News
December 17, 2012
Italian steel industry, ranked as the second one in Europe in terms of steel production, has been shaking for several months. The reason for this is the scandalous story with the country's largest steel plant Ilva, owned by the company Riva Group. According to the recent court decisions, the company's products which according to the statements of the law enforcement agencies is responsible for the high level of environmental pollution and increased mortality in the city of Taranto, was seized.
December 13, 2012
European waters - assessment of status and pressures (EEA № 8/2012) was published by the European Environmental Agency; this report assesses the status and pressures on European Waters. The report contains overviews of the data reported by the first RBMPs, and of the ecological status and pressures affecting Europe's waters. Europe's waters are affected by several pressures, including water pollution, water scarcity and floods. Major modifications to water bodies also affect morphology and water flow.
December 12, 2012.
International researchers from 14 institutions met in Nicosia (Cyprus) on the 10th and 11th of December to present and debate the results of studies on water, conflict and security conducted in the past three years in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel under the CLICO research project. The CLICO project explored the social dimensions of climate change and in particular, conflicts related to water, and the threats this may pose for national and human security.
December 7-8, 2012.
The new session on Geoethics was successfully held within in the 22nd Symposium on Geo-Environments and Geo-Technics (Dec. 7-8, 2012, Tsukuba, Japan) which was organized by Japanese Society of Geo-Pollution Science, Medical Science and Urban Geology (PMUG). Introduction and 7 papers were presented on session “Geoethics”:
Takeshi KOMAI: Introduction to the new session on Geoethics;
Niichi NISHIWAKI: Present and future of Geoethics;
November 21, 2012.
The European Parliament has rejected calls for a moratorium on shale gas extraction across the Union, but says caution must be exercised and "robust" regulation should be in force.
November 19,2012
It’s been a year after the Resolution was made by the RF Government on 26.12.2011 registered under № 2360-r on the competition for the mineral rights at Elkinsky and Elansky copper and nickel deposits, and the protests of Voronezh and surrounding areas residents against the exploration and development of these fields referred to the subsoil areas of federal significance, have not been dying out. Social movements have been formed – such as "In Defense of Khoper" and "Green Ribbon" – including the unnamed action groups collecting signatures against the "nickel" project.
November 15, 2012
Oil company BP has arrived at the agreement with U.S. authorities, admitting its guilt for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and agreed to pay a fine of $ 4.5 billion dollars, including $ 525 million dollars, which the company will pay within three years to the Securities and Exchange Commission, 2.744 billion dollars will be received by U.S. Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Fund, 1.26 billion dollars are the criminal penalties. Agreement on civil suits has not been achieved yet.
November 09, 12
Indians of Ecuador have increased their chances of getting a record fine for the long-term contamination of the rainforests and surface waters of Amazon River by U.S. oil company Chevron. In early November of 2012 Argentina court at the Ecuadorian suit made a decision to freeze the assets Chevron.
November 05, 2012
By November 2012 25 national geoethical groups from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe joined the International Association for Geoethics (IAGETH): Argentina, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Mozambique, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Spain, Tajikistan, USA, Venezuela, Japan. http://tierra.rediris.es/IAGETH/NationalChapters.html
October 23, 2012
Italian seismologists, including the former president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Enzo Boshi, a professor of physics at the University of Genoa, Claudio Eva, and one government official, were found guilty of mass murders and misleading the people of the Italian city of Aquila before the earthquake of 2009 and were sentenced to six years' imprisonment each.