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SEE ENVIRONMENT WATCH Information for journalists interested in the Environment of South Eastern Europe January 15, 2003 * Volume 2, Number 1 |
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* * * Greenpeace Slams Canadian Gold Project in Romania Bucharest, Dec. 6 - Greenpeace urged Romania this week to pull the plug on a controversial Canadian gold mining project in the Carpathians which it said would seriously damage the environment. "We asked the Romanian government not to authorise Gabriel Resources to start the mine," Herwig Schuster, an official from the Vienna office of the environmentalist group, which also coordinates Greenpeace activists in Romania, told reporters. Gabriel Resources, a Canadian company, is planning a $420 million project to extract 300 tonnes of gold and 1,700 tonnes of silver over 14 years. As part of the project, it plans to relocate the 900 families of Rosia Montana, a poor mining town 500 km (310 miles) west of Bucharest, and has promised them money and new homes. Opposition parties have joined environmentalists against the project. The ultra-nationalist Greater Romania Party put forward a motion in parliament asking the government to keep its monopoly on gold deposits and protect the population, environment and archaeological sites in the area. Ecologists say Gabriel Resources' plans to build a tailing pond near the opencast mine to store water with cyanide, used to separate gold from ore, and would cause massive environmental damage. The company has repeatedly rejected such charges, saying it would install a $4 million cyanide neutraliser at the planned ore processing plant. The government insists it will not compromise safety standards to lure investments to the area, which suffers from high unemployment. "The situation is totally under control," a senior government official said. "The government keeps a close eye on the project and all approvals related to the project will be in line with international regulations." He added that no final approval had been given to Gabriel Resources to start commercial exploitation of the site. Greenpeace's Schuster said both the relocation of Rosia Montana residents and the use of cyanide would breach EU rules and were likely to affect Romania's chances of joining the union. Rosia Montana residents campaigning against the project said that authorities had ignored their demand for a referendum on the town's fate. Others accepted the cash offered by the company and have already left town. -- Story by Adrian Dascalu, "Reuters" * * * Yugoslav Environmental Groups Connect Online Belgrade, Dec. 23 - Environmental groups aim to get better organised and create a stronger impact on civil society through an initiative based on electronic networking. This was the conclusion of a December 7 meeting in Belgrade concerning Volvox, an electronic network of Yugoslav environmental groups. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC); BlueLink, an information network from Bulgaria; and StrawberryNet, a NGO information network from Romania. The latter two organisations presented their experiences in electronic networking and demonstrated their respective web portals, (www.bluelink.net and www.ngo.ro) to some 50 Yugoslav NGO members of Volvox. Milena Georgieva, from BlueLink, said it was important that NGOs exchange information on the regional level through electronic networks. "The countries of the Balkan region have a lot of common environmental problems," Georgieva told Ekoforum. "They can cooperate to solve them and one country can learn from the other through the exchange of experience." Radoje Lausevic, director of REC country office in Yugoslavia, said the goal of Volvox was to "enhance exchange of information between NGOs concerning their programmes, members and experts; to facilitate access to donor organisations, fees and grants; and to enable more effective organisation of campaigns to influence government." -- Story by Jovana Bukeljovic, Ekoforum (ekoforum@eunet.yu), Yugoslavia. * * * Bosnian Town Seeks Ban on Plastic Shopping Bags Sarajevo, Dec. 23 - Leaders of the tourism industry in the town of Zavidovici are seeking a local ban on the use of plastic bags in the hope of cleaning up unsightly litter. They asked local authorities to ban the bags beginning in January. At the same time, several environmental groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina have laid plans to introduce the country to paper bags and packaging from recycled material. In this way, they hope to clean up the nation's riverbanks from plastic refuse and to decrease pollution in general, especially in urban areas which are difficult to keep litter-free. In 2002, environmental activists cleaning up the River Bosna, which flows through Zavidovici, collected truckloads of rubbish lining the banks and caught in tree branches. Workers in the tourist trade and environmental sector said they hoped consumers would support their efforts by boycotting merchants who don't make the switch to more environmentally friendly materials. Environmental groups from the Konjic region have already made headway in this regard by donating cotton bags to grocery stores so that shoppers won't need plastic. The campaign against the use of plastic bags suits Natron, a producer of paper goods from Maglaj. The company soon plans to begin production of cellulose-based bags from pine wood with support from firms in the forestry field in Bosnia. Natron estimated that it can deliver several million shopping bags to the Bosnia and Herzegovina market this year. -- Story by Hajdar Arifagic, FONDEKO, Bosnia and Herzegovina. * * * Macedonia Takes Air-Quality Law to the People Skopje, Dec. 25 - The Macedonian towns of Tetovo, Strumica, Kicevo, Bitola and Veles hosted regional workshops in December to increase public awareness for the necessity of a new law on air quality. According to Kornelija Radovanovic, project head from the Skopje office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, this is the first time a law will be adopted in this way in Southeast Europe. The law is needed as part of the process of Macedonia's integration into the EU and will involve the introduction of a new system for management of air quality. A draft of the law was developed by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning and was financially supported by GTZ, an organisation run the German government dedicated to improving living conditions in developing countries. Parallel with the development of the law, experts are working on legislation that would set limits on emissions of hazardous gasses, set quality standards for fuels and outline how air quality should be monitored. The public awareness campaign began in June with an inter-ministerial meeting where activities were planned. The draft law was distributed to all interested parties, including local governments, industry and environmental groups. Some 1,500 questionnaires were sent to experts for comments. During the regional meetings, most of the comments came from two opposing camps, with environmental groups demanding faster implementation of the law and businesses asking for delays. The two groups also quarrelled over proposed penalties and the use of the funds gained from air pollution fines. Authorities in the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning said that all remarks would be incorporated into the draft revisions. Another step the ministry plans to take to improve air quality is banning leaded fuel, an initiative supported by the EU. -- Environmental Press Center (EPC - ecopress@ecopresscenter.org), Macedonia. * * * SEE Environment Watch is an e-mail newsletter designed to keep journalists informed about interesting environmental stories developing in South Eastern Europe (SEE). This mailing is going out to everyone on the Green Horizon mailing list. SEE Environment Watch is published by the Regional Environmental Press Center, which has the goal of encouraging more press coverage of environmental issues in the SEE region by making sure journalists are well informed about these issues. This newsletter is designed to assist in that goal by disseminating information. The Press Center, which has an office in Skopje, Macedonia and correspondents in all the countries and territories of the SEE region, also publishes a website at <www.ecopresscenter.org> and answers individual journalist's queries sent to <ecopress@ecopresscenter.org>. The Regional Environmental Press Center is funded by the Government of the Netherlands. The project is being administered in cooperation with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. ********** Copyright 2003 by the Regional Environmental Press Center ********** | Home | About Us | News | Resources | Services |
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