Newsgroup: it.cultura.antagonista
Titolo: quelle bombe contro l'ambiente

The Guardian
Danube study questions warfare that bombs polluting targets
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,96128,00.html
Kosovo: special report
Paul Brown on the Danube
Wednesday October 27, 1999
The rules of warfare which resulted in the people of Serbia and Kosovo being
faced with life-threatening pollution should be reviewed, the head of the UN
Environment Programme's Balkans Taskforce, set up to study the environmental
aftermath of the Kosovo conflict, said yesterday.
Pekka Haavisto questioned the bombing of industrial plants close to big
cities when it posed an immediate risk of pollution.
Mr Haavisto, a Finnish pollution expert, was addressing a scientific,
religious and environmental symposium on the problems of pollution on the
Danube. His statement, at a meeting in Bucharest, came a few days after he
delivered the taskforce's report to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan.
He is said to be angry that its findings have been played down in Nato
countries.
The taskforce's mandate runs out next month and will not be renewed, leaving
unresolved the issues of toxic seepage into the Danube, the whereabouts of
depleted uranium used by US forces in anti-tank munitions in Kosovo, and the
best way to clean up contaminated soil.
One of the worst-hit areas, he said, was Pancevo, outside Belgrade, where
mercury and dioxins were being washed into the Danube, whose water
downstream in Bulgaria and Romania was used for drinking. In addition,
pollution from the bombed oil refinery at Novi Sad was leaking into the
river just above the Serbian city's water intake.
"It is up to the international community to discuss and decide whether the
rules of modern warfare are up to date when looking at all the risks to
human health and to the environment," Mr Haavisto said.
Power shortages were another problem: emissions to the Danube from the
mining town of Bor had increased as a result of the lack of electricity."
The symposium was the idea of the ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox
church, Bartholomew I, and those taking part, including the exiled King
Simeon of Bulgaria, have travelled the length of the Danube. They visited
Novi Sad at the weekend.
Philip Weller of the World Wide Fund for Nature's Green Danube project
congratulated Mr Haavisto. "There are a lot of issues this war has raised
that we cannot walk away from," he said.
"Depleted uranium is one we do not know enough about. But there are some,
like the leaking of mercury and other toxic substances from the Pancevo
canal into the Danube, that we do know have to be dealt with, and quickly.
If not, then innocent people downstream in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and as
far away as the Ukraine will suffer.
"By bombing oil refineries and chemical factories Nato was conducting a
highly dangerous chemical experiment with unknown and possibly devastating
consequences. We have to question whether rules should be in place to
prevent that happening in the future."
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http://www.grid.unep.ch:80/btf/final/index.html
Vediamo un po' il risultato della inchiesta condotta da Haavisto e
dall'UNEP su "quelle bombe contro l'ambiente".
A pagina 12 del rapporto si legge:
Key conclusion
-Our findings indicate that the Kosovo conflict has not caused an
enviromental catastrophe affecting the Balkans region as a whole,
-Nevertheless, pollution detected at some sites is serious and poses a
threat to human health,
-BTF was able to identify enviromental 'hot spot' in Pancevo,
Kragujevac, Novi Sad e Bor, where immediate action and also further
monitoring and analyses will be necessary. At all of there sites,
enviromental contamination due to the consequences of the Kosovo
conflict was identified,
-Part of the contamination identified at some sites clearly pre-dates
the Kosovo conflict, and there is evidence of long-term deficiencies in
the treatment and storage of hazardous waste,
-The problems identified require immediate attention, irrespective of
their cause, if further damage to human health and the enviroment is to
be avoided.
-Stefano

 the Kosovo conflict,
Il fatto che ci fosse inquinamento ANCHE prima del conflitto non rende meno
grave la posizione dei responsabili Nato. Se leggi in altri punti del
documento te ne accorgerai. Per esempio questo, che d'ora in poi usero'
come firma.
"One of the worst-hit areas was Pancevo, outside Belgrade, where mercury
and dioxins were being washed into the Danube, whose water downstream in
Bulgaria and Romania was used for drinking. In addition, pollution from the
bombed oil refinery at Novi Sad was leaking into the river just above the
Serbian city's water intake".
--
"One of the worst-hit areas, he said, was Pancevo, outside Belgrade, where
mercury and dioxins were being washed into the Danube, whose water
downstream in Bulgaria and Romania was used for drinking. In addition,
pollution from the bombed oil refinery at Novi Sad was leaking into the
river just above the Serbian city's water intake".
Pekka Haavisto, esperto di inquinamento ambientale, presidente dell'UN
Environment Programme's Balkans Taskforce, organismo creato per lo studio
delle conseguenze ambientali della guerra in Kosovo

Serbian city's water intake".
Che non dice niente di particolare. Afferma che c'e' inquinamento nelle
acque ma non ne stabilisce il livello.
Comunque vorrei ricordarti il pezzo di frase che ti sei affrettato a
tagliare per portare acqua al tuo mulino :)
----
and there is evidence of long-term deficiencies in
the treatment and storage of hazardous waste,
----
Cioe' vi sono segni di mancanze a lungo termine nel trattamento e
immagazzinamento dei rifiuti tossici.
Cioe' tali rifiuti tossici probabilmente non dovevo essere in quei
luoghi e non erano stati trattati a dovere.
-Stefano