EnvStud 671 – Europe´s Environment
Content:
In the fouth assessment report, the EEA underlines the changes that have occurred in the environment and socio-economic context to help explain many of the environmental trends that have been observed; and identifies successes and improvements but also register old legacies that need further effort such as, in particular, air pollution, water issues and contaminated sites. New threats, which challenge piecemeal solutions and call for integrated strategic measures at European and global levels, are described such as persistent chemicals in the environment, biodiversity loss, sustainable production and consumption and climate change.
Course Lecturer: Gerhard Berchtold, PhD
ECTS credits: 12
Coursebook:
Europe´s Environment
The 4th Assessment
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the copyright holder. For translation or reproduction rights please contact EEA (address information below).
Information about the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (www.europa.eu).
ISBN 978-92-9167-932-4
© EEA,
European Environment Agency
Kongens Nytorv 6
1050 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Fax: +45 33 36 71 99
Web: eea.europa.eu
Enquiries: eea.europa.eu/enquiries
ISBN 92-894-0261-X
© European Communities, 2001
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged
In this, the fouth assessment report, we underline the changes that have occurred in the environment and socio-economic context to help explain many of the environmental trends that have been observed.
We identify successes and improvements but also register old legacies that need further effort such as, in particular, air pollution, water issues and contaminated sites. New threats, which challenge piecemeal solutions and call for integrated strategic measures at European and global levels, are described such as persistent chemicals in the environment, biodiversity loss, sustainable production and consumption and climate change.
And a new overview is given of the state of European marine areas and inland seas.
We can recognise three types of challenge distinguished by the manner and difficulty of their control and management. First, there are those issues such as air and water pollution where, by and large, we know how to solve them and what implementation action is required. However, while progress has been made, problems of this type still persist largely due to the difficulties with working out in practice and at local level how to implement the known solutions. Second, there are the more complex challenges, such as biodiversity loss and river basin management. Here progress is also being made, but because of the strong cross‑border, inter‑regional and international cooperation required to deal with them, and the need for a diversity of inter-linked actions, the progress is often not fast enough to keep pace with changes. Thirdly, there are the issues such as climate change and current patterns of production and consumption which are particularly complex to deal with, and progress is slow, since they necessitate changes now without immediate and obvious benefits. However, action is needed since these issues have the potential to seriously limit future options for meeting needs sustainably thereby posing significant threats to our health, environment and livelihoods and those of future generations. These issues require long-term, integrated cross-sectoral measures to be taken that need to be underpinned by strategic international agreements which encourage diverse, robust and innovative technologies and adaptive management practices.
- Teacher: Gerhard Berchtold
- Teacher: Peter Hodecek