The Environment Chronicle

On 15 April 2013 four young people on a mission with Greenpeace planted a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole. The flag is attached to a glass and titanium time capsule containing the names of 2.7 million people who joined the Greenpeace campaign to Save the Arctic. They came to the Pole to say this special area of the Arctic belongs to no person and no nation, that it is the common heritage of everyone on Earth.

Google released images taken by its Street View service from the town of Namie, Japan, inside the zone that was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

On 27 March 2013, the European Commission adopted a Green Paper on "A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies".

On 25 March 2013, Peru's government declared an environmental state of emergency in a remote Amazon jungle region it says has been affected by years of contamination at the country's most productive oil fields, which are currently operated by Pluspetrol. In declaring the emergency, Peru's Environment Ministry said the contamination included high levels of lead, barium and chromium as well as petroleum-related compounds. The 90-day emergency orders immediate action to reduce the risk of contamination to the local population. It published on 25 March 2013, for the first time, environmental quality standards setting acceptable limits for contaminants in soil.

The 2013 World Meteorological Day theme is “Watching the weather to protect life and property,” with the subtitle “Celebrating 50 Years of the World Weather Watch.” It also pays tribute to the World Weather Watch, a foundation programme of the WMO that marks its fiftieth anniversary in 2013. To predict the weather, modern meteorology depends upon near instantaneous exchange of weather information across the entire globe. Established in 1963, the World Weather Watch - the core of the WMO Programmes- combines observing systems, telecommunication facilities, and data-processing and forecasting centres - operated by Members - to make available meteorological and related environmental information needed to provide efficient services in all countries.

The 178 signatory nations to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species voted on 11 March 2013, to protect five species of shark threatened with extinction through fishing.

The European Commission has announced the winners of the 2012 European Mobility Week Award and of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans Award. The cities were presented with their awards by European Commissioners at a joint award ceremony in Brussels, Belgium on 6 March 2013. European Mobility Week 2012 award winner Zagreb (Croatia) won the award for its well-organised campaign to promote the week, a strong link with the 2012 theme and 62 separate activities involving more than 150 000 citizens. Aberdeen’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan addresses social, integration, safety, environmental and economic objectives and includes a focus on sustainable transport. The Plan is being developed in close consultation with citizens and stakeholders and features open workshops, surveys, a promotional campaign and an innovative social media/online presence.

On 5 March 2013, Vodacom unveiled the largest solar array of panels on a single building in Africa at its offices in Century City, Cape Town. The solar array is expected to provide up to 75% of all electricity power required by the building during peak production.

The 3 March 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of the adoption of CITES.

Bulgaria's outgoing parliament confirmed on 27 February an earlier decision abandoning plans for a new nuclear power plant, after a referendum forced a review of the issue. MPs voted with 114 in favour and 40 against to uphold a decision from March 2012 that officially ended the Belene project. The results of the referendum in January 2013 were not legally binding because of the low turnover.

"Objections are raised to the notification by the Federal Republic of Germany of a postponement of the deadline for attaining the limit values for NO2 set out in Annex XI to Directive 2008/50/EC in zones 2, 3, 5-7, 9 (as regards the annual limit value), 10-14, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24 (as regards the annual limit value), 30-42, 44-46 and 56, as specified in the Annex to this Decision."

The twenty-seventh session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC27/GMEF) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 18-22 February 2013 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). The meeting was the first Universal Session of the GMEF following the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to strengthen and upgrade UNEP. Delegates adopted 14 decisions on, inter alia: IPBES; coordination across the UN system, including the EMG; oceans; sustainable consumption and production; green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; advancing justice, governance and law; state of the environment; and chemicals and wastes. The GC also adopted a decision on institutional arrangements that, inter alia, recommends the UN General Assembly rename the Council "UN Environment Assembly of UNEP," and provides that the UN Environment Assembly "will ensure" the active participation of all relevant stakeholders and explore new mechanisms for promoting the effective engagement of civil society in its work, by developing by 2014 a process for stakeholder accreditation and participation.

An estimated 40,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. on 17 February 2013 for the Forward on Climate Rally on the National Mall. The rally preceded a march to the White House to urge President Barack Obama to take action against climate change and reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

On 15 February 2013, the SIN List was updated to version 2.1, adding additional chemicals to the list of Substances of Very High Concern identified by ChemSec. There are now 626 Substances of Very High Concern on the SIN List, compared with 138 on the official REACH Candidate List.

At the first meeting of the Federal government/Länder round table on the EEG reform on 14 February 2013, Federal Environment Minister Altmaier and Federal Economics Minister Rösler presented a joint proposal on curbing the costs of expanding renewable energies.

The International Year of Water Cooperation 2013 was officially launched on the occasion of a special kick-off event organized at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France on 11 February 2013. The official slogan for the Year was revealed during the ceremony: "Water, Water Everywhere, Only if We Share".

A major reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which aims to cut fishing to sustainable stock levels, end dumping at sea, and base long-term planning on sound scientific data, was approved by Parliament on 6 February 2013. Overfishing is widely seen as the worst failure of the current CFP, dating from 2002. The new one is to take effect in 2014.

On 28 January 2013, a new smartphone app was introduced by the Federal Environment Ministry together with Hellmann Process Management, which built the app. The free "eSchrott" app helps smartphone users find the nearest facility to drop off electronic waste ranging from hair dryers to laptops to old cellphones. The new app in Germany helps people easily find 3,370 communal collection centers for old electronic devices as well as 8,400 private collection centers for energy efficient lamps containing mercury.

The nations that are members of the Arctic Council have agreed to make Tromsø the permanent home of the Secretariat. On 21 January 2013, a signing ceremony took place in the Norwegian Polar Research Centre. The so-called Host Country Agreement was signed by Foreign Minister of Norway, Barth Eide, and newly appointed Director of the Arctic Council Secretariat ,Mr. Magnús Jóhannesson.

More than 140 nations have adopted the first treaty to reduce mercury emissions.

The world’s first large passenger vessel to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), Viking Grace was delivered to Viking Line on 10 January 2013, and took service on 13 January 2013. LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is natural gas that has been cooled down to minus 162 degrees Celsius (minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit). This transforms it from gaseous to liquid form and shrinks it 600 times in volume. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that emits about 25 per cent less carbon dioxide during combustion than oil does. The gas burns with a clean flame, emitting neither dust nor soot. It is sulphur-free and is low in nitrogen oxide emissions.

On 1 January 2013, beverage can deposit celebrated its 10th birthday.

From the start of the third phase of the EU Emissions Trading System (2013-20) the power sector will in general have to buy all its allowances. However, until 2019 ten Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Romania) may choose to allocate a limited number of allowances for free to power stations instead of selling them. On 29 March 2011 Commission Decision set out the rules Member States would have to follow if they opt to give away allowances for free, and is accompanied by a Communication with additional guidance on how any applications received will be assessed.

European Commissioner for Environment Janez Potočnik has declared 2013 as the Year of Air for EU policies. The plan is to highlight the importance of clean air for all and to focus on actions to improve air quality across the EU.

Moss of the year 2013 is the Marchantia polymorpha, sometimes known as the common liverwort or umbrella liverwort.

The French city of Nantes had been named as winners of the European Green Capital award for 2013. Nantes, France's sixth largest city with a population of 285 000, has successfully linked its green and blue urban areas, integrating urban challenges with a location on two major rivers (the Loire and the Erdre), through a sustainable water management programme. Several Natura 2000 and other nature conservation areas border the city, and conservation of the flora and fauna are a key concern for its population. Nantes has a long established integrated and sustainable transport policy with a focus on public transport and cycling and was the first French city to successfully reintroduce electric trams. Its ambitious transport policy has reduced air pollution, and a new climate plan aims to cut CO2 emissions by a quarter by 2020. One novel initiative for citizens' health is an allergy risk evaluation system, in the form of an experimental “pollen watch garden”.

The winners of the German Environmental Award of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umweltstiftung (DBU)2013 have been selected. The 500,000-euro award, is to be shared in 2013 by the founder and managing director of the company Hock (Nördlingen), Carmen Hock-Heyl (58), and the chairwoman of the board of Netzkauf ElektrizitätsWerke Schönau (EWS) e.G., Ursula Sladek (67). Hock-Heyl is receiving the award because she established insulation batts for house building made out of the eco-friendly raw material hemp on the market, and the “electricity rebel” Sladek is being honoured for creating the first green-energy provider in Germany on the basis of a civic action group.

Stricter regulations have come into effect on a number of chemicals, in accordance with the European REACH Regulation. The chemicals concerned include water- and oil-repellent substances as well as four perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCA). The ECHA commission has identified 54 additional chemicals as Substances of Very High Concern.

On 19 December 2012, Federal Minister of Economics Rösler and Federal Environment Minister Altmaier presented the first monitoring report “Energy of the Future” for the reporting year 2011.

2012 the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) celebrates the 30th anniversary of the commissioning of Polarstern, the ice-breaking research and supply ship of the German polar research.

On 27 November 2012 for the first time the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a Report on the status of the global permafrost regions. In it an international team of experts clearly explains how climate change is impacting the permanently frozen soils in the Arctic, Siberia and in the high mountain regions, which potential hazards emanate from the thawing ground and the far-reaching consequences countries with permafrost must consider. The researchers also call upon politicians and climate scientists to include the knowledge about the change in the permafrost regions to a greater extent in the international climate debate.

The Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency presented the Federal Ecodesign Awards for the first time on 22 November 2012. A total of fourteen prize winners were recognized in the three award categories: Product, Concept and Young Talent. Projects ranged from a neighbour-to-neighbour carsharing scheme and innovative hybrid technology to carbon-neutral housing and junk data reduction on the Internet.

Members of the European Parliament voted on 22 November 2012 to close a loophole in the current ban on shark finning, which will make it easier to catch out perpetrators of this cruel practice. "1a. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, and in order to facilitate on board storage, shark fins may be partially sliced through and folded against the carcass, but shall not be removed from the carcass before landing."

Nearly 25 000 km2 of invaluable natural expanse have been added to the Natura 2000 network. This network of protected sites is the EU's primary tool in the fight to conserve Europe’s rich biodiversity. The Commission has now formally approved the inclusion in the network of a further 235 sites, proposed by Member States for recognition as "Sites of Community Importance". Member States will have six years to put the necessary measures in place to protect these sites. The latest update concerns 20 Member States and covers all nine of the network's bio-geographical regions – the Alpine, Atlantic, Black Sea, Boreal, Continental, Macaronesian, Mediterranean, Pannonian and Steppic regions. Natura 2000 now covers 768 000 km2 (17.9 %) of the EU landmass and more than 217 000 km2 (approx. 4 %) of its seas.

The first-ever Global Frackdown Day was on 22 September 2012.

On 14 August 2012 a Brazilian court ordered an immediate halt to construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam project in the Amazon. The court says local indigenous people have not been properly consulted.

On 12 August 2012, the European Commission announced deductions from 2012 fishing quotas of those Member States that had exceeded their quotas in 2011. This year, for the first time, deductions were increased by 50% for Member States that had repeatedly (in 2009, 2010 and 2011) overfished the same stock.

Authorities in eastern China dropped plans for a waste water discharge project on 28 July 2012, after thousands of protesters angry about pollution took to the streets. The planned pipeline would have emptied waste water from a Japanese-owned paper factory into the sea near Qidong.

In a statement on the chances and limits of using bioenergy, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has come to the conclusion that in quantitative terms, bioenergy plays a minor role in the transition to renewable, sustainable energy sources in Germany at the present time and probably in the future. Bioenergy requires more surface area, is associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions and is more harmful to the environment than other renewable sources such as photovoltaic, solar thermal energy and wind energy. In addition, energy crops potentially compete with food crops. The report recommends finding strategies for saving energy and increasing energy efficiency.

A team of scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences has just completed an airborne measurement campaign that allowed for the first time to measure large-scale methane emissions from the extensive Arctic permafrost landscapes. The study area extended from Barrow, the northernmost settlement on the American mainland, across the entire North Slope of Alaska, to the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The airborne measurements (Airborne Measurement of Methane -- AIRMETH) at a flight level of only 30 to 50 meters above ground addresses two major questions: How much methane is emitted from permafrost areas into the atmosphere? Do well known geological point sources, i.e. the leakage of gas along geologic faults, contribute significantly to the total amount or does the microbially produced methane from the upper soil layers dominate?