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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.15/2000 |
Dateline: June 29, 2000 |
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This is a weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail: <
INES homepage: http://inesglobal.org
INES International Office <
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner <
INES Congress 2000
''Challenges for Science and Engineering in the 21st Century''
Stockholm, 14-18 June 2000
http://www.ines2000.org
INES 2000 Conference Secretariat: mailto:
CONTENTS of WNII No. 15/2000
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS' AND PROJECT GROUPS' NEWS
Britain: Address change Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)
The British INES member organisation Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) has moved. The new address reads: Scientists for Global Responsibility PO Box 473 Folkestone CT20 1GS UK The telephone number is still to be arranged. E-mail and web site addresses http://www.sgr.org.uk are unchanged. SGR Administrator Kate Maloney has the following new email address:
USA: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), The Sunflower, No. 37, June 2000
Back issues: http://www.wagingpeace.org/sf/index.html
The June issue of The Sunflower covers the following:
Alla Yaroshinskaya: New Developments Blocking Progress in Nuclear Disarmament. The Russian Perspective
Dr Alla Yaroshinskaya, Russian member of the INES Executive Committee, has recently disseminated a paper under this title via Internet. If you wish to obtain this timely and highly interesting point of view of an INES insider, contact either Alla through or the WNII editor.
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org
Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
Controversy and Protest Surround Missile Test (from an Abolition 2000 Press Release)
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) announced on 20 June 2000 that it has scheduled the third national missile defense (NMD) intercept flight test for 7 July 2000. This will be the first full system test of the NMD system. After several test date delays, program officials stated that the 7 July flight test date depends on the readiness of all test elements to meet specific requirements for performance, safety and system integration. The test will include a target missile, carrying a warhead and a decoy, and will be launched from Vandenberg AFB, California. After the target missile lifts off, an interceptor missile carrying a model "kill vehicle" will launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean and be directed toward the target, using data collected from the system's radars. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) claims that the NMD system is needed to protect the US from incoming Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles that would be launched by "states of concern" such as North Korea. President Clinton is scheduled to make a decision on deployment later this year. The estimated cost to deploy the system by the year 2005 is $5.6 billion. However, a report released this week by the Welch Panel, an independent team of scientists, outlines the probability of the systems failure. The deployment of a national missile defense system would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between Russia and the US. The treaty is viewed as the cornerstone of arms control efforts and amendment or abrogation of the treaty will pose serious threats to international relations. On 22 June 2000, China attacked the proposed US national missile defense (NMD) saying it would turn outer space into a "battlefield'' and jeopardize global stability. China has also voiced opposition to amending the ABM Treaty. Both Russia and China have called for negotiations to ban the weaponization of outer space, but the US has refused to engage in any such discussions. Carah Ong, Coordinator of Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons stated, "The relentless pursuit by the US to deploy a national missile defense system that threatens to initiate a new nuclear arms race must be stopped. Rather than developing new technology that undermines international and national security, the US should uphold the commitments it has made in international law to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. As long as the BMDO continues to test this system, we will continue to protest at the front gate of Vandenberg until our voice is heard...NO NEW STAR WARS! NO NEW ARMS RACE! KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE!"
Kyoto Climate Treaty Off Course, Heading For The Rocks
Leading industrialised nations are working to undermine the effectiveness of the world's only agreement to combat global warming, according to analysis released on 13 June by a global coalition of environmental organisations including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF. The Kyoto treaty that is supposed to reduce emissions of global warming pollution by 5 per cent over the coming decade could be twisted to allow OECD emissions to increase by 15-20% per cent. The environmental movement singles out the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand as the main culprits from among more than 120 nations convening for two weeks of climate talks in Bonn. "These governments are trying to create the impression that they are moving ahead on climate policies while in reality, in the smoke-filled backrooms of these negotiations, they are systematically attempting to shred every last bit of environmental integrity from the Kyoto Protocol," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace. The environmental movement remains steadfast in pushing the Kyoto Protocol towards its stated purpose to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a first step to avoid dangerous climate change. However environmentalists are increasingly concerned that loopholes in the operating rules for the Kyoto Protocol could permit the worst polluters including USA, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to continue increasing emissions, and avoid domestic efforts. One of the largest loopholes concerns rules for forestry activities. Canada, Japan, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Sweden and France favour rules which would give incentives to chop down old-growth forests and replace them with new plantations from which they can claim pollution credits. The treaty offers enormous flexibility for countries to meet their targets by trading pollution "rights", via projects in each other's countries and by relying on forests to soak up carbon pollution from the air. Governments now appear determined to stretch this flexibility to breaking point." If governments don't pull the helm over, the Kyoto Protocol is headed for the rocks, said Jennifer Morgan of WWF International. Environmental groups are also pressing to prevent Canada, Japan, France, Australia, the USA, New Zealand and the UK from having nuclear power accepted under the guide of Kyoto's "Clean Development Mechanism". "These countries are looking out for their own special interests and failing in their duty to take action to prevent dangerous climate change. We are disillusioned with Governments and feel that we have a responsibility to tell the public how bad it really is," said Roda Verheyen of Friends of the Earth. "The Kyoto Protocol is slowly but surely being destroyed as governments seek to open up loophole after loophole. It would allow them to avoid doing anything to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of climate change," warned Karla Schoeters of Climate Network Europe. "Just as surely as we are seeing the world warm, and the first signs of climate disasters ahead like the floods in Mozambique and the big storms in Europe at the end of 1999, the main polluters are trying to escape putting their own house in order," said Mie Asaoka of Kiko Network.
UNEP Works with Advertisers on Consumption Issue
Over 50 experts from the advertising industry, business associations, international and non-governmental organizations and academia met in the end of June to discuss opportunities for the advertising sector to help promote sustainable consumption. "Sustainable consumption is not about consuming less, it is about consuming differently, consuming efficiently, and promoting an improved quality of life to the benefit of all", stated Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP/DTIE). "The meeting was encouraging," she said, announcing that UNEP will continue to work together with communication experts on a voluntary initiative on advertising and communication to raise awareness around the world about the importance of sustainable consumption. The aim is to improve communication between Governments, business and consumers about areas in which consumption patterns affect environmental, economic and social goals of the international community. The experts, including representatives from organizations such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Friends of the Earth and Consumers International, stressed the need for sending simple, concrete and positive signals about the environment to the public. Highlighting the relationship between consumption behaviour and quality of life and nature conservation is expected to be more effective than continuing with moralizing and preaching messages. This event was organized by UNEP as a follow-up to the recommendation at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) "to encourage business, the media, advertising and marketing sectors to help shape sustainable consumption patterns." The main objectives of UNEP work on advertising are: 1) to foster a better understanding of the concept of sustainable consumption in the advertising sector; 2) to help build a network within the sector in order to raise awareness towards sustainable consumption among consumers; 3) to prompt the advertising industry to undertake voluntary initiatives to promote sustainable consumption. For more information, please contact: Bas de Leeuw, UNEP DTIE: http://www.uneptie.org
The case of Russian scientist Igor Sutyagin (Information provided by the Nonprofit PR centre "Citizen" (PRCC) Moscow)
We ask you to participate in the campaign in defense of a Russian scientist, Igor Sutyagin. Russia's secret police (FSB) charges him with espionage. Igor wrote a book about nuclear disarmament, and the FSB considers him having published 'secret information.' In actual fact Igor had no access to any secret information at all, and the leaders of the Russian Institute for the USA and Canadian Studies are clearly confirming that. It looks like the Russian security agencies have decided to put an end to the activities of Western ecologists, foreign researchers and Russian scientists and activists of environmentalist NGOs who cooperate with foreign colleagues in Russia once and for all. The FSB has already taken two serious attempts in this field lately: they tried to proclaim as spies: * Alexander Nikitin, retired naval officer, who cooperated with Norwegian ecologist NGO Bellona; * Grigory Pasko, military journalist, naval officer, who cooperated with Japanese journalists and ecologist organizations. Now it looks like the Russian security agencies want to have their revenge by the case of scientist Igor Sutyagin. Igor is now in a special prison of Russian security agencies in Moscow Region, Russia, in very hard conditions. We appeal to you to pass information about Igor Sutyagin's case to your countries' independent mass-media, active human rights organizations, to the deputies of your parliaments. If you find it appropriate, please send an e-mail or a fax message addressed to Mr. Nikolay Platonovich Patrushev, Director, Federal Security Bureau (FSB), asking him to release Igor Sutyagin from prison until the trial begins. E-mail: Fax: (+7-095) 975-24-70 For more information, contact Michael Bogomolov of the PRCC: http://www.good.cnt.ru
CONFERENCES - MEETINGS - SEMINARS
Fifth Annual Conference on Industrial Ecology and the Internet Economy
For more details, mailto: http://www.globalfutures.org/ie2000.htm
International Conference Against Depleted Uranium
For more details, contact Cat Euler, Conference Coordinator:
NOTE the following: Yet to be confirmed, another international conference on the subject of depleted uranium is tentatively scheduled for 2-3 December 2000. It is entitled: "International Conference on DU, Health and Ecological, Economic and Legal Aspects of the use of radioactive conventional arms," and it should take place at Madrid, Spain. The organizers are the Spanish campaign to lift sanctions on Iraq. For more information, contact:
Seventh Cities and Ports International Conference: Port cities and sustainable development
- Topic 1: Port cities, key players of the sustainable development of the territories: challenges and strategies
- Topic 2: Sustainable development and concerted management of port city projects.
Themes proposed for technical workshops:
1. Environmental management and the ISO 14000 standard
2. Nuisance prevention and control in the port and industrial-port environment
3. Environmental management financing
4. Sustainable development and town planning documents
5. Assessing port city heritage: a reconversion decision tool
6. Role and tasks of an environmental management department in a city or port
7. Environmental studies and project management
8. Latest international regulations and laws on the environment
9. How to select sustainable development professionals
10. International assistance for sustainable development
For more details, mailto: http://www.aivp.com
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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