be made, since Ignalina generates more than 80 percent of Lithuaniaís electricity, the report said. Contact: Lithuanian environmental spokeswoman Natalija Gedvilaite, tel: (370-2) 723- 25; e-mail: Leidybos.biuras@nt.gamta.lt; or European Commissionís 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.
German, Austrian officials say Temelin may keep Czechs out of EU
The chairman of the Upper Austrian parliament has said the federal government in Vienna will support a plan to veto the Czech Republicís membership of the European Union, due to safety concerns at the incomplete Temelin nuclear power plant in South Bohemia, according to a Sept. 1 report from Radio Prague. The chairman, Josef Puehringer, said the Czech government must realise that each national parliament in the EU has a say in accepting new members, the report said. Earlier, German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, a member of Germany's coalition Green Party, told reporters that Temelin made neither environmental nor economic sense and that the plant could have a negative effect on Czech attempts to join the EU, according to an Aug. 27 report from Radio Prague. And the Czech environmental organisation Duha said a government report showed that completion of the plant was being hampered by deepening financial problems and that the state-owned utility company responsible for Temelinís completion is again experiencing delays, according to Radio Prague. Some 71 billion crowns has already been spent on the plant, completion of which has been repeatedly postponed over the last decade. The government decided to complete Temelin in May, following assurances from the Trade and Industry Ministry that the planned cost and date of completion would not be exceeded. Contact: Upper Austrian parliament chairman Puehringer, e-mail: LH.Puehringer@ooe.gv.at; or Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel: (420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111.
Bulgaria's Kozloduy reactor shut down for repairs
Reactor No. 2 at the ageing nuclear power plant at Kozloduy was shut down on Aug. 16 following a non-radioactive water leak, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A spokeswoman for the plant said the leak did not affect the plantís safety and that the unit would be shut down until the end of August for repairs, the report said. The Soviet-made plant is located on the banks of the Danube, 200 kilometres north of Sofia, and meets nearly half of Bulgaria's electricity demand. Contact: Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters, tel: (359-2) 8472-2000; fax: (359-2) 810-509, 981-1186.
E U A C C E S S I O N
Romania only country to join EU 'Life' programme
The last of the 1999 funding for the EU environmental aid regulation "Life," worth EUR 72 million was announced by the European Commission today, and for the first time, there is a separate Life funding programme for Romania, the only Central and Eastern European accession country so far to have joined the scheme, according to an Aug. 31 report from ENDS Environment Daily. Romania's successful entry to the Life scheme was described by the Commission as a "great success," with 11 projects approved under both Life-environment and Life-nature, according to the report. Contact: European Commission Life Programme, tel: (32-2) 299-1111; web: http://europa.eu.int/comm/life/home.htm. To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
Czech minister wants bigger budget to meet EU standards
Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart said government spending plans for next year must be made with an eye on the Czech Republic's efforts to join the European Union -- and that plans to further reduce state spending could hamper those efforts, according to an Aug. 28 report from Radio Prague. Kuzvart said that in his own portfolio there was a need for a further 1,400 bureacrats in order to bring Czech environmental legislation in line with the EU's, the report said. Around 20 Czech laws on the environment need to be altered to be compatible with the EU's, according to Radio Prague. Contact: Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel: (420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111.
Report: EU would help pay for greener Czech highway
Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart has said the European Union may be willing to finance up to two-thirds of the costs of a new motorway between Prague and Dresden if the Czech government produces a proposal which is more favourable to the local environment, according to an Aug. 27 report from Radio Prague. The new motorway would run through the Central Highlands region, which is an area of protected natural beauty, the report said. Kuzvart, speaking after talks with his German counterpart Juergen Trittin in Prague, said his ministry would continue to block the planned motorway until the Transport Ministry came up with a plan more favourable to the environment, such as building a tunnel through parts of the Central Highlands, the report said. Contact: Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart, tel: (420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111.
Sweden gives environmental funds to other Baltic nations
Sweden is stepping up its environmental assistance to countries in the Baltic region, with the allocation of a further EURO 5.1 million in funding, the Swedish environmental protection agency announced last week, according to an Aug. 16 report from ENDS Environment Daily. The money will help pay for the clean-up of rivers in Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- as part of efforts to reduce pollution in the Baltic Sea -- and will also be spent on the transfer of technical know-how, aimed at preparing these countries for future negotiations on EU membership, the report said. Sweden is already involved in a "twinning" project to upgrade Latvia's environmental legislation and administrative capability, funded by the EU, according to ENDS. Contact: Swedish EPA, tel: (46-8) 698-1000; web: http://www.environ.se. To subscribe to ENDS Environment Daily, e-mail: envdaily@ends.co.uk.
J O U R N A L I S M N E W S
EU environmental journalists group reaches out
A newly formed NGO, called European Union Environmental & Quality Life Journalists, is seeking to develop contacts with other environmental journalist organisations around the world, according to an announcement distributed by e-mail. Contact the group at: tel: (30-1) 561-5565; e-mail: ionics@acci.gr.
Workshop on traffic control and air pollution set for Sept. 28
European Commissionís Information Society Technologies (IST) programme is sponsoring a one-day workshop on using computer models to solve the problems of road traffic, scheduled for Sept. 28 in Budapest, according to an announcement distributed by e-mail. The workshop, which takes place in the context of existing and planned European Community legislation on air quality, is targeted at an audience from European and national policy-making bodies, regional and local governments with responsibility for traffic planning, environmental protection groups and professional consultants involved in urban planning, the announcement said. Attendance at the workshop, including proceedings and lunch, costs USD 100, the announcement said. Contact: e-mail: ttn@epcc.ed.ac.uk.
Surveys focus on environmental information technology in CEE
The Information Society Technology web pages of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern and Europe (REC) now contain background surveys of European Union accession countries' state of the environment and transport networks, problems, driving forces, priorities, policies and use of information society technology applications. There are also three new quantitative empirical surveys of environment and transport issues facing local governments in the ten EU Accession Countries. Find the site at: http://www.rec.org/ist/CAPE.
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 e-mail to: GreenHorizon@rec.org, or call Tom Popper at (36-26) 504-000, fax (36-26) 311-294.
Funded by European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
