2008 December Archive at The Irish Environmental Network

Monthly Archive for December, 2008

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Damning toxic dump report

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on December 17, 2008

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Friends of the Irish Environment An environmental group has accused the Department of the Environment of suppressing a damming report on the contamination at Haulbowline Island which the Department itself commissioned.

The Report, dated 2 July 2008 and produced by NRGE, Nutrient Recovery to Energy Generation, a consultancy in Co. Tipperary, is the result of samples taken from the sides of 15 trial pits excavated by a mechanical excavator during May, 2008.

Samples showed that levels of lead in the soil are more that 25 times the Irish legal limit. Cadmium is more than 10 times the limit. All of the samples analysed exceeded the hazardous landfill limits in the Landfill Directive.

The work revealed a honeycomb of formed underground cells containing contaminated by-products from the foundry.

‘The Report shows that ‘concentrations of leachable heavy metal elements’ are ‘exposed to the effects of tidal action and the backwash of passing vessels as well as continual seepage through rainwater’.

A spokesman said ‘White Young Green’s conclusion was the ‘concentrations of contaminates’ was not high enough ‘to transport to potential receptors’. This report shows that in fact some concentrations of heavy metals analysed exceed the recent White Young Green Report by more than 1,000,000%.

Although the Report was submitted to the Department in September, it is not referred to in White Young Green’s Report.

NRGE’s brief agreed with the Department was to quantify the nature and extent of the contaminated material left on the part of the East Tip subject to the clean up. The Report was commissioned after 5 months of the surface cleanup ordered by Cork County Council had led to over 100,000 tons of contaminated soil being exported in 41 shiploads to Germany.

The initial NRGE Report on the extent of the contamination, dated 28 May 2008, led to the Department of the Environment seeking the termination of the NRGE contract. The following week the contractors were ordered off the site ‘on legal advice’.

The Report quantifies the remaining waste on the East Tip section of the island ‘to be in the order of 280,000 tons.’

Contaminants include heavy metals such as mercury, zinc and lead as well as hydrocarbons, PCBs and Chromium, highly toxic carcinogens.

FIE says the NRGE Report, entitled ‘Quantification of contaminated materials on the East Tip Head and former steelworks site at Haulbowline Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork’ was submitted to the Department at the beginning of September, 2008.

A spokesman for FIE said that the failure of the Department to make this report public broke the Minister’s promise ‘to be as transparent as possible’ and to place ‘relevant and accurate information in the public domain to counter the misinformation being circulated’.

The Report is available from FIE’s website library.

http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/cmsfiles/files/library/nrge_report_2.07.08.pdf

Pollutant in soils	WYG 2008 max sample (mg/kg)	NRGE max sample (mg/kg)	difference (mg/kg)	% increase
Arsenic	0.04	84	83.96	209,900
Cadmium	0.004	11.7	11.696	292,400
Chromium	0.08	2160	2,159.92	2,699,900
Copper	0.19	67	66.81	35,163
Lead	0.01	1420	1419.99	14,199,900
Mercury	0.5	6.6	6.1	1,220
Nickel	0.02	443	442.98	2,214,900
Zinc	3.29	640	636.71	19,353
Poly carbons	19,918	199,508	179,590	902

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EU fishing proposals supported

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on December 17, 2008

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Friends of the Irish Environment FIE has urged the Irish Government to support the proposed EU fisheries reforms ahead of tommorows’ meeting in Brussels.

The proposals will reduce the administrative costs for operators by 51% – the time spent filling in the logbook should be reduced by almost 70%, as the fishermen will only need to fill in the catch data.

A comprehensive traceability system so that all fish and fisheries products can be tracked throughout the market chain will include the name of the species, live weight, catching or harvesting data, and the production unit.

Commissioner Borg made it clear recently that the Commission is intent on eliminating bycatch. The scale of the unnecessary destruction was illustrated in the Dail last week when Deputy Ferris told the House that ‘A week last Friday, a trawler fishing off the Kerry coast was forced to dump 2.8 tonnes of spurdog overboard. The regulations in question often bear little relationship to the reality of the fishery in question.’

Fishermen’s claims that that the proposed ban off the north west coast of Ireland of cod haddock and whiting is ‘alarming’ and that ‘socio-economic factors’ have been absent is not properly informed.

The Marine Institute has been seeking closure of fisheries for cod since 2005. Their 2008 Stock Book says clearly that ‘previously advised for zero catch of cod, whiting and spurdog have never been implemented ‘due to social and economic considerations’.

While fishermen claim that cod in the Celtic sea are protected by the success of existing conservation measures the truth is that the scientists have been opposing ‘any catch above zero’ since 2005. Improved recruitment over two years has been used by fishermen to advocate an increase in spite of the fact that the Marine Institute makes it clear that ‘Celtic Sea cod remains below the desired biomass levels’.

The Commission’s proposals for reform are urgently needed. Overfishing rose from 83% of EU fish stocks in 2007 to 88% in 2008. Management Plans with strictly protected conservation areas is the only way to ensure long term socio-economic survival of Ireland’s fishing communities.

Verification and further information:

Tony Lowes 027 73131 / 087 2176316

Letter to Minister:

http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/friendswork/index.php?do=friendswork&action=view&id=744

See our website for detailed breakdowns of Ireland’s vanishing fish stocks:

http://friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/?id=36

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Report on UNFCC conference in Poznan, Poland, December 2008

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on December 15, 2008

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Report by Feasta.

Any NGO going to a UN climate conference in the hope of influencing the outcome is extremely optimistic. In essence, these conferences are two events – a climate ideas trade show and a series of meetings between government ministers, advisers and officials – going on in the same building at the same time. There is very little contact between them. All the serious negotiation goes on behind closed doors.

So it was in Poznan. Most of the 10,000 people who registered to attend spent their time at the ideas show talking to each other about the work they were doing. If they ever spoke to a senior government negotiator, it would have been someone they already knew from their own national delegation. For the most part, if they ever saw anyone influential, it would have been as he or she walked past, surrounded by a group of assistants.

So, how well did Feasta get on, attempting to sell its ideas to the other participants? And what ideas did some of us buy?

It’s hard to say what our sales actually were until the responses come through but I think the prospects are good. Attendance at our Cap and Share presentation was not as high as we would have liked, but this was to be expected at an event held away from the main hall on the penultimate day of an exhausting process. It is also true that not many people there were making the case – as we were – that similar policies were needed for dealing with both the oil peak and climate change. The evidence for this is that only a dozen people attended Jeremy Leggett’s presentation on oil peak which was in the main building. His article in The Guardian about this appeared under the headline “At Poznan, no one is listening. At the world climate change summit, few delegates paid attention to the tale of oil’s inevitable demise”.

Our event did bear fruit in the form of some influential attendees. One of them described the presentation as the best she had attended at the COP. Another was representing India’s leading environmental NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment, whose leader, Sunita Narain, set out the CSE approach at a side event one of us attended, When told afterwards that what she had presented was almost exactly C&S, she said “I know” and introduced Feasta to Chandra Bhushan, an Associate Director of CSE who has been studying C&S for a few months. Another good contact made was Colin Challen, the MP who chairs the British Parliament’s Cross-Party Climate Change group. We gave him a copy of the Comhar report on C&S and arranged for him to meet John Gormley.

The two reports on C&S in India and South Africa aroused a lot of interest. All the material we had brought from Dublin were taken by callers to our stand within 24 hours of becoming available, so we had to print more in Poland.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing that happened was the unexpected arrival of a member, Fergal Duff, who spent many years working for the UNEP around the world. Fergal spent all his time during his two days in Poznan presenting C&S to his UNEP and other contacts there.

The ideas we bought were both software programmes. One came from Dr. Piotr Magnuszewski of the risk the Risk and Vulnerability Programme at IIASA in Austria. Dr. Magnuszewski is involved in a Polish Feasta-like group which is just completing the development of a game in which the players take on the role of the climate policymakers in specific countries. They set their own reduction targets and then negotiate with the other players. In other words, they do exactly what governments are doing at present.

The big question is: will the results that this process produces be adequate? The danger is that if an agreement is reached in Copenhagen next December, it will commit nations to doing far too little for, say, the following ten years. Moreover, simply as a result of being adopted, the agreement might prevent a more radical arrangement such as C&S being introduced during the period to make cuts of the required size.

The second programme, which shows how deep the emissions cuts might need to be, was shown to us by Beth Sawin of the Sustainability Institute in Vermont who had been asked to seek us out by Nadia Johanisova. Her programme, which will be available for release in February, enables one to calculate the greenhouse gas concentration that would result under differing scenarios.

We tried it out by assuming that Cap and Share was adopted immediately and that emissions were reduced globally by 3% a year. This stabilised the atmospheric concentration at about 450ppmv. If deforestation ceased immediately too, of course, the result was even better but still not enough. In other words, if Copenhagen comes up with anything lesser, humanity will have failed to avert its own demise. We hope to make both programmes available through the Feasta website early next year. They promise to have a very powerful impact on the public debate.

Overall, I think the investment of time, energy and money we made in going to Poznan was worthwhile. Our involvement was necessary in order to maintain and build contacts and to be seen to be part of the debate.

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Green Agriculture Conference

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on December 11, 2008

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The Institute of International and European Affairs are hosting a conference on the 9th January 2009 on the subject of greening agriculture, in particular the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. The conference will take place in Dublin Castle and I attach the brochure with the relevant information for this conference for your convenience.

Download Brochure

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Irish Seal Sanctuary Education Programme

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on December 11, 2008

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Interested in teaching your class about the Marine Environment and Marine Wildlife such as Seals?
The Irish Seal Sanctuary provide an education programme for Primary Schools and Transition Year and CSPE Secondary School classes on the marine environment and the welfare of wildlife focusing on our work of Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release of Seals and other sea life.
Available to all Primary School Levels and Age Groups are classrooms based visual presentations and excursion activities
Available to Secondary Schools is a classroom based visual presentation and talk
For Full details, check out seal-sanctuary-education-programme

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Protected: Intensive Course on Planning Law. Strategic Infrastructure

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James Nix

on December 10, 2008

in Sustainable Transport and Planning

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Friends of the Earth Blog Report on UNFCC conference in Poznan, Poland, December 2008

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on December 4, 2008

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Report by Molly Walsh, Friends of the Earth

1. Do you think that FoEI was well-prepared for Poznan?

Process before Poznan

I felt like personally, I was not well enough prepared for Poznan. FOE Ireland had never sent anyone to a COP before so there was no experience within my organisation for me to draw on. Perhaps a two page briefing document on the COP process and what to expect would be useful for FOEI to have. Also I was not on the COP email list until a few days after I had arrived. I didn’t even know it existed. It would be good if it went out on the FOE Europe list or somewhere that I might have seen it. I was paying attention, yet beforehand I felt like I definitely did not have enough communication with people who were going to be there.

Practicalities and logistics on the ground during Poznan

I felt like we really got screwed around while we were there by the UNFCCC. Having to have a meeting on a couch outside the restaurant is not a satisfactory situation, especially when we may want to share sensitive information. I’m not entirely sure that this could have been prevented with better preparation. However Greenpeace have an office like country delegations do. Why don’t we demand this? The UNFCCC may say that we are their lowest priority but I’m sure they don’t want to piss us off so much that we decide to call the whole process useless and not engage with it at all. We are a massive, very well recognised NGO. We should act like we expect to be treated like one, without of course being unpleasant.

communication within the FoEI team

I felt like the communications within the FoEI team were good. The format of twice daily meetings always in the same time and same place is a good one. And once I got on the COP list it was easy to stay up to date with what was going on. I noticed however that there was a significant number of members of FoEI who were present in Poznan who did not attend any meetings. I wish that they had. I think these were mostly our colleagues from countries in the South. It is hard to make someone go to a meeting if they don’t want to, but a lot of the evening meetings were dominated by those of us from Europe, Australia or America. One of FOE’s great strengths is the international, balanced nature of our network. I suspect that if you are far from home and you have spent the day tracking complex issues in a second language then the last thing you want to do is to an hour long (at least) meeting in English. . I suggest finding out if there are things that would encourage everyone to attend these meetings.

What can you suggest to improve this?

I would suggest that a briefing document be prepared that explain to someone who has never been to a COP before how to be prepared. Particularly useful would be information about how all the strands work. E.G what is SBSTA? How does it relate to the general process. These are the kind of things that I only fully understood when I saw Yuri’s mind map.

2. Do you feel there was sufficient communication and coherence between movement building and policy strategies during Poznan?

No, I sensed that there was some really good movement building going on, but I didn’t feel like I was in the loop about it, or know how to help or participate in it. Again it is the same problem of the overworked experienced people having to do all the hard work and the new inexperienced people not knowing how to help. I also think that movement building should be given more of a priority by the whole team while at a COP.

3. What were FoEI’s successes in Poznan?

In a year when media coverage of the event generally was low I think that we got our message out there.

Our intervention as read by Kate was a success.

I think the two big actions we were involved in, Wrap it Up and the World Bank action were a great success. The Wrap it UP one as so many ministers turned up for it and the World Bank action because it clearly ruffled feathers…a good sign that an action has success.

4. What were FoEI’s challenges and could be improved?

The main challenge as I saw it was getting new people linked in to share the strain that was on the hardworking experienced people. Good briefing documents would help this. It might also be helpful to try to identify who will be our team before we get there. Obviously a lot of people will go to Copenhagen for a few days to take part in the street action or whatever. I think that the main core of people who we accredit should be well briefed, have a plan, and be ready to hit the ground running on the first Monday.

5. Do you think that this UNFCCC campaign is meeting the FoEI strategic priorities of “mobilise, resist, transform”?

I am not completely convinced that it does. I think that for 2009 Copenhagen presents a unique opportunity to mobilise. I think however that it is important that we start mobilising now for Copenhagen and use it throughout the year to pressure our own governments to go to Copenhagen with a good position.

MY FINAL BLOG FROM POZNAN

So, it’s all over. Late on Friday night the negotiations came to an end. So was progress made? Did they wrap it up?
I don’t think so.

On Thursday morning the youth members of Friends of the Earth, held a really great “Wrap it Up” action. Over the last year people from all over Europe have been putting their messages about climate change on pieces of fabric. At Friends of the Earth here in Ireland we got people to do this at electric picnic and also in some youth education workshops. All the squares were then sewn into a big banner, with the words WRAP IT UP and ACT NOW. They youth invited Ministers to come and accept a square of fabric and to hear what they have to say.

Listening to what the young people had to say was very powerful. They asked their politicians to save their future. Not to allow us to look back in disbelief at what happened in Poznan and wonder why we didn’t do something about climate change when we knew that we could. I admire so much these young people who are an inspiring mixture of articulate and brave.

On Thursday evening Minister Gormley had a dinner for Irish delegates, including the NGOs. It is always a pleasure to hear Richard Douthwaite of Feasta give his opinions on anything. I met other interesting people including the Irish ambassador to Poland, who wrung his hands in worry when the minister and his wife insisted on walking back to their hotel unescorted.

As the Irish minister for the Environment wondered back to his hotel room some ministers and delegations were still at the convention centre negotiating text. Despite talks going until late on Thursday and Friday pitifully little progress was made. In fact the exact same text on reduction targets as from the 2007 Bali talks has been inserted.

The world’s wealthiest countries, including the EU, failed to commit to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. If industrialised countries don’t make clear commitments to reduce their emission then developing countries won’t come on board. These commitments were lacking, so the trust of developing countries was lacking and therefore nothing much happened at the UN climate talks this year.
We have therefore taken the wrong road. The planet was at a crossroads two weeks ago. The world has taken a terrifying path of insufficient action on climate change. We have one year to get back on the right track. After Copenhagen there will be no more chance for U-turns.

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ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards 2009. Registration Deadline Extended!

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on December 4, 2008

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There’s still time to register for Young Environmentalist Awards 2009. ECO-UNESCO is extending the deadline to Friday 12 December, giving young people an extra two weeks to develop a project for environmental awareness.

ECO-UNESCO, Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, is celebrating 10 years of its Young Environmentalist Awards programme and is inviting all young people aged between 12 and 18 years old to celebrate this special date by carrying out an environmental action project with their schools or youth groups and register now for ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards 2009.

“We’re calling on all young people to register now for our biggest ever Young Environmentalist Awards – this year we are expecting record numbers of project entries from groups all over the country to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the programme at our Annual showcase and Awards ceremony in May 2009. The Young Environmentalist Awards is a wonderful opportunity for young people to be recognised for their great work in environmental protection and conservation,” comments Elaine Nevin, ECO-UNESCO’s National Director.

Since 1999, the Young Environmentalist Awards has honoured and awarded thousands of young people from all over Ireland.

In 2008, the overall Junior Young Environmentalist Awards went to young people from St. Catherine’s College, Co. Armagh with their project called ‘Bee Garden and Bee Beautiful’. The overall Senior Young Environmentalist Awards 2008 went to the young people from St Mary’s Secondary School, Mallow, Co. Cork with their project ‘Alien plants – should we be concerned?’

“It’s a brilliant project that really makes you aware of the environment… a great way to get young people involved and interested in environmental issues,” explains Nuala O’Connor, St. Mary’s Secondary School Mallow.

Participants of the Young Environmentalist Awards have a chance to attend the annual National Showcase and Awards Ceremony event held each May. There participants can showcase their work, meet TV celebrities and there are win fantastic prizes.

Young people can register their intent to carry out a project online on ECO-UNESCO’s website (www.ecounesco.ie) or by contacting ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards Coordinator, Karen Sheeran, on +353 1 6625491 or at y...@ecounesco.ie before or on Friday 12 December. Closing date for receipt of completed projects is 27 February 2009.

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Irish Wildlife Trust in Defence of the Bat

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on December 1, 2008

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The Irish Wildlife Trust would like to respond to comments by Councillor Donal Grady of Kerry County Council as reported in today’s Irish Examiner and Irish Independent where he stated that “We’ve almost 600 people on the waiting list in Killarney, and to house bats before humans beggars belief”. The Councillor’s comments related to the €60,000 spent to refurbish a building in Killarney National Park for Lesser Horseshoe Bats – a protected species in Ireland under European legislation. Although it is extremely regrettable that people are on housing waiting lists, his comments are small minded and do not recognise the need to protect already threatened wildlife in Ireland. It is important for the public to appreciate that spending public money on nature conservation is not a waste of money. The variety of life on earth, known as biodiversity, is vital for providing clean air, water, fertile soils and flood control as well as food and recreation, i.e. the support systems that make life possible.
In Ireland, biodiversity underpins the tourism, agriculture and marine based economies, and was estimated by the government to be worth at least €2.6 billion each year. This is provided free of charge and generally goes unnoticed. How the Lesser Horseshoe Bat helps in providing these essential services may not always be clear, but it is well known that the more species that are present in a landscape, the better it functions in doing so. The degradation of our water quality is proof of how this can happen and the consequent costs to the tax payer of remediation. This case does not represent a choice between Bats and housing. Our natural heritage has long been undervalued by society and the relatively small amount of public money that is spent on conservation is more than recouped through the bounty that nature contributes to our everyday lives.

For more information, pictures please contact:
Pádraic Fogarty
IWT Chairman
Irish Wildlife Trust
Sigmund Business Centre,
93A Lagan Rd,
Dublin Industrial Estate,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 11.
Ph: 01 860 2839 / Mob:0872959811
Email: enqu...@iwt.ie
Web: www.iwt.ie

Editors Notes:
The Irish Wildlife Trust was founded in 1979 as a charitable conservation body. We provide the public with information about wildlife, run education and training programs, carry out habitat and species surveys (e.g. National Lizard Survey, hedgerow surveys) promote action on specific biodiversity issues, restore natural habitats, consult with industry, agriculture and Local Authorities to maintain our natural heritage and contribute to national and international forums for the protection of biodiversity. The IWT has a strong national membership base, several dedicated staff, a council of wildlife experts and branches in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and Cork.

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Government in denial as climate talks reach critical stage

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on December 1, 2008

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Friends of the Earth

Ireland foot-dragging in Brussels as UN talks open in Poland

As a new round of UN talks on climate change open today in Poznan, Poland, Friends of the Earth has accused the Government of being in denial about Ireland’s responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental charity says Ireland is dragging its feet in EU negotiations that will help determine whether a global deal to contain climate change can be agreed in time.

Friends of the Earth Director, Oisin Coghlan, said “10 years ago ministers in this Government signed up to to our Kyoto target, then completely failed to stick to it. So this time around the plan seems to be ‘commit to as little as possible’. Either the Government is in denial about the threat climate change poses or indifferent to the fate of those who will be worst affected”
The Government’s key positions indicate they are trying to dodge Ireland’s responsibility and are indifferent to the global consequences:

The EU wants to offer to cut emissions by 30% by 2020 in the UN talks, but in internal EU negotiations Ireland is refusing to commit to cuts of more than 20% even if there is a new global deal.
The European Parliament wants 50% of the revenues from selling emissions permits to industry to be earmarked for helping developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce their own emissions. Ireland is absolutely opposed to this.
A year ago the Government promised a further Oireachtas debate on a climate change bill that would put our emissions targets into law. Now it’s refusing to schedule that debate.

Oisin Coghlan commented: “So much for our reputation as a champion of the developing world. The poorest people on the planet are being hit first and worst by climate change. Yet Ireland is refusing to do its fair share to stop it running out of control and refusing to support efforts to help developing countries cope with the consequences”

“There’s nothing special about our cars, there’s nothing sacred about our cows. We have to face up to the responsibility of cutting our pollution which is now 25% higher than it was in 1990. The Government appears to be adopting a position of ‘Irish exceptionalism’ which is simply unsustainable, environmentally and morally”.
Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, heads to Brussels for three days of EU negotiations on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, before heading to Poland for the UN talks next week. Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be involved in efforts to finalise the EU negotiations at the EU Summit on 11 and 12 December.

Friends of the Earth Policy Officer, Molly Walsh, arrives in Poznan today, Monday, having travelled from Dublin by boat, train and bus to avoid the greenhouse gas emissions associated with flying. Attending the UN talks as and NGO observer on the official Irish delegation, she will be blogging at www.foe.ie/blog/ from Tuesday.