The Environment Chronicle

New campaigns for safe meat, environmental tax reform, and against wasting electricity with appliances in "Standby mode".

In 1993 and 1995, the rivers Rhine and Meuse flooded their banks twice within a thirteen-month period. Because the catchment areas of these two rivers are located in more than one country, flood control inevitably became a matter of co-operation between the relevant authorities. Flanders, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Wallonia submitted a joint flood control programme to the European Commission within the framework of its INTERREG II-C initiative. This programme was approved on 18 December 1997 and was given the name IRMA, which stands for INTERREG Rhine-Meuse Activities. Besides the EU Member States mentioned, Switzerland was also participating in this programme on a project basis.

The Renewable Energy Day is a German-wide initiative launched on the occasion of the anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor disaster and aimed at presenting the different utilisation possibilities offered by sustainable energy management. This event was initiated by the city of Oederan (Saxony) on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1996. On 20 April 1996, 27 house owners in the federal state of Saxony presented their wood heating systems as well as their solar, wind and water energy systems to the public. In the following years, activities within the scope of the day of renewable energy sources spread throughout Germany.

The International Whaling Commission erects a whale sanctuary covering the entire offshore waters of the Antarctic.

The agency was established by an EU directive in 1990. It has 18 member states (including the 15 EU states). It collects, processes and provides information and statistics on the environment and nature conservation for the public and policy makers, and develops new instruments for implementing policy. In Germany, the agency's offices are at the Federal Environmental Agency.

Within the portfolio of the Environmental Minister, an independent Federal Nature Protection Agency shall be set up.

In 1993 BfS and UBA established SR monitoring with 4 stations. In the following years the network has been extended on a national level in cooperation with DWD and further institutions.

The commission was set up under a decision at the 1992 UN Conference on the Environment and Development. It has 53 members, including Germany, and its goals are to implement Agenda 21 and support the Convention on Biodiversity. Agenda 21 agrees and defines long-term strategic goals for sustainable development.

Since 1993 NABU has been awarding the ‘Dinosaur of the Year’ award, a copy of a dinosaur cast from tin and weighing 2.6 kilograms, to people in the public eye whose outstanding individual achievements have been shown to be particularly outdated.

The WBGU was set up by the German Federal Government as an independent advisory council. It reports directly to the government and is directed alternately by the ministries for education and for the environment. An interministerial committee from 13 other ministries and the Chancellor's Office also follow the work of the council. The council's core task is to analyse all forms of information on global change and produce recommendations for political action. It reports on global environment and development issues, evaluates national and international research on global change, indicates imminent problems and research gaps, stimulates interdisciplinary and applied research. Finally, it observes domestic and international policy on sustainable development, to create and disseminate recommendations for political and public action or research.

NABU starts a campaign to introduce environmental protection as a goal of the state in the German constitution.

Hosted and organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the World Water Week in Stockholm has been the annual focal point for the planet’s water issues since 1991. The Week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views and experiences between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities.

25 years ago, the German Arctic Station in Svalbard was officially opened by the former directors of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Prof. Gotthilf Hempel and Dr Rainer Paulenz, as well as the BMBF State Secretary, Mr. Bernd Neumann. The Koldewey Station originated from a joint cooperation with the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Norwegian operating company Kingsbay along with sponsorship from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It was the first non-Norwegian station in Ny Ålesund operating all year round. In 2003, the stations "Koldewey" and "Rabot" were merged into a modern German-French Community Station AWIPEV. In 1988, the AWI started its first seasonal research work in Ny Ålesund, Svalbard. The scientific motivation was the exploration of the arctic ozone layer, especially in winter and spring, which required staying there throughout the winter. The establishment of the station and the good working conditions locally allowed for the quick expansion of the scientific spectrum of tasks to include atmosphere-chemical, biological and geo-physical topics. To this day, the topic of climate change and its impact on life in the Arctic is of central importance for the observatories and project work conducted at AWIPEV station.

The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU is one of Europe's largest foundations and promotes innovative and exemplary environmental projects. Since 1991, almost 5500 projects have received financial backing totalling about ? 1 billion. The promotional activities concentrate on environmental technology and research, nature conservation, environmental communication and cultural assets.