News

The German Environment Agency, with support from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, supported and advised a three-year Advisory Assistance Project entitled "Environmentally sound concepts of maritime spatial use for the Baltic Sea Area of the Russian Federation".

The EU Commission is providing funding worth more than 74 million euros to the “European Human Biomonitoring Initiative – HBM4EU” project to harmonize and align the database on human biomonitoring in the EU Member States and to enhance our understanding of the health impact of exposure to pollution. The aim is to consolidate existing data and to implement joint research projects.

Presenting the global roadmap for sustainable urban development over the next twenty years: the New Urban Agenda. It is the key outcome of the UN Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development which ended on 20 October 2016 in the Ecuadorean capital Quito.

The first half of the Fifth German Environmental Survey (GerES V) was completed at the end of May 2016. By that time, the number of participants had reached 1,326 children and adolescents and their parents, from 101 locations. The study examines the extent to which children and adolescents in Germany are exposed to environmental stressors.

The international community resolved to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. The mitigation activities proposed by the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will not be enough to achieve that goal. An UBA report shows how the gap can be narrowed even before 2020, for example with more efficient electrical appliances and through renewable energy support.

Seagoing vessels are a relatively energy-efficient mode of transport but they also cause a lot of air pollution. How great is air pollution at sea and along the coast? How can shipping become environmentally friendly in the future? The UBA is hosting an international conference in Berlin on 17-18 November 2016 to answer these questions. The conference will focus on the North and Baltic Seas.

Kindergartens where children spend most of their time in nature shall soon become an officially accepted form of kindergarten in the Czech Republic. To help defining the requirements the UBA brought together German and Czech forest kindergartens and their advocates in the framework of a project of the Advisory Assistance Programme.

Two English-language technical guides are now available to countries where modernisation of facilities for waste water treatment and sewage sludge management is imminent, e.g. to comply with EU requirements.

In 2013 the disturbed soil of peatlands and forests caused emissions with climate impact of about 45 million tonnes CO2 in Germany alone. The drainage of peatland exposes plant material to the air which was previously preserved in airtight conditions and then releases carbon and nitrous oxide. An UBA study develops incentives how to reduce peatland emissions worldwide.

Which pollutants are people exposed to nowadays and which have diminished as a result of environmental legislation? This was one of the topics more than 300 experts from 33 countries discussed on the 2nd International Conference on Human Biomonitoring in April 2016 in Berlin. The presentations, the conference proceeding and impressions from the conference are found on the conference website.

Until now, with few exceptions, there are no specific provisions for nanomaterials within the substance legislations. As a result, specific environmental risks cannot be described and assessed adequately. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to outline the necessary further development of chemi¬cals regulations for nanomaterials with regard to the environment from UBA´s perspective.

After Dresden, Moscow, Ottawa, Foz do Iguaçu and Durban, the IUPAC Green Chemistry Conferences Series moves to Italy; the Sixth Event will be held in Venice on 4th-8th September 2016.