Publications

In 1990 the former Federal Health Office (Bundesgesundheitsamt) and the Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) jointly elaborated a catalogue of test requirements necessary for assessing the impact of wood preservatives on man and environment. Based on several years of experience, a revision was deemed necessary.

As a part of the scientific project “Emission inventory of the German Baltic Sea catchment area” several investigations of selected point source discharges as well as of important German Baltic rivers are performed. According of the HELCOM list of “priority harmful substances”  balances are derived for the annual pollution input into the Baltic Sea from Germany.

Spatial planning with the aim of environmental protection takes place at the federal, Länder (Federal States) and municipal planning levels and serves to prepare political resolutions and to implement parliamentary decisions.

Evaluation

Overall it can be concluded that all the labs were able to reliably identify most of the species. There were major problems with some species of Bivalvia and Polychaeta. Counting errors occurred more frequently for these groups. 

Consumer protection is now the talk of the town since the occurrence of the so-called mad-cow disease and the spreading of foot and mouth disease, after the insights into the misuse of medicines in livestock fattening and other “scandals” in food production.

In addition major accidents-information offers the chance to increase the credibility of the facility operator and the supervisory administrative bodies and other persons involved. Research shows that risk communication makes a considerable contribution to this fact.

The final seminar session included a summary of the seminar discussions by Dr. Mez, (Environmental Policy Research Unit, Berlin). Mr. Bashmakov (CENEf Moscow) delivered a co-presentation addressing major shortcomings in the field of energy efficiency and deriving recommendations for further capacity building  from an Eastern European perspective.

On the basis of the historical consumption and emission levels of the three fluorinated greenhouse gases - HFCs, PFCs and SF6 - in Germany from 1995 to 1997, emissions forecasts until 2010 are elaborated for each individual application sector, with and without additional abatement measures beyond business-as-usual.  

The environmental influences of transport are many and diverse. They comprise not only the direct effects of the means of conveyance during operation. Transport infrastructure,  such as for example the road network, can also impair the environment substantially.

Telecommunication technologies and informatics – in short „telematics“ – experience rapid progress and increasingly influence everyday life. This includes applications in transport.

On September, 24th, 1996 the Council of the European Communities issued the Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC-D). This directive aims to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole.