6 arrests in nationwide waste dumping raids

6 people were arrested during dawn raids today following a nationwide Environment Agency probe into illegal dumping of waste.

6 people were arrested during dawn raids today (Tuesday 10th March) - 4 for suspected waste offences and 2 for suspected human trafficking. This follows a nationwide Environment Agency probe into the illegal dumping of potentially hazardous waste at illegal waste sites in Bristol, Scunthorpe and Newark in Nottinghamshire. The investigation is also looking at links to an abandoned waste transfer site in Orpington run by operators Waste4Fuel.

More than 40 Environment Agency investigators, supported by Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Police, swooped on suspects home addresses and the sites as part of Operation Encore.

Environment Agency crime staff from across England, including a number in specialist breathing apparatus, have been brought in to support the operation due to its large scale.

The police were deployed to support with arrests, access properties and assist with collecting evidence. The Home Office Immigration Enforcement and Social Services were also involved as part of this multi-agency operation, due to a suspected number of illegal workers at the sites.

The 6 people arrested have all been released on conditional bail pending further enquiries.

The investigation is ongoing and expected to take many more months to complete.

Andy Higham, Head of the Environment Agency’s National Investigation Team, said:

The Environment Agency will relentlessly target organised criminals who risk damaging health, livelihoods and the environment by trading in illegal and hazardous waste for criminal gain.

Following a covert Environment Agency investigation we have worked with the police to arrest these suspects and secure evidence. Our enquiries will continue to probe the full extent of suspected offending.

We take waste crime extremely seriously. This is a live and complex investigation, anyone with further information should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Resource Management Minister Dan Rogerson said:

Waste crime causes problems for local communities, undermines legitimate businesses and costs taxpayers. While it is not appropriate to comment on these arrests, we support the Environment Agency in taking a robust approach to tackle crime.

Earlier flood protection for thousands of homes across England

Budget announcement: More than 31,000 homes and businesses will be better protected from the risk of flooding sooner

The government is bringing forward more than £140 million of the £2.3 billion six-year flood defence programme announced in December to better protect more than 31,000 homes and businesses from flooding sooner than planned.

47 brand new schemes have been given the green light as part of the long-term investment programme and work will start on another 165 flood defence projects earlier than previously announced.

The 6 year programme represents a real terms increase in expenditure and will reduce flood risk across the country by 5%.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:

We’ve already protected 230,000 homes from the risk of flooding and coastal erosion so far this Parliament.

We’re now bringing forward more money to protect thousands more homes and businesses sooner than originally planned, as part of our long-term economic plan.

Projects include;

• In the North West, more than 2100 properties will be protected by the development of the Fairhaven and Church Scar Coast Protection scheme in Fylde, which is now scheduled to start three years earlier than previously planned.
• In the South East, the Southsea Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Management scheme - which will improve the standard of protection to more than 2,400 properties in Portsmouth - is now scheduled to start development more than 2 years earlier.
• In Yorkshire, the development of the River Foss Flood Risk Management project will help protect up to 1,500 properties from surface water and river flooding.

Environment Agency Chairman Sir Philip Dilley said:

This programme of more than 1,500 flood risk management schemes will significantly reduce flood risk to more than 300,000 properties in England by 2021, benefiting people, the economy and the environment. Government funding has also been brought forward meaning that over 30,000 properties will benefit from reduced flood risk earlier than originally planned.

Our priority is to do as much as we can with every pound of funding from government and local partners, but of course the risk of flooding can never be entirely eliminated. With one in six homes in England at risk of flooding, I encourage people to check their flood risk and sign up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service.

Szentendre considers introducing bike-sharing scheme

REC staff members pitch idea to City Hall

There's some news about a new bike-sharing scheme in Szentendre - good news, and better news!

The idea germinated last fall while the REC's Smart Cities and Mobility Topic Area team was investigating ways to reduce the environmental impact of the REC's own commuting habits, as more than half of the staff live in Budapest. The HEV (suburban rail system) and Volan buses offer a sustainable transport option for Budapest-bound commuters, but at the Szentendre end there's no public transport service for the "last mile".  Ad-hoc car-pooling groups appeared, but a big number still commute in single-occupancy vehicles. Even though many of them would like to come by bike, currently it's not a terribly attractive option as it's 22 kilometres each way from downtown. There is limited capacity for loading your bike on the HEV, not to mention that transporting a bike costs a full extra ticket!

Szentendre itself is a bedroom community: more than half of the town's working population of about 11,000 people work in Budapest and face exactly the same issues as REC employees. An extension to the Budapest Business School (BGF) is now under construction near the REC's offices - about two kilometres north of the HEV - further increasing the area's mobility needs.

A bike-share system could be an effective and relatively inexpensive way to solve this. If the system were cleverly integrated with the HEV and BuBi (the Budapest bike-share system launched last fall), it would allow commuters to bike at both ends of their HEV journey without having to pack their own rides, thus creating an environment-friendly, healthy transport option door to door.

But bike sharing would be good for more than commuters. Szentendre has outstanding tourist attractions and a bike-sharing system would give tourists a fun way to tour the city and its environs, including the Pap Sziget recreation area north of town and the Skanzen folkloric museum a few kilometres away in the Pilis foothills.

Based on these rough ideas, the REC applied for funding from the CIVITAS Initiative and will conduct an in-depth feasibility study by the end of June. The plan is to investigate the market potential, funding sources and operational model - including possibilities for integration with the BuBi system - and then analyse whether the proposal would be financially feasible, and under what conditions.

The interest that Szentendre City Hall has shown is very encouraging: four city experts at the kick-off meeting, supplemented by a team from the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK/BuBi), are dedicated to supporting the project. In order to achieve the best possible results, the project team will rely not only on experts, but will actively involve the local biking community, set up an interactive Szentendre bike-share website, and conduct large-scale market research among citizens to hear their opinions.

REC launches new PRTR project in SEE and Moldova

April , 2015

The REC officially kicked off a new project, "Support Establishment and Advancement of Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) in Western Balkan Countries and in Moldova", on March 1, 2015. The project will be implemented for two years with financial support from the German Federal Agency for Environment within the Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) for Environmental Protection in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.

The project will focus its main activities on four parties to the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR Protocol): Albania, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Moldova, with activities assisting these countries in fulfilling their obligations by putting operational PRTRs in place and improving the efficiency of already functioning PRTRs.

In the other three countries in South-Eastern Europe (SEE): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo*, stakeholder discussions will be held to give impetus to the PRTR development process, to discuss and evaluate the current situation, and to develop proposals for the next steps.

A regional experience-sharing workshop will be organised in the project's second year to support all project partners in exchanging information, sharing knowledge with each other and EU countries, and learning from best practices.

Project activities will be implemented in line with the PRTR Protocol and the EU's E-PRTR system, and also in close cooperation with national PRTR focal points, respective ministries and agencies of the project countries, as well as with the PRTR Protocol and Aarhus Convention bodies and Secretariat. Synergies will be developed with other ongoing PRTR projects and former REC PRTR project results.

More information about the project can be found here.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

REC, Sida organise study tour to Czech Republic for Serbian CSOs

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: Serbian study tour participants assemble in front of Brno's Ecological Institute Veronica.

A study tour to the Czech Republic for representatives of Serbian civil society organisations currently implementing grant projects awarded through the Supporting Environmental Civil Society in Serbia (SENSE) project took place on March 23-27, 2015. The visit was organised by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The study tour enabled CSOs from Serbia to exchange experiences with EU organisations and learn about their impact on decision making, how to establish dialogue with government bodies, and about various organisational functions (e.g. financing, human resource management, organisational structure, leadership, membership issues, engagement of volunteers, concrete actions and campaigns, and overcoming obstacles). The event also provided an excellent opportunity for both Serbian and Czech environmental organisations to establish personal connections with each other that could lead to fruitful cooperation and joint initiatives in future.

During the first day of the study tour, Serbian CSOs visited the Czech Ministry of Environment and talked with officials in charge of various sectors, such as finance, international projects and cooperation, nature protection and cooperation with civil society.

Serbian CSOs also met and connected with international environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the National Network of Healthy Cities, and People in Need, as well as with the most important national civil society organisations such as Green Circle (an association of 28 environmental NGOs), local partner organisations of the National Association of Nature Protectors, Frank Bold, and Ecological Institute Veronica.

Participants then visited the VIA Foundation and the Partnership Foundation, two groups that support the work of NGOs.

Two excursions to protected areas (Cesky kras and hady) were organised in order to demonstrate how Czech NGOs support management of natural protected areas.

The SENSE project started in December 2012 and will run through Ocotber 2015.

A Look at the Landscape in 2015

Happy New Year!

As we begin a new year we are excited and deeply grateful to count on the continued support of friends like you!

Executive Director Barbara Vallarino at work planting native tree seedlings in Honduras (Photo: Nicholas Shufro)

Before 2015 sweeps us away, we want to thank you one last time for helping make 2014 a memorable, impactful year for EcoLogic and the communities we work with in Central America and Mexico. We put together a slideshow of the amazing things you helped us accomplish last year, and you can view it here!

Working with local communities to achieve our shared vision of a world where rural and indigenous communities lead in the creation of a sustainable world for both people and nature remains our true north.

REC, Sida organise study tour to Czech Republic for Serbian CSOs

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: Serbian study tour participants assemble in front of Brno's Ecological Institute Veronica.

A study tour to the Czech Republic for representatives of Serbian civil society organisations currently implementing grant projects awarded through the Supporting Environmental Civil Society in Serbia (SENSE) project took place on March 23-27, 2015. The visit was organised by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The study tour enabled CSOs from Serbia to exchange experiences with EU organisations and learn about their impact on decision making, how to establish dialogue with government bodies, and about various organisational functions (e.g. financing, human resource management, organisational structure, leadership, membership issues, engagement of volunteers, concrete actions and campaigns, and overcoming obstacles). The event also provided an excellent opportunity for both Serbian and Czech environmental organisations to establish personal connections with each other that could lead to fruitful cooperation and joint initiatives in future.

During the first day of the study tour, Serbian CSOs visited the Czech Ministry of Environment and talked with officials in charge of various sectors, such as finance, international projects and cooperation, nature protection and cooperation with civil society.

Serbian CSOs also met and connected with international environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the National Network of Healthy Cities, and People in Need, as well as with the most important national civil society organisations such as Green Circle (an association of 28 environmental NGOs), local partner organisations of the National Association of Nature Protectors, Frank Bold, and Ecological Institute Veronica.

Participants then visited the VIA Foundation and the Partnership Foundation, two groups that support the work of NGOs.

Two excursions to protected areas (Cesky kras and hady) were organised in order to demonstrate how Czech NGOs support management of natural protected areas.

The SENSE project started in December 2012 and will run through Ocotber 2015.

Managing Natural Resources and Combating Environmental Crime

Themis is an informal network of national authorities responsible for natural resources management and protection, and for the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, in particular on nature conservation, in EU candidate countries, potential candidates and countries with EU Association Agreements in South Eastern Europe. The network’s mission is to protect the environment by improving the capacities of its members to implement and enforce legislation on natural resources management and forestry, and to combat environmental crimes. This newly designed website has been created for the second phase of the Themis project, which began in October 2014.

The REC's Law Development, Enforcement and Compliance Topic Area implements the Themis project and provides secretariat services for the network. Themis has been funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation since its launch in November 2010.

Enhancing EHSS Skills and Competence of Local Consultants in EBRD Countries of Operation

Together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Monkey Forest Consulting the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is organising a series of capacity building workshops for local environmental consultancies in Albania, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Mongolia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. The workshops will focus on the following:

(i) The EBRD's environmental, health and safety, and social (EHSS) policies, procedures and due diligence requirements, including project monitoring,

(ii) A summary of the International Financial Institution (IFI) banking and investment processes, clarifying the differences in the environmental and social requirements related to different investment types,

(iii) The legal mechanisms through which the EBRD and others IFIs agree on, covenant, and ensure actions that are designed to manage risk and drive compliance with their respective policies,

(iv) Sector-specific EHSS issues faced by IFI clients, and

(v) Basic EHSS consulting skills, including the contracting requirements of the EBRD.

The workshops will include the participation of both EBRD staff and senior international environmental, social and health and safety experts. The planned workshops dates are as follows:

Date Location

23-27 February Tirana International Hotel; Tirana, Albania,

2-6 March Panorama Zagreb Hotel; Zagreb, Croatia,

13-17 April Ankara, Turkey

18-22 May Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

25-29 May, Kiev, Ukraine

15-19 June Belgrade, Serbia

TBD Skopje,former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

TBD Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

REC Chinese and European practices: Lectures now available for viewing!

E-learning course on urban sustainability and low-carbon development
ec2
Cities around the world are increasingly facing the challenges of mass urbanisation. Rapid urban growth, higher energy demand and consumption, and rising levels of pollution are driving the need for new patterns and models, in which sustainable development solutions are a key element in advancing urbanisation and managing its after effects. Focusing on new, decentralised energy technologies and enhancing the share of renewable energies can help to safeguard the environment and human wellbeing, while at the same time accelerating positive change in both urban and rural areas.
The fourth component of the EC2 e-learning training course introduces the Demo Zone Toolkit, which was designed to support local governments and institutions in China in the fields of energy and urban development and regeneration. The toolkit comprises a set of flexible tools for decision making, involvement and partnership, technology development and business planning. In addition, the e-learning course presents the Low-Carbon Model Towns (LCMT) initiative of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which is actively supported by the Chinese Government. The LCMT initiative aims to combine energy-efficient buildings, means of transportation and power systems in order to create communities in which reductions in energy use, lower carbon emissions and healthy living conditions are dovetailed in an affordable way.
The e-learning programme features two interconnected series focusing on the Demo Zone Toolkit and the APEC LCMT initiative. It also integrates two levels of engagement, according to the envisaged goals and the target audiences. The programme comprises keynote addresses, thematic presentations and supporting training materials. Key experts introduce the key aspects of the Demo Zone Toolkit; while Chinese and European experts present best practice examples, challenges and difficulties relating to the LCMT.
Training materials are available for Chinese and European stakeholders and experts from the public, business and finance sectors, creating an opportunity for a wider audience to find out about the showcased activities and to explore possibilities for cooperation. Visit http://ec2.rec.org/e-learning/ and join the lectures!

Ice loss sends Alaskan temperatures soaring by 7C

Scientists analysing more than three decades of weather data for the northern Alaskan outpost of Barrow have linked 7C rise to the decline in Arctic sea ice, reports Climate News Network

If you doubt that parts of the planet really are warming, talk to residents of Barrow, the Alaskan town that is the most northerly settlement in the US.

In the last 34 years, the average October temperature in Barrow has risen by more than 7°C − an increase that, on its own, makes a mockery of international efforts to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above their pre-industrial levels.

A study by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks analysed several decades of weather information. These show that temperature trends are closely linked to sea ice concentrations, which have been recorded since 1979, when accurate satellite measurements began.

The study, published in the Open Atmospheric Science Journal, traces what has happened to average annual and monthly temperatures in Barrow from 1979 to 2012.

In that period, the average annual temperature rose by 2.7C. But the November increase was far higher − more than six degrees. And October was the most striking of all, with the month’s average temperature 7.2C higher in 2012 than in 1979.

Gerd Wendler, the lead author of the study and a professor emeritus at the university’s International Arctic Research Center, said he was “astonished”. He told the Alaska Dispatch News: “I think I have never, anywhere, seen such a large increase in temperature over such a short period.”

The study shows that October is the month when sea ice loss in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, which border northern Alaska, has been highest. The authors say these falling ice levels over the Arctic Ocean, after the maximum annual melt, are the reason for the temperature rise. “You cannot explain it by anything else,” Wendler said.

They have ruled out the effects of sunlight because, by October, the sun is low in the sky over Barrow and, by late November, does not appear above the horizon.

Instead, they say, the north wind picks up stored heat from water that is no longer ice-covered in late autumn and releases it into the atmosphere.

At first sight, the team’s findings are remarkable, as Barrow’s 7.2C rise in 34 years compares with a global average temperature increase over the past century of up to about 0.8°C. But what’s happening may be a little more complex.

The fact that temperatures in and around Barrow are rising fast is no surprise, as the Arctic itself is known to be warming faster than most of the rest of the world.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says observed warming in parts of northern Alaska was up to 3C from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. It also concludes that about two-thirds of the last century’s global temperature increase has occurred since 1980.

But Barrow’s long-term temperature rise has not been uniform, the Fairbanks study says. Its analysis of weather records between 1921 and 2012 shows a much more modest average annual rise, of 1.51C. In 2014, the city experienced the coolest summer day recorded − 14.5C.

So one conclusion is to remember just how complex a system the climate is − and how even 34 years may be too short a time to allow for any certainty.

“Environment Today” Magazine 145 – “No more time to play…!”

"Studies show that more than half of victims from natural disasters and most of economic damages are result of floods, local fires, soil erosion in certain areas, or hot weather and small earthquakes, which in most of the time are not reported: mainly small tragedies in small communities."
This sentence is from the editorial of “Environment Today” magazine, issue 145, which is dedicated to natural disasters and their damages on environment.

In preparation of this number have contributed, in particular, well-known experts in field of civil emergencies and disasters, as Mr. Shemshi Premçi, director of Civil Emergencies at the Ministry of Interior; Ms. Miranda Deda by the National Natural Hazards Forecast near IGJEUM; Mr. Polikron Horeshka, specialist in the Department of industrial accidents and waste in the Ministry of Environment; and Fatos Xhengo from the program for preparation and disaster response near Albanian Red Cross.
"Civil Emergency in Albania: ... between limited capacities and lack of awareness"; "A Rapid Assessment Report after floods caused by Vjosa river "; "The prevention of natural disasters - a possible mission"; "Industrial threats in Albania: the invisible risk!" etc., are some of the main articles inside this number.

Among REC activities presented here we emphasize the article "Strong and prosperous communities along the international rivers", which reflects the international meeting held in Shkodra, on 9-10 March 2015, in framework of CRESSIDA program, with main goal to discuss local challenges and opportunities for fair management of water resources.
In the rubric from the world a special place is dedicated to the "Earth Hour 2015" movement with the slogan for this year: Change climate change, where Albania is participating for the 7th time in this event.