31/05/2005 - On the
air: EEA staff member Malene Bruun being
interviewed by Belgian television on the
Agency stand at Green WeekThe European Commission's
annual Green Week conference and exhibition
in Brussels is this year dedicated to presenting
and discussing various aspects of climate
change. The Agency takes part in the event
as we have done over the last years, this
time with both an exhibition stand and with
contributors in the conference part. The
exhibition this year covers three floors
in the Charlemange building in Brussels
and numbers 72 public bodies, NGOs and private
companies.
During the conference, Project Officer Bert
Jansen will present the Agency's information
for younger audiences in the session "Teaching
about climate change". Green Week is
also the kick-off for the multilingual version
of the kids' zone on the Agency website.
EEA Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade
will participate in the round table discussion
"Road transport's global environmental
challenge", arranged by the Brussels-based
think tank Friends of Europe on the policies
and technologies needed to tackle pollution
from road vehicles. Project manager Ronan
Uhel is moderator of the session "What
happens in my backyard",on how spatial
and regional planning needs to take climate
change into account.
The dynamics of Europe's changing landscape
- Essential information to thrive in today's
changing world
The resolution of the 3rd Earth bservation
Summit to be adopted on the 16 February
seeks to develop over the next 10 years
a capacity to use earth observations for
early warning systems, responses to natural
disasters, health issues, management of
energy resources, climate monitoring, weather
forecasting, management of natural ecosystems,
agriculture and biodiversity. An almost
overwhelming list of essential information
to help society thrive in the 21st century.
But at the heart of these extensive efforts
are the real needs of citizens.
Over the past 10 years, the European Environment
Agency has provided information to policy
makers, officials and researchers. In 2004,
the Agency reached the attention of the
general public through the launch of two
products: the European Pollution Emissions
Register - a tool to examine emissions of
pollutants to air and water from nearly
10,000 industrial sites and Corine Land
Cover 2000 – the first digital map of the
multiple changes that have occurred in Europe’s
landscapes since 11000. The immense response
to both these products showed that there
is an intense interest from the general
public in gaining access to information
about their local environment.
What the public can see from the Corine
data sets is a series of snapshots of the
conflicts arising from the various European
policies in agriculture, transport and regional
development which are now potentially at
odds with the sustainable development of
Europe.
Europe has been shaped by centuries of traditional
farming practices, resulting in a wealth
of different landscapes with high cultural
and natural value. Landscape change is a
relatively slow process, where small changes
often go unnoticed but ultimately where
the larger picture changes dramatically.
Recent analyses by the EEA show that land
is becoming a scarce resource: 800 000 ha
of Europe’s land cover was converted to
artificial surfaces from 11000-2000. Only
with careful spatial planning of urban and
rural development can Europe avoid compromising
its agricultural production, biodiversity,
energy security and Kyoto targets and aspirations
under the Lisbon agenda.
As urban sprawl continues to spread into
the countryside, and transport infrastructure,
recreational and rural services take over
agricultural and natural areas, the rights
and freedoms of individual citizens will
increasingly be put at risk. It is therefore
essential that information on the environment
both in real-time and over accumulated periods
of time be freely available – free at the
point of delivery to citizens and policy-makers
alike. Under the Aarhus Convention, a new
EU Directive on public access to environmental
information was adopted yesterday.This week’s
adoption of the 10-year implementation plan
for Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS) must therefore seek to do the same
for Europeans at a global level. And in
its turn, the EEA will continue to step
up the release of useful data and products,
free at the point of delivery, for the citizens
of its member countries to better understand
the future changes in Europe’s changing
landscape and environment.for the citizens
of its member countries to better understand
the future changes in Europe’s changing
landscape and environment.for the citizens
of its member countries to better understand
the future changes in Europe’s changing
landscape and environment.
About the EEA
The European Environment Agency is the
leading public body in Europe dedicated
to providing sound, independent information
on the environment to policy-makers and
the public. Operational in Copenhagen since
1994, the EEA is the hub of the European
environment information and observation
network (Eionet), a network of around 300
bodies across Europe through which it collects
and disseminates environment-related data
and information. An EU body, the Agency
is open to all nations that share its objectives.
It currently has 31 member countries: the
25 EU Member States, three EU candidate
countries - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey
- and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.A
membership agreement has been initialled
with Switzerland. The West Balkan states
- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
and Serbia and Montenegro - have applied
for membership of the Agency.
