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Environmental Review of the Year 2003

Dec 19 2003

January

Climate Change

• Flood Alert - 2003 begins with much of the UK hit by flood alerts and more rain and snow on the way. Friends of the Earth warns that Britain should expect more of the same as a result of man-made climate change.
• Australian Fires - Fire fighters down-under battle Australia's second-worst bush fire disaster triggered by hot weather and drought, with damage estimated at $150m.
• Arctic future for UK? - Scientists at Southampton Oceanography Centre get a 5m grant to test a theory the UK could be heading for arctic winters.

• A major government-commissioned report on GM oilseed rape pollination reveals significant contamination between GM and non-GM crops.
• The US threatens action under the WTO against the EU moratorium on licensing new GM food and crops.
• Devon County Council becomes the first council to vote to go GM-free.

• Three think-tanks: the Energy Saving Trust, the Institute for European Environmental Policy, and National Society for Clean Air say the UK's road transport could go-green with a massive tree-growing programme, with huge potential for producing hydrogen and alcohol fuels from fast-growing trees like willows.

• The RSPB says plans for two hydro-electric schemes in Iceland could place Scotland's pink footed geese population at risk. Iceland boasts 90% of the global population of the bird - the majority of them winter in Scotland.

February

• Congestion Charging is introduced in London. Friends of the Earth accuses Transport Secretary Alistair Darling of political cowardice for failing to back the scheme.

• A Government report reveals houses prices are significantly reduced when homes are close to landfill sites. Friends of the Earth says more must be done to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, and calls on the Government to support Joan Ruddock and Friends of the Earth's Private Members Bill to provide every household in England and Wales with a doorstep recycling scheme.

• British scientists say greenhouse gases are at the highest background levels ever recorded in the atmosphere. The report published by the DEFRA says the UK exceeded its international target for cutting greenhouse emissions by 2000.

• A significant victory for environmentalists as the Government launches the Energy White Paper and in it rejects calls for new nuclear power plants and announces plans to cut climate-changing emissions of carbon dioxide by 60 per cent by 2050.

• Government tests find high levels of pesticide on a range of imported fruit and vegetables. Tests on one sample of spinach show it could make people ill. Traces of chemicals were found in bread, apples and processed baby food.

March

• The Met office warns that global temperatures are set to rise by by 1.5 and 5.8 Degrees C and sea level by between 10 and 90 cm, as a result of global warming.
• Campaigners build a giant pipeline in the City of London to protest against plans to use UK tax-payers' money to help fund a highly controversial 1,750 km oil pipeline through Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. They say the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline will cause huge social and environmental disruption, fuel conflict in an unstable area and contribute to climate change.

• The world's first electricity generating nuclear reactor, Calder Hall in West Cumbria, closes.

April

• Shell holds its AGM in London amid protests from environmentalists from around the world, including the USA, Nigeria, UK, South Africa and the Philippines. The oil giant is told it is still putting short-term profit before people and the environment, despite its public commitment to a "green" future. One week later Shell announces its net income is up 136%, to $5.3 billion.

• A report to Government from GM advisors the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission reveals if GM crops are commercially grown in the UK it would be "difficult and in some places impossible to guarantee" any UK food is GM-free.

May

• Leaders of the G8 group of countries abandon plans to announce a `Charter of Principles for a Responsible Market Economy'. Since making a commitment to corporate accountability and responsibility at 2002's United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg, some G8 governments pulled back from halting bad corporate practices.
• The European Parliament votes for proposed EU-wide laws to make polluters pays for environmental damage. It rejected lobbying from business leaders for the laws to give companies exemption from liability if they operate under an official permit or if they use state-of-the-art technology.

• Nuclear waste from Russia's dismantled nuclear submarine fleet is to be cleaned up as an agreement reached among European countries. The submarine fleet has been rusting in the north-west of Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

June

• The United Nations says the world's richest countries are failing to curb the pollution causing global climate change. Emissions from the USA, Canada and Australia grew in the 1990s despite promises to reduce the problem.

• Popular with environmentalists, Michael Meacher was seen as a lone voice, taking a greener line than the Government, including on GMs. He secured greater protection for Britain's wildlife areas with the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and played an important role in international negotiations over the Kyoto Treaty.

• Transport Secretary Alistair Darling says train fares will rise to pay for investment in Britain's railways. It comes as the Strategic Rail Authority warns train services may be cut on some busy lines.
• The Independent Transport Commission tells the Government traffic on the UK's busiest roads could rise by 25% over the next 7 years unless a nationwide congestion charging system is introduced.

• More than 500 MPs are lobbied by campaigners ahead of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting. They want the UK Government lead in rewriting world trade rules so that they benefit poor countries.

• A Government voluntary scheme to get big businesses to commit to meeting environmental targets flops after three years. It aimed to get green commitments from more than 2,000 corporations - but just 36 signed up. Friends of the Earth demands legal duties on companies.

July

• Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is condemned by environmentalists as he announces major road building plans, including widening on the M1, M11, M25 and M62, threatening several nationally designated wildlife sites.

• A Government report on the economics of GM crops reveals the public's refusal to eat GM food means there is little economic value in the current generation of GM crops, and continuing public opposition will affect their long-term future.
• Lake District becomes the first National Park to vote to go GM-free joining a number of Councils across the country.
• The Government warns farmers who grew GM oil seed rape in the farm scale evaluations not to grow conventional oil seed rape on the same land this autumn.

• The Government announces the UK's biggest ever expansion in wind energy with plans for huge off-shore wind farms to be built in three areas off the UK coast, expected to power 15 per cent of all UK households, and create 20,000 new jobs.

• The Environment Agency names and shames high street names, including Anglian Water, Thames Water, BP, TotalFinaElf, and Tesco, in a report showing that fines alone are failing to stop big business breaking the law.

August

• Summertime smog levels break Government health limits at 76 out of 80 Government pollution monitoring sites.

• A report by the Fabian Society says while Britons are recycling more the environmental benefits could count for nothing in the drive for economic prosperity. The think tank says over consumption stands in the way of sustainable development and too much consumer choice is damaging the quality of life for society.

September

• Friends of the Earth warns Hartlepool Borough Council it is legally obliged to insist on a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of potential impacts on internationally protected wildlife sites before allowing a controversial fleet of toxic "ghost ships" to be dismantled and disposed of on Teesside.
• Friends of the Earth calls on America to deal with its own waste.

• World Trade Organisation talks in Cancun collapse after the European Union and United States refuse to give major concessions to a bloc of developing countries and try to force further trade liberalisation upon them. Environmental groups say that no deal is much better than the bad deal wanted by the EU and USA.

• "GM Nation": The Government-led debate sees the public reject GM crops. More than half (54%) don't want GM crops grown in the UK; 18 % only if there was no risk of cross-contamination. Only 2% said that GM crops were acceptable

• Friends of the Earth welcomes fuel tax increases announced by the Treasury and says the move will help cut congestion and pollution.

October

• A new law promoted by Friends of the Earth go through Parliament and means every home will have a doorstep collection for at least two recyclable materials by 2010.

• Hartlepool Council rules Able UK does not have planning permission for the construction of the dry dock needed to dismantle the ships.
• Friends of the Earth takes the Environment Agency to the High Court over its decision to allow the ships to be scrapped in the UK without an appropriate environmental assessment.
• The Environment Agency responds by announcing that the waste management licence granted to Able UK is invalid and warns Able UK and US Marine Administration not to send ships over to UK

• The results of the GM farm scale are released. They show that two of the GM crops grown experimentally in Britain, oil seed rape and sugar beet, appear more harmful to the environment than conventional crops with impacts on biodiversity and that some scientists still have reservations about the third, maize.

November

• The High Court grants an injunction against Able UK carrying out any dismantling work on ships from the ships.

• Environmental and human rights groups react angrily to Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, decision to back a $250 million World Bank loan for BP's hugely controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

• Friends of the Earth calls for guarantees that any countryside body replacing English Nature following the Haskin's review remains independent of Government.

• The Government's main GM policy advisor says new laws are needed to prevent contamination from GM crops and enable farmers to claim compensation if it occurs.

December

• The Chancellor's pre-budget report again misses the opportunity of greening the tax system to encourage good environmental practice and dissuade bad practices.

• The Government announces electricity suppliers will have to source 15% of their supplies from renewable energy sources by 2015.
• A UN climate change conference in Milan hears natural disasters, mostly caused by extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, cost more than $60bn in 2003, and ends with continuing doubts about whether Russia will ratify the Kyoto pact. Supporters of the six-year-old deal on cutting the emissions linked to global warming insist that the process is still alive.
• Friends of the Earth accuses the Government of "abdicating its environmental responsibilities" after it gave the green light to a massive expansion in air travel. As well as contributing to climate change the Government misses a major opportunity to invest up to 9bn in high speed rail and other environmentally-friendly transport.
• One of the most influential US science organisations says human influence on the climate is increasing. The American Geophysical Union says carbon dioxide concentrations may be climbing faster now than at any time in Earth history.

• Friends of the Earth wins a High Court ruling that Able UK does not have a crucial legal permission to dismantle the ships on Teesside.
• Local residents also win a High Court case.
• Able UK now needs 7 legal licences before it can scrap the ships and must carry out a proper environmental impact assessment.

• An EU regulatory committee rejects a proposal by the European Commission to approve a controversial genetically modified sweet corn, maintaining the EU moratorium on GM. Friends of the Earth describes the decision as a "victory for public safety and common sense".
• Six applications for approval of GM seed varieties are withdrawn from the UK's National Seed List by Bayer CropScience.

• The Government says that nine out of ten local authorities have increased recycling and composting since 2001-2 but only a fifth have reached their 2003-4 targets.

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