As Denmark prepares to take over the presidency of the European Union in January for the first half of 2012, Friends of the Earth Europe has written a letter to the Danish Presidency calling on it to contribute to a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable future, for the people of Europe and other continents.
"The current global economic, financial, environmental and social crises present us with a challenge of historic proportions. Only an urgent, wide ranging and far reaching response can deal with this situation," the letter states.
Europe’s Environment Ministers met yesterday in Brussels with three of Europe’s, and the world’s, most pressing environmental challenges on the agenda – biodiversity, resource-use and climate change. On all three fronts, their responses are inadequate to address the scale of these global challenges, says Friends of the Earth Europe.
Plans by the Canadian company Gabriel Resources to develop a gold mine in Rosia Montana, in Romania are being challenged by local campaign groups with the support of the Friends of the Earth Europe network.
A campaign has been running against the project for almost a decade, and although the environmental impact assessment process was suspended five years ago, the government has recently shown support for the project which is opposed by environmental groups.
Brussels, November 17, 2011 – Increasing the use of biofuels in Europe will have devastating impacts on wildlife a new scientific assessment has shown. [1]
The report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) estimates that 85 percent of biodiversity will be damaged across 17,000 square kilometres of natural habitats that risks being converted to farmland as a result of EU biofuel targets. None of this will be protected under current EU legislation for biofuels.
Europe imports huge amounts of resources; but exactly how much, and at what cost? Is Europe consuming natural resources responsibly; or irresponsibly over-consuming, without consideration of the impacts?
Presentations: 9th November
10:00 – 11:00 Europe's land dependency and its impacts
Stephan Lutter – Researcher, Sustainable Europe Research Institute
Anders Dahlbeck – European Campaign Coordinator, ActionAid
Presentations: 8th November
9:40 – 10:30 Opening – How responsible is Europe's resource consumption?
Jacqueline McGlade – Executive Director, European Environment Agency
Brussels, November 3, 2011 – Europe's material consumption is threatening the world's water supply, according to new research launched today by Friends of the Earth Europe and the Sustainable Europe Research Institute. [1]
The findings come with a warning that Europe is neglecting the catastrophic consequences that water stress and scarcity will have in Europe and in the rest of the world, and with a call to governments to start measuring Europe's overall water and material use.
Brussels, October 10, 2011 – Europe's 'land footprint' is one of the largest in the world, and the continent is more dependent on land from outside its borders than any other, new research published today reveals. [1]
European biofuels policies contribute to food insecurity and land grabs. Moreover, the true impacts of expanding biofuels production on deforestation and the climate are ignored in the EU policy. Vested corporate interests want to keep it that way. This press briefing explains the problems, myths and solutions.