The Environment Chronicle

Frank Sherwood Rowland, Nobel Prize-winning chemist for showing that chlorofluorocarbons could destroy the Earth’s ozone layer, died on 10 March, 2012. He was 84.

Africa Environment Day, celebrated annually on 3 March, was established by the Organization of African Unity in 2002 as a way of raising awareness of the pressing environmental challenges facing the continent. Since 2012, the Africa Environment Day has been celebrated in conjunction with Wangari Maathai Day, in order to pay tribute to the late Nobel Laureate's green legacy.

An image taken on 3 March 2012 shows an enormous algae bloom off the coast of Antarctica. Jan Lieser, a marine glaciologist who monitors the sea ice conditions in the East Antarctic using satellite data for the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart, Australia, estimated that the bloom covered an area about 200 kilometres east to west, by 100 kilometres north to south. The field of green algae is so bright that it is clearly visible from space, even through thin layers of cloud.

March 2012 was the warmest March for the contiguous United States since the U.S. record began in 1895. The mean temperature of the U.S. (without Alaska and Hawaii) was 10.6 °C (51.1 °F) exceeding the 20th century March average of 5.8 °C by 4.8 K. Temporary, summerlike temperatures dominated, causing numerous new daily temperature records for the month. Including the very mild start of the year, the first quarter of 2012 was the warmest first quarter on record.

On 29 February 2012, the Federal Cabinet adopted the German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess). At the core of ProgRess are new strategic approaches, activities and examples geared towards increasing resource efficiency. The Programme covers the entire value chain. It is about securing a sustainable raw material supply, raising resource efficiency in production, steering consumption towards resource efficiency, enhancing resource-efficient closed cycle management and using overarching instruments. The Programme seeks to support voluntary measures and initiatives in industry and society.

On 28 February 2012, Greenpeace released “Lessons from Fukushima” in Tokyo, a report which shows that it was not a natural disaster which led to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan’s east coast, but the failures of the Japanese Government, regulators and the nuclear industry.

On 27 February 2012, Prof. Dr. Ulf Riebesell, Oceanography, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) at University of Kiel, received the Leibniz Prize for his research on ocean change, one of the farthest-reaching corollaries and consequences of human-induced climate change.

The Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base is a research station, as part of the Brazilian Antarctic Program, located in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, 130 km from the South American continent. The station began operating on 6 February 1984. On 25 February, 2012, a blast in the machine room housing the generators at the station caused a fire that, according to the Brazilian navy, destroyed approximately 70% of the compound.

On 23 February 2012, Australian researchers revealed they had filmed a pod of extremely rare Shepherd's beaked whales for the first time ever.

A expert committee vote on 23 February 2012, did not find the required majority in favour of a European Commission proposal to designate oil from tar sands as particularly damaging to the environment.

Fruit seeds stored away by squirrels more than 30,000 years ago and found in Siberian permafrost have been regenerated into full flowering plants by scientists in Russia, a new study has revealed. The seeds of the herbaceous Silene stenophylla plant, whose age was confirmed by radiocarbon dating at 31,800 years old, are far and away the most ancient plant material to have been brought back to life, said lead researchers Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On 17 February 2012, the US Department of Interior approved an oil spill response plan for Shell's proposal to drill in the Chukchi Sea.

Thawing permafrost will have far-reaching ramifications for populated areas, infrastructure and ecosystems. A geographer from the University of Zurich reveals where it is important to confront the issue based on new permafrost maps – the most precise global maps around. They depict the global distribution of permafrost in high-resolution images and are available on Google Earth.

On 16 February 2012, the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico and Sweden, with the support of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), launched the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, which aims to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, carbon, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane.

Brookesia micra is a species of chameleon from the island of Nosy Hara in Antsiranana, Madagascar. As of 14 February 2012, it is the smallest known chameleon and among the smallest reptiles, small enough to stand on the head of a match. In length, adult Brookesia micra can grow up to 29 millimetres. Brookesia micra was discovered and named by a team of researchers led by Frank Glaw of the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology. Glaw and his colleagues have been conducting expeditions into the Madagascan forests for eight years.

On 14 February 2012, the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health opened in Bonn. Since 1 January 2012 the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (ECEH) has been located entirely in the UN city of Bonn. The tasks of the Rome office, which was closed in December, have been transferred to the Bonn office. The WHO European Centre for Environment and Health in Bonn deals with the impacts of environmental factors on human health.

Released by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the first EU Classification and Labelling Inventory lists the classification of all the chemical substances used in the EU which allows identifying those that are potentially hazardous and may damage health and the environment. The aim is to provide industry, and in particular small companies, with easy access to information on the hazardousness of a given substance, facilitating the task to correctly classify and label substances and mixtures, as well as substitution of hazardous substances with less damaging alternatives where feasible.

Forest certification body FSC has revised its standards following a long consultation with its members. On 10 February 2012 the majority of them backed the changes, which aim to update and clarify the scheme's principles and criteria (P&C). This was the first comprehensive review and revision of the FSC Principles and Criteria since their approval in 1994.

On 10 February 2012, the Council adopted a regulation following an agreement with the European Parliament in order to restrict the use of phosphates and other phosphorus compounds in consumer laundry and automatic dishwasher detergents in order to reduce the level of phosphorus poured into the waters. In addition to domestic detergents, the scope of the regulation also includes detergents used in public laundrettes. The limit value for consumer laundry detergents is set at 0.5 grams of phosphorus per washing process in a standard washing machine, and it will be applicable as from 30 June 2013. The limit value for consumer automatic dishwasher detergents is set at 0.3 grams ofphosphorus in a standard dosage, and it will be applicable as from 1 January 2017.

On 9 February 2012, Sub-Saharan Africa's first privately developed hydropower plant went online in Bugali, Uganda. With an installed capacity of 250 MW, the power plant will increase Uganda's available generating capacity by more than 50%, thus improving the energy supply for industry and private households. The hydropower plant sets an example in two ways. First, it has attracted private investors to a high-risk country. Second, complementary environmental and social campaigns have successfully demonstrated how hydropower plants can be built in a manner that respects the needs of the people and the environment.

On 4 February 2012, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. Anywhere from 40,000-120,000 barrels poured into a river that supplies drinking and irrigation water. Monagas state Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno declared a "state of emergency" following the spill, halting water distribution and closing schools in the state's capital of Maturin, which is located approximately 255 miles (410 kilometers) northeast of Caracas.

The 2011 Report on the Environmental Economy presents the latest developments, challenges and prospects of the environmental economy in Germany. The report documents the sector's increasing importance for the German economy and illustrates that Germany has already made considerable progress with the ecological modernisation of the economy and society: between 1990 and 2010 energy productivity rose by 38.6 percent and raw material productivity by 46.8 percent. There were also positive developments regarding air pollutant emissions: a 56.4 percent reduction was achieved in the reporting period compared with 1990. Germany is also at the forefront of recovery of waste and its environmentally sound disposal: around 90 percent of construction waste and 63 percent of municipal and production waste are already being recycled.

On 27 January 2012, the California Air Resources Board approved a new emissions-control program for model years 2017 through 2025. The program combines the control of smog, soot and global warming gases and requirements for greater numbers of zero-emission vehicles into a single package of standards called Advanced Clean Cars. By 2025, when the Advanced Clean Cars rules are fully implemented, one in seven new cars sold in California – 1.4 million – would be those that emit with very little or no pollution, including.

IUCN has classified the Sumatran elephant subspecies (Elephas maximus sumatranus) as critically endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species. There are only an estimated 2,400 to 2,800 of the animals remaining in the wild, a reduction of about 50 per cent from the 1985 population estimate. Scientists say that if current trends continue, Sumatran elephants could be extinct in the wild in less than 30 years.

A draft overall compromise package on the Regulation on the Placing on the market and use of biocidal products was agreed by the Permanent Representatives Committee on 23 November 2011. After the 2nd reading plenary vote by the European Parliament on 19 February 2012 and the adoption by the Council, the new law will apply as of September 2013.

The European Parliament and European Council have reached an agreement in December 2011 regarding the revision of the WEEE Directive. The agreement was approved by the European Parliament on 19 January 2012.

On 18 January 2012, President Obama rejected the permit for the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

KfW has created the new foundation "Future of the Carbon Market" on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The foundation will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries through targeted promotion of climate protection projects. It officially was launched at the beginning of 2012. BMU is providing the endowment capital of EUR 10 million in the framework of the International Climate Protection Initiative (IKI).

The Panamanian registered general cargo ship Tycoon was wrecked on 8 January 2012 after breaking her moorings and was pushed into the cliffs at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island and broke up, spilling oil and phosphate into the sea.

On 8 January 2012, the container ship Rena broke in two after enduring heavy winds and seas overnight. By 10 January 2012, the stern section had sunk almost completely.

To focus more public attention on the environmental protection potential of ecodesign and in order to foster innovation in this area, the Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) are tendering the first Bundespreis Ecodesign in 2012. The contest offers businesses and designers a platform to present products and ideas that demonstrate outstanding ecological and design quality.

On 22 March 2012, the Global Nature Fund (GNF) announced, for the second time, the choice of Lake Stechlin in Brandenburg as Living Lake of the Year 2012. The lake has been selected by the members of the network Living Lakes Germany, which was founded in 2009 by the GNF.

Laboratory Animal of the Year 2012 is the Atherosclerosis Mouse.

Avenue of the Year 2012 is a lime tree avenue in Brandenburg between Dansow and Annenwalde near Templin (Uckermark).

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, launched the 40th anniversary celebration of the World Heritage Convention in a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters on 30 January 2012. It was the first of a series of events States Parties to the 1972 Convention are organizing around the world over 2012.

North Spanish city Vitoria-Gastei had been named as winners of the European Green Capital award for 2012. Vitoria-Gasteiz, a regional capital of northern Spain, has made great progress in greening a traditional urban environment. The Green Belt, a semi-natural green area partially reclaimed from degraded areas, surrounds the centre, ensuring its entire population of almost a quarter of a million people lives within 300 metres of an open green space. Numerous measures are in place to assist and increase biodiversity and ecosystem services. Flora and fauna are monitored and habitat fragmentation is reduced wherever possible. The city is successfully coping with water scarcity and has steadily decreased its water consumption over the last decade. Many water related investments have been made to improve water supply and quality, reduce losses, and work towards sustainable consumption. Vitoria-Gasteiz has an ambitious objective of reducing domestic water consumption to below 100 litres per capita per day.

The German environment associations NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) has named Ilse Aigner, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, as its “Dinosaur of the Year” in 2012. NABU has presented the award every year to personalities who distinguish themselves with antiquated ideas about environmental protection since 1993.

In December 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2012 as the "International Year for Sustainable Energy for All" (Resolution 65/151), aimed at creating "an enabling environment for the promotion and use of new and renewable energy technologies, including measures to improve access to such technologies.

The revision of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, adopted by the Bundestag on 30 June 2011 and passed by the Bundesrat on 8 July 2011, also made comprehensive amendments to the Biomass Ordinance (BiomasseV) which become effective on 1 January 2012.