Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
The January/February edition of the combined International Update/EarthLink will not be issued due to circumstances beyond our control. The March/April edition will be available on Monday, April 1, 1996.
In the interim, we hope to improve our service to all International Update/EarthLink subscribers by transferring to a listserver. In the next month or so, we will out the address and instructions for signing on to the listserver.
EarthLinkDecember 1995
The following is a monthly update providing international environmental news of interest to EPA staff. It includes information from current news sources including journals, newsletters and other publications. All items listed are available for review in the EPA Headquarters Library.
**Viewpoints expressed in the following articles do not necessarily reflect EPA policy. Mention of products does not indicate endorsement.**
**European Union**
International Roundup. European Union: Ministers Seek Integrated Water Policy. Daily Environment Report, October 10, 1995, p.B-2.
Environment ministers from the European Union (EU) plan to create a framework water resource directive to address ground-water supplies and water scarcity in southern European countries. There are already twenty directives covering water policy and the EU ministers agreed that more simplification and cohesion was required. The framework will take an integrated approach and contain four key priorities for member state implementation: setting quality objectives for the different parts of the aquatic environment and for different uses of water; monitoring to ensure that the quality standards are met; establishing management plans to meet the quality objectives; and establishing an authorization system for the extraction of water. Water quantity management must also be addressed, and funds must be designated for desalination plants to help alleviate water scarcity problems.
Europe's Environment. World Watch, November/December, 1995, p. 6-7.
According to the Dobris Assessment, published in August by the European Environment Agency, environmental quality in Europe is declining. The report cited as major concerns the severe acidification in Scandinavia, inefficient recycling of household waste, and the expectation of a drastic increase in carbon dioxide concentration by 2030.
Naturopa, Number 77, 1995.
This issue is devoted to the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. It includes articles on the Bern Convention's potential and objectives (p. 6-7), the role of local authorities (p. 22), and the Monaco Declaration (p. 21). There is also an extract of the text of the treaty (p. 27-28).
**Greece**
Greece: EC Charges Failure To Protect Gulf, Lake. Daily Environment Report, October 19, 1995, p. B-3
Greece is being taken before the Court of Justice by the European Commission for failing to take steps to protect the Gulf of Pagassitikos and Lake Vegoritis. The Commission alleges that Greece, by not establishing an aquatic pollution assessment program, failed to comply with the Community directive on Pollution Caused by Certain Dangerous Substances Discharged In the Aquatic Environment. The Greek government lacks permit programs, but had asked the University of the Aegean to list sources of harmful waste dumping. The Commission was not satisfied with information given by the Greek Government concerning the water quality of Lake Vegoritis and the Soulos River.
**India**
India's Low-Tech Energy Success. World Watch, November/December, 1995, p. 21-23.
Biogas, energy produced from cow dung, is proving to be a useful, inexpensive, and renewable solution to India's power shortage. Biogas digesters cannot be used everywhere, however. The climate must be warm, and there must be plentiful water and manure supplies at hand. Biogas programs have also been implemented in other developing nations, and in a few years large biogas plants will begin operations in both the United States and Europe.
** Japan**
Japan: Agency Eyes Off-Road. Daily Environment Report, October 10, 1995, p. B-3.
The Japanese Environment Agency is planning to introduce emissions regulations for motorcycles and off-road vehicles. The decision was made to introduce the regulations after studies found that hydrocarbons and NOx emissions from motorcycles and off-road vehicles were contributing significantly to total vehicle hydrocarbons and NOx emission levels. Hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide gases would all be regulated beginning in 1998. A spokesman for Honda Motor Co., said that motorcycle makers are taking voluntary measures to reduce emissions, but was uncertain as to whether they could meet the proposed environmental standards.
**Mexico**
Mexico Survey. The Economist, October 28-November 3, 1995, p. 64.
This is an extensive survey on the current state of the Mexican economy, the current political implications, as well as trends, prescriptions and forecasts for the future. It focusses on the need for three different types of growth to achieve short-term recovery, longer-term prosperity, and full democracy in Mexico. Background is given on the politics and leadership of Mexico, particularly the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) which has been in power since 1929 and its main competitor, PAN (National Action Party). It also discusses the emergence of more independent voices from among the middle classes, including organizations such as the Civil Alliance, a coalition of citizens groups that monitors elections and organizes referendums, and El Barzon, which speaks for indebted farmers and small businesses.
**NAFTA**
Governments' Ministers Say PCBs To Be Phased Out In North America. International Environment Reporter, October 18, 1995, pp. 785-786.
Canadian, Mexican and U.S. environmental ministers announced their support for development of an "action plan" to phaseout the use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Action plans for three additional chemicals will also be presented by December 15, 1996.
The three additional chemicals will be selected from those included on the United Nations Environment Program Governing Council Decision 18/32, which lists 12 persistent organic chemicals. In addition, a North American Pollutant Release Inventory will be formed. This inventory will consolidate currently available information on the emission and transport of pollutants.
Nations Developing Process For Assessing Environmental Impacts That Cross Borders. Daily Environment Report, October 26, 1995, p. A-6.
A cross-border environmental impact assessment process is being developed by the three NAFTA nations under the authority of the Commission on Environmental Co-operation. Top environmental officials are working out guiding principles for development of these cross-border impact assessments. The principles will include "good neighborliness", cost effectiveness, efficiency, and public participation. The process would require NAFTA members to provide each other with notification and opportunities for input into domestic environmental assessments for any proposed projects that have potential adverse environmental effects across national borders. It is hoped that potential conflicts may be solved co-operatively.
**Climate Change**
Chaotic Climate. Scientific American, November 1995, pp. 62-68.
Cores taken from the Greenland ice cap indicate that the last 10,000 years of relatively consistent weather are an anomaly. The cores provide a record of roughly 1000 year periods of alternating cold and warm weather with the changes in average winter temperatures raising or falling 10 degrees Celsius in as little decade. Evidence is mounting to indicate that the Younger Dryas, the millennium-long cold period which ended 11,000 years ago, was a global phenomena. Scientific evidence supporting this has been found in the Andes, as well as the Southwestern United States. Modelling, supported by geologic evidence, suggests that changes the flow of heat and salt throughout the oceans have significantly impacted the global climate. For example, a shut down of the "conveyer belt" in North Atlantic would precipitate a decline of 5 or more degrees Celsius in the water temperature and result in drastic climate changes in Northern Europe: "Dublin would have a summer climate of the kind currently characteristic of Spitsbergen in the high Arctic, and London would experience the winter cold that now grips Irkutsk in Siberia."
Climate Panel Is Confident Of Man's Link To Warming. The Wall Street Journal, November 30, 1995, p. B3.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change yesterday approved a summary statement saying, in part, "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate." The panel is made up of scientists and policy makers from almost 100 countries. The panel's statement is the first time a major international organization has endorsed the concept of human impacts on global climate change, and is expected to increase pressure on industrialized and industrializing nations to control emissions of pollutants.
**Environmental Surveillance**
U.S. Will Deploy Its Spy Satellites On Nature Mission. The New York Times, November 27, 1995, pp. 1, B5.
Satellites that were used for spying during the cold war are now also providing data on the global environment. Added to the surveillance of military locations are ecologically interesting sites such as rain forests, clouds, sea ice, deserts, and glaciers. Although the first stages will monitor only about two dozen sensitive areas, eventually about 500 locations will be studied. The data, however, will not be available immediately in order to maintain secrecy about the surveillance systems. Instead, it will be archived for scientists of the future, enabling them to discover trends over time.
The group that is leading the effort consists of about 60 scientists from industry and academia who act as advisors to the U.S. intelligence community on studying the environment through data collected during surveillance. The group is known as Medea, or Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis.
**Nuclear Energy**
Safety Czech: Trying to Contain Soviet Reactors. Multinational Monitor, September 1995, pp. 9-13.
Bohunice Nuclear Plant in Slovakia, only a couple of hours from Vienna, Austria, continues to operate two aging Soviet-designed reactors which lack containment structures to prevent the escape of radiation should the "metal-fatigued pipes" burst. Western safety concerns, the future of Bohunice, the role of Western companies, the completion or overhaul of other Soviet-design/built reactors, financing, and cost are just some of the issues involved any decisions on the future role of nuclear power in Slovakia. The Slovakian government appears to be committed to keeping Bohunice operating. The article discusses the various issues.
**Ultraviolet Radiation**
Study Of Cloud Patterns Points To Many Areas Exposed To Big Rises In Ultraviolet Radiation: But Other Regions May Not Be Affected For 20 To 50 Years. The New York Times, November 21, 1995, p. C4.
A study appearing in the October 26th issue of Nature reports that the Midwest, Southwest, parts of the Northeast United States and Hawaii, central Europe, the Mediterranean, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Chile and parts of Australia are all experiencing increased levels of ultraviolet radiation. Other areas of the world may not experience the increased levels until another 50 years from now. Cloud cover, which reflects ultraviolet radiation, leads to the difference in radiation effect. Areas with variable cloud cover from one year to the next are not yet showing harmful biological effects. In areas with less variable cloud cover, living things are more affected by the increase in radiation. The study was performed by Dan Lubin, from San Diego's Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and Elsa Jensen, from the Sea-Space Corporation.
