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SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE The FYR Macedonian State Environmental Inspectorate issued a written order on May 7 to halt the work of the metallurgical department of the Zletovo lead and zinc smelter in Veles, due to pollution, according to a report from the FYR Macedonia office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). Veles has been named one of the most polluted regions in Europe, and the lead-smelting facility is mostly to blame. Environmental authorities held a press conference on May 7, where they revealed that sample measurements in March showed concentrations of pollutants emitted by the smelter were 10-200 times the allowable limit, according to the report. While citizens of Veles applauded the stop-work order, the management of the Zletovo smelter said the order was illegal and called it a direct attack on the smelter's workers, now being sent home, according to the report from the REC Office, FYR Macedonia. "Nevertheless, the smelter is not operating until the sources of its air pollution are minimised and the contents of its air emission are under the maximum allowed concentrations," the report said.
The Croatian Environment Ministry has initiated a campaign against illegal harvesting and trade in the endangered crustacean "litophaga litophaga," which is sought for its shell, according to a May 7 report from the Croatian office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. The campaign is one of several programmes being undertaken to combat the growing problem of trade in endangered species in the Croatian Adriatic, the report said. The ministry is currently focused on education of the public about the problem of harvesting the shells of this protected species, as well as on the active participation of the public in the efforts to protect litophaga litophaga, the report said.
A EUR 200 million motorway project to link Sofia with Greece may not be completed before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens due to environmental concerns, Bulgarian Construction Minister Evgeni Chachev has said, according to a May 9 report from Reuters. Bulgaria expects athletes and spectators to travel through its territory on their way to the Olympic sites in Greece in 2004, but Chachev said modernisation of a 19 kilometre stretch that crosses an ecologically sensitive region around the town of Kresna will start only after working out a project to safeguard the zone, Reuters reported. "Italian company SPEA SpA, which won an international tender in 1999 for the reconstruction of the whole motorway, is due to present three options to avoid crossing the ecological zone by the end of August," Chachev was quoted as saying.
Bulgaria is the first of the 10 EU accession countries to be allowed to administer itself the European Union financial assistance provided under the SAPARD program, Agriculture Minister Ventsislav Vurbanov said on May 15, according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). SAPARD, an EU funding instrument to promote large investments in agriculture and fishing production processing, has been criticised by environmentalists for promoting environmentally unfriendly farming practices. Under the agreement signed by EU farming Commissioner Franz Fischler, the Bulgarian State Agriculture Fund will implement the agreement, which will give EUR 53.2 million to the Bulgarian farming sector annually until 2007, RFE reported.
Organisers have announced that the International Conference on Environmental Recovery of Yugoslavia, ENRY2001, which will focus on ways to improve the country's environment, will be held in Belgrade, Sept. 27-30. According to the conference announcement: "ENRY2001 will provide a critical forum for international experts, engineers, scientists, physicians and social workers to discuss the facts and implications of the damage to Yugoslavia's environment and to chart pathways to its recovery. It will also provide invaluable knowledge to relief agencies, political leaders, engineers, developers and funding organisations on how to respond to and, more importantly, prevent the ecological disasters caused by war." Those interested in attending should contact the organisers at: Sava Centar, Tel: (381-11) 606-463.
THE REGION
Environment ministers from the "Visegrad Four" countries - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia - issued a joint statement outlining their determination to see the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol continue, following a May 4 meeting in Bojnice, Slovakia. The ministers expressed their desire to see their countries ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which would limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions allowed in their countries, and to keep the protocol alive, even though the United States has said it will not ratify the agreement. The environment ministers of the Visegrad Four countries, meeting for the fifth time since 1990 to address environmental issues of common concern, also discussed: the need to share experience and information as they prepare for accession to the European Union, the sustainable development of transboundary regions, joint efforts to preserve biodiversity in protected areas across borders and means of improving the application of laws aimed at preserving the natural resources and unspoiled ecosystems of their countries. Jernej Stritih, the former executive director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, and a participant, said, "The Ministers' statement on the Kyoto Protocol is excellent news and sends a clear message to the other candidate countries that they have willing partners in solving common environmental problems. Furthermore, the Central and Eastern European region's wealth of natural resources has been recognised, and efforts made to preserve it."
The Slovak Parliament passed legislation on May 15 that would phase out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products in Slovakia and make it illegal to sell any PVC products after January 2008, according to an e-mail from the Earth Friends Society, a group associated with Friends of the Earth Slovakia. The Earth Friends Society thanked the Parliament's Environment Committee and the environment minister for helping push through the legislation, and said they expect the PVC industry to continue fighting the legislation. The society feared that the PVC industry would claim that Slovakia's law amounted to unfair trade, according to the e-mail. The best way to counter this claim would be for other countries to pass similar PVC restrictions, the society recommended in the e-mail.
The cyanide spill that fouled the Tisza River last year caused economic losses in Hungary totalling HUF 3.2-to-4.6 billion, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on May 18, according to a report from Reuters. This figure was based on a WWF-funded study, carried out by the Budapest-based Centre for Environmental Studies, that noted that hotels and restaurants along the popular tourist destinations were hit hard by the spill, the report said. The study noted that only 1,500 tourists visited the region last year, compared to a normal average of 18,000 to 20,000, according to Reuters. The study also noted that fisheries along the Tisza experienced HUF 1.8 billion in losses, Reuters reported. The spill, which contained more than 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide, was determined to have originated from a gold mining concern in Romania. The Hungarian government is suing the company that owned the mine.
EU ACCESSION
European Union negotiators have reached provisional agreement on Estonia's "environment chapter," which means that the EU and the country agree on all the environmental work the country needs to do before achieving EU membership, according to a June 4 report from Reuters. Estonia was granted four grace periods: The country will have until 2013 to meet the EU standards for drinking water; until 2010 to renew waste-water facilities around the country; until 2009 to implement new methods in disposal of oil shale waste; and until 2004 or 2007 to install systems to dissolve fuel vapours at petrol stations (depending on their turnovers), the report said. Hungary and Slovenia also provisionally closed their "environment chapters" around the same time that Estonia did. The Czech Republic was near to closing it's chapter in June, as well.
A report by the German Environment Agency and other organisations found that Central Europe's famously polluted "black triangle," situated in the region where the territories of Poland, the Czech Republic and eastern Germany meet, has been dramatically improved, according to the May 16 edition of ENDS Environment Daily. The report was said to have found massive cuts in emissions of key pollutants from 1989 to 1999: Sulphur dioxide plummeted by 92 percent, nitrogen oxides by 80 percent and particulates by 96 percent. The need for further improvements has nevertheless been underlined by a recent protest by residents of the German state of Saxony, who complained that they are suffering from strong chemical and fuel odours, which they say have caused nausea, headaches and respiratory problems, ENDS reported.
NUCLEAR Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant reported it had spilled contents from a container of medium-level nuclear waste on May 16, but no change in radiation levels had occurred, according to Reuters. A spokeswoman for the plant said that the accident occurred within the territory of the plant and the site of the accident had been cleaned and the spilled materials were stored in a waste disposal site, Reuters reported. A Czech study claims that not putting the Temelin nuclear power plant online would cost Czech taxpayers almost USD 3 billion, according to a May 24 report from Radio Prague. The study was conducted under an agreement between the Czech and Austrian governments to examine the impact of Temelin on the environment, and to assess alternatives to opening the plant, the report said. Austria has expressed strong objections to the Temelin plant, which is just 50 kilometres from their border. The new study into the effect of not opening the plant says that, together with the investment into constructing the plant, and the funds required to safely dispose of the nuclear fuel already at Temelin, this option would cost CKR 117 billion, or almost USD 3 billion, according to Radio Prague. |
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SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE Croatia seeks to protect species from shell hunters Environment concerns stall Sofia highway Conference to focus on environment in Yugoslavia THE REGION Visegrad country officials commit to Kyoto Protocol Slovak law would phase out PVCs Study: Tisza spill cost Hungarian businesses billions of forints EU ACCESSION Estonia closes EU environment chapter German report: 'black triangle' is greener NUCLEAR |
     
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