comunicato UNEP su danni ambientali in Serbia

[alessandro gimona <ag0648 at mluri.sari.ac.uk>]

UNEP News Release
For information only
Not an official record

Jointly issued by UNEP and Habitat


UNEP-led Balkans Task Force to continue
 its work in Yugoslavia

Experts leave for Serbia to work on environmental clean-up studies

GENEVA/NAIROBI, 8 February, 1999 - As part of the seond phase
of the joint UNEP/UNCHS (Habitat) Balkans Task Force (BTF), a
group of international scientific experts will start work next
weekend on detailed environmental clean-up  feasibility studies at
four sites in Serbia. The team, which arrives in Belgrade on 13
February, will be conducting an analysis of the specific activities
and technical requirements at the four "hot spots" identified by the
BTF in its report, “The Kosovo Conflict – Consequences for the
Environment and Human Settlements.”

In its assessment report released last October, the BTF concluded
that pollution detected at four environmental “hot spots” (Pancevo,
Kragujevac, Novi Sad and Bor), is serious and poses a threat to
human health.  Projects to address priority needs for humanitarian
assistance at the "hot spots" will be identified during
February/March and next week's studies are required before the
actual environmental clean-up can begin.

Under the leadership of the former Finnish Environment and
Development Cooperation Minister, Pekka Haavisto, the Task
Force continues to work from its offices in Geneva.  Last month,
the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe asked the BTF to
contribute expertise for environmental assessments in other
countries of the Balkans region.  These projects will be discussed
in detail later this week at the Stability pact's meeting, "Working
Table on Economic Reconstruction, Development and
Cooperation," to be held from 10 to 11 February in Skopje.


Clean-up in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Last year's BTF report recommended urgent remedial action at the
heavily contaminated wastewater canal which flows into the
Danube river at Pancevo; the removal of significant quantities of
toxic waste at the Zastava car plant in Kragujevac; detailed studies
on the possible contamination of drinking water supplies near the
Novi Sad oil refinery; and the prevention of further releases of
sulphur dioxide gas into the atmosphere at the Bor ore smelting
complex.

"The main responsibility for the environmental clean-up effort rests
with the Yugoslav authorities," said BTF Chairman, Pekka
Haavisto.  "However, it is very important that the United Nations act
rapidly in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia where there is need
for humanitarian assistance.  In this regard, UNEP and the United
Nations Development Programme, working together in close
cooperation, have already taken steps to highlight the urgent
environmental problems as part of the overall humanitarian
assistance, " he said.

In November 1999, as part of the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs consolidated inter-agency appeal for 2000, a
US 17 million appeal  for environmental priority emergency projects
in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was launched.

The BTF was set-up by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP,
the UN Environment Programme and UN Centre for Human
Settlements in May 1999, to assess the environmental and human
settlement consequences of the Balkans conflict. The BTF report,
“The Kosovo Conflict – Consequences for the Environment and
Human Settlements,” is available on the Web at
http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf


Note to Editors

In 1999, the BTF focused its work on five areas.  To this end, four
field missions were carried out between July to September:

- Environmental consequences of the conflict on industrial sites
- Environmental consequences of the conflict on the Danube river
- Consequences of the conflict on biodiversity in protected areas
- Consequences of the conflict for human settlements and the
environment in Kosovo

Since it was established, the BTF has worked as an integral part of
the UN system and in Kosovo continues to work within the
framework of UNMIK. Sixty experts, drawn from six UN agencies,
19 countries and 26 scientific institutions and NGOs, were involved
in the various BTF assessment missions.  Funding for the BTF
work (in the form of voluntary contributions) came from Austria,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway,
Sweden and the United Kingdom.  Additional in-kind support was
provided by Russia and Slovakia, and NGOs including Greenpeace,
WWF, IUCN, Green Cross and the WCMC.

        ******

Note to journalists.  Pekka Haavisto will hold a press conference at
the Palais des Nations, Geneva, at 15.00 on Tuesday 8 February.
For more information contact Henrik Slotte in Geneva on tel: +41-
22-917-8598 or Robert Bisset, BTF Press Officer, in Nairobi on tel:
+254-2-623084, fax: +254-2-623692, email: robert.bisset at unep.org.

In Nairobi, contact: Tore J. Brevik, UNEP Spokesman on tel: (254-
2) 623292, fax: 623692, email: tore.brevik at unep.org, or Sharad
Shankardass, Ag. Head, Media and Press Relations, Habitat, tel:
623153, fax: 624060, email: habitat.press at unchs.org

UNEP News Release 2000/9