BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 30, 2008 (ENS) – The European Union will fail to meet its goal of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 unless there is “enormous effort” over the next two years, according to the EU’s the first comprehensive assessment of progress in implementing its Biodiversity Action Plan.

Despite the further extension of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas and important investments in biodiversity, the integration of biodiversity and ecosystem concerns into other sectoral policies remains a challenge, states the report, released earlier this month. Intensive efforts will be needed, at the level of both the European Community and the member states, if the EU is to even approach its objective.

“This continuing loss of biodiversity is critical, not just because of the intrinsic value of nature, but also because of the resulting decline in vital ecosystem services,” said European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

“We have set an ambitious biodiversity target for 2010, we know what needs to be done and we have the tools to achieve this. I therefore call on all member states to redouble their efforts to sustain the variety of life, and the health of the ecosystems that underpin our prosperity and well being,” Dimas said.

In 2006, the European Commission produced an Action Plan to halt biodiversity loss by 2010, setting out concrete actions and outlining the responsibility of European Community institutions and member states.

The new report represents the last real opportunity for stock-taking before 2010. The report studies four main policy areas – biodiversity in the EU, the EU and global biodiversity, biodiversity and climate change, and the knowledge base. A summary of progress in each member state is included for the first time.

The yellow breasted bunting is declining across
Europe, finds a 2004 BirdLife International
assessment of European bird species.
(Photo by John Wei)

BirdLife International says the most revealing aspect of the report is the “huge gap between stated ambition and real action.”

The global conservation organization based in Cambridge, England called the lack of adequate action for wildlife and the natural environment a “shameful failure” of member state governments and EU institutions alike.

BirdLife draws a direct parallel with the current financial crisis. “Focusing only on short-term profits leads to huge costs for the society in the long-run,” said Konstantin Kreiser, EU policy manager at the BirdLife European Division.

“When, if not now, will governments learn this lesson?” Kreiser asked. “If they shy away from acting for our planet now, the price of a future bail-out will dwarf the current economic crisis.”

The populations of animal and plant species in the EU continue to decline because their habitats are fragmented by motorways, Kreiser says, pointing to roads such as the Via Baltica in Poland. Habitats are lost to agricultural intensification as the EU seems unable to reform the Common Agricultural Policy, he said, or “devoured” to make way to uncontrolled development such as that taking place at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

“In the meantime, the destruction of tropical rainforests is accelerating, coral reefs are dying out, fisheries are collapsing and the list of animals and plants sliding towards global extinction is growing longer,” Kreiser said.

For instance, while brown bears maintain relatively stable populations in northern Europe, in southern Europe there remain only extremely small, isolated populations. Two populations in the Pyrenees Mountains of France and Spain each have 10 bears, two populations in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain contain 20-30 and 80-100 bears, a population in the Appenine Mountains of Italy has 40-50 bears, and the Alps of Italy, Austria, and Slovenia are inhabited by about 35-40 bears, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Brown bear cubs in the Cantabrian Mountains
(Photo courtesy World Prout Assembly)

The European Environmental Bureau, Europe’s largest federation of environmental citizens’ organizations with 143 member groups in 31 countries, is calling for a rescue plan to avert the “planetary bankruptcy” that will occur if biodiversity loss continues.

Pieter de Pous, EEB biodiversity policy officer, said, “Now that the world is fully aware of the dangers of spending financial resources we don’t have, it’s time to wake up to a much greater danger: squandering natural resources we don’t have. Once natural capital is lost, unlike financial capital, it cannot be built up again within a time frame meaningful to humans. In other words, nature does not do bail-outs.”

BirdLife sees it as “especially embarrassing” that six governments – Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Luxembourg – did not respond to the European Commission’s questions when the report was compiled.

“This has to be seen as a clear signal that governments have still not understood the urgency of the environmental crisis we are in, while 90 percent of Europe’s citizens have stated they are very concerned by the loss of biodiversity,” BirdLife said in a statement.

The EEB says to protect and restore biodiversity, the European Union needs much better implementation of existing policies, such as Natura 2000 and the Water Framework Directive, and investment in the development of a “green Infrastructure.”

The EU must prioritize recycling and the use of recycled materials in waste and product policies to reduce ecosystem pressure from mining operations, the federation advises.

EEB will call on the European Commission, the upcoming presidencies of the Czech Republic, which starts January 1, 2009, and the following six month presidencies of Sweden, Belgium and Spain and the European Parliament to demonstrate joint leadership and give protection of biodiversity the highest priority.

Environment Commissioner Dimas says EU policies and legislation already provide a strong basis to address the biodiversity challenge but they need to be effectively implemented.

The new assessment highlights priority measures for the coming years. These range from more action to manage and restore sites in the Natura 2000 network to restoring ecosystem health and services in the wider EU countryside and in freshwater and marine environments.

Targeted actions to reverse the decline of endangered species and habitats have been successful, Dimas says, but these need to be replicated on a much larger scale.

The Natura 2000 network now includes more than 25,000 sites, covering 17 percent of the EU land territory, but additional efforts are needed to finalize the network, especially for marine protected areas.

There is progress too in the protection of marine and freshwater ecosystems, notably with the adoption of the new Marine Strategy Directive, although the failure to adopt the Soil Framework Directive leaves a major legislative gap, the commissioner said.

The Commission recently presented options for an EU strategy to address the increasing threat of invasive species.

Member states are increasingly making use of EU funds to support nature and biodiversity, especially in relation to agriculture and regional development policies, although, said Dimas, “the real benefits for biodiversity remain to be determined.”

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 20, 2008 (ENS) – Globally, forests are disappearing at a rate of about 13 million hectares (50,190 square miles) a year. In view of this continuing loss, the European Commission Friday unveiled two initiatives aimed at forest protection.

The proposed regulation would oblige traders to seek guarantees that the timber and timber products they sell have been harvested according to the relevant laws of the country of origin.

Companies would not have to prove the legality of their products, but would only be required to minimize the risk of illegal timber in their supply chain.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says this regulation will send a strong message to operators wanting to access the EU market. He says it will also increase incentives for legal and sustainable management and use of forests, especially in developing countries that are interested in maintaining and enhancing their export of forest products to the EU.

Illegally felled logs are the object of a
Greenpeace protest in Papua New
Guinea. September 4, 2008. (Photo
courtesy Greenpeace)

“These precious resources also play a vital role in regulating climate change. Developed and developing nations must unite to protect the world’s remaining forests,” Dimas said.

“We must also send a firm message to timber suppliers that illegal timber or timber products will not be tolerated on the EU market,” he said.

Greenpeace said the regulation would produce a double standard, “Wood-based biofuels and biomass would need to be sustainable but not necessarily legal, whereas all other wood products would need to be legal but not necessarily sustainable,” the group said in a statement.

Around 19 percent of timber imports into the EU is estimated to come from illegal sources. Illegal logging and deforestation have serious environmental implications, the commission said, contributing to climate change and the loss of biodiversity, as well as threatening the livelihood of indigenous people.

Illegal logging also is a symptom of wider problems, including a lack of forest governance, and weak law enforcement.

Caroline Lucas, Green Member of the European Parliament for the South-East of England, said, “The long-awaited proposals are finally here after months of industry lobbying and internal Commission wrangling, but as so far presented, they look toothless and inadequate to stop the influx of illegally logged timber into the EU.”

“The proposal to tackle the illegal timber trade is far weaker than the Greens would have liked,” Lucas said. “It will be a huge challenge to improve it and pass legislation before the European elections next year.”

Friends of the Earth Europe also described the proposals as “toothless” and unlikely to have any major impact on reducing deforestation, in part because they do not make trade in illegally harvested wood a criminal offense.

Danielle van Oijen, timber trade spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Europe said, “The legislative proposal to tackle the illegal timber trade is largely toothless and will do little to stem the rampant destruction of the world’s remaining natural forests. It is now down to the European Parliament and Council to give the proposal teeth.”

The advocacy group says some of the big causes of deforestation are not addressed in the proposals. For example, the European Commission acknowledges that Europe’s mass consumption of paper, soy and palm oil products increases deforestation yet omits any measures to deal with this.

Deforestation is responsible for almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and has become a key issue in the international negotiations currently under way on a new UN climate change agreement for the post-2012 period.

The commission proposes to pursue the objective of halting global forest cover loss by 2030 at the latest and reducing gross tropical deforestation by at least 50 percent by 2020.

Dimas said the commission’s proposals should be viewed in the context of the international negotiations on the post-2012 climate change agreement that will serve as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

They will form part of the EU’s position at the UN climate conference in Poznan, Poland in December and in the negotiations on a new climate agreement due to be concluded in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

“Forests are home to half of all known species,” said Dimas. “When forests disappear, so does a vast array of plants and species, with disastrous and irreversible consequences.”

Illegal loggers clear a swamp forest for a
palm oil plantation in Central Kalimantan,
Borneo, Indonesia. (Photo by Alain
Compost courtesy WWF-Canon)

As climate change negotiations progress, the commission proposes create a Global Forest Carbon Mechanism through which developing countries would be rewarded for emissions reductions achieved by taking action to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.

The communication indicates that at the EU level funding is required from 2013 to 2020 to fight deforestation. The total amount of funding will depend on the level of mitigation actions undertaken by developing countries.

The commission suggests that a major part of this funding could come from proceeds of allowances auctioned in the EU Emissions Trading System. If five percent of auctioning revenue were made available to the Global Forest Carbon Mechanism, this would raise €1.5 to 2.5 billion in 2020.

The commission proposes a pilot phase that could test the inclusion of credits for avoided deforestation in the carbon markets, allowing governments to make use of these credits to help achieve their post-2012 emission reductions.

Subject to the review of this initial phase, allowing companies to use credits for avoided deforestation to offset part of their emissions could be considered after 2020.

Owen Espley, forests campaigner for Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland said, “The commission is right not to introduce forest credits into the Emissions Trading Scheme. Forest carbon credits would create a land grab for forests and would give industry an excuse for failing to reduce their climate-changing emissions.”

“We cannot afford to choose between protecting forests and reducing emissions,” he said, “we urgently need to do both.”

MEP Lucas said, “On the plus side, at least the commission’s positioning on the use of forest or sink credits in emissions trading shows more clarity of thought. Its Communication on Deforestation recognizes that while methods must be found to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, sink credits risk flooding the carbon market and give rise to serious concerns over their permanence, verification, quantification and liability.”

The European Commission launched the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, or FLEGT, Action Plan in 2003, but this did little to curb deforestation and illegal logging.

FLEGT included support for improved governance and capacity building in timber producing countries and encouragement to the private sector to exclude illegal timber from their supply chains and to avoid investment in activities that make it easy for illegal logging to take place.

The core of FLEGT was voluntary partnership agreements with timber-producing countries that wish to eliminate illegal timber from their trade with the EU.

Currently there is no law to prevent illegally logged wood products from being imported into the European Union.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 24, 2008 (ENS) – In advance of the Europe-India summit in Marseille next Monday, the European Parliament today passed a resolution calling on both parties to renew efforts to save the wild tiger, and to place the issue on the summit agenda.

The resolution calls on both Europe and India to redouble efforts to tackle the organized gangs behind the trafficking of tiger parts, and to work together to protect forest habitats.

In June, the government of India established a dedicated agency for tackling wildlife crime, the Indian Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

Wild tiger in Ranthambhore National Park,
India (Photo by Anup Jindal)

The parliamentary resolution, “Welcomes the foundation of the Indian Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, while remaining deeply concerned about the plight of the wild tiger, and calls on India to protect tigers from habitat loss and trafficking by transnational criminal networks.”

Baroness Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for London, who has campaigned on the issue, said, “By setting up the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, India has taken an important step towards improving enforcement and tackling the networks behind illegal tiger trade.”

“By raising this issue we are calling for the European Union to offer technical and financial assistance, and to ensure that the issue gets maximum political support,” said Ludford.

The resolution calls for specific EU assistance for this conservation effort in the form of technical expertise, financial support and the reinforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international treaty that lists all subspecies of tigers as endangered and prohibits trade in live tigers or their parts.

Currently, there may be as few as 2,500 tigers left in the wild, of which just over half are in India, says the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit group based in London, UK and Washington, DC, which works to combat environmental crime.

Wild tigers in Karnataka, India
(Photo by Paul Mannix)

These few thousand tigers are the only ones left from the 100,000 wild tigers that are estimated to have lived at the beginning of the 20th century, according to the IUCN’s Cat Specialist Group.

These remaining tigers are threatened by demand for their skins and body parts from China and East Asia, and habitat loss due to forest clearance and illegal industrial development.

Currently the main demand for tiger products comes from China, where bones and body parts are used in medicine; while skins are used for home décor, clothing and non-financial bribes.

Recent undercover work by the Environmental Investigation Agency, found whole tiger skins on sale in China for RMB 100,000 (US$15,000).

Despite widespread evidence of the serious and organized nature of wildlife and environmental crime, enforcement efforts in many parts of the world remain inadequate.

Still, conservationists are optimistic, pointing out that if the right measures are taken tigers can recover rapidly.

Alasdair Cameron of the Environmental Investigation Agency said, “Protecting the tiger is not just about protecting a species, but about protecting the forests it lives in and the ecosystems which depend on it.

“In many cases we know what we need to do, but it requires political will,” said Cameron. “India has taken the lead in developing a 21st century approach to wildlife crime, we need other countries like China to do the same.”

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 16, 2008 (ENS) – After poverty, climate change is the most serious problem Europe faces according to a Eurobarometer survey presented in the European Parliament on September 11.

The poll found that 61 percent of respondents have taken some personal action to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. A quarter of those said they had changed their buying habits and used the car less to help the environment.

At the same time, the poll found that a majority believe that the people, governments, industry or the European Union are not doing enough about the warming climate.

The survey of over 30,000 people in 30 European countries found that 31 percent had not taken any action to change their behavior on account of the climate. Of those, almost half said they believe that government and industry should take action, while just over a third did not know what they should do.

The survey was conducted in all 27 EU member states as well as in the three candidate countries – Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Those who have taken action said they believe it would make a difference, that they had a duty to protect the environment or were concerned about what they would leave for future generations.

Eurostar and Thalys high speed trains await
passengers at Paris Gare du Nord. (Photo
credit unknown)

Across Europe, 28 percent of respondents said they use greener transport and 27 percent buy seasonal and local products that reduce CO2 emissions.

The results were presented at a press conference in the European Parliament by Italian MEP Guido Sacconi, who chairs the parliament’s Temporary Committee on Climate Change.

“The fact that many Europeans say that they do not have enough information, in particular on the actions that citizens could take, clearly indicates that we have to think about initiatives and measures to spread this knowledge more widely, especially among the most vulnerable groups of our population,” said Sacconi. “The role of regional and local authorities in this task will be crucial.”

Sacconi noted differences in attitudes in different countries, saying he thought the responses of those polled depended on whether or not the country had experienced an ecological disaster.

He cited forest fires and droughts in Greece and Cyprus as two examples of countries where people’s ecological awareness had been raised by natural disasters.

Sweden is the country where most people have taken personal action to help reduce their C02 emissions, with 87 percent of respondents saying they have done something.

By comparison, 60 percent of people in Latvia and Lithuania said they have taken no action.

Royd Moor Wind Farm near Penistone,
South Yorkshire, England (Photo by Ian
Britton courtesy FreeFoto.com)

At the press conference, Europe’s Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas pointed to the stimulating effect that green industry could have on Europe’s economy. He noted that 56 percent of those polled believe that climate change can help the economy.

“Saving energy means saving money, so there is a common logic that citizens consider it to be beneficial for economy,” Dimas said.

He went on to say that “citizens have role to play both as consumers, by choosing to buy the right products, and as voters.”

By the end of this year, Europe’s Environment Ministers meeting in the Council along with elected MEPs should reach an agreement on a package of Europe-wide legislation that will help mitigate climate change.

Dimas called on MEPs and the Council of Ministers not to “dilute” the proposed measures.

Margot Wallstrom, vice-president of the European Commission and a former environment commissioner, said, “Surveys of this kind are important components in our policy-making. It is striking to see that European citizens take the issue of climate change so seriously and it confirms our belief that continued, coherent EU action in this area is imperative.”

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2008 (ENS) – Two truck drivers were killed in fuel price protest actions in Spain and Portugal on Tuesday as governments across Europe struggle to contain strikes by thousands of truckers, fishermen and railway workers over soaring fuel prices.

In Portugal, a picketing trucker died as he tried to stop a truck on a road north of the capital city, Lisbon.

Truck drivers’ unions Fenadismer and Confedetrans suspended strike negotiations with the Spanish government Tuesday after a truck driver was run over and killed by a van as he picketed in the southern city of Granada.

Spanish police accompanied petrol tankers into the city of Barcelona yesterday on the second day of the strike that has left about half the petrol stations in Barcelona without fuel.

Striking truck drivers block a road entering
Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Marius
Gabriel Costache)

The strike has caused food and fuel shortages across Spain and long lines of traffic at the Spanish-French border. Slow-moving trucks blocked all roads entering the Spanish capital of Madrid on Tuesday.

Demonstrators are demanding cuts in fuel taxes, but the Spanish government has turned down this proposal.

Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said an agreement reached last night with non-striking truckers’ unions would be presented on Wednesday to the two unions that called the strike, Fenadismer and Confedetrans.

In recent months, oil prices have skyrocketed abruptly, reaching their highest level, in real terms, since the end of the 1970s.

The prices of liquid fuel for household purposes have risen by 35.2 percent and those of fuel for transport have increased by 12.7 percent as compared to the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices average of 3.6 percent.

The current surge in oil prices is largely the result of a major structural shift in oil supply and demand in the global economy, the European Commission said today, as “oil supply is struggling to keep pace with rising global demand, especially in China and India.”

The hike in production costs for many sectors due to soaring fuel prices is causing widespread concern across the European Union, and in response the Commission released a draft set of proposals today to mitigate the effects of rising global fuel prices.

These proposals will be formalized in a forthcoming communication to be discussed at the European Council on June 19-20 in conjunction with the recent Commission communication on rising food prices.

The Commission will recommend that the European Council confirm its determination to adopt legally binding measures to give effect to its 2020 targets for renewables, biofuels and greenhouse gas reductions by the end of 2008, which the Commission says are essential to improve energy efficiency and the diversification of the EU energy supply.

In March 2007, European heads of state endorsed a plan proposed by the Commission that calls for a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency, a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 20 percent share of renewables in overall EU energy consumption by 2020, and a 10 percent biofuel component in vehicle fuel by 2020.

Today 8.5 percent of energy used in Europe is renewable. To achieve a 20 percent share by 2020 will require major efforts across all sectors of the economy and by all member states, the Commission says.

The Commission also proposed today that businesses and private households step up their drive for energy efficiency so that quicker and greater savings be achieved.

President Jose Manuel Barroso said, “Rising fuel prices are squeezing the purchasing power of all EU citizens, with the strongest impact on the lowest income families in Europe. I believe that through a structured response at the EU level – possibly combined with targeted social policy measures by member states – we can meet the challenge.”

“At the heart of our approach is the full implementation of the Commission’s energy and climate change proposals including increased energy diversification, security of energy supply and energy efficiency. We need to save energy, and to diversify the sources of supply,” said Barroso.

“If we act swiftly and decisively, we can reduce the vulnerability of our citizens and our businesses, and support both our quality of life and our economic competitiveness,” he said. “I look forward to discussing this with member states in the European Council next week.”

The Commission supports the organization of a global summit on oil markets between main oil producing and consuming countries and strengthening of existing regional and bilateral dialogues in order to achieve better market access and transparency.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 20, 2008 (ENS) – The European Commission has launched a major EU control campaign aimed at preventing a repeat of last year’s overfishing of Mediterranean bluefin tuna by a number of EU member states. This season, 16 aircraft and 49 large and small patrol vessels will conduct inspections at sea, while 50 inspectors will visit vessels in port.

The launch of the Joint Deployment Plan marks the EU’s determination to ensure that the 15 year recovery plan for the giant tunas, agreed within the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, ICCAT, in November 2006, is fully respected.

Prized by sushi lovers, especially in Japan, Atlantic bluefin tuna can command prices of hundreds of dollars per kilo at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market.

Bluefin tuna fisherman with his catch (Photo courtesy European Commission)

The Commission says that even effective control measures will not suffice to ensure the sustainability of the fishery until the member states concerned tackle the gross overcapacity of the fleet that targets bluefin tuna.

As documented in a report published last week by the global conservation organization WWF, the whole fishery is plagued by overfishing by a fleet that keeps growing in size and efficiency both in the EU and in the other coastal states that target bluefin tuna.

Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, said, “I welcome the cooperation of the member states in organizing the joint control effort. However, they need to go much further to tackle the root of the problem with courage and determination by ensuring the necessary scrapping of vessels till a sustainable balance is found between fishing capacity and fishing possibilities.”

“Public funding is available under the European Fisheries Fund for vessel owners and crews affected by such scrapping. Financial support is also available to the fishing communities concerned to help them diversify their economies,” said Borg.

He pledged that the Commission “will do all it can” to help the member states return the fishery to “ecological, economic and social sustainability.” But the country with the greatest overcapacity, Turkey, is not an EU member state, and Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Croatia, which also fish for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, are not member states either.

Until the fleet overcapacity has been reduced in line with the sustainable level of the resource, control and enforcement will continue to be a critical issue in the fishery.

The Joint Deployment Plan, which will be coordinated by the Community Fisheries Control Agency, marks an unprecedented effort, in terms of both the scale of operations, and the technical means deployed.

Latest generation Spanish-flagged purse
seine fishing vessels side by side at
their home port of L’Ametlla de
Mar, Tarragona. (Photo courtesy WWF)

The plan will bring together the resources of the seven main member states involved in the fishery – Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain – and will cover all stages in the market chain, including controls at sea, onshore, and at fattening farms.

A special Technical Joint Deployment Group will be set up in Brussels on April 1 to coordinate activities under the plan, and will remain in operation there until the end of the year.

The ICCAT recovery plan includes a new control scheme to address the issue of underreporting in the eastern bluefin fishery, which is the most radical and comprehensive scheme of its kind ever adopted by a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation.

In practical terms, the Community Fisheries Control Agency will coordinate joint inspection and control activities of 13 large patrol vessels, 36 coastal patrol vessels and 16 aircraft.

There will be 14 campaigns at sea involving in all 30 inspectors representing overall 160 patrol days.

Twenty-five joint inspections involving 50 inspectors are planned in the ports concerned. Commission inspectors will also be involved in 32 inspection visits both at sea and in ports.

The Commission has welcomed the report published by WWF, which analyzes the causes of the overfishing of bluefin tuna and its conclusions on the need to eliminate this overcapacity.

This WWF-commissioned report, researched and compiled by independent consultancy A.T.R.T., is the first real estimate of the actual catch capability of the Mediterranean purse seine fleet targeting bluefin tuna.

The report, “Race for the Last Bluefin,” says that “fleet overcapacity in terms of number of vessels, as well as in terms of gross registered tonnage and total installed engine power, is by far greatest in Turkey, followed by Italy, Croatia and Libya.”

An economic analysis based on the minimum catches required to cover costs and generate minimum economic revenues shows strong overcapitalization particularly in Turkey, Libya, Croatia and Italy.

WWF says that “the current operational purse seine fishing fleet targeting bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea from the 11 coastal states … has a calculated yearly catch potential of 54,783 metric tonnes that is almost double the annual total allowable catch set by ICCAT – 28,500 metric tonnes in 2008.

Tunisian-flagged well vessel in the Mediterranean
transfers live bluefin to ranching
cages for fattening. (Photo ©®
Greenpeace/Care courtesy WWF)

The fleet’s catch potential is more than three and a half times the catch levels advised by scientists to avoid stock collapse – 15,000 metric tonnes.

Based on database searches, shipyard censuses and supported by evidence from photographic documentation of vessels, still, WWF notes, the report does not take into account the catch potential of the rest of the bluefin tuna fleet – the longliners, traps, bait boats, pelagic trawlers, and hand line boats.

The WWF report finds that to merely comply with the legal quotas Libya should eliminate from the fishery 22 vessels (58 percent capacity reduction), Italy 17 vessels (36 percent capacity reduction) and France a total 15 vessels (45 percent capacity reduction).

To match sustainable catch levels and saving the stock, fleet reduction should be far more drastic: decommissioning as many as 31 large purse seiners in Italy (67 percent capacity reduction), 30 vessels in Libya (78 percent capacity reduction) and 23 vessels in France (72 percent capacity reduction).

Turkey is a case apart, the report says, with an estimated need of capacity reduction ranging between 94-97 percent, equivalent to 168-173 large seiners. Fleet reduction needs have also been quantified for Algeria, Croatia, Spain and Tunisia.

Minimum total fleet reduction in the Mediterranean – excluding Turkey – estimated to avoid collapse of the bluefin tuna stock amounts to 110 medium and large purse seine vessels.

To read the report, “Race for the Last Bluefin,” click here [panda.org].

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 12, 2008 (ENS) – Italian researcher Luisa Corrado was among the those honored today at the European Science Awards Ceremony, for her work on whether wealth can bring happiness. Corrado received one of five Marie Curie Excellence Awards, which recognize excellent researchers who have participated in the EU’s researcher exchange program.

Working at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Economics, Corrado led research that maps European feelings of well-being. Her report confirms the old adage that money can’t buy happiness. In countries where the population said that they trusted the government and other institutions, a high income made people happier still, but in those countries where such trust was lacking, even the richest tended to be less happy.

Dr. Luisa Corrado (Photo
courtesy University of.
Cambridge)

The Danish emerged as the happiest people in Europe, while the British rank ninth. Dr. Corrado said, “One thing that is clear from the report is that it is not enough for governments to focus on improving wealth. Our well-being would be more likely to flourish in a mutually supportive and trusting society.”

Alongside Corrado, other recipients of the Marie Curie Excellence award covered issues as diverse as the roles of genes in cancers, ultra-thin carbon films for use in consumer electronics, dark energy and the role of small molecules in the body’s immune response.

Awards were also given recognizing excellence in multinational research teams and in science communication.

The winners were selected by three separate Grand Juries, one for each category, composed of leading figures from European and international science. They share an award fund of almost €2 million (US$6.2 million).

European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik presented the awards. “These awards represent the best that Europe has to offer. They honor qualities that are important for all scientists, researchers, inventors and science communicators – excellence, openness and creativity.”

Other projects honored at the event included the EPICA project, which has extended understanding of the Earth’s climate over the last 800,000 years.

The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica, EPICA, one of the European Science Foundation’s longest running research networking programs, is one of three winners of the Descartes Prize for Research for outstanding transnational projects in natural sciences and humanities.

EPICA ice coring record at Concordia
Station, Dome C, Antarctica 3233
meters above sea level (Photo by
Laurent Augustin courtesy EPICA)

The EPICA project – carried out by 12 partners from 10 European nations – was successful in retrieving past climate records of great impact for the assessment of our current climate change.

The results have shown that the recent rise in greenhouse gas concentration is beyond any historical comparison, leading to climate change at an unprecedented rate.

In addition, the ice cores obtained by the EPICA team have allowed scientists to study in detail the coupling of the northern and southern hemisphere.

“The prize has come at a very important time as we are currently in the International Polar Year, IPY,” said Paul Egerton, head of the European Polar Board at the European Science Foundation. “The main aspect of the IPY is to bring science to the public and this prize will help to give more visibility to climate change.”

The EPICA project brought together scientists from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK with expertise in different branches of ice core research and glaciology.

VIRLIS, which has advanced the knowledge needed to fight the listeria infection; and SynNanoMotors, which is developing molecular-sized motors, were also awarded the Descartes Prize.

A documentary on the 96 percent of the universe that could be missing was one of three recipients of the Science Communication Prize, the others being science communicator Jean-Pierre Luminet and writer Delphine Grinberg.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 31, 2008 (ENS) – The European Commission is giving the government of Italy just one month to clean up the waste crisis plaguing Naples and the rest of the Campania region or face a potentially costly lawsuit. Since just before Christmas, thousands of tons of garbage have been left uncollected by the roadsides because waste disposal sites are full.

The final written warning issued today by the Commission means that Italy will be hauled up before the European Court of Justice unless it brings arrangements for dealing with waste in the region fully into line with the requirements of EU waste legislation. Italy risks huge fines if the EU takes the country to court.

Garbage piled on a Naples street
(Photo credit unknown)

The Italian government estimates more than 250,000 metric tons of garbage have accumulated on the roads.

This situation has led to incidents in which angry residents have set fire to waste piles in the streets. The uncollected waste and the open fires pose serious health and environmental risks through the spread of disease and pollution of air, water and land.

While Italy has already taken some measures to deal with the waste crisis, in view of the situation’s urgency and gravity, the Commission is giving Italy just one month to respond instead of the usual two month deadline.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “The situation in Campania is intolerable and I fully understand the frustrations of residents who fear for their health. It is essential that the Italian authorities not only take effective measures to resolve the current emergency, as they are already doing, but also put in place the waste management [www.sundancechannel.com] infrastructure needed to provide a sustainable solution to problems which date back more than a decade.”

“The Commission will continue its legal action, and if necessary use its powers to seek fines, until the situation in Campania is brought into line with the EU waste management standards that Italy and all other member states have agreed to,” Dimas said.

EU waste law, known as the Waste Framework Directive, requires member states to prevent waste from being abandoned, dumped or disposed of in an uncontrolled way. They must ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or harming the environment. Measures must be taken to establish an adequate network of disposal installations to ensure a high level of protection for the environment and human health.

Early in January, Prime Minister Romano Prodi appointed former national police chief Gianni De Gennaro as special commissioner to handle the garbage problem. Prodi gave him four months to resolve the crisis, which has resulted from decades of political weakness and corruption in waste disposal at the hands of the local mafia.

Gianni De Gennaro
(Photo courtesy
Govt. of Italy)

On January 21, De Gennaro announced that the government will reopen three rubbish dumps across Campania and establish three temporary storage sites, including one in a Naples suburb where residents repeatedly have clashed with police.

De Gennaro, a former police chief, said that by February 5 at the latest, with the dumps reopened, trash collectors would begin disposing of the daily trash output of about 7,000 metric tons and begin dealing with the backlog.

Residents suspect the “temporary” sites will become permanent. After a brief meeting with De Gennaro Tuesday, a resident who wished to remain unidentified said the commissioner has given no date by which the temporary sites will be closed.

Since mid-January authorities in Naples have been shipping mountains of trash to other parts of Italy, but the deliveries have led to protests. Piles of Naples’ garbage were set ablaze on the island of Sardinia.

The Commission sent Italy a first warning letter over the situation in Campania last June. This action was taken after garbage in the region had been left uncollected for a period during the spring of 2007, forcing the closure of schools on health grounds and leading residents to set fire to piles of rubbish bags in the streets.

The Italian government responded to that episode by adopting a decree-law setting out emergency measures for the region including the opening of four new waste landfill sites.

Police clash with Campania residents
on the road to a landfill site.
(Photo credit unkown)

Still, the Commission concluded that the decree-law provided only limited solutions because it failed to take a systematic and long-term approach to resolving a crisis that has been caused by the Italian authorities’ systematic failure to provide for an adequate network of waste disposal installations in Campania, Dimas said.

In the light of Italy’s response to the first letter and meetings with the Italian authorities, including a visit by officials from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment to see the situation in Campania at first hand, the Commission concluded that more action was needed by the Italian authorities.

Last October the Commission sent Italy an additional letter of formal notice pointing to the lack of a waste management plan for Campania as required by EU law. A waste management plan for the region was adopted more than 10 years ago but never properly implemented.

In view of the continuing and apparently worsening waste crisis in Campania seen in recent weeks, the Commission said the Italian authorities need to redouble their efforts to resolve both the immediate crisis and the longer term structural problems resulting from the region’s inadequate waste disposal infrastructure.

The new emergency measures set out in the legal notice adopted by the Italian government on January 11, should help to improve the situation in the short term, but they fail to provide a longer term solution to ensure waste management in Campania in a manner consistent with European legislation.

Given the potentially grave health and environmental problems posed by the continuing crisis the Commission said that, while welcoming the efforts undertaken by the Italian authorities to solve the crisis, it has no option but to continue the infringement procedure by sending Italy a final written warning.

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