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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.13/2000 |
Dateline: May11, 2000 |
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This is a weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail: <
INES homepage: http://inesglobal.org
INES International Office <
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner <
INES Congress 2000
''Challenges for Science and Engineering in the 21st Century''
Stockholm, 14-18 June 2000
http://www.ines2000.org
INES 2000 Conference Secretariat: mailto:
Note from the editor
Dear readers,
My apologies that I did not issue WNII for the last weeks: To my own surprise, I got a full-time job in April. Having been unemployed for almost four years, I hope you'll understand that I was concentrating on the start of this new job in the first place. By this WNII issue, however, I shall resume producing it weekly.
Best regards, Tobias Damjanov Editor
CONTENTS of WNII No. 13/2000
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS' AND PROJECT GROUPS' NEWS
USA: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), The Sunflower, No. 35, April 2000
Back issues: http://www.wagingpeace.org/sf/index.htm
The April issue of The Sunflower covers the following:
USA: Commonwealth Institute Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA)
The Project on Defense Alternatives has recently announced two new Web pages:
Project "Water for Life" (Proposal by Vladimir Zolotarev, Ph.D.) (The author is associated with the Russian INES member organisation Socio-Ecological Union)
"Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life" (Earth Charter). Key Elements Promoting collaboration of engineers and scientists for global coevolution of natural systems and human society. Water is an absolute necessity for life on Earth. An emphasis on ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation, risk assessment (holistic approach). Design and implementation of information technologies for international monitoring networks ("ecological engineering"), hydroinformatics development. Establishing transboundary natural environmental standards on legal basis (international environmental law). Modeling aquatic ecosystems, interdisciplinary educational resource, environmental literacy and ethics development. Major part of the world's population live in basins shared by two or more countries. International cooperation on the basis of quality issues (pollution control and ecosystem protection) could prevent water conflicts. As part of the project suggested development of the "Automated Biomonitoring International Network (ABIN) -- strategic information system for aquatic pollution prediction," exploring carrying capacity of rivers Rhine, Volga and Danube. Water resources of developing countries, including Nepal, also could be explored ( http://www.yars.free.net/yarrin/76010222.html , http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Reference_Materials/ABIN_ Project.html ).
Chemical weapons control could be a major part of the ABIN Project. Automated buoy stations with ecotoxicological biosensors will be developed for watching the process of devastation of sunken containers dumped into the Baltic Sea after the Second World War. Entering the information age requires integrative methodology that employs a holistic view of the multiple stresses and interactions in complex aquatic ecosystems. The earliest pollution prevention is most cost-effective. Main goals of the project:
Vladimir Zolotarev, Ph.D. Founder of NOOSPHERE Information Fund Institute of Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, P.O.Box 25, 152742, Borok, Yaroslavl obl., Russia e-mails: , http://www.yars.free.net/yarrin/76010222.html http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Reference_Materials/ABIN_ Project.html http://www.edu.yar.ru/english/news/Microcosm/engl.html http://www.ibiw.yaroslavl.ru/eng/Zolotorev.html http://www.edu.yar.ru/russian/misc/eco_page/ http://www.ibiw.yaroslavl.ru/win/Zolotarev.html
"Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons"
This is the title of new book edited by INESAP member Dr Martin B. Kalinowski (Vienna).
About the contents: In 1996, the International Court of Justice in The Hague confirmed with an advisory opinion that the threat and use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal according to existing international right. Nuclear weapon states do have a legally binding obligation to completely disarm. This volume analyses why this goal has not been achieved yet and how the current deadlock could be overcome. To this end, unconventional disarmament proposals are presented with the proposed Nuclear Weapons Convention to ban nuclear weapons at its heart. This would follow the example of the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. As an immediate step towards the ultimate goal, qualitative instead of the conventional quantitative disarmament measures are suggested. It is further suggested that, besides the USA and Russia, the other nuclear weapons states should join the disarmament process. Nuclear Weapons Free Zones are a possibility to prepare for global elimination of nuclear weapons on a regional scale. The authors are internationally well-respected experts for nuclear disarmament with some emphasis on scientific expertise. Among them are co-initiators and main authors of the model Nuclear Weapons Convention which became an official document of the United Nations in 1997.
Martin B. Kalinowski (ed.): Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons; Nomos-Verlagsgesellschaft: Baden-Baden (Germany) 2000 [ISBN: 3-7890-6594-3; US$44.50]
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org
Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
Briefings on the 2000 NPT Review Conference
Note from Tobias Damjanov: During the NPT Conference at New York, a number of various briefings have been issued by different organisations. Currently, I am compiling this very interesting material which gives you an inside view from the point of view of NGOs, including information which you certainly cannot find being published in common newspapers. If you wish to receive this compilation composed as an rtf file email attachment, please send me a request. Also, the following selected web pages are very helpful: http://www.peacenet.org/disarm (NGO Committee on Disarmament, New York), http://www.abolition2000.org (Abolition 2000 Network), http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/ (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), http://www.acronym.org.uk/nptdesc.htm (Briefings from the Acronym Institute, UK), http://www.basicint.org (British American Security Information Council), http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/ (UN Department for Disarmament Affairs)
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
"The Culture of Peace in the Setting of the Globalisation Process"
Although this announcement has been sent at very short notice, I am publishing it here because it is an invitation by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) to all its member organisations to which INES belongs. The invitation is for one person of your institution and includes the hotel nights of 9th and 10th and the accommodation of both days.
For more details, mailto:
5th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies (GHGT-5) http://www.ieagreen.org.uk
It will provide a forum for the discussion of recent advances in the area of greenhouse gas control technologies, including CO2 capture, storage and utilization. For more details, contact the GHGT-5 Secretariat:
Electralis 2001 Forum http://www.electralis.com/ENG/forum.html
The Forum, a worldwide geopolitical congress, will bring together leading politicians, economists and scientists. Together, they will be looking at the steps to be taken and partnerships to be formed in order to ensure that the electricity of tomorrow is clean, profitable and accessible to all and this, in a century of information. Electralis 2001 in brief: http://www.electralis.com/ENG/apropos2.html For more details, mailto:
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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