The Environment Chronicle

Notable environmental events between 1970 and 1979 Deselect

  1. David McTaggart combines the many competing Greenpeace offices under an umbrella organisation registered as "Stichting Greenpeace Council" in Holland. This is the birth of Greenpeace International. The central office is in Washington DC at first, subsequently moves to Amsterdam.

  2. BUND presents the first solar-powered boat on the Bodensee.

  3. At its third solar energy exhibition, BUND presents Germany's first solar-powered vehicle.

  4. Technical Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) has been banned in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1977. In the German Democratic Republic, however, it was still produced and applied until 1990. The main production site was the industrial area around Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt. Technical HCH was banned in the EU in 1991.

  5. The Association for Nature and Environment Protection Germany (BUND), subsequently Association for Environment and Nature Protection Germany (BUND) is founded by Horst Stern, Bernhard Grzimek, Herbert Gruhl and 19 other founding members.

  6. The World Food Council is set up on the recommendation of the Rome World Food Conference. It is the highest committee directing and coordinating various UN organisations in solving world hunger.

  7. Within the portfolio of the Home Affairs Minister, an independent federal authority is set up, the Federal Environmental Agency. After the Chernobyl reactor disaster, the FEA is transferred to the Environment Ministry.

  8. 81 environmental and conservation organisations make up the European Environmental Bureau, which aims to leverage the influence of these groups in improving EU environmental and conservation policy, especially with regard to UNCED decisions.

  9. The Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz e.V (Federal Association of Environmental Action Groups) is the umbrella organization of environmental action groups in Germany. Since its foundation on 24 June 1972, by groups campaigning for environmental protection, the BBU has become a vital force in the development of the green and peace movements in Germany.

  10. The Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) was established by a charter of the Federal Ministry of the Interior on December 28, 1971 (GMBI 1972, No. 3, page 27), as part of the federal government's environmental programme of October 1971. The SRU was constituted and commenced operation in 1972. It consists of seven university professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. The members of the Council are appointed by the German government for a four-year period. The interdisciplinary SRU is fully independent to determine the focus and scope of its reports.

  11. The Advisory Scientific Council (SRU) is constituted by a government decree under the first environmental programme, to provide scientific advice for the government. Its brief is to present and evaluate the environmental and relevant political trends and situation in Germany, as well as to point out policy failures and potential remedies. It publishes a biannual report, and may also publish further reports and expert opinions on specific issues, if this is considered necessary by the council or requested by the environment minister.

  12. Greenpeace has c. 2.9 million members worldwide. Its goals are conserving biodiversity and preventing pollution and climate change. It organises campaigns on climate, overfishing, trawler fishing, commercial whaling and marine pollution, as well as protection and sustainable use of tropical rain forests.

  13. FoEI is an umbrella organisation for 57 national NGOs. The German NGO is BUND. The group's goals are the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It concentrates on tropical rain forests, the oceans and climate change.

  14. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970.