Publications

"Rare earths are to China what oil is to the Middle East," stated Deng Xiaoping in 1992 (Wang 2007). China accounts for 97 percent of global rare earth production, and as such the world is more dependent on it than it is on oil from the Middle East. That situation is significant because rare earths, although usually used only in small amounts, are of great strategic relevance.

In Bolivia's western highlands, at an altitude of some 3,600 metres, lie the largest identified reserves of lithium in the world.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has enormous economic potential thanks to its raw material wealth. However, since 1996 (if not before) DR Congo has been seen as a classic example of the linkage between the exploitation of raw materials and the financing of war.

Further action is needed that goes far beyond what has been agreed so far under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol to ‘prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system’, the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC. It is out of question that developed countries (Annex I countries) will have to take a leading role.

Climate protection strategies today basically pursue two approaches: Firstly, measures should be taken to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emisssions. Secondly, measures should be implemented that enable humans and the environment to adapt to unavoidable climate change.

Position paper of the Ad hoc Subcommittee “Natural Attenuation” of the Contaminated Site Committee (ALA) of the Federal/State Working Group on Soil Protection (LABO), translation by order of the Federal Environment Agency.

According to the environmental noise directive 2002/49/EG noise maps had to be prepared for major roads, major railways, major airports and agglomerations with more the 250.000 persons until 06/30/2007. Based on this results action plans had to be developed.

Bioaccumulation potential of chemicals is frequently assessed from bioconcentration, conventionally measured according to OECD 305 (Bioaccumulation: Flow-through Fish Test) (OECD,1996) and expressed as Bioconcentration Factor (BCF).

The project analyzed the process of different industry associations of developing and documenting specific environmental release categories (spERCs). Issues regarding the information structure and type of justification provided in the fact sheets documenting the derivation of spERCs were described and analyzed at a general level. For selected spERCs, more in-depth analyses were conducted.

Official implementation of the Water Framework Directive on 22 December 2000 marked the beginning of a new era in the annals of water management. The Water Framework Directive sets the ambitious goal of attaining “good status” for Europe’s rivers, lakes, groundwater bodies and coastal waters by 2015 in accordance with a clearly defined timeline.

Recycling of Household Waste in Armenia: Personnel training, data collection including waste analyses, recommendations for waste management actions. -- Final Report.

This Report on the Implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Germany (National ICZM Report) has been drawn up in response to the request made in February 2010 by the European Commission, when it invited the EU’s coastal Member States to provide up-to-date overviews of the progress achieved in the implementation of ICZM during the period from 2006 to 2010 on the basis of the guidel