Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAN-MADE ecological disaster that almost destroyed a fishing industry is now being reversed. The northern Aral Sea – once a shallow saline remnant – is now growing again, boosting fish production. Excess irrigation shrank central Asia’s Aral Sea by 70% from 1960 to 2004, and its level dropped about 20 metres, splitting it in two in 1990: a small Northern Aral Sea entirely within Kazakhstan and a large Southern Aral Sea, shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

AS neighbours New Zealand and Australia face similar economic woes during 2008’s global financial instability, the outlook looks grim for certain sectors of the New Zealand paint and coatings industry. "The industry is going through a difficult period currently after a number of years of sustained growth," commented Brian Miller, chief executive officer of Master Painters New Zealand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CONFERENCE on aviation environmental issues has been told by senior European transport figures to expect further action to fight climate change, beyond including the sector in the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading scheme. Staged in Geneva by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the European Commission, the conference was told by Switzerland transport and environment minister Moritz Leuenberger the sector must act or face more regulation: "If aviation is not ready to take the appropriate steps now…states will force the industry to act…" Furthermore, EU transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani agreed said the emissions trading scheme was just a "first step", with a final objective being "global measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee has proposed creating an additional medium-term carbon dioxide limit of 95g CO2/km for 2020, forcing manufacturers to continue reducing emissions after the European Commission’s proposed 2012 deadline for a ceiling of 120g of carbon dioxide per kilometre.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is preparing to tap the expertise of environmental health specialists in national, regional and local authorities across the European Union (EU) as its workload grows. In a draft strategic plan for 2009-2013 released last week (2-10), EFSA said it needed to "increase cooperation with [EU] member states and relevant third country and international bodies to ensure EFSA has access to the best scientific expertise, information and data."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN nuclear regulators have been alerted about a release of Iodine-131 gas from the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. The leak was reported by the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control as a Level 3 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) scale, which had seven grades of incident severity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN INNOVATIVE combined transport road-rail service helping keep key Alpine passes free of congestion will receive an additional Euro 44 million in subsidies from the Italian and French governments to keep operating. The European Commission approved the handout for the Autoroute Ferroviaire Alpine roll-on-roll-off motorway service taking lorries and trailers by rail between Aiton, France and Orbassano, Italy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has backed Norway’s Statoil’s plans to explore aggressively in the Arctic for gas and oil reserves, to boost energy security within Europe. Speaking at a debate organised by the Friends of the Earth, Piebalgs said: "You even need to go into hostile environments."…

BY DEIRDRE MASON and KEITH NUTHALL

AUTOMAKERS at the European Union (EU) will be closely monitoring debates this autumn discussing the strictness of a planned cap on the CO2 emissions from automobiles running on EU roads, given they are busy developing low carbon technologies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN nuclear regulators have been alerted about a release of Iodine-131 gas from the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. As a result of environmental sampling of grass, the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control restricted the consumption of vegetables and milk produced within 5 km of the plant, near the south Belgium city Charleroi.…