Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s fisheries committee has welcomed European Commission plans to make aquaculture an integral part of the European Union’s reformed Common Fisheries Policy, while calling for some important changes to existing Brussels blue-prints. It has backed a report written by French conservative MEP Hugues Martin that calls for the EU to fund start-up subsidies in the sector for young people and also grants aimed at improving fish farming’s environmental performance.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Brisbane, Australia
A NUCLEAR probe developed in Australia for minerals exploration and mining has the potential to reduce rates of acid rain and other environmental pollution, its developers claim.

The device, designed by Australia’s chief science authority CSIRO, can detect the concentrations of sulphur in coal seams and mine waste rock underground, allowing miners to choose those with lower levels and leave the higher sulphur coals embedded.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities, agreed by an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Diplomatic Conference, held in London, last month (Dec) aims at reducing the industry’s exposure to terrorist attacks and resulting damage.…

BY MARK ROWE
WARS are usually fought over coveted resources, such as oil, diamonds or fertile land. Now water, the most indispensable of mankind’s needs, is seen as the resource which may spark the armed conflicts of the 21st century.

Indeed, United Nations (UN) cultural and scientific organisation UNESCO is stepping up efforts to calm tension in some of the world’s most water-stressed areas.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has unveiled plans to lend the Polish Airports State Enterprise, (Przedsiebiorstwo Panstwowe Porty Lotnicze) Euro 200 million to construct a second terminal at Warsaw International Airport, Poland. The project should enable the airport to accommodate existing and rapidly rising demand for air transport in Poland, and, said an EIB note “contribute to Poland’s integration into the EU, and to strengthening transport links between the EU and Poland.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER privatisation has certainly had its critics, but it has a new supporter in the shape of the European Commission. It has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner praising British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has developed plans to lend South West Water (SWW) owner the Pennon Group plc up to Euro 60 million to help finance the utility’s 2000-2005 capital expenditure programme for non-environmental schemes. The money would be injected into a string of improvement projects for both water supply and disposal, which are designed to re-balance “supply and demand” and boost “enhanced customer service standards.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HALF-HEARTED efforts by European Union Member States to impose controls on shabby shipping have been blamed for the disastrous sinking of the ill-named Prestige oil tanker, off Galicia, Spain. Placing on record their disgust at the environmental tragedy, the Council of Europe’s environment committee deplored “the negligence of governments and their lack of any real determination to provide themselves with the means of preventing such disasters – or at least minimising their impact.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION is important in the provision of water services, whether that be to prevent the contamination of supplies by a return of this summer’s floods, or to source drinking water for arid areas where ground reserves are running dry.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have gained significant new access rights to information held by public authorities and others under legislation agreed by the Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) and the European Parliament. In what was welcomed by environmental campaigners as a victory over some EU member governments, the agreement goes well beyond the United Nations’ 1998 Aarhus Convention on information, decision-making and redress in environmental matters by widening the range of what can be accessed and simplifying the procedures.…