*** YVES LENOIR: Climat de panique. Editions Favre (29 rue du Bourg, CH-1002 Lausanne. E-mail: edfavre@span.ch - Bureau de Paris: edfavre@noos.fr). 2001, 223 pp, EUR 18.90. ISBN 2-8289-0673-6
Since the start of the Marrakesh ministerial meeeting on the Kyoto Protocol, a whole string of scientists have taken to their pens to explain how mankind has had a such a preponderant impact on climate change, and also (much rarer) to talk about the inanity of the current debate on global warming. The latest book by Yves Lenoir sets out to do the latter. In "Climat de panique", this mining engineer (a former Greenpeace activist who is now involved in other associations) continues his crusade against the proponents of "off-the-peg climate change ideas".
It is indisputable that for half a century now, changes in the climate have become matters of great concern, especially changes in the northern hemisphere, comments Yves Lenoir. But who's to blame? Greenhouse gas emissions, particularly those that humankind has been pumping out in force since the post-war boom years? The gasses, particularly CO2, that have been exposed to public condemnation by the IPCC scientific panel (International Panel on Climate Change) appointed by the United Nations to assist the Convention on Climate Change? No, replies our author, slamming such simplifications: "The state of the climate system at any one time is unique" and for any given configuration of the earth's orbit, the system never has exactly the same combinations of temperature, chemical composition of the atmosphere, etc. He argues that the most commonly used climate models fail to take account of the complexity of the climate and devotes an entire chapter to what most climate experts dismiss out of hand - the influence of galactic magnetic forces and radioactivity on the earth's climate. A surprising outcome - the greenhouse effect cools the atmosphere while reducing temperature differences at ground level.
The first two chapters of the book are given over to analysis, going through the various aspects of current climate change trends with a fine toothcomb. This is set against the background of caustic criticism of the international scientific community. He is in effect mounting an all-out attack on the IPCC's work and the batch of measures being pumped out to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the industrialised world. Whether the measures take a regulatory form (like the ones championed by Europe) or technological (like the ones promoted by the US), neither type challenges the fundamentals of human beings' attitude to nature. Yves Lenoir goes further in the third part of the book. "In the absence of any challenge to the direction humanity is moving in, the pragmatic and innovative vision proposed by the Americans will clearly win the day". Which will make the great victors of the climate battle the electricity generators and the hydrogen industry since "sooner or later, direct combustion of gas and oil at home or for transport will be prohibited". The concentration of the means of production will then cross an important threshold, Yves Lenoir believes, "with the active participation of ecologists, whether they like it or not"…
Marie-Martine Buckens
*** HERVE LE TREUT, JEAN-MARC JANCOVICI: L'effet de serre. Allons-nous changer le climat ? Editions Flammarion Dominos (Paris). 2001, 128 p. ISBN 2-080-30020-2
Are we going to be able to change the climate? Yes, reply the climate experts and other scientists recruited by the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. "Yes" is confirmed again in this book by Hervé Le Treut and Jean-Marc Jancovici, French climate expert and French engineering consultant respectively. They explain that since the dawn of industrialisation, ground temperature has risen by between 0.6 and 0.9°C, and taken together with the thinning of the icecaps and the rising level of the ocean, this confirms that the planet is effectively warming up. But how should this global warming be interpreted? "Since the 1960s, it has become far more difficult to consider global warming as a natural variation in the climate", the authors explain, believing that the increase in greenhouse gas emissions provides the most coherent explanation behind the current changes in temperature. The grand culprit among the greenhouse gases is, according to the authors, carbon dioxide: "The continual increase the amount of CO2 in the air since the end of the nineteenth century (…) constitutes an extremely violent disturbance and carrying out an isotopic analysis of it has confirmed that it is indeed caused by human activity". What about the other explanations that have been put forward to explain global warming, like changes in the sun's activity? "They are speculative and insufficient for the moment", respond the authors, arguing that the climate has started to change and concluding: "From now on, it is not so much a matter of proof (will there ever be proof?) as a bundle of very serious convergent assumptions that show that human activity carries a huge responsibility".
(MMB)
*** HAN SOMSEN Ed.): The Yearbook of European Environmental Law. Volume I. Oxford University Press (Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. Tel: (44-01865) 556767 - Internet: http://www.oup.com ). 2000, 732 pp, £80. ISBN 0-19-876463-4.
This collection of articles is the remarkable result of pan-European and American co-operation in one of the most complex areas of Community law - the environment - whose importance can also be measured by the fact that the theories, principles and practical recommendations surrounding environmental law can usually be extended to Community law in its entirety. This first volume in a new series highlights this interrelation through a collection of in-depth analyses and a systematic country-by-country catalogue of environmental legislation in the Member States.
Several authors have carried out in-depth studies into the tensions between EU policies and Article 6 of the Treaty of the EC that stipulates that the objectives and ideas behind the European environment policy have to be incorporated in all other Community policies. One study, for example, sheds light on the worrying obstacles the Union is confronted with when applying its legislation on the production, elimination and transport of waste: waste can also be seen as a "merchandise" and therefore be subject to rules covering the free circulation of goods … Moreover, one of the most innovative concepts launched by the Treaty of Amsterdam was the idea of "flexibility" which some of the contributors see as already having an impact by changing the shape of European environment law. A number of articles look at different aspects of this idea which is as opaque as it is broad. In some cases, flexibility can be a clever way, after all, for Member States to adapt the impact of secondary environment law to match national needs and priorities. Which is why the authors are unstinting in warning of the dangers of such tendencies. It is for such reasons that in terms of European environment law, it is becoming crucial - and this Yearbook fully explores this aspect of the matter - to monitor developments in national law insofar as they have a growing impact on the effectiveness and also the constitutional legitimacy of the European Union's efforts to protect and preserve the environment.
(CB)
*** CHRISTOPH DEMMKE, MARTIN UNFRIED: European Environmental Policy: The Administrative Challenge for the Member States. European Institute of Public Administration (22 O. L. Vrouwplein, Postfach 1229, NL-6201 Maastricht. Tel: (31-43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). "Capacity Building for Integration" series. 2001, 311pp. ISBN 90-6779-157-1.
National administrations (in Member States and candidate countries) have to continually adapt to new demands. The application of Community law requires more than simply transposing regulations or managing new financial resources - it requires a new culture to be set up in the national administrations themselves. This book looks at how different countries are taking on the European challenge in the light of the demands of EU legislation on the environment, outlining the most effective approaches and the most telling shortcomings. The authors also trace out directions that would lead to greater Europeanization of the national administrations.
(LD)
*** RTD info. Magazine for European Research. European Commission DG Research (e-mail: research@cec.eu.int - Internet: europa.eu.int/comm/research). September 2001, No. 31, 40 pp.
This issue of the Commission's Research DG (published in several languages) includes a very detailed dossier on genetically modified organisms and why they have been blocked at EU level.
*** Droit international 5. Editions Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, Paris). "Cours et travaux" series from the Institut des hautes études internationales de l'Université de droit, d'économie et de sciences sociales de Paris. 2001, 147 pp, 20 euro. ISBN 2-233-00389-6.
This series publishes important university courses in the domain of international law - this particular issue looks at areas of liability law as it applies to the environment and more specifically, to the specific characteristics of the theory of international liability in environment law. Professor at Vienna University and member of the International Law Commission, Gerhard Hafner first of all gives a general presentation of international law, which results in him observing that the rules that prevail in this area are not yet at all clear, particularly in terms of customary law. Based on this assumption, he explains that damage is the key element of liability for harming the environment, but also that the nature of the damage causes great problems in terms of implementing rules on the liability of states that have been developed by the International Law Commission.. The author argues that the problems result from factors such as the roles of private individuals as both agents and victims of damage to the environment, problems with identifying the cause of damage, the non-anthropocentric nature of damage, its economic impact, the dependence of countries' economies on dangerous industries, the great risk of accidents occurring, the high cost of the damage and the fact that damage often spreads across borders into another country. "The state liability system in its current form is incapable of dealing with this complex situation", asserts Prof. Hafner, who goes on to look at conventional practices with respect to the obligation to repair damage, showing that it is more appropriate to talk about an obligation to compensate rather than a liability. In international terms, this obligation is place on private individuals who carry out the damage, but states are becoming more and more involved in the system to ensure that victims get adequate compensation. The system based on "absolute" liability of countries, like the one laid down in the convention on international liability for damage caused by objects in space, has turned into a non-starter. Against this background, channelling the liability onto the user does not only correspond to the neo-liberal economic ideas that are currently all the rage, but also leads to the application of the "polluter pays" idea. In terms of damage that is not loss suffered by an individual (or by states acting as private individuals), it is barely taken into consideration, since Non-Governmental Organisations only very rarely have the right to demand compensation for damage. To conclude, the author points out that the principle of an obligation to provide compensation does not affect the option of invoking states' liability for the violation of an article of international law, but this could pose problems of competing liability - an issue that has not yet been addressed, whether in theory or in practice.
The other course published in this issue was given by Prof. Hüseyin Pazarci (Ankara University, Turkey), a former legal adviser to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, who looks at "international straits in contemporary international law".
(MT)
*** PAVLOS D. PEZAROS: Effective Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. The Case of the Milk Quota Regime and the Greek Experience in Applying It. European Institute of Public Administration (see above for contact details). "Capacity Building for Integration" series. 2001, 71 pp. ISBN 90-6779-159-8.
Source of discord whenever the Union is enlarged, the Common Agricultural Policy will be a tough nut to crack over the next few months. In order to determine the traps to be avoided, this book gives details of a case that can provide several key practices for getting round the problems that could arise, by looking at the example of what was recently a "new Member State" - Greece. Since the CAP is one of the very few policies for which the European Union holds exclusive decision-making powers, once a Member State asks to join the EU, its agricultural policy will gradually cease to exist, even though the implementation of the CAP will still be a matter of national competence. Against this background, the milk quota system takes on capital importance in the Member States. In the candidate countries of eastern Europe, milk production remains a key element of agriculture, which makes the dairy system an extremely challenging issue to be dealt with by the "two sides" which will definitely have a significant influence on the conclusion of the accession negotiations. An Associate Professor at the Maastricht Institute, the author carries out a detailed analysis of how the dairy quota system developed and where it stands today, identifying particular aspects of it which are likely to be highly significant pointers of the relevant administrations' capacity to take on this challenge, as Greece has done.
(GC)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (European Communities' Official Publications Office, L-2985, Luxembourg) has published the following documents:
*** Passaporto per la mobilità. Apprendere diversamente. Formarsi altrove. DG Culture (Internet: europa.eu.int). Collection "L'Europa in movimento". 2001, 29 pp. ISBN 92-894-0103-6.
Whilst the future prosperity of the European Union depends on the quality of education and training, the mobility of a large numbers of students, teachers and trainers is also a key ingredient to achieving this end. The Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes, as well as the Marie Curie grants, will help to attain this much needed mobility. The European Union has been involved in promoting mobility policy as a priority. This issue explains how mobility could be brought about within the European Union and takes on board all the different alternatives. The way in which obstacles can be overcome is also dealt with.
*** Actualités de la Délégation pour l'Union européenne. Sénat (Espace librairie du Sénat, 20 rue de Vaugirard, F-75291 Paris cedex 06. Tel: (33-1) 42342121 - fax: 42343526 - E-mail: espace-librairie@senat.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.senat.fr/europe ). No. 53, July- October 2001, 82 pp. ISBN 92-894-1634-3.
In brief, this account provides an account of three months of debate at the French Senate's Delegation to the European Union. The different subjects tackled include: justice and home affairs, funding for the European political parties, the project to determine the status of MEPs, the candidacy of the Czech Republic, the training of professional drivers, the fourth amendment to the Protocol of Montreal on environment, the "White Paper" on European governance, working conditions and rights for auxiliary agents working for MEPs and European political parties, agreements between Europol and Poland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovakia, clarification of the provisions of the Convention for the application of the Schengen agreement on extradition etc.
*** Financial Market Trends. Finance and Investment. OCDE (2 rue André-Pascal, F-75775 cedex 16 Paris - Internet: http://www.sourceOCDE.org ). No. 80, October 2001. ISBN 92-64-19093-7.199 p.
The Organisation for Co-operation and Economic Development provides a brief introduction to the trends and perspectives of the international and national markets in the zone through a number of in-depth articles on some of the most burning questions of the day, particularly those related to the stock markets…
*** Global Thinking. The Foreign Policy Centre Newsletter. The Foreign Policy Centre (Elisabeth House, Mezzanine Floor, 39 York Road, London SE1 7NQ. Tel: (44-0207) 4015350 - Fax: 4015351 - E-mail: info@fpc.org.uk - Internet: http://www.fpc.org.uk ). Winter 2001, 24 pp. £2.50.
This issue tackles a number of "common" problems in a way that is rather unusual, and consequently, does justice to this reputable newsletter. Some of the subjects include: "Beyond Bin Laden" and the confusion that has characterised British foreign policy since 11 September; "the power of the corporations and public interest"; "Race Relations and Mixed Feelings"; "Terrorism in the 21st Century", which provides an account of the recent literature on the subject of terrorism; "The British Presence in India" and "How the British "see" their "empire"; "George Orwell in the Age of the Mobile Phone" and "A single European Market for European governance".
*** Quaderni di studi europei. Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza" (Dott. A. Giuffre Editore S.p.A., 40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milan. Tel: (39-2) 38089290 - Fax: 38009582- Internet: http://www.giuffre.it ). 2001/1, 90pp. 20 000 lira.
In brief, the search for miracle-formulas for the European economy, focusing on Germany during the 1980s.
National magazines in brief
*** E-mail and finance, KBC, No.8, 2001, Brussels. In brief: the economic profile of the European Union with the aid of revealing graphs - good for the layman… *** Défis Sud. October 2001, No. 48, Brussels. This special edition of the NGO SOS Hunger, entitled, "Food (In)security or Food Sovereignty ?" clearly demonstrates that agriculture is the basis for food safety and forms part of our common human heritage. Food for thought for the negotiators in Doha and something that SOS Hunger believes should not be forgotten.