News
June 05, 2013
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation has prepared the first Environmental rating of Russian cities in 2011 – the first quarter of 2012. Rating and estimation procedure have been made by order of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and meet world standards and criteria of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Environmental rating methodology has been prepared for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation by Ernst&Yang.
May 22, 2013
Volcanologists who monitor eruptions of Alaskan volcanoes are scrambling to cope with US federal budget cuts - even as the Pavlof volcano, 1,000 kilometers southwest of Alaska's biggest city, Anchorage, spouts a towering ash plume that is threatening plane flights.
Funding cutbacks at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), which has staff in Anchorage and Fairbanks, have halted real-time monitoring of at least four of the state’s volcanoes. Seismic stations that would normally listen for imminent eruptions have stopped working, a casualty of deferred maintenance and repair.
January 22, 2013
The World Bank’s arbitration court dismissed claims brought by Canadian mining company “Vanessa Ventures” against Venezuela in its first ruling on mining and energy seizures that started when President Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999. The case, initially filed at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in 2004, was brought by Vannessa Ventures Ltd. over the nationalization of the Las Cristinas gold mine in 2001.
December 21, 2012
Journal of Science Communication has published the article G. Sturloni. A lesson from L’Aquila: the risks of science (mis)communication. Jcom 11 (04) 2012.
December 18, 2012.
As a new year approaches, the University of Notre Dame's John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values has announced its inaugural list of emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues in science and technology for 2013. The Reilly Center explores conceptual, ethical and policy issues where science and technology intersect with society from different disciplinary perspectives. Its goal is to promote the advancement of science and technology for the common good.
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.