The Environment Chronicle

On 19 June 2013 Members of the European Parliament's environment committee voted to send a revised version of the European Commission's proposal to ‘backload' carbon allowances in the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme back to the full Parliament.

Ongoing illegal fishing and trade in caviar in Romania and Bulgaria is threatening the survival of sturgeons in the Danube river basin finds a new report by WWF and TRAFFIC. The report’s findings are based on interviews with caviar retailers and DNA analyses of samples obtained from selected shops, restaurants, markets, street vendors and sturgeon farms in Romania and Bulgaria. Significant information was also obtained in discussions with fishermen. In both countries, a current fishing ban is in place until 2015. However, Bulgarian fishermen told researchers they used modern equipment such as sonar and GPS as well as the forbidden traditional hook lines - “carmaci” - to catch wild sturgeons.

On 14 June 2013, transmission system operator TenneT started the financial participation of citizens in the extension of the German electricity grid. The West Coast line in Schleswig-Holstein will become a Bürgerleitung (citizen's line) as a pilot project. All residents and property owners from the districts of Nordfriesland and Dithmarschen, where the West Coast line is to be erected, can invest in the West Coast line bond issue.

The drifting ice station North Pole-40 was officially closed in a ceremony on 12 June 2013. All equipment, instruments, scientists and dogs were loaded on the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Yamal”, the ice floe was cleaned. As media reported, the ice floe carrying the research station started breaking up in the end of May. Russia’s Minister of Nature Resources and Ecology Sergey Donskoy ordered immediate evacuation of the station and “Yamal” left Murmansk on June 1 for the evacuation mission.

On 1 June 2013, the Renewables Club convened for the first time. The founding members are China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Morocco, South Africa, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the Director-General of IRENA Adnan Amin. Their common goal is to scale up the deployment of renewable energy worldwide.

At 3:30 in the morning of 30 May 2013, the European Parliament and Council reached political agreement on the main points in the basic regulation in the fisheries reform.

In the Caribbean, low-income sections of the population will also be able to obtain insurance against weather-related disasters in future. The project “Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean”, which is supported by the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) through its International Climate Initiative, is developing an innovative insurance product. On 29 May 2013, the first insurance policies were handed over to policy holders in Castries, the capital of the Caribbean island St. Lucia, to mark the market launch of the livelihood protection policy (LPP). These policies contribute to securing livelihoods by offering insurance against the negative impacts of climate change to broad sections of the population.

On 28 May 2013, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pleaded guilty in cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company also pleaded guilty today in Kansas City, Mo., to violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by failing to properly handle pesticides that had been returned by customers at its stores across the country. As a result of the three criminal cases brought by the Justice Department, as well as a related civil case filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Wal-Mart will pay approximately $81.6 million for its unlawful conduct. Coupled with previous actions brought by the states of California and Missouri for the same conduct, Wal-Mart will pay a combined total of more than $110 million to resolve cases alleging violations of federal and state environmental laws.

The insecticide fipronil poses a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize, EFSA has concluded in a report requested by the European Commission. EFSA was asked to perform a risk assessment of fipronil, paying particular regard to the acute and chronic effects on colony survival and development and the effects of sublethal doses on bee mortality and behaviour.

On 24 May 2013, the European Union, the United States and Canada agreed to join forces on Atlantic Ocean research. The agreement focuses on aligning the ocean observation efforts of the three partners. The goals are to better understand the Atlantic Ocean and to promote the sustainable management of its resources. The work will also study the interplay of the Atlantic Ocean with the Arctic Ocean, particularly with regards to climate change. The 'Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation' was signed at a high level conference at the Irish Marine Institute in Galway.

On 24 May 2013, Chile’s environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.’s Pascua-Lama project and imposed its maximum fine on the world’s largest gold miner, citing “very serious” violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done wrong.

On 22 May 2013, the Global Crop Diversity Trust was welcomed to Germany by the Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection, at a ceremonial opening of the new headquarters in Bonn.

On 15 May 2013, the European Commission launched its Emergency Response Centre (ERC) in Brussels. The aim is to provide a better coordinated, faster and more efficient response to disasters in Europe and the world.

On 10 May 2013, construction on Morocco’s 160 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Ouarzazate began with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony by King Mohammed VI. Built by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, Ouarzazate 1 is set to go online in 2015. The German government has pledged €115 million in support for Morocco’s ambitious project.

The 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed to list hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) to Annex A to the Convention with specific exemptions for expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene in buildings. The decision was officially adopted on 9 May 2013 and thereby entered into force in May 2013, with a one-year transition period.

On 9 May 2013 aquarists at ZSL London Zoo launched an urgent worldwide appeal to find a female mate for the last remaining males of a critically endangered fish species. The Mangarahara cichlid (Ptychochromis Insolitus) is believed to be extinct in the wild, due to the introduction of dams drying up its habitat of the Mangarahara River in Madagascar, and two of the last known individuals are residing in ZSL London Zoo’s Aquarium.

On 8 May 2013, NASA's new Earth-bound rover began testing on the Greenland ice sheet. GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is an autonomous, solar-operated robot that carries a ground-penetrating radar to examine the layers of Greenland’s ice sheet.

On 3 May 2013, the Solar Impulse began its first cross-US flight with a journey from Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona. Successive legs of the flight took the Solar Impulse to Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Lambert–St. Louis International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport; it finally concluded at New York's John F. Kennedy airport on 6 July. Each flight leg took between 19 and 25 hours, with multi-day stops in each city between flights.

On 29 April 2013 the majority of EU countries supported the European Commission proposal to temporarily ban three pesticides that are scientifically shown to be harmful to bees: imidacloprid and clothianidin, produced by chemical company Bayer, and thiamethoxam, produced by Syngenta.

The European Commission is concerned that Germany's laws on access to justice regarding decisions that have an impact on the environment are falling short of European standards. After assessing Germany's legislation in this area, the Commission has concluded that it contains a number of shortcomings regarding individuals and NGOs and their access to justice, especially as regards decisions covered by the Directive on Environmental Impact Assessments for projects and the IPPC Directive on industrial emissions. On 25 April 2013 the Commission sent a reasoned opinion (the second stage in EU infringement proceedings).

On 24 April 2013 the Environment Committee approved a draft law setting out rules for achieving the 95g target ,by 47 votes to 17 with 1 abstention, but also added indicative targets for post-2020 CO2 emissions: a range of 68 to 78g from 2025. To encourage clean-car innovation, we must give "super-credit" weightings to each maker's cleaner cars and set more ambitious longer-term reduction targets, said the Environmental Committee.

BELECTRIC has connected the largest and most state-of-the-art Thin-Film ground-mounted solar power plant in Europe to the energy grid in Templin, Brandenburg. With an installed nominal power of 128 MWp, the power plant on the largest former Russian military airfield, Gross Dölln, will play an important role in supplying greater Berlin with renewable energy.

In a landmark decision the Multilateral Fund’s Executive Committee has agreed to provide China, the largest producer and consumer of HCFCs, an amount up to US $385 million for the entire elimination of its industrial production of ozone depleting substances (ODS) by the year 2030. According to a statement by the Government of China the total amount of HCFCs to be eliminated over the period to 2030 will prevent the emission of over 4.3 million metric tonnes of HCFCs, equal to 300,000 tonnes in terms of its ozone depletion potential, and 8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.

On 18 April breeding bird experts and conservation managers of the Wadden Sea countries Denmark, The Netherlands and Germany came together at the International Wadden Sea workshop “Breeding Birds in Trouble”. Aims of the workshop was to identify the most pressing issues, discuss causes, solutions and consequences and take initiative to develop an action plan, which will give practical advice on proper management of specific breeding bird species and their habitats.

On 16 April 2013, the European Parliament backed the European Commission's "stop the clock" proposal to temporarily suspend enforcement of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to airlines flying to and from destinations outside the EU. The proposal was approved by a wide majority, with 577 MEPs voting in favour, 114 against and 21 abstentions.

On 16 April 2013, the European Union Parliamentarians rejected a scheme conceived by the European Commission 2012 that would have frozen a large portion of the bloc's carbon emission credits. There were 334 votes against the proposal and 315 votes for. Sixty-three EU parliamentarians abstained.

The goal of more intensive cooperation brought together 25 experts from four European marine World Heritage Sites to the National Park Administration, Tönning, on 15 and 17 April 2013. The meeting was commonly organized by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park Administration in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Center in Paris in the framework of the Interreg IVB project PROWAD.

On 15 April 2013, the Zeppelin NT started once again on a mission for climate research. The destination is Hyytiälä in Finland. Jülich scientists are starting the second part of their measurement campaign within the pan-EU project PEGASOS, which involves 26 partners from a total of 14 European countries and Israel, and aims to investigate relationships between atmospheric chemistry and climate change.

On 11 April 2013, eight European bison (one male, five females and two calves) were released into the wild in the Bad Berleburg region of Germany, after 300 years of absence since the species became extinct in that region.

On 10 April 2013 ConocoPhillips announced it will put its 2014 Alaska Chukchi Sea exploration drilling plans on hold given the uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements and operational permitting standards. The company has determined it would not be prudent at this time to make the significant monetary commitments needed to preserve the option to drill in 2014.

On 10 April 2013, 217 civil society groups wrote an open letter to EU Fisheries Ministers urging them to support the European Parliament’s aim to restore fish stocks by 2020 and end overfishing by 2015. "...As negotiations on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) are entering the final and decisive stage we, the undersigned organisations, are writing to you to urge you to support the European Parliament’s aim to restore fish stocks by 2020 and end overfishing by 2015."

On 15 April 2013 four young people on a mission with Greenpeace planted a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole. The flag is attached to a glass and titanium time capsule containing the names of 2.7 million people who joined the Greenpeace campaign to Save the Arctic. They came to the Pole to say this special area of the Arctic belongs to no person and no nation, that it is the common heritage of everyone on Earth.

Google released images taken by its Street View service from the town of Namie, Japan, inside the zone that was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

On 27 March 2013, the European Commission adopted a Green Paper on "A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies".

On 25 March 2013, Peru's government declared an environmental state of emergency in a remote Amazon jungle region it says has been affected by years of contamination at the country's most productive oil fields, which are currently operated by Pluspetrol. In declaring the emergency, Peru's Environment Ministry said the contamination included high levels of lead, barium and chromium as well as petroleum-related compounds. The 90-day emergency orders immediate action to reduce the risk of contamination to the local population. It published on 25 March 2013, for the first time, environmental quality standards setting acceptable limits for contaminants in soil.

The 2013 World Meteorological Day theme is “Watching the weather to protect life and property,” with the subtitle “Celebrating 50 Years of the World Weather Watch.” It also pays tribute to the World Weather Watch, a foundation programme of the WMO that marks its fiftieth anniversary in 2013. To predict the weather, modern meteorology depends upon near instantaneous exchange of weather information across the entire globe. Established in 1963, the World Weather Watch - the core of the WMO Programmes- combines observing systems, telecommunication facilities, and data-processing and forecasting centres - operated by Members - to make available meteorological and related environmental information needed to provide efficient services in all countries.

The 178 signatory nations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species voted on 11 March 2013, to protect five species of shark threatened with extinction through fishing.

The European Commission has announced the winners of the 2012 European Mobility Week Award and of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans Award. The cities were presented with their awards by European Commissioners at a joint award ceremony in Brussels, Belgium on 6 March 2013. European Mobility Week 2012 award winner Zagreb (Croatia) won the award for its well-organised campaign to promote the week, a strong link with the 2012 theme and 62 separate activities involving more than 150 000 citizens. Aberdeen’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan addresses social, integration, safety, environmental and economic objectives and includes a focus on sustainable transport. The Plan is being developed in close consultation with citizens and stakeholders and features open workshops, surveys, a promotional campaign and an innovative social media/online presence.

On 5 March 2013, Vodacom unveiled the largest solar array of panels on a single building in Africa at its offices in Century City, Cape Town. The solar array is expected to provide up to 75% of all electricity power required by the building during peak production.

The 3 March 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of the adoption of CITES.