** I have run out of time on this, so haven't done the last editing, to get it down to perhaps 2/3 this size; I hope to do that with the next half-month report.

* Australia *

* In the Asia - Pacific region:- (alphabetical, then date order) *

† new section title: CO2: Future Cars, Housebuilding And Treeplanting. # The first market introduction of vehicles with fuel-cell engines may occur in 2004, in trucks/buses. Fuel cell engines could bring about the end of today's internal combustion engines. # Toyota has no plans as yet to take its hybrid-engined Prius car to other markets than the U.S. and Europe; 20-29 km per litre [an '85 Civic can get 16.3 km/l; CO2 emissions from all sources have to be reduced _to_ less than 1/3 of 1990 levels, to stabilise global temps. D.] # Homeowners in Britain will be forced to install double-glazed windows and thick insulation. Britain must reduce its 2012 emissions by eight percent below 1990 levels. # www.americanforests.org :- "offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions during a vacation is good for environment and only takes a click of the mouse." # Fuel-cell-powered bicycle has been tested up to 100 kilometers, at a top speed of 30 km/h. # Carpool lanes in Los Angeles open to drivers of dedicated-CNG cars.

† new section title: GM - Biotechnology. # British scientists are concerned that a jumping gene used to genetically modify organisms could spread to other species; New Scientist.

† In the Asian elephant, only the males have tusks. There are less than 800 tuskers left in India which means the semen distribution is low. With the fittest tuskers killed, or kept by temples, lumber yards or zoos, the juveniles, the weak, the deformed or tuskless males take over the role of reproduction. 16,000 elephants are held in captivity throughout Southeast Asia. Maneka Gandhi the Indian minister said elephants are often starved and beaten while being trained and 50% of them die in the process.
† Mass evacuation as floods hit northeastern India.
† The World Bank will lend $130 million to help finance small private sector hydro-power projects in India's northern and central states, up to 200 megawatts.
† “A survey of Japanese people found 14% opposed whaling outright, while more than half didn't care if whaling was banned. Further, only one percent reported eating whale meat more than once a month and nobody more often than this.” The survey was conducted by Britain's MORI.
† from PMA: 6 August - Hiroshima Day, and 9 August - Nagasaki Day.
† The United States, which has the world's largest number of nuclear power plants, reported an average of 2.4 shutdowns per plant in 1996. Japan, which has 51 reactors, reported an average of 0.2 shutdowns per plant.
† Mongolia gripped by worst drought in 30 years; half a million Mongolians, 20% of the population, are living in dire conditions because of storms and a winter drought that killed millions of livestock.

† new section title: Oceans. # An intense underwater noise or explosive pressure led to the strandings of five beaked whales in March. The strandings occurred while the U.S. Navy was conducting tests of a powerful sonar system. Biologists reported on autopsies performed on four Cuvier's beaked whales and one Blainville's dense beaked whale, which all showed severe trauma to their ears and other areas. # New Zealand and Australia propose a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. The proposal will be made during this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Adelaide in early July. # Global warming may be one of gravest threats to whales this century. It could reduce sea ice by more than 40%. This may severely deplete krill, zooplankton that are the primary source of food for whales in the Southern Hemisphere. And in the Arctic, warming trends could result in the total disappearance of the region's year-round icepack within the next fifty years, diminishing the abundance of phytoplankton.

† Thai Airways took shark's fin soup off its first class inflight menu after complaints. "They say that in several cases shark hunters have just chopped off the fins and let the shark die cruelly."
† In Timor Lorosae (East Timor), the new official currency is the U.S. dollar. Elections and possibly independence could take place by the end of 2001. Reconciliation and providing work and income are current dire needs. East Timor now one of the few peaceful zones in Pacific - Jose Ramos Horta.
† Los Angeles is the first major American city to ban the use of diesel fuel in municipal buses and garbage trucks. 7,200 garbage trucks and 3,700 buses will be required to convert to cleaner burning alternative fuels by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). The fuels could include methanol, natural gas (CNG), electricity or fuel cells, and ethanol.
† The first comprehensive survey of California adults on environmental issues finds that most Californians are very concerned about the environment, and would pay higher gasoline and housing costs to protect natural resources.
† Mekong Basin dams kill and cause poverty, Bank warned. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is being urged to defer a decision on funding a controversial 240 MW hydroelectric scheme on the Se San River in Vietnam until more detailed studies are done.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Articles for the summaries came via:

* ENS	Environmental News Service http://ens.lycos.com
* Greens Aus	Lists: Greens Global, Greens Media, Greens Activist, Greens News
* Oz-E	Oz-Envirolink oz-envirolink@altnews.com.au
* PlArk	Planet Ark http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm? supplied by Reuters
* PMA	Peace Movement Aotearoa pma@xtra.co.nz (International only)
* TimTod	Timor Today http://www.easttimor.com/
* WWN	World Watch News http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/

You may note that this is much shorter than the list I gave in my last Regional Review, which was passed on to me by my predecessor. I refuse to spend more than the two weeks it takes me to summarize two weeks' articles from /these/ sources. D.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AUSTRALIA

- The Australian Primary Industries and Regional Services Committee identified the risks associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) but came down in support of GMOs. "It is vital and critical that any of the risks associated with GMOs are avoided," committee chairwoman Fran Bailey said in a statement. "They can be avoided if we have an independent regulator." So far Australia's only GM crop of commercial significance is cotton - with cottonseed oil used in cooking oils - but trials of canola, clover, field peas, wheat, barley, sugarcane and lupins are underway. Canola is expected to be Australia's next commercial GM crop with production from 2002. The only dissenting voice on the 12-member multi-party committee was the NSW independent Peter Andren who called for a five-year moratorium on releasing GM crops, saying there were enough concerns being raised by scientists to warrant caution. "(A moratorium would) enable adequate independent research to be carried out on health and environmental impacts and consumer demand," Andren said in the 187-page report. "The moral and ethical aspects of developing and using GMO technology in food have not been properly debated within the community." The committee report will be taken into account as the government presents a Gene Technology Bill before parliament, expected in coming weeks. The bill will be Australia's first legislative attempt to regulate GMOs, introducing hefty fines for non-compliance. It will give genetic control to a permanent Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (GTR), a statutory office holder with powers and independence akin to the Auditor General, the Ombudsman or the Tax Commissioner. The Office is expected to be up and running by January 4 next year. (PlArk 7166 20/6) [A later note: ] The legislation will prohibit all GMO activities unless they are licensed by the GTR, exempt, have a notifiable low risk dealing, or are on the register of GMOs. The bill provides penalties for unauthorised GMO dealing of up to A$220,000 for individuals or A$1.1 million for a corporation. The GTR will report to a Ministerial Council of Australian Commonwealth and State Ministers. (PlArk 7230 23/6)

- Australia and NZ expect to label GM food by mid-2001, Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) said. Ten state and national health ministers will meet in Wellington, New Zealand, in late July and are expected to agree on labelling standards after two years of discussions. So far Australia's only GM crop of commercial significance is cotton (cottonseed oil) with trials of canola, clover, field peas, wheat, barley, sugarcane and lupins underway. But processed foods containing GM ingredients have been on sale in Australia for about 10 years without labels, prompting concern as GM awareness has grown in recent years. "All the scientific data presently before ANZFA indicates that the GM foods under assessment have all the benefits of the corresponding conventional foods and no additional risks," ANZFA chairman Michael MacKellar said. But anti-GM campaigners argued these tests were "too little and too late". "The ANZFA is not taking a sufficiently precautionary approach .... we think industry should now begin labelling," said Bob Phelps, director of the Australian Conservation Foundation GeneEthnics Network. Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has written to all state premiers urging a softening in mandatory labelling of genetically modified foods. The ministers have agreed to exempt GM products with highly refined ingredients, those used as processing aids and those prepared at point of sale. But they are believed to have refused to agree to the key request, that other foods with less than one percent of GM content be exempt from labelling. (PlArk 7168 20/6)

- Australia sets renewable energy sales target. It expected to reach A$4 billion by 2010, the Federal government said on Tuesday. The industry and government renewable energy industry action agenda requires sales growth of about 25 percent a year. Current sales from the Australian renewable energy industry, excluding large hydro, are about A$330 million. Government support for the industry, including A$387 million funding over 1998 to 2003, is part of a strategy to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, which are set to exceed levels targeted under the Kyoto commitment. The government has already mandated that electricity retailers source an extra two percent of their demand from renewable or waste product energy sources from 2010. The introduction of emissions trading, which is yet to be determined by the government, would also boost the competitiveness of renewable energy, which costs well above coal-fired baseload power. Exports were expected to comprise half of the forecast growth in sales. BP Amoco Plc regional director and chairman of the industry leadership group Greg Bourne said the industry must focus on providing clean, reliable and low-cost energy. (PlArk 7185 21/6)

- Australian consumers fight on, in GM war; Australia's main consumer group has vowed to crusade against what it sees as the cavalier introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods. Consumers were yet to be convinced of the safety of five GM products effectively endorsed by the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) this week, said Louise Sylvan, chief executive of the Australian Consumers Association (ACA). She said the food safety authority's assessment had been made very quickly, and criticised it for a lack of long-term monitoring. "(ANZFA) does not look for unexpected things in these foods," Sylvan told Reuters in an interview. "(And) they're basing their stuff on what the manufacturers provide them with." Accounting firm KPMG estimates that stringent labelling of even traces of GM product would cost the industry A$3 billion in the first year and A$1.5 billion in subsequent years. Consumer groups dispute the figures. "We think there is just so much not known that for ANZFA to go around saying that these foods are just as safe (as conventional food) and seem to present no risks ... it's a little early to be making that kind of determination." She urged Australia to follow New Zealand by placing a moratorium on new releases of GM food. The report was actually very scathing about the regulator (ANZFA)," Sylvan said. She believes consumers will win the labelling war. The health ministers understand that this (non-labelling) is lying to consumers and that they are much much more interested in having truthful labelling," she said. "That battle is still being waged." (PlArk 7214 22/6)

- Australian insurers see GM food as hard to insure. Growers and sellers of genetically modified (GM) foods may face insurance hurdles in bringing their product to market, a report by the Australian insurance industry said. Unforeseen risks in GM foods may be too high for insurers to enter into liability insurance agreements on GM foods, said a submission by the Insurance Council of Australia to a parliamentary committee report on gene technology. Producers and sellers of GM foods may have to shop around to find an insurer willing to enter into an agreement, and possibly produce tailor-made insurance deals covering GM foods. Genetic engineered risks were either currently uninsurable or unattractive to the general insurance industry in Australia. "The industry is not necessarily saying the risk is too high, it's saying that the risk is too hard to assess." Australia's main farmer representative body the National Farmers' Federation shrugged off the insurance problem on Wednesday, saying the main point with GM foods was whether markets would accept them. (PlArk 7212 22/6)

- Australia and New Zealand will push for creation of a South Pacific whale sanctuary at the annual conference of the International Whaling Commission in Adelaide on July 3-6, a Australian official said on Wednesday. The proposed sanctuary would extend south from the equator, east to remote Easter Island and west to Australia, said David Kay, Australia's alternate IWC commissioner. "Currently there is protection in the winter feeding grounds (in the Southern Ocean) but there is no protection of the breeding grounds and calving grounds (in the South Pacific). The stocks of whales in this area ... are recovering only very slowly from the massive depletion that occured as a result of commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries," Kay said. A South Pacific sanctuary would complement Southern and Indian Ocean sanctuaries and would mean that virtually all of the ocean in the Southern Hemisphere, except for the south Atlantic, would be designated a whale sanctuary. (PlArk 7200 22/6)

- The burning of woodchips from Australia's wild forests will be subsidised and called 'renewable' under regulations which follow the Howard Government's Renewable Energy Bill. "The Bill is far short of the mark for Australia to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions", Greens Senator Bob Brown said today. "It aims for 2% of electricity production to be from renewable sources by 2010, compared with Germany's aim of 10%. But even that 2% is now a sham - clearing forests to burn in furnaces is neither a renewable nor a 'clean green' process."
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- Greens move to stop new nuclear reactor and waste dump at Lucas Heights, NSW. Expectations are that contracts for the construction of a new nuclear reactor will be signed on July 6. A large community protest rally has been planned for that day. The Uranium Mining and Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Act 1986 currently prohibits the construction or operation of a nuclear facility and associated storage facilities, unless they are operated by the Commonwealth. Lee Rhiannon's Private Member's Bill would remove the provisions that provide these exemptions for the Commonwealth, thereby stopping the new reactor. Her Bill would also stop the transportation of nuclear waste for dumping purposes. "So far the NSW Government has refused to entertain any prospect of legislation to prevent the creation of another reactor or associated dump."
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- The government's Gene Technology Bill 2000 fails to provide safety for Australian consumers and the environment, Greens Senator Bob Brown said. The legislation's failures include:
* no provision for a moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms
* no provisions that guarantee a state's (such as Tasmania) or local council's right to opt-out altogether from GE
* no guarantee of adequate buffer zones around any GE crops (releases or trials)
* no environment 'trigger' to ensure a thorough review by the environment department and minister before any GE release
* lack of adequate provisions to ensure compulsory neighbourhood notification of where GMOs are being grown.
"Australian consumers will demand that this bill gets a working over in the Senate. The Greens will make sure it does," Senator Brown said. - (Greens Aus 23/6)

- NZ PM says Howard 'Not Well Aligned Internationally' as GE Relations Sour. Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown says today's statement by NZ Prime Minister Helen Clarke, that the Howard Government "does not appear to be well aligned internationally" on genetic engineering, underlines a growing trans-Tasman rift emanating from Mr Howard's failed effort to bully on the issue. In the Senate, Senator Brown quoted NZ Consumer Affairs Minister Phillida Bunkle's description of Mr Howard as "an alarmist fearmonger" over Mr Howard's claim that full labelling of GE-contaminated foods would hurt business. Mr Howard has written to Ms Clarke calling for a softer NZ line on GE labelling, while at the same time admitting a new report puts the annual cost of GE labelling at $356 million for the 2 countries, not $1.5 billion as he claimed earlier. "Howard will fail because the other governments are closer to public concern. Mr Howard has only big business on his side," Senator Brown said. (Greens Aus 27/6)

- Queensland is getting warmer, with heavier downpours, continuing a trend over the past 100 years, Australian scientists said yesterday, based on research undertaken for the Queensland government. By 2010 there would be more than twice the number of hot days between October and March and less than half the cold days from April to September. "We expect downpours to become heavier, which may mean more local flooding," CSIRO scientist Kevin Walsh said in a statement. El Niño events may also become more common, although this was still uncertain. Increases in tropical cyclone intensities together with rising sea level were likely to increase tropical storm surge heights. CSIRO climate modelling also showed an increase in drought frequencies in Queensland in the next century for most months, with considerable variation from region to region. (PlArk 7305 29/6)

- Community Digital TV: "Amendments from the Greens, Democrats and Labor will force the Government to prepare a transition plan (by January 2002) for community TV so that it can switch to digital," Senator Brown said. "The objects of the Government's legislation have also been amended to ensure that community and indigenous TV are considered in the transition to digital."The amendments do not go far enough. The Greens would have preferred a quicker review and that the legislation guaranteed community access to the digital spectrum. But this is a start."The Government proposed in 1998 that community TV would have full and free access to the digital spectrum but had made no provisions for it in the legislation," said Senator Brown. (Greens Aus 29/6)

- Australia's biggest wind-powered electricity generating system will be built near Albany on the south coast of Western Australia by state-owned utility Western Power, state Energy Minister Colin Barnett said yesterday. Costing A$45 million, the windfarm will come on line next July. It will contain 12 turbines on 65 metre towers producing a collective 22 megawatts of power. Barnett told a media conference here that the system would be commercially viable and not require any government subsidy. "It will produce enough electricity for 17,000 homes, or 75 percent of Albany's requirements," he said. The major equipment items for the windfarm, the generators and 35m long blades, will be built in Germany by Enercon. (PlArk 7321 30/6)

BRAZIL [included as example of going the legal route. D.M.]

CAMBODIA

CANADA

Global warming within a few decades may have melted enough of the ice clogging Canada's Northwest Passage for cargo ships to steam through Canada's Arctic archipelago, at least for part of the year. The distance between Europe and the Far East via the Panama Canal is around 12,600 nautical miles. The Northwest Passage would cut this to 7,900 nautical miles. It may mean in the summertime the opening of the Passage for a matter of weeks or maybe a month or so. An ice plug at the western end of the channel now blocks the way; if it were to melt there would be nothing to stop icebergs. The smallest, called growlers, just a metre above the waterline, can easily sink a ship; they can't be seen on marine radar. Conditions in the passage are treacherous at the best of times. (PlArk 7102 15/6)

Timber company puts off roadbuilding to Canada's oldest trees. The upper Elaho Valley, an area north of Vancouver renowned for its old-growth forest, will be spared further road building for now. The valley, near the world famous Whistler Ski Resort, contains some of the oldest trees in Canada and has been proposed as a national park. "These deferrals will allow Interfor time to engage in further dialogue with First Nations, environmental groups and community interests before seeking new forest development plan approvals for the upper Elaho, It also allows time to examine grizzly bear values in the area." The Elaho Valley is home to ancient Douglas Firs, some more than 1,300 years old. Five Interfor employees face assault charges to be heard in December in connection with an incident in the Elaho Valley last September, which saw three conservationists hospitalized. Four people were jailed in May for violating an injunction barring public access to the area. The injunction has since been struck down. On Sunday, members of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) took waste wood - wedges cut from trees to control the direction of the tree felled - from the Upper Elaho and Sims valleys. The group plans to roll the wedges in bright yellow wheelbarrows to the B.C. Legislature in Victoria, 300 kilometers away, in a campaign called "Wedge to the Ledge." (ENS -03 20/6)

CHINA

The world's largest municipality, Chongqing, home to over 30 million people, and China's capital city of Beijing, with 12 million inhabitants, will now be able to improve their air and water quality with World Bank loans. China's reliance on low quality coal, the recent rapid population increase, and the growth of motor vehicles in the capital city of Beijing have taken their toll on this urban environment. Urban Chongqing, located in southern China where the Yangtze Rive and the Jialing River meet, currently lacks a wastewater collection and disposal system. The Beijing Municipal Government has started a clean air program to convert all small coal boilers and burners within the urban area to cleaner fuel, require all passenger cars to meet strict emission standards, and require the planting of vegetation to control dust. The government is providing wastewater collection and treatment for the Liangshi River basin, which covers more than a quarter of the city of Beijing. To partially underwrite the Beijing Municipal Government's air and water quality improvement programs, and strengthen environmental management in Beijing, the World Bank Tuesday approved a US$349 million environment loan to China. The Bank also approved a loan of $US200 million dollars to provide wastewater management services to urban Chongqing. The World Bank loan is supplemented by a US$25 million equivalent grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). "This project is designed to support one of the most significant programs of urban environmental improvement in the world," said urban economist, Songsu Choi, the project's task manager. In addition to the World Bank loan and GEF grant, the overall project cost of US$1.25 billion will be financed with US$343 million from China's central and municipal governments. US$355.5 million will be provided by beneficiaries, and the remaining US$182.5 million will be financed through local commercial bank loans.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/pics11/chinamap.gif ; 21 kB
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/chinamap.gif [same] :-
map of China and surrounding nations. (ENS -01 21/6)

The desert has advanced to the village of Longbaoshan just beyond the Great Wall outside Beijing, a mountain of sand so threatening that Premier Zhu Rongji himself came to size it up last month. A dozen times this spring Zhu and Beijing's 12 million other residents got a taste - literally - of the danger in store as choking yellow spring dust storms enveloped the capital. But in Longbaoshan villagers live and work in the shadow of the dune as it expands and marches towards Beijing at a rate of nine metres (30 ft) a year. A 50 metre (165 ft) high mountain of sand looms over the village; a 10-km-long advance column of the Gobi Desert so big it's become a tourist attraction billed as the "Flying Desert". Zhu drove more than 1,000 km by car in two days across scorching-hot stretches of northern China, where he issued a dire message about desertification and the environmental costs of development in the world's most populous country. Environmental degradation is a policy area where China's government and its tightly-controlled media frankly admit mistakes and shortcomings. The Flying Desert is the result of rampant logging and overgrazing, which allow winds to carry sand from western China to the outskirts of Beijing. Zhu ordered local officials to ensure "ecological returns are the main thing" - in effect repudiating decades of Communist man-over-nature thinking. "Zhu offered a deal to local farmers: We'll give you free grain and you switch to planting trees," he said. Zhu said China's huge grain surpluses gave it the "historic opportunity" to take marginal lands out of cultivation. Beijing, with its water table and key reservoirs at their lowest levels since the early 1980s, is expected to unveil water quotas on industries, hotels, restaurants and universities. The drought in northern China, where some places have had no rain for 20 months, has stirred debate over whether agriculture's heavy use of water makes economic sense. Local officials said the dry valleys around Longbaoshan had diversified from grains to fruits and nuts, which used less water and earned more money. Vineyards, some with foreign investment and technical support, have sprouted across the landscape. "We are at the same latitude as southern France," said Wang Yongxian, Communist Party secretary of Longbaoshan, highlighting the area's wine-producing ambitions. (PlArk 7216 22/6)

Energy, green reforms threaten Chinese aluminium. Rising electricity costs pose a threat to China's aluminium industry which could lead to closures and a drop in alumina imports, Mike Komesaroff, director of Urandaline Investments, said yesterday, at the CRU International aluminium conference in London. Komesaroff believes the Chinese government policy of a common tariff with all users in one area paying the same rate is the biggest threat to electricity-hungry industries such as aluminium. Chinese aluminium plants already pay the highest energy costs globally. China has yet to fully deregulate electricity prices and there is a dual system where supply from new generators is charged at a higher rate than from older suppliers. Australia's alumina producers should take heed because their $300 million export market was at risk. China imports around 1.5 MT a year of alumina (the raw material used to make aluminium metal), 75% of which comes from Australia. Plants in China, the world's third largest producer, were also under threat of closure because of their low technical efficiency and extremely high emissions. "The government is now taking a hard look at high polluting smelters, especially those that cannot manage to earn a profit. The recent closure of the Shenyang copper smelter in northern China is a warning to the aluminium industry that the government is now getting serious with high-polluting metallurgical plants," he said. China has a large domestic alumina industry and although costs are high and quality lower than Australian material, Komesaroff said this was largely irrelevant. "Domestic producers are better located relative to the smelters and in a price sensitive market like China that difference can swamp any quality difference." (PlArk 7283 28/6)

CO2: FUTURE CARS, HOUSEBUILDING AND TREEPLANTING

Toyota said it was aiming to sell around 15,000 of its hybrid-engined Prius models overseas next year, with two-thirds of those sales in North America. The Prius was the first hybrid-powered car - combining a traditional gasoline-powered engine and battery-driven motor - to be sold on the mass market when it made its debut in 1997. Hybrid-engined vehicles offer greater fuel efficiency and have lower emissions levels than conventional cars, running on battery power when starting up and moving at less than highway speeds. Sales in the Prius have, however, been limited to Japan, totalling 37,000 so far. Toyota launched the second-generation Prius for the Japanese market last week; monthly sales: 1,500. The new Prius has a top speed of 160 kph compared with 140 kph for the previous version. It is capable of running for 29 km per litre under Japanese fuel efficiency tests, with ordinary drivers averaging about 20 km per litre. Toyota has no plans as yet to take the Prius to other markets than the U.S. and Europe. Automakers are increasingly backing the new technology: Honda said last month it would begin selling a hybrid-powered version of its popular Civic compact in Japan next year. Honda's first hybrid vehicle, Insight, last year was sold in the United States and Japan, but as a two-seater coupe, its mass market is limited. Unlike purely electric-powered vehicles, hybrids do not need to be plugged in to an outside electricity source, and automakers are betting greater environmental and energy consciousness, as well as stricter emission rules, will boost demand for such cars. They also reckon that fuel-cell-powered cars will not make significant inroads into the market for about two decades. (PlArk 7144 19/6)

Auto-maker DaimlerChrysler AG said on Monday it will bring fuel-cell vehicles to the market within two years. Speaking at a news conference in Hanover, DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Jürgen Schrempp said that public transport buses would be equipped with fuel cells in just two years time. Two years later the first passenger cars would be fitted with fuel-cells, Schrempp said. He gave no details about where these vehicles will be launched. [Better, longer article at: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2000/2000L-06-20-08.html includes: >>>EvoBus GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, will supply the Mercedes-Benz Citaro low floor urban buses with fuel cells at a price of 1.25 million euros each. The Citaro's fuel cell unit delivers more than 250 kilowatts of power. It was developed and manufactured by the DaimlerChrysler subsidiary Xcellsis. Gas bottles containing compressed hydrogen for the fuel cells are mounted on the roof of the bus. The environmentally friendly bus can travel up to 300 kilometers at a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour and carry around 70 passengers. "The fuel cell boasts efficiency levels greater than those offered by the combustion engine," said Schrempp. "It can be used in both mobile and stationary applications, can run on renewable fuels and has the potential to become the drive of the future." Schrempp quoted neutral observers, who have predicted a growing demand for fossil fuels in the coming years, leading to continued increases in the price of oil. This raises the danger that energy could become a luxury item for the prosperous, deepening the division between rich and poor in the world, Schrempp said. <<< ] DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor and Volkswagen are all members of a fuel-cell alliance called the "California Fuel Cell Partnership". The alliance aims to keep abreast of the global trend for environment-friendly cars and has been trying since April 1999 to set the standard for fuel-cell driven vehicles. Prototypes of hydrogen, gasoline and methanol-driven fuel-cells are currently being developed. (PlArk 7165 20/6)

Homeowners in Britain will be forced to install double-glazed windows and thick insulation under new government regulations, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from homes, and applying for the first time to 24 million existing houses as well as new buildings. Expected to take effect next year. The addition of insulation will be mandatory for new or repaired roofs, and even in replastered walls. Insulation must be one foot deep in the loft. The regulations were introduced by Housing, Planning and Construction Minister Nick Raynsford to help Britain meet its commitment to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. That agreement obliges 39 industrialized countries to limit their emissions of six gases linked with global warming. Britain must reduce its 2012 emissions by eight percent below 1990 levels. "Buildings produce about half the total national CO2 emissions and average building performance is poor by comparison with current best practice," says Raynsford. "These regulations will enable Britain to meet its Kyoto target without any problem." (ENS -01 20/6)

Vacationers: offset greenhouse gases by planting trees. In the wake of a new federal report outlining the significant effects global warming will have in the U.S., American Forests is showing vacation travelers how they can battle global warming by planting trees. On their website: http://www.americanforests.org , they show how a family of four on a two week vacation that includes 1,200 miles of driving can offset their climate impact by planting nine trees, for less than the cost of one-half tank of gasoline. The tree number increases to 14 for a couple on a two week "first class" vacation to a destination 2,500 miles away. A "back to nature" camping and canoe trip for four for the same number of days can be offset for just five trees. Deborah Gangloff, American Forests' executive director: "We point out that a lot of greenhouse gases are produced from our daily activities including vacations. As people become more aware of these impacts, many will realize that offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions is good for environment and only takes a click of the mouse." (ENS AmeriScan -09 20/9) Nissan Diesel has developed a hybrid-powered light truck that uses natural gas and an electric motor, that is expected to meet stricter emissions standards to take effect in 2005. The hybrid-powered light trucks are equipped with a low-emission compressed natural gas (CNG) engine and a capacitor which stores electricity generated by energy during braking, a Nissan Diesel spokesman said. Both the capacitor and the CNG engine supply electricity to a motor, boosting the vehicle's fuel efficiency to double that of conventional CNG trucks, he said. About 5,000 CNG-powered vehicles are used in Japan by government offices, commuter bus operators and trucking firms. Analysts said that, although any new breakthrough was a welcome move for the heavily indebted company, it was likely to be just a temporary salve. Nissan Diesel is easily the weakest of Japan's four major truckmakers. (PlArk 7177 20/6)

Methanol fuel cells may lower Japan's gasoline needs, which could decrease six percent from earlier 20-year forecasts if methanol is preferred to power fuel cell engines in vehicles, a Japanese think-tank said in a report released on Wednesday. Japan's Institute of Energy Economics (IEE) said some seven percent of an estimated 59 million passenger cars likely to be on the country's roads in 2020/2021 could be fuel-cell-powered. If those vehicles have methanol-powered fuel cell engines, it would result in annual gasoline demand of 56.4 million kilolitres (kl) against a previous estimate of 60 million kl, the IEE said. (PlArk 7205 22/6)

* * * US federal legislation in 1998 recognized biodiesel as an official alternative fuel for meeting requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT). Since then, use of biodiesel has soared as bus and truck fleets across the U.S. have found it a cost effective option for meeting EPACT's alternative fuel requirements. The two Representatives said: "We are providing communities across the country with the ability to meet alternative fuel requirements at the most reasonable cost. We are helping these communities improve their air quality (its use results in a 90 percent reduction in air toxins over conventional fuels). At the same time, we are helping America's farmers, while enhancing the nation's energy security." (ENS -09 AmeriScan 22/6)

* * * Fuel-cell-powered bicycle tests successfully; it has been tested over a driving range of up to 100 kilometers at a top speed of 30 km/h. Manhattan Scientifics Inc. of New York says it uses technology developed by its NovArs unit in Passau, Germany. Pictures of the Hydrocycle & inside the fuel cell casing :-
http://www.manhattsci.com/media_center/graphics/hydrocycle.jpg
http://www.manhattsci.com/media_center/graphics/fuelcellstack.jpg
Japan estimates that one billion electric bikes will be on the roads by 2020 in Asia and niche markets in Europe and the U.S. Large amounts of goods in Asia are transported by scooters that have polluting two cycle engines. "These societies are literally choking on gas and diesel fumes," says Marvin Maslow. The NovArs mid-range technology, ranges from several watts to several kilowatts, and is based on a polymer electrolyte fuel cell that uses hydrogen and air to produce electric power. It is completely pollution free. The fuel cell's unique design minimizes size and weight, making it potentially ideal as a power source for portable electronic equipment or lightweight, personal transportation applications. ( http://www.manhattsci.com/media_center/pressrelease24.htm ) (ENS -09 AmeriScan 23/6)

* * * New software rates green building products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available a new version of a software package for selecting cost-effective, green building products. Aimed at designers, builders and product manufacturers, the software program, "Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability" or BEES 2.0, is based on environmentally sound building standards agreed to by the EPA, industry and public interest groups. The new version includes actual environmental and economic performance data for over 65 building products. BEES measures the environmental performance of building products by using the environmental life-cycle assessment approach specified in international ISO 14000 standards. All stages in the life of a product are analyzed: raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use and recycling and waste management. The software system assesses the building products' environmental impacts: ozone depletion, smog, ecological and human toxicity, global warming, acid rain, natural resource depletion, indoor air quality and solid waste. The new version is available at:
www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/bees.html (ENS -09 AmeriScan 23/6)

Ford's new electric city car, TH!NK city, will be the pace car in the 4th annual Ford LA Street Race. The two-seat battery electric car is among the alternative vehicles offered by Ford that will be showcased at the race July 15-16. TH!NK Car: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/pics11/thinkcar.jpg . Ford vehicles powered by alternative fuels like propane (LPG), natural gas (CNG) and ethanol, and battery electric vehicles, will be shown throughout the weekend. (ENS -09 AmeriScan 27/6)

Carpool lanes open to drivers of natural gas vehicles; law allowing solo drivers access to carpool lanes takes effect July 1. Many drivers of alternatively fueled cars and vans, including natural gas vehicles (NGVs using CNG), will have access to California's high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes regardless of the number of occupants aboard, a consequence of the California Legislature's AB 71. There are currently 18,000 NGVs on the road in California, and this special program is open to the 6,000 that fall under the weight limit of 14,000 pounds and run exclusively on natural gas [dedicated CNG vehicles]. Not only do NGVs burn cleaner than their gasoline counterparts, emitting up to 95% less pollution, but cheaper fuel and lower maintenance costs also make them more economical. Natural gas' octane rating is 130, compared with the ~92 rating of gasoline, ensuring that NGVs have as much power and efficiency as standard cars. Natural gas public fueling stations are conveniently located across Southern California near major freeways and highways; a comprehensive list of new and existing stations is available at www.ngv.org. This summer, SoCalGas is offering drivers the opportunity to try out an NGV, fuel included, for 5,000 km. Contestants can register to win use of a Honda Civic, Toyota Camry or Ford F-150 NGV at designated participating NGV dealers. For more information on registering an alternatively fueled vehicle for a DMV-issued decal, visit their web site at www.dmv.ca.gov . Southern California Gas Company is the US's largest natural gas distribution utility, through 5 million meters. (ENS E-Wire 28/6)

GUAM

GM - BIOTECHNOLOGY

France faces a tough choice in deciding whether to destroy thousands of hectares of maize planted with imported U.S. seed that contained traces of genetically modified (GM) material. Opponents of GM crops have called on Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's government to follow the example it set last month when it ordered the destruction of about 600 hectares of rapeseed that contained similar traces of GM material. The government said the seed in question contained some GM material approved to be grown in the EU, some GM material from a strain not yet authorised for production in the EU and some GM material from a "third, unidentified origin". Christophe Labarde, a spokesman for French maize growers' group AGPM, also said that while GM rapeseed could spread its pollen to other plants, GM maize does not run such a risk, so AGPM has not called for the maize in question to be destroyed. There is a vocal anti-GM campaign being waged in France by farming and environmental activists. This was highlighted yesterday after unidentified assailants broke into a government-controlled laboratory and destroyed GM organisms being studied there. The attackers left behind leaflets at the facility claiming the action on behalf of the "night researchers". The incident followed similar raids over the past year on fields where GM crops were being grown experimentally. There is also pressure to destroy the maize from within Jospin's leftist coalition government, which includes France's Greens Party. The Greens, who are represented in the government by Environment Minister Dominique Voynet, last week demanded that the maize be torn up immediately and farmers be compensated for their resulting losses. (PlArk 7271 27/6)

INDIA

Mass evacuation as floods hit northeastern India. Floods caused by heavy rains and overflowing rivers have driven some 2.5 million people from their homes in India's remote northeastern state of Assam, government officials said on Saturday. Manoj Deb, a government spokesman told Reuters by phone from the state capital Dispur that the people affected by the floods have been shifted to high ground and highways. The Assam government has opened more than 25 relief camps to provide food and shelter to the affected. Assam's main Brahmaputra river has been flowing above the danger mark. (PlArk 7253 26/6)

The World Bank will lend $130 million to help finance small private sector hydro-power projects in India's northern and central states. India will expand the development of renewable energy projects and private sector energy efficiency investments. The Indian Second Renewable Energy Project provides a line of credit for private sector financing of small hydro-power stations of up to an aggregate of 200 megawatts to reduce power supply shortages and greenhouse gas emissions. The funds will be channelled through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). Of the total cost of $300 million and project developers will contribute $140 million. (PlArk 7317 30/6)

India's Jammu and Kashmir State is planning to ban its controversial trade in shahtoosh, a wool derived from the hair of an endangered Tibetan antelope, the chiru, its chief minister said yesterday. Shahtoosh trade has been banned since 1979 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) because the chiru is slaughtered for its wool. Environmentalists say chirus are shot and skinned for their hair in remote areas of Tibet and their raw hide is then smuggled into Kashmir for making shawls. Traders in shahtoosh - Persian for "from nature and fit for a king" - say the antelopes shed their wool naturally by rubbing themselves against shrubs and rocks in summer. "Finally shahtoosh will have to be stopped. We are actively going to promote pashmina (a shawl made of goat's fleece) in a larger way," Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters. Although the trade is banned by India's federal government, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has resisted pressure to stop the business in the mountainous province because thousands of state artisans live by the trade. In May this year, the state high court banned the manufacture and sale of shahtoosh but the provincial government has still to implement the ban. Experts estimate that there are 75,000 to 100,000 chirus left in remote areas of Tibet and that as many as 20,000 a year are killed by gangs in China, who then smuggle wool and hides into India. Last year, India's federal government seized shahtoosh shawls worth 10 million rupees ($224,000). (PlArk 7313 30/6)

JAPAN

From: Peace Movement Aotearoa , 30 Jun 2000:
~ 6 August - Hiroshima Day and 9 August - Nagasaki Day.

Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO) said yesterday it has started to shut down a nuclear reactor on the Japan Sea coast after a small amount of radiation was detected in a leaked pool of water found below a network of pipes linked to a high-pressure turbine at the No. 2 Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata prefecture. The United States, which has the world's largest number of nuclear power plants, reported an average of 2.4 shutdowns per plant in 1996. Japan, which has 51 reactors, reported an average of 0.2 shutdowns per plant in fiscal 1998/99. Nuclear energy accounts for roughly a third of the resource-poor nation's total electric supply. Plans for the construction of new nuclear plants are facing strong local resistance in Japan, however, following a series of nuclear accidents that has led to a loss of public faith in nuclear energy. The most serious nuclear accident which happened last September at a uranium processing plant led to the deaths of two workers who were exposed to radiation. The government is reviewing its energy policy, which is expected to conclude with a cut in the target for constructing new reactors. (PlArk 7306 30/6)

MONGOLIA

NEW ZEALAND in world news

OCEANS

* * * A study published in today's "Nature" finds that male humpback whales changed their mating songs under the influence of the Navy's experimental Low Frequency Active (LFA) Sonar. A team of U.S. scientists carried on a Navy research vessel broadcast 10, 42-second-long LFA signals at 16 humpback whales off the coast of Hawaii in 1998. The sonar transmissions were weaker than those used in normal LFA sonar operations. Miller said: "The sonar was turned down quite a bit from the actual level they use when they're looking for submarines." During the transmissions, five of the whales stopped singing altogether. The songs of the remaining whales lasted about 30% longer than normal. "We didn't observe any sorts of extreme reactions." (ENS -09 AmeriScan 22/6)

New Zealand and Australia propose a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. The proposal will be made during this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Adelaide in July, New Zealand Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said on Saturday. The joint proposal will require the support of a 3/4 majority of IWC voting members to establish the sanctuary. "The benefits include the provision of economic gains through ecotourism activities such as whale watching," Lee said. "We have already seen in Kaikoura and in Tonga how even small populations of whales can generate considerable economic benefit." Commenting on concerns raised by Te Ohu Kai Moana (the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission) about the impact of the proposed South Pacific whale sanctuary on Maori customary use rights like using products from stranded whales, a spokesperson for Lee said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given assurances that the proposed sanctuary would have no impact on treaty rights to bone from stranded whales for carvings. (ENS -03 19/6)

The beluga whale population in Alaska's Cook Inlet, which has dropped by nearly half in the past six years, is not so imperilled that it needs protection under the Endangered Species Act, a federal agency ruled. The number of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, the wide channel linking Anchorage with the Gulf of Alaska, has dropped from 653 in 1994 to 357 last year, according to NMFS' latest count. The inlet has a historic carrying capacity of 1,300 belugas. But the agency said an Endangered Species Act was not needed to protect the inlet's belugas because a single activity - hunting by native Alaskans - had caused the decline, and it could be regulated under another law. The agency on May 31 classified the whales as depleted, a designation authorised under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. With the depleted designation in place, NMFS said, it was permitted to limit the hunt of belugas by Alaskan natives. Environmentalists argue that even if hunting caused the whales' decline, other human activities could inhibit their recovery. Threats include entanglement in fishing gear, oil spills, seismic testing, industrial and municipal pollutants, noise from ships, planes and other watercraft, along with strandings, predation and disease, they have said. Native hunters voluntarily halted their Cook Inlet beluga harvests last year. (PlArk 7250 26/6)

Global warming may be one of gravest threats to whales this century. A Pacific Institute report released today concludes that while the world focuses on the threat to whales from commercial harvesting, the silent killer global warming may prove a far more imposing threat to the future viability of many species. The 3-5 degrees F or more rise in air temperature over the next century could reduce sea ice by more than 40%. This may severely deplete the abundance of krill, a zooplankton species that are the primary source of food for whales in the Southern Hemisphere. And in the Arctic, warming trends could result in the total disappearance of the region's year-round icepack within the next fifty years, diminishing the abundance of phytoplankton species relied on by endangered whale species such as narwhal and beluga. In other regions of the world, warming may also alter ocean upwelling patterns, creating massive blooms of toxics. Full report at: www.pacinst.org/IWCOP.pdf [135 kB]. Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment & Security, Oakland, CA. (ENS E-Wire 28June0001)

OUTER SPACE

Evidence of liquid water on Mars. Photographs from NASA's orbiting Mars Global Surveyor show gullies that look like they could have been formed only by large amounts of water bursting out and causing landslides, said the scientists. "We see features that look like gullies formed by flowing water and the deposits of soil and rocks transported by these flows. We think we are seeing evidence of a ground-water supply, similar to an aquifer." Right where they would least expect to find water, in the coldest crannies of craters facing away from the Sun and towards the poles, they found gullies. The most logical explanation is that they were formed by water. Not water itself has been detected; only structures that, if found on Earth, would have been formed by water seeping up from underground, then building up under pressure and bursting out in an explosion of mud. Scientists had believed that water on Mars could only exist in frozen form, beneath the soil or tied up in polar icecaps, and in the thin martian atmosphere. The landslides were recent. Craters quickly pockmark everything on the surface of Mars, but no craters can be found. The findings are a huge boost to NASA, which lost two Mars missions in a row late last year. The space agency is planning missions to Mars in 2003 and 2005 which will include the use of a robot. (PlArk 7240 23/6)

PERU

THAILAND

TIMOR LOROSAE

1) Timor administrator de Mello criticizes UN rigidity
30/06/00 (Lusa) DILI
2) Australia Timor Sea gas projects race for markets
30/06/00 (Reuters) MELBOURNE
3) Reconciliation from a legal perspective
30/06/00 (Yayasan HAK)
4) Reconciliation seen from a socio-cultural perspective
30/06/00 (La'o Hamutuk)
5) FALINTIL guerrillas and the responsibility of the international community
30/06/00 (La'o Hamutuk) DILI
6) Australian submarine entered Indonesian waters last year
30/06/00 (Asia Pulse)
7) Students ready to forge youth link
30/06/00 (The West Australian)
8) East Timor now one of the few peaceful zones in Pacific - Jose Ramos Horta.
30/06/00 (The Australian) And do read the original (26 June):
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,857647%255E401,00.html which contains: "carpetbaggers - are building air-conditioned shipping containers - calling them hotels - and charging more than $100 for the privilege." And much more. (TimTod 30/6)

TUVALU

USA

VIETNAM

WORLD FRESH WATER

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