The Environment Chronicle

135,968 Berlin citizens sign BUND's petition against the Hamburg-Berlin monorail (Transrapid). With 122,910 valid signatures, the petition was a success, as the project has been dropped for political reasons.

The purpose of the act is to conserve the marine environment and protect it from pollution by waste and other substances or objects. As a licensing authority, the FEA is able to prevent the disposal of hazardous waste at sea.

A second loose screw is found near the control rods in the pressure tank. The operators concede that the "finding indicates systemic errors" (source: Greenpeace).

During maintenance, for which the station was shut down on the 19th July, a safety screw on the control rods in the reactor's pressure tank was found to be loose, and the thread on the holding bolt was bare. Special tests had earlier found evidence of structural defects in the water feed pipes (source: Greenpeace).

Two leaks appear in separate cooling loops. The Hessian Environment Ministry and the operator RWE differ in their assessment of the seriousness of the incident (source: Greenpeace).

A fuel element becomes jammed during a routine inspection. The Lower Saxony Environment Ministry claims that a radioactive leak could have resulted, if the fuel element had been damaged (source: Greenpeace).

The Aarhus Convention is a international "Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters" by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

During the search for a leak in the turbine oil system, human error leads to a dramatic rise in steam pressure. After an emergency shut-down, it emerged that a valve which had been wrongly shut by hand could not be opened. There were no radioactive emissions, but the incident scored 2 on the INES scale of 1-7 (source: Greenpeace).

The purpose of the act is to safeguard the life and well-being of animals out of responsibility for them as fellow creatures. No person may harm an animal or cause it to suffer without good reason.

The purpose of the act is 1. to protect plants, especially crop plants, from harmful organisms and other harm. 4. to avoid hazards which might arise from the use of crop protection agents or other measures, especially for human and animal health and for the balance of nature. 5. to implement European Community law on crop protection. The legislature extends the competence of the FEA to cover testing the effects of crop protection on the balance of nature in its entirety.

Toxic chemicals in water from a burst dam belonging to a mine contaminate the Coto de Donana nature reserve in southern Spain. C. 5 million m_ of mud containing sulphur, lead, copper, zinc and cadmium flow down the Rio Guadimar. Experts estimate that Europe's largest bird sanctuary, as well as Spain's agriculture and fisheries, will suffer permanent damage from the pollution.

Ordinance on taking back and disposing of used batteries and accumulators: the aim is to reduce pollution from batteries in waste, by removing certain types of battery from circulation, taking back used batteries for proper and harmless disposal, and encouraging the production of reusable, long-lived batteries.

The purpose of the act is to ensure or recover soil function sustainably. Harmful soil change is to be prevented, contaminated land and subsequent water contamination is to be cleaned up and preventative measures against negative impact on soil are to be taken. Where soil is affected, impairment of its natural functions, including as an archive of natural and cultural history, should be avoided where at all possible.

The German Act Implementing the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty (Environmental Protocol Implementation Act) is designed to protect the Antarctic environment and the ecosystems that are associated with or depend on it. This Act transposes into Germany’s national law the international regulations set out in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Environmental Protocol) and names the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) as the national competent authority.

Flower of the Year 1998 is the Water soldier (Stratiotes aloides).

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

In recognition of the importance of the ocean, the marine environment and its resources for life on earth and for sustainable development, the United Nations has declared 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean.

Tree of the Year 1998 is the Wild pear (Pyrus pyraster).

Biotope of the Year: Orchard

Fish of the Year: Blageon (Leuciscus souffia)

Orchid of the Year: March hellenorine (Epipactis palustris)

Fungus of the Year 1998 is the Gomphus clavatus. It is commonly known as pig's ears. Other common names for this species include clustered chanterelle and violet chanterelle.

Bird of the Year 1998 is the Skylark (Alauda arvensis).

Animal of the Year: Fire-bellied, yellow-bellied toads (Bombina bombina, Bombina variegata)

Vegetable of the Year 1998 / 1999: Broad bean or Fava bean (Vicia faba)

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 Third Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) was held from 1-11 December 1997 at the Kyoto International Conference Hall (KICH) in Japan. On 11 December, after 10 days of tough negotiations ministers and other high-level officials from 160 countries reached agreement on a legally binding Protocol under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%.

Due to a problem in the cooling system, the Ukrainian reactor must be shut down, and radioactive cooling water escapes (source: Greenpeace).

BUNDjugend, together with 135,000 schoolchildren, attempted to achieve the German government's 7 year climate targets within 7 months. The target and activities were devised by the Institute for Environmental Issues. The SPD and the Green Party also entered the challenge after the general election. BUNDjugend and the schoolchildren succeeded in showing that they could, without spending money, and against the resistance of other schoolchildren, teachers and the school board, make 10% energy savings. Their success was celebrated with a party promised by the government.

The independent commission of experts presents the environment ministry with the draft of an environmental book of law.

A defective pump floods part of the cooling system in reactor B (which was shut down at the time). Even when not in operation, the entire basin containing a reactor core must be cooled. Failure in the cooling system can cause serious problems (source: Greenpeace).

§1 The entire territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and the regions of which it is made up shall be developed, organized and protected by integrative general regional plans and the harmonizing of regionally significant plans and measures. 1(2) The overall concept ... is that of sustainable regional development which will bring the social and economic demands made on an area into line with its ecological functions and result in a stable order which will be well-balanced on a large scale.

The Used Cars Ordinance comes into force, in conjunction with a voluntary commitment by car manufacturers to recycle used cars.

The "Diamond Grace", registered in Panama, runs aground near Tokyo and loses c. 1,500 t oil.

During the night, c. 12 t toxic toluyl-endiamin escape, damaging the paintwork on c. 100 cars. The operator claims that no humans were harmed.

The Federal Economics Ministry may, with the agreement of the Employment Ministry and the upper house of the German parliament, determine that information on the consumption of energy and other resources by household appliances should be made available, and set out upper limits on energy consumption by household appliances.

After an explosion, the "ML Petron" spills 200,000 l oil off the south coast of the Philippines.

World Wetlands Day is celebrated each year on 2 February. It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997. Since then government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.

In thick fog north-west of Dunkirk, the Mexican chemicals tanker "Teoatl" collides with the Bahaman registered "Bona Fulmar". A 3x4 m hole is punched in the Bona Fulmar's stern, from which some 4,500 m_ petrol escape into the sea. The rest of the cargo was pumped into other tanks. Since the petrol evaporates quickly, there is no threat to the coastlines, the Teoatle was carrying no cargo.

A Russian tanker breaks up and sinks in the seas off Japan. Helicopters and a lifeboat rescue 31 sailors. The tanker was carrying 19,000 t oil bound for the Russian peninsula Kamschatka. A 1.8 km by 100 m oil slick is subsequently observed.