|
 |
| Home | About Us | News | Resources | Services | Forum | Search | |
Services for Environmental Journalists from South Eastern Europe |
|
 | |
| |
 |
|
||||||
 |
|
|
SEE ENVIRONMENT WATCH Information for journalists interested in the Environment of South Eastern Europe October 24, 2003 * Volume 2, Number 11 |
|
|||
|
|
|
* * * BALKAN ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS PLEDGE MUTUAL HELP Skopje (FYR Macedonia), October 15, 2003 - Environmental officials from the countries of South Eastern Europe met on October 15 in Skopje to declare their will to cooperate in building up the environmental institutions of the Balkans. Macedonian Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Ljubomir Janev said that none of the countries concerned have the budgetary resources to make the legal adjustments necessary to conform to European Union standards. "All of the future EU members have been granted large financial and technical support for this purpose," Janev said. Macedonian Vice-Premier Radmila Sekerinska said that environmental ministers should be the fiercest promoters of regional cooperation because there are no national solutions for the region's ecological problems. In a joint statement, environment ministers and lead national delegates confirmed their readiness to meet EU environment standards, recognising that natural resources and the environment are significant assets. In attendance were environmental ministers and others from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro. They welcomed the meeting as an opportunity to exchange information, views and experiences within the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP), an EU initiative to draw South Eastern Europe toward integration into the union. The joint statement enumerated priorities and needs for the environmental improvement of the region. The officials also expressed their wish for their countries to become members of the European Environment Agency, which may assist in the development of environmental monitoring and early warning systems. Discussion touched on management of water resources in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive, waste management, cleaner technologies and environmental education. Participants underscored the need for EU assistance for rehabilitation of environmental hot spots, as well as for municipal and hazardous waste management. They also voiced their gratitude to the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe for its continued assistance and support to the countries of the region. The ministers called on the European Commission, donor countries, and international organisations and institutions to provide funds to help Balkan countries carry out ecological commitments within the SAP. The meeting reinforced declarations of mutual support made at a gathering in Brdo, Slovenia on October 13. That event involved environmental ministers from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, as well as representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Maltese Research Centre. -- Story by Ecopresscenter - ecopress@ecopresscenter.org and Ekoforum - repc_eko@yahoo.com. * * * SERBIANS PUSH FOR "PEACE PARK" Durban (South Africa), October, 15 2003 - Serbian conservationists have appealed for international help to protect an ecologically important mountain range straddling the ethnically tense border between Albania and Kosovo (Territory Under Interim UN Administration). At the recent Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, representatives of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia promoted the idea of declaring the Prokletije mountain range a "peace park." As the largest mountain range of the Dinaric region, the striking peaks of the Prokletije host extremely diverse and complex flora and fauna. But due to the tense political situation in Kosovo, the mountains have not yet been declared a national park, said geologist Srdjan Marincic, an associate coordinator of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Marincic spoke during a Durban panel discussion on transboundary protected areas for peace and cooperation. The peaks of Prokletije inside Kosovo are under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK) and, according to UN Resolution 1244, are part of the Republic of Serbia. Transboundary protected areas, which are often called peace parks because they offer an opportunity for countries to overcome political conflicts, were one of the important themes of World Parks Congress. Participants there, including, for the first time, indigenous people, pledged to work harder to protect such areas. The idea of creating the Prokletije Peace Park was first raised in 1999 by the anthropologists Antonia and Nigel Young. Marincic said he hoped that the initiative, called "Peace Parks in the Balkans - Parks without Frontiers," will enable experts from all over the region to continue their work on the protection of natural and cultural treasures, the promotion of peace and stability, and the eventual declaration of an integrated Prokletije national park, as the part of a peace parks network. Representatives from the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia said that every time they work in the Kosovo part of range, they expose themselves to considerable risks. Under the institute's proposal, the Prokletije national park would cover almost 96,000 hectares, including the towns of Djakovica, Decani, Pec, Istok and Zubin Potok in Kosovo, as well as Tutin in Serbia. The region of Prokletije is home to 19 species on the Red IUCN List of Threatened Plants, according to Marincic. Prokletije harbours more than 200 species of birds and has been declared a bird habitat of international importance. -- Story by Jovana Bukejlovic, Ekoforum, Serbia and Montenegro, repc_eko@yahoo.com. * * * BULGARIA TO REPLACE CLOSED NUCLEAR REACTORS Sofia (Bulgaria), October 14, 2003 - The Bulgarian government announced that the country will build its second nuclear power plant in the town of Belene, much to the consternation of anti-nuclear activists who had recently won court victories for the closure of units 3 and 4 of the existing facility at Kozloduy. Energy Minister Milko Kovachev and Chairman of the Parliamentary Energy Commission Vesselin Bliznakov made the announcement at a recent seminar on the Belene project. Bliznakov said the first unit at Belene could begin operations as early as 2009. Bids for the construction and operation of the plant will be invited in the first half of 2004. At the end of last year, Bulgaria's Cabinet reopened the Belene project, which was shelved in 1992 amid pressure from environmentalists. The decision to close Kozloduy's two smallest and oldest units was cited as an argument for restarting the Belene project. Energy Minister Kovachev said Bulgaria would choose a proven technology which will serve for the next 40 years. Speaking on Bulgarian National Radio, Kovachev set 2015 as a realistic deadline for the start of Belene operations. The Bulgarian government has agreed to close the two 440-megawatt units by 2006 under pressure from the European Union. The decision to close the units followed many years of protests from the nuclear lobby and opposition parties, who argued the reactors were unsafe and uneconomical. -- Source: www.Novinite.com, Bulgaria. * * * BULGARIA AIMS TO BE EUROPE'S ORGANIC FOOD BASKET Sofia (Bulgaria), October 5, 2003 - Long known for its rose oil and natural yoghurt, Bulgaria has taken to organic farming and hopes to find a big market for its fruit, herbs and vegetables in the enlarged, 25-member European Union. "More than 80 percent of Bulgaria's farming land is suitable for organic farming," Nihat Kabil, the country's deputy minister for agriculture and forestry, told AFP. Ironically, this is partly so because of a post-communism agriculture crisis that began in 1990 when the cooperatives were dismantled and the slow process of land restoration began. Fifteen percent of Bulgaria's arable land is now in the hands of 1.8 million small farmers, who have often not been able to afford pesticides and fertilisers, while vast tracts are still lying fallow. "Our good climate, cheap labour and restrained use of pesticides and fertilisers in the last decade, have created a favourable climate for organic farming," Viara Stefanova, the head of the ecological farming service at the agriculture ministry, said. She said from 2004 the organic production of mint, lavender, roses, medicinal plants, fruit, vegetables and animal forage in the former communist state should be funded directly by a special EU programme to promote organic farming. These products, as well as Bulgarian wild fruit and honey, are already being sold in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Stefanova said. Bulgaria hopes to join the European Union in 2007, and until then its farmers will have to depend on interest from importers in the bloc. But Stephanova said the agriculture ministry was trying to ensure that after accession Bulgarian farmers could sell their organic produce directly on EU markets. Agriculture accounts for 13 percent of Bulgaria's gross domestic product and employs 23 percent of the country's workforce, while 55 percent of its surface, or 6.2 million hectares, consists of arable land. Grain products make up 30 percent of argiculture crops, followed by tobacco and vines. Yanko Matev, 37, has switched to organic farming on his land near Kalofer, in the centre of the country, and is exporting his produce to Switzerland. His brother and their parents have done the same on the small patches of land they have claimed back since the fall of communism in 1989. "Organic products are fashionable in the west, and people are prepared to pay a lot of money for them," Matev, who used to work in the weapons industry, told AFP. "We have started growing mint and roses. It is a lot of manual work, and you cannot use any pesticides, but I think we could do really well out of this one day." Matev also has 30 free-range cows and is a member of Biobulgaria, a new cooperative of 35 organic farms who are supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The agency has been involved in Bulgaria for eight years and has already spent EUR 1.3 million helping farmers find their feet. Bulgaria has already adopted EU legislation on organic farming and recently founded its own control body for organic produce. Stefanova said this helped farmers clear "a major obstacle" because they could now have their produce certified in Bulgaria instead of relying on foreign control bodies, and this saved costs. -- Story by AFP, for more information milena@time-foundation.org. * * * SEE Environment Watch is published twice a month and contains news and information about major environmental issues from South Eastern Europe. It aims to provide an alternative information source for the journalists covering environmental issues. The SEE Environment Watch is published by the Regional Environmental Press Center (REPC), a network of media resource points the SEE region. All rights reserved by REPC. More information and services for environmental journalists from REPC at www.repc.net. ********** Copyright 2003 by the Regional Environmental Press Center ********** | Home | About Us | News | Resources | Services |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
