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SEE ENVIRONMENT WATCH Information for journalists interested in the Environment of South Eastern Europe May 9, 2003 * Volume 2, Number 6 |
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* * * Peacekeepers suspected of hazardous waste dumping Sarajevo - An unusually high number of cancer deaths and other mysterious environmental problems have beset a Bosnian town near a dumpsite once used by the multinational peacekeeping force of SFOR. Cancer took six human lives during a brief period of time in the village of Seljublje, some 40 kilometres northeast of Tuzla. Three new cases of cancer have been registered since those deaths, while local cattle are dying of unknown causes and orchards which failed to bear fruit last season are slow to bloom this year. Bosnian-Herzegovinian Television addressed the village's woes in April, citing residents' complaints that their drinking water became "worse" after a Russian SFOR contingent began bringing waste to the dumpsite in question. The reports by FTV have yielded no response from either SFOR headquarters or the Russian unit command. Apart from the reaction by Enver Jukanovic, president of the local Kalesija municipal government, officials have been silent on issue, including those charged with public health and environmental protection. Soil and water samples have been taken and though enough time has passed for the necessary tests, no reports have been released. Jukanovic has expressed his suspicion that the dumpite received at least part of the payload of a much-protested German nuclear waste shipment that passed through the country in 2001 on its way to a processing plant in France. Only days after FTV footage about "strange happenings" near Kalesija, Russians announced their intention to withdraw from Bosnia and Herzegovina, setting off a wave of suspicion. This is not the first time peacekeeping forces have been suspected of disposing of hazardous materials in the country. In 1996, American units based in Olovo, some 30 kilometres from Sarajevo, had poured toxic liquids of unknown origin into two specially designed ponds. The troops ended the dumping at the request of state and federal authorities. In 1998 and 1999, experts from the Faculty of Forestry, Sarajevo, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Supply and Forestry issued warnings concerning the activities of SFOR forces stationed near Sarajevo. They had been transporting materials to Igman Mountain in the vicinity of the capital city and burying them in the ground. Since that warning, international soldiers have not been seen in the area. -- Story by Hajdar Arifagi, FONDEKO, contact: fondeko@smartnet.ba * * * "Balkan birds" scandal gets to the italian court Belgrade - Two Serbian hunting-guide firms have been convicted of smuggling more than 2 million birds into Italy, including some rare species, an Italian court in Vicenza, has determined. Seven perpetrators admitted to wrongdoing that spanned six years, according to the Society for the Protection of Wild Birds of Serbia. The first firm, DOO "Eric-Mir", brought 12 shipments of birds into Italy between 1999 and 2000, all of them hidden in a compartment of a vehicle, according to the court. The other firm, "Lube UU", smuggled in two annual shipments, each of two containers, from 1995 to 2001. The convictions reflect a pattern of poaching that is frustrating efforts by conservationists to bring back several threatened species. At the end of 2001, Hungarian customs discovered on the Serbian-Hungarian border 82 birds killed by Italian poachers in the former Yugoslavia. Ten of the birds, which were hidden in a secret compartment of a car, were protected species. The same year, a truck containing 120,000 birds killed in Yugoslavia was stopped by Italian forestry officials. That illegal shipment included 40,000 quails, 10,000 skylarks, hundreds of song birds and dozens of rare and endangered species such as corncrakes. According to the bird protection society, the "Balkan birds" scandal is far from over because, among other things, forestry and customs officials are easy to bribe. "Our country does not have even a single bird species whose population is increasing," warned Aleksandra Tadic from the society. "There are only couple of species whose population level has not changed, while all other species are in tragic decline. If criminals and corrupt officials persist in their activities, and if the Serbian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection does not stop treating natural sources as its private property, very soon we will be left with only a few species." Tadic said that no one has been arrested in Serbia and Montenegro in connection with the scandal. The bird society has charged that Serbian Environmental Minister Andjelka Mihajlov was informed of the "Balkan birds" scandal in 2001, but did nothing to stop it. Mihajlov denied the charge and told Serbian news agency "Beta" that his ministry "has only recently been in charge of trans-border bird trading, and before that the problem was in the domain of federal authorities." Mihajlov stressed that a bill on the protection of natural rarities has not yet been passed, but that the poaching and smuggling of wild birds are treated as criminal activities. An aide to the director of Serbia's Institute for the Nature Protection, Slobodan Puzovic, an expert in biodiversity, said that Tadic exaggerated the consequences of the scandal on Serbia's bird population. "The point of the protection of bird fauna diversity in Serbia is not and should not only be the protection of species, with the exception of the rarest," he said. "It should also be the protection of their habitats and ecological conditions in the nature. Generally speaking, the state of bird fauna in Serbia is much better now than, for example, in the middle of 20th century." -- Story by Ekoforum, ekoforum@eunet.yu. * * * Germans seek further funding for cross-border lake project Tirana - Representatives from the German government's GTZ Corporation met recently at the German embassy in Albania to discuss continued funding for a project concerning cross-border cooperation to preserve Ohrid and Prespa lakes". This project involves cooperation between the German government and the people of Albania and Macedonia for the preservation of natural areas that span national borders. The project calls for trans-frontier cooperation that may also include Greece. The efforts involve participation of local residents, institutions and non-profit groups. "In this way we will set a practical example of conflict prevention," said GTZ coordinator Ismail Beka. To date, the initiative has involved environmental groups, women's groups, tourism coalitions, cultural centres, schools and municipal professionals of several of the region's towns and cities. GTZ has been charged with organising the project's implementation, supporting subcontractors who help carry it out, and monitoring several related micro-projects. In the project's 18 months, more then 30 micro-projects have been implemented or are currently in progress. Last month, for example, GTZ donated EUR 100,000 to support family tourism on both the Albanian and Macedonian shores of Prespa Lake. The project includes restoration of houses. The restorations will take place in the villages Gollomboc and Small Gorice. A GTZ representative, Spase Shuka, said, "For the work, we selected 14 women who two years ago were trained by the Albanian Tourism Committee to form an NGO for agro-tourism. We are looking for families which are capable of managing family tourism." -- Story by Raimonda Sallaku Nelku, raymillenium@yahoo.com - Masmedia & Environment Association. * * * Lake Ohrid fish species under threat Ohrid - Because of the illegal and increased fishing of Ohrid carp, the fish could become extinct, according to the environmental pressure group, Ohridska pastrmka. Unseasonably high water temperatures - up to 19 degrees Celsius - are behind the crisis, as they have prompted the carp to move to their spawning grounds earlier than normal. Some fishermen are scooping the carp up with illegal nets, while on the Albanian part of the lake, the fish are being killed with dynamite. Carp season closes May 20 through June 15, but in the past few years the spawning has begun so early, the closure has been ineffective. Preservationists fear the carp may go the way of the Ohrid trout, which is almost extinct. "According to the law fishing is forbidden unless the lake is stocked with fish. And no one does this at the moment," said Radovan Dimitrievski, president of the Ohrid Fishing Association. Another fish, the chub, faces the same fate. Kilometre-long fishnets have been set along Ohrid's shores, blocking the chub from its spawning grounds. Chub fishing is banned in all the countries of the region, despite the flaunting of this rule in Macedonia. Small schools of another species, the Ohrid bleak, have been spotted floating on the surface of the lake. Some are dead, and some are sick, according to Trajce Taleski, from Ohrid Hydrobiology Bureau. High water temperature is the culprit in this case, as well, as it leads to outbreaks of "saprolegnia" whose spores can cause death to weak and malnourished fish. The experts say that this problem should be scientifically examined along with the occurrence of phytoplankton on the lake surface. -- Story by MIA, see in www.moe.gov.mk/news. * * * 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 |
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