Balkans Task Force Finds No Eco-Catastrophe

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 29, 1999 (ENS) - A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) task force has failed to find major environmental damage from NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia after a 10-day preliminary analysis of industrial sites. Balkans Task Force leader Pekka Haavisto, a former Finnish environment minister, said on Tuesday that there is "no major eco-catastrophe," though local problems are severe in some areas.

Haavisto gave a similar assessment of the war's environmental impacts when he briefed European Union environment ministers on the issue at last week's informal meeting hosted by the Finnish presidency.

The Novi-Sad oil refinery goes up in flames (Photos courtesy www.pancevo.com)

Looking for toxic compounds such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the scientists have taken extensive soil and ground-water samples. These will now be sent to independent laboratories for detailed analysis.

One of the biggest obstacles faced by the task force is the poor knowledge of pre-existing pollution around sites such as the Pancevo industrial complex near Belgrade, Haavisto said. Trying to determine between old and new pollution was a "highly political issue," he concluded, although he stressed that the group had received full cooperation from all parties involved.

The Pancevo complex was hit April 18.

The Balkans Task Force assessment is considerably less pessimistic than one released June 28 by the Hungary based NGO the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). The REC report concludes the war in Yugoslavia "may have far-reaching impacts on the ability of the Balkan countries to protect the valuable environment of the South Eastern European region, and only a long-term approach to reclamation, monitoring and institutional rebuilding will help prevent a potentially disastrous situation."

Among the more pressing environmental problems, the REC report listed:

• Extensive damage to the waters in Yugoslavia, affecting agriculture and fishing
• An interrupted planting season in Yugoslavia and border regions, which means a poor harvest
• Damage to the electrical power infrastructure of Yugoslavia leading to heating shortages this winter
• Damage to the water and waste-water systems in Albania and Macedonia
• Air and water pollution, including potentially hazardous pollution from depleted uranium weapons, which will have as-yet-unknown impacts on the water table and the food chain of the region

Pristina, capital of Kosovo

UNEP's Balkans Task Force did make an effort to connect with local people during its preliminary assessment. In many of the towns they visited, stake-holder information sharing meetings were held with council officials, the general public, and representatives from public health institutes and non-governmental organizations.

Further UN missions to Yugoslavia are due in August to check for impacts from the bombing on biodiversity and on the River Danube, both locally and in downstream countries such as Bulgaria and Romania.

The Balkans Task Force is due to report in September.

{ENDS Environment Daily contributed to this report. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk; Website: http://www.ends.co.uk/envdaily }