CrisisWatch

Spain reaches alarming levels of biodiversity loss, report says

On the international Biodiversity Day (May 21st), Spanish group Ecologistas en Acción announced its analysis based on the IUCN’s European Red List of endangered species and the EEA’s Corine Land Cover.

Spain hosting the largest percentage of threatened species, followed by Portugal and Greece, there is an urgent need for immediate conservation action. According to the analysis, the threats to biodiversity are critically exacerbated by the current crisis-related policies and neglect for nature conservation. The green group also criticised Spain’s autonomous regional authorities for promoting policies that theoretically promote economic growth, whereas in reality these result in serious environmental and social impacts.

Sources: The Local, Ecologistas en accion (in Spanish).

Greece wastes public money on unsustainable river diversion

A recent Government decision approving an additional EUR500,000 for more studies on the River Acheloos diversion to the plain of Thessaly has been heavily criticised as an outrageous waste of public money, especially in these hard times of austerity. This decision is part of a EUR500 million expenditure line titled "Ε064-Acheloos Diversion", which is still included in the National Budget and is managed by the Ministry of Development.

Initially conceived in the late 1930's, the pharaonic Acheloos diversion scheme has been the subject of six rulings by the Council of State, all of which render it illegal on environmental grounds. A seventh decision is pending, based on a preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice, which regards the compatibility of the scheme's legal basis with the EU's Water Framework Directive (Case C-43/10). It is worth noting that the European Commission has refused to provide funding for the construction of the dams and the diversion tunnel since 1994.

Aiming to enrich the notoriously mismanaged water resources of Thessaly, the Acheloos diversion has for decades fed visions of intensifying water demanding agriculture in the heavily farmed region of Thessaly.

According to the alliance of five NGOs that have been campaigning against the scheme since 1992, the Acheloos diversion is an environmental crime that will result in a waste of public money, without at all addressing the root causes of the farming crisis in Thessaly.

Sources: Alliance of 5 NGOs (in Greek), WWF Greece.

EU Ministers play fishy games with the Common Fisheries Policy

The reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy is at crossroads: ministers from countries with industrial fishing fleets put pressure on MEPs in order to water down the Commission’s proposals for fast and full recovery targets for fishery stocks.

According to WWF, nearly two out of three assessed fisheries in the EU are nearing depletion. It is absolutely vital that the Common Fisheries Policy ensures no more fish stocks are overfished by 2020. In February, the European Parliament adopted with an overwhelming majority a legislative proposal that promises to put an end to overfishing in Europe. The current position of many Fisheries Ministers opens the future to overfishing for more than 100 years. Agreement on the new package may be reached by the end of June.

According to Andrea Kohl, Programme Director at WWF’s European Policy Office, “[w]e need a strong reform allowing fish stocks to recover.  WWF is looking very carefully at the non-transparent negotiations which appear to contradict the principle of co-decision and permit blackmail threats to the MEPs by certain Member States.”    

Sources: WWF’s European Policy Office.

Violence continues over gold mining in N. Greece

A new round of violent clashes between anti-gold protesters and police forces over the gold mining investment at Skouries, Chalkidiki, leaves between 2 and 7 policemen (accounts vary) and one protester injured. Three protesters were detained, on charges of resistance to and assault against the Police forces.

According to Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias, who visited the area in the aftermath of a February 20^th arson attack against infrastructure at the mining worksite, also targeting the security guards, all foreign investments that help Greece overcome the economic crisis will be protected by the Police (see CrisisWatch 13).

On May 23^rd, police unions protested against the increased Police involvement in guarding the investment at Skouries. According to the spokesman for the National Federation of Police Officers, the 90-100 officers policing the gold mine daily since the arson attack of last February, are under serious psychological stress. In the same time, other parts of Northern Greece remain insufficiently policed, due to reduced staffing of many police stations whose officers have been deployed in Skouries.

Α recent ruling of the Council of State rejected all challenges to the environmental permit. The Court accepted that the area is not protected by EU or national law and judged that the environmental impact will not be significant.

An enduring and dynamic anti-gold movement sees the Skouries investment as proof of Greece’s “free-for-all” development policy, no matter the cost to the environment and quality of life. Anti-gold protests also reflect a widespread distrust against the Government and its promises that the environmental conditions of this and all major investments will be closely monitored.

Many European governments facing the economic downturn promote mining for gold and hydrocarbons as nature’s bonanza that will pave the way out of the crisis (see CrisisWatch 10).

Sources: Radiobubble.gr, EnetEnglish.gr, Kathimerini.

Romania grants Chevron permit for shale gas exploration

The Environment Ministry of Romania recently granted US energy giant Chevron the much contested exploration rights for shale gas in three areas in Eastern Romania. Chevron has long tried to obtain these permits, but serious objections against its plans were raised both by local communities in the concerned areas (ranking among the poorest in the EU) and by the incumbent Government of Victor Ponta, before its election in 2012 (see CrisisWatch 12).

Chevron’s plans include a 2D geological survey in Constanta and the drilling of exploratory wells in Vaslui County. Constanta is located on the Black Sea coast and hosts important beach resorts and cultural monuments. The communities inhabiting Vaslui County are particularly impoverished and depend primarily on subsistence-level agriculture. Yet the demonstrations against this activity in the economically depressed region have been impressive.

Shale gas has been heavily criticised by environmental NGOs, such as WWF. According to a recent statement by WWF UK, there is a fundamental incoherence between the extraction of shale gas and tackling climate change, due to the serious impacts on the natural environment.

Sources: Reuters, Industry Week.

EU solar industry in free fall …

New solar power installations in the EU have shown a drastic decrease between 2011 and 2012, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association’s (EPIA) “Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2013-2017” published by the. According to EPIA,

“[t]he results show clearly that Europe’s leading role in driving the global PV market is coming to an end. In 2011, Europe accounted for more than 70% of the world’s new PV installations; in 2012 this number was around 55%. In 2013 it is almost certain that the majority of new PV capacity in the world will be installed outside of Europe.”

In an attempt to respond to the “solar crisis” and in the midst of a fierce trade dispute with China, the EU initiated a series of trade-defense measures, including the imposition of levies of up to 67% on solar equipment imported from China, probably effective from December. Earlier in 2013, Brussels launched an investigation against China for predatory pricing policies (dumping) and allegedly providing illegal support to its photovoltaic industry through subsidies.

Although the EU’s solar manufacturing industry, such as SolarWorld that submitted the anti-dumping complaint to the European Commission, has been seriously impacted by below-the-cost prices of Chinese solar technologies, experts fear that up to 242,000 jobs may be lost from the PV re-selling and installation sector. According to the Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy (AFASE), a coalition of 500 companies in the European solar industry,  “[t]he Commission’s plans to impose tariffs of approximately 37- to 69% on solar products from China are wrong and do not take into account the interest of the European Union industry; Punitive tariffs will cost us more than 200,000 jobs.”

Sources: European Photovoltaic Industry Association, Financial Times, Business Green Plus, AFASE.

EU shows reluctance on major clean energy targets

In a crucial May 22^nd summit, the European Council failed to show the much needed vision and leadership towards clean energy and phasing out of fossil fuels.

Europe’s political leaders appeared reluctant to cut policy ties with the EU’s dependency on fossil fuels and tied the need for low-cost energy and industrial competitiveness to “silver bullet” options, such as shale gas. Although the summit conclusions reaffirmed the “implementation of all other related legislation, such as the Directive on the promotion of renewable energies [and the Regulation on security of gas supply]”, it implied that renewable energy is not cost-effective, at least in the present state of affairs.

According to a statement before the summit by Jason Anderson, Head of Climate and Energy at WWF’s European Policy Office:

“[t]hose with narrow vested interests are trying to hang progressive climate policies with the rope of rising energy prices. They demand a halt to climate policy and a focus on new fossil fuels in order to maintain competitiveness; but this is a deliberate diversion from the real challenges Europe must overcome to secure prosperity for all: rising fossil fuel bills, slow progress creating modern integrated and competitive markets, and continued weakness on energy savings.”

Sources: WWF EU, European Council conclusions, Euractiv.

Policy highlights

1. Aarhus Clearinghouse: European Court finds against UK on access to environmental justice (12 April 2013)
2. OECD: Cities: green policies can contribute to growth (May 23, 2013)
3. Bruegel: EU-IMF assistance to euro-area countries: an early assessment (May 2013).
4. Bretton Woods Project: Climate Investment Funds Monitor 7  (April 2013).

Media– Web

• Dirty Gold: Crisis Has Europe Clamoring to Mine | Spiegel Online (26 April 2013)
  By Luke Dale-Harris – “There is gold to be found across Europe, but the correlation between those countries now moving to exploit, and those hit worst by the sovereign debt crisis is clear. Since last year, the Portuguese government has signed 95 separate contracts with mining companies, with the priority given to gold and silver. In Greece, the government's opening up of its gold deposits to a Canadian company has sparked violent protests reported around the world. In Bulgaria and Turkey, gold mining has been growing exponentially since mining laws were recently liberalized.
• EU leaders to square the circle of cheap energy | Euractiv (13 May 2013)
  “Competitiveness, in the EU energy policy context, translates into a re-thinking of the Union’s climate policies. 
  Recently, the powerful employers’ group BusinessEurope called on European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to radically shift the EU's energy policy away from climate change mitigation towards cost-competitiveness and security of supply. [more]
  The Draft Conclusions say that the EU's goal is to ensure “a level playing field for business and industry”, so they can compete in the global marketplace, having regard inter alia to the impact of carbon leakage”.
  “Carbon leakage" is jargon for the relocation of European businesses abroad because of the comparative advantage they may gain from looser climate regimes.”
• Put the Environment at the Center of the Global Economy: An Argument for the Eco-Currency  | The Hankyoreh (14 May 2013)
  By Emanuel Pastreich, Professor of Humanitas College in Kyung Hee University – “The solution to both the problem of currency and of climate change is obvious: we must hardwire the health of the ecosystem directly to the standard measurements of economic health so that the state of the environment is immediately visible in all economic transactions. Global finance, trade and investment must all be conducted within a system that makes the preservation of the climate, rather than profit, the highest priority.
  One possible approach is the introduction of a global “eco-currency.” The international community would establish an international currency, an “eco-currency,” whose value is linked directly to the state of the climate (both globally and locally) and that currency would serve either as a universal currency within which international transactions take place, or it could be a factor that significantly impacts all the global currencies.”
• Israeli green group faces closure due to funding woes | Haaretz (6 May 2013)
  “Around four years after the worst of the global economic crisis, foundations are still not opening their wallets…. One of the most important environmental organizations in northern Israel says it faces imminent closure after failing to raise enough money to continue operations.”
• Divesting from coal is not ideology but climate science – a reminder for the EBRD Inter BankWatch Network (14 May 2013)
  “If the EBRD believes in a low-carbon transition and indeed wants to act as a responsible “active citizen” (Mr. Puliti) it should invest in projects that enable the fundamental shifts in industrial, institutional, social and political relationships that are needed in our region for an effective response to the climate threat. Anything less than that will not be fit for purpose.”
• Q&A: Reworking Finance to Serve People and the Environment | Inter Press Service (21 May 2013)
  “The wake of the global financial crisis, as many national governments in Europe cut back on services to citizens and used public money to rescue banks, taught many people a valuable lesson.
  … Unfortunately Europe nowadays means almost exclusively austerity, sacrifices and the like. Even worse, we see a Europe of the common currency, of the common markets, of the free movement of capital, but there is no social Europe.”

For more information, please contact Theodota Nantsou, Policy Coordinator, WWF Greece, tnantsou@wwf.gr, +30 6940527556