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.