| |
| |
| CONTENTS:
Lake Balaton water levels cause concern FOCUS ON SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
Balaton, 160 kilometres south of Budapest, covers 590 square kilometres. As it dried up over the summer, Hungary's wheat crop shrunk by a third and parts of the Danube River trickled down to their lowest levels in more than a century. Summer temperatures were some 4 degrees Celsius above the 100-year average. When Balaton is full, the lake is drained through the Sio-Canal further north. Some water is normally removed this way each year, but it has been more than 38 months since those sluice gates were last opened. Miklos Zagoni, science historian at Budapest University, said Balaton, as a shallow lake with an average depth of little more than 10 feet, is an accurate gauge of climate change. "Balaton's stability over the years shows the stability of climate change, but the last four years show a big turn," he said. "This is the fourth year Balaton has had more evaporation than precipitation -- a typical case of climate change. Statistically, this is a very significant trend change, and I believe it's a direct cause of global warming." -- Planet Ark News FOCUS ON WASTE INCINERATION Tainted chicken found near incinerator Chicken meat samples taken near a new chemical incinerator near Prague contained 35 times the concentration of PCBs normally seen in the Czech Republic, according to independent researchers. The groups Arnika and Lysin took the samples of soil and chicken meat from the town of Lysa nad Labem, about 30 km northeast of Prague, where the incinerator has been operating since 2000. Lab tests showed that dioxin and PCB concentrations in the soil were higher than normal, while levels in the chicken exceeded European Union limits as well as daily intake maximums recommended by the World Health Organisation. The groups' testing was the first attempt to monitor the environmental impact of the incinerator, despite previous citizen demands for government checks and a recommendation for such testing in an 1995 environmental impact statement. According to that document, monitoring and safety regulation checks should have been done by regional authorities of the Czech government. Most alarming, according to the groups' researchers, were the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants, especially cancer-causing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PCDD/Fs (polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans) in the chicken meat. PCB concentrations were 35 times higher than the median concentrations found in chicken meat products in the Czech Republic. A person of average weight who ate just 200 grammes of the chicken would exceed the WHO recommended daily limit of these substances by almost twice. The figure is quite high if one considers that people consume traces of these substances in the other food, as well. Turkish incinerator blocked Turkey's Minister of Environment has promised to examine alternatives to hazardous waste incineration after a summer protest by Greenpeace. The group has called on the Turkish government to stop hazardous waste burning, clarify its waste management strategy and implement the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants. Greenpeace activists on July 14 blocked the entrance of Izaydas Clinical and Hazardous Waste Incinerator in Izmit, Turkey, with symbolic waste barrels and a sign reading, "Ban the burn." They blocked trucks from carrying toxic waste into plant climbed onto the cranes that feed the combustion chamber with solid waste. The Stockholm Convention declares that all such waste incinerators, including cement kilns, are major sources of dioxins, furans and PCPs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and recommends the use of substitute techniques to avoid the generation of these unintentionally produced pollutants. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reports that incinerators account for 69 percent of dioxin emissions worldwide. TOXIC TRANSPORT
Nordic and Baltic states announced in August that they would apply for United Nations help to control rising Russian oil exports via the Baltic Sea to help avert spills that could wreck beaches and threaten fish stocks. The heavy traffic through the Baltic gives rise to frequent accidents, such as the May 31 collision of the Chinese tanker A Fu San Haj, pictured above with a load of 66, 000 tonnes of fertiliser, with another vessel 12 kilometres off shore from Bornholm. Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia, opposes controls targeted at its ships and promised proposals for tighter controls on tankers of all flags. "We will put forward an application to the IMO (International Maritime Organisation)," Swedish Environment Minister Lena Sommerstad told a news conference in Lulea, Sweden after a two-day meeting of ministers from the region. She said that the countries, apart from Russia, wanted the Baltic Sea to be declared a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) that could force tankers to stick to narrow routes and oblige them to use pilots near the coast. Sommerstad said she hoped the IMO would deal with the application at a meeting in March. Russia vowed to make its proposals in the meantime. Norway said in April that it would seek similar protection for the Arctic Barents Sea north of Russia, letting it ban tankers from 50 nautical miles (93 kilometres) from its rocky coasts. Russia frowns on the idea of PSSA status. Vinyl-chloride spills in Belgrade suburb Three tankers carrying toxic vinyl chloride from the Ukraine to FYR Macedonia tipped over at Belgrade's main railway station on August 10, prompting the dismissal of three officials of Serbia's state rail company. An incident report from the company determined that the incident occurred due to deteriorated tracks, although it added that the three officials were also responsible. After the incident, government environmental authorities tested the measured the level of vinyl chloride in the air and reported that there was no pollution. The tankers' payload was repoured into new tankers and sent to FYR Macedonia. According to one official from Belgrade railway company, 20,000 tonnes of wagons with cargo of similar contents pass through Belgrade railway station annually. Serbian Deputy minister of transportation, Miodrag Jocic said on a radio news show that different substances that pose a risk to the environment and human health are regularly transported through Serbia, including explosive materials, flammable and toxic substances, gasses and radioactive materials. He said that as for now there is no other way for transportation of such materials through Belgrade. -- EkoForum EU INTEGRATION Bulgaria closed environment chapter Bulgaria has concluded the environmental part of its negotiations to join the European Union. The country is the 11th of 12 future EU members to conclude the talks; only Romania now remains to make a deal. A 13th possible member, Turkey, has not begun negotiations. Transitional periods were agreed to help Bulgaria implement eight EU laws. Among the most notable are delays until 2009 for EU waste shipment regulations, until 2011 for the packaging and integrated pollution control directives, and until 2014 for urban waste water treatment and large combustion plant laws. Bulgaria hopes to join the union around 2007, while 10 countries that have finished negotiations are due to join within a year. Poland chided on environment Despite "remarkable environmental progress" made since the collapse of Communism, Poland still lags far behind existing EU members, according to a recent review by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The country will have to invest up to 2. 7 percent of GDP annually for 10 years simply to comply with its EU accession terms, it concluded. The study faulted Poland on several points, including its emissions of acidifying air pollutants, which remain among the highest in the OECD despite falling significantly in the 1990s. Surface water quality is still "unsatisfactory", according to the study. The recovery rate for municipal waste is just five percent and landfill standards are low. Alongside increased expenditure, the study recommends greater implementation of the polluter pays principle, wider use of economic instruments and stronger enforcement of environmental regulations. |
 |
The Bulletin - the Quarterly Magazine of the REC |
      |
|||
|
