Dear Colleagues,

A reporter called from the Lloyds List of London asking about the shipping
consequences of Gabcikovo. Two questions I was not able to answer:

1) What percentage of the total inport and export of Hungary is shipped
through the Gabcikovo Canal?

2) What are the fees paid at Gabcikovo? Does Hungary also pay fees to
Slovakia? Are they less, the same or more than fees paid by other nations?

If you have RELIABLE data on the above, please let me have them.

Bela Liptak

Liptak Bela rendszeresen beszamolt a Duna-per fejlemenyeirol. Az altala
tamogatott megoldasi vazlat az lenne, hogy a kiliti duzzaszto uzembe
helyezesevel magyar kezbe adni a csapot, amivel szabalyozni lehet az
Oreg-Dunaba juto vizmennyiseget. Ez a megoldas a (cseh)szlovakok altal
felepitett kiegeszito felvizcsatorna uzemen kivul helyezesevel jarna (a
Duna szlovak teruleten torteno eltereleset meg kellene szuntetniuk), de
a bo"si eromu tovabbra is uzemelhetne.

Liptak Bela szomoruan irta, hogy a hagai per szlovak beszamolojaval
egyidoben Godollon gyulesezo magyar kornyezetvedo egyesuletek hallani
sem akartak az altala tamogatott kompromisszumos megoldasrol, es az
eredeti allapot teljes helyreallitasat kovetelik. Liptak Bela szerint
az ilyen tulzo, nyilvanvaloan irrealis koveteleseket sem a birak, sem
a birosagi dontes vegrehajtasanak kikenyszeriteseben esetleg resztvevo
hatalmak nem veszik komolyan, igy ezek a szervezetek csak a *realis*
kovetelesek mogott allo tamogatottsagot csokkentettek.

				***

Alternativ energiahasznositas: napkollektoros vizmelegites. Egy eleg
reszletes elemzo szakcikk szerint (A Csaladi Haz vagy a Szep Hazak
cimu folyoirat foglalkozott ezzel a temaval tobb reszben) a megterules
ideje a magyar idojarasi viszonyok kozott 20-30 ev.

				***

Elektromos jarmuvek: az aprilisi SciAm egyik cikkeben irjak, hogy a
John Hopkins University-n (haho, Jozsi, ez veletlenul nem a jhu.edu?)
kifejlesztettek egy tisztan polimerekbol allo akkumulatort (mind a ket
elektrod es az elektrolit is kimondhatatlan nevu muanyagokbol van). Az
ujj akku [Wh/kg] energiasurusege (a szukszavu cikk szerint) mar most is
meghaladja a NiCd akkuket, es biztato kutatasok folynak olyan polimerek
kifejlesztesere, amelyek egy tovabbi tizes szorzoval javitanak ezt. Az
uj akku elonyos jellemzoje a szeles uzemi homerseklettartomany, hatranya
pedig, hogy a reptereken a bombafelderitesre szolgalo rontgengepek nem
veszik eszre.

Udv/Meszaros Laci

Kedves KORNYESZ olvasok,
Volt szocialista orszagok jelenlegi anyag -es energia intenzitasairol 
keresek adatokat.  Van valakinek valami otlete?  Minthogy nekem semmilyen 
sincs, a leghalvanyabb gyanukat is orommel es halaval veszem.

(maganuzenetben talan celszerubb)

Gille Zsuzsa

Kedves Diana!
Eppen nincs leforditott Donellam, mindent elkuldtem. Ha van barmi,
amit kertek a Gaiabol, szivesen elkuldom. Csak emlekeztetonek:
http://www.rec.hu/fok/gaia/gaia.htm Szeretettel Pi.

Wind Energy Weekly

Archived at:

http://www.igc.apc.org/awea/wew/wewarch.html

A weekly publication for those with a professional interest in wind
energy, or need to keep up with breaking legislative developments
affecting wind.  Available by subscription, but Wind Energy Weekly is also
available in a free educational electronic edition. The free electronic
Weekly is intended as an educational publication for those without a
commercial interest in wind energy. It contains only excerpts from the
print version, and is lagged by about two months (subject to change at our
discretion). If your interest in wind is commercial, you will likely be
better served by the print edition. 

If you would like a free electronic subscription, send an e-mail request
to . Please include information on your position,
organization, and reason for interest in the publication. Archives of
articles from the electronic edition are available at this site.

Job Announcement: Project Manager, Public Participation

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), a
respected international organization headquartered in Szentendre, Hungary,
is looking for a Project Manager to manage its public participation
program.  The REC aims to improve public participation practices in the
region by monitoring the status of public participation in environmental
decisionmaking, by raising awareness  of international standards of public
participation practices, and by offering training workshops.
Responsibilities include overall coordination of public participation
activities, project development and implementation, supervision of REC
experts and contractors, and communications with multiple stakeholders.
Qualifications include excellent project management, facilitation, and
presentation skills; understanding of public participation and
environmental issues in the region; fluency in English; and computer
literacy.  An advanced university degree is preferred.

Send a cover letter and CV to Mozes Kiss, REC, Ady Endre ut 9-11,
2000 Szentendre, Hungary,  Fax: (36-26) 311-294, E-mail: 


                                /\_/\
          "Cyberspace is where..|@ @|..the WILD things are!">
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~QQQ~~(_)~~QQQ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
| Rossen Roussev                                                    |
| Information Systems Project Manager          Tel: (36-26) 311-199 |
| Regional Environmental Center                Fax: (36-26) 311-294 |
| for Central and Eastern Europe                            e-mail: |
| Ady Endre ut 9-11                                 |
| 2000 Szentendre, Hungary                      http://www.rec.org/ |
\-------------------------------------------------------------------/

 EnviroPhantom - The Environmental Information Spider
 for Central and Eastern Europe, http://phantom.rec.org

 REC Email-On-Demand Service, mailto:

(ez ugyan nem meadows, de ezt is danatol kaptam a meadows-rovat 
kereteben)
  
  Economic Scene: How Much Is 'Environmental Capital' Worth?

     By PETER PASSELL

     How much, in dollars and cents, is the environment really worth?

     No, this isn't a column about some bean counter who has found a clever
     way to put a price tag on sea otters or redwoods. Nor, for that
     matter, is it a tree-hugger's essay on the ineffable value of
     spaceship earth. Rather, it's about the pioneering efforts of some
     practical ecologists who are eager to make common cause with
     economists to create self-sustaining markets for "environmental
     capital."

     The idea, explains Gretchen Daily, a biologist at Stanford University
and the editor of "Nature's Services" (Island Press), is "to assess what we
know about the tangible value of environmental resources" like watersheds and
pollinating insect species. That, she argues, should set the stage for
creating revenue-producing institutions -- public or private -- that make it
profitable to invest in environmental resources, much the way one invests in
physical infrastructure. 

     Ask your typical environmental activist how much a first-growth forest
should sell for and you're asking for a fight. After all, there's much more
to a stand of ancient trees than their value for recreation and lumber. 

     But the reflexive answer, that first-growth forests (or endangered
species or pristine air over the Grand Canyon) have value beyond measure, is
no answer at all. 

     "Whether we know it or not," Ms. Daily argues, "we set implicit values" 
by choosing to preserve some portions of the environment and letting others
disappear through neglect or economic development. So Ms. Daily, who has
hugged a tree or two in her day, favors a less confrontational strategy. 

     The authors of "Nature's Services," which was largely underwritten by
the Packard and W. Alton Jones Foundations and the Pew Charitable Trusts, lay
out the basics of how big ecological systems protect everyday human
activities and, in particular, how relatively small changes can cause
devastating losses. 

     "There are big -time non-linearities here," confirms Donald Kennedy, a
former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and a contributor to
the book. 

     But the nitty-gritty of "Nature's Services" consists of a dozen overview
essays on the tangible value of services from various sorts of environmental
capital. 

     Gary Nabham of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and Stephen Buchmann of
the Department of Agriculture survey research on insect pollination, finding
that the substitution of domesticated pollinators for wild pollinators would
reduce the value of 62 crops in America by $1.6 billion annually. 

     Katherine Ewel of the U.S. Forest Service found that specially
constructed wetlands -- in plain-speak, swamps -- can treat waste from small
towns at one-third to half the cost of steel and concrete. Norman Myers,
British researcher, documents the multibillion-dollar insurance value of
preserving wild feed grains that offer resistance to plant diseases. 

     More often than not, Ms. Daily concludes, "modern technology is an
expensive substitute" for environmental systems that have evolved over very
long periods. Hence, she argues, it usually pays to protect (or enhance)
natural systems, even if one ignores their intangible benefits. 

     In some cases, this knowledge alone should be enough to transform
world-weary politicians into environmentalists. Graciela Chichilnisky and
Geoffrey Heal, economists at Columbia University's Program on Information and
Resources, estimate that New York City's investment of some $660 million in
development rights in the Catskills watershed will spare the city the $4
billion cost of building and operating new water purification plants over the
next decade. 

     Environmental capital for drinking water sits on the easy end of the
spectrum. Governments are already comfortable with the idea of investing in
clean water and covering the costs by charging by the gallon. What about the
tougher cases, like insect pollination, where everybody benefits and there is
no customary way of recouping the outlays? 

     Ms. Chichilnisky and Heal would take the general approach a step
further, selectively "privatizing the biosphere" by writing contracts with
private corporations to invest in conservation and sell the services. 

     Some obvious candidates: flood control, eco-tourism, marine fisheries,
carbon sequestration in trees and plant and insect species diversity to
assist agriculture and pharmaceutical synthesis. "If Enron can compete with
the old regulated utilities in energy sales," Heal asks, "why couldn't they
sell watershed services?" 

     Hard-line traditional environmentalists are right in the sense that
markets can't be expected to price intangible environmental services --
wilderness preservation, species survival -- according to society's long-term
values. On the other hand, the authors of "Nature's Services" argue, the best
need not be the enemy of the good. And privatization may be an answer where
tangible environmental services complement the intangible. 

     "Why not pick the low-hanging fruit first?" Ms. Daily asks.

HAGUE JUDGES TOUR GABCIKOVO-NAGYMAROS
PROJECT. Judges from the International Court of Justice in
The Hague have begun a four-day, fact-finding tour of the
stretch of the Danube disputed in the ongoing trial over the
Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam, a Slovak Foreign Ministry official
told RFE/RL on 1 April. The judges will inspect first the
Gabcikovo project in Slovakia and then the aborted Hungarian
side of the project at Nagymaros. The trial is due to resume in
mid-April, when the two countries will each have two days to
respond to the other's arguments. A final verdict is not
expected before the fall.

RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 2, Part II, 2 April 1997