ECODEFENSE!inform bulletin * issue 22-23 * Part B JULY-AUGUST 1994 _______________________________________________________________ *************************************************************** MONEY NEWS * In last week of July MAGATE specialists was working in Ministry on the Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia. They help to organize governmental control system for transport of radioaktive materials, also Latvia will receive about 200-300.000 USD for it. * Polish-Russian border (Mamonovo 1) will expand by the end of autumn 1994. Before this time Mamonovo 1 was opened for Polish and Kaliningrad citizens only. After the expansion all russians will be use this punkt. In perspective, Mamonovo 1 will be the punkt of expensive new road project "Via Baltica" which will go from Berlin to Kaliningrad, Riga and St.Petersburg. * Experts of International Monetary Fund work in Lithuania from last week of July'94. The visit of IMF is in the plan of 17-monthes IMF program in Lithuania, also experts work on the project of new economical memorandum between IMF and Lithuania. Possibly, the memorandum will work from the beginning of 1995. Business and the Baltics nr.61 (161) _______________________________________________________________ *************************************************************** WWF CONFERENCE ON 14th INTERNATIONAL COASTAL DAY 1994 (continuation) PROGRAMME - WEDNESDAY,14th SEPTEMBER,1994 PRESS TRIP on the River Elbe, arrival of the National Park Information Centre "lightship Borkumriff" at Hamburg Harbour, press conference on the lightship ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTS, REGISTRATION INFORMAL GET-TOGETHER THURSDAY,15th SEPTEMBER,1994 OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE & WELCOMING SPEECHES MAIN SEMINAR PAPERS * Untamed Natural Forces - Photographic Impressions of Undisturbed Natural Estuaries * Life Between Fresh and Salt Water - Ecology of Estuaries, Prof. Dr. Wim Wolff (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Protection and Fisheries, Wageningen, Netherlands) * Ecological Status of the North and Baltic Sea Estuaries - an Overview, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoepner (Institute of Marine Chemistry and Biology, University of Oldenburg) PRESS CONFERENCE WORKSHOP I: NATURE PROTECTION IN ESTUARIES - FROM PATCHWORK TO INTER-RELATED SYSTEMS Topics: * Estuaries as an Element in Riverine and Marine Protection * Protected Areas in Estuaries -Status quo, Deficits and Perspectives Part 1: The Wadden Sea Area * Trilateral Cooperation in the Wadden Sea and Estuaries - the Esbjerg Declaration and its Implementation * Protected Areas in Estuaries - Status quo, Deficits and Perspectives Part 2: The Southern Baltic Sea Area * Nature Conservation in a Dynamic Habitat - Models and Basic Questions WORKSHOP II: TOWARDS NEW PERSPECTIVES - COASTAL PROTECTION AND AGRICULTURE Topics: * How much Coastal Protection is Needed in Estuaries? * How much Coastal Protection is Tolerable in Estuaries? * Renaturalization of the Foreshore - Ruin or Opportunity for Agriculture? * A Return to Former Variety - a Realistic Vision for Estuaries? WORKSHOP III: CONTAMINANT INPUT AND POLLUTION - THE END OF THE RIVER? Topics: * Estuaries as Contaminant Sinks - Potential Starting Points for a Reduction in Industrial Inputs * Diffuse Sources in the Hinterland - Potential for a Reduction of Contaminants from Agriculture * Contaminant Loading from Underground Sources - What to do with Harbour Silt? * Protection of Rivers from Contaminants - Enforcement Problems and Legislation Gaps at the Regional Level WORKSHOP IV: FAILURE OR OPPORTUNITY? ECOLOGICALLY ORIENTATED STRUCTURE PLANNING IN COASTAL AREAS IN NORTHERN GERMANY Topics: * Estuaries: Economic or Natural Environment? - Scope for Environmental Development Planning * Harbour Economics in Northern Germany -Competition or Cooperation? * Development of Related Maritime Industries -Environment versus Employment? * Economic Development and Protection of Natural Resources from a County Perspective - a Soluble Conflict? WORKSHOP V: A BURNING ISSUE: DEVELOPMENT AND DEEPENING OF RIVERS ALONG THE GERMAN COAST Topics: * Desire for Development - Current Perspectives of the German Harbour Industry * Transport along New Paths - River- and Landscape-friendly Traffic Planning in the German Coastal Region * Never-ending "Adaptability"? - Ecological Consequences of River Development and Deepenig * River Conversion - 100 Years against the Stream RECEPTION, TALK by and DISCUSSION with the Environment Ministers and Senators of the Coastal Federal States FRIDAY, 16th SEPTEMBER, 1994 REPORTS - PART 1: ESTUARIES - DESTRUCTION, PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT - NATIONAL EXAMPLES * The Ems - A River at its Limits, Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoepner (University of Oldenburg) * The Lower Elbe - Industrialization of an Estuary, Andreas Ahrens (Institute of Ecology and Politics, Hamburg) * Riverine Ecosystems Cut off from the Sea - the River Eider as an Example, Prof. Dr. Berndt Heydemann (Research Unit for Ecosystem Research and Ecotechnology, University of Kiel) * The River Weser - Chances for Regeneration? Dr. Michael Schirmer (University of Bremen) * The Odra Mouth - Assured Future as an Integral Conservation Area? Dr. Hartmut Mueller (National Park "Unteres Odertal", Schwedt) RESULTS OF THE WORKSHOPS / ADOPTION OF THE RESOLUTION PRESS CONFERENCE REPORTS - PART 2: ESTUARIES - DESTRUCTION, PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT - INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES * Still without a Dyke - the Estuary of Varde, Hans-Jorgen Olesen (to be confirmed), (Vadehavssekretariatet, Esbjerg, Denmark) * Restoring the Delta - Rhine and Schelde Estuaries, Drs. Carla Bisseling (Information and Knowledge Centre for Nature Conservation, Wageningen, Niederlande) * Integrated Estuarine Management in the United Kingdom, Dr. Duncan Huggett (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Sandy, Beds., Great Britain) * Estuarine Management in the Baltic Sea Area - Nemunas, Vistula and Daugava (Memel, Weichsel, Duena), Dr. Bertil Haegerhaell (WWF International Baltic Programme, Solna, Sweden) * Turning the Tide - Cooperative Efforts to Save Chesapeake Bay, Dr. Bill Matuszeski (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chesapeake Bay Program, Washington, USA) FINAL PLENARY SESSION SATURDAY, 17th SEPTEMBER, 1994 FIELD TRIPS * Lower Elbe: A combined long-boat and bus trip during which some ecological problems of the Lower Elbe will be explained, local conservation areas and their management plans will be illustrated. * Nature Conservation Area Haseldorfer Binnenelbe including the Elbe Foothills: The nature conservation site belongs to the "Important Bird Area Pinneberg - Elbmarschen". Following the controversial dyke construction on the Haseldorfer and Wedeler Marsh, it was promoted as a conservation site of national importance, now to be maintained and developed as a wetland area. * Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park / Neuwerk Island: The marsh island Neuwerk is part of the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park. Extensive salt-flats spread out from the island's central point (which is surrounded by a dyke); the western part of the island is a protected area for birds and is managed by the "Verein Jordsand". * The Elbe above Geesthacht: Above Geesthacht through to the border of Czechoslovakia, the Elbe remains one of the least restructured rivers in Europe. Thus just as major comprehensive plans are afoot to revitalise and protect the river, wide-ranging widening and extension plans also exist. Hence the future of the Elbe remains unknown. TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Conference Fee: DM 80,00 (DM 40,00 reduction) excl. excursions Location: Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum at the University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther King Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg Conference language(s): German / English There is a large exhibition area available Accomodation: via the tourist information service in Hamburg City Funded by: The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Environmental Protection and Reactor Safety, Bonn - Senator for Environmental Protection and Town Development of the Free Hanseatic Town Bremen - Environmental Protection Agency, Hamburg - Holsten Brewery Ltd., Hamburg FURTHER INFORMATION, FULL VERSION OF THE PROGRAMME AND APPLICATION FORM available from WWF-Germany, Coastal & Marine Unit, Am Guethpol 11, D- 28757 Bremen, Tel. +49 421 65846-10 _______________________________________________________________ *************************************************************** ECODEFENSE!inform bulletins get more than 150 env.NGOs of EARTH *************************************************************** Editorial Board thanks for financial help from "Sowing the Seeds of Democracy: A project for Environmental Grant-Making in tha NIS" program, which realize by ISAR. *************************************************************** Editorial Board: Alexandra Koroleva, Vladimir Sliviak *************************************************************** From: ecodefense (Vladimir Slivyak) For Love and Freedom on Clean Mother-Earth! _______________________________________________________________ !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! ! ! !!!!! !!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! !!! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !!! !!! ! ! ! !!!!! !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! ! !!!!! ! ! !!!!! !!!!! ! _______________________________________________________________ "ECODEFENSE!inform"environmental inform-bulletin * number 22-23 _______________________________________________________________ .........................................* JULY - AUGUST 1994 * _______________________________________________________________ "ECODEFENSE!" Moskovsky prospekt 120-34 236006 Kaliningrad/Koenigsberg Russia telephone +7 0112 437286 E-mail: ecodefense@glas.apc.org _______________________________________________________________ CONTENT News on: - PUBLICATIONS - MEETINGS - ENVIRONMENT Document IPPNW PRESS-RELEASE ON HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI DAY Meetings WWF CONFERENCE ON 14th INTERNATIONAL COASTAL DAY 1994 Various MONEY NEWS ______________________________________________________________ ************************************************************** - publications Published the ECOLOGIA newsletter issue 28 by US NGO Ecologia from Pennsylvania. Content: environmental consultant - what's in the name?; your right to know: a progress report on the EBRD; ECODEFENSE! statement about nuclear incident etc. The newsletter available in Russian, English, Lithuanian from office in Lithuania. Contact: Giedre Donauskaite, Zemynos 43-57, Vilnius 2022, Lithuania, e-mail: root@jt.aiva.lt The newsletter of the Working Team on Renewables will be published in second half of August. Content: any kind news on energy. Available in English only; contact: Vladimir Sliviak ECODEFENSE!inform. Published "Zielone Brygady" (Green Brigades) issue 6 (60) 1994 in Polish. Content: news from environmental, alternative activists in Poland. Contact: Andrzey Zwawa editor, greenbri@alpin.gn.apc.org - meetings Conference on Environmental Education in Europe, CEEE'94 "European Environmental Future" will be held on 11-16 October 1994 in Latvia. Organized by University of Latvia Ecological Centre in collaboration with Faculty of Education of the University of Strathclyde, Scotland UK, Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, Mid Sweden University, Sweden, Gaia Educational Centre, Thessaloniki, Greece. Contact: Ecological Centre, University of Latvia, 19 Rainis Blv., Riga, LV-1586 Latvia A conference "Strategic planning in environmental education for school system" of European Committee for Environmental Education to be held in Jurmala (Latvia), by 17-19 October 1994. Organized by CESAMS in collaboration with Ministry on the Environmental Protection and regional development of the republic of Latvia and Republic of Latvia Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Contact: Ecological Centre, University of Latvia, 19 Rainis Blv., LV-1586 Riga, Latvia - environmental PAP News Wire August 2, 1994 HEAT WAVE CAUSES FOREST FIRES, BOOST FRIDGE SALES WARSAW, AUG. 2: THE UNUSUAL HEAT WAVE THAT HAS PREVAILED IN POLAND SINCE JULY RESULTED IN AN EXCEPTIONAL DEMAND FOR REFRIGERATORS. A FACTORY MANUFACTURING REFRIGERATING GERMANY TO TAKE BACK PESTICIDES FROM ALBANIA By Katerina Syrimi BONN, Aug 3 (Reuter) Germany, bowing to pressure from environmentalists, has agreed to take back more than 400 tonnes of toxic pesticides it donated to Albania, Environment Minister BOLIVIA: GERMANY DENIES PATACAMAYA-BONN, (Aug. 3) IPS - Germany's Ministry of Environment says that the controversial German chemical shipment that triggered a violent confrontation in a Bolivian mountain town over the weekend was neither "toxic" MAJOR DAM CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS CRITICIZED STOCKHOLM, (Aug. 3) IPS Dam construction industry lobbies in the North and supporters of high tech projects in the South are working together to keep the general public ignorant of the social and environmental damage 08/05 Greenpeace protests German nuclear waste dump BERLIN, Aug. 5 (UPI) Activists from the environmental group Greenpeace on Friday blocked the entrance to a nuclear waste storage facility in the eastern German town of Morsleben, claiming it is unsafe Polish News Bulletin August 5, 1994 Warning Against Ozone SOURCE: Rzeczpospolita No.181, 5 August 1994 p.1 The basic symptoms of ozone contamination are eye irritation, head and throat aches, coughing, tiredness and breathing difficulties. FOOD CHEMICAL NEWS June 20, 1994 GREENPEACE ASKS FOR PHASEOUT OF PVC DUE TO DIOXIN CONCERNS Citing testing done by Swedish researchers, Greenpeace has called for the phaseout of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by the year 2001. ______________________________________________________________ ************************************************************** IPPNW PRESS-RELEASE Physicians demand the immediate elimination of nuclear weapons Berlin, In memory of the 49th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the German Section of the The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) call on the nuclear powers to finally eliminate the 48,000 nuclear weapons still in existence, with an explosive power eqivalent to 900,000 Hiroshima Bombs. Michael Roelen, Executive director of IPPNW Germany states: "Either we get rid of nuclear weapons or they will get rid of us". In Europe alone, including the American bases in Germany, there are more than 700 American nuclear warheads, as well as a secret number of French and British. Since the first nuclear test "Trinity" on July 16th 1945 in Alamorgodo in the desert of New Mexico, the five nuclear powers - USA, the United Kingdom, France, China and the former USSR - have conducted 1,936 nuclear tests over 49 years, in the atmosphere and underground. The total explosive power of all tests up to now is equivalent to over 1 billion tons of TNT. These tests spread radioactivity all over the globe that will continue to exist for many thousands of years. These and other radionuclides create great health problems. According to IPPNW estimates, the radioactivity breathed in by humans will have produced 430,000 fatal cancer cases by the end of the century. If the next century is added on then the sum rises to 2.4 million. Nuclear tests are a sign of contempt for health and the environment. From a health point of view, the worst affected have been minorities, rural people; people deprived of their rights, because the government wanted to erect their testing facilities on their land. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War supports the initiative of member countries of the WHO and the UN to ask the International Court of Justice to declare nuclear weapons illegal. The physicians call on all the member states of WHO and UN to adopt this initiative. The Executive Director of IPPNW Germany states: "It is now time, 49 years since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that the people force the nuclear powers to reduce their nuclear arsenals to zero." Michael Roelen ______________________________________________________________ ************************************************************** 14th INTERNATIONAL COASTAL DAY 1994 "WATER BETWEEN LAND AND SEA - ESTUARIES UNDER PRESSURE" International Conference from 14th to 17th September,1994 at the Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum University of Hamburg organized by: *WWF-Germany, Coastal & Marine Unit *Norddeutsche Naturschutzakademie *Verein Jordsand zum Schutze der Seevoegel und der Natur e.V. BACKGROUND The North and Baltic Sea Coasts often stand in the front line of attack - from nature and economics. In our river estuaries, the conflicts between economics and nature conservation are clearly illustrated. As many large harbours are situated there, estuaries are directly influenced by the effects of all developments in maritime operation and harbours. Extended deepening of the river-bed will be continued in the rivers Elbe, Weser and Ems, the same fate may await the Odra. Efforts costing millions are employed to channel the lower reaches of rivers and huge amounts of sediments - sometimes heavily contaminated - are moved around every year in order to make the river-mouths "suitable" for shipping companies. Some rivers have to cope with enormous contaminant loadings. Dykes and dams uncouple estuaries from the ecologically-important influence of the sea and have also contributed to the drastic change in the once vital river landscape. Just a few examples of the diverse uses which are required of river-mouths. Until now, however, their ecological value has been either underestimated or hardly considered. This will also be one of the themes of the Coastal Day. To develop estuaries in an environmentally sensitive manner is a complex process and requires a fine-tuned approach rather than forcing it into stone and steel corsets. How can estuaries be integrated into conservation concepts for protection of the Wadden Sea? What new schemes are necessary for coastal protection and agriculture? Is there still a chance for ecologically-oriented planning in the coastal region? What possibilities are there to achieve a reduction in shipping activities and contaminant loads in rivers? Are not the shipping and harbour industry undermining their own basis if they continue to set their sights on river deepening and unrestrained competition? What management plans should be adopted for estuarine development in the future? In order to answer these questions accurately and com-prehensively, national and international experience must be drawn together: from organisations, management, science, politics, from theory and practice. You are warmly invited to share in this discussion, to gather information and to take part in further steps towards possible solutions. *************************************************************** continuation in the end of part B