Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
Following is the July/August edition of EarthLink, a bi-monthly current awareness newsletter produced by INFOTERRA/USA. EarthLink provides information on international environmental activities, publications and news of interest to EPA staff and other environment professionals.
Sections:
Article: UNEP-led Balkans Task Force Biodiversity Mission leaves for Serbia
and Montenegro
Internet Sites for Environmental Damage
from War
International Environment News
General
Recycling
Pollution Prevention and Waste Issues
Climate Change
Water Quality and Remediation
Arctic Issues and Biodiversity
Upcoming
International Conferences
INFOTERRA Information
Subscribe to EarthLink on the Listserv
UNEP-led Balkans Task Force Biodiversity Mission Final field assessment of the environmental
leaves for Serbia and Montenegro:
consequences of the Balkans conflict begins tomorrow
GENEVA, 6 September 1999 The last team of international scientists
from the joint UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/UN Centre for Human Settlements
(Habitat) Balkans Task Force (BTF) leaves for Serbia and Montenegro tomorrow.
This, the final BTF expert field mission to the region, is one part of
on an independent scientific and technical assessment of the environmental
and human settlements impact of the Balkans conflict.
The team of five BTF scientists from Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark,
Norway, and Slovakia - will assess the damage to biological diversity
in protected areas in the region. Planned locations to be visited include:
Fruska Gora national park near Novi Sad, Kopaonik national park, Zlatibor,
and Lake Skadar in Montenegro.
Approximately 4% of Yugoslavia is classified as a nature protected area,
in the form of national parks, Ramsar (the Wetlands Convention) or World
Heritage sites. It has been reported that the conflict may have had a
direct impact on the plant and animal populations in these areas with
possible negative consequences for the region's biological diversity.
The BTF scientists will gather relevant information on the pre-conflict
status of these areas and also visit selected sites in order to collect
data and assess first-hand the current situation.
The report on impact on biological diversity will complement earlier
BTF missions to the region. In July, a BTF team of international experts
visited Yugoslavia to assess the environmental damage caused by the conflict
at selected industrial sites, and last month, another team visited Serbia
to look at the possible impact on the river Danube.
In addition, a BTF team, based in Pristina, is currently working in close
cooperation with the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on issues of urban management
and rehabilitation, housing law, property registration and environmental
management. And an inter-agency "Desk Assessment Group", involving UNEP,
WHO, IAEA and the Swedish Radiation Institute is looking into the issue
of the use of depleted uranium in the conflict.
Members of this group will forward their reports to the BTF later this
month.
A final report on the work of the BTF which will contain both
the scientific findings and some practical proposals - will be submitted
to the UN Secretary-General.
The BTF was established by the head of UNEP and Habitat, UN Under-Secretary-General,
Klaus Toepfer, in May 1999 to assess the environmental and human settlements
impacts of the Balkans conflict. The latest information on the work of
the BTF can be accessed from the World-Wide-Web at http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf
- the site contains detailed situation reports, maps and other materials.
For more information contact: Robert Bisset, Office of the UNEP Spokesman
and BTF Press Officer (in Belgrade, until 13 September c/o the Hyatt Regency
Hotel on tel: (381-11) 311 1234, fax: 311-2234), mobile: 41-79-206-3720,
email: robert.bisset@unep.org.
In Nairobi, contact: Tore J. Brevik, UNEP Spokesman on tel: (254-2) 623292, fax: 623692, email: brevikt@unep.org, or Sharad Shankardass, Ag. Head, Media and Press Relations, Habitat, tel: (254-2) 623153, fax: 624060, email: habitat.press@unchs.org
(UNEP News Release 1999/BTF7)
Internet Sites for the Balkan Task
Force
and environmental damage from wars
Joint UNEP / UNCHS (Habitat) Task Force on the Balkans (BTF)
http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf
BTF Related News Page (contains links to all news items regarding this
subject since April 1999)
http://www.grid.unep.ch:80/btf/articles/index.html
Environmental Ruin in Iraq (on the site of the Iraq Action Coalition)
http://leb.net/iac/
Environmental Consequences of the Conflict
http://environment.miningco.com/library/weekly/blkosovo1.htm
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT NEWS
General
Elvingson, Per. "Standards Both for Cars and 'Gas.' " Acid News,
No. 2 June 1999: 20.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new emissions standards for cars and light-duty trucks, including sport utility vehicles and to lower sulphur limits in gasoline. The proposal would lower the NOx by 77 per cent for cars and 95 per cent for the trucks. Also, the sulfur content in gas would have to be brought down from 300 parts per million to 30 parts per million by 2004. The EPA's proposals can be read online at: http://www.epa.gov/oms/tr2home.htm
Francis, Paul, "Institutionalizing Social Analysis at the World Bank." Environmental Impact Assessment Review 19, No. 3 (May 1999): 341-357.
This paper considers the ways in which social analysis has developed and been institutionalized in the World Bank. It briefly sketches a history of the ways in which social factors have been taken into account in Bank operations and assesses the extent to which conditions have been met for successfully integrating a social perspective within this particular institutional context and culture. The paper concludes that considerable progress has been made in increasing awareness of social issues, introducing policies in certain key areas, operationalizing social assessment procedures, and increasing social science staffing. A clearly articulated and integrated social policy is lacking, however, and the circumstances in which social analysis should be required have yet to be codified.
Fjellanger, Guro. "Meeting New Challenges." Our Planet, Vol.10 No. 2; 12-13.
Guro Fjellanger, current Minister of the Environment for Norway, writes in this article about the new threats to health and environment in the new milennium. She emphasizes the new approaches called for from UNEP in order to meet the changing needs of environmental sustainability. There must be policy integration to solve and meet these challenges, political engagement among governments to solve environmental dilemmas, and also a basis in the conventions which govern environmental law. UNEP's role should be in implementing joint talks and communication among implementing agencies on environmentally related matters.
Gardner, Gary. "Our Shared Future." World Watch, Vol. 12, No. 4 (July/August 1999): 10-20.
Gardner presents a strategy in this article which would reduce material waste and pollution, but would also have social benefits for the participants. He details how the spread of suburban areas in the USA has ushered in a new isolationism among neighbors, and especially among those who commute long distances from their homes to their jobs. He advocates more sharing of goods, time, and space in order to foster a renewed sense of community in many areas of the US. He presents a compelling argument that more people could share the same item (such as a car) through a program, and would therefore reduce the total number of cars on the road without changing the efficiency of the time spent in using the car. This would also work for volunteer hours which are repaid in needed services. Gardner believes that such sharing programs are plausible even in today's modern cities and communities, and gives examples of such programs currently in existence around the world.
Paggio, R. et .al., "A Cost Effective Programmable Environment for Developing Decision Support Systems" Environmental Modelling and Software 14, No. 5 (March 1999): 367-382.
This paper presents the TRACE system, a software platform for the development of Environmental Decision Support Systems. The main objective of the TRACE technology is to support the user in the real-time management of environmental emergencies, by rapidly assessing a crisis situation and building an effective intervention plan, which exploits the available operational resources at best. The first part of the paper presents the conceptual framework of the TRACE system, including user and application modelling methodologies, tools and techniques. The second part presents the design framework: the architecture of the system and a selection of relevant modules (namely the resource manager, the dependency manager and the constraint reasoner). Then the author illustrates the TRACE approach by a pilot application that will support decision making in the case of wind-throw management in Romanian forests.
Cramer, J. M and F. A. Reijengal. "The Role of Innovators in the Introduction of Preventive Environmental Policy in Local Government." Journal of Cleaner Production August 1999, vol. 7 Issue 4: 263-269.
"This article discusses the role of innovators in the introduction of "preventive environmental" policy in local government in the Netherlands. With the help of the configuration theory of Mintzberg and the innovation theory of Rogers a description is given of making this new prevention policy within the governmental organization. This process of change of five case studies is presented: two cases of provinces and three cases of municipalities. Special attention is paid to the role of innovators. The question to be answered is how innovators use networks within their organization to secure acceptance for their ideas. Finally, the authors summarize the success factors for innovators and add some recommendations for innovators within governmental organizations."
Barbier, Edward B. and Homer-Dixon, Thomas F., "Resource Scarcity and Innovation: Can Poor Countries Attain Endogenous Growth?" Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, March 1999 (Vol. 28, No. 2): 144-147.
Endogenous growth models have revived the debate over the role of technological innovation in economic growth and development. The consensus view is that institutional and policy failures prevent poor countries from generating or using new technological ideas to reap greater economic opportunities. The authors point out, however, that this view omits the important contribution of natural-resource degradation and depletion to institutional instability. Rather than generating automatic market innovation responses, worsening resource scarcities in poor countries can lead to social conflicts and frictions that disrupt the institutional and policy environment necessary for successful innovation, including appropriate market responses to scarcity. This indirect constraint of resource scarcity, the authors argue, may help explain the disappointing growth performance of many poor countries.
Gee, David and David Stanners. "The Environment, the Economy and Public Health" Naturopa1999 (No. 90): 4-5.
The authors provide a succinct, integrated view of how the environment
allows the human economy to operate and how the operation of the human
economy degrades the environment upon which it rests and the health of
human beings in return. The authors cite a European Environment Agency
report which identifies certain skin diseases, developmental (fetal and
childhood) disorders, and nervous system disorders which can be linked
to unnaturally large doses of common, naturally occurring substances such
as nickel, lead, and mercury as well as to artificial substances such
as certain pesticides. The article also serves as a public service announcement
for the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health which was
held in June 1999 in London.
Recycling
"US Recycling Progress Hindered by Subsidies" Warmer Bulletin, no.67, July 1999: 5.
A report called Welfare for Waste, published by a coalition of American
environmental groups, claims that the US Government is still giving subsidies
to virgin materials industries. The groups involved include GrassRoots
Recycling Network, Friends of the Earth, Materials Efficiency Project
and Taxpayers for Common Sense. The study says the practice goes back
to the 1800s, and that this practice undermines the efforts of many Americans
when they recycle. The study gives examples of how taxpayers will benefit
if the policy is updated for the 21st century. For more information, contact:
Bill Sheehan, GrassRoots Recycling Network, P.O. Box 49283, Athens, GA
30604-9283 USA; tel: (intl + 1) 706-613-7121; fax: (intl + 1) 706-613-7123;
Email: zerowaste@grrn.org
Pollution Prevention and Waste Issues
"World Bank Issues New Guidelines for Preventing, Managing Pollution" International Environment Reporter, 4 August 1999 (vol.22, no. 16): 647.
The World Bank has new guidelines, called the Pollution Prevention and
Abatement Handbook, for preventing and managing pollution. These guidelines
will apply to projects funded by the World Bank that were approved on
or after July 1, 1999. The World Bank's Pollution Prevention and Abatement
Handbook is available online at: http://www.worldbank.org/pollutionmanagement
Goldsmith, Edward, "Increasing TradeIncreasing Pollution" The Ecologist 29, No. 3 (May/June 1999): 176-179.
Globalization of trade and technological development is contributing significantly to environmental problems. Development is exacerbating problems such as deforestation, water pollution, and overfishing. In addition, the increasing transport of goods has also increased energy use, noise and air pollution. "For the global environment, 'development' is the problem, not the solution."
Stimson, Jim. "G-8 Officials to Cooperate on Data to Deter Illegal Waste, CFC Trade" International Environment Reporter, 21 July 1999 (vol. 22, no. 15): 609-610.
Law enforcement officials from the Group of Eight industrialized countries agreed on a broad plan to share data in an effort to detect and prevent illegal waste shipments and other environmentally damaging activities, according to a top U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official. The agreement occurred at a meeting in Rome, where there was an unprecedented level of participation by national officials with direct responsibility for environmental enforcement and access to enforcement resources.
Nair, R.N., "Probabilistic Safety Assessment Model for Near Surface Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities" Environmental Modelling and Software 14, No. 5 (March 1999): 447-460.
A probabilistic safety assessment model has been developed for assessing
the performance of near surface disposal facilities for low-level radioactive
waste. The model considers two modes of disposal such as single dump and
multiple dump. It is composed of four components: source term, repository
failure, geosphere transport and radiological assessment. The source term
contains low- level radioactive waste equivalent to 50 GWe.y energy production
(1 GWe.y=3.2×1016 J of electrical energy production) either
disposed at an instant or distributed over 50 years. The endpoints of
assessment are expressed as radioactivity release rate, radionuclide concentration
in ground water, radiation dose to a member of the critical group through
drinking water pathway and total risk to critical group due to disposal
practice.
Air Quality
Rosen, Karl G. and George Richardson. "Would Removing Indoor Air Particulates in Children's Environments Reduce the Rate of Absenteeism - A Hypothesis" The Science of the Total Environment, 30 August 1999 (Vol. 234, Issue 3): 87-93.
The author conducted a controlled trial to test the ability of a newly developed electrostatic air cleaning technology (EAC) to improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as defined by levels of airborne particles and to investigate the potential to reduce non-attendance rates due to illness among children in two Swedish day care centres. The EAC technology was shown to significantly reduce the indoor particulate load for very fine particles caused by outdoor air pollution by 78% and to reduce the number of fine particles produced indoors by 45%. To test the hypothesis, non-attendance was followed in two centres during 3 years. The EAC technology was in operation during year 2. Non-attendance rates among children in the larger day-care centre decreased by 55%, equalling those levels noted in family-based day care. It is speculated that the air cleaning effect may be due to alterations in electrostatic forces operating within the room enabling fine particulate matter to more easily become and stay airborne. The EAC technology is cost-efficient and might be a way forward to improve IAQ.
Morel, Benoit, Sonia Yeh, and Luis Cifuentes. "Statistical distributions for air pollution applied to the study of the particulate problem in Santiago" Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 33, Iss. 16 (July 1999): 2575-85.
This article derives an expression relating the distribution of concentrations of air pollutants to the emission levels and applies it to the study of the air pollution problem of Santiago de Chile. Features specific to the area, such as geography and meteorology are included in a stochastic framework. The resulting distribution has two parameters which can be easily estimated from the data and fits well the data from Santiago. This distribution is a powerful tool for use in analysis of pollution data and in the design of a mitigation strategy since the methodology developed here can be applied to any city.
Oglesby, Robert, "The Climatic Effects of Biomass Burning: Investigations with a Global Climate Model" Environmental Modelling and Software 14, No. 4 (January 1999): 253-259.
A global climate model, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Climate System Model (CSM), has been used to evaluate direct, indirect, and transport effects of the smoke from biomass burning. Biomass smoke distributions were estimated via a seasonally-varying source function that produced monthly mean estimates of the flux of trace gases to the atmosphere which were then confirmed qualitatively using satellite observations. The direct effect was modeled by assuming new cloud fractions wherever biomass smoke occurred. A sensitivity study was conducted to determine the most appropriate way to add these new `clouds'. An indirect effect on existing clouds was modeled by reducing the cloud optical depth (which increases reflectivity) when they coincided with biomass smoke. Advection of the smoke has been accomplished by adding it as a tracer in the NCAR CCM3 (the atmospheric component of CSM). Preliminary results yield surface temperature reductions of several degrees and heating of the mid-levels of the atmosphere in the vicinity of major smoke emissions.
Calori, Giuseppe, and Gregory R. Carmichael. "An urban trajectory model for sulfur in Asian megacities: model concepts and preliminary application" Atmospheric Environment Vol. 33, Iss.19 (August 1999): 3109-3117.
"This paper explores the adaptation of a regional Lagrangian approach
for making long-term simulations of SO2 and sulfate ambient
concentrations at the resolution needed for health effects risk assessment
in Asian megacities and their surroundings. A Lagrangian trajectory model
(UR-BAT) is described which simulates transport and diffusion of sulfur
within and near urban areas, originating from area and major point sources.
The long-range contribution is accounted for by the ATMOS model, simulating
all Asian sources. The model has been applied to Beijing and Bombay, by
using preliminary emission figures, and the results have been compared
with available monitoring data. The computed concentrations in different
cities are in the correct range, indicating the potential use of the model
in an integrated assessment framework such as RAINS-Asia. "
Climate Change
Kirkevåg, Alf, Trond Iversen, and Arne Dahlback. "On Radiative Effects of Black Carbon and Sulphate Aerosols" Atmospheric Environment Vol. 33, Iss. 17 (August 1999): 2621-2635.
In this paper, [the authors] present results from a study of possible direct effects of tropospheric BC and sulphate aerosols, with an emphasis on BC aerosols, along a line from North Africa through Europe into the Arctic. Radiative budgets in a cloud-free atmosphere are estimated... Based on model-calculated distributions of BC and sulphate (provided by Seland and Iversen, 1998) and assumed size distributions of the background aerosol, new size distributions are obtained by adding natural, biomass burning and fossil fuel contributions to the background aerosol. A reference run and a series of eleven test-runs are performed to investigate the sensitivity of various assumptions on the contribution to upward TOA irradiance from BC and non-sea-salt sulphate. The tests suggest a high sensitivity to presence of BC and to particle swelling due to humidity.
"What's Happening to Global Climate?" The Ecologist 29, No. 2 (March/April 1999): 59-85.
This series of articles discusses various aspects of global climate change reviewing its causes and consequences. The nine articles cover the implications of global warming, proof of climate change, the increased frequency of El Niño, the melting of polar ice caps and the resulting flooding, the effects of cessation of the Gulf Stream, the dangers of deforestation of the Amazon and the contribution of excess ozone to global climate change.
"Forum on Ocean Storage Research" Greenhouse Issues 42 (May 1999): 3.
A forum was held in London proposing the storage of carbon dioxide in the ocean as a way to reduce atomospheric CO2. Before such a plan is implemented, researchers must address uncertainties about the process. Other fora are planned for New York and the Asia/Pacific region.
D'Evie, Fayen and John Taylor, "Greenhouse Gas Emission Abatement: Equitable Burden Sharing" Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, March 1999 (Vol. 28, No. 2): 148-151.
On the political stage the climate change debate used to center primarily
around intergenerational issues, particularly whether aggressive abatement
action was even warranted - on the basis of uncertain scientific projections.
In recent years, influenced by both improved scientific knowledge and
greater emphasis on the precautionary principle, within policy circles,
climate change has become more widely accepted as a significant threat
to ecological sustainability. Accordingly, the focus of debate has gradually
shifted back to intergenerational concerns, with the issue of equitable
burden sharing in terms of greenhouse gas emission abatement emerging
as a point of primary contention. This paper integrates scientific and
political analyses to explore a number of questions which have been raised
during the debate. In particular, the authors draw on carbon cycle modelling
to investigate effective and equitable strategies of emission reduction
consistent with stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations
at 750 ppmv by 2100.
Water Quality and Remediation
Okamura, Hideo, et al. "Application of Short-term Bioassay Guided Chemical Analysis for Water Quality of Agricultural Land Run-off" The Science of The Total Environment, 30 August 1999 (vol. 234, Issue 3): 223-231.
The effect of agricultural land run-off on the water quality of Lake Kojima, Japan, was investigated using a short-term bioassay-guided chemical analysis. Water samples were collected for one year starting from June 1995 to June 1996. Toxicity of the dissolved and adsorbed extracts in the water samples was evaluated using the Daphnia immobilization test and the concentrations of pesticides and putative toxic substance in the extracts were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Most of the dissolved extracts caused immobilization of the test Daphnia magna at low concentrations during the period of paddy pesticide application. Some extracts were found to contain pesticides such as dymron, mefenacet and flutolanil, but their concentrations were too low to have a toxic effect on the daphnia. An unknown toxic compound, Peak C, was isolated from some river water samples, but it produced only a relatively weak toxicity to Daphnia. To better understand the impact of agricultural run-off on a receiving water body, the relationship between the observed toxicity and the concentrations of pesticides and Peak C in the water samples was studied both temporally and spatially.
Goody, Daren. "Farm Waste Stores and Groundwater Quality" NERC News (Summer 1999): 16-17.
In the United Kingdom, scientists are concerned about the contamination occurring in groundwater from farm animal waste. Slurry lagoons designed to keep contaminants out of the water table are leaking and polluting the drinking water supply causing serious health concerns.
Al-Makkawy, H.K. and Madbouly, Magdy Diab. "Persistence and Accumulation of Some Organic Insecticides in Nile Water and Fish" Resources, Conservation and Recycling July 1999 (Vol. 27, Issue 1-2): 105-115.
The persistence and accumulation of organophosphate cyanophos (cyanox) and pirimiphos-methy (actellic) insecticides, and synthetic pyrethroid fenpropathrin (danitol) and cyfluthrin (baythroid) insecticides in Nile water and Tilapia nilotica fish species were studied. The effect of boiling in water, as a method of cooking, on the studied insecticides was also examined. The sublethal doses of the insecticides were calculated and applied as a formulated type at rates of 2.5, 2.5, 0.001, and 0.001ppm, respectively, to the species reared in a glass aquarium containing aerated tap water. The residues were determined at zero time (1 h), and 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after application using HPLC technique. For organophosphorus insecticides, data revealed that the residue of cyanophos was 2.0 ppm after 1 day of application and then decreased to 0.002 ppm after 28 days. For pirimiphos-methyl it decreased from 2.1 to 0.01 ppm at the same time intervals. For pyrethroid insecticides, fenpropathrin and cyfluthrin showed similar rates of degradation. In fish flesh, the rates of accumulation of the studied insecticides varied. The rate of accumulation of cyanophos increased to 3.1 ppm after 3 days of application, while it was 2.7 ppm after 5 days for pirimiphos-methyl. On the other hand, the maximum rates of accumulation for fenpropathrin and cyfluthrin insecticides were 0.008 and 0.009 ppm after 5 days of application. Also, data indicated that boiling fish flesh in water at 100°C for 20 min. removed considerable amounts of the insecticides.
Romero, José A., Francisco A. Comína and Carmen García. "Restored Wetlands as Filters to Remove Nitrogen" Chemosphere, July 1999 (Volume 39, Issue 2): 323-332.
Four wetlands established in abandoned rice fields and dominated by Phragmites
australis, Typha latifolia and Scirpus lacustris were used
to improve the quality of agricultural runoff in the Ebro Delta (NE Spain)
in 1993, 1994 and 1995. The wetlands were continuously flooded with water
from a rice field irrigation network during the growing season and received
water with between 5 and 200 mg N m-2 d-1 in the form of dissolved inorganic
nitrogen (DIN), between 0 and 67 mg N m-2 d-1 in the form of dissolved
organic nitrogen (DON) and between 1.2 and 225 g m-2 d-1 in the form of
particulate nitrogen (PN). Surface N outflows contained between 0 and
12 mg N m-2 d-1 of DIN, between 1 and 86 mg N m-2 d-1 of DON and between
1 and 40 g m-2 d-1 of PN. The nitrogen retention efficiency was always
positive 100 % of the input, except for DON and PN at low inlet loadings.
The emergent macrophytes accumulated between 20 and 100 mg N m-2 d-1,
which accounted for between 66 and 100 % of the inflowing DIN. The removal
rate constants calculated according to first order plug-flow kinetics,
were between 0.003-0.09 m day-1 for total nitrogen, and 0.005-0.3 m day-1
for DIN. Plant uptake, detritus accumulation and decomposition, and nitrogen
recycling in the sediment are the major processes which could explain
nitrogen retention in the wetlands. Wetlands restored from rice fields
act as highly efficient water polishing filters for agricultural runoff
and, at the same time, can contribute to the habitat biodiversity of large
areas where rice is cultivated extensively.
Arctic Issues and Biodiversity
Pongratza, Richard and Klaus G. Heumann. "Production of Methylated Mercury, Lead, and Cadmium by Marine Bacteria as a Significant Natural Source for Atmospheric Heavy Metals in Polar Regions" Chemosphere, July 1999 (Volume 39, Issue 1): 89-102.
Mixed and pure bacterial cultures of polar origin were incubated in model experiments under polar conditions. The mixed bacterial cultures showed production of trimethyl lead and monomethyl cadmium, but no methylated mercury compound was released by these marine species. In contrast to that the isolated pure bacterial cultures released relatively high amounts of dimethyl mercury besides monomethyl mercury, trimethyl lead, and monomethyl cadmium. These methylated heavy metal compounds were preferably formed in the stationary period of bacterial growth. Depth profiles of methylated heavy metal compounds in the Arctic Ocean and the South Atlantic show maximum concentrations in water depths of up to 50 m, often correlating well with the chlorophyll-a content. But also significant concentrations in depths of about 200 m were found, where no chlorophyll-a could be detected. This is an important indication that, at least, at deeper water levels bacteria must be the marine species which mainly contribute to methylated heavy metals. Dimethyl mercury, released by marine bacteria into the polar ocean, is the methylated heavy metal compound which contributes most to the atmospheric heavy metal content in the remote areas of Antarctica and the Arctic due to its high volatility. From measured Me2Hg concentrations in the surface seawater and the corresponding marine air at polar locations a preliminary atmospheric ocean-atmosphere transfer could be estimated to be 0.21×109 g yr-1 and 0.24×109 g yr-1 for the Antarctic and Arctic Ocean, respectively.
Hobaek, Anders and Lawrence J. Weider. "A Circumpolar Study of Arctic Biodiversity: Phylogeographic Patterns in the Daphnia pulex Complex," Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment May 1999 (Vol. 28, No. 3): 245-250.
The authors summarize the results of a circumarctic study on biogeographic patterns in genetic diversity within asexual clones of the water flea, the Daphnia pulex complex (a freshwater crustacean). The complex is shown to consist of several thousands of distinct clones, which can be grouped into two major lineage groups based on molecular markers. The main groups and their component subgroups differ markedly in their distributions, and hybrids are common in two zones of overlap (Northern Europe and Canada). The authors assert that clonal diversity is at least as high in the Arctic as in the temperate zone. Moreover, the genetic structure of all the subgroups is extremely fragmented, implying that clonal composition in the Arctic differs conspicuously among regions. Finally, the authors explain that this extraordinary diversity with its spacial structure on local to continental geographic scales defies the general notion that the Arctic tundra is a homogenous biome of low biodiversity.
Molau, Ulf, Thomas Alerstam, Kjell Danell, Bente Eriksen and Wilhelm Graneli. "Tundra Northwest 1999: A Collaborative Challenge in the Arctic" Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, May 1999 (Vol. 28, No. 3): 287-291.
A new icebreaker-based expedition covering terrestrial and freshwater
ecology is to be carried out in the summer of 1999. This Swedish-Canadian
joint effort will bring approximately 70 scientists through the Canadian
High Arctic, cruising the North West Passage twice in a single season.
The scientific program comprises five major themes: plant-animal interactions;
biodiversity; bird migration and ecotoxicology. Sampling along the major
latitudinal and longitudinal transects in the Arctic will provide the
scientists with a unique opportunity to gather data with extensive cover
of geographic and environmental space within a single season.
UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
1.Flotation in Water and Wastewater Treatment Conference ("Flotation
in Water Helsinki 2000")
September 11-14, 2000
Marina Congress Center
Helsinki, Finland
URL: http://www.vvy.fi/daf/index.htm
International gathering around solid separation in water treatment with flotation processes takes place in year 2000 in Finland. Finland is one of the leading countries in adapting and developing of DAF especially in potable water and industrial water purification. Since 1970 all new constructions and upgradings of surface treatment plants in Finland have been based on dissolved air flotation, DAF. The technology has developed within more than 30 years period in surface water treatment and is now coming into use as a separation method in high grade waste water schemes both in municipal and industrial applications. Contact: Finnish Water and Waste Water Works Association, FIWA; Mr. Eero Teerikangas, Conference Secretary, Ratavartijankatu 2 A FIN-00520 HELSINKI. Telephone: +358-50-3380603; Fax+358-9-1484750; Email: daf@vvy.fi.
2. Air & Waste Management Association's 93rd Annual Meeting and Exhibition
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 18-22, 2000
URL: http://www.awma.org/
The conference will cover sessions on topics such as chemistry, meteorology, noises and vibration, visibility, indoor air quality, emissions control technology, emission factors and inventories, ambient monitoring, source monitoring, etc. Contact: Annual Meeting Technical Program Coordinator, A&WMA, One Gateway Center, 3rd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, Email: AMTP2000@awma.org.
3. 7th Biannual Conference on the Energy and the Environment
Cairo, Egypt
January 3-6, 2000
The conference will cover solar energy research and development with emphasis upon the manufacturing of solar cells, wind energy and environmental engineering projects such as landfill design and construction, water and waste water treatment, hazardous waste management and solid waste management; air pollution, an air monitoring, with emphasis upon air problems in Cairo, and on global climate change. Contact Email: rkummler@chem1.eng.wayne.edu
4. Groundwater Pollution and Hydrology
San Francisco, CA
February 14-18, 2000
URL: http://www.princeton-groundwater.com/
This course will comprehensively cover all aspects of groundwater pollution and hydrology from theory to practice. The instructors are recognized as the top four leading experts and teachers in the field and collectively have over 100 years of practical experience. The course is the established standard among groundwater training courses and for this reason has consistently had the largest attendance of all courses offered anywhere in groundwater. Contact: On the East Coast; telephone: (407) 351-3500. On the West Coast; telephone: (415) 441-4000.
5. 6th International Symposium on Environmental Issues and Waste Management
in Energy and Mineral Production
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
May 30 - June 2, 2000
URL: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/5617/swemp.html
The aim of this series of conferences is to contribute to the development of methods and technologies for assessing, minimizing and preventing environmental problems connected with mineral and energy production. Contact: University of Calgary; Email: mastroh@ucalgary.ca.
6. Workshop on Sustainable Development
London, England
November 30 - December 3, 1999
Sustainable development provides the necessary framework for passing the benefits that are generated today by activities related to the production and use of non-ferrous metals to future generations through the integration of social, economic and environmental considerations in the decision-making process. Contact: International Copper Study Group, International Lead & Zinc Study Group and the International Nickel Study Group, Aleksander Ignatow, Email: aignatow@NRCan.gc.ca
